Tag Archives: politics

Time to investigate Trudeau government’s ties with China

It is unsettling to consider why the Trudeau government has been so evasive on a review of the facts relating to the CCP’s activities in Canada. Last month I wrote two columns detailing specific reasons why Canadians must demand a thorough investigation of the seemingly tight relationship between the Trudeau government and the CCP.

Links to those columns are below – as are links to other related articles.

To get to the heart of the CCP influence within the country, any serious public probe must go beyond a couple of federal elections and the possible CCP interference in the political process. Given the manner the Trudeau government attempts to sweep scandals under the rug, perhaps we are best served with multiple parliamentary inquiries instead of an official public inquiry that will drag on for too long and allow the PM and his ministers the foil required to avoid answering any questions relating to China.

There are multiple ways the country’s independence has been potentially compromised by undue influence from the CCP. Here is a listing of the ten critical issues that should prompt a Liberals-CPP review. Again, further details on these issues can be found in the original published articles.

10 – Defending the Canadian arctic 

The CCP’s mounting interest in the north is an international crisis in the making, referred to by Canadian officials at National Defence as the “Arctic threat.” Why the Trudeau government is knowingly neglecting to defend Canada’s interests in the north?

9 – The establishment of a foreign agent registry 

For years in the Canadian security community there has been an ongoing call to establish a registry that would require foreign state-employed persons acting within the country to make public their objectives and to disclose the government employing them. The Liberals continue to delay – but to what end? Canada continues to be an outlier with its allies when it comes to guarding against CCP activities within its country – but at what cost?

8 – Federal investment in China 

The Trudeau government has been slow to suggest guidelines or restrictions on investments by Canadian government agencies in China. It is also slow in making recommended changes respecting the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Canadians deserve an explanation on the Trudeau government’s policies and investments in China.

7 – Ottawa’s “mishandling” of foreign intelligence

Canada’s spy agency warned the government of CCP threats to MPs and their families through briefing memos to the most senior of cabinet ministers and staff, including the Prime Ministers’ Office. Yet, ministers deny knowing of, and staff deny reading the memos.

6 – Canada’s response to China’s human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslims 

Yet, for years now the PM offers little more than platitudes when discussing human rights abuses in China and he will not comment on the CCP’s evil treatment of the Uyghurs. In fact, to this day, the official policy stance of the Trudeau government remains unclear and unstated. But why?

5 – CCP police and agents in Canada  

Repeated news reports and testimony before MPs in the past three months have underlined a disturbing truth that CCP agents are active in Canada, a threatening presence for Chinese Canadians. What is being done about this?

4 – The Trudeau Foundation 

Much has been exposed relating to the Trudeau Foundation’s questionable donations from Beijing. Canadians have also learned that the Trudeau Foundation has invested in Chinese companies that Canada has flagged as security risks. It is time to shed light on all the Foundation’s activities.

3 – Election fraud and interference  

Today, it is an accepted fact that in the 2019 and 2021 elections CCP agents in Canada worked to undermine the Canadian election process and support the Trudeau Liberals. Still, questions remain whether the Liberal Party has been a knowing party and/or willing partner in the CCP’s fraudulent activities.

2 – CCP–Liberal business interests 

The tangled web of CCP—Liberal business interests is thick. There are far too many potential conflicts here. All information relating to the interplay between the extensive business interests between Liberals and the CCP should be made public.

1 – The mysteries at the Winnipeg Lab

There are multiple mysteries relating to the Winnipeg Lab, the country’s highest-security infectious-disease laboratory, and its joint virus research work with the Wuhan Lab in China.Why has the Trudeau government been stonewalling every effort to get answers?

to the burning questions about the joint virus research and the missing fired scientists.  The Liberals have been held in contempt of Parliament and PM Trudeau prorogued the House and called an election to avoid having to provide evidence on this matter.

The original columns can be found in The Niagara Independent here: https://niagaraindependent.ca/the-case-for-a-full-blown-investigation-of-the-trudeau-governments-relations-with-china-part-one/  &  https://niagaraindependent.ca/the-case-for-a-full-blown-investigation-of-the-trudeau-governments-relations-with-china-part-two/

Previous related columns are here:  It’s now evident this national scandal is more than election interference – and Justin Trudeau is “obviously hiding something” & The potential quid pro quos between Trudeau Liberals and the CCP).

Photo Credit: Sean Kilpatrick of The Canadian Press

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Trudeau Liberals and the Chinese Communist Party

By George, March 14, 2023 – A few weeks back in my national affairs column in The Niagara Independent I began writing about the headline news relating to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence on Canada’s recent federal elections. The issue when this story broke was whether PM Justin Trudeau and Liberal Party operatives knew about the CCP’s activities and, if so, what did they do about them. Over the weeks troubling facts have emerged and questions about Canada’s PM and the Liberal Party have become more complex – and much more serious.

In the last few days we learned that Chinese Canadians describe the CSIS revelations as “the tip of the iceberg,” and they are aware that “Beijing is watching every day with the threat of intimidation and harassment.” Just yesterday in the news: Canada is knowingly permitting CCP-sponsored students who have been deemed a security risk in the U.S. to conduct research in Canadian universities. Also, four Liberal MPs including federal small business minister Mary Ng are identified as endorsers of a CCP-tied organization in Toronto.

With the many ties now being exposed between the Trudeau Liberals and the CCP, this has become a matter of national security. And given that the PM and his political operatives seem reluctant to respond to the simplest of questions, Canadians have an even greater need to know about the multiple hidden agendas in play. We cannot allow our country’s independence to be jeopardized in any way.

You are encouraged to become informed about this serious national security issue: read the CCP-related news reports from Global News Sam Cooper and Globe and Mail newsmen Robert Fife and Steven Chase, and the insightful research of Terry Glavin (and here is his latest piece). Access the fact-based news reports on what is transpiring on Parliament Hill as delivered straight-up by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Below (by clicking on By George News Commentary) you will find links to my recent Niagara Independent columns and a few archived columns from the last two years. You are also encouraged to forward the By George News Commentary to those who share our concerns.

This is serious stuff. It matters. What are the CCP ties that bind the Trudeau Liberals and, by extension, our federal government?

By George News Commentary

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

10 humourous taxing memes

For this federal budget week By George Journal serves up ten of our favourite memes on the subject of taxes. So, come Thursday, hold onto your wallet and laugh it off.

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Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Canada’s dysfunctional parliamentary circus is back at it

The Niagara Independent, November 26, 2021 – Parliament Hill is abuzz this week with the sights and sounds of Members of Parliament returning to Ottawa to take up their legislative work in governing the country. It has been over 153 days since the lights were last on in the House of Commons chamber. MPs all expressed they were glad to be back and anxious to start work. Yet, all this activity on the Hill shrouds the sad reality that Canada’s parliamentary precinct has become (by design) wholly dysfunctional.

The once-august national legislature has become a circus-act with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directing from centre-ring. It has appeared for some time that the institution of Parliament is viewed as an inconvenience by the PM, its workings but niggly afterthoughts.

Consider this. It has been more than two full months since the country’s “déjà vu election” and the Trudeau government scheduled a mere 20 sitting days of business before MPs will be sent home for a six week Christmas recess. With the pandemic crisis, economic uncertainties, and a crippling natural disaster on the west coast, Trudeau’s full cabinet has met only a handful of times to review national priorities. The PM has yet to name parliamentary secretaries to assist his newly appointed cabinet ministers with their respective legislative mandates. Incredibly, it was only a little over a week ago that PM Trudeau got around to discussing national concerns with the Liberal caucus.

The obvious disinterest by Justin Trudeau riled some backbench MPs and their resentment spilled over in a Hill Times article dated Oct. 25: “Liberal MPs want to know why leadership is taking their ‘sweet-ass time’ to call first post-election caucus meeting, say Liberal sources.” An MP is quoted as saying, “There’s just like a lot of chatter, and a lot of MPs are pissed off, like really pissed off.” In a separate Hill Times report, another Liberal MP admitted this angst would not be voiced to the powers-that-be. The MP admitted, “What’s the point of speaking up, and what’s to be gained by saying anything? When you speak up, you make the centre mad. That’s a huge concern of a lot of these MPs, they’re nervous.”

Hyper-partisan MP Mark Holland has been selected by the PM to manage the Liberal agenda as government house leader in this minority Parliament. Holland was front and centre this week announcing the legislation that is expected to be passed by Christmas. He plans on speedy passage through Parliament of half-a-dozen bills, including a six-month extension of COVID payment benefits projected to cost Canadians $7.4 billion. Holland flatly stated in his first media scrum that the government will not tolerate “obfuscation or political games” from the Opposition parties (and he left unsaid that there will be no questions tolerated from the Liberal backbench).

As he laid out the Liberals legislative expectations, Holland was also pressing Opposition MPs to accept the Liberals’ plans to establish a “hybrid Parliament.” Liberals do not wish for debate on the floor of the House of Commons. MPs are to debate legislation and daily Question Period on their computer screens with only a select few elected members physically present in the Chamber and committee rooms.

Both Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois have pushed back on this hybrid suggestion. Bloc MP Alain Therrien stated in the last Parliament the Liberals used the restricted debates to avoid issues, “They were hiding” and were behaving “like groundhogs.” Conservative MP Candice Bergen called out Liberal MPs for their false pretenses, “I don’t believe the Liberals are doing this because they are afraid of COVID… They are protecting themselves from accountability and scrutiny. We’ve seen that and we believe that it is time that it stopped.”

