[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[viper37]

It's the same with Canada.  Alberta exports most of its oil to the US instead of shipping it to Quebec and New Brunswick.

Alberta would love to sell its oil to Quebec and New Brunswick.  There's just no way to get it there.

There was a multi-billion-dollar proposal to reconfigure an existing NG pipeline to send crude oil to Quebec and New Brunswick.  Trudeau killed it upon coming to power.

It's complicated.

Trudeau the elder killed this idea long ago that Quebec should refine any oil from Alberta, so our refineries aren't equipped for your oil.

So the oil would just transit Quebec to get to NB.  Social acceptability is extremely low for such a project.

[HVC]

Ontario Conservatives jumping on the tax free holiday PR bandwagon and are going to match with provincial taxes.

[Barrister]

Ontario Conservatives jumping on the tax free holiday PR bandwagon and are going to match with provincial taxes.

Really?  I wonder why.

Federal Conservatives will vote against it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gst-holiday-vote-1.7395767

[Grey Fox]

Why is the Ontario government saying anything? Ontario has a HST.

[Barrister]

Why is the Ontario government saying anything? Ontario has a HST.

Ah - digging in, it seems more that Ontario is just not seeking compensation from the Feds for the lost revenue, despite it costing the province $1 billion.

[crazy canuck]

Ontario Conservatives jumping on the tax free holiday PR bandwagon and are going to match with provincial taxes.

It's not so much that the are jumping on.  The Federal Liberals didn't think about the cost to the provinces that have a harmonized sales tax.  For those provinces it makes sense to get some political credit for the economic pain they are going to suffer whether they join in or not.

[Josephus]

Ontario Conservatives jumping on the tax free holiday PR bandwagon and are going to match with provincial taxes.

Really?  I wonder why.

Federal Conservatives will vote against it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gst-holiday-vote-1.7395767

These are the same Conservatives who are against taxes, but are going to vote against a tax holiday? What am I missing?

[Barrister]

Ontario Conservatives jumping on the tax free holiday PR bandwagon and are going to match with provincial taxes.

Really?  I wonder why.

Federal Conservatives will vote against it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gst-holiday-vote-1.7395767

These are the same Conservatives who are against taxes, but are going to vote against a tax holiday? What am I missing?

My friend - try reading the article.

They'd prefer permanent tax relief (of course Poilievre names eliminating the carbon tax) rather than an expensive tax holiday.

[crazy canuck]

Here is some reporting from the Globe and it highlights the concerns I have with PP.  The first statement he made is entirely accurate.  The first sentence of the third paragraph is accurate.  But then he veers into attack dog intellectual dishonesty (to put it politely). The fact the number of asylum claims jumped has nothing to do with the border and PP knows it.  The reason it has jumped is because everyone here on a student visa that now faces going home because the Feds finally put an end to that abuse of the system has claimed asylum.  It's a claim that will fail, but the claimants are counting on the fact that our system moves so slowly that they will be able to stay while their claim is being processed.  That has nothing to do with people going to the US illegally.

In his efforts to be an attack dog, he has done considerable damage to the Canadian position.  Trumpists are not going to discern that PP is making false claims.  They are going to think the problem is worse than that thought.  And just in case the Trumpists missed it, PP made the connection clear in that last bolded statement.

What did we do to deserve this group from which we need to elect our next PM?

 

Speaking on Thursday, the day after an emergency meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premiers over pledged tariffs from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, Mr. Poilievre said Mr. Trudeau bears responsibility for problems at Canada's borders, citing Quebec's Roxham Road, which turned into an unofficial border crossing for asylum seekers, and American concerns about thousands of foreigners sneaking into the U.S. from Canada.

On Monday, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump vowed to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products over accusations of illegal migration and drug smuggling into the United States. 

"We didn't have these problems before Justin Trudeau, we didn't have Roxham Road before Justin Trudeau, we didn't have these illegal border crossings," Mr. Poilievre said. "The number of asylum claims have gone from 10,000 to over 200,000 under Justin Trudeau," he said.

"What we're seeing now, though, is that because the Prime Minister has vacated the border and turned it open to anyone who wants to come in, the Premiers are now taking responsibility for our border," he said.

[Barrister]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/patrick-brown-india-rempel-garner-poilievre-conservative-leadership-1.7397282

So in-depth article about the allegations of Indian government interference in the Conservative Party leadership race.

It seems to turn out that the efforts weren't to try and push Poilievre - but rather to pull support away from Patrick Brown.

The reason is a familiar one - Brown was seen as being too friendly with Sikh-Canadians.

I found this particularly interesting - Brown and Indian PM Modi used to be friends:

Brown and Modi actually used to be friends.

The relationship between the two men developed in the early 2000s, when Modi was chief minister of the State of Gujarat.


At the time, Brown was a federal backbencher in Stephen Harper's government and president of the Canada-India Parliamentary Association.

In his autobiography, Brown talks about his numerous trips to India and the royal treatment he received through his connection with Modi.

He even describes the Indian politician as "one of my inspirations in politics," citing his economic achievements.

But Brown has since expressed concerns about the religious-nationalist character of the Modi government.

"I have been tremendously disappointed with what's happened in India," Brown said in a 2022 campaign video, accusing the country of "discrimination" against Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities.

As you may or may not recall, Brown was disqualified from the Conservative leadership campaign for election financing wrongdoing, allegations Brown rejected.

