Who are the Proud Boys?
- 4 years ago
- News
- 2:30
Five members of the Canadian Armed Forces have been suspended for disrupting an Indigenous protest, and their affiliation with the Proud Boys movement is raising questions.
Canada's federal election: Monday, September 20, 2021
Fri, 2021-01-08 17:40
#152
Fri, 2021-01-08 17:46
#153
Proud Boys founder
Fri, 2021-01-08 21:36
#154
Of course we have them here but they don't have the same strength. They are still big enough to doom the (reform) Conservative party.
Sat, 2021-01-09 16:34
#155
Thank goodness for the NDP
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/09/can-we-save-democracy-from-the-two-part...
Sun, 2021-01-10 14:43
#156
;
Sun, 2021-01-10 10:29
#157
Good on the NDP for proposing this. This is also what they need to do in the USA
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/feds-looking-at-declaring-proud-b...
Sun, 2021-01-10 11:47
#158
Britain as well as Canada needs Asian style lockdown
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lockdown-tighter-tougher...
Sun, 2021-01-10 12:24
#159
Britain as well as Canada needs Asian style lockdown
I think sealing people inside buildings would probably violate fire codes.
Sun, 2021-01-10 12:33
#160
Too bad but overall there would a massive reduction in deaths and covid-related illness.
Sun, 2021-01-10 14:48
#161
Such a good article that all Canadians should read it.
Rick Steeves, the travel guide, was talking about the importance of never ever forgetting what the Nazis did in WW2, and teaching everyone about it.
What the pro-Trump insurrection in Washington means for Canada
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January 8, 2021
On the very day on which violent extremists seized the U.S. Capitol Building -- with what appeared to be the acquiescence, or even active assistance, of some of the police on duty there -- our federal government warned us about the rise of far-right extremism here in Canada.
The Canadian department of defence issued a report that connects a sharp rise in extreme-right agitation to the restrictions required to control the spread of COVID-19. People who live in far-right echo chambers do not accept COVID-19 rules as health measures. Rather, they seethe at the limits to their freedom.
Those far-right extremists subscribe to a wide range of conspiracy theories.
Many claim COVID-19 is not real. They say it is a fiction governments use to impose controls on the population. Some also believe vaccinations are a plot by tech billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates to control our brains.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a think-tank based in the U.K., has extensively studied right-wing extremism. In one recent report it pointed out that far-right terrorism increased by more than 300 per cent over the past five years.
The individuals who committed many of those acts of terror, in the U.S., New Zealand, Norway and Germany, were not members of organized groups. They were connected to loose, extreme-right networks, operating largely online.
Canada is fertile ground for online hate and violence mongering, as the ISD notes in another report, published this past June. The ISD identified 6,660 right-wing extremist channels, pages, groups and accounts in Canada, across seven social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Collectively, those channels, pages, groups and accounts reached over 11 million users, a third of the adult population of Canada. ISD identifies a number of what it calls ideological subgroups among Canada's right-wing extremists. They include: white supremacists, ethnonationalists, anti-Muslim groups, and misogynists who are part of what the ISD dubs the "manosphere."
The most prolific Canadian extremist users of social media, the ISD reports, are anti-Muslim, at a rate of 23 per cent on Facebook. There is also a significant amount of antisemitic chatter, which accounts for 16 per cent of extreme-right conversation on Facebook.
Over the past five years, "far-right extremist groups have grown in number and boldness in Canada, especially on the heels of the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S.," according to the ISD.
Their research shows that the number of far-right groups in Canada tripled following Trump's election. The report's authors postulate that the Trump victory led extremists to believe the political climate would be more permissive for their activities:
"Across major Canadian cities, the far-right vigilante groups Soldiers of Odin and Sons of Odin have patrolled streets to 'protect' Canadian citizens from what they perceived as the 'Islamic' threat, seeking to silence and marginalize Muslims through intimidation and a show of force. More recently, they've been joined by the Three Percenters, an Islamophobic armed militia group. According to the leader of the Alberta-based group, these armed and paramilitary trained activists have several mosques under surveillance …"
Equally worrisome are the growing number of unaffiliated, free-floating, potentially violent extremists.
"These are people who may be following multiple groups online, and who post hate-filled … screeds on social media, but who do not necessarily affiliate with any particular group … It is lone actors who have been responsible for the most dramatic incidents of violence in Canada, including the killing of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Moncton, the murders of six Muslim men at prayer in Quebec City, and the deaths of ten people who were run over by a van in Toronto …"
The Big Lie, a favourite extremist tactic
In the U.S., Donald Trump has weaponized the classic strategy of the Big Lie. Comparisons with the most vile leader of the modern era, Adolf Hitler, are risky. Trump is an authoritarian and demagogue. But he does not advocate world domination or genocide. Let's be clear.
Having said that, it is important to remember that in his book Mein Kampf Hitler precisely codified the Big Lie technique, which Trump uses almost daily. Here's how the Nazi dictator put it:
"In the Big Lie there is always a certain force of credibility … [the masses will] more readily fall victims to the Big Lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies, but it would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."
On Wednesday night, on the floor of the House of Representatives, while police were still clearing away the insurrectionists, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, an ardent Trumpist, used the Big Lie technique to completely mischaracterize what had just happened.
Gaetz said he had seen evidence from a facial recognition technology company that the rioters were not, in fact, Trump supporters. Rather, they were leftist antifa supporters in disguise. The next day, the Washington Post asked the company about that claim. Their answer: Gaetz's statement was 100 per cent false.