It was the current PM’s father, Pierre Trudeau, who once described backbench MPs as “just nobodies 50 yards off the Hill.” Fast-forward 50 years and his son has stripped the authority of MPs on and off Parliament Hill. This summer, retiring 28-year veteran Liberal MP Wayne Easter opened up on the devolution of MPs’ role and Parliament. The former Solicitor General in a PM Jean Chretien cabinet assessed Trudeau’s grip on power in a very frank Hill Times podcast.

Easter stated, “I think there’s far, far, far too much control in the Prime Minister’s Office, right throughout the whole system. We have to get back where ministers actually run their own show and their own department, face consequences if there’s problems – [return to the principles of] ministerial responsibility and accountability – rather than everything filtered through the PMO.”

Easter went on to suggest that Trudeau and his PMO must stop silencing debate and opposing points of view with their own MPs or it will make “big mistakes down the road.”

Of course, Wayne Easter was not the only Liberal MP holding this view. His sentiments have been repeatedly discussed by Jane Philpott, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, and Jody Wilson Raybould. These former parliamentarians have all spoken to varying degrees of the toxicity of the PMO and the bald disrespect shown to MPs by Justin Trudeau.

Then there is last month’s much-quoted CBC interview with former PM Jean Chretien who suggested Justin Trudeau would have been “better served” had he and his inner circle consulted with old-guard Liberals on issues such as China relations and the economy.

It is evident that Justin Trudeau is the ring master and he is focused on advancing those issues most important to him and his legacy. The Speech from the Throne this week set out two sole objectives for the government: 1) resetting the economy in a post-pandemic Canada and 2) taking action on climate change. There was no mention of the economic challenges facing the country, and only a passing mention of Canadians’ worries on the rising cost of living.

The Conservatives were critical of the government’s priorities, claiming there is a “disconnect between the Trudeau Liberals and everyday Canadians.” Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole responded to the Throne Speech: “The reality is that from coast-to-coast-to-coast, life is getting more expensive for Canadians. Instead of presenting an economic plan for families, seniors and small businesses that have been left behind, Justin Trudeau’s approach means more ballooning deficits, leading to higher taxes, at a time when Canadians are barely making ends meet.”

O’Toole delivered stinging indictments of Trudeau’s agenda throughout the week. At a national caucus meeting, he said, “Other countries are launching ambitious plans to unleash innovation, lower taxes and slash red tape to get their economies surging and we see nothing from Justin Trudeau. What is Justin Trudeau’s response? Instead of standing up for Canadians, we have a prime minister who always puts his own needs ahead of yours.”

In the House of Commons he claimed that Trudeau is directing his “ideological cabinet that is focused on shutting down industries and stopping investment in our country at a time when Canada is drowning in debt and division.”

Conservative MP Candice Bergen ridiculed Trudeau for being so out of touch that he would not know the costs to fill his car or buy a can of beans or a package of bacon. Bergen said, “Everybody knows what the No Name brand is, except maybe the prime minister. The only thing he might be worried about is if the price of surfboards goes up.”

In Parliament there was a great deal of sound and fury. However, it was met with a Trudeau-esque shrug. It matters not that Statistics Canada reports year-over-year increases of 41.7 percent for gasoline and 14.4 percent for beef prices. Or General Mills forecasts its cereal prices will rise 20 percent in January. Or even that the Bank of Canada warns the inevitable interest rates hikes will sink Canadians’ finances and destabilize our national economy.

This is Justin Trudeau’s circus. Parliament be damned.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

LINK: https://niagaraindependent.ca/canadas-dysfunctional-parliamentary-circus-is-back-at-it/

Photo credit: The Canadian Press – Adrian Wyld / Liberal MP Anthony Rota is ceremonially escorted by PM Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole to the speaker’s chair after being elected Speaker of the House of Commons, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.

A Working Canadian’s Breakfast (in Glace Bay NS)

While surfing through your daily feeds of social media, sometimes you find a remarkable comment that strikes a chord for its authentic, insightful message. Today a self-described “Conservative politico” – Mitch Heimpel – provided that ha-ha moment for me.

Here’s the necessary background:  The federal Conservative Party spent last night and today responding to the Trudeau Government’s Throne Speech by accusing the Liberals of being out of touch with the priorities of working Canadians. The Conservatives are making the argument that most Canadians today are worried about inflation and the rising costs of everything, which is making living unaffordable.

To underline this point, in social media, Conservatives Leader Erin O’Toole stated:

“Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, but it’s also getting more expensive. The rising cost of living under the Trudeau Liberals means you’re paying more for the same meal this year than you were last year.”

And he posted this image…

O’Toole’s salvo elicited an immediate reply from non-other-than Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau’s BFF and his former Principal Secretary (before he had to resign in the Jody Wilson-Raybould scandal). Butts tweeted the following:

“Does this breakfast come with a defibrillator on the side?”

And with that the Twitter-verse was sent into a tizzy with conservative partisans and TruAnons swapping insults; Butts was trending for most of the morning.

Then late in the morning, Mitch Heimpel waded into the exchange with a full series of tweets that replied directly to Gerald Butts. Here is Heimpel’s response:

There’s something about this tweet that’s been bugging me all day, and it’s not the author. What follows will be a slight exercise of the blue collar chip on my shoulder. 1/11

I used to work the line at a factory on one week turnarounds . That means nights one week, days the next and afternoons were the final week of the cycle. The final night shift of the week started at 11pm Thursday and would end at 7am Friday 2/11

At the end of that last shift, the lines would go out for breakfast together. Your production crew was probably 6-10 people. You usually worked with the same people, though temp agencies screwed this up a bit 3/11

This meal looks like what we all ate on those Friday mornings (not me, because of the egg allergy). But look down the table you would see plates like this. It was everyone else. Why? 4/11

Because it was a filling meal, and wherever you went, it was usually inexpensive. You could get a plate like this usually for less than $10. Never more than $12. The places that served it range from a Denny’s to community staple greasy spoons and 50s theme diners. 5/11

Why did it matter that it was cheap? Everyone at that table made between $11 and $17 an hour (it was 2010). That meal was an hour’s wages. I bet you for most people now doing that Friday ritual, it’s more expensive than that and climbing. 6/11

that’s why I hate that tweet. It’s not the “you don’t understand inflation”, it’s the eye-rolling derision directed at the meal itself. Do a week of nights on the factory floor, know that you have a weekend to reset your entire sleep schedule, and then look down on that meal.7/11

For most of us, even me (and remember, I couldn’t actually eat it, allergies suck), it was one of the only restaurant meals we could afford and the only real sense of community we got. 8/11

More than half of my coworkers were temps, many of them we didn’t know would be there at the end of our next Friday night shift. That’s still true in way too many workplaces. Some of them we had worked with for months. 9/11

So, no, that meal doesn’t come with a defibrillator. Any more than condescending elitism comes with a cravate. But thousands of workers eat it every Friday morning. After a week of nights making your chocolates or your HVAC system. 10/11

It might be the only reward they get. They earned it. But your derision? They didn’t earn that. 11/11

Ha-ha. In reading this Butts must have choked on his uncaring “let them eat cake” sideswipe.

Heimpel’s comments exposed the reality that Butts has indeed forgotten what a blue collar worker enjoys as the sun rises on a Glace Bay diner. But perhaps with his jet-setting life Butts never knew the simple pleasures of his mining relatives? And, does it surprise anyone that Butts’ BFF also would not have a clue what inflation and rising living costs mean for working Canadians who have no trust fund to dip into for their food, gas, heat — and family vacations?

SOURCE: Tweets of @MitchHeimpel

The George Soros Series

 The George Soros 4-part series by Chris George in the Niagara Independent

reviews Soros’ life and achievements, beliefs and goals, and his ties and influence in Canada.

 Introducing George Soros

 The core beliefs and aspirations of George Soros

George Soros and his Canadian Chess Game

George Soros casts a long shadow across Canada

 

For the index of Chris George’s columns in the Niagara Independent, click here.

 

Ottawa has become a theatre of the absurd

The Niagara Independent, October 19, 2021 – There is really no other way to describe Ottawa these days but as a theatre of the absurd. At centre-stage we have our dramatic PM Justin Trudeau continuously performing – all hair and socks, and virtue signaling and apologies. This farcical character has Canadians (and the subsidized mainstream media) spell-bound, mouths agape, while all the serious action for the country takes place off stage, behind the curtain.

There is so much happening, so quickly, on so many levels that Canadians have lost track of what counts – or they simply have lost interest; imagine some dulled to the point of contentment with the amusement of Jagmeet Singh’s TikTok gyrations?!

It has become that weird in the Nation’s Capital.

Let me introduce three scenes from this past week to illustrate how Canadians have been numbed into a prolonged willing suspension of disbelief when it comes to Trudeau and his troupe.

Scene One. PM Trudeau graced a media conference to pronounce the future dates for revealing his cabinet and for opening parliament. On October 26, the PM will parade out his selected cast of cabinet characters to take the stage and play out the government’s next Act.

On November 22, the PM has decided to swing open the doors of parliament and let MPs back to work – media like to point out that it will be two full months since the election and more than six months since the lights were on in the House of Commons.

