…it’s exactly the kind of place he detests on a personal level: rural; conservative; Christian; gun-owning; Ukrainian.
h/t Maz2
…it’s exactly the kind of place he detests on a personal level: rural; conservative; Christian; gun-owning; Ukrainian.
h/t Maz2
good catch there Count Iggy”
MI: The West wants in . . . to these great national institutions, but we are a bilingual country.
No, we’re not.
This is an English-speaking country with a large French-speaking minority concentrated in one province (and small strips of two bordering provinces).
But no-one, and certainly no-one in the media, will dare say so. And so this farcical pretense of bilingualism will continue.
Supreme Court justices should be REQUIRED to have an interpreter unless they can demonstrate complete fluence (not 4s on their profile!) of BOTH official languages (example, born and raised in Montreal with English and French used interchangeably). IOW, not too many people.
Ignatieff has managed, to borrow a phrase, to be approximately right and precisely wrong at the same time.
rural; conservative; Christian; gun-owning…hypocritical welfare bums….what’s not to detest about that.
Breaking: PET Registry News.
“37 coyote carcasses found in southeastern Alberta'”
“Miners died in pursuit of American dream: Obama”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/
Ignatieff the 19th c elitist landowner, where the landed gentry learned French because it was the ‘civilized’ language.
Canada is NOT bilingual; it is unilingual, with the majority speaking English and one geographic territory also unilingual speaking French. The French speaking minority is about 23% of the population.
It is condescending to say ‘learn a little French’ because to understand the intricate verbosity of a judicial text in either language requires a full and highly educated fluency in that language. No ‘little French’ education can accomplish this.
Furthermore, Ignatieff ignores that the reason some of the Supreme Court judges ARE bilingual and come from Quebec is the further anamoly about Canada, where we have common law, in the English part, and civil law (Napoleonic code) in Quebec. Is Ignatieff now going to require that all judges be equally proficient in both sets of laws as well as in both languages?
As has been suggested, Ignatieff is trying to stir up a culture war. AND, he’s also trying desperately, for votes in Quebec. And in latte land in Toronto, where the elite landowners send their children to French immersion. Not for the sake of Quebec. heh. No, because it’s the ‘elitist’ language of the moment.
In fact, about all the Liberal Party has been doing…is stirring up trouble, whether it’s their affronted shrieks about Harper-in-cahoots-with-Schreiber, to ‘Harper ate a communion wafer’, to ‘Afghanistans torture Canadian-caught prisoners’….endless mudraking smearing and no attention to governance.
Our money isn’t bilingual either so we will just keep it too…
I am sure Iggy is popular where people are perfectly bilingual. It’s just that he can’t find that place. It sure wasn’t in Britain, the US or here. Belgium maybe? Hey Iggy, wrong continent.
I loved Ezra’s dig about the Ukrainians.
Saw a great quote from a lawyer about this issue, can’t remember what paper it was in. Something like “If I need to go in for surgery, I don’t care what language the surgeon speaks, I want the most knowledgeable surgeon.”
The asinine thing about this is that the lawyers arguing their cases before the Supreme court will still likely require translation.
I thought the “west wants in” crowd would have had all of their wishes answered with Stevie becoming PM. Apparently he is not the knight in shining armour they thought. As for Ezra, now there’s a piece of work.
Me thinks Mr Z is stuck in the 1800’s. Back when there were two Canadas Upper Canada, Lower Canada and the realms. Message to Mr Z that view of Canada is long gone and anyone who tries to govern had better get with modernity. Not that Mr Z really cares as he is just working the Liberal wedge issues just like his handlers have advised him. The real tragedy here is that the Liberals are willing to destroy this great nation by splitting it into voting blocks just so they can get back into power. Message to all Liberals out there. Canada is greater than any political party. It is greater than any one government. If you can’t support Canada then you are the lesser person because of it. Mr Z should be asked the same question PM Harper was asked, “Do you love this nation”.
Iggy . . takes the boat anchor that he stole from Dion and shackles it to his feet as he approaches the edge of the dock . .
Jump Iggy, jump. The sooner the country is rid of your interim leadership of the LPC, the better we will all be.
There is no country so strongly united that it
can stand the sort of promoting a culture war, of
setting one part of the country against the other.