The company, XRVision, said that it had used facial recognition techniques to identify some of the rioters, and found they were associated with skinhead and neo-Nazi groups, or with the antisemitic and homophobic QAnon conspiracy movement. XRVision saw no known antifa activists.
Don't expect Gaetz, or the Fox News commentators who made the same allegation, to retract and apologize. That's not how the practitioners of the Big Lie operate.
When Donald Trump proclaims loudly, and without hesitation or nuance, that the entire election was rigged, and that he won by a landslide, he is using a classic Big Lie tactic to impress and motivate his supporters -- and to get them to send him money.
Trump doesn't attempt to rile up his base with arcane talk about how the election in some states might not have been administered strictly according to all rules and precedents, as do his Ivy-league-educated sycophants, Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.
Trump knows he would never get tens of thousands of frenzied supporters to storm the building where Congress meets by urging them to chant: "Pennsylvania did not follow precise constitutional rules in the manner in which it instituted mail-in ballots …"
The hopped-up extremists who converged on Washington on Wednesday were there to chant "Stop the steal" or "USA" or "We won," or, as Trump himself exhorted them, "Take back our country!" No legalistic milquetoast for them.
In inciting a riot, Trump was trying to use violent and extreme language to influence a political process. It did not work this time. Trump might have overplayed his hand, on this occasion. Don't count him out for the future.
In Canada we are not immune to threats of political violence
In Canada, we have, more than once, seen how the explicit or implicit threat of violence can have an impact on political events.
In 2008, a few weeks after Stephen Harper had been re-elected with an increased plurality of seats, but short of a majority, the Conservative prime minister tried to corner the weakened opposition parties.
He presented a mini budget that fraudulently claimed there would be a surplus in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. And, to add insult to injury, he added a clause that would unilaterally abolish the per-vote subsidy for political parties the Chrétien government had instituted five years earlier.
Harper said he would consider the mini budget to be a matter of confidence, daring the opposition to vote against it. He seemed cocksure that since he had just won the election a chastened opposition would buckle.
Instead, the three opposition parties decided to call Harper's bluff. They pledged to vote down the mini budget. But rather than trigger another election mere months after the previous one, the combined opposition forces offered a coalition government, which, they promised, could easily command the support of the majority of members of Parliament.
Harper and his party were shocked, but they fought back.
The Conservative leader rhetorically demonized the idea of a coalition government, even if it would represent the majority of MPs and voters. And, egged on by Harper, Conservative activists mounted angry street demonstrations, decrying the effort of the losers to steal the election from the winners.
When none of that worked, and he saw that the opposition parties planned to stick to their guns, Harper tried a manoeuvre without precedent. He announced that he would ask Governor General Michaëlle Jean to prorogue -- suspend -- Parliament for a couple of months, thus avoiding the confidence vote.
Prorogation is, as a rule, a routine matter. However, no prime minister had ever suggested proroguing mere days after Parliament had met for the first time following an election.
The governor general was in a difficult position. The ace in the hole for Harper was the implied threat that his angry supporters might be willing to do more than merely peacefully protest if they believed their election victory had been stolen.
Harper got his way, and the rest is history.
Populist right-wing rhetoric spurs Alberta anger
Brian Topp, who was, from 2015 to 2016, chief of staff to Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley, posted a similar anecdote on Facebook, as he watched the violent events in Washington.
Topp related what happened when an angry mob went to Edmonton to protest NDP legislation designed to assure the health and safety of farms as workplaces.
The Conservative opposition decided to portray a bill that would give farm workers access to the Workers Compensation Board as a threat to the farming way of life, a plot to destroy the family farm.
Topp describes the right-wing campaign against the government's plans this way:
"It was all the same angry populist right-wing rhetoric -- much of it echoing the writings and social media posts of over-caffeinated opposition caucus staffers and their colleagues in dark money-funded, right-wing, third-party groups, with a little help from their Toronto PR firm …"
Topp summarizes the demonstrators' rhetoric, which will be familiar to anyone who has been watching the pro-Trump agitation in the U.S.: "The province needed to be taken back from evil; the province needed to be stood up for; it was time take a stand and fight; time to stand our ground; time to lock and load …"
Worse than the heated and angry words were the out-and-out threats of violence. They consisted, Topp reports, of "a tsunami of obsessive, angry, violently misogynistic, and highly detailed death threats aimed at leaders of the government and their families, sometimes individually named."
Brian Topp concludes:
"The sheriff's department told us they'd never seen anything like it."
When politicians heedlessly abandon civility and respect for the truth, and for each other -- in Canada, in the U.S., or elsewhere -- the results can be dangerous. Donald Trump doesn't care, and is likely to pose a major challenge to the U.S. body politic for some time to come.
Is there a chance we can hope for better from our political leaders here in Canada?
Karl Nerenberg has been a journalist and filmmaker for more than 25 years. He is rabble's politics reporter.
Image credit: Brett Davis/Flickr
FURTHER READING
The violent riot on the U.S. Capitol was shocking but predictable
With Trump and Confederate flags waving, violent insurrectionists rampaged through the halls of Capitol Hill in Washington.
How long until Canadian Conservatives follow their American counterparts in abandoning democracy?
The Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican party in the United States increasingly resemble each other in disturbing ways.
Alberta premier piously pleads for restoration of order in Washington
Painful though it may be to watch, there's nothing bizarre about what happened in Washington. The U.S. has been perfecting the techniques of "colour revolution" for half a century.
https://rabble.ca/news/2021/01/what-pro-trump-insurrection-washington-me...
