Election 2015

[Edward Campbell]

I am deriving much pleasure at the Stuka impression the Dipper campaign is displaying.  Very talented, that lot.  I can even hear the horns of Jericho siren wailing under the wings.  Question is, will they pull up or lawn dart?

And Brian Gable, drawing in the Globe and Mail agrees ...

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorial-cartoons-for-october-2015/article26577881/

 

[George Wallace]

I agree ... there are (some) legitimate reasons to require everyone to show their face. Public ceremonies do not meet the test.

That being said, it it my understanding that the Muslim "dress regulations, women" have nothing much to do with Islam, per se, but are, rather, a reflection of 8th century Arab culture. I wish people would leave their old culture in their old country ... but conservatives, for example, love Eastern European folk dancing, so what's so wrong with a niqab?

What is wrong with the veil, be it nijab or burka?  The Western cultures have evolved to a state that covering of the face is NOT a signal of "Trustworthiness"; but an indicator of deception.  None of the other symbolism's from the cultures that we have eventually accepted have involved a permanent 'disguise' of any sort covering the face.  Nor are those cultural symbols, be they clothing, dance, etc. for the most part, a daily display in the society at large.

One can also question why we are slowly removing religious symbolism from our society with one exception.  Are all other religions to be considered less devote than Islam?  Something is wrong with that picture.

 

[Edward Campbell]

What is wrong with the veil, be it nijab or burka?  The Western cultures have evolved to a state that covering of the face is NOT a signal of "Trustworthiness"; but an indicator of deception.  None of the other symbolism's from the cultures that we have eventually accepted have involved a permanent 'disguise' of any sort covering the face.

One can also question why we are slowly removing religious symbolism from our society with one exception.  Are all other religions to be considered less devote than Islam?  Something is wrong with that picture.

Disagree ... I see crosses everywhere, and what about turbans and kirpans? We tolerate things about which we disapprove, on various grounds, but which do us no real harm. I think the niqab is an unwelcome reminder of a socio-cultural phenomenon that we would all, Arab and Anglo, Muslim and Mexican, be better off without, and I strongly object to the notion that some women are forced, by husbands and fathers and so on, to wear it, but I also believe that some women choose, freely, to wear it as an affirmation of their faith in their god ... and why is that wrong?

 

[Edward Campbell]

Michael De Tandt, in an article in the National Post says, "A review of Tory attack ads over the past three years confirms this is the final battle the Conservative leader has long anticipated. It’s also the one the Trudeau Liberals have prepared for, husbanding their ground game for a full-on, final push to reclaim their old perch as Canada’s “natural governing party.” Every recent poll suggests that epic struggle is now upon us, with Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats slipping by the day. This means the next couple of weeks will be ugly; an alley fight, no Queensberry Rules ... [and] ... the stage is now set for a big move away from the New Democrats and toward the Liberals, as so-called “Anybody But Harper” voters coalesce behind the party most likely to unseat the government. That in turn would catalyze a last-ditch Conservative move to ignite their base, to prevent the hated Liberals’ returning from the dead, while the New Democrats rush to save the furniture."

 

[Brad Sallows]

So we finally have a substantial and meaningful election issue - the TPP - and three distinguishable positions - ratify, reject, slow-walk to death - on which voters might take a position.

And I see that some of the media, rather than launch into exploring the issue and the parties' respective positions, would rather bury it and lament that we aren't making the decision on the issue of their play-by-play and colour commentary of the Duffy trial, or the issue of not allowing that to be the issue, or the issue of whether people in public places have no reasonable expectation of privacy.  Also we have Wynne trying to square the circle that her mandate somehow obligates the federal government to do something, and trying to redefine the well-established meaning of "payroll tax" to "contribution", in some fuzzy attempt to reach the conclusion "Harper bad".

