One of the first things Trudeau did as Prime Minister was break the top-line platform promise that got him elected - he promised Canadians that the 2015 federal election would be the last one under the first past the post system. So I'd say from the standpoint of democracy, he had an absolutely horrible start.
Of course he went on to reap the benefits of the imbalanced first past the post system for two subsequent federal elections, one of which he called unnecessarily during the pandemic in order to consolidate power for his party.
I think him and his party have been vaporware since day one.
The House partisan gamesmanship needs to be ignored if we're going to be serious about national security and sovereignty. Canadians deserve to know if their member of Parliament wittingly aided a foreign interference operation. We need to know right now. The notion that an election could occur while undisclosed traitors are on the ballot? This would be catastrophic.
There are absolutely no excuses for the current government's horrific file on foreign interference:
Not already having a foreign agent registry in place
Not acting on the NSICOP report immediately
Attempting to discredit the NSICOP report
Voting against transparency and accountability on this issue at every opportunity
Threatening a sequel to the 'Special Rapporteur' circus by suggesting that an 'internal review' will somehow be satisfactory
Failing to say something even as simple as 'Members compromised by a foreign power should be removed from Parliament'.
There's no good reason for any of it, and their inaction is an open invitation to China, India, and others for further interference.
It's impossible to agree with Minister LeBlanc. Canadians cannot have confidence that police can investigate and lay charges when warranted. The NSICOP report details how our system is configured in such a way as to make that difficult or impossible.
I don't blame anyone for wanting to know the information about this up-front. We would absolutely not be here talking about this issue, with pdf copies of a detailed, public NSICOP report if not for a whistleblower who acted well outside the established channels to alert Canadians to institutional inaction on foreign interference. The NSICOP report actually admits as much.
The established system is not functioning as it should, and the current government has shown not only limited interest, but active unwillingness to do what's right when it comes to foreign interference. Knowing these things, and then being scolded to "Wait for the system to work as intended", is brutal. We don't have reason to believe that the system will actually work as intended. The current government is to blame for allowing this erosion of trust, and if they're tired of hearing "tell us the names", they shouldn't have sat on intelligence advice for 6 years. This situation would be playing out completely differently if the current government had even a slightly positive track record on dealing with foreign interference.
We deserve to live in a society where MPs who wittingly take part in the subversion of Canadian democracy can expect to be promptly imprisoned. Instead, we live in a society where it's not unthinkable that nothing further will happen or be disclosed about this issue.
Agreed - "do something" is the way forward here. That said, every day the Liberals take heat on their inaction on foreign interference, the profile of the issue rises. And I think in the big picture, that's good for Canadian democracy. Hopefully it leads parties to take stronger and more detailed stances in their platforms for combating election interference. But there I go wishing again...
Like everyone else, I too am baffled that security clearance is the hill that Poilievre is willing die on. Makes him look like just another House pugilist who is dug in on a stance and deaf to context and reason.
FWIW, I think the NDP has had consistently reasonable and principled stances on this issue since the CSIS leak. I like the cut of their jib on this. So, I think there's good reason to believe that they'd be doing far better on this file than the Liberals. I understand the "every party sucks" mentality, but I don't actually think it's true in this circumstance.
A new parliamentary report paints a stark picture of foreign interference in Canadian politics, characterizing the government's response as a 'serious failure' that could impact the country for years to come....
This is insanity. Any MP who is proven to have aided a foreign actor in interference operations needs to be removed from Parliament immediately, and prosecuted.
Premier Doug Ford's push to get beer and wine into convenience stores ahead of schedule will cost Ontario taxpayers at least $225 million, but there's evidence the full price tag actually adds up to hundreds of millions more....
The claim that 'the people who killed Nijjar were too young to be state actors' is fallacious to begin with. It's even more tenuous in light of everything else that's known about the murder.
It goes without saying that there's no reason to give any weight to India's denial of involvement. That's all that really needs to be said about that.
Canada expelled an Indian diplomat. There's no reason to do that if India wasn't involved. There's no reason for India not to cooperate with investigations if they're not involved. We know that Five Eyes intelligence exists that makes a connection between the assassination and the Indian government. The intelligence itself hasn't been disclosed (and never will be - sources & methods, etc). So, waiting for that kind of disclosure before forming an opinion on this is folly at best.
The current Canadian government is horribly weak on matters of foreign interference, so if they've been mealymouthed regarding this assassination, I don't think that casts doubt on India's involvement. If anything, it's a suggestion of the opposite.
Given the degraded state of Canada's current foreign policy, it's expected that they would tiptoe around confirming a direct link between India and the assassination, and may choose to never confirm it. That doesn't mean we should infer that a link doesn't exist.
With all that in mind, I don't see any reason to conclude that India wasn't involved.
Fair - all I'm saying is, given what we know, it's not a situation of India's involvement being equally likely and unlikely. It's likely, and there are good reasons to believe it to be the case, and no good reasons to doubt it. So I think making a point of saying that it's unproven is nitpicking and doesn't accurately reflect the facts of the matter.
In September, the Canadian prime minister told lawmakers that “agents of the government of India” had been linked to Mr. Nijjar’s killing on Canadian soil
Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result ( www.cbc.ca )
Liberals refuse to say if current Cabinet ministers named in foreign interference report | Watch News Videos Online ( globalnews.ca )
Some MPs helping foreign actors like China and India meddle in Canadian politics: report ( www.cbc.ca )
A new parliamentary report paints a stark picture of foreign interference in Canadian politics, characterizing the government's response as a 'serious failure' that could impact the country for years to come....
Doug Ford's change to booze sales could cost far more than $225M ( www.cbc.ca )
Premier Doug Ford's push to get beer and wine into convenience stores ahead of schedule will cost Ontario taxpayers at least $225 million, but there's evidence the full price tag actually adds up to hundreds of millions more....
Fourth man arrested and charged in killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar ( www.cbc.ca )
Fort McMurray residents told to be ready to evacuate on short notice due to wildfire threat ( www.cbc.ca )
Here we go again. Good luck and stay safe McMurray.
Tim Hortons Is Brewing an Idea of Canada That No Longer Exists. ( thewalrus.ca )
Grocery giants paid for friendly Liberal, Tory policy with decades of donations ( breachmedia.ca )
Small grocers, co-ops receiving boost from Loblaw boycott: ‘A lot of anger’ ( globalnews.ca )
Canadians’ wages took major hit in 2022 amid high inflation rates: StatCan ( globalnews.ca )