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 evacuee
The 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.
Gabby, I’ve always appreciated your posts.
Believe me, form is absolutely essential to content. For integrity, both need to be present and in proportion. (E.g., An architect can sketch a fantastical building. However, if the structure isn’t sound, the building can’t be constructed and/or will collapse.)
onestle if won dusnt tak kair to sa wut won mens uzing the convenshuns wons mening can becum kwit mudld kant it
And that sentence only takes care of all the “sic” designations to do with form. I also included many to do with Middleton’s muddle headedness.
Enjoy your evening.
Lookout,
She doesnt even begin to compare to some of my coptic Christian friends from Egypt. If you want a list of grievances against Islam, talk to them. But take it with a grain of salt. The Christian Islam divide in Lebanon has really been widened by the last civil war. Remember the massacres of muslims carried out by Christians? The Shatilla and Sabra massacres carried out by the Maronite Christians. I am absolutely certain that the muslims have retaliated in kind and that both sides have spilled blood and that the Muslims are no better than the perpetrators of those attacks.
However, I am not convinced that this lady is being objective in her criticism. Theres too much blood spilt and I m convinced that she is trying to cash in on the prevailing sentiment against militant muslims. She is almost literally suggesting that Shiaa’s as a whole deserve to be wiped out because they have some sort of “terror culture”. I m sure shes right in many respects, but she is a christian, and Lebanese Christians have their share of baggage. The population divide is 60% Islam, 40% Christian. Sure the 40% ( the rest of Lebanon) will cheer the extermination of the Muslims. Theres no reason for them not to thank Israel, but that divide has been in the making for a while. How do you deal with such a “terror” culture- by exterminating it? Its just genoicide by another name. Terrorists and Shias are indistinguishable, according to her, so lets kill them all. I wouldnt take her word for it.
Yes I do have sympathy for Israelis when they die. I dont support suicide bombers. Or Hizbollah rockets. But the simple fact, that appears to be lost on a lot of people, is that Arab casualties have always been ridiculously high. Even in this conflict, the Israeli civilian toll is at 18, the Lebanese Civilian toll is upwards of 600. Israeli lives are equal to any other civilian (not militant/terrorist) life. Its not that I dont have sympathy for Israeli lives. I do. But sometimes, especially on this board, I m left wondering as to whether an Israeli life is somehow more important than an Arab life.
Middleton, I have nothing more to say. Informed, intelligent rebuttals of your inaccurate and contradictory points have already been made many times, on this thread and many others. On this topic, you seem impervious to facts or reason.
“Informed, intelligent rebuttals of your inaccurate and contradictory points have already been made many times, on this thread and many others. On this topic, you seem impervious to facts or reason.”
I daresay its you, not me, who is impervious to facts or reasons. Either you dont know about the Christian Islam divide in that country or you dont want to. Dont like the other side of the story, do you? You know just as well as I do that she is calling for genoicide, and so are you.
What are the facts that I m impervious to? That civis are dying because they re being used as human shields? No I m not impervious to it. I acknowledge it. Its terrible. What do you want me to say? Let civis keep dying? I m not going to because I dont want that to happen.
Why dont you say it, lookout? Why dont you admit that you re driven by some kind of rabid hatred of muslims? Admit that you think an Israeli life is more valuable than an Arab one. Intelligent arguments have been put forth, yes. And many have forced me to rethink my position. But dont fool yourself into believing you re the one making them. You re driven by a rabid hatred of muslims.
What next? Should we get a Chinese official to come and tell you that the Uighurs are causing trouble in Xinjiang. That way you can hate all muslims together – no Sunni Shiaa divide. Forget for a moment that the Uighurs are upset that their freedom of religious expression has been curtailed, and that Han people are being sent in to crowd them out, and that they are deprived of any economic opportunity.
Tou’re right. I ve never had a teacher like you. You only hear what you want to.
