Oh Canada: I can't See Much Use for Trudeau.

Really.  His platitudes and cliches are inspiring.

He is truly quite useless and repeats rubbish.

Shame on Trudeau and Canadians for electing him.

Canada’s Trudeau says Americans should know more about the world

By Ishaan Tharoor March 4, 2016

Ahead of his first official trip to Washington, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suggested his counterparts south of the border would do well to know more about the rest of the world.

In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes", to be aired Sunday, Trudeau was asked about what Canadians perhaps disliked about Americans. He answered in stereotypical Canadian fashion, suggesting "it might be nice" if Americans "paid a little more attention to the world."

That polite response carries a bit of an edge in the current climate, with the United States in the grips of an election cycle that has been marked by its particularly ghoulish debates and ugly political rhetoric.

"Having a little more of an awareness of what’s going on in the rest of the world, I think is, is what many Canadians would hope for Americans," Trudeau said, in a transcript released to the Associated Press on Thursday.

In myriad polls and surveys, Americans are often found to be among the most "ignorant" populations in the developed world. Contrary to trends elsewhere, the rate of foreign language study by college students in the United States is declining, not increasing.

[I don't believe the polls and I believe if you focus in on the data, it would show something very different]

About a third of Americans hold passports, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which also points out that passport holders number about 50 percent in Australia, more than 60 percent in Canada and some 80 percent in Britain.

Sure, there has always been a pronounced isolationist streak to Americans, a nation that in many senses is a continent unto itself. But in an age when the United States is the world's only superpower and to varying degrees entangled in myriad conflicts abroad, it does behoove Americans to know more about the world their country so profoundly impacts.

In the interview, Trudeau sets his sights more modestly. Just start with Canada -- you know, that place a lot of Americans are starting to see as safe haven.

“I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time, too,” Trudeau told CBS.

Trudeau and his Liberal party came to power after elections in October, ousting the once-entrenched conservative government of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Since then, the photogenic, well-coiffed new prime minister has championed something of a progressive renaissance: Trudeau's cabinet is the most diverse in the country's history; he has reasserted Canada's role at the forefront of climate change policy; his government has brought in more some 25,000 Syrian refugees in the space of just a few months. Throughout his own election campaign and in the months after its triumph, Trudeau remained a vocal defender of the principles of multiculturalism and feminism.

For these and other reasons, WorldViews suggested earlier this week that Trudeau represented the anti-Donald Trump. The Canadian prime minister seems everything the Republican front-runner is not.

And when it comes to this supposed American obliviousness about the rest of the world, Trudeau has a point. As WorldViews has cataloged over the past few months, the Republican debates have been a showcase for crude, simplistic discussions about foreign policy and global challenges, heavy on sound and fury, light on substance.

Unfortunately, the conversation reflects wider attitudes. A poll of Trump supporters found that more than two-thirds claimed to actively "dislike" American Muslims, let alone Muslims overseas. A lack of understanding of the strictures of the U.S. refugee vetting process led many in the United States to see Syria's destitute refugees as terror threats rather than people desperately fleeing a hideous, brutal war.

In a town hall in December, Trudeau stated his disapproval at the way Trump's nativist rhetoric was affecting American politics, though he didn't mention the former reality star by name.

"I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that I stand firmly against the politics of division, the politics of fear, the politics of intolerance or hateful rhetoric," Trudeau said. "If we allow politicians to succeed by scaring people, we don’t actually end up any safer. Fear doesn’t make us safer. It makes us weaker."

Still, don't expect Trudeau to directly confront Trump when he arrives in Washington.

"The prime minister will always state his values," said a Canadian government official, quoted anonymously in an article by the Canadian Press news agency. "But he’s not interested in stirring up domestic politics."

Obama and our Oil Dependence

Why not make us more dependent upon 'foreign oil' ...
We have until recently, been purchasing almost 50% of our oil from Canada (which, technically is foreign, but is not a Middle Eastern tyranny nor a hotbed for terrorism aimed at the US).  Mr. Obama has basically told the Canadians we are not interested in any oil beyond what we already have shipped to us (such as oil in a pipeline that would decrease our dependence on foreign oil, funding governments who support terrorism).