Sun, 2021-01-10 14:51
#162
Germany’s Fascist Story
Traveling across Germany, we learn how fascism rose and then fell, taking millions of people with it. Visiting actual locations — from Munich to Nürnberg to Berlin — we trace the roots of Nazism in the aftermath of World War I, when masses of angry people were enchanted by Hitler. We explore the totalitarian society Hitler built, and see the consequences: genocide and total war. Learning from Germany's fascist story, we can recognize that hateful ideology as well as the tricks of wannabe dictators in our own age.
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/nazi-germany
Sun, 2021-01-10 16:30
#163
The far right wing in Canada is doomed, in the US as well although they will be stronger for longer.
In Canada, although the far right exists across Canada, it is centred in Alberta and actively repells most if not all Canadians that are not a part of it. Unlike the Republican party the Conservative party cannot openly embrace the far right without losing moderates and the example south of us has made that even more certain.
Trudeau Sr. may have done a lot of bad things but his promotion of multiculturalism and common values rather than common culture is serving us well. Canadians have a "live and let live" attitude for the most part. Canadians treasure Medicare and want Pharmacare. Even if they gave us pharmacare the Conservatives could never paint the Liberals as scary Socialists. All the Conservatives have left is free market and fiscal prudence. They can have that plus social conservatives (many anti-immigrant), or they can have that and some moderates. They can't hold all three groups yet currently it is their only path to power.
High levels of immigration are unavoidable. We need it. (Federal)Conservatives have tried to keep the anti-immigrants on the down low with a wink wink nudge nudge. That won't work for much longer because whites are on their way to becoming the biggest minority, but a minority all the same. This is going to intensify the feelings of the far right of being under threat so I expect a rise in extremism. It is that very extremism that repels most Canadians.
Both Republicans and Conservatives brought this on themselves.
Conservative pundits are begging for crumbs.
Mon, 2021-01-11 04:20
#164
Mon, 2021-01-11 14:42
#165
https://www.canadanewscentral.ca/opinion_for_months_trudeau_has_said_our...Unfortunately Trudeau has nothing to worry about. He has the next election in the bag and maybe the one after that too. It doesn't matter how bad someone is if the alternative is worse or too unlikely to win. Since the demise of the Progressive Conservative party we have had only one establishment party. The Reform Conservatives managed to fake it for awhile but they couldn't keep it up because of the social conservatives they embraced and encouraged and are still encouraging.
At this point odds are the Liberals will be in power for another eight years. Trudeau of all people will have a record 16 uninterupted years as PM unless he is deposed from within. He might even beat King.
Mon, 2021-01-11 19:24
#166
I agree that the political stars are aligned in favour of the Liberals. I think one of the biggest assets the Libeals have now is having the Ford PC'ers governing Ontario. I think the Conservatives route back to government will, as usual, require a major Liberal scandal like the Sponsorship Scandal that ousted them in 2006.
Tue, 2021-01-12 03:32
#167
The worst election result we could see right now is a majority government. Without any constraints, there would be nothing to stop the government from gutting what remains of our social programs. Bye-bye Canada Health Act, hello USA-style private health care. Forget basic income, that's not happening. It would make the austerity enacted by Paul Martin in the 1990s look tame by comparison.
Fri, 2021-01-15 11:23
#168
Best case scenario will be NDP/Greens holding the balance of power.
Concerning what the Liberals will do, they are political and economic pragmatists as opposed to the Conservatives who are ideologically small government, low taxes and free-market, whether it is good for the economy or not. They still run up deficits but it's mainly as an excuse to cut services.
The Liberals seek to privatize as well but because they see it as financially beneficial not on ideological grounds. Conservatives are right about Liberals using it to funnel funds to their supporters but so do the Conservatives so that's a wash. The Liberals know that at this time they have to lavish communities with cash and the best way to do that is through infrastructure. They also can't allow homelessness to balloon. That would be electoral suicide and a gift to the NDP.
Trudeau learned well from Harper how to run a minority as though it were a majority. The NDP is going to have to learn to be frugal so they can call Trudeau's bluff next time.
For example, stand out by doing everything printed in black and unbleached white. Use newsprint for handouts and make them simple but informative, resisting all marketing tricks. Resist micro-targeting.
Mon, 2021-01-18 16:02
#169
Canada is not exempt
https://pressprogress.ca/conservative-party-of-canada-confirms-conservat...
Tue, 2021-01-19 11:57
#170
NDP at 21% in latest federal poll, and from Nanos, the NDP is less than 1% behind the Conservatives in their Power Party Index, and the Bloc is at a 12 month low in brand power strength.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_44th_Canadian_fede...
Wed, 2021-01-20 08:06
#171
What ever happens, let's hope the Greens do not have the balance of power.
They will be reliable votes for the Liberals in almost all circumstances.
Wed, 2021-01-20 09:59
#172
What ever happens, let's hope the Greens do not have the balance of power.
They will be reliable votes for the Liberals in almost all circumstances.
Sadly, with Paul as leader, as with May, this is a forgone conclusion.
Wed, 2021-01-20 17:52
#173
What ever happens, let's hope the Greens do not have the balance of power.
They will be reliable votes for the Liberals in almost all circumstances.
Sadly, with Paul as leader, as with May, this is a forgone conclusion.
And they will continue to repeat the bullshit talking point that the Harper victory was the NDP's fault.
Thu, 2021-01-21 03:09
#174
Nice to see you back Ken.
I don't think we need worry about the Greens having the balance of power. Looks like Trudeau is headed for a majority. He's got horseshoes. The stars align for him.
Thu, 2021-01-21 22:36
#175
Who hired Payette!
