Canadian Coalition for Democracies:
Ottawa, Canada - The Opposition Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois parties called for the convening of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development during Parliament's summer recess for the purpose of challenging the government's Middle East policy and the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon. Such a committee requires that notice be given on the internet, and any potential witnesses can contact the Clerk of the Committee to request standing to provide testimony.Several groups applied to be witnesses and were accepted by the Clerk of the Committee. These witnesses travelled to Ottawa from across the country on short notice and at considerable personal expense.
The committee met on August 1. In the morning, the committee MPs had an opportunity to question the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Peter MacKay. In the afternoon, the Opposition MPs, mainly led by Alexa McDonough of the NDP, put forward a procedural motion calling for committee business to be dealt with before the witnesses were heard. The government MPs responded that concluding the committee business before hearing from the witnesses was like passing a verdict in a trial before calling witnesses.
Ms McDonough went further, stating that the witnesses were identified with a single well-defined, narrow position, and challenged their credibility. It should be noted that Ms McDonough made these damaging allegations against witnesses approved by the Clerk of the Committee while knowing neither the witnesses nor the content of their testimony.
Below is the list of witnesses scheduled to give testimony that afternoon whose right to speak was effectively revoked by Ms McDonough and other Opposition MPs:Canadian International Development Agency
Canadian Red Cross
Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation
World Lebanese Cultural Union
Monastery Saint Anthony the Great
Canadian Assembly for Lebanon
Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Khal Ishraki, as an individual evacueeThe subject matter for the hearing was specifically Lebanon, yet Opposition MPs passed a procedural resolution that effectively denied all Lebanese witnesses the right to speak. These witnesses included people with family members in the southern war zone of Lebanon and those directly affected by the evacuation. The Opposition used a procedural motion to silence these voices. As a result, Opposition MPs, with no first hand knowledge of the situation, were able to criticize the government without fear of contradiction from Lebanese witnesses or by CIDA and the Red Cross who were directly involved in the evacuation and humanitarian effort.
CCD strongly condemns Alexa McDonough and other Opposition MPs for excluding Lebanese, CIDA and Red Cross voices with first-hand experience on the situation in Lebanon from providing testimony to a committee whose mandate was specifically the tragic situation in Lebanon.
Full press release.
I caught an interview this evening with Alastair Gordon, president of the CCD on The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge (770 CHQR) while I was easing my way down Glenmore Trail River. Gordon is a lot angrier than even the press release lets on. Anyone who was determined to speak in support of the government had a big black line drawn through their names by McDonough and her cohorts.
Thanks for that excellent data, Kate. It's on its way to Vitruvius's mailing list now.
I watched the hearings. Can somebody please tell me what the hell the "D" in NDP stands for?
She reminded me of a child in elementary school running to the principal because somebody called her a name.
The lib-state cabal are used to having their way when it comes to what manner of information Canadians received, it's just disgusting to see it done so blatantly and with such contempt for honour and the truth. Their actions are an ugly reminder of blithely LOC players assert that they have entitlement to impose one particular narrative upon the whole country and to censor the truth.
A reformed dippers letter to Alexa. So true.
http://americandaily.com/article/14812
Thanks Grandad. Did you send Mr. Goldstein a link to this story/web site?
I just about got physically sick, watching CPAC, never have I seen such a hi-jacking of democracy. The opposition did themselves more harm then good with their tactics. It was a planned attack, they didn't want to hear any witnesses, they only wanted to shove their agenda through, without any facts. Disgusting!
Anyone who has watched Alexa in action understands she is nothing more than a shrieking Harpie. What she did/said should be made available for all to see.....the only ones who won't be disgusted by these antics are her fellow wing-nuts of the NDP, and every other group that cannot determine who they hate more. Americans or Jews.
for about 10 or 12 years I have continued to point out there is NOTHING 'new' about the 'new' democratic party.
their party name shows their simplisticism and mediocre grasp of language. all they know is shreikite and policor.
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Kevin, that line just made my day. Perfect.
Alexa -- the epitome of intolerance and manipulation. Carrying on in the best tradition of the left and exhibiting the moral ethics of a curb worm. The leftern world is slithering ahead at the same speed the radical mussies crawl from the sty.
No lefty response here yet. I guess the jackboot is a little tight when it is on the other foot.
McDonough and the left liberals/socialists, i.e. Liberals, NDP, Bloc, have for decades been carrying out ideological warfare in Canada.
This warfare traces back to at least 1956 when Lester "Mike" Pearson, et al., branded Canada as a nation of "peace-keepers".