And now Canada will turn to China - a country that is swallowing up the earth's oil.

Canada Pledges to Sell Oil to Asia After Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline

By Theophilos Argitis and Jeremy Van Loon –

Jan 19, 2012

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chris Huntington, partner at New Energy Advisors, and Sabrina Willmer and Jeff Green of Bloomberg News talk about President Barack Obama's decision to deny a permit for TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL Pipeline. They also talk about the prospects for a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. private-equity fund dedicated to energy. They speak with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock." (Source: Bloomberg)

President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a telephone call yesterday, told Obama “Canada will continue to work to diversify its energy exports,” according to details provided by Harper’s office. Canadian Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver said relying less on the U.S. would help strengthen the country’s “financial security.”

The “decision by the Obama administration underlines the importance of diversifying and expanding our markets, including the growing Asian market,” Oliver told reporters in Ottawa.

Currently, 99 percent of Canada’s crude exports go to the U.S., a figure that Harper wants to reduce in his bid to make Canada a “superpower” in global energy markets.

Canada accounts for more than 90 percent of all proven reserves outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to data compiled in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Most of Canada’s crude is produced fromoil-sands deposits in the landlocked province of Alberta, where output is expected to double over the next eight years, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

“I am sure that if the oil sands production is not used in the United States, they will be used in other countries,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said in an interview before a speech at Imperial College in Londontoday.

‘Profound Disappointment’

Harper “expressed his profound disappointment with the news,” according to the statement, which added that Obama told Harper the rejection was not based on the project’s merit and that the company is free to re-apply.

Canada this month began hearings on a proposed pipeline by Enbridge Inc. to move crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s coast, where it could be shipped to Asian markets.

Environmentalists and Canadian opposition lawmakers welcomed the Obama administration’s decision. Megan Leslie, a lawmaker for the opposition New Democratic Party, said the Keystone pipeline project was harmful to Canada’s energy security.

“What I’m opposed to is continuing the unchecked expansion of the oil sands,” Leslie said by telephone.

New Flashpoint

Enbridge’s pipeline may now become the new flashpoint between Harper and the opposition. Harper has said building the capacity to sell the country’s oil to Asian markets is in the national interest, and the government will review regulatory-approval rules for new energy projects so they can be done more quickly. Harper has also said he will look more closely into complaints that “foreign money” is being used to overload the regulatory process.

“We have to have processes in Canada that come to a decision in a reasonable amount of time, and processes that cannot be hijacked,” Harper said at a press conference Jan. 6 in Edmonton.

The Keystone decision is the latest of several U.S. moves that have irked Canadian policy makers. Canada objected to “Buy American” provisions in the Obama administration’s $447 billion jobs bill that was blocked by Republicans in Congress, as well as the restoration of a $5.50 fee on Canadian travelers arriving in the U.S. by plane or ship.

Approval of Keystone is a “no-brainer,” Harper said in a Sept. 21 interview with Bloomberg.

Cornerstone of Development

Yesterday’s rejection “certainly introduces new uncertainties into the economic relationship,” said David Pumphrey, deputy director of the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies inWashington. “This is a cornerstone of economic development for the country.”

The denial came before a Feb. 21 deadline set by Congress after Obama postponed a decision in November. TransCanada said the 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) project would carry 700,000 barrels of crude a day from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast, crossing six U.S. states and creating 20,000 jobs.

“I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my administration’s commitment to American-made energy,” Obama said today in a statement. “We will continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security.”

Canadian policy makers said they remain optimistic TransCanada will eventually be able to proceed.

Still Supporting

Alberta Premier Alison Redford said in a press conference in Edmonton that it is still “entirely possible” the pipeline will be built and said it was good news that TransCanada planned to apply again.