Finally, we have the repeated nebulous NDP/LPC promises of economic growth and jobs, which presumably will have to come from the eco-humanitarian employment fairy which lives on the edge of the unicorn pasture at the end of the rainbow, because all of the real-world opportunities which present themselves (oil extraction, pipelines, trade with countries with messy human rights records, TPP) are insufficiently pure.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

I live in a apartment building and earlier this year I was laying on my hammock reading a book and sipping on my favourite brewski.  Below, I noticed a young Muslim couple with their youngster down below. The wife was dressed head-to-toe in black even her hands were covered. But her husband was dressed in running shoes, blue jeans and a short sleeved shirt. So my question is, how come only the women are dressed in the "traditional" form of dress? How come the males always get to adopt a more comfortable form dress? Why aren't they (men) dressed in "traditional" Arab dress (robes, headdress, etc)?

My :2c: worth.

 

[larry Strong]

Yes it probably is the issue that concerns more Canadians than anything else and may win the election for Harper.

A lot of people look upon this as a women's issue.  Looking back several decades much of the Arab world did not place their women in sacks.  It is now becoming commonplace where once it was much more limited in scope.  There is an implicit threat of violence to women who do not conform to the new cultural norm.  30 or 40 years ago Iranian women used to wear bikinis.  Did they switch to sacks of their own free will?  I'm betting not.


http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/04/iran-women-protest-against-forced-wearing-of-hijab-1979


Cheers
Larry

 

[PPCLI Guy]

I live in a apartment building and earlier this year I was laying on my hammock reading a book and sipping on my favourite brewski.  Below, I noticed a young Muslim couple with their youngster down below. The wife was dressed head-to-toe in black even her hands were covered. But her husband was dressed in running shoes, blue jeans and a short sleeved shirt. So my question is, how come only the women are dressed in the "traditional" form of dress? How come the males always get to adopt a more comfortable form dress? Why aren't they (men) dressed in "traditional" Arab dress (robes, turban, etc)?

My :2c: worth.

Really.  So there isn't a separate dress code for men and women who are "real Canadians"...of which I am not one, as I am also an immigrant to this wonderful country.

Did you happen to also look from your balcony and see young Canadian (for you, read white) girls of, say 10-12 years old that were dressed in a distressingly sexualized manner?  Did you notice the well heeled and well dressed soccer Mom next to her slovenly fat and ill-dressed (white) husband?

Did you also notice the dress code for Canadian girls of Jamaican, Chinese, Korean, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Russian decent?  And how their "dress code" differed from the men that they were with?

I'm fine with you being a racist xenophobe - it is a free country....but I will insist that you admit it.

 

[Altair]

I really feel like this niqab thing needs it's own thread.

 

[Lumber]

I really feel like this niqab thing needs it's own thread.

The only thing  that is less of an issue than the Niqab issue is the issue that the Niqab issue isn't an issue!

 

[a_majoor]

So we finally have a substantial and meaningful election issue - the TPP - and three distinguishable positions - ratify, reject, slow-walk to death - on which voters might take a position.

And I see that some of the media, rather than launch into exploring the issue and the parties' respective positions, would rather bury it and lament that we aren't making the decision on the issue of their play-by-play and colour commentary of the Duffy trial, or the issue of not allowing that to be the issue, or the issue of whether people in public places have no reasonable expectation of privacy.  Also we have Wynne trying to square the circle that her mandate somehow obligates the federal government to do something, and trying to redefine the well-established meaning of "payroll tax" to "contribution", in some fuzzy attempt to reach the conclusion "Harper bad".

Finally, we have the repeated nebulous NDP/LPC promises of economic growth and jobs, which presumably will have to come from the eco-humanitarian employment fairy which lives on the edge of the unicorn pasture at the end of the rainbow, because all of the real-world opportunities which present themselves (oil extraction, pipelines, trade with countries with messy human rights records, TPP) are insufficiently pure.

Brad, when are you founding your political party? I'm ready to join now.......