Yet, it will be much longer before MPs will get down to work. The first week back is filled with the drama, pomp and ceremony to elect the Speaker and to read the Throne Speech. In early December, the MPs’ committees (where the real work occurs) are likely to select their chairs and then go in camera so they can sort out future work agendas. Then MPs will be sent off for their Christmas recess – and they’re not scheduled to return to Ottawa until January 31, 2022.

So, it will actually be nearly eight months before MPs are “back at it.”

“What’s the big deal?,” we’re inclined to ask. Canadians are managing fine through a fourth wave of COVID and the uncertainties of store shortages, rising gas prices, inflation and, of course, the announcement of extended government support programs.

The truth is Canadians are now accustomed to seeing their MPs MIA. We were quite satisfied with the PM’s Rideau Cottage soliloquies while parliament was shuttered. It did not matter that MPs sat for a mere 40 days from Trudeau’s election of 2019, through the first and second waves of the pandemic in 2020…

The synopsis of this sidestory is there’s an increasing disregard for parliament, our country’s house of democracy. Parliament’s role is to have elected representatives debate the limits of government’s spending and taxation. It’s at the core of the Westminster model of responsible government dating back hundreds of years. Yet, this tradition and democracy itself has been punted aside by Trudeau and his backroom – without even a sigh or whimper from Canadians.

Scene Two. Our federal health minister appears from behind the curtain to clear her throat and casually say, “I’ll remind Canadians that, as annoying as it is … we still have travel advisories in place recommending that people don’t travel unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Baa-zing! This warning just after Canadians were entertained by thousands of dancing candidates in an election extravaganza. And daily, we are treated to the PM and his cabinet cronies making announcements from different stages set against backdrops across our beautiful country. Now Patty Hajdu tells us to think twice before making any holiday travel plans. (This is the same actor who told Canadians in early 2020 not to travel beyond their front doors while she herself was jetting back and forth weekly from Ottawa to her home in Thunder Bay.)

We are told to stay at home. The government is working on a vaccine passport that will allow us to go to a local restaurant or movie theatre. It should be ready by the Christmas holidays.

The hypocrisy has not been lost on Canadians (even though we remain in the fetal position wishing away COVID). It appears the audience is not amused. The best catcall for Patty and her flubbed lines went viral on Twitter: “Do as I say, not as Hajdu.” 

But, in all seriousness, the TruAnons have already surfed passed the PM’s Tofino episode. And in coming weeks Trudeau is about to jump the shark with scenes of group hugs at the Glasgow shmoozefest summit, pulled together for global jetsetters to save the planet.

We are to accept that there’re no double standards here – just you, you dutiful Canadian, don’t travel! (Can’t you hear Patty mumbling under her breath, “Stay on your couch and don’t mind us romping across the world’s stage.”?)

Scene Three. The re-elected Liberal MPs met to send off their friends who did not get enough votes to keep their bit parts in Ottawa. And it is reported to us by certain subsidized media sources that behind the closed caucus doors PM Trudeau gave a rousing speech to his Liberal tribe, reassuring them that no defeated candidate would be left forgotten.

This scribe thought it was amusing that in the business news of that particular day, Frank Baylis came to sell his company for $1.75 billion (U.S.).

Recall that Frank Baylis is a former Liberal MP from Montreal who last summer was given a lucrative $237 million contract to make 10,000 pandemic ventilators even though Health Canada had not approved them. The same Mr. Baylis was given a $422,946 “research contract” for undisclosed research. It is a niggly point-of-fact that, to this date, the company has yet to produce the ventilators and it is unknown what research has been completed.

So, on the basis of a wonderful spreadsheet that shows $200 million (U.S.) revenues expected in 2022, and an apparent fast track with federal government procurement, an American firm stepped forward and penned the deal to buy Baylis Medical.

To be fair, it’s an amazing success story for this family business, led by a man that has become one of Canada’s wealthiest businessmen due to his deal-making acumen. Having said that, Baylis’s recent payday is still quite the sweet deal for a Liberal tribesman. Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. Zero accountability for goods and services delivered. And a billion-dollar-plus retirement handshake. This, all in 14 months.

It’s absurd. It’s all absurd.

It was Warren Kinsella (long-time Liberal party strategist and former PMO staffer to PM Jean Chretien – and Sun Media columnist) who first described the Trudeau government as a kleptocracy. He pulled no punches in his pointed editorial about “Trudeau’s cabal.”

Kinsella wrote: “It never stops, this fetid, foul stew of corruption and moral blindness. Even during a pandemic, the Trudeau government’s descent into the muck continues unabated. So, there’s a name for what we’ve now got. There’s a name for a government like Justin Trudeau’s – a government run by those who seek status and personal gain at the expense of the rest of us. It’s a kleptocracy.”

By extension, we can conclude that these scenes from last week are not characteristic of a parliamentarian democracy, but rather something one might expect in a third-world dictatorship. Through a masterful centre-stage performance, Trudeau and his friends are enjoying free rein to do as they wish. There is no parliamentary oversight into the finances of the country, or anything else for that matter.

And weary from the constant strain of the pandemic, Canadians are politely applauding as the play unfolds. It matters not that a cadre of unaccountable, behind-the-curtain, political operatives are pulling the levers, absurdly like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz.

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Ottawa anymore.” 

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

LINK: https://niagaraindependent.ca/ottawa-has-become-a-theatre-of-the-absurd/

Photo credit: AFP ~ The Economist / Justin Trudeau – comfortably on stage, beneath the spotlight – gestures to supporters following his Sept. 20, 2021 election victory.

Justin Trudeau is systematically dismembering Canada

“Dismembering Canada” – Justin Trudeau and the making of his post-national state – was a five-part series looking at Canada’s current finances, justice system, democratic institutions, resource economy and traditional alliances. The series written by Chris George was published in The Niagara Independent through the month of July 2021.

From day one, Justin Trudeau has had designs to evolve Canada into a post-national state. On November 10, 2015, when Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister, he said to a New York Times interviewer that he envisioned a new kind of state: “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada.” Canada was to be remodeled into his utopian vision: “There are shared values – openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice.”

Since those heady days in 2015, PM Trudeau set about to dismember the country’s finances, justice system, democratic institutions, resource economy, and its traditional alliances. Now six years in the Prime Minister’s Office, Trudeau is well on his way to achieving his objective.

By definition “post-nationalism” pertains to a time or mindset in which the identity of a nation is no longer important. Wikipedia concisely describes post-nationalism thus: “the process or trend by which nation states and national identities lose their importance relative to cross-nation and self-organized or supranational and global entities as well as local entities.” It lists a variety of factors constituting the post-national process: shifting national economies to global ones, increasingly referencing global identities and beliefs, and transferring national authorities to multinational corporations and the United Nations.

Bankrupting the country

One of the most alarming aspects of Trudeau’s designs has been his government’s spending and the fiscal straight-jacket this has placed on future governments. In that same 2015 New York Times interview, Trudeau said he knew that Canada would run annual deficits: “Confident countries are willing to invest in the future, and not always follow the conservative orthodoxy of balanced budgets at all costs.”

This echoed his 2015 election refrain that “budgets balance themselves.” With Trudeau economics, Canada could run $10 billion deficits when the country’s economic growth outpaces government expenses. However, government spending was to balloon under Trudeau and his finance minister Bill Morneau and the country’s fiscal balance sheet was never to balance.

In five years, the government ran $89.1 billion in accumulated deficits under Morneau’s stewardship. Spending on federal government programs increased every year and, in total, by nearly $70 billion, or at a striking 27.2 per cent rate. This outstrips all past federal government spending, including those governments that had to respond to world wars and global recessions. It is by far the worst financial statement in Canada’s history — and that is before the COVID-19-impacted recession.

The Fraser Institute assessed Trudeau’s pre-COVID economic record: “The Liberal mix of higher taxes, more government spending and deeper indebtedness did not result in a robust economy as promised…GDP and income growth have slowed and business investment has collapsed.”

All indicators and opinion surveys point to the fact that Canadians will feel increased pressures with the Trudeau government’s fiscal plans. Consider that today:

  • One out of every four dollars Canadians earn goes directly to the federal government (and this does not account for indirect tax payments like the carbon tax on fuel).
  • The average Canadian family now spends more of its income on taxes (nearly half) than it does on basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing combined.
  • The Trudeau government has added $10,000 of new debt for every man, woman and child in Canada during his time in office.
  • Prior to the pandemic, one in two Canadians were living pay-cheque to pay-cheque, within $200 of insolvency at the end of each month (and this situation has worsened in the last year).
  • A recent survey revealed half of Canadians are stressed out and lose sleep over their finances.

To a United Nations conference, the Canadian PM explained what he was thinking, “This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset. This is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality and climate change…Building back better means getting support to the most vulnerable while maintaining our momentum on reaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

U.N. documents for its 2030 agenda outline what Canadians can expect to see introduced with this policy direction:

  • amended tax regulations for greater government control over business and individuals
  • wealth taxes
  • withdrawal of subsidies from fossil-fuel industry
  • creation of new funding programs for green initiatives
  • enactment of greater government intervention and social planning measures to tie the country’s policies to U.N. policies

Participating governments will be coached through international bodies to “future-proofing capitalism” by tightly tethering their private sector to government regulatory control.