Canada will continue to support TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian Foreign MinisterJohn Baird said, adding that it is in the best interests of both Canada and the United States.

“We strongly believe that Keystone’s in the best interests of both countries,” he said. “We’ll continue to be an active supporter of the project.”

canada

Canadians: US (partly) responsible for 9/11

Majority thinks U.S. partly to blame for Sept. 11




By SHAWN MCCARTHY
Ottawa Bureau Chief; Source: Ipsos-Reid
Saturday, September 7, 2002
The Globe and Mail


A vast majority of Canadians believes the United States bears at least some responsibility for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because of U.S. policies in the Middle East and around the globe, according to a Globe and Mail/CTV poll.

And a significant, but smaller, majority said Canada is doing enough to support the United States in the war on terrorism, the Ipsos-Reid survey released yesterday says.

The poll was released as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien prepares to head to New York next week for the first anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center that killed almost 3,000 civilians.

On Monday, Mr. Chrétien will meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Detroit to discuss border security and ways to relieve congestion caused by increased vigilance at the border. The two leaders also are expected to talk about U.S. threats to attack Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Bush is trying to build support from U.S. allies for an attack, and has won a promise of help from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but not from Mr. Chrétien.

Mr. Chrétien has been criticized -- particularly in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 -- for being cautious in his support for the U.S. antiterrorism effort.

In an interview with CTV's Question Period to be aired on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley echoes Mr. Chrétien's doubts about whether Iraq should be a target in the war on terrorism.

"We haven't been in the camp with Tony Blair and others who say there should be a pre-emptive attack," Mr. Manley said. "We've said there should be, in order to consider this part of the war against terrorism, evidence that Iraq is somehow connected to al-Qaeda.

"We have not signed on for the change-the-regime movement in Iraq," Mr. Manley said.

Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said the Bush administration recognizes that it needs to persuade many of its allies about its case against Iraq.

"We've said all along we are ready to make the case," Mr. Cellucci said. "That's what the President will be doing next week."

But John Wright, vice-president of Ipsos-Reid, said Mr. Chrétien has better reflected the public mood in Canada than the more bellicose opposition leaders and pundits have.

In the Ipsos-Reid survey -- which polled 1,000 Canadians last week -- 69 per cent of respondents said the U.S. shares some of the responsibility for the attacks, while 15 per cent said all of the responsibility sits on American shoulders. The attacks killed thousands of civilians and U.S. military personnel at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Fourteen per cent said the United States does not bear any responsibility for the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, critics were pilloried for suggesting the United States bore some responsibility for the attacks, and Mr. Wright said U.S. pollsters will not ask the question.

But he said the poll suggests Canadians recognize that the projection of military might around the world comes with a price tag, even as many Americans struggle to understand why they were attacked.

"I think this is Canadians saying, 'You are bound to get stung when you stick your hand in the hornets' nest looking for honey,' " Mr. Wright said. "But I don't think this is evidence of people saying they deserved what they got at all."

He said there has been considerable evidence that U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies did not act on a series of warnings.

He said Canadians generally support the government's efforts to tighten security at home and send troops to Afghanistan but share the government's caution on Iraq.

Sixty-one per cent of those surveyed said Ottawa has done enough to support the United States in the war on terrorism, while 24 per cent said it has not done enough; 14 per cent said it has done too much.

Eighty-three per cent of Canadians believe that the massive United-States-led bombardment of Afghanistan has failed Mr. Bush's stated aim to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Who's to blame?

1,003 Canadians were asked the following questions:

How much responsibility do think the United States, with its policies and actions, bears for the terrorist attacks on them?

All 15%
Some 69%
None 14%
Don't know 2%

Now, since the events of September 11, 2001, the federal government has done a number of things to deal with Canada's national security and economy. How much do you feel the federal government has supported the United States and its war on terrorism?


Too much 14%
Not enough 24%
Enough 61%
Don't know 2%

Figures are rounded off



















canada

Canada to US: It's Not Our Fault We're Morally Superior

Not at all arrogant.  Not at all pedantic.  Not at all disrespectful, boastful, or obnoxious.