Culture war, even in Canada, can turn into a
shooting war.
Someone has to say it: Graves is a traitor.
Just keep humouring Iggy, one of the useful idiots (along with May) of the Conservatives. If the lefties (NDP, Liberals, Greens) ever combined, you would never see a conservative government in Canada again. As to French Immersion, the dirty little secret is that the results are comparable to private education, not because of its French but largely because of the unintended consequence of avoiding mainstreaming that now infects regular public schools.
You’re right, T, Ezra is a ‘piece of work’. Great work. The work he’s done to expose the unjust subjectivist unprincipled actions of the HRCs of Canada is excellent and ongoing.
The West is the future of Canada, and the extra seats it will get in the House acknowledge its population growth over that of Quebec. The old Canada, made up of only Quebec and Ontario, demographically died in the 1960’s but the Trudeau Gang tried, by the Charter, the NEP and bilingualism, to extend its unprincipled rule. The old Ottawa crowd – and Quebec – are trying to hold on to this Old Power. Useless.
You don’t understand how a minority govt must operate, and how Harper operates. He doesn’t do the Obama WaterBoard style, which slams you into submission, by threats of an apocalypse result If You Don’t Do What He Wants..whether it be the economy or health or the envt.
Harper operates by ‘bricolage’ which is a step-by-step bricklaying strategy that cumulates small policies that suddenly coalesce..and the full weight of change emerges. He builds grassroots support this way and works from the grassroots and from his own leadership principles of decentralization, small govt and more power to the people.
Ignatieff is trying to hold onto 1960’s centralist Canada; his ‘all judges must be bilingual’ is not about the courts; it’s about Votes For Ignatieff from Quebec. So he’s not interested in the well-being of Canada and Canadians. Only his own well-being.
After all, he knows that if the Liberals lose the next election, Ignatieff goes..back to the closed doors of the Harvard seminar rooms.
John you are correct. If the left parties were to unite, a conservative government would never see the light of day again federally. The conservatives only have about 1/3 of the vote on a good day, the rest of us in Canada vote left; even the Bloc is a left leaning party. As for Levant, he is like a stuck record regarding the HRCs.
T I’ll type really slowly cause I know you don’t read so well.
“The West wants in”, did not mean that the West wanted to run Canada. It simply meant that the West wanted to join the rest of Canada at the decision table. The west never wanted to run Ontario or Quebec. The west simply wanted its cares and concerns to be taken into consideration in matters of national import.
“It’s not cosmopolitan enough for an elitist like him. It’s not the sort of place that would call him “Count”.”
Oh we’d call him “Count”, in an affectionate way if he demonstrated he cared about us and if he weren’t such a pompous git.
Now we call him “Count” in a derogatory way because he’s earned it.
From this western Canadian all I want is for the west to get out and to leave the leech’s in the east to feed off each other instead of us.
As for Levant, he is like a stuck record regarding the HRCs.
When you see evil, you don’t stop talking about it just because doing so offends goose-stepping fascists like you. You stop talking about it when it’s gone.
T, Gayle, Ted, whatever you call yourself today:
If you think Iggy’s new line in the sand is just what the doctor ordered as an improvement to the SCOC, he also implies that any francophone from Quebec that hopes to be appointed to that bench must speak english fluently.
As for the bit about the left uniting, hey go ahead, but what do you do about the blu-libs in the party (about one third) that are already nervous about a possible Rae leadership?
Its a net gain of zero for the LPC.
Gain an openly left party, lose the rest of the right of center votes to the CPC.
The silverback in the room is that this was tried with the coalition and Iggy cr*pped his drawers at the realization that he would be having to share face time with hard core socialists and separatists.
But please, take no heed of my warnings, forming a Liberal, Separatist, Democratic party (or LSD party) is a real winning strategy, just like implying anyone with a remotely conservative thought in their head they are anti-canadian.
My 13-year old daughter has a school project: she has to write a letter to the editor in response to a recent editorial.
With McSquinty’s “let’s teach sodomy to 12-year olds” dominating the editorial pages, I was glad to find the Toronto Sun had published a piece about Graves. (I read a free copy at a coffee shop, OK?)
