Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti

News came through after business hours this Friday afternoon that the Harper government has succeeded in blocking a high profile speaker on Palestinian human rights entry to Canada.

Harper government succeeds in obstructing entry to Palestinian leader and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti | rabble.ca

Maxime Bernier: strike nineteen

We had a lot of fun here at the blog cataloguing Maxime's exploits while Foreign Affairs Minister. Some long time readers may remember the strike watch, which started out innocently enough. Strike one, strike two, strike three, you're out was the idea. Little did we know that the tally would climb so high. It took sixteen strikes for Maxime to be finally called out although we were really losing count during the tumultuous Couillard era. So here we are, hauling it out for old time's sake and a special occasion.

Impolitical: Maxime Bernier: strike nineteen

Canada Uses Aid Politics to Further Palestinian Division

By Jesse Rosenfeld
The Daily Nuisance

In a uniquely Canadian polite and subtle way, the country’s Conservative government has made a clear statement in support of Israel’s continued siege on Gaza and entrenched Palestinian division. Slashing its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) while transferring that support to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) judicial sector – specifically towards training prosecutors, judges and police – Canada is using aid to make its political intentions clear.

Canada Uses Aid Politics to Further Palestinian Division | Mostly Water

Canada and Venezuela

By Yves Engler

The government of Hugo Chavez was correct last week when a representative said Ottawa supports "coup plotters" and "destabilizers" in Venezuela.

But it's not because Harper is of the "ultra right" as suggested. In fact, both Liberal and Conservative governments have tacitly supported the U.S. campaign to replace the government of Venezuela.

In April 2002 a military coup took Chavez prisoner and imposed an unelected government. While most Latin American leaders condemned the coup, Canadian diplomats who were working under the direction of a Liberal government were silent.

Canada and Venezuela | Mostly Water

Dawg's Blawg

... a new find. Very informed of the goings on of the Canadian political scene.

Never mind a "long march through the institutions": Stephen Harper and his ideological confederates far prefer the blitzkrieg approach.

Independent watchdogs have been muzzled or fired. Government ministers have meddled in the work of arms-length agencies. Respectable charities have been blacklisted with bogus charges of "anti-Semitism." And the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development has apparently been targeted for outright destruction.

Dawg's Blawg

Only in Canada: Harper's prorogation is a Canadian thing

Take a look around the world.

Go searching for the last time a Westminster-style parliament was shut down to free its leaders from unwanted censure or scrutiny — and you'll end right back in Canada, where you started.

It turns out, no other English-speaking nation with a system of government like ours — not Britain, Australia or New Zealand — has ever had its parliament prorogued in modern times, so that its ruling party could avoid an investigation, or a vote of confidence, by other elected legislators.

Only three times has this happened, all in Canada — first in 1873, when Sir John A. Macdonald asked the governor general to prorogue Parliament, in order to halt a House of Commons probe into the Pacific Scandal. Lord Dufferin gave in to the demand, but when Parliament reconvened Macdonald was forced to resign.

Only in Canada: Harper's prorogation is a Canadian thing

We don't need no education

Thanks Dr. Dawg!

http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-dont-need-no-education.html
...but thought control is another matter.

Having barely recovered from being patronized by Stephen Harper the other night, as he patted Canadians collectively on the head and told them not to fuss about grown-up things like Afghan detainees and proroguing, I read yesterday that he's cutting off funds to yet another world-class organization, the Canadian Council on Learning.

The CCL's offence? Apparently, speaking too plainly about the state of formal education in Canada, and our ludicrously poor metrics for determining how we stack up against other countries. The Globe & Mail's perceptive Gary Mason writes:

Here's the truth: Ottawa didn't like the CCL leading the call for national standards for our postsecondary system. Didn't appreciate, either, hearing the council plead for more accountability around how billions of dollars being poured into our universities are being spent. For more information about our universities in general.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development had noted in various reports on postsecondary education that when it came to Canada it was unable to report figures for two-thirds of the information gathered by the other 39 countries covered in the survey. That would include basic information such as participation, enrolment and graduation numbers in our colleges. We don't even have complete information on dropout rates. "We are the laughingstock of the OECD," Paul Cappon, president of the CCL, said a year ago.