It's not our fault we're morally superior to U.S.




[Ontario Edition]
Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont.
Richard Gwyn
 Dec 8, 2002
Start Page: A.19
Section: OPINION
Text Word Count: 753





Without intending to — his effect was actually the exact opposite of his intent — Deputy Prime Minister John Manley was praising Canadians lavishly the other day when he scolded them for harbouring a feeling of "moral superiority" toward Americans.

In fact, he's largely right in his description. Not that Canadians are morally superior to Americans, or to anyone. Our principal superior quality is that we are a lot luckier than anyone else — lots of natural wealth, lots of space, no enemies, no superpower or colonial responsibilities. (Calling the U.S. president a "moron" is, to get that out of the way early, utterly moronic.)

But a fair number of Canadians do feel morally superior to Americans. Manley, who has a distinctly schoolmasterly tone whenever pronouncing on this topic — earlier he called Canadians "immature" in their attitudes toward Americans — said this was "a sign of our insecurity."

In his diagnosis, he is dead wrong. Doubly dead wrong.

First, for Canadians to feel this way, even if wholly unjustified, is a sign of national self-confidence. It makes us unique in the world.

Lots of others resent Americans, envy them, wish they'd get out of their faces. Some people hate Americans. Many others love them. Lots of people both love them and hate them.

Only Canadians, though, dare to feel morally superior to them.

It's quite challenging to understand why we should be so bold. My own guess is it's because we feel we are better North Americans than they are; that is, we jointly possess most of the essential attributes of being a North American — optimism, love of freedom, a sense of limitless possibilities — but, in addition, have done a better job of being a collective, of having a sense of solidarity.

However you parse all of that, a lot of Canadians feel in no way inferior to Americans, even while immensely admiring their energy, their competitiveness, their boldness, their patriotism.

The big exception to this rule is the right-wing, neo-cons who want Canadians to become as indistinguishable as possible from Americans (two-tier medicine and the rest).

If all of this is good for us — certainly a lot better than our traditional, self-deprecatory foot-shuffling — it's also good for Americans.

They are absolutely certain they are superior to everyone else. Americans absorb with their mothers' milk a conviction that they are an exceptional nation, a city on the hill, a light unto others.

And then at the very moment when all of these presumptions do seem close to being confirmed — America as today's Rome — there comes from the distant, frigid north, a voice saying, "No. We're better."

What's so terrible about that? Is Manley saying that Americans cannot stand to be challenged, that they would collapse into self- doubt if another people say steadily, insistently, that the American way isn't necessarily the absolute best way?

A legitimate source of concern to worrywarts like Manley is that there should be a rise in anti-Americanism in Canada at a time when Americans are so patriotic and so likely to take offence.

Except that anti-Americanism is on the decline in Canada. As it should be.

[Not from all the evidence]


A huge international poll on attitudes toward the U.S. was released days ago in Washington. In most countries there has been a distinct deterioration in the U.S. image since the last comparable poll, in 1999/2000 or before the attacks on New York.

In Italy, support for the U.S. has dropped from 76 per cent to 70 per cent, in Germany from 78 per cent to 61 per cent, in Britain from 83 per cent to 75 per cent. In Muslim states — unsurprisingly — support has plummeted, down to 10 per cent in Pakistan.

Canada is one of the very few exceptions. Here, the U.S.' favourable image has inched up, from 71 per cent to 72 per cent.

This doesn't mean anti-American stupidities don't exist here. But specific examples are difficult to find. Often, they are merely criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, which, even if unjustified, are perfectly proper to make, in contrast to boneheaded generalities about the American way of life.

Back to the main point. Quite a few Canadians do feel morally superior to Americans. If that nettles some Americans, good — it might help them to understand how the rest of the world feels about Americans' overwhelming presumption of superiority to everyone and everything. As a bonus, it's good for Canadians to feel cocky in a thoroughly un-Canadian way.


