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Run Up to Election 2019

Fishbone Jones

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Does this seem like the roll out of the grit platform for the election? Is she laying the groundwork for the PM's Big Red Tent?  :dunno:

Canada faces new world order in the face of dramatic change, says Chrystia Freeland
In what was billed as a major speech on Canada’s foreign policy priorities, the Foreign Affairs Minister sketched out the challenges the country faces today and the role it aspires to play.

News Jun 06, 2017 by Bruce Campion-Smith Hamilton Spectator
Chrystia Freeland

In her speech, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland called the U.S. an "indispensible nation," but that those times might be coming to an end. - Adrian Wyld,THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA—Canada is facing a new world order threatened by climate change, ISIL extremists, Russian aggression and the reality that many Americans want to "shrug off the burden of world leadership," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday.

In what was billed as a major speech on Canada's foreign policy priorities, Freeland sketched out the challenges the country faces today and the role it aspires to play.

She acknowledged the dramatic changes unfolding in Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pulled out of a global climate change pact, assailed NATO alliance for not pulling its fair share and talked up protectionist trade barriers.

While Freeland called the United States the "indispensable nation" in the postwar world order, those times may be coming to an end.

"It would be naive or hypocritical to claim … that all Americans today agree. Indeed, many of the voters in last year's presidential election cast their ballots, animated in part by a desire to shrug off the burden of world leadership. To say this is not controversial: it is simply a fact," Freeland said.

"Canada is grateful, and will always be grateful, to our neighbour for the outsized role it has played in the world. And we seek and will continue to seek to persuade our friends that their continued international leadership is very much in their national interest—as well as that of the rest of the free world," she said according to a prepared text of her remarks.

In laying out Canada's foreign policy priorities, Freeland said that Ottawa will "robustly" support the rules-based international order and its institutions.

Those include G7, the G20, APEC, the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, NATO and the UN, she said.

In those forums, Canada will promote Canadian values that include feminism, and the promotion of the rights of women and girls, Freeland said.

"Women's rights are human rights. That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy," Freeland said.

More at link - https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7357042-canada-faces-new-world-order-in-the-face-of-dramatic-change-says-chrystia-freeland/
 
Yep. The Liberals will be hoisting the New World Order Flag.
 
How Harper transformed Canada’s foreign policy
John Ibbitson
JOHN IBBITSON
CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED JANUARY 31, 2014

Under the Harper government, Canada has experienced the most radical shift in foreign policy since the Second World War.

What was elitist is now populist; what was multilateral is far more bilateral; what was co-operative has become assertive; what was – you name it: global security, global governance, conflict resolution – is now trade before all.

This approach for Canada is so transformative that you could call it The Big Break – a rupture from everything that had come before.

From Louis St. Laurent to Paul Martin, Canadian foreign policy had embraced and advanced collective security, alliances with other democracies and the international rule of law, all while shouldering our share of the burden of international responsibilities and cooperating with, while keeping a wary eye on, the American superpower to the south.

But by the time Stephen Harper came to power in 2006, cuts to the defence budget had forced Canada to mostly withdraw from its peacekeeping and NATO responsibilities. And, the shocks of Sept. 11, 2001, had left Ottawa struggling to cope with an enraged United States and a Middle East on fire. Canada's foreign policy had become increasingly incoherent.

Mr. Harper was determined that his approach would reflect the values and concerns of the Conservative coalition: The West plus rural and suburban Ontario, which include ridings with large populations of immigrants from Asia and the Pacific.

That meant, for example, taking a tough stand against the communist regime in China, while counting on businesses to continue chasing deals.

It meant improving the capability of Canada's military and fostering patriotic pride by taking a new interest in the Arctic.

It meant participating fully only in those multilateral forums that could advance Canada's interests.

And it meant putting economic diplomacy ahead of other concerns – in the Harper era, trade trumps everything.

But this makes it sound as though the Conservatives had thought out their foreign policy in advance. In reality, they stumbled and bumbled and reacted and back-tracked.

The "principled" stand on China came a cropper, as business opportunities dried up and the Prime Minister began to realize that he had managed to offend an emerging economic superpower.