Fri, 2021-01-22 00:17
#176
What difference does it make? O'Toole won't be able to keep both moderates and his Trumpian base. The party courted the anti-immigrant vote and the social conservatives. They cannot win without them. His oil base requires him to be aggressive. He wants trade sanctions on the US. Most Canadians are relieved that Biden won and want peace with the US not a trade war over a pipeline the US has every right to refuse. Then there is the equalization issue and climate change. With the pandemic Canadians worry about the deficit but they worry much more about keeping the economy going and social supports. The Conservative mandra of cutting deficits and taxes will not play well.
Neither Paul nor Singh will win. That leaves Trudeau by default. People will hold their noses and vote Liberal as the least incompetent administrator out of the lot. Nobody cares about Payette other than the people who worked for her.
Fri, 2021-01-22 10:20
#177
At the moment the Liberals might well slither their way to a majority but their position is more fragile than what Pondering suggests.
People are souring on Trudeau. His negatives are high in the polls. His support is shallow and could peel away.
The drumbeat of repeated ethical problems, the woeful decision to appoint Payette and the incompetence in procuring Covid vaccines are all combining.
The public may not have all of these things in the forefront of its collective mind but they do leave the impression that Trudeau is not handling his job very well.
Fri, 2021-01-22 17:30
#178
Neither Paul nor Singh will win. That leaves Trudeau by default. People will hold their noses and vote Liberal as the least incompetent administrator out of the lot.
Competent? In whose eyes? There are still boil water advisories throuoghout indigenous communities depsite his 2015 promises; there is no childcare or pharmacare programs, only more promises that it is coming eventually that the Liberals have been trotting out since 1993 and 1997 respectively; and most disastrously no meaningful action on climate change.
Oh! Of course! that's the plan! As long as you can keep winning elections bsing the people, keep doing it. The trouble is more and more people are starting to question both Trudeau's personal ethics and his political promises. But for the perception that he has handled Covid-19 better than Trump (what a low bar), his popularity and the Liberals would have continued to sink. Even on this topic, there is growing concern that his promise of over 400 million doses negotiated with multiple companies is starting to look hollow, as available doses run out now. Of course we are never given even the slightest indication of what is actually in those contracts. Reminds us the We Charity scandal where contract and other information had to be dragged out and was never fully transparent. Ask the students who never got a cent how competent they thought that program was. On the other hand, Trudeau certainly has been competent in giving money to big pharma, fossil fuel, and other corporations but what have Canadians got in return?
Let's take a deeper look at just one problem - the biggest one by far - climate change because at some point either through vaccination or herd immunity Covid-19 will fade into the background. Global warming, on the other hand, is never going to do that.
Just this week Justin's hypocrisy on this issue shone through revealing his two-faced approach, just like his blackface performances. When Biden cancelled Keystone XL, Trudeau assured everyone he was actively campaigning to reverse the decision, while proclaiming himself the champion of fighting global warming.
The Trudeau Liberals just can't stop giving more money to the wealthiest fossil fuel firms to keep drilling and building.
The latest example is in Newfoundland the $41.5 giveaway to Husky Oil in December by the Trudeau government to keep the "idled West White Rose offshore oil project going, particularly to "protect the option of restarting" in the next year — although there is no guarantee that will happen." The $41.5 million, which is half the project cost, is in addition to the $320 million the Trudeau government handed the Liberal Newfoundland government in September to support the Newfoundland oil industry, after Husky stopped construction on the project in April due to the low price of oil. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/west-white-rose-1.5...)
Meanwhile Trudeau continues to proclaim his devotion to stopping greenhouse gas emissions. I guess he is just following his strategy before the last election of proclaiming a climate change emergency one day and literally the next day buying the Trans Mountain pipeline.
More subsidies pouring into a sunsetting industry.The $41.5 million investment came a few days after Cenovus bought Husky for $4 billion. Cenovus quickly said that all options were on the table and a quick shutdown of the project was possible. Cenovus even admitted that it might walk away from the project as soon as the merger is complete. " (https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/alison-coffin-newfoundland-and-labrador...)
I'm sure Husky-Cenovus won't walk away from the $41.5 million. I'll also bet they won't announce the cancelling of the project before the February 13th Newfouondland election. After all, Husky-Cenovus wouldn't want to piss off a government that has been so generous to them and other fossil fuel corporations in the past when there is likely more payola coming in the future. All at the same time Trudeau runs on a platform of the #1 global warming fighter.
Furthermore, just last week "the Trudeau government had announced three environmental assessment decisions for three offshore drilling projects this week". (https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/america-votes/biden-to-prioritize-blocking-...) Further evidence that he has no intention of living up to his promises of reducing Canadian greenhouse gas emissions.
Fri, 2021-01-22 16:05
#179
Taking a deeper look at the #1 issue in Canada and the world, in December the Trudeau Liberals launched their new climate change plan last week by raising the price on carbon by $15 a ton each year between 2022 and 2030 and $15 billion in a vague commitment to "integrate climate considerations throughout government decision-making". Note that Trudeau says he expects an election in 2021 before one cent is raised in new carbon taxes is raised, once again following the strategy of previous Liberal and Conservative governments over the last 30 years to make commitments that somehow are never met. Even in 2030 the objective is to meet the Harper government goal in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, which virtually every environmental scientist now says is inadequate.
How much should we trust these promises? Lets look at the Liberal record.