That year, 1956, the Hungarian Revolution (read George Jonas's works), was crushed by Soviet Russia. Pearson and his buddies did/said nothing., except "Better Red Than Dead".
The Red Torch was handed off to Trudeau and ... well, you know the rest.
The heirs of Trudeau, viz, McDonough, et al, were again at work when they suppressed the witnesses.
This essay speaks to the situation here in Canada.
The first line posted is amended to read:
Canadians have never really understood ideological warfare.
The essay also talks about suicidalism, Mecca fused into glass, and much more. ...-
Gramscian damage
Americans have never really understood ideological warfare. Our gut-level assumption is that everybody in the world really wants the same comfortable material success we have. We use “extremist” as a negative epithetic. Even the few fanatics and revolutionary idealists we have, whatever their political flavor, expect everybody else to behave like a bourgeois.
We don’t expect ideas to matter — or, when they do, we expect them to matter only because people have been flipped into a vulnerable mode by repression or poverty. Thus all our divagation about the “root causes” of Islamic terrorism, as if the terrorists’ very clear and very ideological account of their own theory and motivations is somehow not to be believed.
But if the Islamists achieve their dream of nuking “crusader” cities, they’ll make crusaders out of the U.S., too. And this time, a West with a chauvinized America at its head would smite the Saracen with weapons that would destroy entire populations and fuse Mecca into glass. The horror of our victory would echo for a thousand years.
I remain more optimistic than this. I think there is still an excellent chance that the West can recover from suicidalism without going through a fevered fascist episode and waging a genocidal war. But to do so, we have to do more than recognize Stalin’s memes; we have to reject them. We have to eject postmodern leftism from our universities, transnational progressivism from our politics, and volk-Marxism from our media.
The process won’t be pretty. But I fear that if the rest of us don’t hound the po-mo Left and its useful idiots out of public life with attack and ridicule and shunning, the hard Right will sooner or later get the power to do it by means that include a lot of killing. I don’t want to live in that future, and I don’t think any of my readers do, either. If we want to save a liberal, tolerant civilization for our children, we’d better get to work. ...-
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=260
that any member of the NDP has that kind of power turns my stomach....i mean..please....and another thing....if any Canadian citizen is caught sending any money to any organization with links to the Taliban, they should be arrested and charged with treason...funny thing...NDP lobbies for multiculturism....govt gives money to shadow groups...money gets sent to suspicious mid-eastern organizations...money is used to buy ammo to kill Canadian soldiers...am I the only person in this country who see's this happening???
When was this on CPAC and is there an archived copy online or rebroadcast on CPAC?
I'd love to watch so that I can craft an appropriate letter to Ms. McDonough congratulating her on finally coming "out of the closet" and expressing the true essence of her neo-comm ways. Be true to your censoring ways, baby!
BTW. Not that I endorse name-calling but, please, can we start using "neo-comm" as a means to reference the left?
Derivative? Yup. Original? I'd like to think so but others may have already "coined" this phrase. But I like the way it turns it around on the silly people.
We need to start buying t-shirts from "protestwarrior.org" that say "Communism only killed 100 million people, let's give it another chance."
Kevin B? I echo Dean.
Well said, sir.
een
This is exactly to the point on Angry Alexa:
ottsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/McRae_Earl/2006/08/04/1718418.html
'What is she -- foreign affairs critic for her party, right? No, no, she's the United States critic for her party. She has a blind hatred for Americans. The only reason all the enemies surrounding Israel haven't wiped it off the map is because it has the mighty United States supporting it. The New Democratic Party -- Old Dumbocratic Party if you ask me."'
Mark
Ottawa
Peter Van Loan (CPC-Bmfk. West) repeatedly claimed during committee that 68% of his felow Canadian citizens are Hesbollah supporters.
No need to respond to that here today; I and about 22.5 million other Canadians who Van Loan insulted will file that one away for the next election.
"The only reason all the enemies surrounding Israel haven't wiped it off the map is because it has the mighty United States supporting it."
Seems to me that Israel has historically done a pretty good job dispatching its many foes all by itself:
1948 War of Independence
1967 Six Day War
1973 Yom Kippur War
I like where the NDP is going - to the radical, extreme left. Of course, McLelland and Tyrant-Guy have already helped push, and daily continue to push the NDP significantly in that direction.
Scratch the surface ... anger, looking for someone else to blame.