[So everyone else is allowed to, gets a pass, when they say or behave badly because it is un like them, but if Americans act aggresively on any issue ... we are, as always bullies. Given the number of articles I have posted about Canada and their small issue with attitudes, at what point is it typically Canadian?]


















canada

Canadian Immigration Policy: More like a whale net than a fishing net.

A year or so ago, DHS Secretary Napolitano made a statement I was critical of - and rightly so, but for different reasons, ultimately, than the one I now make - several terrorists have crossed the border into the US from Canada.  I criticized her at the time and in some ways it is irony - given Obama's position on immigration and allowing anyone into this country, they should not be bothered by who crosses into the US from Canada.  On another level, our security - up until 5-6 years ago Canada had no tangible policy on foreigners being expelled from Canada.  You land in Canada, often without a passport (in part because the host country really wanted you to leave) and claim refugee status.  The Canadian Immigration people take them aside, have them fill out paperwork, question them, hand then credits for room and board, give them a notice informing them they need to show up for an immigration hearing in 45 days, and smile and tell them to have a good day, eh.  Nearly 95% never showed up for any hearing.  I am willing to bet many simply crossed into the US (their original intent).




Leading terror suspect tied to Canadian cell


Imad Mugniyah: Academic fears operations could be launched 'in and from' Canada



Stewart Bell
National Post
Tuesday, November 12, 2002



Authorities in the United States believe that one of the world's most wanted men is behind a Canadian terrorist cell that has raised money, falsified documents and bought military equipment for the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.

The agents dispatched to Canada to garner support for the terrorist group are now suspected by the United States of working for Imad Mugniyah, a senior Hezbollah leader and the suspected mastermind of attacks worldwide.

Despite a US$25-million reward posted by the FBI, Mr. Mugniyah remains on the loose and is reportedly planning strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in retaliation for any American military action in Iraq.

Kenneth Bell, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer prosecuting a Hezbollah cell that uses Canada as a base, told the National Post he is convinced the Lebanese-Canadian operatives were working for Mr. Mugniyah.

The U.S. claim that Mr. Mugniyah's agents have established a clandestine network in Canada may add fuel to the ongoing debate over whether Ottawa should ban the Hezbollah under the new counterterrorism law.

While the Opposition wants the government to outlaw Hezbollah outright, Bill Graham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said he will not impose sanctions on the group [as the U.S. has done] because of its social and political activities.

"Imad Mr. Mugniyah is a key Hezbollah operational commander," said Martin Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.

"Reports of his presence at a recent Hezbollah-led planning meeting of terrorist groups at a remote region of South America could signal an intention to extend Hezbollah terrorist operations in the Western Hemisphere," he said.

"In such a scenario, Imad Mugniyah's control over a Canadian Hezbollah network could presage the launching of terrorist operations in and from this country."

Mr. Mugniyah is the alleged head of the Hezbollah security apparatus and is wanted in the United States for planning and taking part in the 1985 hijacking of a commercial airliner that left an American dead, according to the FBI.

He is also thought to have been behind a lengthy list of terror attacks spanning the past two decades, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina.

Mr. Bell said what convinced him of Mr. Mugniyah's involvement in Canada was a fax intercepted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service -- a message sent by Mohamad Hassan Dbouk, a Hezbollah agent in Vancouver, to his boss in Lebanon, Hassan Laqis.

"Dbouk sent one of these Palm Pilots to Laqis and the closing line to this was, 'I want you to know that I will do anything I can for you and the father, and I mean anything,' " Mr. Bell said. He believes the term "the father" referred to Mr. Mugniyah.

Later, in a telephone conversation monitored by CSIS agents, Mr. Dbouk admonished his alleged accomplice and brother-in-law, Ali Adham Amhaz, a resident of Burnaby, B.C., for mentioning the name Haj Imad on the phone.