[Barrister]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/arranged-marriages-residential-schools-1.7396200

Some missing residential school students disappeared into arranged marriages, report says
Researchers say more investigation needed to find out total numbers affected

Samantha Schwientek · CBC News · Posted: Dec 03, 2024 2:00 AM MST | Last Updated: December 3
Leah Redcrow believes her grandparents, Ruby and Stanley Redcrow, could have been put in an arranged marriage back when both were students at Sacred Heart Indian Residential School in Alberta, in 1928. (Submitted by Leah Redcrow)

Some children who disappeared from residential schools ended up in arranged marriages organized by school principals and the government, according to the final report from the special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.

Leah Redcrow believes her grandparents, who were married at Sacred Heart Indian Residential School (later called Blue Quills) in Alberta in 1928, may have been one of an unknown number of couples whose marriages were arranged by authorities.

So I find the topic of residential schools really fascinating, and this article tends to show why.

(I have to go - will edit to add more later)

[crazy canuck]

The liberals unveiled their Arctic strategy yet again. This time emphasizing the need to work closely with the Americans and so now we are calling it the North American Arctic rather than the Canadian Arctic.

No doubt this is all timed to be part of the efforts to convince Trump that Canada is important to the United States.

As usual, no details or funding was announced for this newest Northern strategy.

[Rex Francorum]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/religion-in-schools-new-law-quebec-1.7403485

Quebec Premier François Legault said Friday afternoon that he wants to ban praying in public and that he was considering using the notwithstanding clause to do so.

The premier was giving an overview of the past year in Quebec City before lawmakers break until January when he made the announcement. He said he had instructed his team to look into ways to put the ban in place.

"Seeing people praying in the streets, in public parks, is not something we want in Quebec," Legault said.

His comments, a departure from the other topics in the overview, came after a report in La Presse described religious behaviour at Saint-Maxime school in Laval, Que., which included prayer inside classrooms. It also reported teachers communicating among themselves and with students in Arabic.

"We have seen teachers implementing Islamist religious concepts in schools. Teachers who forbid girls from playing sports, among other things. Teachers, we see it again this morning, in Laval, who say prayers in the classrooms of our schools," Legault said.

"When we want to pray, we go to a church, we go to a mosque, but not in public places. And yes, we will look at the means where we can act legally or otherwise."

Quebec investigating 17 schools for possible violations of secularism law
Muslim groups promise to monitor Quebec ban on school prayer spaces
Asked by journalists about the legal and constitutional repercussions of such a measure, the premier said he was not ruling out using the notwithstanding clause, which his government has already used twice to push bills into law.

"Today I want to send a very clear message to the Islamists," Legault said. "We will fight, and we will never, never accept that people try to not respect the values ��that are fundamental to Quebec."

The school service centre overseeing the Saint-Maxime school said it had launched an investigation into the allegations reported by La Presse.

"We will get to the bottom of things and if corrective action must be taken, it will be done diligently," said Yves Michel Volcy, the service centre's director, in a statement.

The service centre confirmed that "management of the Saint-Maxime school has already had to intervene in the past to ensure that the principles of secularism are respected."

The Canadian Muslim Forum called Legault's words "deeply troubling."

"Every day seems to bring new instances of discrimination against Quebecers who practise Islam. This troubling trend suggests that some politicians view these citizens as second class, undeserving of the same rights and respect as others," the statement read.

"These remarks add to a pattern of political rhetoric that unfairly targets Quebecers, especially those of Muslim faith, based solely on their backgrounds."

Minister wants law to 'strengthen secularism' in schools

Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville also reacted to the newspaper report Friday, saying the government intends to introduce new legislation to "strengthen secularism in our school system."

Drainville said he had no details of what would be in the new legislation and asked reporters at the National Assembly to "be patient."

The minister, too, had scathing words for the allegations reported in La Presse.

"That's not our Quebec," he said. "Students praying in the classroom, while class is in session, with the teachers there. Hallways used as prayer spaces, in contravention of the directive against prayer in schools ... heckling during sex education ... that's not our Quebec."

Quebec's Education Ministry announced in November that it was monitoring 17 schools for possible violations of the province's secularism law. That announcement came after a 90-page government report highlighted an allegedly toxic environment for teachers and students at Bedford elementary school in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood.

Eleven teachers at that school were suspended after an investigation.

Jean-François Roberge, the minister responsible for laicity — often referred to as secularism — said Friday that the incidents involving religion that are being reported in the province's schools are indicative of what he described as a wider problem.

"What we see in the schools seems like the tip of the iceberg," he said. "It's a manifestation of a deeper problem where we see people, and institutions, that are intentionally trying to influence things, trying to have religious considerations put in our institutions that are somewhat incompatible with the notion of state secularism."

The report into Bedford and the subsequent reports of incidents at other schools have drawn the attention of provincial politicians.

Not sure where I stand on this. I was, and still am, 100% behind the previous laicity legislation. But this, it goes a bit too far to my taste. Besides, it will be hard to manage. I guess there will be heated debates about what is a "public prayer". Also, it won't solves the problem of islamic stupidities in schools.

[Grey Fox]

Seems hard to implement. Parks are where in that definition?

[crazy canuck]

It's hard to understand why the Quebec government thinks this is important. That article is about events in a particular school and concerns that things might be happening in other schools. What does a ban on public prayer have to do with that?