I let my little wonder read it, and asked her what she thought. Her first question was one of clarification – “What’s a culture war?”. I explained that this was a contest of values where one group tries to suppress another group’s values. She then asked “Aren’t a lot of people looking for jobs? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about that?” (Out of the mouths of babes..)
When I explained that Graves is a Liberal pollster and contributor, and that he suggested this as a way to get the Liberals back in power, she said “That’s disgusting. No one should make their party’s needs more important than the country’s.”. Is it any wonder I love her to death?
I kind of hope the Tories don’t jump on this right away. Let’s give Iggy and friends a bit more rope, and let them hang themselves with it. What is it Kate so fond of saying? “When your enemy is busy digging a hole, don’t tell him to stop.”?
And, as I’ve mentioned often, my kids are half Chinese. In the course of our conversation, she wondered “How come we have to have ‘Black History Month’, but there’s no ‘Asian History Month’? There’s only one black kid in my school, and it’s at least 40% Asian kids.”. I told her about the CPR – which she’d actually heard about, and exclaimed “At last, history’s good for something!” – and how important Chinese labour was to build it, and that, Ferguson Jenkins aside, I wasn’t aware of any major black contribution to building Canada or its culture.
Punch Sulzberger’s comments in another thread echo the sentiment that probably spurred Godin’s bill: an urge to bring past the past. With the falling birth rates of Quebec women, Quebec is becoming increasingly less important demographically to Canada (and pace Maxime Bernier, less important economically and politically). I have no doubt that, in 20 more years, Canada will be a new “two nations” – one of white Canadian born Anglophones, and one of Asians (regardless of place of birth), where the “French fact” and the black element will both be insignificant. (And, in another of a series of lengthy digressions, I’ll add that my elder daughter, who attends a Toronto high school where whites are definitely a minority, tells me there are three categories of race: white, “mixed” – white & someone else, and “brown” – everybody else. Browns outnumber everyone else.) I’m pretty sure Graves, Iggy, and all the Liberals see this coming, and they’re all desperate to cement their positions of privilege while the demographics are slightly in their favour. If they tried this twenty years from now? Fugghedabouutit.
English Canada has become a political oddity, a nation that denies its own right to self-determination. By insisting on a bilingual Canada, we have bought into the concept that we must be governed by a relatively small and geographically confined elite, centered in the eastern cities, and hostile to the culture of the ordinary anglophone citizens of Canada, which by default has meant anti-western and anti-rural.
We are conditioned to think of separatists in Quebec as bad people, the term “dirty separatist” suits this Liberal vision of Canada very well, because it accomplishes two different objectives, it demonizes the concept of self-determination in both of our national cultures, and it establishes a voting pattern that does not favour majority conservative government (the Quebec voter is subtly invited to be a Liberal or a separatist).
I think we should try the alternative approach, of embracing Quebec nationalism as a necessary corollary of our own national identity, one that would be anglophone and not bilingual. Far from being “dirty separatists” the Bloc in our parliament actually form the most principled and consistent of all political parties. Imagine how good our own situation would be if we could have the equivalent political party governing English Canada. Of course, there could be some accommodation along the lines of sovereignty-association. It seems inevitable that this would be the solution to a problem that, in any other configuration, sets up the paradigm of a national cultural elite that runs an uneasy coalition in its own interests more than for any other goal.
Nothing would please me more then to see us in the West just “pickup our toys” and go home. Really, does the East matter? Let the East do their thing and we’ll do ours.
With regards to bilingualism, that fact that we have to spend billions to support it means that we are p!ssing against the stream and we are not bilingual.
It is time for PMSH to re-introduce the bill to scrap the voter subsidy handout. I would be delighted and more than amused to watch the 4 left parties campaign on the ‘entitled to their entitlements’ platform. Please T and others,before you defend this subsidy,unless you attach a $2 cheque to your ballot,the money is coming from the workers of the country.
Wallyj:
Good news, Harper has previously announced it will be part of the next campaign.
Canada will NOT be bilingual as long as Quebec is UNIlingual.
I wonder what Iggy’s views are on the language laws in Quebec? Wonder how he would spin that?
I am so sick of all this multicultural BS!
When I attended the Ontario Progressive Conservative AGM in March,a group of Sikhs were demanding racial preferred designated seats.
