Federal Politics 2015 Thread

[CaptainCrunch]

Trudeau might regret the press conference this morning which looked like a theater of the absurd. On person on the radio that I heard when I was driving in called her attack ad fodder.

[killer_carlson]

ooops. From Chantal Hebert of the Toronto Star, one of the country's best political commontators:

"For her end-of-year statement in the House of Commons last December, then-Conservative MP Eve Adams chose to brag about her government’s upcoming round of tax breaks.

“Thanks to our work, Canadian families can be assured that their hard-earned money is making its way back into their bank accounts,” Adams told the Commons on the week that it rose for the holidays.

Listening to her no one could possibly have guessed that the GTA MP was so troubled by the method her party had selected to deliver part of that money that she would cross the floor to the Liberals less than two months later."

But then that was about seven weeks before her party advised her in writing that she would not be allowed to run under the Conservative banner next fall.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2...-up-hbert.html

[ernie]

I have no problems with people crossing the floor because their ideals have moved away from the banner they are under. But that rarely happens.

Instead what we get is people crossing the floor in the hopes of prolonging a cushy career or increased ego stroking. I encourage people to watch the Colbert series on gun control and the differences between the US politician and what happened in Australia. The US (and canadian) politician once elected is concerned about one thing and one thing only...re-election. In Australia you had people knowing they were ending their political careers to do something that they believe was the moral and correct thing to do.

There is a balance of course where one needs to typically follow constituent wishes but for some things the assumption that the general voting populace is basically ignorant of facts and someone needs to step up and lead holds true. It doesn't happen in North American politics.

[CaptainCrunch]

I guess they come as a set

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/forme...dams-1.2227221

[Resolute 14]

Perhaps Adams swapped to the Liberals because they seem to be developing a thing for crooked nomination procedures themselves! The party postponed its nomination meeting in the East Vancouver riding after someone signed dozens of people up for memberships without their knowledge or consent.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lib...416/story.html

This riding was already a source of controversy after the party showed what it thinks of Trudeau's "open nomination" policy by disqualifying two candidates.

[Resolute 14]

How partisan has partisan politics gotten? Trudeau and others accuse Harper of dismissing the flag's 50th anniversary because the flag was a Liberal initiative.

Seriously.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...954433?cmp=rss

(Though it is rather stupid that we are not celebrating this more. This was a major milestone in Canada's development of an identity independent of England.)

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

How partisan has partisan politics gotten? Trudeau and others accuse Harper of dismissing the flag's 50th anniversary because the flag was a Liberal initiative.

Seriously.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...954433?cmp=rss

(Though it is rather stupid that we are not celebrating this more. This was a major milestone in Canada's development of an identity independent of England.)

Are you serious?

Of course it's a partisan move!

How else can you explain millions of dollars for the War of 1812 commemoration or 150th anniversary of confederation ads three years early while spending 50k (50k??!?!!?!?!!) on celebrating the 50th anniversary of our most revered icon?

Oh wait, ya that's right, it's Pearson's flag.

Celebrating what amounts to a Liberal achievement does not fit in with Harper's election year plan. Of course, having 150th anniversary of confederation ads on tv three years early does.

Anybody with their blinders even down their nose can see this is blatantly partisan.

[rubecube]

Sigh.

https://ask.theglobeandmail.com/are-...st-by-the-pmo/

Relations between Stephen Harper and the Parliamentary Press Gallery are notoriously testy. Actually, that’s not accurate. Testy implies that some kind of relationship exists, and there really is none between the gallery and this prime minister.

Mr. Harper last convened a press conference in Ottawa in December 2012, to explain his decision to permit the acquisition of the Canadian energy company Nexen by the Chinese firm CNOOC. There may be no other developed nation in which a head of government has gone more than two years without holding a press conference.

The most common situation in which reporters are able to directly question Mr. Harper occurs after a meeting with another government leader, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in Ottawa on Monday.

In such a circumstance, Canadian reporters are allowed to ask two questions, one in French and one in English, with follow-up questions prohibited.

[Resolute 14]

lol, evman. Thanks for proving my point! Just curious... do you wear your blinders when looking in the mirror?

[Jacks]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02...ready-be-done/

As polls continue to suggest that three out of four Canadians support the use of force to stop the Islamic State — including a similar percentage in Quebec, where support for combat missions has historically been lower — the Liberals are shifting their stance in subtle fashion.