 

[Scott]

Today's niqab is yesterday's kirpan.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail, is a report from John Ibbitson about one area; it also, tangentially, notes how "the old German settler culture has receded, replaced by a more modern and more multicultural dynamic," which, I expect, (maybe just hope) will be what we are saying about 99% of Muslim Canadians 100 years from now:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/globe-politics-insider/inside-the-race-in-kitchener-waterloo-a-key-bellwether-battleground/article26689109/

Inside the race in Kitchener-Waterloo, a key bellwether battleground

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

John Ibbitson
WATERLOO, ONT. — The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2015

The German immigrants who settled this region in the 19th century were skilled and industrious. They built the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo into a manufacturing powerhouse. They were also suspicious and resentful of the Anglo-Saxon majority in the surrounding communities and up the road in Toronto, so they generally voted Liberal, because Liberals supported immigrants, even though their values were conservative to the core.

But times have transformed. Manufacturing has given way to vibrant high-technology spokes hubbed on the University of Waterloo, one of Canada’s most precious assets. The region is awash in startups, incubators and condos filled with young high-tech workers of every racial hue. The descendants of the German-Canadian settlers have largely forgotten their hyphenation, though there’s still a lingering chip-on-the-shoulder resentment of Toronto. A region once solidly Liberal is now marginally Conservative.

And in this election, the races in Kitchener-Waterloo are being closely watched. If Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wants to beat Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, he must make inroads here. In one key riding, the NDP is also in the mix.

This region, with an exciting future, could also signal the outcome of the next federal government.

Kitchener-Waterloo’s capacity to regenerate is remarkable. One example: a former factory that was once the largest tannery in the Commonwealth now houses, among other things, Google Canada and Communitech, the much-written-about non-profit that incubates high-tech businesses.

“The notion of this economy reinventing itself, of this community reinventing itself, is nothing new,” observed Iain Klugman, President and chief executive officer of Communitech.

A century ago, as the region transitioned from agriculture to manufacturing, Mennonite farms gave way to such storied brands as Electrohome and Schneiders. The shared German ethos of collective capitalism worked as well on the shop floor as during a barn raising.

It also gave rise to the technology-oriented University of Waterloo, whose pioneering co-op program created the synergies that have allowed the region to transition again, from manufacturing to high-tech, even as the rest of Southwestern Ontario staggers in the wake of hundreds of thousands of lost manufacturing jobs. Wilfrid Laurier University, next door to U of W, and Conestoga College make the twin cities an educational hub.

Unemployment in the Waterloo region, which includes Kitchener and next-door Cambridge, is well below 6 per cent. The provincial average is 7 per cent. In Waterloo, new firms have replaced the jobs lost by BlackBerry’s decline; in Kitchener, entire blocks of abandoned factories and warehouses are being redeveloped into office space and condos.

On Thursday, Canada’s newest technology darling, Shopify, announced it was opening a new centre in Kitchener that would employ 300 people. And Toronto-Dominion Bank is opening an IT centre in the city that will employ 120.

The streets are a mess, thanks to the light-rail line under construction.

And the old German settler culture has receded, replaced by a more modern and more multicultural dynamic.

“I’m not sure where you would go to find a German identity today,” said historian Kenneth McLaughlin, who has just published a book on the evolution of the region’s economy.

Along with this transformation, the old loyalty to the Liberal party – which had always made exceptions for popular Progressive Conservative and even NDP politicians – has dissolved, replaced by a shifting, politically pragmatic electorate.

Take the riding of Waterloo as an example. In every election from 1993 to 2006, when it was known as Kitchener-Waterloo, Liberal Andrew Telegdi took the riding by huge margins. But the Conservatives’ low-tax, small-government message delivered the riding to Conservative MP Peter Braid in 2008, by a margin of just 17 votes. In 2011, the Conservatives widened that margin, though only to 2,100 votes.

This time, Mr. Braid – courteous and soft-spoken, with a background in business and international relations, hailing from the Progressive Conservative wing of the party – faces not one, but two challengers. Liberal candidate Bardish Chagger, a special projects co-ordinator at the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre, radiates youthful energy.

“As someone who was born and raised in this community, I’ve seen us transform, I know what we’re capable of,” she said in an interview. “It’s important that Waterloo’s voice make it to Ottawa, rather than the other way around.”

