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New Canadian Politics Thread

He has his base and I think they realize they wont likely get many swing votes from other party supporters
 
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The Kurdish people are currently seeing exactly how much Canadian allyship is worth.

On Sunday, American President Donald Trump announced — via a tweet — that he would be withdrawing U.S. forces from northern Syria. Such a move had been rumoured for months, but it was nevertheless jarring. As the drawdown began on Monday, there were already unconfirmed reports that Turkish fighter jets had hit targets in the Kurdish-controlled area.

On the campaign trail, Canadian leaders offered little more than handwringing in response to the looming military campaign against the vulnerable population — our close military and political ally.
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That powder keg should be concerning to Western leaders. Though you wouldn’t know it to hear Canada’s politicians.

At Monday’s English-language leaders’ debate, foreign policy was hardly mentioned. But in the leaders’ scrums after, I managed to ask Justin Trudeau directly where Canada stands on the attacks facing our closest allies in the region. His answer was painfully insufficient.

“We are, of course, monitoring the situation very closely along with our allies,” Trudeau said. While he iterated that Ottawa wants stability in the region, he noted that “Canada doesn’t have any defence assets in Syria right now” and did not even offer a word of solidarity with Canada’s ostensible allies. He didn’t even mention the Kurds by name.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was slightly more pointed. He slammed Trudeau’s decision, from 2015, to withdraw Canadian fighter jets from the bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, but offered nothing in the way of direction as to what he would do to avoid full-on conflict between our two allies. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was quicker to criticize the White House, calling the decision “troubling,” but was equally mute on actual plans.

Canada has been exceptionally quiet for years on this front. When Ankara launched limited bombing missions into Kurdistan, Ottawa did not speak up. While Canada purports to care about the jailing of political dissidents, it has had little to say about the jailing of Kurdish politicians in Turkey. When the referendum in Iraq occurred, Canada did not recognize the results.

All the while, Trudeau has been happy to sit and chat with Erdogan at G20 meetings over the years. Official read-outs of those meetings do not mention the situation in Kurdistan.

The Trudeau government has congratulated itself for offering military aid to the Kurds, yet even that has been a mess. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan readied $10 million in weaponry for Kurdistan — but then it sat in a Montreal warehouse for years, as Baghdad protested. It seems the weaponry will never arrive.

The day has come when America’s erratic behaviour has opened the gates around Kurdistan, letting Erdogan and Assad in to do their worst. And Canada seems blithely indifferent.

This lack of principle is troubling. When Vladimir Putin seized Crimea and parts of the Donbass region of Ukraine, Canada led the charge in sanctioning Moscow. The world order can’t tolerate kleptocratic states, Ottawa said, and there must be consequences.

But will there be consequences for Turkey? Not likely.

It’s not realistic to expect Ottawa to put military assets in northern Syria to replace the exiting Americans. That ship has long since sailed. But there are diplomatic levers still available.

Turkey’s membership in NATO needs to be up for discussion, or else membership means nothing. There is a small envelope of development money going to Turkey that should be up for debate, and another $3 billion in bilateral aid that can be a bargaining chip. Canada’s Magnitsky Act allows it to sanction individuals responsible for human-rights violations — Erdogan should be a prime target.

It would be nice if even one leader would stand up to defend our best allies in the region. But as of now, there’s no sign anyone will.
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I disagree slightly with this article, because Canada, if it had the balls, could send the 200 special forces members currently in Iraq into northern Syria to replace the americans.

Would turkey open fire on a fellow NATO member? I doubt it. Would Canada get blasted by other western nations for protecting the Kurds? Not a chance.

But to our collective shame, Canada will allow this to happen. So for every Zeke tweet talking about how much America has betrayed the Kurds, remember that Canada has let it happen.
 
Funny thing is, I have talked to 100 people and almost everyone of them says they wont vote liberals because of the Trudeau stamp.
I would say cons will win it and the NDP will play nice for a short while.
Trudeau will be tossed to the curb once the election is over.
There will be another vote in the next 2 years when Singh decides to topple the conservative government, and that will be where the NDP or the liberals will slaughter everyone else lol. Jmho.
 
I've decided to vote for the NDP. Singh has run a very good campaign and is putting forth some very good proposals. I particularly like the way he called out the media for their racist question about funding clean water for FN peoples. I've never seen anything close to that from a federal party leader.
 
uncus said:
Funny thing is, I have talked to 100 people and almost everyone of them says they wont vote liberals because of the Trudeau stamp.
I would say cons will win it and the NDP will play nice for a short while.
Trudeau will be tossed to the curb once the election is over.
There will be another vote in the next 2 years when Singh decides to topple the conservative government, and that will be where the NDP or the liberals will slaughter everyone else lol. Jmho.
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The NDP is already on the record saying they won't support the Conservatives.