So far as I can determine the official policy of the CPC government's foreign policy in the Mid east is to simply imply that Israel has the right to exist and exercise its sovereignty in protecting itself and make sure Canadians are not caught in the cross fire....aside from this, there seems to be a departmental acceptance that Canada hasn't the military or fininacial resources to be an intervenor in all these regional scraps so the policy is to pick our fights carefully, mind our own business and avoid getting sucked into no-win frivilous "show piece" symolic actions....seems the most prudent policy we have seen from the foreign department which invented the theatrical policy of "soft power" for quite some time.
For the foaming socialist opposition to attempt to attack such a pragmatic policy exudes the rank futility of public funded ideological witch-hunting projects.
Perhaps the dippers and block heads are still in scandal mode from the Martin parliament?
Probably closer to the truth is that the entrenched liberal ideologues in the departmental structure are encouraging opposition to attack their new CPC bosses because they resent a change of direction in deaprtmenta;l policy....I've seen this in other departments as well such as Justice and security....one wonders if the CPC caucus is fully in control of the bureaucracy yet.
Welcome to Calgary Kate!
I don't know what you're talking about, Bob. I think that number should be at most 22.5 million - 1. Personally I still think that three democratically elected parties conspiring to suppress the truth is far more worrying than a single nincompoop making a farcical claim.
When you successfully Muzzle Freedom of Speach is this a Democracy?
One can only hope that Canadians see the truth in what Alexa & Opposition MP's have tried to accomplish, silencing freedom!
Iam proud to be a Canadian & proud of PM Harper & Minister MacKay for standing up & having the balls to speak the truth, that this country does not & will not support a group of terrorist intent on the total destruction of human life.
That this country did the utmost to save endangered lives.
Alexa the fascist strikes again.
It's quit a democracy we have here isn't it?
This reminds me of what happened during the commons committee investigation into Adscam, with constant "points of order" being brought forth by Librano$$$$ bellowing thieves, the committe was unable to hear any testimony and the investigation was cancelled.
Exactly like Somalia , Air India , and Tainted blood, these investigations are useless and will never get anywhere as long as lefty boosters are allowed to hoot and fling feces. It's not an investigation , it's not even close.
It's an exercise founded in political correctness organized by subversives, to advance their stupid thoroughly bankrupt, rejected policies.
Gagliano to Denmark, the disgraced OPP head to Ireland, and Alexa Mcdumass can pry the commie flag from Castos cold dead hand.
Alexa is best described as a pitbull with lipstick. We now have the impression the Israel is the only nation in the mid-east that does snything amiss. And, we all know that Arabs, and the mythical "palestinians" are ALWAYS right.
Anydisagreement with this premise, of course, is based on hatred and bigotry. Thanks, Alexa; we really know what you are now.
Disgust is the first word that came to mind on reading Alastair Gordon's presentation--the one he never got to make.
With great weariness, I am about to e-mail Alexa McDonough, Bill Graham, and Gilles Duceppe, to register my utter dismay and disgust at their hi-jacking of a democratically constituted committee hearing.
This is the logical trajectory and destination of years of wimp-wristed Canadianism. I'm weary because I've been pointing out for years the non-democratic motives and actions of the Libs and Dippers (the Bloc's motives speak for themselves) to very little avail. I think, if it's possible, Canada's in worse shape than Chamberlain's England.
I think I'll also write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper once again to let him know that I am fully behind his and the CPC's initiatives vis a vis the ME.
It's time we start calling Alexa and her cohorts, the collaberators they are,
Alexa...you are an enemy to Canada and all free market countries.
...Get the hell out of our government.!...
Alexa McDonough - One of my least favourite politicians of all time.
I remember when she criticized Anne McClelland being made health minister, not because Anne was incompetent or inexperienced or anything like that, but because she was from Alberta.
Why Alexa wasn't drummed out of the NDP for that remark I'll never know, but I'll never forgive her for that, nor the NDP. Apparantly it's okay to be a bigot, so long as you're the right kind of bigot.
"Ms McDonough went further, stating that the witnesses were identified with a single well-defined, narrow position, and challenged their credibility."
Based on this logic, should she not have challenged her own credibility.
I think alexa can hear a dog whistle.
Are we SURE that wasn't Svend Robinson in drag?
Liberal power couple back Harper on Mideast
Liberal power couple Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz have publicly broken with the Liberal Party line on the Middle East crisis and are turning to Prime Minister Stephen Harper because of his support of Israel ...- cnews
This is bad news for the Librano$$$$$$$$; H & G could visit Paul Who? any/where/time. Paul always was grateful to H & G.
Recall Paul Who? (Satire here for ya, Paul?)
Paul Martin Time: Paul Martin strikes out on foreign affairs and ...