Even an upgraded military couldn't bring peace to the chaos of Kandahar. The economic downturn forced procurement budget cuts that made a mockery of the Arctic strategy.

Ambivalence and contradiction cost Canada a seat on the United Nations Security Council. And despite the commitment to trade, the Harper government refused to get involved in the Trans Pacific Partnership talks.

Roland Paris, of the University of Ottawa, recently rejected a claim by former diplomat Colin Robertson that the Harper government's foreign policy was ideologically based.

"I think ideologically based almost gives too much credit to what is, essentially, a fairly incoherent foreign policy," he retorted. True enough, at least in the early years.

But as the government gained experience, it adapted its principles to fit a fluid reality. The Conservatives learned.

Mr. Harper has worked to restore relations with China to the point that Paul Evans, of the University of British Columbia, writes in his forthcoming book, Engaging China, that by 2012, "the high policy of engagement was back where the Martin government had left it in 2005."

The army is steadily withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Conservatives have avoided several subsequent potential quagmires, and a new defence strategy blueprint is expected to refocus the Canadian military from expeditionary adventures to national defence, with special attention paid to the Far North.

Canada signed a landmark agreement with the European Union and finally won a seat at the Trans Pacific Partnership talks. Signature new trading agreements could be the most important legacy of this government's majority mandate.

As he became more experienced on the world stage, Mr. Harper got a better sense of which multilateral forums advanced Canadian interests – the G20, G8 and the Arctic Council, for example – and which were mostly talking shops – such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth and le Francophonie.

Foreign Affairs has been steadily reoriented toward economic diplomacy, with the Canadian Internal Development Agency folded back into the department to allow aid to follow trade.

Sum it all up and what do you have? A Big Break. A new determination to make Canada's foreign policy more conservative in word and deed. It's quite a change.

Some people hope that this break is really only a bump; that after the next election a new and different government will restore a more balanced, multi-lateral approach to Canada in the world.

Perhaps. But for another party to form the government, it will have to take into account the rise of the West, the power of the suburbs and the new waves of immigrants.

And if this faction actually likes this new approach to foreign policy, then the new government will have to take that reality into account as well.

Should this come to pass, The Big Break will no longer be seen as a break at all. We'll have a new term for it. We'll call it bipartisan

Same author in 2017

Trudeau's foreign policy vs. Harper's: There is little difference
John Ibbitson
JOHN IBBITSON
PUBLISHED MARCH 8, 2017
UPDATED APRIL 14, 2017

What a splendid job Justin Trudeau is doing in carrying out Stephen Harper's foreign policy. Both men should be so proud.

There's been a lot of Liberal rhetoric about Canada being back on the world stage after a decade of Conservative darkness. Some of us aren't sure fighting wars in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq, or being in the front lines of delivering aid to quake victims in Haiti and Ebola victims in Africa, or joining trade negotiations in both the Atlantic and the Pacific constituted an absence. Whatever. Justin Trudeau promised that his Liberal government would revive Canada's reputation as a caring nation committed to doing its share, and he's kept his word.

Canada is indeed doing its share – the same share that it contributed under the Conservatives.

On Wednesday, the Liberals announced funding for sexual and reproductive health programs overseas, which builds on the maternal health initiative that Stephen Harper spearheaded in 2010. The Conservatives refused to fund abortion services; the Liberals, commendably, are filling that gap.

This week, Ottawa extended for another two years the military mission launched by the Conservatives to help Ukraine defend itself. On Justin Trudeau's watch, Canada is not only staying in Ukraine – it will also lead a battle group stationed in Latvia to deter Russian aggression in the Baltic states. Canadian hostility to Vladimir Putin's ambitions is as pointed under the Liberals as it ever was under the Conservatives.

The Liberal government did end the air combat component of the mission against the Islamic State in Iraq. But the Liberals have preserved and expanded other components, such as aerial surveillance, training and medical aid. Canadian troops have even been spotted in the front lines. This country is every bit as committed to the fight against the Islamic State under Mr. Trudeau as it was under Mr. Harper.