"What a terribly dangerous thing to say," Mr. Dbouk said in the June 2, 1999, conversation. "Would anyone bring up Imad's name here or in any other country and stay alive?"

A CSIS report on the conversation said Mr. Dbouk referred to Haj Imad as "the whole story" and advised Mr. Amhaz to deny knowing the man. "Dbouk cautioned Amhaz to be careful and to pretend to know nothing," CSIS wrote.

Mr. Bell said he believes the Haj Imad mentioned in these exchanges is Mr. Mugniyah. According to Mr. Mugniyah's FBI "most wanted" poster, he uses the alias Hajj.

He is now believed to be living in southern Lebanon or Iran, but lately his name has surfaced in connection with planning in South America for a new wave of attacks against the United States and Israel.

Last week, authorities alleged that Mr. Mugniyah was directing al-Qaeda sympathizers based in the tri-border area at the junction of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The plan is to launch attacks within Western countries if the U.S. military moves against Iraq.

There are only two known photographs of Mr. Mugniyah and some [people] deny he even exists. He may have had plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Intelligence officials say all documents about his past were systematically stolen or destroyed in an attempt to erase his identity, but he is believed to have been born in Tayr Dibba, Lebanon, on July, 12, 1962.

After training with Yasser Arafat's Fatah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he fought in Lebanon's civil war and later served in Mr. Arafat's personal body guard, Force 17.

He is credited with establishing an Iranian-backed international terrorist network that operates within Western countries to help fulfill Hezbollah's goal of destroying Israel and establishing Islamic rule in the Middle East.

CSIS evidence presented in Federal Court called Mr. Mugniyah "an extremely violent man." A Hezbollah member caught in Canada in 1993 told CSIS agents that Hezbollah's political leaders would use Mr. Mugniyah to carry out operations outside Lebanon.

"When he joined Hezbollah -- by the way, he is a very fierce fighter -- they carried out many bombings and assassinations," Mohamed Hussein al-Husseini told CSIS. "Imad Mr. Mugniyah's group operates in great secrecy. He commands a number of men."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
canada

Canadian Women: Clueless and Amoral

Feminists anti-US speech causes uproar



Peter O'Neil

Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, October 02, 2001
Canadian Press



OTTAWA -- A B.C. feminist told a cheering audience here that the United States government is more threatening to the world than international terrorism.

Sunera Thobani received several standing ovations from about 500 delegates attending the Women's Resistance Conference on Monday.

[Standing ovation - the 500 women attending this hate speech, should be given 1st class tickets to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Syria, Iraq ... one way tickets.]


Her comments caused a political uproar, with opposition MPs condemning Secretary of State Hedy Fry for sitting silently as Thobani spoke. MPs called on the government to fire Fry, charging that she should have
immediately condemned Thobani's statements.

"Today in the world the United States is the most dangerous and the most powerful global force unleashing horrific levels of violence," said Thobani, a women's studies professor at the University of British Columbia and former head of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.

"From Chile to El Salvador to Nicaragua to Iraq, the path of U.S. foreign policy is soaked in blood."

Thobani said she empathizes with the human suffering following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania that left more than 6,000 people dead or missing. "But do we feel any pain for the victims of U.S. aggression?"

In an interview with The Vancouver Sun Monday night, Thobani said her comments were directed at George Bush, not the American people.

"I made a 40-minute speech. I provided a contest for those comments. I was basically advocating an end to war," she said.

"If America wants to lead this war, then I'm against American foreign policy."

In her speech, Thobani also ridiculed any suggestion that the U.S. would be advancing women's rights by ousting Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which has forbidden women from working, attending school, or showing their faces in public.   "It's really interesting to hear this talk about saving Afghani women," she said. "Those of us who have been colonized know what this saving means."

And what colonizing has the US done you quaga.

The Tanzanian-born Thobani became the first non-white president of the NAC in 1993, a position she held until 1996.

As the outspoken leader of the NAC, Thobani created much controversy when she said in 1995 that only white, middle-class women had benefited from the feminist movement.

