Politics in 2018

[Rifleman62]

George Wallace; I have a suspicion that the Civil Servant in question has very little actual experience in Security and Intelligence and has done the lateral transfers up the Public Service ladder to arrive in his position.

He doesn't. Posted 24 Feb 18

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/trudeau-appoints-new-national-security-advisor

Trudeau's pick for security adviser shows focus on foreign affairs expertise - 5 May 16

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has picked an experienced deputy minister in foreign affairs rather than a senior security bureaucrat as his new national security adviser. The national security adviser wields much influence. He has the prime minister’s ear on security and intelligence issues, foreign and defence policy and acts as a conduit for conveying the prime minister and cabinet’s directions to the national security community.

 

[Rifleman62]

From SDA: http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/


https://www.producer.com/2018/03/india-hikes-chickpea-duty-2/

India hikes chickpea duty again - 1 Mar 18

Extract:WINNIPEG (CNS) — The Indian government has raised the import tariff for chickpeas from 40 percent to 60 percent. This is the second time India has raised the tariff. Published in the Gazette of India on March 1, the government said the tariff is to be imposed immediately, due to circumstances that make it necessary to take immediate action.

The tariffs were placed in order to support Indian farmers who faced lower commodity prices following large world crops of pulses. The Indian government has previously said it wants to reach self-sufficiency for pulses, but many analysts have said that isn’t possible as India relies on variable monsoon rains for its growing season.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited from Feb. 18 to 24, where he reached an agreement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on fumigation issues that Canadian pulses had faced upon on import into the country. The release announcing the agreement didn’t mention import tariffs. Last year Canada exported 10,000 tonnes of chickpeas to India, according to Statistics Canada.

 

[Remius]

Being the PM's NSA doesn't exactly have to mean that he has the credentials to actually be such an advisor.  He is filling the job as an appointment.

No it doesn't but it means that you need to be able to navigate political waters like this and push back when you are being asked to things that are clearly political in nature.  Especially with his experience with Global Affairs you would think that he would have advised against this course of action.  And maybe he did.

That's why this is so odd.

My suspicion as mentioned is that the PMO put a lot of pressure on him to do this and to make sure that he was the one to do the briefing to add whatever credence to this theory.

 

[Good2Golf]

George Wallace; I have a suspicion that the Civil Servant in question has very little actual experience in Security and Intelligence and has done the lateral transfers up the Public Service ladder to arrive in his position.

He doesn't. Posted 24 Feb 18

As opposed to someone like Dick Fadden.  Fadden, as many will remember, rankled the PM(O) with his insistence that foreign agencies (Chinese in particular) had worked their way into various levels of the Canadian Federal Government...cue Daniel Jean's entry into the picture as Canada's NSIA.

Regards
G2G

 

[Retired AF Guy]

George Wallace; I have a suspicion that the Civil Servant in question has very little actual experience in Security and Intelligence and has done the lateral transfers up the Public Service ladder to arrive in his position.

He doesn't. Posted 24 Feb 18

His background is in immigration.

Ottawa, Ontario
May 5, 2016

Education

Master of Business Administration, State University of New York
Bachelor of Social Sciences, International Relations and Economics, University of Ottawa
Executive Program, Queen’s University

Professional Experience

Since November 2013
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

2010 - 2013
Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage

2010
Deputy Minister, Administrative Services Review, Privy Council Office

2008 - 2010
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Operations), Privy Council Office

2007 - 2008
Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board

2007
Assistant Secretary, International Affairs, Security and Justice Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat

2003 - 2007
Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy and Program Development, and then Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

2000 - 2003
Director General, International Region, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

1995 - 2000
Counsellor (Immigration), Canadian Embassy in Washington, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

1992 - 1995
Director, Immigration Control, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

1988 - 1992
First Secretary (Immigration), Canadian Commission in Hong Kong, and then Counsellor and Consul, Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