Marc Garneau, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, took to the airwaves Thursday with a much softer line of opposition to the mission his party voted against last October.

He said the Liberals backed sending 69 special forces soldiers to Iraq and were supportive of the idea of training and advising the Kurdish peshmerga.

“The part we had a problem with was the involvement of the CF-18s, and the reason for that was we had nine other countries providing strike aircraft. It was overkill,” he said on CBC TV’s Power and Politics. “There were better ways to use Canadian military resources.”

What is needed is to train peshmerga fighters more quickly, he said. When pressed on how this should be done without involving Canadian forces in front-line fire-fights, he suggested they could be trained in Canada at CFB Gagetown or CFB Shilo.

Good grief, they really are making it up as they go along.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Jacks

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02...ready-be-done/

Good grief, they really are making it up as they go along.

I think it looks worse if they reverse course on it now. That said, if the election is decided on this instead of years of Conservative policies, scandals and Harper's actions, then Canadians deserve what they get.

[Flash Walken]

OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is accusing the Conservatives of cutting funding to a federal immunization program even as public skepticism about vaccinations was growing.

Trudeau’s charge comes a week after Health Minister Rona Ambrose chided Canadians who have failed to vaccinate their children, calling them irresponsible amid an outbreak of measles in a number of North American communities.

Government documents reveal the Conservatives have slashed funding to the federal immunization program by 23% since 2006.

The program educates Canadians about the importance of vaccinations.

The National Post

Hot on the Heels of spending 7 Million dollars on bogus anti-marijuana ads,

Newly released figures show the Conservative government spent more than $7 million on a 12-week anti-drug advertising campaign that ended earlier this month.

That's more money than Health Canada spent advertising all its programs and services combined in the previous 2013-14 fiscal year.

A government response to an order paper question by Liberal MP Scott Simms says the ad campaign to raise awareness of the harms of marijuana and prescription drug abuse among youth cost $7,026,822.

The campaign's target audience, according to the government response, was parents.

The taxpayer-funded TV and Internet ads by Health Canada ran parallel to a partisan radio ad campaign, paid for by the Conservative party, that attacked Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau over his promise to legalize marijuana.

The $7 million spent on the government's anti-pot ads dwarfed the $5.2 million Health Canada spent advertising in the previous year on a host of issues, including food safety, immunization, adverse drug reactions and the health and safety of Canadians.

The CBC

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Hot on the Heels of spending 7 Million dollars on bogus anti-marijuana ads,


The CBC

#FiscalConservative

[FlamesAddiction]

I really disagree with those priorities, but this type of thing is not a surprise with the Harper government. It's pretty obvious where he stands on things like science/research and marijuana prohibition and his past actions are clear.

It's pretty sad how backwards he is on these issues.

[Clarkey]

Weird plastic surgery.

[Jacks]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vacc...rges-1.2960307

But the performance reports show the agency's spending on the immunization program was about the same in 2006-07 as it was in 2013-14. The actual spending in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2007 was $8.6 million. Similarly, the amount spent on the immunization program in 2013-14 was $8.4 million.

There are several years in the middle in which it's difficult to compare the numbers because the immunization program spending wasn't separated from the overall infectious disease prevention and control program.

Harper hates children, carry on.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Hot on the Heels of spending 7 Million dollars on bogus anti-marijuana ads,

The CBC

I've got issues with the PCs, but this isn't one of them.

Trying to reduce and addressing youth marijuana usage, a category in which Canada is a world leader, isn't a bad thing.

There is a good deal of research which suggests that it is not healthy for developing brains. If adults want to do it, whatever, but kids definitely shouldn't be smoking the stuff.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Jacks

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vacc...rges-1.2960307



Harper hates children, carry on.

Come on, now.

I figured I was safe with a national post link.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

I've got issues with the PCs, but this isn't one of them.

Trying to reduce and addressing youth marijuana usage, a category in which Canada is a world leader, isn't a bad thing.

There is a good deal of research which suggests that it is not healthy for developing brains. If adults want to do it, whatever, but kids definitely shouldn't be smoking the stuff.

Except there are also studies that show that these types of advertising are ineffective at best and often have the opposite effect on kids.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Jacks

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vacc...rges-1.2960307



Harper hates children, carry on.

Well, if one wants to toss the Trudites a bone, given inflation, that is about a 14% reduction in effective spending.