The official website for the truth about Paul Martin, Canada's unelected Prime ... Or to borrow Heather Reisman's slogan: "The world needs more Canada." ...
paulmartintime.ca/mediacoverage/000496.html - 15k -
Alexa is an old-money rich kid with no clue, no intelligence and no understanding of the real world pretending to speak for the "common people" she only sees when they're cleaning her toilet.
No one ever said you had to be smart to inherit wealth. Earning it is another story.
I have come through on my commitment in an earlier post which, for some completely unexplicable reason has been caught in the filter, to write Alexa M., Gilles D., Jack L., and Bill G., to protest in the strongest possible way their hi-jacking of this Committee hearing. 'Courageous champions of tolerance, diversity, democratic freedoms, and human rights. (sarcasm off)
I've sent a copy of my letter to these Parliamentary (sic and sick) hi-jackers to PMSH with this note:
"Dear Prime Minister Harper,
"Please find enclosed an e-mail I have just sent to Alexa McDonough, with c.c.s and a note to Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton, and Bill Graham, to register my utter disgust at their hi-jacking of due process at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, by excluding witness testimony.
"Please know that both my husband and I are very proud of your leadership of our country, and commend your mature and measured handling of the very complex and tragic situation in the Middle East. We, like you, fully support Israel's right to exist and to fight for that right when they are savagely attacked by Hezbollah, who shamefully uses human shields and useful idiots' duplicity to further their cause.
"God bless you, the CPC, and all of our brave men and women in uniform who are standing up for Western freedom and democracy. You understand, something that the Bloc, the NDP, and the Liberals totally don't."
Here are the e-mail addresses for those who want to register their disgust and dismay:
McDonough.A@parl.gc.ca
Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
Graham.B@parl.gc.ca
Layton.J@parl.gc.ca
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
If anyone bothers to read em, sorry about the spelling.
Alexa and Hillary come running to the sound of the same dog whistle.
Hillarys performance in the Senate hearings was a total disgrace especially in light of the history of what her husband did NOT do in his eight years in office.
Alexa should never be given a platform to speak or to try to shut out those who have something concrete and important to say.
Same for Hillary Clinton. These two harpies and all like them should be told to shut up and move along. This world has a whole lot more important things to do in fighting for our freedom and doing all we can to support our troops without suffering the idiocy and political expediency these to represent.
Time to get down to brass tacks, get a new broom and sweep clean the cobwebs of political rhetoric.
Especially when it stymies the rights of those to speak who actually have something important to say!
Ditto what Richard Evans said...
"Tens of thousands March in Iraq in support of Hezbolah".
With the recent actions of the opposition & the Queen of the left, i would assume that they also support the Gov't of Iraq?
Alexa and Hillary come running to the sound of the same dog whistle.
Hillarys performance in the Senate hearings was a total disgrace especially in light of the history of what her husband did NOT do in his eight years in office.
Alexa should never be given a platform to speak or to try to shut out those who have something concrete and important to say.
Same for Hillary Clinton. These two harpies and all like them should be told to shut up and move along. This world has a whole lot more important things to do in fighting for our freedom and doing all we can to support our troops without suffering the idiocy and political expediency this represents.
Time to get down to brass tacks, get a new broom and sweep clean the cobwebs of political rhetoric.
Especially when it stymies the rights of those to speak who actually have something important to say!
Alexa McDonough, bringing Mo Strong's version of Bejing democracy to Canada through the Commons committee system.
Give her a side order of Tianamen Soviet T-72 Tank with her fortune cookie and fried rice. Perhaps she can use the Michael Dukkakis Teletubby pith helmet while she rides through the streets of Ottawa.
You goh, girl.
http://www.newsintercom.org/index.php?itemid=280
"aside from this, there seems to be a departmental acceptance that Canada hasn't the military or fininacial resources to be an intervenor in all these regional scraps so the policy is to pick our fights carefully, mind our own business and avoid getting sucked into no-win frivilous "show piece" symolic actions....seems the most prudent policy we have seen from the foreign department which invented the theatrical policy of "soft power" for quite some time."
Not what I ve been hearing. There seems to be a fair bit of discord over what is seen as Harper's ad-hoc Foreign Policy. Theres some concern that Foreign Policy is emerging from the PMO, and not the Dept, which, if true, doesnt bode well for Canada. The Dept can be accused of many things, but one thing that cannot be doubted is the intelligence the folk in there possess. They are somewhat better positioned to make Foreign Policy decisions, if only because it is their area of expertise.