Combine this U.N. agenda with the global corporate tax regime recently approved at the G7 conference and it is clear Canada is establishing a tax structure tied to global objectives that will tax more and increase government control.

The fiscal reality of PM Justin Trudeau’s pursuit of a post-national dream has limited future Canadian government’s policy options. Trudeau is both “emptying the cupboards” and he is turning over our cupboard keys to global bankers.

Undermining the judiciary

The Trudeau government’s scandalous record with respect to our country’s courts and rule of law has greatly undermined both the independence and impartiality of the Canadian judiciary.

The prime minister and his political operatives – including ministers of the Crown – have governed as if they are above the law. From manhandling the attorney general of Canada to politicizing the selection of judges, Justin Trudeau’s purposeful manipulation of the country’s rule of law has diminished Canada’s respected courts and legal traditions. His government’s flagrant miscarriages of justice are, in fact, eroding one of the fundamental underpinnings of our nation.

The Trudeau government’s most egregious affront to justice was its pressure applied on Jody Wilson Raybould when she served as Canada’s most-senior judicial officer. As the country’s attorney general and minister of justice, Wilson-Raybould was callously harassed and ultimately shuffled from her position when she refused the PMO directives to politically interfere in criminal proceedings against a Liberal-friendly multinational engineering firm.

As substantiated in a federal ethics commission report on the affair, the PMO wanted Canada’s attorney general to direct prosecutors to make a “deferred prosecution agreement” so that SNC-Lavalin could avoid trial on $130 million bribery and fraud charges in relation to contracts in Libya. In short, Minister Wilson-Raybould was told to deal a “get out of jail free” card.

When Wilson-Raybould would not follow the PMO instructions, she was shuffled and then slurred by PMO staffers. When she complained about being pushed out, Trudeau dropped her from cabinet and then had Liberal MPs exile her from their caucus. The parliamentary fireworks prompted a MP inquiry, an ethics commission inquiry, and the resignations of both PM Trudeau’s BFF and loyal lieutenant Gerald Butts, and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick.

SNC-Lavalin ultimately had its day in court – and was found guilty as charged of bribery, fraud, and laundering the proceeds of crime. Even though this conviction was to have resulted in a 10-year ban from federal contracts, the Trudeau government gave SNC-Lavalin a special plea-bargain and continued to contract its favoured Quebec firm. In the 18 months following its conviction, SNC-Lavalin was awarded 142 government contracts with a combined worth of about $25 million. Then last year it was awarded a sole-sourced $150 million pandemic contract to design and deliver mobile health units.

While the assault on Canada’s Attorney General Office was being publicly revealed, behind closed doors another explosive judicial scandal was detonating – Canadians were about to learn more about the wrongful and politically vindicative prosecution of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman.

As second-in-command of the Canadian Forces, in fall 2015 Mark Norman was charged by the Trudeau government with breach of trust for leaking cabinet defence secrets on shipbuilding contracts. Norman’s defense claimed political interference by the PM and his inner circle and the Department of National Defence.

For years Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was stuck in a legal quagmire that sullied his reputation, dishonouring his career and character. It was the same cast of PMO operatives involved in the SNC-Lavalin scandal – Butts and Wernick – who were managing the legal fight against Norman.

As it was, at every turn, the federal Department of Justice played games that stonewalled Norman’s defence lawyers. Then, at the eleventh hour, as the courtroom showdown was about to commence, the Crown prosecutors folded their case and the charges against the vice-admiral were stayed. Norman was given an undisclosed sum of money to keep his mouth shut.

When news of the non-disclosure settlement deal broke, Liberal backroom strategist Warren Kinsella stated: “As in the LavScam case (SNC-Lavalin), criminal prosecutions must always be independent of politics. If the likes of Trudeau can use the criminal justice system to reward friends (like SNC-Lavalin) and punish enemies (like Norman), we will have fully become a totalitarian regime. We are no longer a true democracy.”

Jocelyn Bamford, founder of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada, framed the issue this way, “After Norman, we need to ask what’s happening to our country. Is it just me, or does the whole thing suggest to others that we are becoming something of a banana republic?”

It’s a good question. Both the SNC-Lavalin and Norman scandals raise serious concerns about a person’s expectation for fair treatment in our Canadian legal system. Most disturbing is the fact that to this day our federal government (from the PM and PMO staff through to ministers, MPs, Crown prosecutors and senior government mandarins) has refused to explain, justify or otherwise account for what has happened. It is Kafkaesque.

On another disturbing judicial matter, this week news broke that justice minister David Lametti had appointed four more Liberal Party donors to positions of federal judges. This news is, in fact, an on-going saga for the Trudeau government.

In early 2020, the Globe and Mail uncovered a partisan federal Liberal network that vetted and selected judicial appointments, with weighted consideration given to their Liberal Party pedigree. Ministers, PMO staff, MPs (including St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle) and party operatives were all caught up in this clandestine operation that was established shortly after Justin Trudeau took office.

By appointing capital “L” Liberal-minded judges, this Trudeau government intends to impose in the courts its progressive mindset for years into the future. It is remarkable that since November 2015, more than 475 judges have been appointed with the Trudeau government’s judicial application process – and very few have had any type of public scrutiny.

In a recent Hill Times opinion piece, Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner reminded Canadians that it is important to maintain a clear separation of the PM and Cabinet, its legislators, and the country’s judiciary. “The equilibrium of all three branches of government is what gives us our vibrant democracy, strong rule of law, and robust protections for people’s rights and freedoms. Judicial independence is critical to the balance,” wrote Chief Justice Wagner.

Clearly, continuing to politicize the selection of judges is sure to test Canadians’ trust in an independent and impartial judiciary. And as witnessed in the Jody Wilson-Raybould-SNC-Lavalin scandal and the mock-prosecution of Mark Norman, this government’s blatant disregard for the country’s justice system has the potential to shatter Canadians’ confidence in it.

Given Justin Trudeau’s abstraction of our country’s judiciary, Canadians may wish to reflect on English statesman Sir Francis Bacon’s insight: “If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.”

Debasing Parliament

Justin Trudeau’s flagrant disrespect for Parliament and Canada’s parliamentary traditions is purposefully creating a constitutional fog in the country. His government’s repeated abuses of power are undermining the authority of our parliamentary institutions, eroding the very foundation of the country’s democratic principles and practices. As MP Jody Wilson-Raybould assessed when she announced that she would not run again for Parliament, much has changed for the worst in the six years Justin Trudeau has been in office.

The government’s recent unprecedented move to take the Speaker of the House of Commons to court to challenge the supremacy of Parliament’s legislative authority is an indication of the extent to which PM Trudeau desires unfettered authority. In the history of our country, never has there been a government that has blatantly defied Parliament – and attempted to overturn it. Yet, in the case of the Trudeau government’s desire to conceal the coronavirus activities in the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, parliamentarian principles and MPs democratic rights are being trampled.

Last month the House of Commons ordered the Trudeau government to hand over unredacted documents from the Winnipeg lab that related to the research and firing of two scientists with Communist China ties. When the government declined to forward the requested files to MPs, it was held in contempt of Parliament. Then Public Health Agency of Canada president, Iain Stewart, defied MPs and he too was found in contempt. The government followed this by launching a lawsuit against the Speaker to have a court of law block any parliamentarian order to produce the documents.

Aside from leaving many unanswered questions about the joint Canada-China coronavirus research, the government’s extraordinary step to sue the head officer of the House of Commons raises multiple issues about elected representatives’ rights to hold to account a prime minister and his cabinet.

Steve Chaplin, former senior parliamentary counsel for the House of Commons, explained in a CBC interview the very crux of the matter, “Parliamentary privilege is constitutional and the privileges and the whole Westminster system of government, where the government is accountable to Parliament for everything that it does, is part of that system…It’s not the court’s business to step into it, and for the government to ask the courts to do it violates the Bill of Rights of 1689.”

As it stands today, the Trudeau government will continue to defy and delay and when the prime minister calls the election all demands for documents will be considered dissolved, requiring MPs to reintroduce the motions in the next Parliament. And should this all unfold as suggested, Trudeau’s subversive tactics will have thwarted Canadian democratic rights.

One of the primary functions of Parliament – its fiduciary duties to oversee government spending – has been disrupted in the last six years. The rights of parliamentarians to oversee government spending dates back to 1215 and the signing of the Magna Carta. However, the Trudeau government has found ways around the budgetary process to take at will from the public purse.

In June 2018, ignoring due process, a majority Trudeau government voted itself $7 billion to spend as it saw fit, without any necessary report to parliament until sometime after the 2019 federal election. Through the pandemic, the Trudeau cabinet was given free rein to spend what was needed to respond to the health crisis (resulting in the largest per-capita spending spree in the world). This government also went two years between federal budgets, without reporting its expenditures or it fiscal plans to parliamentarians.

Following its 2021 federal budget, the government found ways to sidestep expenditure reviews. Remarkably, more than $41.4 billion in spending occurred without MPs’ review – and this included an additional $17.1 billion of supplementary spending estimates.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux was very concerned about the lack of review, “The power of the purse resides with the House of Commons…It’s a lot of money. Those are big-spending departments. And the fact that they (MPs) are not even showing up on a principal duty, it’s got to be symbolic of something that the system is completely broken.”

