Justin Trudeau hints at boosting Canada’s military spending

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[GK .Dundas]

That and the fact that he had no coms during a crisis back home and couldn't figure out why people were upset.
Palliser was utterly tone deaf.
I came to the conclusion not long after he took as Premier that he hadn't a clue how Government worked and lacked the mental agility to change.
He didn't seem to understand that it wasn't like running his own company.

 

[RangerRay]

I hear the PM is off on vacation in Costa Rica. Hmmmm

When our Premier - a Conservative - went there (he owns property there) he was raked over the coals as people thought he should vacation in Manitoba.

I think part of it was he wasn’t gone for a couple of weeks but a month or so.

But part of it was also class envy.

 

[OldSolduer]

I think part of it was he wasn’t gone for a couple of weeks but a month or so.

But part of it was also class envy.

I think you might be right on the first point and definitely right on the second.

There is a strong Communist streak in this province that speaks "if you are rich you stole the money from the poor".

 

[OldSolduer]

That and the fact that he had no coms during a crisis back home and couldn't figure out why people were upset.
Palliser was utterly tone deaf.
I came to the conclusion not long after he took as Premier that he hadn't a clue how Government worked and lacked the mental agility to change.
He didn't seem to understand that it wasn't like running his own company.

I'll concede those points. Pallister I never liked and his successor less so.

 

[kev994]

When our Premier - a Conservative - went there (he owns property there) he was raked over the coals as people thought he should vacation in Manitoba.

He was there for 2 months at a time and didn’t take a phone with him.

 

[Kirkhill]

Melanie Joly - apparently Sabrina Maddeaux is not a fan.

Sabrina Maddeaux: The incredibly incompetent Mélanie Joly

Foreign affairs is too important a cabinet position to be handled so carelessly

nationalpost.com

Sabrina Maddeaux: The incredibly incompetent Mélanie Joly​

Foreign affairs is too important a cabinet position to be handled so carelessly

Author of the article:
Sabrina Maddeaux
Publishing date:
Aug 05, 2022 • 4 hours ago • 3 minute read • 409 Comments


Something is seriously wrong at Global Affairs Canada — and it’s getting harder not to conclude a change must occur at the very top.

Not all cabinet positions are created equal, and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s is one that literally deals with life and death on a daily basis. There’s little room for error, let alone the displays of gross incompetence, dysfunction and/or bad judgment we’ve seen as of late. The job is simply too important. The stakes are too high.

In June, we learned a foreign affairs staffer was sent to attend a garden party at Russia’s embassy in Ottawa. What followed was a chaotic flurry of finger-pointing between Joly’s office and Global Affairs staffers about who knew what and when. The public never did get a satisfactory answer.

Now we have another round of “did she know or didn’t she”— this time with lives on the line. The Globe and Mail reports that, in the weeks leading up to the Russian invasion, Canada abandoned its Ukrainian embassy staff as Canadians rushed to evacuate themselves and their pets. Even more appalling, diplomats had seen intelligence reports that Ukrainian staffers were likely on Russian kill lists.

This decision to desert roughly 50 loyal employees, to leave them for death, detention or worse given Russian troops’ well-documented predilection for rape and torture, reportedly came from the top.

According to Globe and Mail sources, Ottawa clearly instructed Canadian diplomats to not tell Ukrainian staff about the impending invasion or the target on their backs. They had to learn about both through the grapevine via U.S. embassy employees, who were warned of the danger.

Remember, this choice was made at a time when it was widely believed Putin’s troops would overwhelm Ukraine and capture Kyiv within weeks, if not days.

Local staffers were even denied requests to work remotely farther from the battlefront in Lviv or neighbouring Poland. This while Canadian MPs, not in a war zone, still can’t bring themselves to physically attend question period or even the recent Hockey Canada hearings.

Many Ukrainian staffers eventually found ways to evacuate themselves, helped by $90,000 they raised mostly from Canadians who’d worked in the country. This bears repeating: Canada’s Ukrainian employees had to crowdfund their evacuation so they wouldn’t face likely detention, torture or death. With allies like us, who even needs enemies?

As for Joly, she again claims ignorance. She says she didn’t know about Five Eyes intelligence reports that warned Ukrainian embassy staff were likely on Russian hit lists.

This boggles the mind on many levels. Let’s presume for a minute Joly is telling the truth — a presumption that admittedly requires quite the suspension of disbelief.

This would mean senior Global Affairs staff are routinely failing to inform the minister about critical information.

It would also mean Joly somehow managed to miss headline reports in the world’s largest media outlets that Russia was preparing kill lists.

Then she would have to be so naive, so terribly uninformed about world history and global affairs that she didn’t perceive a risk to Ukrainian staffers that a first-year poli sci student could’ve predicted.

And this is only the Ukraine file. Where’s the China policy that was promised back in 2019? Sources tell the Globe and Mail it’s in the works, but as an Indo-Pacific strategy that looks like it won’t mention … wait for it … China. Meanwhile, the ambassador to China role has been empty for six months.

Despite deciding in 2017 a “focused effort” was needed to deal with what the U.N. calls ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and their further suffering in Bangladesh refugee camps, Canada still isn’t doing much beyond naming special envoys.

Joly says Global Affairs is undertaking an internal process to sort out the Ukraine fiasco among other problems. But the time for vague and never-ending processes, reviews and committee groupthink is over. It’s time for decisive action.

There really should be no scenario in which Joly can in good conscience keep her job.