I also really doubt the conservatives agree to Singhs list of demands.

a national pharmacare and dental care plan

building 500,000 new affordable homes

waiving interest on student debt

tackling climate change
instituting a wealth tax

creating a price cap on cell phone/internet fees.

Singh will enter a coalition with the liberals.
 
Altair said:
The NDP is already on the record saying they won't support the Conservatives.

I also really doubt the conservatives agree to Singhs list of demands.

a national pharmacare and dental care plan

building 500,000 new affordable homes

waiving interest on student debt

tackling climate change
instituting a wealth tax

creating a price cap on cell phone/internet fees.

Singh will enter a coalition with the liberals.
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i think he meant they would just not topple the govt and let them rule as a minority
 
But here is my theory on his supporting the conservative government.
Singh has had a really bad couple of years as the leader of the NDP.
If he supports the liberals, that means Trudeau will once again lead his party for another 4 years of stupidity and carelessness.
Now if I am Singh, I know that scheer is an idiot. Plain and simple (and I am Conservative).
If I support the liberals, I know that they will only get stronger and possible be able to rebuild the Trudeau brand and the party again.
If Singh supports the conservatives for a short while,(and I mean to allow the conservatives time to govern in a minority government), also then Singh can get himself and his own party in order, and lay in wait to trap scheer and shoot down a budget or whatever and make an election happen again ....
It could in fact make Singh look like a saviour for our country.... especially if we are hit with a recession next year.
This could be a golden road for the NDP.
Jmho
 
uncus said:
But here is my theory on his supporting the conservative government.
Singh has had a really bad couple of years as the leader of the NDP.
If he supports the liberals, that means Trudeau will once again lead his party for another 4 years of stupidity and carelessness.
Now if I am Singh, I know that scheer is an idiot. Plain and simple (and I am Conservative).
If I support the liberals, I know that they will only get stronger and possible be able to rebuild the Trudeau brand and the party again.
If Singh supports the conservatives for a short while,(and I mean to allow the conservatives time to govern in a minority government), also then Singh can get himself and his own party in order, and lay in wait to trap scheer and shoot down a budget or whatever and make an election happen again ....
It could in fact make Singh look like a saviour for our country.... especially if we are hit with a recession next year.
This could be a golden road for the NDP.
Jmho
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Bad plan.

The liberals would use the time Scheer is in power to rebuild, find a new leader, probably Freeland, and return to power once Scheer is out.

Also propping up Scheer will destroy any progressive bona fides the NDP has. Tax cuts for business, dismantelling the carbon tax, ignoring the environment, pushing through pipelines all over the country, the liberals and greens would destroy the NDP.

Far more likely Singh goes down in history as the next Tommy Douglas, the man who convinced the liberals in a minority parliament to bring in Pharmacare and Dentacare.
 
I think you may be correct but I also think that you over estimated the liberals ability to place someone that people will accept in such a short time.
Remember, I am only promoting this end around game if it is to manifest within the next 16 months.
Someone is going to have to take the hit if we are into a recession next year.
I think people will be a little more responsive of the dental, housing, medical and etc.
Liberals may still be viewed as the culprits of the coming recession.
The conservatives will have played their best hand by then.
I really do believe that Singhs best option would be to allow the conservatives to govern and then when they have their best shot, make their kill.
And btw altair ..... my plan is brilliant! You will see, and you will come to worship me! Lol
 
Btw .... love the 200 special ops comment.

I did a paper many years ago on the rwanada massacre.
We are a pitiful species at times.
 
uncus said:
I think you may be correct but I also think that you over estimated the liberals ability to place someone that people will accept in such a short time.
Remember, I am only promoting this end around game if it is to manifest within the next 16 months.
Someone is going to have to take the hit if we are into a recession next year.
I think people will be a little more responsive of the dental, housing, medical and etc.
Liberals may still be viewed as the culprits of the coming recession.
The conservatives will have played their best hand by then.
I really do believe that Singhs best option would be to allow the conservatives to govern and then when they have their best shot, make their kill.
And btw altair ..... my plan is brilliant! You will see, and you will come to worship me! Lol
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If I were to make a longshot prediction, it would be Trudeau and Singh form a formal coalition, with NDP members getting cabinet positions like health, education, with the liberals taking everything else.

Electoral reform is pushed and there is a referendum on it, pharmacare and dentalcare is enacted, transmountain pipeline is killed, defense budget is cut by 20 percent, massive tax on the wealthy, and the safe third country agreement is ripped up.
 
uncus said:
Btw .... love the 200 special ops comment.

I did a paper many years ago on the rwanada massacre.
We are a pitiful species at times.
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People decry the USA for the craven moves they make,(rightfully so) but never step up to do something about it.
 
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