Peter Kent: the next Foreign Affairs minister?

Wow, gross! I thought he was a red Tory! That's a totally racist, nasty organization. I used to get all sorts of spam from them (no idea how I got on their mailing list) until I trained my spam filter to send it straight to my trash folder.

Read all about this hate group [url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=005831&p=...

quote:

---

Reader Buckets reminds us that CCD was one of the infamous “42 organizations” demanding the firing of Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin for chairing the committee that awarded the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler. Read all about that bogus complaint here.

---

Unfucking believable! Now, IMV, this is doggable material as it is expressing hate not only against an identifiable group, but apparently would seek to stem women's rights, by not standing behind the 1 person (male) who actually fought for women's rights to self determine.

[url=http://bouquetsofgray.blogspot.com/]Bouquets of gray[/url] reports that Kent is not only a "senior member" but a member of the CCD's Board of Directors and, at one time, its executive committee.

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qWxTKhlWAic/SN-Jl95VzbI/AAAAAAAAAhA/IPseE-_Ae8...

Dr Dawg has the following [url=http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2008/09/ten-questions-for-peter-kent-cp... Questions for Peter Kent[/url]:

quote:

---

Dear Peter Kent:

Given your position on the Board of the far-right "Canadian Coalition for Democracies":

1) Do you support the CCD's lobbying for diplomatic and economic ties with the Indian state of Gujurat, where rioters, with government complicity, murdered, raped and dispossessed tens of thousands of Muslims, and where schoolchildren are taught to admire Adolf Hitler?

2) Did you endorse the CCD's position in favour of firing Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, for chairing a meeting that awarded an Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler?

3) Do you believe, with the CCD, that "many" Members of Parliament are "apologists for terrorists who celebrate the killing and maiming of men, women, and children?"

4) If yes, who are these Parliamentarians?

5) Do you endorse the smearing of David Suzuki by your president, Alistair Gordon, and his irresponsible retailing of the anti-environmentalist lie that a DDT ban killed millions in sub-Saharan Africa?

6) As a member of the CCD Board, what role did you play in the attempted character assassination of Liberal MP Omar Alghabra in 2005--for which your organization later had to apologize and retract?

7) Do you believe, with your colleague David Harris, that Muslim terrorists have infiltrated the FBI and CIA, the State Department, the U.S. Muslim military chaplain corps, the White House, Homeland Security, the U.S. Air Force, Guantanamo, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons--and in Canada, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Quebec NDP?

8) Do you take the view, as your colleague Salim Mansour does, that Canada should walk out of the UN?

9) Do you believe that veiled Muslim women at the polls might be engaging in criminal acts including suicide bombing, as a CCD press release suggests? (Are you aware that the current provisions of the Canada Elections Act permit such women to vote without unveiling, so long as they are not relying on photo ID as proof of identity?)

10) Do you support the bombing of Iran, like your colleague David Harris?

---

Wow that site is something else. Did anyone gon to their discussioon board? Disgusting really!!

And I also noted that Toni Silberman and Rochelle Wilner were on its Executive. Arent they both Bnai Brith stalwarts? Has Bnai Brith drifted that far to the right? Does nayone know if the CJC is also part of this? The way CCD attacks cjc in its discussion board I would doubt it but you never know

The CJC will jump into bed with anyone that claims to support Israel. Sad but true.

One guy from the CJC actually had the nerve to claim I was an anti-Semite for saying the CJC had enough money to print its own flyers and suchlike if need be. That's how low the CJC itself will sink, so I'm not surprised that they don't care about associating with people or organizations that trash Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims or really any suspicious-looking brown person.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jaku:
[b]Wow that site is something else. Did anyone gon to their discussioon board? Disgusting really!!

And I also noted that Toni Silberman and Rochelle Wilner were on its Executive. Arent they both Bnai Brith stalwarts? Has Bnai Brith drifted that far to the right? Does nayone know if the CJC is also part of this? The way CCD attacks cjc in its discussion board I would doubt it but you never know[/b]

---

Yes, Bnai Brith has drifted that far to the right. They will happily align with the Christian Right because of their support for Israel. Stephen Scheinberg has documented their rightwing drift. As for CJC, there's no evidence that they're in any way aligned with this lunatic far-right group.