The OECD, in fact, took the time to write to Stephen Harper last year, praising the CCL. "It is a pleasure to pledge my personal support to CCL in its on-going work," said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria.

And so Canada's international reputation, for everything from peacekeeping to climate change to democracy to human rights, continues to circle the drain. CCL now joins other Canadian organizations wounded by the axe of far-right ideology: KAIROS, cultural programs and producers, gay rights groups...the list of casualties is growing by the day.

Education, culture, charity, human rights: like facts, these all have an unfortunate left-wing bias. Harper prefers to give the people bread and circuses instead--even if, these days, those classic political pacifiers are better-known as tax credits, the Calgary Stampede and the Vancouver Olympics.

posted by Dr.Dawg at 11:34 AM

War in Afghanistan: Evolving Military Marriage between Canada and the US

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July 2011 and beyond, no country will have been more closely integrated with U.S. President Barack Obama and Gen. Stanley McChrystal's counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan than the Canadians. Shortly after McChrystal took over as commanding general of all NATO and U.S. troops occupying Afghanistan earlier this year, he praised the Canadian Forces for their implementation of “population-centric counterinsurgency (COIN)” in the southern part of the country.

War in Afghanistan: Evolving Military Marriage between Canada and the US

Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far?

by Lawrence Martin


When you think about it, the way to make governing easy is to dispense as much as is possible with the demands of democracy. The d-word is a drag. It gets in the way of the exercise of power. Ways need be found to circumvent it.

Democracy Canadian-style: How do you like it so far? - The Globe and Mail

Former ambassadors condemn Ottawa's attack on diplomat - The Globe and Mail

Twenty-three former ambassadors are speaking out against the Conservative government's attacks on the credibility of diplomat Richard Colvin, saying Ottawa's response to his Afghan detainee abuse testimony threatens to cast a chill over Canada's foreign service.

Former ambassadors condemn Ottawa's attack on diplomat - The Globe and Mail

Malalai Joya: Canada must withdraw troops from Afghanistan immediately

As an elected member of the Wolesi Jirga from Farah province, she has publicly denounced the presence of what she considers warlords and war criminals in the parliament. In May 2007, Joya was suspended from the parliament on the grounds that she had insulted fellow representatives in a television interview.

I have just completed a two-week speaking tour across Canada, bringing a message to the great people of this country: The people of Afghanistan are fed up with the occupation of their country and with the corrupt, Mafia-state of Hamid Karzai and the warlords and drug lords backed by NATO.

Malalai Joya: Canada must withdraw troops from Afghanistan immediately | The Dominion

The Kenney Doctrine: Temporary workers trump refugees in Canada

What does the murder of a 24-year-old woman, found with blows to her body and a bullet in her forehead in Mexico, have to do with Canada's immigration system? To refugee advocates it represents the system's fundamental failure to uphold the rights of asylum seekers: the 24-year-old victim and her mother and sister had twice sought refuge in Canada from the druglords who are believed to have killed her upon her deportation.

The Kenney Doctrine: Temporary workers trump refugees in Canada | rabble.ca

Afghan Scandal Sullies Canada

Our leaders were warned that not jailing prisoners ourselves would lead to torture

by Eric Margolis

Canada has long been admired around the globe as a nation of high ethics, human rights and respect for law.

But Canada's sterling reputation is being seriously degraded by the spreading scandal over involvement in torture in the increasingly sordid Afghan conflict.

Afghan Scandal Sullies Canada | CommonDreams.org

One man's defence of a national reputation

another of Canada's (not so secret) secrets.

Canadian mining companies are facing allegations of abuse and assault on local citizens in dozens of developing nations.
In Ottawa this week, at a House of Commons committee, MPs will continue debating a Liberal private member's bill designed to put controls on mining companies overseas.
While MPs in Canada consider controls, foreign pension funds have signalled they will not invest in Canadian mining companies unless they adopt firm corporate responsibility rules abroad.