Under Trudeau the corporations get off lightly. "The Liberal government is curtailing its plan to price carbon pollution after hearing concerns from Canadian industry officials about how the tax would affect their ability to compete. ... they've adjusted the proposal to set the benchmark at 80 per cent of the industry average of emissions — and 90 per cent for producers of cement, iron and steel, lime and nitrogen fertilizer." (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-carbon-price-lower-1.4769530)
The Liberals were deeply involved in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord agreeing that "Canada's Kyoto target was a 6% total reduction by 2012 compared to 1990 levels of 461 Megatonnes (Mt)". Instead the 1997 emissions of 671 Mt during the year of the signing of the Kyoto Accord had risen to 747 Mt in 2005, the last full year of a Liberal government before the Conservatives took over. This was 33% above the 1997 Liberal Kyoto target. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_and_the_Kyoto_Protocol)
The Liberals declared a climate emergency in June and then announced today the tripling of the Trans Mountain pipeline to carry bitumen to the coast bringing about a massive expansion of the fossil fuel production.
In March 2018 the auditor general concluded the Trudeau Liberal government "is likely to miss the 2020 Copenhagen target as well". (http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_otp_201803_e_42883.html)
In April 2019 Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand concluded "Canada is not on track to hit its 2030 target,". These targets were actually those of the Conservative Harper government. (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/environment-commissioner-julie-gelfand-...)
“Canada has been making and missing climate targets since the early 1990s. There is clearly something off about the way that we take action on climate change,” said Catherine Abreu, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, referencing every pledge this country has made to slash emissions since the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. “We keep making these promises and letting the world down,” she said. “We need to figure out how we are going to keep our promises when it comes to climate change in the future.” (https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/11/16/canada-hasnt-hit-a-c...)
Once again the burden has been placed on the individual, while corporations remain largely free riders. "While we busy ourselves greening our personal lives, fossil fuel corporations are rendering these efforts irrelevant. The breakdown of carbon emissions since 1988? A hundred companies alone are responsible for an astonishing 71%. You tinker with those pens or that panel; they go on torching the planet." (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/jul/17/neolibera...)
Fri, 2021-01-22 17:36
#180
Let's also take a look at other fossil fuel projects that Trudeau has financially promoted while proclaming himself a climate change saint in its two-faced approach with:
(1) the $17 billion purchase and ever-rising construction costs of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the BC coast to triple tarsands oil transportation that Kinder Morgan was ready to abandon because it didn't make financial sense;
(2)Trudeau was ready to approve the Frontier Mine in Alberta, which "would cover 24,000-hectares (roughly double the size of the City of Vancouver) and would produce 260,000 barrels of bitumen each day at its peak (https://thenarwhal.ca/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-massive-new-o...) making it one of the largest oilsands mines until the company pulled out of the plan because it determined it would not work financially;
(3)Trudeau pushed through the completed Enbridge's Line 3 to Manitoba in December 2019 that delivered 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) "and that gave anoil export capacity of 760,000 bpd" when the US portion is final" (https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/enbridge-line-three-shipping-oil-1.5377031) The final approval and start of construction of the American portion began at the beginning of December 2020 over the legal objections of two American First Nations, thereby contributing to more Canadian greenhouse gas emssions in the future (for more details on this see post #571). So much for Trudeau's concern for First Nations people.
(4) proposed a $14 billion LNG pipeline from Ontario to Saguenay Quebec for export to Europe, Asia and Brazil that only failed to come to fruition when Warren Buffet concluded it was not going to work financially and refused to invest in it (https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2019/quebecs-natural-gas-ex...). Another failed Trudeau supported project that even the corporate sector gave up on.
(5) The Trudeau government "treated Donald Trump’s election as “positive news” for Canada’s energy industry and welcomed the help of Canada’s main corporate oil group in lobbying the US administration, documents show." (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2018/feb/09/trudeau-g...) Therefore, there is no doubt the Trudeau Liberals are celebrated the announcement that work on the US portion of the XL pipeline would resume in February 2020. Again this fell through, this time because of US court action, and later because of Biden's executive action decision, not because of the Trudeau government.
(6) Once again the Trudeau government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth as it changes offshore drilling rules in Newfoundland in order to make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to meet them and then proclaiming that the industry must live up to those standards while environmental organizations complain about the changes. The Liberal government has also excluded new drilling from environmental assessment there. This has become even more important with the announcement of the discovery of oil in two new places in the Newfoundland offshore.
(7) The Trudeau Liberals are redefining emissions to make them look lower.
Canada's vast managed forest lands used to be critical allies in our climate fight and efforts to build a sustainable, carbon neutral forestry economy. That's because these forests used to be healthy enough to absorb the huge amounts of CO2 created by the logging industry's harvests — plus lots more. ...
Unfortunately for all of us, our forests' deep and valuable carbon sink has nearly dried up. Decades of human abuses — from climate disruption to clearcutting — have left them too battered and weakened to even keep up with business-as-usual logging. Put simply: Our continent-spanning managed forests are now being cut down faster than they are growing back. The result has been a rising flood of CO2 pouring out of our managed forests and accumulating in our atmosphere — worsening both the climate and ocean acidification crises. ...
Ottawa continues to exempt one of our largest sources of climate pollution — the roughly 155 MtCO2 per year emitted by the logging industry's harvests. ...
In addition, Ottawa also exempts logging emissions from our other emission-reduction policies and targets. For example, under Canada's 2030 Paris Agreement pledge, the target for all other sectors is a 30 per cent emissions cut. But Ottawa created a separate target just for these logging emissions that allows them to rise, not fall. ...
Efforts in Canada to push this clear and growing threat off our books with creative accounting simply allows the crisis to spiral out of control. What we need instead are new policies from Ottawa to address this threat.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/11/02/opinion/co2-forestry-Canada-...