KevinB they do teach Asian month along with South Asian month in Ontario plus October is official Muslim month. Yet the students today know sweet piss all about Canada.
I’m also tired of the constant complaining from the Ukrainians who have yet to call themselves Canadians even after five generations. The same goes for the Italians,especially during world cup! Puke!
My cable television package has 3 Italian stations, 3 French and BET.
Why is CBC broadcasting now in Punjabi?
Frack! I’m an ethnic minority never demanding that the country learn my heritage, we thank Canada and the British founders for English Common Law.
It’s not just Iggy…it’s the Liberal Party in general. He’s no different then Cretien, Trudeau, Martin. They either don’t understand the west or don’t care. I believe the latter. They don’t need our votes…as long as they can nail down GTA and Quebec..who cares about the rest. As long as Liberal party sticks to it’s present course, out west at least, they are the enemy.
I have registered THEWESTWANTSOUT.COM, need I say more other than the sooner the better. Support the Parti Quebecois, it’s a start and once it starts the president is set.
Spell check let me down, precedent
Bilingualism is another program pandering to the French and Quebec.
This will all be a non-issue when Westerners finally get their fill of supporting everything East of Winnipeg, and sign the separation papers.
I’m all for kicking Quebec out of Canada, but it takes along time to eradicate parasites from the host!
To all the frustrated Westerners on this Board: for what it is worth, there are lots of us in the East who want the West ‘in’, too. Please keep that in mind if and when you separate and leave the rest of the country to shrivel up and die in the socialist cocoon it’s built for itself. Some of us deeply share your values, and are trying to make them more prominent in the East. If it doesn’t work, we’ll need a place to go!
T et al continue their meme of “progressives” vrs “intolerants” (not cosmopolitain either).
What a laugh. Do they ever wonder why the three left parties don’t combine their votes into one party and platform? Here’s some reasons to consider:
1. They actually have different policies and political culture.
2. One of the “coalition” is a separatist party that runs candidates in 1/10 provinces only.
3. People who actually vote for NDP, Liberal and Bloc actually vote for those parties, not some non-existent “progressive” coalition (apparently with a separatist wing) or against Stephen Harper. The say otherwise is to infer what their vote means, other than the candidate and party chosen on the ballot. It is sheer arrogance to suggest otherwise.
4. If the left of centre parties did unite under one banner, moderate votes would swing away from them (yes, radicals exist in all parties), IMO, and the safe harbour of government would shift to Conservative majority rather than majority because of the inherent instability of a minority-coalition as was attempted already.
IOW your notion of a true “progressive” block of voters is utter BS. The leaders of those parties know it. In fact the Grits specifically repudiated such an idea until a “crisis” (getting cut of the taxpayer teat) erupted and they were forced to seize power with their ridiculous idea of a coalition of parties with less seats than the sitting government, supported (with no condition mind you) by a party with rep in one province only (notwithstanding they were separatists and utterly disinterested in affairs elsewhere).
When the combined, non-separatist “progressives” actually have more seats than the government (a majority of them would be nice) then the coalition idea may have some traction with voters (not much IMO).
So, T et al, keep living the delusion, dodging votes and elections, while manning the barricades of division, city vrs rural, west vrs east, bilingual vrs unilingual.
Oh that’s right it’s Harper’s fault, the big bully.
Not all Liberal supporters will fall for this. T points out if Liberals would go for the union of the left there would be a majority. Not necessarily the case. A lot of Liberals would also become Conseratives or not vote.
There is still a basic sense of fair play among the populace. The hardcore get excited about everything but the general population cares not until you cross the line. Remember the coalition support levels? That is what happens when people pay attention.