One man's defence of a national reputation - thestar.com

Hébert: MPs out of the loop on Afghan torture?

Chantal Hébert

Under a majority Conservative government, former diplomat Richard Colvin's assertion that Canada knowingly allowed scores of Afghan civilian detainees to fall into the hands of torturers would likely have remained the stuff of informed behind-the-scenes speculation.

Until a parliamentary subcommittee stepped in to look into the matter, the government had deployed a lot of heavy legal artillery to prevent Colvin from telling his story to a more private inquiry held by the independent Military Police Complaints Commission.

Why?

Hébert: MPs out of the loop on Afghan torture? Unlikely - thestar.com

"Throwback to the 1950's": New Citizenship Guide Presents "Tougher" Image of Canada

Canada's new immigration guide traces a national portrait that may be unfamiliar to many Canadians, one that draws heavily on historic symbols long exiled from the national consciousness.

The monarchy and the military, dominant themes through the middle of the 20th century, are given much greater prominence in this new document.

The land, the environment and health care, mainstays of Canada's self image through the past two decades, are largely ignored.

"Throwback to the 1950's": New Citizenship Guide Presents "Tougher" Image of Canada | Mostly Water

PMO Iqaluit gaffe draws smiles, frowns

Image via Wikipedia

The Canadian Press

An unfortunate blunder by the Prime Minister’s Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing.
A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s itinerary as he began a five-day tour of the North.
The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit — rather than Iqaluit.
The extra “u” makes a world of difference in the Inuktitut language.
Iqaluit, properly spelled, means “many fish.”
Spelled with an extra “u,” the Nunavut language commissioner’s office says the word translates as a derogatory reference to “people with unwiped bums.”
Bloggers from Iqaluit were quickly online ridiculing the gaffe — some light-hearted, some angry.
Iqaluit was named capital of Nunavut when the territory was created in 1999.
A news release today from the PMO spells Iqaluit correctly."

Canadian Media's Coverage of the Coup in Honduras Has Been Atrocious

This resistance - taking place under the threat of military repression - has gone almost entirely unreported by leading Canadian media. So has Canada's tacit support for the coup.

Uninterested in the Conservative government's machinations, the Canadian media is even less concerned with the corporations that may be influencing Ottawa's policy towards Honduras.


Canadian Media's Coverage of the Coup in Honduras Has Been Atrocious | Mostly Water

Council of Foreign Relations

Within the history of this organization it seems one can catch a glimpse of those who direct activities, behind the scene, of most policy decisions of the United States. I'm a little reticent in posting this as I don't want to be seen as some sort of conspiracy monger by doing so. A lot of this information has been researched and ideologically used by such unsavory groups as The John Birch Society and others, but as an author of one of the articles points out, it doesn't make the information any less true. So I'll just point you to it and you decide.

The first article I came across on Uruknet, which got me onto this kick, (thanks, Uruknet!) referred to earlier, is by Malcolm Lagauche and can be found here
& here

The second article is by Baker and is found on his page on znet here
and here

Interestingly, The Council is behind and is a facilitator of the ongoing Security and Prosperity Partnership. And check out the South American agenda.

And here's a speech by Steve Harper at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Relations last year. Notice the neat blending of agendas and the referal of the dictatorial regeme (read: Venezuala or Bolivia or both.
Steve's speech

One Canada or 10 Canadas?

Op-ed by Sinclair Stevens, former cabinet minister in the Molroney government, on the Harper agenda. While the Liberals were merrily dancing to the tune of the neo-liberal agenda of big business hand-outs, while painting themselves as the friend of the little guy, they don't hold a candle to Harper and the things he has in mind if he ever gets the majority he's looking for. Lets move ahead and take apart the remaining remnants of the welfare state fought for since the 40's and proceed to the final sell-off of what's left.

You might also read a recent blog post by James Laxer  here

TheStar.com | comment | One Canada or 10 Canadas?