This disfunction has allowed the Liberals to operate without repercussions. The recent Ottawa mischief that Liberal MPs are attempting to sweep under the rug has Justin Trudeau’s childhood friend Tom Pitfield being siphoned millions of taxpayers’ dollars to assist Liberal MPs with their voter databases. Pitfield is a senior Liberal campaign strategist who is being paid by the Liberal Party of Canada – but he is also providing database management services for MPs’ constituency work.

Much like the We Charity scandal, the Liberals have employed procedural tactics to avoid closer scrutiny of their misdeeds in pilfering the public purse for their own benefit. So, the failure of MPs to conduct traditional parliamentary reviews of government expenditures has essentially amounted to giving Justin Trudeau and his ministers a blank cheque.

Another cherished cornerstone in our country’s democracy is being dislodged by Justin Trudeau and his careless regard for the sanctity of the Canadian Charter of Rights. In May, Quebec premier Francois Legault introduced legislation that will bring sweeping measures to reinforce the French language within the province. He also pronounced his intention to rewrite certain sections of the Canadian Constitution that would assert La Belle Province as a sovereign “nation.” The premier will guarantee his measures with the use of the notwithstanding clause.

This direct affront to Canada’s Charter of Rights and established principles of bilingualism was met with approval by the PM. Trudeau stated it is “perfectly legitimate” for Quebec to unilaterally rewrite the section of the Canadian Constitution pertaining to its province.

The PM’s cavalier approach has been criticized from all sides – including by former PM Jean Chretien’s chief of staff Eddie Goldstein, who fears Trudeau is prying open a pandora’s box. Goldstein penned a scathing Globe and Mail editorial of PM Trudeau’s constitutional gambit, opening with, “Institutional memory is a fundamental prerequisite to good government.” (This sentence exposes the core issue with our PM: Trudeau has no regard for the country’s institutions and, therefore, is proving a wholly inadequate steward of the Canadian state.)

The PM’s disrespect displayed for Parliament, MPs’ rights, the Charter, and our constitution are all too regular. Justin Trudeau repeatedly debases Canada’s democratic institutions suggesting we are a country built on “a system of colonialism, discrimination, of systemic racism in all our institutions.” His actions and narrative have emboldened those who wish to question the legitimacy of Canada’s seat of government, and of the country itself.

As a final word, consider a widely respected MP’s recent observation on the current condition of Canada’s Parliament. Last week former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould announced she will not seek re-election and she was specific on her reasons for departing the Ottawa scene: “From my seat in the last six years, I have noticed a change in Parliament, a regression…It has become more and more toxic and ineffective while simultaneously marginalizing individuals from certain backgrounds. Federal politics is, in my view, increasingly a disgraceful triumph of harmful partisanship over substantive action.”

Devastating Canada’s resource economy 

The globalists and environmental activists in the government of Justin Trudeau have been methodically deconstructing Canada’s natural resources sector and establishing a state-interventionist economy. PM Trudeau himself is intent on redesigning capitalism and advancing an international green agenda. He has quickened the country’s pace towards these end goals under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

On many occasions Justin Trudeau has publicly tied the country’s pandemic recovery to the World Economic Forum’s The Great Reset and the United Nations 2030 objectives. In his U.N. appearance last September, Trudeau gave a clear indication that the path he was leading Canadians down was one that his government had embarked on prior to COVID-19. Trudeau stated: “This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset. This is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems…”

As the prime minister and his Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland have often mused, the pandemic is “an opportunity” to further their government’s agenda.

The Trudeau government agenda is anti-resource development and, expressly, anti-oil and gas sector. Its natural resource development approach has had a dramatic, negative impact on both large and small resource companies. Calgary-based news agency, Second Street, factors that $213 billion in resource development projects have been lost to Canadians since 2014. The Enbridge Northern Gateway and TC Energy East projects were scrapped due to uncertain regulatory delays and there has been a mass exodus of drilling companies from western Canada.

Just prior to the pandemic, the country’s resource economy was rocked with the announcements of the cancellation of the $20.6 billion Teck Frontier mine project and the collapse of financing for the $9 billion Energie Saguenay pipeline and liquified natural gas project.

Despite the facts that there are one million jobs and nearly a quarter of all Canadian exports dependent on a healthy oil and gas industry, the Trudeau government has pursued an energy policy course that is intent on curtailing future development. In June 2019, prior to the last federal election, the Trudeau government passed into law two controversial and damaging measures: first, Bill C-69 established an unparalleled, onerous federal environmental assessment process for major resource projects in Canada; and second, Bill C-48 placed a moratorium on Canadian oil tanker activity along the BC coast – effectively cutting off the Asian market to Canadian energy producers.

Since Trudeau took office, his government’s statements and actions have delivered irreparable blows to investor confidence in Canadian energy projects. Recent Statistics Canada data reveals that, since 2015, investment in 10 of our 15 major business sectors has dropped by 17 per cent, as both Canadian and foreign investors have headed elsewhere.

In place of Canada’s attractive resource sectors, PM Trudeau and a cadre of his senior ministers have designed a green energy plan to drive the country’s future prosperity. Canadians are being told that the government will “build back better” the country’s economic fortunes with a bold, progressive environmental agenda. With $109 billion of government investment in the next decade, the Liberal plan will create in excess of six million green jobs and support $790 billion worth of “green” initiatives.

This green energy plan that is to revive – and reset – the Canadian economy is illusory on multiple levels. Here are four obvious ones:

#1 — The plan requires considerable private sector investment of nearly $700 billion that is just not there. For every one dollar the government is to invest, the Trudeau government is looking to encourage the private sector to invest six dollars. As it has discovered with its failed Canada Infrastructure Bank, the private sector is reluctant to partner with government, especially one that is increasingly interventionist and unattractive to foreign investors.

#2 — The Liberals’ plan is tied to unrealistic carbon emission reduction targets. Canada missed its Copenhagen 2020 targets and, according to a recent U.N. Emissions Gap Report, the country is set to miss its next emissions target in 2030 by 15 per cent. The fact is, under this Trudeau government stewardship, Canada’s emissions have actually risen.

Yet, this government has pledged that the country will meet net zero emissions by 2050 and it has further set interim targets without any details on how they will be achieved. For example, a report released this week by the C.D. Howe Institute states that in order for Canada to meet its targets, the government will have to ensure there will be three electric cars for every four cars sold by 2030. Is this realistic given current vehicle sales and the existing electric-charge station network?

#3 — One of the key components of the green energy plan is a mounting carbon tax that will alter Canadians’ energy consumption behaviours. The tax is to raise gas prices for commuters and personal travel. It will raise fuel prices to heat homes. It increases costs for our farmers, manufacturers, and truckers – and, as a result, the carbon tax will raise the price of all groceries and consumer goods. So, by design, the carbon tax will significantly increase the cost of living for all Canadians – and this will bring about the change in behaviour.

In a June 2021 report, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) provided an analysis of the economic impact of the government’s plan to reach net zero carbon emissions targets in 2050 and, unsurprisingly, this plan is certain to negatively impact the economy. More significantly, the PBO found the government targets can only realistically be reached by raising the carbon tax five times greater than it is currently scheduled through 2030 (this would result in approximately $160 of additional carbon taxes every time Canadians filled up their vehicle).

#4 — This green energy plan will only be sustainable with continuous government subsidies. The Trudeau government’s green initiatives neither factor their costs nor their return on investment – there is an assumption that the budget will balance itself. In an internal memo, Department of Natural Resources reviewed the “market failure” of current Canada’s solar, wind, and geothermal industries and it concluded that “most projects would not have been financially viable” without the support of more than $1.4 billion of government subsidies.

In attempting to understand the underlining rationale with the Trudeau Liberals’ green energy plan, consider the recent announcement by senior cabinet minister Catherine McKenna that she would not be running in the upcoming election. In a fawning media interview, the former environment minister made a lucid observation that government does not have the financial means to underwrite the Liberals’ green energy plan; however, there is ample private sector cash that must be invested. Much like Chyrstia Freeland’s expressed desire to access the savings accounts of individual Canadians, McKenna posits the government use regulatory control to shake lose the needed cash from private sector businesses to pay for the country’s green initiatives.

In a Financial Post editorial, Matthew Lau seized on McKenna’s suggestion: “McKenna speaks of spending money to build the future Canadians want, but she is doing no such thing. Instead of letting Canadians spend their own money to build the future they want, she is spending their money to build the future she thinks they ought to want, which is really just the future she wants. It is a future in which Canadians are less prosperous and free.”

In Lau’s summary he captures the sad ironies of the Liberals’ green energy plan. Indeed, this is the devastating course Justin Trudeau is pursuing in gutting Canada’s natural resources sector and imposing his “reset” on the country’s economy.

Realigning international alliances

In Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first appearance on the international stage, he blurted out, “We’re back.” This exclamation was to suggest Canada was about to resume its traditional roles with its trusted allies in furthering democratic and western values around the world. Yet, the government’s actions over the last six years indicate this PM has done the exact opposite of expectations and has upset Canada’s reliable position in global affairs.

During the post-world war era Canada emerged as a steady middle-power that was consummate in its soft diplomacy and adept at leveraging its alliances with the United States, the Commonwealth, and western European countries. After six years of Justin Trudeau’s foreign diplomacy, this profile is soiled. The global community seems uncertain of Canada, evident by losing bids for council seats at the United Nations. At home, an Angus Reid survey taken last summer revealed that two-in-five Canadians believe our reputation on the world stage has worsened in recent years.