But the NDP is also a factor in the riding. Diane Freeman, an engineer and city councillor, tore up her Liberal Party card, she says, when Justin Trudeau decided to support the government’s anti-terrorism legislation, Bill C-51. The riding went NDP at the provincial level in the last election, and MPP Catherine Fife is strongly supporting Ms. Freeman.

“The door has opened for voters to listen with new ears to the NDP,” Ms. Freeman said. Mr. Mulcair, she believes, has made the party more compelling to voters who might have dismissed it in the past.

Who will take the riding? A riding poll commissioned by the progressive advocacy group LeadNow and conducted by Environics had the Liberals at 39 per cent in late September, the Conservatives at 31 per cent and the NDP at 26 per cent. But that’s just one poll. The word from strategists in all three parties, speaking on background, is that Ms. Freeman is running a strong campaign.

At the plaza in front of Waterloo Town Square, a downtown (in Waterloo, they say “uptown”) mall, Tony Theodosion is taking a break from work at the nearby pub he owns. He knows, emphatically, who he’s not voting for: Stephen Harper.

As a small business owner, “I should be all for less taxes and for corporations and for making money,” he says, “but that’s not the case.” For him, “a lot of people work and receive nothing, and a few people work and receive everything.”

But Mr. Theodosion still hasn’t decided who he will vote for. He’d like to vote Green, but figures that would be a wasted ballot. He’ll decide on Election Day which party he thinks has the best chance of bringing Stephen Harper down.

But Mr. Harper probably will have the vote of Lashley Jagdhar, who, at 68, is retired and soaking in this glorious late-September-but-feels-like-June sun. Not that he’s happy with the Conservatives: He highly doubts Mr. Harper had no idea what was going on in his office during the Senate expenses scandal.

But for him, the alternatives are worse. “I think he’s not ready,” Mr. Jagdhar says of Mr. Trudeau. “Maybe in another four or eight years.” As for the NDP, he shakes his head. “Maybe if Jack Layton was alive.”

Alex Unger, a young actor, is conflicted. “I really don’t like Stephen Harper, but I really do like my MP,” she says of Conservative Harold Albrecht, of Kitchener-Conestoga, who supports community theatre. She plans to make up her mind on Election Day.

If Waterloo is a three-way race, party insiders peg Kitchener Centre as a tight two-way fight between incumbent Conservative Stephen Woodworth, known for his strong opposition to abortion, and Liberal challenger Raj Saini. In Kitchener-Conestoga, which is partly rural, Mr. Albrecht is thought to be in no danger. And there is a new riding, Kitchener South-Hespeler, one of 16 new seats given to Ontario in the expanded House of Commons.

Whoever emerges the winner in the region will be expected to support the cities and universities that have galvanized the local economy into a new national centre of technology excellence.

And every candidate supports improved GO Train service to Toronto. That old German chip may be finally coming off KW’s shoulder.

I am old enough to have seen many of the changes that frightened entire generations of Canadians: many of my high school classmates were interned in camps during the Second World war, a few were born in them. I went to high school with "DPs" (displaced persons) from Europe who had little for comfort to except for the familiar warmth of their "old country" culture. But their kids and grandkids are very, very much like my kids. I think there are more, many more sophisticated, well educated, secular Muslims, like my friend and colleague Sabah, from Iraq, who was horrified during Gulf Wars I and II but understood, beneath the pain, that we, a group within which he included himself, were trying, albeit clumsily, to make things better.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Meanwhile, in other non-niqab news, shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) .... ....

New Democrats, if elected on Oct. 19, promise to maintain stable defence spending and equip the military to resume leadership in the United Nations peacekeeping, with an eye to making Canada the top troop contributor among western nations within a few years.

The pledge is one of the cornerstones of the party's defence policy set to be released Friday along with other elements of the party's platform.

There's also a pricey commitment to implement around-the-clock 30-minute response time for Canada's search-and-rescue squadrons -- an idea the air force has long dismissed as too costly and labour-intensive.