I think we should send Alexa and her pack of ego driven fools over to Cuba for a week or two. There they can stay until they learn to appreciate Canada – that should not take long; although Trudeau learned nothing from his little episode with Castro, Che and the boys – he tucked his yellow tail between his scrawny legs and scuddied away when things got a little rough for Quebec’s skiddish boy. He set sail for the USA where he was fished from the sea and unfortunatly , deported to Canada. Back at mommy and daddie’s place, all safe in his quilts he decieded he liked the POWER the Communists had and some duped Canadians voted for him. Some people MUST have voted for dippers too – some slaves never want to be free.
The dippers should have to stay in Cuba until the Communists are firmly back in control. They can’t take or use any guns or knives to defend themselves – only their mouths. Think how nice it would be here in our own country to be free of that surly group of frothy fools?
What a lovely image, Jema54. I’m wishing!
Middleton your a terrorist sympathiser and a traitor to freedom and democracy. There are far to many of you in this country and just like the folks in N.B. the real citizens of this country have had enough.
Only once, Kate:
Middleton: Your difficulty is in identifying the central issues; you weave in too many tangential (albeit important/interesting/possibly correct) concerns.
Your distress at 600 (possible) non-combatants (or whatever number) is understandable. You don’t want this to continue. Fine. A solution please…a workable one. Stopping is not an option. Returning to the status quo in the short term will lead to the eventual slaughter of the Israeli people (less important, the disappearance of their state). If you are unwilling to acknowledge this, say so clearly.
As you have earlier acknowledged, the ultimate moral responsibility for innocent deaths lies with Hisballah. Hold that thought. Remember also that 600 lives (I am NOT trivializing them) is a small number from a historical perspective. Shall we total the millions of innocent lives that have been snuffed out in living memory by people every bit as savage as these Hisballah barbarians? With very little objection compared to that voiced against Israel for the present deaths?
Your response is disproportionate. Your focus is on the immediate, rather than the important.
Think clearly! (and pay attention to ET)
600 Lebanese civilians. There is a good starting point for an argument.
1. Where does that count come from? Do we have 600 bodies? In Qana we have a huge discrepancy in actual body count, plus it looks like at least some of the bodies may have been placed there. Counted twice?
2. Because hezbollah are not members of an army, each hezbollah death has been counted as a civilian where possible.
Answer that middleton.
enough
Upon listening to Alexa’s sputteringly weak argument about why she kiboshed the proceedings, it seems she would only have relented had Hezbollah had the chance to also offer up a witness.
So what if the death count is unequal? What this means is the Israelis are more competent at what they are doing – waging war and protecting their civilians. Obviously Hezbollah doesn’t care or they wouldn’t have started it.
if there is one thing that has convinced me the last few weeks.
Its that Israel must remain a homeland for Jews the world over forever. I was never a Zionist . Recent comments & news have convinced me otherwise. The world cannot, after 5 attempts at genocide of this people. Be trusted.If there is oione thing clear in History, its that Jew killing is always in fasion.
Only America & Israel needs restraint when attacked, but not the Chinese or anyone else . Especially the French. They can blow H Bombs in the air anytime.
Nope its clear no one Country can ever be trusted to protect Jews again. The actions of some on TV & other media only confirm the mental illness of Jew hating. Only it has a hipper , more slick costume these day’s.
The callus talking of moving these people out of there own hard fought Nation . The outright smarmy superior attitude of Jew haters trying to be classy if not glib. When there nothing but grime grubbing maggots.
I would like to see these so called “peace” (where do we here that term so much?) advocates try to denude Israel when it has 400 Nukes. Big talk from small minds.
The slick language employed. The false statements, conjured with felonious statistics.
Purposely misleading press releases without question from killers.
The tactics of the 5th column now known as “Alex’s Loonies”. An axis of hate laced with the liquid spite, of liars words. Her world is dying in its own rectal particulates. Years of abuse & corruption & still they yearn for more.
I am tired of the evasions, lies, bigotry & plain stupidity of the left. Their caste systems, programs, pogroms, with a skewed ideology, with a lack of intestinal fortitude. Disgusts me!! That they group individuals as herds is bad enough.
This Country is sadly full of traitors who own power, privilege if not protection from the highest elites..
This whole sorry mess reads like its 1939.