Mr. Trudeau was determined to return Canada to its traditional role of peacekeeping. But thus far, we can't seem to find a peace to keep. The Liberals are cautious about contributing to peacekeeping efforts in Mali for the same reason the Conservatives refused a UN request to lead the mission in Congo: both are potential quagmires.

On trade, the Liberals secured the agreement that the Conservatives negotiated with the European Union. Now that the Trump administration has torpedoed the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Liberals hope to pursue trade agreements with Asian nations on a bilateral basis. The Conservatives signed Canada's first Asian free-trade agreement, with South Korea, and launched talks with India, Thailand and Japan. Conservatives and Liberals were once at daggers-drawn on the question of free trade; now each seeks to outdo the other in landing new deals.

Closer to home, Mr. Trudeau likes to boast that he has approved more pipelines than Stephen Harper ever did. It's a disingenuous claim, but no matter: Conservatives will be delighted that the Liberals have given the green light to expanding the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs from the oil sands to the Pacific Coast, even as President Donald Trump reversed the Obama administration's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline. Thanks to the joint efforts of Conservative and Liberal governments, we might even have a pipeline glut.

Justin Trudeau also finds himself imitating Stephen Harper's approach of promising renewed and improved relations with the United States, only to end up in a defensive effort to limit damage from a potentially hostile administration in Washington.

The Liberals have been more aggressive than the Tories in welcoming Syrian refugees, though the Conservatives were actually ramping up plans to increase the intake in the final months of the Harper government.

And Mr. Trudeau's supporters will point to his government's commitment to fight climate change, which would be more impressive had the Liberals not adopted the Conservatives' targets for lowering emissions.

But all in all, it is virtually impossible to distinguish Justin Trudeau's foreign policy from Stephen Harper's. Such seamless bipartisan co-operation deserves high praise, though one suspects the current government might be uncomfortable receiving it.

So all in all, not much of a change.  It is as if the policies of the different parties are not all that different, shaped as they are by Canadian values.

The uncomfortable truth about Canadian politics is that it often comes down to a stark and earth-shatteringly important choice between boring and competent, or competent and boring.
 
That is just John Ibbiston carrying water for the Liberals and the Global Elitists. Same old, same old.
 
Jed said:
That is just John Ibbiston carrying water for the Liberals and the Global Elitists. Same old, same old.
Seriously  ??? 

I'm sorry, but did you actually read (and understand) both articles?  (Hint: It actually credits Conservatives).  Regardless of the pro-Conservative tone, how can saying that Canadian foreign policies are reasonably consistent under both Liberals and Conservatives be seen as "carrying water for the Liberals and the Global Elitists"?  ... regardless of how deep one is into NWO conspiracy theories. 


f**king politics threads  :brickwall:
 
Journeyman said:
Seriously  ??? 

I'm sorry, but did you actually read (and understand) both articles?  (Hint: It actually credits Conservatives).  Regardless of the pro-Conservative tone, how can saying that Canadian foreign policies are reasonably consistent under both Liberals and Conservatives be seen as "carrying water for the Liberals and the Global Elitists"?  ... regardless of how deep one is into NWO conspiracy theories. 


f**king politics threads  :brickwall:

Not to mention that John Ibbitson is hardly a Liberal supporter, quite the opposite.  I mean the guy wrote Stephen harper's biography...

I think some people missed the point of both articles posted.  ::)
 
Journeyman said:
Seriously  ??? 

I'm sorry, but did you actually read (and understand) both articles?  (Hint: It actually credits Conservatives).  Regardless of the pro-Conservative tone, how can saying that Canadian foreign policies are reasonably consistent under both Liberals and Conservatives be seen as "carrying water for the Liberals and the Global Elitists"?  ... regardless of how deep one is into NWO conspiracy theories. 


f**king politics threads  :brickwall:

Holy crap. I just went and actually read those articles (I avoided it at first because they are long(ish) and somewhat old, but hold hell how can you come to the conclusion that they are pro-anything, Liberal or Conservative, let alone "carrying water for the Global Elitists".

???
 
Yes I read those articles. I guess my opinion is not in line with all you oh so knowledgeable and astute regular pundits on this page. My opinion remains the same.
 