Monday she said women will never be emancipated until the U.S. and the West stop dominating the world.

"The West for 500 years has believed that it could slaughter people into submission and it has not been able to do so. And it will not be able to so this time, either."

[The women in Canada need a new leader and a new idea because this woman is a moral idiot.]



After Thobani's speech, opposition MPs said Fry, the Chretien government's secretary of state for multiculturalism and the status of women, who also delivered a speech at the conference and was on the podium while Thobani spoke, should have sent an immediate message that the speech went too far.

"She should apologize to Canadians and our American cousins for not condemning these comments and walking out on this insulting and inflammatory speech," said Chuck Strahl, deputy leader of the Tory-Democratic Representative coalition.

New Democratic Party leader Alexa McDonough, whose party was once a close ally of NAC's, said Fry should have offered "an unequivocal rejection of the kind of cheap sloganeering, of the excessive rhetoric.

"This is a time to be building tolerance, to be building bridges, not to create greater divisions," McDonough said. Fry defended freedom of speech within Canada, but said she didn't applaud and immediately left the event after Thobani spoke.

"I condemn that speech," the Vancouver Centre MP told jeering opposition MPs.  "I thought the speech that was made by the expert of NAC to be incitement."

Opposition MPs said Fry, who wrongly portrayed Prince George as a haven for cross-burning racists earlier this year, has made one too many blunders and must be fired.

"The history of this minister is not a very happy one and I think it is time for a change," said Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day.

McDonough said Fry doesn't have the credibility to travel across Canada and speak publicly against intolerance.


























canada

US is a bully says majority of Canadians

Most See U.S. as a 'Bully,' Survey Finds



Canadians conflicted about how much support to show Americans


Tuesday, December 31, 2002
The Ottawa Citizen
by Norma Greenaway



Canadians have their backs up over American foreign policy, according to a new survey that shows the vast majority believe the United States is acting like a bully with the rest of the world.

The survey suggests a chill has developed in Canada-U.S. relations compared to the empathy and support that flowed following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and for the launch of the U.S.-led "war on terrorism."

Although almost half of those surveyed agree the United States, as the world's sole superpower, has a responsibility to intervene in the affairs of other countries to protect global security, almost seven in 10 believe the U.S. is "starting to act like a bully with the rest of the world."

The survey, based on telephone interviews with 1,400 adult Canadians, was conducted in the first half of November for Maclean's magazine, Global TV and the Citizen by the Strategic Counsel, a Toronto-based polling firm.

It makes clear Canadians are conflicted about how supportive and friendly they want to be with Americans, an ambivalence some analysts say Prime Minister Jean Chretien reflects in his reserved approach to the Bush administration.

Indeed, the survey lands as the Canadian government grapples with big issues: how to repair and enhance relations with the security-obsessed United States, the country's largest trading partner; and if and how to support Washington in a probable U.S.-led war on Iraq.

The survey indicates Canadians don't want the Chretien government bending over backwards to support the U.S. in the pending war.

The findings say Canadians are ambivalent, for example, about the threat posed by Iraq and are strongly opposed to backing a U.S.-led war on Saddam Hussein with Canadian fighting units.

At the same time, a majority -- 53 per cent -- said Canada should provide some non-combat support, such as food and transportation, regardless of whether the UN Security Council approves an attack.

Michael Sullivan, an analyst with the Strategic Counsel, says the findings lay bare Canadians' conflicted feelings about the United States.



"We obviously recognize we're tied to the U.S. in ways that we might not have been a decade ago because of NAFTA," he said.

But Canadians also are saying that despite shared security issues, a military partnership and a long friendship, their priorities are not necessarily the U.S. interests and the two countries may have different outlooks on things.

"As Canadians, we take pride in our role as peacemaking and peacekeeping," Mr. Sullivan said.

"I think that that is part of our personality. We take pride in medicare, we take pride in our peacekeeping role. And when we look at the U.S., we don't see those kind of values necessarily reflected."