Of great concern is the eroded confidence and trust that Canada’s closest ally and largest partner, the United States, has for its “friendly neighbour” to the north. Remarkably, the election of President Joe Biden resulted in a widening gap between the countries’ governing politicians. The divergence can be traced in part to U.S. protectionism, and in part to suspicions in Washington of Canada’s growing relationship with China.

As the world begins to shake free of the COVID-19 crisis, the thrust of America’s economic policies are seemingly becoming more parochial. Unlike the special trade relationships forged during the Mulroney-Reagan and Chretien-Bush eras, the Trudeau government cannot depend on its friendship with the Biden Democrats.

Justin Trudeau may speak highly of Joe Biden, yet this presidency has already seriously impacted the Canadian economy. The first act of the new president was the cancellation of Keystone XL pipeline which dealt a serious blow to western Canadians. Today, President Biden will not step up to guarantee uninterrupted oil supply to Canada through Line 5. Moreover, the countries have multiple trade irritants: softwood lumber, aluminum, dairy supply management, and grain grading. In Congress, the Democrats are working with the president to pass “Buy American” provisions and a new infrastructure package that will not offer exemptions to Canadian companies and workers.

These troublesome trade matters are unfolding as American politicians debate U.S.-China relations. The two issues intersect with the special congressional hearings on China and the committee’s investigation of Canada’s economic and diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communist Party. This has led to both Republican and Democrat politicians questioning the trustworthiness of a Canadian alliance. There is concern about the Canadian government’s unwillingness to reveal the facts behind the two Communist Chinese scientists’ virus research at the federal laboratory in Winnipeg; Canada’s hold-out as the only country in the five-eyes intelligence group not to ban or restrict Huawei 5G technology; and, its repeated delays and apparent hesitancy in fulfilling its security and defence obligations.

It is a point of contention that Canada no longer pulls its weight with NATO or NORAD and it has failed to invest in the country’s self-defence. With respect to NATO, Canada has abandoned its commitment to spend two per cent of the national GDP target for defence spending. It is avoiding the start of talks about NORAD, the first line of North American defence from an arctic attack, which is in immediate need of an upgrade from the existing 1980s radars. In Canada, there are open calls for our withdrawal from both defence alliances – and this been noted by our allies.

The Trudeau government is consistently vacillated on all matters of the country’s military. An overdue decision has just been further delayed on the purchase of 88 new fighter jets to replace Canada’s aging CF-18 fleet. Final decisions have long been pending to acquire 15 ships to replace aged destroyers and frigates as well as new submarines for Canada’s perpetually drydocked fleet. Comically, the government is waffling to replace Second World War-era pistols for the Canadian Forces.

As PM Trudeau neglects the country’s historic strategic partners, his government is forging new working relations with Communist China. Trade between the two countries is increasing – gaining more than eight per cent through the pandemic. Chinese are buying up Canadian companies, natural resources and land at record pace. Meanwhile, Canada’s investment in China is increasing, providing millions of dollars to Chinese research and foreign aid. Also, the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) has now invested more than 11 per cent of Canadians’ savings in China.

PM Trudeau has also been careful to nurture the countries’ diplomatic ties. One recent example is the Trudeau government payment in advance to China for a vaccine that the China government reneged on without repayment. Despite the fact the two Michaels have languished in China prisons for almost 1,000 days, PM Trudeau has been near silent. He has also been uncomfortably quiet on Communist China’s human rights abuses from Uyghur Muslims to Hong Kong democrat leaders.

During Trudeau’s term in office, Canada’s realignment from trusted U.S. neighbour and western ally to Communist China chum has occurred with little notice or concern by Canadians. Likewise, the Canadian government’s ratification of U.N. agreements has left many unaware of how Trudeau is relinquishing our national authority to international bodies and their agendas.

In this last Parliament, the Trudeau government announced Canada’s new immigration and refugee targets that reflect the U.N.’s “open borders” and migration policies. It just aligned federal laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which will obligate the country to international courts of law. Most recently, Canada signed onto a plan to internationally regulate the taxing of corporations. Trudeau has been active on the world stage donating Canadian money to U.N. feminist and abortion programs in the third world – and tying further development aid to the acceptance of those U.N. programs.

PM Trudeau has also taken centre stage at recent U.N. meetings to cheerlead The Great Reset – the U.N.’s World Economic Forum plan to refashion capitalism and advance a new green agenda. Though the PM will suggest to Canadians that any talk of The Great Reset is a conspiracy theory, it is now coming to light that the PM, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Liberal celebrity Mark Carney are all playing central roles in the World Economic Forum. Pivotal to achieving the U.N.’s work is to cede nations’ sovereign interests and authority to internationally binding commitments.

The Trudeau government has offered up Canada as an example for all governments to advance towards a post-national state. According to the master plan, the Canada of tomorrow is not a nation with strategic allies and trade partners, it is a group of people adhering to international interests.

The upcoming federal election will allow for Canadians to pass judgement on Justin’s Trudeau’s vision of Canada. Whether it is Canada’s international position, justice system, economy, or the authority of Parliament, on multiple fronts Trudeau continues to dismember the country. With each of the PM’s activities, it is as if he is picking and unravelling the threads of a twined rope – to eventually work loose the tethers to our country’s foundations.  

It is essential for Canadians to realize that this next election is a vote for our country as a nation, or Justin Trudeau’s post-national design. 

 

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

In Justin Trudeau’s post-national state, there are no proud Canadians

The Niagara Independent, June 25, 2021 — Oh Canada, is there anything left of our country and its history for us to celebrate? Does it not seem that, in reading news headlines, Canadians’ new national sport is self-flagellation?

We now live in a country where our nation’s past is being removed from public squares and crated for “safe keeping.” It is acceptable to deface and topple the statues of the founding prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and the country’s initial champion of public education Egerton Ryerson. It is empowering for many to argue that Canada Day must be cancelled and in its place we are all to mourn “the lives lost to the Canadian state – Indigenous lives, Black lives, migrant lives, women, trans and two-spirit lives.”

It appears from our country’s prime minister on down; many political leaders are abetting a narrative that casts Canada’s history in the most negative possible light. As Candice Malcolm of True North Media explained, “It is much more fashionable to condemn Canada as a uniquely terrible, systemically compromised failed state built by irredeemably horrendous leaders who committed unspeakable atrocities and crimes against humanity.”

Malcolm recently lamented, “The woke mob wants to erase our history, tear our country apart and cancel Canada Day but nobody is standing up to them…Baseless claims from the woke left are no longer being challenged. Instead, political and media leaders allow radical woke leftists to use Canada as a punching bag.”

And PM Justin Trudeau never misses an opportunity to virtue signal and incite social justice warriors. It is by design, his drive toward a post-national state – sans culture, sans institutions, sans history.

For years, our country’s prime minister has been ceaselessly denigrating Canadian historic accomplishments and institutions – including the legitimacy of Canada’s seat of government itself – to foster a culture of guilt and unworthiness. Of parliament, PM Trudeau stated: “There are many institutions that we have in this country, including the big building right across the street from us (Parliament Hill’s Centre Block) that has and is built around a system of colonialism, discrimination, of systemic racism in all our institutions.”

The prime minister’s reflections echo the woke world view that western culture is best summarized as a hierarchy of power with a shameful story of oppressors and oppressed – defined by skin colour, gender and sexual orientation.

It is the woke world view in the Canadian education system today that is indoctrinating young minds with a guilt-based, anti-Western narrative. It is also found in Canada’s bureaucracy, which has superimposed a race-based conflict narrative on all policy discussions of our country’s current affairs.

Back in 2019 the Trudeau government introduced “antiracism training” and in the recent 2021 federal budget there was a massive expansion of the race-based programming for all government employees. The training is grounded in “critical race theory,” which is an interpretation of history that positions Western society as intrinsically racist due to its alleged white supremacist thinking and policies.

Canadians are to come to understand that they are racist “settlers” in a land where they have no legitimate rights. The government’s training program instructs civil servants to question everything, including the very name of our country. According to the program, it is a fact that “this place we now call Canada” is but “a colonial settler society – a concept based on many myths, including European discovery and harmonious multiculturalism.”

Given this skewed historical interpretation of Canada, it should not be surprising that the call to cancel the country’s national day has traction among a certain portion of our society. The progressives’ claim is captured in a popular tweet that has been reposted ad nauseum with the hashtag #cancelCanadaDay: “Celebrating Canada Day is a celebration of First Nations dispossession, oppression and genocide. July 1st instead should be a day of mourning and remembrance of the evils of colonialism. People who celebrate occupations and genocide are misguided and shameful.”

The ultimate goal of the woke, progressive mindset is to tear down all structures of our Canadian society and shake the confidence of its people. It is to deny any hint of the country’s accomplishments based on the riches of our natural resources and an industrious people sharing a remarkable history of peace, order and good government.

As Candice Malcom lamented, there seems to be no political leader prepared to stand up to the woke mob – that is until this week.

As MPs were preparing to leave Ottawa for a summer of campaigning, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole addressed his caucus. His message contained a forcible defence of Canada and its history. In response to the progressive mob’s chant to cancel Canada Day, he asserted that “It’s time to build Canada up, not tear it down…the road to reconciliation, the road to equality, the road to inclusion, does not involve tearing Canada down.”