NDP sources, speaking on background to The Canadian Press, say the intent would be to meet international standards with respect to response times, and ensure there is adequate coverage in the North.

As Tom Mulcair hinted earlier in the campaign, the NDP would not kill the controversial F-35 stealth fighter program outright, but would wait for the results of a comprehensive defence review mandated to report within a year.

The Liberals, who've promised to back out of the multi-billion dollar plan altogether, attacked Mulcair's response as a flip-flop, pointing out the NDP was -- until recently -- against the deal.

Party officials readily acknowledge the F-35 joint strike fighter is not something that belongs in peacekeeping arsenal and defence review would likely come to the same conclusion.

"I can't think how the F-35 would fit into a refined Canadian military," said one source with knowledge of the platform. "I think that will be reflected in as new vision for Canada's future."

On the question of how they would handle the country's approximately $20 billion defence budget, which the parliamentary budget office says needs to be increased to maintain existing troop and equipment levels, the NDP say they would "maintain budgetary expenditures on defence to meet our commitments."

That is far from a guarantee and officials say much would depend on the defence review, which could "very well come back and say there needs to be an increase."

Sources also say the party would pour more money into the military medical system by hiring more uniformed mental health workers who would follow troops on deployments.

It would reform the controversial universality of service rules, which require troops to be fit to deploy at a moment's notice. The rules has been responsible for the summary ejection of some wounded soldiers who wished to continue serving.

To increase transparency at National Defence, the NDP say, among other things they would create an inspector general's office.

 

[Edward Campbell]

More polling data, this time from Ekos, 3-5 Oct, n=1658, MOE=2.4% 19 times out of 20:

If you swap the red and orange we are closing in on (trending towards) a repeat of 2011 (the Liberals are almost exactly where the NDP were four years ago, the NDP is only 3% above where the Liberals ended up, and the CPC is 4+% away from a majority).

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Gun owners too lazy to vote just had a fire lit under their ass by The Hairdo. :facepalm:

Graeme Hamilton
| Oct 07, 2015 | Last Updated: Oct 07, 2015 - 4:00 UTC
Seemingly undaunted by their experience with the ill-fated 1995 long-gun registry, the Liberals are positioning themselves as the toughest gun-control proponents in the federal campaign.

The platform released Monday by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promises a series of measures to reverse Conservative initiatives that “steadily weakened our gun laws,” while proposing a broad range of  initiatives “to get handguns and assault weapons off our streets.”

The Liberal plan drew immediate criticism from organizations representing gun-owners. “They’ve firmly established themselves as the anti-gun party. They want to attack the legitimate ownership and use of firearms in Canada,” said Blair Hagen, executive vice-president of the National Firearms Association. “They’ve learned nothing from the 1990s, it appears.”

The Liberals specify that they would not re-introduce the long-gun registry scrapped in 2012 by the Conservatives, who referred to it as “billion-dollar boondoggle.”

But Trudeau is promising to repeal elements of Bill C-42, dubbed the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act by the Conservatives, which came into force last June. The Liberals would restore the requirement for a specific permit to transport restricted and prohibited weapons to and from such locations as a shooting range or gunsmith. Under the Conservative law, the authorization to transport the weapon became automatic with the granting of a licence.

The Liberals would also repeal a section of C-42 that gives cabinet, not police, final say over which firearms are restricted. The Conservatives used the new power in August to reverse an RCMP ban on certain Czech- and Swiss-made rifles that closely resemble prohibited automatic firearms.

The Liberals also promise to modify membership of the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, which advises the government and which critics say tilts too much in favour of gun-owners. Trudeau wants committee membership to include public health advocates, women’s group representatives and police officers.

A Liberal government would require enhanced background checks for anyone buying a handgun or other restricted firearm, it would require anyone selling a firearm to confirm that the buyer holds a valid licence and it would implement long-delayed regulations requiring the marking of imported guns. Vendors would be required to keep records of their inventory and sales to assist police in investigating crimes.