(8) Trudeau was ready to support Energy East until strong opposition from Quebec to the building of the pipeline threatened his 40 Liberal seats in Quebec.
As far as Doug Black is concerned, the reason Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent billions of taxpayer dollars to keep the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion alive while letting the Energy East pipeline proposal die is simple. “Just do the seat count,” Black, an elected member of the Canadian Senate representing Alberta, told BNN Bloomberg in a telephone interview from Calgary. “Quebec was opposed to Energy East and at that point in time it just became insurmountable.” (https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/do-the-seat-count-why-trudeau-chose-trans-mo...)
Trudeau’s Liberal Party represents 40 Quebec ridings in the House of Commons. That compares to 17 ridings the party holds in British Columbia.
As the climate change activist he claims to be, Trudeau is truly unique. No doubt his new climate change plan that is aimed at either sustaining him in power or provoking an election where he will again claim to be the climate change hero, will have as much success should he be re-elected as all the other Liberal climate change plans of the last 25 years.
Fri, 2021-01-22 17:26
#181
alan smithee
Love the news that Biden is killing the Ketstone pipeline. I thought everybody here would be ecstatic. No, just more complaints by ' progtressives' who want to ignore the fact that the US turfed the WORST US president in the history of the UJS and can't see the huge oppurtunity for relations between our countries to become close and Biden KILLS the unnessesay trade war we were stuck with for the past 4 years.
The Trans Mountain ptpeline purchase was to apease Alberta.We're stuck wth this toxic energy source until Alberta leaves or welcome themselves to the 21st Century.
Now that the Keystone pipeline is dead in the water, why aren't you celebrating?
Now Kenney wants Ottawa to sanction the US. Fuck you. And take your poison oilsands and stuff them.
Trhed
Fri, 2021-01-22 19:59
#182
Love the news that Biden is killing the Ketstone pipeline. I thought everybody here would be ecstatic. No, just more complaints by ' progtressives' who want to ignore the fact that the US turfed the WORST US president in the history of the UJS and can't see the huge oppurtunity for relations between our countries to become close and Biden KILLS the unnessesay trade war we were stuck with for the past 4 years.
Now that the Keystone pipeline is dead in the water, why aren't you celebrating?
Now Kenney wants Ottawa to sanction the US. Fuck you. And take your poison oilsands and stuff them.
I don't know if you were referring to me or not, but if you were, you either didn't read or, if you did, you didn't pay any attention or didn't want to, to what I wrote. Nowhere above did I criticize Biden over cancelling Keystone. In case it isn't obvious to you from what I wrote, I am glad Biden did and I am glad that he is taking a more active approach to dealing with climate change than Trudeau.
My criticism was entirely aimed at the duplicitous approach of Trudeau on climate change and other issues so effectively symbolized by buying Trans Mountain one day and declaring a climate emergency within a day of this. I also described with evidence provided the same pattern of behaviour by Trudeau with regard to supporting $17 billion Trans Mountain pipeline; the Frontier fossil fuel mine in Alberta; the proposed Ontario to Saguenay $14 billion pipeline for global export; his congratulating Trump for supporting Keystone XL; the construction of the Line 3 pipeline to Manitoba and the US; increased oil drilling permits off Newfoundland including an additional three in just the last week, as well as a $320 million Newfoundland oil delvopment fund in September and an additional $41.5 million in December in subidies to Husky-Cenovus to keep building a oil processing plant that the company says it may close down very soon anyway because of the low price of oil; his redefining of what a greenhouse gas emission so that it appears to be lower than what it actually is; and his support of the Energy East pipeline until he realized this would cost him seats he needed to win in Quebec if he wanted to stay in power. The evidence for all of these is given in the above posts.
I also criticised Trudeau for his failure to deliver on promises to end boil water advisories among indigenous people, pharmacare, childcare, the We charity's failure to provide students with job opportunities, and his mixed record on dealing with Covid-19.
None of this had anything to do with attacking Biden for ending Keystone, whose ending I noted above I support.
Fri, 2021-01-22 18:08
#183
Well said.
In Canada, the dog whistle is fainter — but pay attention
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/01/19/opinion/canada-dog-whistle-f...
Fri, 2021-01-22 21:49
#184
laine lowe
Alan, if not here maybe on Facebook, but I am thrilled that Biden is sticking to his promise to cancel the Keystone Pipeline. And I am annoyed that anyone would be giving serious consideration to Kenney's demand to start a boycott or trade war over it.
Sat, 2021-01-23 07:01
#185
alan smithee
Well,that;s what he wants, I don't think the Liberals will oblige him. But a Conservative government would take a serious look at that.
I didn't try to annoy you laine. I'm just stating a fact.
BTW, I could see the Liberals caving to Alberta's whining. They will believe ikt will score them p;oints with Albertans. It won't. So fuck Jason Kenney and the rainbow he rode in on.
Sun, 2021-01-24 11:19
#186
I didn't say Trudeau was competent. I said the opposite. He will be perceived as least incompetent. People will be voting against "O'Toole, Singh and Paul, not for Trudeau. Most people rule canditates out not in. People trust CEOs more than they trust politicians.
I am relieved that Keystone is canceled but I expected it. It was part of Biden's campaign for a long time. Kenny is just posturing, playing to his base, or trying to, because bottomline he just threw away 1.5 billion dollars. Neither the States nor our federal government is going to replace it for him. We will not let it damage Canada/US relations much less have a trade war.