1983 - 1988
Second Secretary (Immigration), Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), and then Vice-Consul (Immigration), Canadian Consulate General in Buffalo (United States), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

Link

 

[Jarnhamar]

I think the Civil Servant in question was given a sword and told to fall on it- for the good of the emperor.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

You people seem surprised that a unicorn loving PM, who thinks all international "wolves" circling Canada can be dealt with through being nice and using diplomacy to arrive at a peaceful resolution by compromise reached in good faith by all party ... and being nice, would appoint a career diplomat of the same type as his National Security Advisor instead of appointing someone from an actual security background that would speak the truth of the matter to him instead.

Why on earth would he want someone who knows what he/she is talking about and scare him with the fact that people out there are out to get us?

Just sayin'  op:

BTW, here's an interesting angle on that civil servant being fed to the dogs (journalists): Considering the amount of time between "spotting" Mr. Atwal and the actual trotting out of the NSIA, there are two possibilities here. First, the Intelligence services of Canada knew before the trip that some faction of the Indian government were out to make Trudeau look bad - in which case the PM security services should have looked more carefully at everything before anything took place; or, second possibility: they looked into it only after Mr. Atwal was spotted by the press - in which case, Canada just revealed that it has incredibly well placed sources within the Indian government because that was amazingly fast work to obtain such info and confirm it that quickly - and revealing that is definitely NOT in our national interest if its the case.

 

[YZT580]

One other option (Occam's razor) the PMO panicked and went looking for any remotely plausible lie to feed the public.

 

[suffolkowner]

https://globalnews.ca/news/4058984/justin-trudeau-india-trip-ipsos-poll/

the bloom is coming off the Liberals even in Ontario although maybe Wynne is dragging him down as well

 

[Altair]

From SDA: http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/


https://www.producer.com/2018/03/india-hikes-chickpea-duty-2/

India hikes chickpea duty again - 1 Mar 18

Extract:WINNIPEG (CNS) — The Indian government has raised the import tariff for chickpeas from 40 percent to 60 percent. This is the second time India has raised the tariff. Published in the Gazette of India on March 1, the government said the tariff is to be imposed immediately, due to circumstances that make it necessary to take immediate action.

The tariffs were placed in order to support Indian farmers who faced lower commodity prices following large world crops of pulses. The Indian government has previously said it wants to reach self-sufficiency for pulses, but many analysts have said that isn’t possible as India relies on variable monsoon rains for its growing season.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited from Feb. 18 to 24, where he reached an agreement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on fumigation issues that Canadian pulses had faced upon on import into the country. The release announcing the agreement didn’t mention import tariffs. Last year Canada exported 10,000 tonnes of chickpeas to India, according to Statistics Canada.

No worries.

Industry group says most Canadian chickpeas exempt from India's tariff increase: http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/trudeau-says-indias-chickpea-tariff-hike-is-unrelated-to-his-botched-trip-and-he-might-be-right

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent trip to India may have caused a diplomatic row, but he insists it had nothing to do with India’s decision to hike tariffs on chickpeas this week — and he has good reason for saying so.

Canada’s industry group for chickpea growers says the type of chickpea Canada specializes in is in fact exempt from the most recent tariff increase.

“Ninety-five per cent of the chickpeas grown in Canada are kabuli variety,” said Madeleine Goodwin, head of communications for Pulse Canada. “Agriculture Canada has informed us that kabuli chickpeas are exempt from today’s tariff increase.”

 

[Rifleman62]

I saw the report you just posted. I wondered why The Western Producer didn't mention that fact.

“Agriculture Canada has informed us that kabuli chickpeas are exempt from today’s tariff increase.”

Thus I will remain skeptical as this government is not transparent nor honest.

 

[Old Sweat]

Surely our government would not be so infantile as to believe lying would turn the tariffs into a non-issue, oh, wait . . .