Jed said:
Yes I read those articles. I guess my opinion is not in line with all you oh so knowledgeable and astute regular pundits on this page. My opinion remains the same.

You are entitled to an opinion it can be in line with whatever you want.  But your statement was little odd given that the author is widely known as a conservative journalist who offers up opinions that are not clouded by ideology.  So if you mean in line with facts and what was actually written by John Ibbitson then yeah I guess it isn't in line with what most us got from it.

His Thesis in both articles does not portray anything near what you stated.

(cue the cries of "I don't have to explain myself" and "I have the right to say what I want without explaining or justifying anything" and so on.)

" **king politics threads  :brickwall:"  indeed.   
 
Have you ever came across politicians and journalists that say one thing and do and practise something else?
 
Jed said:
Have you ever came across politicians and journalists that say one thing and do and practise something else?

And your point is?

Regardless of what he does and practices in real life, when reading and analyzing these two articles in isolation, we can see no way to come to the conclusions that your and RG Fishbone Jones came to.
 
I've just given up, plain and simple. Journalism today, whether the talking heads, journalists, newspapers and news programs, is too biased and I don't have the time to suss out anyone motivation. If I don't like what I hear or read, that's for me to worry about. It's one of those big general things that gets overblown and out of control when people want to argue why their preference is better. I've lost all trust in journalism and most are viewed with a jaundiced eye.

I was mistaken with Ibbetson. I was thinking of Coyne, the perfect example, to me, of two faced bullshit. I'm not big on Chantal, but at least she appears to tell the truth and is *mostly* non partisan.

You guys have your favourites, I don't have any.
They are all partisan, to me, until proven otherwise.

trudeau's $6 million, to the media, has gone a long way to fuel my disdain. Along with diaz and the communist UNIFOR backing trudeau, and commanding the media members to trash the Conservatives.

I get three Canadian stations out of my 50+ over the air channels. TVO, CTV and CBC. The last two local. I get the national, if I unblock CBC, but I won't because the CBC are racist liars. CTV is better, but having a real good cross selection of US stuff, I can tell when they are running their liberal interference also, especially of US politics. I do watch the Agenda on TVO, I just don't listen when they have Coyne talking.

There are no Walter Cronkite's any more. True news reporting is dead.

Grit propaganda with a smattering of local accidents, arrests and pet stories. That's what I think of the news.

 
Initial Elections Canada results from last night's by-elections (source) ...
 

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Haggis said:
Pretty low turnouts.

Yeah, I am not sure many conclusions can be drawn from the results.  The only thing that did stand out for me in the Burnaby results was the relative strength of both the Conservatives and PPC. That riding is clearly more diverse than I had been led to believe.
 
Very low.

I would think even for by-election standards that is pretty low.
 
SeaKingTacco said:
Yeah, I am not sure many conclusions can be drawn from the results.  The only thing that did stand out for me in the Burnaby results was the relative strength of both the Conservatives and PPC. That riding is clearly more diverse than I had been led to believe.

If that plays out in a number of ridings where the Conservatives are competitive, the PPC have the potential to deny seats and enable a Liberal run through the middle.

The question is how much was the party, and how much the candidate; the answers won't be known until October.
 
SeaKingTacco said:
Yeah, I am not sure many conclusions can be drawn from the results.  The only thing that did stand out for me in the Burnaby results was the relative strength of both the Conservatives and PPC. That riding is clearly more diverse than I had been led to believe.

A lot of immigration to the West Coast in the last 30+ years has come from cultures that are what we would cast as "small-c" social conservative. Some of those values are still in play amongst the "those most likely to vote" populace.
 
SeaKingTacco said:
Yeah, I am not sure many conclusions can be drawn from the results.  The only thing that did stand out for me in the Burnaby results was the relative strength of both the Conservatives and PPC. That riding is clearly more diverse than I had been led to believe.

Conservatives dropped about 5% from 2015 in that riding.

If the PPC wasn't there they likely would have finished second and had an increase in voter percentage.  If the PPC can manage 10% of the vote in other key contested areas it won't bode well for the CPC.

But this may just be an outlier.
 
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