My Canadian friends. I received a link to a Toronto Sun article.
Poilievre reveals documents Trudeau has been covering up | Toronto Sun
and am wondering if this is true or just a smear job? Is the Toronto Sun a legitimate newspaper or what?
As with practically anything Poilievre speaks about, hyperbole, strawmen, ad hominem attacks and outright fabrications are the order of the day.
The big problem with the Winnipeg lab affair was obvious from the start: too much secrecy | CBC News
The scientists in question worked at the lab all through the term of the previous Conservative government (2006-2015) without an iota of concern. The fact that they might have been Chinese government assets (this is all still under investigation) only coming to light under the current Liberal government somehow makes it Trudeau's fault. Poilievre even calls it "Trudeau's lab", as if he is personally responsible for the security protocols and vetting the personnel working there. The government had no issue with investigating the matter, but insisted on keeping a tighter lid on it for security reasons. Whether that was justified can certainly be argued.
I have never been a fan of Trudeau, but his government has done a decent job overall. That said, he has a tendency to step on his own feet on occasion. From my standpoint, the single biggest positive for him is that Poilievre is such a poisonous character.
Everything that is considered to be "bad" in this country is blamed on Trudeau
personally. Inflation? Trudeau's fault. High interest rates? Trudeau's fault. Housing shortage (A problem that has been building for decades)? Trudeau's fault. Male pattern baldness? Trudeau's fault. Weeds in your lawn? Trudeau's fault. You get the picture...
Last spring, during the wild fire crisis that was raging across the country, Poilievre actually accused the government of starting the fires. That would be a clear nod towards the far right conspiracy theorists who believe this is happening so that the government can justify implementing measures to counter climate change. That's bordering on space laser nonsense.
The government recently negotiated an update to a trade agreement (originally signed in 2016) with Ukraine. A vote was taken in the House of Commons to ratify it on our end. All parties voted unanimously in favour - except the Conservatives, who unanimously voted against it. The reason for opposing? It includes a reference to carbon pricing. They claim the government is forcing a carbon tax on Ukraine. Never mind that Ukraine is fully supportive of the agreement, as written. And, never mind that Ukraine already has a carbon tax, which will be a prerequisite for joining the EU.
I'm unsure of where Poilievre personally stands on Ukraine, because of the volume of BS he emits. I suspect that he may be trying to straddle the fence on the issue. He knew that the government didn't need the Conservatives' votes to pass the legislation, so he could comfortably tell his MPs to vote against it. They could very well be against the carbon pricing reference on ideological terms. Or, it
may be that hard right voters are turning against Ukraine. Poilievre needs to pander to them, so tossing Ukraine under the bus could an effort to shore up his base. A new hashtag has popped up recently to describe them: #MapleMAGA
The first federal election I was old enough to vote in was in 1984. I voted for the Brian Mulroney Conservatives (he just passed away a few days ago) and in each succeeding election until they lost. While he and his government had their faults, they had some major accomplishments too:
> Negotiated the FTA (forerunner to NAFTA) with the USA and Mexico.
> He was a - if not
the - leader in enacting sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa (against opposition from Thatcher and Reagan).
Canada’s support for Nelson Mandela wasn’t always so steadfast - Macleans.ca
> He is also considered to be our "greenest" PM ever.
When the environment was not a partisan issue | CBC Radio
In 1987, Mulroney hosted world leaders in Montreal to get them to drastically cut the use of ozone-destroying CFCs — chlorofluorocarbons. More than 40 countries signed that pledge, including conservative icons like former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and former U.K. prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
A year later, in 1988, Mulroney hosted the landmark World Climate Change Conference in Toronto, a conference that has been credited with officially putting climate change on the global agenda.
Then, in 1991, Mulroney signed the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement with President George H. W. Bush to reduce pollution that causes acid rain.
He demonstrated that a capitalist (He was once the President of the Iron Ore Company of Canada) can also have progressive values. If the Conservatives had a leader who could give the right a good hard shake and tell them to "snap out of it", I'd be all for it.
But, as long as they insist on being a clown car that can only make right turns and not a viable government-in-waiting, I can't vote for them. Under Poilievre's leadership, I'm being
forced to vote for the Liberals.