Heidi Rathjen, founder and spokeswoman for the gun-control group Polysesouvient, said that even though the Liberals stopped short of promising to revive the registry, their platform is courageous. She said Conservative legislation had opened loopholes that made it easier for criminals to obtain illegal guns.

“This platform will certainly be viciously opposed by the gun lobby, and in that sense, Justin Trudeau is not sitting on the fence,” Rathjen said. “He has taken a strong stand in favour of gun control and I think we should applaud that.”

Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, accused the Liberals of playing politics on the backs of law-abiding gun owners, who would face additional hassles under the Liberal plan.

“There are a couple of million Canadians out there who have firearms licences. Apparently the Liberals still don’t understand those people,” he said. “They have made no attempt to understand those people. And they are willing to take a couple of million Canadians and quite frankly crap on them for their political agenda.”

Hagen said up until Monday, gun control had not been an issue in the campaign, and gun-owners were not necessarily in the Conservative camp. “This is just going to inflame that gun vote to come out and support the Conservatives, and that wasn’t necessarily going to happen at the start of the campaign,” he said.

Bill Blair, former Toronto police chief and Liberal candidate in the riding of Scarborough Southwest, said he is not worried the platform will drive rural gun-owners away from the Liberals.

“I do not believe that the measures we propose are too onerous,” he said. “I do think they can contribute significantly to keeping our communities safe, and ultimately that’s in everybody’s interest.”

NDP leader Tom Mulcair has called the long-gun registry a failure and said he would not re-introduce a registry if elected. The NDP did not respond to a request for more information on its proposals for gun control.

National Post

For the sake of this threads clarity, technical discussion can take place here: http://army.ca/forums/threads/28692/post-1393354.html#msg1393354

 

[Edward Campbell]

Gun owners too lazy to vote just had a fire lit under their ass by The Hairdo. :facepalm:

For the sake of this threads clarity, technical discussion can take place here: http://army.ca/forums/threads/28692/post-1393354.html#msg1393354

This is part of the battle between the Liberals and NDP in the urban ridings, where gun control is still popular amongst those who vote.

The suburbs, where the Liberals want to make gains, too, are not monolithically conservative. Many of the ethnic communities, especially East and South Asian, that the CPC has been courting so assiduously, are neutral on or in favour of gun control.

 

[Edward Campbell]

The Liberals and the NDP are not the only ones dumping fruitcake candidates ... the CPC has dumped "Jagdish Grewal, a candidate in suburban Toronto who defended therapies that attempt to turn gays straight and who penned an editorial that referred to homosexuality as "unnatural behaviour" and heterosexuals as "normal.""

 

[Scott]

The Liberals and the NDP are not the only ones dumping fruitcake candidates ... the CPC has dumped "Jagdish Grewal, a candidate in suburban Toronto who defended therapies that attempt to turn gays straight and who penned an editorial that referred to homosexuality as "unnatural behaviour" and heterosexuals as "normal.""

Good. Because that dude brought stupid to a whole new level.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Notwithstanding some good editorial advice from the Globe and Mail, it appears, according to an article in the Ottawa Sun that the CPC will keep flogging the niqab horse because, I suspect, their own polling shows that's a winner ~ and not just in Franco Quebec. I have seen data that suggests that as many as 85% of Canadians support banning the niqab and burqa, despite the decisions of court after court that there is no justifiable reason to do so.

I reiterate that I think this is just part of a larger but inchoate Canadian worry (fear, in many cases) about the threat that radical Islam poses to our Western, secular, liberal values. Most of us, I believe, are unwilling or unable to articulate those worries in more reasoned discourse so we focus on one, tiny, visible, comprehensible symptom of what we perceive to be a larger problem.

The reasons for our fears are as many and as varied as we, ourselves, some are well grounded in facts, others are manifestations of xenophobia or simple, stupid racism ... but we have those fears and the niqab debate allows us to express them. One might doubt the validity of the niqab debate, one should, certainly, say it's in bad taste, but one ought not to doubt its importance to many voters, and, therefore, its validity as a campaign issue.