I ve also heard that Harper has rebuked Mackay on numerous occassions in the past couple of months ( havent bothered verifying it - anybody know anything about this? ). And lately there is a feeling that the PMs foreign policy reflect his personal beliefs, not Canada's "interests". And then theres the standard accusations that Harpers just toeing the American line.
That is what I ve heard, so dont berate me on it. My personal opinion is that if its true, then Harper is more a Canadian President than a Prime Minister. And that allegation about taking up the American line would be particularly damning because it does suggest that we are simply following them without having the ear of the Bush administration, as Harper is inclined to pretend.
Some biographical facts about the entitled, "Rosedale socialist" (or whatever the Halifax equivalent is), Alexa McDonough, Queen of the Left:
-- comes from a very wealthy Nova Scotian family and was involved in social activism from an early age;
-- lists her profession as "social worker";
-- her boyfriend is David McDonald, former Conservative MP from the late 1960s to the 1980s, who served as communications minister and was responsible for the status of women in Joe Clark's government. (Well, he SAID he was a Conservative: Joe Clark? Status of Radical Feminists...er, Women?)
-- her niece is Holly Cole, the jazz singer
what do you expect from socialist/communist types - expressions of views contrary to theirs are not to be tolerated, irregardless of what happens to be the truth.
Wake up Halifax - next election Alexa should be punted for her pathetic attempts to suppress the truth and mislead the Canadian people.
"aside from
/Troll
"aside from
/Troll (richfisher)
Yup, and not-too-intelligent, either.
mckay got it right a while back...alexa "mind your knitting". the woman is dangerous.
middleton - the problem with your thesis is that it is ungrounded, unsubstantiated and filled with logical fallacies.
1) Use of the passive tense - Eg. 'there is some concern'. This neatly sidesteps the required evidential data of 'concern as stated by whom'?
"Lately there is a feeling". Unacceptable. Feelings felt by whom?
2) Use of qualitative, ie, ambiguous adjectives of quantity. Eg. 'fair bit', 'some concern'
3) Appeal to Authority - fallacious logic. You assert, without evidence, that 'One thing that cannot be doubted is the intelligence the folk in there possess'. This is unacceptable, for it provides no evidence and instead, informs the reader that they must NOT doubt your statement. Why not?
4)Invalid conclusions. You state that the decisions about foreign policy must be made by the office of foreign affairs, not by the office of the PM. You are quite wrong on this. The bureaucrats in the foreign affairs office, intelligent as they might be, are unelected and unaccountable. It is the duty of the elected representatives of gov't, to make decisions. Not the unelected. That's the very essence of democracy.
5)Invalid correlations. Because X-person has an area of expertise does not automatically lead to their decisions about actions being correct. Expertise is vital, most certainly, but, future-oriented actions, in non-mechanical situations, cannot be reduced to: Expert-->Correct Answer. Why not? Because societies are not machines; they are complex and multiple areas must be considered in decision-making.
Invalid Correlation - that the decisions on foreign policy reflect Harper's personal beliefs, not Canada's 'interests'.
The fallacy in this statement is your unverified assumptions, first, that Harper's foreign policy is guided only by personal beliefs and not by knowledge, and second, that these beliefs are in opposition to Canada's interests. Proof?????
And yet another invalid correlation, when you assert that Harper is 'just toeing the US line'. Your fallacy here is first, that his beliefs and actions are not his (which by the way, contradicts your early assertion that they are); and second, that when two people think the same, it isn't because both are rational, both are guided by good data and evidence, and both therefore come to the same valid conclusion. Your fallacy is to assume that IF two people think the same, neither is reasonable, and one simply copies the other. Proof?????
6)Use of anecdotal, unverified 'gossip' as evidence. Surely, as a student, you must know that what you've heard, as unverified, is spurious and can't be used to come to any conclusions. You are attempting to sway your conclusions and your readers, with gossip. Unacceptable.
Why shouldn't you be critiqued on your post? You are the one posting it! You are responsible for it! And you even come to conclusions that Harper is therefore, a President rather than a Prime Minister. Please explain the difference between the terms and how this affects Canada.
When socialism is dangerously close to silencing the people it is also dangerously close to becoming facism, Alexis has come very close to this.
She is so blinded in her hate for our neighbors & their leaders that she has forgotten what her party stands for.
I support our freedoms in Canada & believe in the right to free-speech & to speak out against tyranny.
However her actions recently & those of the opposition MP's to have silenced those who are experts on the subject only reafirms my belief that the Liberals, NDP & BLOQ are dangerous to the future of Canada.