As for Kent, I'm surprised. I thought he was a Red Tory.

[ 29 September 2008: Message edited by: St. Paul's Progressive ]

Having the election on Sukkot hurts Kent in Thornhill, and if this gets out, his ties to a group that opposed Morgentaler getting the Order of Canada would hurt him as well.

The asshole has been elected.

WTF!!!!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lord Palmerston:
[b]Rochelle Wilner is also running for the Tories in Ken Dryden's riding...though she has no chance in hell of winning.
[/b]

---

She actually did relatively well. In what used to be one of the safest Liberal seats in the country with the Liberals winning over 70% of the vote as recently as 2000, Wilner came within 2500 votes of Dryden. She won 37% of the vote to Dryden's 44% - the first time since 1972 that the Liberals have gotten less than 50% of the vote.

I'm afraid there seems to have been a sea change in the Jewish vote. It may still be majority Liberal but not overwhelmingly so.

[ 14 October 2008: Message edited by: aka Mycroft ]

Joe Volpe had a surprisingly close call in Eglinton-Lawrence too:

Volpe (Liberal) 19,108
Oliver (Conservative) 16,848
James (Green) 3,826
Chatwin (NDP) 3,680

A stronger NDP showing and the Tories might have snatched this one. Max Bialystock has better political antennae than most, it would seem.

I expect that Kent is virtually assured a Cabinet post as one of just a handful of Tories elected in the GTA. Hopefully something minor, like Minister for Paper Clips or something.

[ 15 October 2008: Message edited by: ghoris ]

I am pretty shocked at the Kent victory. Seems to me that this tells us the Jewish vote in Thornhill came out quite strong.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ohara:
[b]I am pretty shocked at the Kent victory. Seems to me that this tells us the Jewish vote in Thornhill came out quite strong.[/b]

---

Im not so sure this is true.

There is a large South Asian and new Immigrant community in Thornhill that the Tories targeted and my guess is quite successfully. The so-called "Jewish" vote may have increased a bit around the Bathurst, Steeles,Clarke area but in my opinion not enough to have led to the pretty convincing victory of Kent's.

There is a large religious Jewish vote in Thornhill. I am told most of the Orthodox Jewish community has moved up there and when I'm there it feels like a religious community. Contrast that to St. Paul's - where Carolyn Bennett won easily. Same for Willowdale.

Still, Kent's margin of victory was significant and it's clear the Tories have made inroads in the Jewish community. I think we'll start to see more small-"c" conservatives there. It looks like there has been a bit of a rightwing swing among Jews in the past few years. I think John McCain will be getting a lot more Jewish votes in the US than George Bush did. Now the conservatives are not a majority - most remain Liberal in Canada and Democratic in the U.S. - but it's less monolithic.

We shouldn't make too much of a mountain out of a molehill though. This election was a disaster for the Liberals and I'll bet Liberal voters staying home because of their uninspiring leader Dion played a role (Harper got his vote out). And Kent is a big name who I'm sure got lots of votes from Italians, Chinese, WASPs and other groups in Thornhill too.

[ 15 October 2008: Message edited by: St. Paul's Progressive ]

I have a feeling Kent will be appointed Foreign Affairs minister.

Good choice really since he actually has been outside of Canada... North America even.

quote:

---

Originally posted by St. Paul's Progressive:
[b]I have a feeling Kent will be appointed Foreign Affairs minister.[/b]

---

He's a genuine neo-con on foreign policy. The foreign policy group he co-founded, the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, started its life organizing pro-Iraq War rallies, calls for a war on Iran, is to the right of the Likud on Israel, supports the Hindu nationalist BJP in India etc. Harper would be entering a real minefield if he appointed Kent to the FM post.

Any worse a minefield than Bernier [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]

Speaking of which, Bernier got an astounding vote of confidence from his own riding last night. The Tories are so thin on the ground in Quebec that I think Harper will have to look seriously at putting him back in Cabinet (but no sensitive documents, please).