Western Canadian; You have succinctly expressed the solution to the past and future difficulties of Upper and Western Canada. There is no future being tied to a voting bloc that has no interest in the expectations of the people west of the Ontario/Quebec Border. I used to be concerned of effect of separation on the Maritimers and/or the Atlantic Provinces however you wish to consider Newfoundland for the future. They have no real interest in Canada now that our investment in the Oil exploration has paid off. However the eastern out reached hand goes on and on; for decade after decade. If these citizens east of the Eastern Border in the present national configuration wish to remain with Western and Upper Canada they need to make some commitments. 1/. Quebec should disavow bilingualism 2/. The remainder of the citizens should recombine and ignore the constituencies which are unwilling to consolidate into one province. At that time they can advise what benefit the new Atlantic province will provide to Canada. Let’s move forward as you have suggested Western Canadian and join the Bloc Quebecois Party; Cheers;
Examine the reality of our Supreme Court and get away from just opinions on bilingualism. These jurists are recognized through long years of legal decisions as among the best in Canada. No one has complained that our SC does not work to extremely high standards. You may not always agree with their decisions or choosing not to make one but this court has worked successfully for many, many decades.
If this stupid law proposed by the always interfering NDP goes into affect the level of required bilingualism would exclude at least seven of the nine current judges on the court, including the Chief Justice herself.
Saskatchewan has about 1,500 lawyers of which perhaps 20 would meet the requirements of having French not necessarily the legalistic skills and experience to be on the SC.
The pool of jurists would become a small, French and eastern Canada dominated puddle. Just another brilliant move by our air-headed politicians like Iggy.
If you’re going to get your picture taken on a weight machine, make sure you’re holding it like you’ve used one before.
the liberal party of canada continues to polish it’s harvard turd
Wasabi Welcome welcome welcome. Welcome to what would be a haven for free enterprise and free expression, values that represent the person and not the state.
If this insanity goes through, it will be apparent that Jim Crow never really died when he was kicked out of the U.S. south, he just learned French, packed his bags and moved to Hull.
Keep it coming, Kate. With every one of these stories, a few more votes change to CPC. Someone above already said it in a slightly different way – this guy Ignatieff is the best weapon the CPC has.
I’ll trade ya’ a T for one Wasabi. Great deal, eh? All the best come West, while the least go East.
Our Judges
Speaking in tongues
In our courts
We’re not kidding about this.
I have to go with Speedy re the left joining, it would mean a lot of soft libs & dippers would vote conservative.
However I’m going to blaspheme and tell ‘T’ that the Bloc ain’t really left wing, true there is a component who are nuts, but by-in-large, they are as ‘right wing’ as the Albertans who tell the Rosedale crowd to F*&( off. Furthermore they believe the same things,,
The bloc didn’t come into power to seperate, but to kick the liberals out of Quebec.
Well, Kretien could not sit on the SCoC whether it is bi or unilingual
but he was pride-minister
“I’ll trade ya’ a T for one Wasabi. Great deal, eh? All the best come West, while the least go East.
Posted by: Louise at April 25, 2010 6:40 PM ”
Louise….I’ll trade ya 1000 T’s for ONE Wasabi. It would improve the West by at least 10^6.
Just another self imposed move towards Elitist absolutism. By the very people most to benefit.
The West is already naturally dividing. This kind of thing can only suave it further away.
Eastern political Canada wants to squeeze every drop from its hinterland before there is nothing left to pillage.
After Eddy is gone their going to get their wish faster than they think.
If this fool IGGY becomes PM , kiss the West goodbye.
Harper has let a lot of people down but he has stopped a lot of drift of the inherent rot of an elitist beuracracy. To bad he wont bring a real cure like Democracy back to this Nation.
He could start at free speech.
JMO
Bilingual judges only..in other words French judges..if that happens the country is finished. I remember when the RCMP went bilingual. I was a young constable stationed in Regina on Highway Patrol, when it was called that and not traffic services….man that sounds great, doesnt it. Bilingualism was in full swing and I was requested to take a French constable with less service that me to teach him how to do patrol stops, overtaking and stopping, etc…..what a joke and he did speak two languages French and broken English. Recruits in training learn from listening to their instuctors tell war stories about real police work…. I imagine my French constable I trained to drive a patrol car would do an exellent job telling recruits about his many experiences stopping cars on the highway….he was teaching driving training by the way….if we are a bilingual country then where are the English signs in Quebec.
In restrospect, who cares…if they appoint bilingual a.k.s. French judges there will definitely we a divided and separated Canada and I for one wish for that glorious day when we can reach our full potential…the 8.4 billion we give Quebec each year under equalization can be used to support farmers, education, etc…..
Let’s support Iggy so we can be rid of Quebec once and for all…..