Mr. Sullivan said the strong 67-per-cent Canadian agreement with the statement the U.S. government is "starting to act like a bully" with the rest of the world is telling.

It's not that Canadians don't think the U.S. has a responsibility in world affairs as the lone superpower, it's just they are upset over how the U.S. is exercising that responsibility, he said.

The survey shows more Canadians had put a distance between themselves and their U.S. counterparts by the end of this year, compared to a year earlier.

Last year, almost half of respondents -- 49 per cent -- said Canadians and Americas were "essentially" or "mainly" the same. That percentage slid to 41 per cent when the same question was asked this year.

Similarly, in the months after Sept 11, 2001, 33 per cent of Canadians said Americans are "like family" or "best friends." A year later, the proportion dropped to 22 per cent.

The results of the survey are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.








 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Canada

Canadian MP: Americas are bastards

MP apologizes for calling Americans 'bastards'


Wed, 26 Feb 2003 22:29:40
cbc.ca.news



OTTAWA - A Liberal MP has apologized for saying about Americans: "I hate those bastards."

MP Carolyn Parrish was speaking to reporters about Canada's diplomatic initiative on Iraq. At the end of her comments Parrish said, "Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards."



CBC reporter Susan Lunn who heard Parrish make the comment, says the MP then laughed as she was walking away.

In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Parrish says she made the comments in the heat of the moment in a private conversation. She says they do not reflect her opinion of the American people.

"My comments do not reflect my personal opinion of the American people and they certainly do not reflect the views of the government of Canada," she said in her written statement.

Late last year, the prime minister's communications director, Francoise Ducros, resigned after calling U.S. President George W. Bush "a moron" during a conversation with a reporter in Prague.

Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said Parrish's comments won't make relations between the two countries any better.

"They don't do Canadians any good – Canadians who are trying to cross the border for business, Canadians who are trying to sell lumber or agricultural products or manufactured goods to the United States," said Harper.

The Prime Minister's Office would only say that Parrish does not speak for the government of Canada.


She does not speak for the government of Canada - the one where seemingly random members of the government deride and attack the United States and the PMs office responds with a meaningless statement like - they do "not speak for the government of Canada. "

How about when Chretien said he had nothing in common with Bush - was he speaking for the government of Canada?  That Canada had little in common with the US - was that the government or a personal statement?

At what point does this rise to something more than people letting off steam.  In the US, if members of the Republican or Democratic party were to 'vent' as often as the Canadians seem to, the world press would be in non-stop overdrive with statements of derision.







 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Canada

Canadians: America Sucks

Teaching respect, everywhere they go.  It is so easy being anyone but the United States because the rules don't apply to you.  But, we are supposed to care when their feelings are hurt.




Canadians Tell U.S. Kids, 'America Sucks'


April 3, 2003
Newsmax.com


A busload of American "PeeWee" hockey players got a taste of the rabid anti-Americanism that is festering in Canada: They were hooted at, our National Anthem was booed, and people in the street gave them the finger or displayed other rude gestures.

The Massachusetts kids were in Montreal for a PeeWee tournament when residents of this French-speaking city treated them the way one would expect an enemy to be treated: with scorn and hostility.

According to the Toronto Globe & Mail, the 11- and 12-year-old boys from Brockton had been looking forward to the hockey tournament in Montreal. But parents who accompanied them said they were unprepared for the depth of anti-American hatred over the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

During their four-day visit, the young Americans were horrified to see the Stars and Stripes burned and hear the National Anthem booed. When traveling in their bus emblazoned with a red, white and blue "Coach USA" logo, they saw people on the street make angry gestures at them.

Even worse, while playing hockey their Canadian opponents told their American guests that "the U.S. sucks" and shouted other anti-American insults, the boys recalled.

"It was a shock to go to a tournament and have kids saying this to us. These are our friends that are doing this," Brockton Boxers coach Ernest Nadeau told the Globe & Mail. "We didn't expect Canadian players - especially young boys - would take things to that extreme."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Canada