O'Toole is so screwed. He has to back away from his Trump lite approach. He has no way to appease social conservatives and anti-immigration. Kenny is going to push him to be aggressive over Keystone. O'Toole can make speeches about being a "big tent" party but it doesn't turn it into one.
Sloan is getting kicked out for being pro-life and racist but he is not the only MP who is beholden to this population.
People are going to forget about all this stuff long before the election. It just portends what's coming. Free marketers, social conservatives and racists will doom O'Toole and if that wasn't enough oil will want him to be aggressive.
Neither the NDP nor the Greens will win the next election. It is possible one of them could but it really isn't likely. That leaves Trudeau or O'Toole. O'Toole loses leaving Trudeau the last man standing.
Mon, 2021-01-25 12:43
#187
https://www.commpro.biz/2019-edelman-trust-barometer-reveals-people-plac...
According to the Edelman study, trust has changed profoundly in the past year with “my employer” emerging as the most trusted institution. Globally, “my employer” (75 percent) is significantly more trusted than NGOs (57 percent), business (56 percent), government (48 percent) and media (47 percent).
The left is failing miserably by focusing on the most downtrodden while ignoring the growing concerns and fears of the middle class around immigration and multi culturalism.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-...
New census population projections confirm the importance of racial minorities as the primary demographic engine of the nation’s future growth, countering an aging, slow-growing and soon to be declining white population. The new statistics project that the nation will become “minority white” in 2045. During that year, whites will comprise 49.7 percent of the population in contrast to 24.6 percent for Hispanics, 13.1 percent for blacks, 7.9 percent for Asians, and 3.8 percent for multiracial populations (see Figure 1).
That will probably be true of Canada even faster.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/sean-speer-theres-a-danger-in-trying-to...
Immigration policy is another such issue. For all of the political backslapping about Canadians’ support for immigration, the data tell us it’s more complicated. Polls consistently find that something like 40 per cent of the Canadian population has misgivings about the government’s immigration policy, including our annual targets. Yet this perspective is largely excluded from our politics, except for fringe voices like the People’s party.
Our political parties have essentially colluded for the past 20 years to depoliticize questions about immigration policy from mainstream debate. This seems neither prudential nor sustainable given that the rise of populism in other countries has been driven in large part by this issue.
The risk is that something happens like a major economic recession or a sudden influx of migrants and there’s a popular backlash that that could undermine the whole system. Protecting Canada’s immigration policy sweet spot — relatively high levels of public support for relatively high levels of immigration — requires that we take these sentiments seriously.
He is right, this is an issue we have to address, just not the way he thinks it should be addressed. We need high immigration to sustain our standard of living because we haven't been having enough babies for decades. Canadians of european descent are becoming a minority. It is inevidable that there will be resistance and I think it is more than likely that there will be increasing violence. "We win" in the sense that it can't be stopped. No amount of resistance will change our demographic future. This faction is much stronger in the US where they dominate the Republican party. That isn't the case here. Even so they still form a significant % of the Conservative party in Canada; I think 20 to 30%. The Conservative party can't afford even 10 or 15% of their base not showing up at the polls. They can't court the immigrant vote without alienating people who don't want Canada to change. It is not entirely racism. It isn't wrong to want a culturally homogenous community, people just need to understand that to have it we would have to accept severe economic decline longterm. The problem is compounded by undocumented workers being used to drive down wages.
Other than blaming it all on racism, which is a compoent, the left doesn't do much to deal with the negative impacts of immigration or even admit that they exist. I think there are three ways to approach the issue setting aside those who are simply racist.
Everyone encourages Canadians to feel proud for welcoming so many immigrants and refugees when the country's primary interest has nothing to do with being nice. The fact that we need them is kept too much on the down low. We can accept immigrants or accept the country will slip into poverty and disrepair as we won't have enough people to replace the elderly. Those are our only two choices. Generousity has nothing to do with it.
Some seasonal workers become undocumented workers driving down wages because they have no path to citizenship. If we need them to work here there is no reason to deny them a path to citizenship.
The shortage of low-income housing is not the fault of refugees. No city wants to become a haven for the homeless for obvious reasons. Homelessness must be addressed by the federal government to spread resources evenly. We don't just need low-income housing. We need mixed-use rooming houses akin to hotels, both large and small with supports for people who are addicted or mentally challenged. All refugee acceptance is controlled by the federal government therefore the federal government should provide housing directly not passing the responsibility to provinces who then use their low-income housing for refugees.
The left focuses too much on winning hearts and not enough on winning minds.
Mon, 2021-01-25 13:20
#188
alan smithee
Immigration?
I have no problem with this and muticulturalism.
BUT I think legislation needs to ban foreigners from buying real estate in Canada. You must be born here.
Our real problem is housing. A problem since the 1990's. The government must rid this country of the cancer of ' developers'
Our Mayor in Montreal and the LPC have so far lied and done NOTHING. This madness must stop.
Mon, 2021-01-25 13:41
#189
Well said Alan but how about people who reside here.
Mon, 2021-01-25 14:02
#190
[quote=Pondering]
The left is failing miserably by focusing on the most downtrodden
[quote=NDPP]
What left? What focus? Sociopolitically 'the Canadian people' are an unorganized incoherent jelly 'represented' by well paid, bullshitting collaborationists with which the PTB can and will do whatever they wish, with a msm ready, able and willing to make as much propaganda as it takes to manufacture consent for enhanced corporate, elite management. With the greatest respect for the increasingly few who still struggle like Sisyphus, largely without attention, assistance or support, 'Left resistance' in Canada although constantly referenced, is largely a no-show myth, a figment, a false front on a vacant lot. We are now essentially completely at the mercy of power and unfortunately, as more of us begin to find out, they have none. The fences are being moved closer and closer even while we continue to celebrate a 'democracy' on course for its imminent destination, Canadian 'friendly fascism'. Huey Long said fascism would come to America disguised as anti-fascism. Expect much the same here.
