Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Mark · 08-14-2009, 09:45 AM

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/680335

While my intention is not to start love/hate fest on our current PM, I do want people to see how he is treating our fellow Canadians abroad. CBC Radio has been running the stories of a lot of these citizens lately and it is clear that our government has no interest in helping these people. Sure it is just an opinion piece, but it is something to think about.

Resolute 14 · 08-14-2009, 10:01 AM

Written by a "journalist" who believes that freedom of speech should be limited by religious sensibilities.

Published in a paper with a virtually all white newsroom that once ran a giant slander piece accusing the Toronto Blue Jays of being racist because they had too many white players.

Not even going to waste the time reading this.

No offence, Mark.

FiftyBelow · 08-14-2009, 10:07 AM

Brutally biased article... you can't seriously hold Harper responsible for every single mistake that the members of the bureaucracy make. At best, you should hold the minister who is responsible for a specific line department accountable... but always blaming Harper is a stretch. I agree that Harper holds some responsibility but its not like hes issuing directives to every single employee in Service Canada.

Pagal4321 · 08-14-2009, 10:08 AM

Slava · 08-14-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

Brutally biased article... you can't seriously hold Harper responsible for every single mistake that the members of the bureaucracy make. At best, you should hold the minister who is responsible for a specific line department accountable... but always blaming Harper is a stretch. I agree that Harper holds some responsibility but its not like hes issuing directives to every single employee in Service Canada.

I agree whole-heartedly. We should reserve these kinds of attacks for when the Liberals are in power.

The Goon · 08-14-2009, 10:43 AM

I can't remember the exact details, but wasn't it just a year or two ago that PM Harper brought a number of Canadians back to Canada on his private plane to escape some turmoil?

mykalberta · 08-14-2009, 10:47 AM

I have no problem not spending tax payers money trying to the get the majority of these ######bags home.

It is not the Government of Canada's job to protect people who go to other countries and cause shh!t. Whether the they caused would be legal in Canada or not, everyone knows that when you leave the borders of Canada you do so at your own risk.

troutman · 08-14-2009, 10:48 AM

Harper is a moron.

Zevo · 08-14-2009, 10:51 AM

When it comes to embarrassing, no one can touch Chretien.

Cowboy89 · 08-14-2009, 10:56 AM

I have a feeling that a lot of this has to do with the conservatives distain for the Liberal Immigration policy of the past few decades. They looked like idiots when they spent all that money rescuing all those "Canadians" in Lebannon a couple years ago. I use that term "Canadians" loosely because it was clear that a lot of them were actually Lebanese people living in Lebannon and just abused the Canadian system to get passports and the like and it was obvious. They were citizens of convenience.

zuluking · 08-14-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/680335

While my intention is not to start love/hate fest on our current PM, I do want people to see how he is treating our fellow Canadians abroad. CBC Radio has been running the stories of a lot of these citizens lately and it is clear that our government has no interest in helping these people. Sure it is just an opinion piece, but it is something to think about.

Bolded to indicate the technique of proving what one is doing isn't what one is doing by stating that it is not what one is doing.

While my intention is not to say that this thread is a egomaniacal attention grab, I do want people to see how some threads are started to garner a specific response.

Hammertime · 08-14-2009, 11:00 AM

The CBC and TO Star are incredibly left wing biased. It doesn't surprise me to see critics of the Harper regime from these sources.

TurnedTheCorner · 08-14-2009, 11:09 AM

He's still light years ahead of Jean Chretien.

troutman · 08-14-2009, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hammertime

The CBC and TO Star are incredibly left wing biased. It doesn't surprise me to see critics of the Harper regime from these sources.

Also, airplane food is bad.

Mark · 08-14-2009, 11:45 AM

Obviously I was sticking my head out in posting this article for numerous reasons, but my only intention was to at least make people aware of this issue. Regardless of who is in power and who wrote this article, citizens abroad are being falsely accused and our government doesn't seem to care or respond in a timely manner. What if it happened to you?

Resolute 14 · 08-14-2009, 11:49 AM

The incident in question was already significantly discussed, I believe.

EddyBeers · 08-14-2009, 11:51 AM

Chretien was terrible, he brought the country out of the massive Conservative deficit spending of the 80's and 90's into a position of yearly surpluses. I hated that guy and waited over a decade to have a Conservative government in again to drive the country into deficit.

FlamesAddiction · 08-14-2009, 11:52 AM

Any time a minister or bureaucrat made a mistake under the Liberal regimes, there was always plenty of blame pointed at the PM (especially if you read the National Post).

I do agree with the overall point though that Harper can't be blamed for this incident really, but he does need to reprimand the people that are. Harper really hasn't done anything good or bad since he has been PM. He hasn't really done much of anything. When they write the history books on him, he'll probably be seen as a place holder Prime Minister - unless he pulls off a majority at some point. I think that ship sailed for him though,

FanIn80 · 08-14-2009, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

...but my only intention was to at least make people aware of this issue. Regardless of who is in power and who wrote this article, citizens abroad are being falsely accused and our government doesn't seem to care or respond in a timely manner...

Quote:

Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad

Actually, based on the title of your thread, your "intention" had nothing to do with people living abroad. The whole point of this thread is to make it appear that Harper is ALWAYS ("consistently") a source of embarrassment to Canadians.

My favourite part is how you start with "While my intention is not to start love/hate fest on" That just tells me that you wanted to make a broad, sweeping allegation while also excusing yourself from having to defend your opinion.

Also of note... at no time should the CBC ever be quote as a trustworthy source when discussing issues which directly involve a political party in this country. Other than Saturday night hockey and Anne of Green Gables reruns, the only other thing the CBC is well known for is it's utter dislike of anything that isn't Liberal.

Mark · 08-14-2009, 12:05 PM

Taking the title from the article was probably a mistake as that wasn't exactly representing what I wanted to bring to the discussion. Thanks for pointing that out.

In regards to what is a legit news source, can anyone really argue as anything 100% trustworthy? Every news outlet seems to have a bias or leaning. Everything is still written by humans who are writing from their own viewpoint even if they are trying to remain neutral. It is my belief to listen to everyone and make my own conclusions. I'm not going to just ignore half of the media because they might say certain things. There is no balanced media, but only the individual can find the balance by listening to all sides.