O’Toole broached the subject of recent residential school discoveries by describing them as “very troubling” and evidence of the “grave injustices” committed against Indigenous peoples. However, he rejected that this historic wrong should result in a rejection of Canada’s culture, its institutions and people’s inherited rights. He was adamant that it should not lead to a cancellation of Canada Day, nor to undermine the pride Canadians feel for their country and its history.

This message and O’Toole’s tone stands out in sharp contrast to the narrative being spun this week by PM Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

O’Toole reasoned, “We are not a perfect country. No country is. There is no place on this planet whose history can withstand close scrutiny. But there is a difference between acknowledging where we’ve fallen short and always tearing the country down.”

He placed himself directly in front of the mob and the prime minister’s design for a post-national state. O’Toole spoke directly over the heads of the woke when he said, “As someone who served Canada and will soon ask for the trust to lead this country, I can’t stay silent when people want to cancel Canada Day. I am very proud to be Canadian and I know most people are as well.”

So, perhaps, there is something with this defiant retort to celebrate on this July 1st – oh Canada.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

[Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Lang — People celebrate Canada Day on Parliament Hill, July 1, 2018]

LINK: https://niagaraindependent.ca/there-are-no-proud-canadians-in-justin-trudeaus-post-national-state/

 

Listen here…

Having already downed a few power drinks,

she turned around, faced me, looked me

straight in the eye and said, “Listen here.

I will screw anybody, anytime, anywhere,

their place, my place, in the car, front door,

back door, on the ground, standing up,

sitting down, naked or with clothes on…

It doesn’t matter to me I just love it.”

 

With my eyes now wide with interest

I responded,“No kidding…

I’m in Government too. 

Are you Provincial or Federal?”

 

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Quotes of Canada’s Prime Ministers through the ages

 

 

Canada’s Prime Ministers

~ from Sir John A Macdonald to Justin Trudeau

10 Favourite Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

More Quotes from PM John G. Diefenbaker

Federal Election Memes

12 classic political memes (since 2015)

Quotes of PM Justin Trudeau

Father and Son Trudeau, and Canada Then and Now

Did our next Prime Minister really say that?

Justin Trudeau memes re the #KokaneeGrope

Paul Wells on Stephen Harper

Quotes of PM Stephen Harper

Quotes of PM Paul Martin

Quotes of PM Jean Chretien

Quotes of PM Brian Mulroney

Quotes of PMs Joe Clark, John Turner and Kim Campbell

Question: Was Pierre Trudeau a disaster?

10 Trudeauisms on government

Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Trudeauisms

Interesting Facts about Canada’s and US’s Leaders

Quotes of PM Lester B. Pearson

More political musings from “The Chief”

John George Diefenbaker on politics and Parliament

PM Louis St. Laurent on Politics

PM WL Mackenzie King on Politics

Quotes of PMs Arthur Meighen and RB Bennett

If you were Prime Minister… (a classic joke)

Quotes of PM Sir Robert Borden

PM Sir Wilfrid Laurier Quotes

Quotes from Canada’s earliest PMs

In defence of Sir John A. Macdonald and his legacy

Great Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

Canada’s Prime Ministers on Politics

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

 

Federal Elections Memes

The last two Canadian federal elections in 2015 and 2015 have seen increased use of memes on social media platforms — some funny, but most unkind. Here is a collection of some of the more popular Liberal and Conservative salvos that hit the mark for their partisan audiences.

 

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

 

 

More quotes from PM John G. Diefenbaker

In completing the task of quoting from all our country’s Prime Ministers – from Sir John A. to our current PM Justin Trudeau – we now return to our favourite quotable PM: John George Diefenbaker.  Here are 10 more musings from one of Canada’s most colourful leaders.

 

  • My abiding interest is your interest; my guiding principle is the welfare of the Average Canadian.
  • It is so strange that such a great honour should come to a small man like me.
  • He who would be chief among you must first be servant of them all.
  • The prime minister has all the responsibilities and does all the joe-jobs.
  • I cut down on social functions. No prime minister can carry out his responsibilities when he’s going to dinner every night. Dinners are not a substitute for statesmanship.
  • Too much and too many of the moneys extorted and squeezed from the Canadian people are being wasted by the parasites of extravagance.
  • The heresy of yesterday is the Liberal orthodoxy of today.
  • The Liberal Party has become a hodgepodge of discordance, a cacophony of political nonsense.
  • No Canadian can but be proud that through the warp and woof of our constitution are the golden threads of our British heritage.
  • Freedom grows in the practice of good citizenship. It withers or decays in the apathy or neglect of the citizens of the country.

 

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

10 Favourite Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

Here are 10 of By George’s favourite quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and a Father of Confederation.

  • Politics is a game requiring great coolness and an utter abnegation of prejudice and personal feeling.
  • There were, unfortunately, no great principles on which parties were divided – politics became a mere struggle for office.
  • Anybody may support me when I am right. What I want is someone that will support me when I am wrong.
  • There may be obstructions, local differences may intervene, but it matters not — the wheel is now revolving, and we are only the fly on the wheel, we cannot delay it. The union of the colonies of British America under one sovereign is a fixed fact.
  • I don’t care for office for the sake of money, but for the sake of power, and for the sake of carrying out my own views of what is best for the country.
  • When fortune empties her chamber pot on your head, smile and say, ‘We are going to have a summer shower.’
  • If you would know the depth of meanness of human nature, you have got to be a Prime Minister running a general election.
  •  [Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his love of drink. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in Parliament. Here is a story from an election debate in which Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting while on stage. His opponent quickly pointed this out.]  The opposing candidate said: “Is this the man you want running your country? A drunk!” Collecting himself, Macdonald replied “I get sick … not because of drink [but because] I am forced to listen to the ranting of my honourable opponent.”
  • My sins of omission and commission I do not deny; but I trust that it may be said of me in the ultimate issue, ‘Much is forgiven because he loved much,’ for I have loved my country with a passionate love.
  • If I had influence over the minds of the people of Canada, any power over their intellect, I would leave them this legacy: ‘Whatever you do, adhere to the Union. We are a great country, and shall become one of the greatest in the universe if we preserve it; we shall sink into insignificance and adversity if we suffer it to be broken.’

(Photo Credit:  National Archive)

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Paul Wells on Stephen Harper

Paul Wells book on Stephen Harper’s politics – The Longer I’m Prime Minister – is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the man and his modus operandi in office. Here are ten quotes extrapolated from Paul Wells’ book – but, to get an insightful glimpse into the Prime Minister, get the book – read it.

  • “You know, the longer I’m prime minister…. the longer I’m prime minister.” – Stephen Harper
  • He is a very particular fellow: fiercely intelligent, combative, secretive, intense. – Paul Wells
  • He survives politically in large part because he is uninterested in debates that are of concern only to people who live within ten kilometers of Parliament’s Peace Tower. – Paul Wells
  • The point of everything he does is to last. The surest rebuttal Harper can offer to a half century of Liberal hegemony is not to race around doing things the next Liberal could undo. The surest rebuttal is to last and not be Liberal. – Paul Wells
  • “My models aren’t Conservative prime ministers. My models are successful prime ministers.” – Stephen Harper
  • He needed to last, because most of what he wanted to do could not be done quickly. He wanted to disabuse Canadians, especially immigrants, of the expression that they would be governed Liberals. He wanted to implement deep changes… a degree at a time as if boiling a frog; and to make those changes as hard to reverse as it would be to reconstitute the frog. (This is politics as boiling a frog: if you raise the temperature a degree at a time the frog won’t notice.) – Paul Wells
  • “One of the things I’ve learned is that surprises are not generally well received by the public. So, we intend to move forward with what Canadians understand about us, and I think with what they are more and more comfortable with.” – Stephen Harper
  • “His focus, in terms of the legacy he’s trying to create, is very much on identifying what he sees as the long-term challenges and opportunities for the country. Yet his strong bias is towards arch-incrementalism. He backs away from ideas which he feels may be controversial. And that creates a lot of frustration.” – un-named Harper advisor
  • “Stephen Harper is Mackenzie King without a ouija board.” – Tom Flanagan
  • What has he accomplished? It is in the nature of Harper’s project that he would have less to show for his time in office than some of his predecessors. They saw themselves as builders; he is a skeptic and, to use the gentlest available word, an editor. – Paul Wells

In Fall 2014 Chris George attended a breakfast where Paul Wells spoke – and here is the By George Journal post on that address.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

Question: Was Pierre Trudeau a disaster?

A few years ago, an Ottawa public policy think tank – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute hosted a lively debate on the resolution: Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s most disastrous Prime Minister. The Institute brought David Frum to speak to the affirmative and Lawrence Martin to speak against the resolution. Decades after his departure from Parliament Hill, the question of Pierre Trudeau’s impact on our country still is a topic of heated discussion. Here are abbreviated highlights from the opening statements of both arguments regarding P.E.T.’s record in office.

David Frum: Yes, Trudeau was a disaster.