 

[Altair]

I saw the report you just posted. I wondered why The Western Producer didn't mention that fact.

Thus I will remain skeptical as this government is not transparent nor honest.

Fake news eh?

 

[Altair]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/it-s-not-us-it-s-them-why-canada-has-nothing-to-do-with-india-s-new-chickpea-tariff-1.3826385

India’s new chickpea tariff was presented by Conservatives Friday as another consequence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bungled trip to India. But industry insiders say the global trade measure has a built-in exemption for the specific type of chickpeas Canada exports to India.

To understand the issue, it’s important to understand that there are several types of chickpeas. In Canada, 95 per cent of our exported chickpeas to India are kabuli chickpeas, according to Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada, a group that represents chickpea farmers.

India’s new tariff, which jumped to 60 per cent from 40 per cent, specifically targets desi chickpeas -- not kabuli chickpeas.

Another important figure: Canada only accounts for 2 per cent of India’s total chickpea imports.

Bacon suggested that, rather than retaliating against Canada, India is taking steps to protect its own farmers.

“We have to understand that India’s policy is driven by a decision within the Indian government to increase the level of price protection and support for Indian farmers,” he told CTV’s Power Play on Friday.

However, in question period, the debate did not delve into differentiating the two different types of chickpeas.

Instead, Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen specifically blamed Trudeau’s recent trade trip to India, which has been mired in controversy over how Jaspal Atwal, a B.C. Sikh convicted of trying to kill an Indian cabinet minister in 1986, was invited to an event.

An official within the Trudeau government suggested that factions within the Indian government arranged the invitation.

Bergen called the tariff “a clear signal that India is understandably upset and Canadian chickpea producers are the first to pay the price.”

Yes, lets suggest that it was the prime ministers trip to india that made india raise tariffs on 98 percent of the other sources of Chickpea imports.

 

[jollyjacktar]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/it-s-not-us-it-s-them-why-canada-has-nothing-to-do-with-india-s-new-chickpea-tariff-1.3826385
Yes, lets suggest that it was the prime ministers trip to india that made india raise tariffs on 98 percent of the other sources of Chickpea imports.

You said it first. 

 

[Altair]

You said it first. 

no i didn't

Instead, Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen specifically blamed Trudeau’s recent trade trip to India

 

[Rifleman62]

Fake news eh?

No, it's not Fake News. It is the government stating that the tariffs will not apply to Cdn producers. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen.

Fake News is a event/non -event/incident/story/etc fabricated by the news media.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

The plot thickens!

B.C. Liberal MP now says he didn’t invite Atwal

By Kelsey Johnson. Published on Mar 3, 2018 5:18pm

A Liberal MP from British Columbia says he didn’t invite convicted attempted murderer Jaspal Atwal to a reception attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in India – despite having previously taken sole responsibility for the invitation.

“I didn’t invite the person,” Randeep Sarai said of Atwal in an interview with his riding’s local newspaper, The Surrey Now Leader. Atwal, a Sikh extremist, was found guilty of trying to assassinate an Indian cabinet minister in 1986.

Canadian officials eventually revoked Atwal’s invitation to the reception put on by the Canadian High Commission after media reports revealed he had been formally invited – but not before Atwal had been photographed beside the prime minister’s wife, Sophie Trudeau, and one of his cabinet ministers, Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, at an earlier event.

At the time, Sarai said in a statement it was his choice alone to include Atwal on the guest list and he realized afterwards that he exercised poor judgement in doing so. This past week, Sarai resigned as the chair of the Liberals’ B.C. caucus over the incident.

Now, in his first interview since the incident, Sarai told The Surrey Now Leader that Atwal was among more than two dozen people who had expressed interest in attending the reception. His office simply passed on the names of any interested party to the event’s organizers.

Rest of article here.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Oh, there's definitely some thickness involved in these Member's of Parliament.

 

[ModlrMike]

Rick Mercer's take on the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4cCNNDHA4