Democracy
There's no escape.
The big pricks are out.
They'll fuck everything in sight.
Watch your back.
(Democracy - a poem by Harold Pinter)
Mon, 2021-01-25 14:01
#191
A MAN WEARING A WHITE POINTED HOOD WAS SPOTTED OUTSIDE THE GRIMSHAW, ALBERTA, POST OFFICE ON JAN. 8, 2021. PHOTO SUPPLIED
https://www.vice.com/en/article/93wgpa/man-wearing-kkk-style-hood-sparks...
Mon, 2021-01-25 16:34
#192
Admittedly "the left" is not an identifiable specific set of people but rather people who more or less lean left rather than right.
This is another interesting way to look at political divisions in Canada but I am starting a new thread to address it.
Mon, 2021-01-25 18:30
#193
So disappointing to see Canada's lack of actual action on climate change and for Canada to be on this list.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/52668...
Mon, 2021-01-25 19:33
#194
Immigration?
I have no problem with this and muticulturalism.
BUT I think legislation needs to ban foreigners from buying real estate in Canada. You must be born here.
Discriminating against naturalized citizens is unconstitutional. A non-resident ownership ban would stand a much better chance, however.
Mon, 2021-01-25 19:36
#195
alan smithee
Immigration?
I have no problem with this and muticulturalism.
BUT I think legislation needs to ban foreigners from buying real estate in Canada. You must be born here.
Discriminating against naturalized citizens is unconstitutional. A non-resident ownership ban would stand a much better chance, however.
That's exactly what I said. I said forerigners should not be able to buy real estate in Canada. Only Canadians (naturalized citizens) should have that right.
In other words apparently wse agree.
Mon, 2021-01-25 19:43
#196
alan smithee
Well said Alan but how about people who reside here.
If you reside here at minimum 3/4 of the year,you can buy real estate. Not rich foreigners who stay home outside the country just collecting money from our land and housing system.
I think that you would have to at minimum have a Canadioan passport
Tue, 2021-01-26 18:54
#197
The Liberals are presently getting crucified, particularily by Don Davies and Erin O'Toole, in the emergency house debate, about Canada's lack of vaccines.
Wed, 2021-01-27 07:15
#198
Immigration?
I have no problem with this and muticulturalism.
BUT I think legislation needs to ban foreigners from buying real estate in Canada. You must be born here.
Discriminating against naturalized citizens is unconstitutional. A non-resident ownership ban would stand a much better chance, however.
That's exactly what I said. I said forerigners should not be able to buy real estate in Canada. Only Canadians (naturalized citizens) should have that right.
In other words apparently wse agree.
No, you said "you must be born here" – in other words, banning immigrants from owning homes. Though the idea that any non-millionaire will be able to own real estate in urban Canada again is a relic of the past. Homeownership is one of those things, like a stable career or a domestic manufacturing sector, that's over in Canada. "Unrealistic".
Wed, 2021-01-27 09:05
#199
alan smithee
Immigration?
I have no problem with this and muticulturalism.
BUT I think legislation needs to ban foreigners from buying real estate in Canada. You must be born here.
Discriminating against naturalized citizens is unconstitutional. A non-resident ownership ban would stand a much better chance, however.
That's exactly what I said. I said forerigners should not be able to buy real estate in Canada. Only Canadians (naturalized citizens) should have that right.
In other words apparently wse agree.
No, you said "you must be born here" – in other words, banning immigrants from owning homes. Though the idea that any non-millionaire will be able to own real estate in urban Canada again is a relic of the past. Homeownership is one of those things, like a stable career or a domestic manufacturing sector, that's over in Canada. "Unrealistic".
cco. You are from Montreal,right?
So you can't ignore the constant condo projects. You can't ignore all the shitty apartment buildings being renovated into high priced luxury apartments.
Talking about renovations, what do you think of 'renoviction'
Down the street from me, tenants have been evicted so the landlord can renovate and make it a bed and breakfast.
Have you also noticed all these condos that are rented out as hotel rooms? Have you seen all the tents popping up here? Have you taken the metro and see all the people sleeping on the ground?
Getting back to condos used as hotels for tourists. who are these people that own the condo? Out of the country. Foreigners owning housing in a city that has had a housing crisis since the middled 90's .
This doesn't enrage you? And I'm not going to mention Vancouiver where you have to be a MILLIONAIRE to buy a house or rent an apartment. Check out their tent cities.
These condos Who is buying them? It can't possibly be a majority of native Montrtealers. Native Quebecers as well.
I get calls regularly from developers looking to buy my building. I am at the mercy of my landlord who could evict me at any moment.
If you are a FOREIGNER you should not be able to buy or own property here. Am I wrong?
OK. taking the position of banning those who are not born here be restricted. If you're a naturalized citizen, fine.
But foreigners should be banned from owning realestate full stop. Am I being unreasonable? That's how it works in a lot of European countries. We should follow their example.
Wed, 2021-01-27 10:48
#200
The housing sector is an essential sector and should be taken over and run by governments. At one time the Canadian government build co-ops which people still live in today. Probably millions of Canadians could use a co-op today
Wed, 2021-01-27 11:55
#201
Angus Reid
L 35
C 30
N 20