  • It has taken nearly 30 years to recover after Pierre Trudeau nearly bankrupted and split up the country.  Three subsequent important prime ministers — Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien  and Stephen Harper — invested their energies cleaning up the wreckage left by  Pierre Trudeau.
  • Between 1969 and 1979 — through two majority governments and one  minority — Trudeau tripled federal spending. In 1981-’82, Canada plunged into recession, the worst since the Second World  War. Trudeau’s already big deficits exploded to a point that Canada’s lenders  worried about default. Pierre Trudeau was a spending fool.
  • He believed in a state-led economy, and  the longer he lasted in office, the more statist he became. The Foreign  Investment Review Agency was succeeded by Petro-Canada. Petro-Canada was  succeeded by wage and price controls. Wage and price controls were succeeded by  the single worst economic decision of Canada’s 20th century: the National Energy  Program.
  • To win the 1980 referendum, Trudeau promised Quebec constitutional changes to  satisfy Quebec nationalism. Instead, he delivered a package of constitutional  changes that tilted in exactly the opposite direction. The government of Quebec  refused to ratify the new constitutional arrangement, opening a renewed  opportunity to separatists and bequeathing a nightmare political problem to  Trudeau’s successors.

Lawrence Martin: No, Trudeau was not a disaster.

  • Pierre Trudeau is beloved because he liberated Canada from old men, old thinking, narrow  traditions and colonial caution. To understand Trudeau’s impact we need first recall the type of Canadian  leaders who came before him. All these [past] leaders thought along conventional lines. Then came this phenom  with a roman cut, sandals and an air of Jesus Christ. Pierre Trudeau combined  intellectual electricity, star-power charisma, and a contrarian’s independent  mind.
  • Think of the ways in which he [transformed Canada], the ways in he became the country’s  liberator. With his repatriation of the Constitution, Trudeau liberated us at  long last from Great Britain. With his Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he  liberated us from the authority of the state. With his bilingualism and  multicultural polices, he liberated us from unilingual, unicultural trappings;  from anti-pluralist prejudice that had rarely seen a woman in top governing  posts, that saw no Jews in the cabinet or on the Supreme Court.
  • With ice in his veins Trudeau liberated us from the blackmail of FLQ  terrorism. With the same he took down the threat posed by René Lévesque in the  1980 referendum. With his never-back-down resilience, he provided a sense of  freedom from American encroachment, this at a time when the giant next door was  mired in war, racism, Watergate and economic nationalism.
  • Standards of living grew appreciably in the  Trudeau years, far more so than in the three decades following when they have  flatlined. Under Trudeau, the percentage of Canadians living in poverty dropped  from 23 per cent in 1968 to 13 per cent in 1984. Repeat, from 23 per cent to 13  per cent.

To read the full arguments, for and against, visit the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s website, where they have reprinted the Ottawa Citizen columns containing David Frum’s and Lawrence Martin’s opening statements. Click here.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

 

 

Interesting Facts about Canada’s and US’s Leaders

So, did you know that in the US, if the president and vice president both resign or die, the Speaker of the House becomes the president? It’s always good to know who will take over. For instance, there was someone in the wings when Jimmy Carter was “attacked” by a large swamp rabbit or when George W. Bush famously choked on a pretzel while watching a football game.

In Canada, there is no official line of succession if something were to happen to the prime minister. Who would have stepped in if Jean Chretien didn’t successful defend himself with a Inuit soapstone from the intruder at 24 Sussex Drive? Who today would step in for Justin Trudeau? Perhaps Chrystia Freeland and Catherine McKenna would have had to compete in an arm wrestling tournament?

Here are ten more interesting facts about U.S. Presidents that might surprise you.  

·         Ronald Reagan was the oldest president inaugurated (69 years old) and Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president inaugurated (42 years old).

·         Jimmy Carter is the first U.S. President to have been born in a hospital.  No president of the United States was an only child for his parents. 

·         Eight presidents have died in office. (Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy)

·         John F. Kennedy was buried without his brain after it was lost during the autopsy.

·         Ulysses S. Grant was once arrested for speeding in a horse and buggy and President Franklin Pierce was arrested during his term for running over an old lady with his horse (but the charges were dropped).

·         Gerald Ford remains the only unelected vice president and president and Richard Nixon is the only U.S. president ever to resign.

·         Theodore Roosevelt was the first to ride in a car, while Franklin Roosevelt was the first to ride in a plane.

·         All of the people in Lyndon Johnson’s family had the initials LBJ, including his dogs – and did you know that the S. in Harry S. Truman’s name does not stand for anything?

·         The White House officially got its name in 1901 and prior to that it had been called the President’s Palace, President’s House, and the Executive Mansion (BTW – John Adams was the first to live in the White House).

·         Then there are the traditions surrounding the Office: George Washington preferred the less formal address of “Mr. President”, which is still used today. Sarah Polk, wife of James Polk, selected “Hail to the Chief” to be played whenever a president enters a room. Every president has recited the same words when taking the Oath of Office.

Here are 10 interesting facts about our Canadian Prime Ministers.

·         Charles Tupper was the oldest prime minister (74 years old) and Joe Clark was the youngest prime minister (39 years old).

·         William Lyon Mackenzie King is the longest serving prime minister in Canadian history and in the history of the Commonwealth.

·         Most of Canada’s prime ministers have been lawyers, Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper being the most recent exceptions.

·         Quebec is the province where the largest number of Canada’s prime ministers have come from (8 of 23). Yet, only nine prime ministers have been bilingual (If you are counting, you should know that Diefenbaker is not counted as being bilingual).

·         Louis St. Laurent was the first prime minister to be heavily covered on television.

·         Brian Mulroney won the largest electoral majority of any Canadian prime minister in the landslide of 1984.

·         Sir John Abbott was the first Canadian-born prime minister.

·         R.B Bennett is the only prime minister not to be buried in Canada.

·         The mansion at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa would stand for 80 years before becoming the official residence of the Prime Minister (yet, when it was built in 1868, one of its first visitors was Sir John A. Macdonald). Louis St. Laurent became the first PM to occupy the house, in 1951. Since then, every PM, except Kim Campbell, has lived in the house (Campbell lived at Harrington Lake for the summer of 1993 while the Mulroney packed – and by the time the keys were ready to be handed over, PM Campbell had lost her job).

·         Lester B Pearson gave Canada its maple leaf flag (in time for the Country’s Centennial) and Pierre Trudeau gave the country its national anthem.

 

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

John George Diefenbaker on politics and Parliament

  • I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.
  • Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.”
  • As long as there is a drop of blood in my body they won’t stop me from talking about freedom.
  • Freedom includes the right to say what others may object to and resent… The essence of citizenship is to be tolerant of strong and provocative words.
  • I am the first Prime Minister of this country of neither altogether English nor French origin. So I determined to bring about a Canadian citizenship that knew no hyphenated consideration.
  • I have one love – Canada; one purpose – Canada’s greatness; one aim – Canadian unity from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
  • The object of Confederation was not to produce Siamese twins in this nation.
  • We shall never build the nation which our potential resources make possible by dividing ourselves into Anglophones, Francophones, multiculturalphones, or whatever kind of phoneys you choose. I say: Canadians, first, last, and always!
  • I believe there must not be, as has been developing in this nation, first and second class citizens. That has been the trend as a result of all the discussion about associated states and a nation within a nation.
  • I am the first prime minister of this country of neither altogether English or French origin. So I determined to bring about a Canadian citizenship that knew no hyphenated consideration….I’m very happy to be able to say that in the House of Commons today in my party we have members of Italian, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Chinese and Ukrainian origin — and they are all Canadians.
  • I am not anti-American. But I am strongly pro-Canadian.
  • We shall be Canadians first, foremost, and always, and our policies will be decided in Canada and not dictated by any other country.
  • Some say to me: ‘History? What does it mean? What are you concerned about the past for?’ And my answer to that is a simple one – he who does not know the past can never understand the present, and he certainly can do nothing for the future.
  • There can be no dedication to Canada’s future without a knowledge of its past.
  • Macdonald is as vital a personality today, as if he were alive. He has been able to transmit his natural vision for this country to all Canadian leaders who followed him, regardless of their party.
  • I have always been a House of Commons man.
  • Governments propose, and oppositions dispose.
  • The duty of the Opposition is to turn out the government.
  • Our paramount consideration as members of the opposition must be to refrain from obstructive criticism and fearlessly to offer constructive criticism.
  • Without an Opposition, it is not too much to say, the parliamentary system of government would fail in its primary task of protecting the rights of individuals and minorities, and of ensuring freedom and democracy.
  • Oppositions cleanse and purify those in office and we in the opposition are in fact the “detergents of democracy.”
  • Parliament is more than procedure – it is the custodian of the nation’s freedom.
  • A question which can be answered without prejudice to the government is not a fit question to ask.
  • Parliament is a place where gentlemen meet and what passed between them is not made public.
  • The quality of debate in the House is deplorable. You watch today and count how many read from prepared texts.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

 

If you were Prime Minister…

I asked my friend’s little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be Prime Minister of Canada some day.

Both of her parents, NDP supporters, were standing there, so I asked her, “If you were Prime Minister what would be the first thing you would do?”

She replied, “I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.” Her parents beamed, and said, “Welcome to the NDP Party!”

“Wow…what a worthy goal!” I told her. I continued, “But you don’t have to wait until you’re Prime Minister to do that. You can come over to my house, mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out. You can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.”

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?”

I smiled and said, “Welcome to the Conservative Party.”

Her parents still aren’t speaking to me.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com