Ideally, she should step down so someone more capable can lead the way. But if she won’t, keeping Joly in the post would fit the definition of insanity and would inevitably put more lives in danger. Repeated, easily preventable failures of this magnitude aren’t a learning curve, they’re red lights flashing over the eject minister button.

National Post

 

[RangerRay]

Her incompetence has been on full display since elevated to the “C” Team of cabinet a few years ago. Warren Kinsella has been talking about her incompetence well before her elevation to the “A” Team. She must have something on someone!

 

[Kirkhill]

And Ukraine's artillery is shy 100,000 rounds of 155mm while Canada tries to negotiate a deal with South Korea for the ammunition. Presumably Canada is trying to negotiate offsets for a Quebec papermill or some such.

Meanwhile S. Korea is probably thinking it may have a lot of local targets for that ammunition if Nancy Pelosi hangs around much longer.

Status of Canadian deal to buy artillery shells for Ukraine is uncertain

Talks are underway to make a purchase from South Korea, but Defence Minister Anita Anand refused to say whether it would go ahead

nationalpost.com

 

[MilEME09]

And Ukraine's artillery is shy 100,000 rounds of 155mm while Canada tries to negotiate a deal with South Korea for the ammunition. Presumably Canada is trying to negotiate offsets for a Quebec papermill or some such.

Meanwhile S. Korea is probably thinking it may have a lot of local targets for that ammunition if Nancy Pelosi hangs around much longer.

Status of Canadian deal to buy artillery shells for Ukraine is uncertain

Talks are underway to make a purchase from South Korea, but Defence Minister Anita Anand refused to say whether it would go ahead

nationalpost.com

Do we have any domestic 155 production we can ramp up?

 

[daftandbarmy]

Her incompetence has been on full display since elevated to the “C” Team of cabinet a few years ago. Warren Kinsella has been talking about her incompetence well before her elevation to the “A” Team. She must have something on someone!

But, like her boss, she's a good looking Franco female

 

[Good2Golf]

She must have something on someone!

Reverse cowgirl?

 

[Prairie canuck]

He was there for 2 months at a time and didn’t take a phone with him.

Is that statement taken from the Manitoba NDP propaganda book?

 

[GK .Dundas]

No , he admitted it himself .
His defense was that when he went down there it was to get away from it all.
As I recall it wasn't too long after he had been elected as Premier.

 

[YZT580]

Her incompetence has been on full display since elevated to the “C” Team of cabinet a few years ago. Warren Kinsella has been talking about her incompetence well before her elevation to the “A” Team. She must have something on someone!

I have to say this carefully to avoid or at least deflect in-coming but at least two of the reasons deal with sex and Quebec. She represents an important riding and her credentials are great academically. According to her biography though she has never had a real job for any length of time but has been involved in politics. She became a cabinet minister almost as soon as she was first elected. Perhaps her boss is the one who should be replaced first as his judgement of people and their skills is definitely questionable

Her incompetence has been on full display since elevated to the “C” Team of cabinet a few years ago. Warren Kinsella has been talking about her incompetence well before her elevation to the “A” Team. She must have something on someone!

Two

 

[Spencer100]

Her incompetence has been on full display since elevated to the “C” Team of cabinet a few years ago. Warren Kinsella has been talking about her incompetence well before her elevation to the “A” Team. She must have something on someone!

She's just the right 50% of peoplekind that is all.

 

[Spencer100]

And Ukraine's artillery is shy 100,000 rounds of 155mm while Canada tries to negotiate a deal with South Korea for the ammunition. Presumably Canada is trying to negotiate offsets for a Quebec papermill or some such.

Meanwhile S. Korea is probably thinking it may have a lot of local targets for that ammunition if Nancy Pelosi hangs around much longer.

Status of Canadian deal to buy artillery shells for Ukraine is uncertain

Talks are underway to make a purchase from South Korea, but Defence Minister Anita Anand refused to say whether it would go ahead

nationalpost.com

South Korea will be the big winner in all of this. Their defense industries will be running full out for years. Tanks, planes, ships and ammo.

 

[OldSolduer]

Reverse cowgirl?

That's a good one.

Seriously we - Canada - have abandoned faithful allies twice in the last 12 months. Our incompetent - and uncaring - Liberal Party of Canada is concerned about ONE thing - that the Liberal Party of Canada remain in power no matter what the cost.

I am afraid the cost will be Canadian lives and the lives of some of our allies - if we have any left.

 

[Prairie canuck]

No , he admitted it himself .
His defense was that when he went down there it was to get away from it all.
As I recall it wasn't too long after he had been elected as Premier.

He had all the means and devices to stay in touch to deal with priority communications. He had plenty of staff and a government bureaucracy in Manitoba to do their jobs and take care of everything else. But lets not let the truth stand in the way of a manufactured for the media NDP crisis.
Democratic governments of any stripe do not rely and only act on the rule of 1 leader regardless of who is elected.

footnote* He was first elected in 1992 and served in both federal and provincial politics until his resignation. 29 years is a good indication that he knew how government worked.

Sorry, took a hard left and had to bring it back to the right, back to Trudeau's promises now....

 

[McG]

Do we have any domestic 155 production we can ramp up?

The old IVI facility (today GD-OTS Canada) should be more than capable of doing 155 mm.

 

[GR66]

The old IVI facility (today GD-OTS Canada) should be more than capable of doing 155 mm.

And you would be correct.

GD-OTS Canada