Of the many obstacles that have been strategically placed in the path of the voting public’s comprehension of where the parties situate themselves in the federal election campaign that’s just now heading into its final lap around the track, there’s nothing quite so peculiar as the cordon sanitaire Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been allowed to construct around any serious discussion of foreign policy. The Liberals are similarly counting on voters not to notice that what distinguishes their foreign policy is the thing that has caused the Chinese government and its network of diplomats and well-connected friends in Canada to be rather too obvious in their enthusiasm for a Liberal re-election. So enthusiastic, in fact, that they’re already coming close to violating Canadian laws intended to safeguard federal elections from foreign interference. It began on Aug. 25, when Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu, without explicitly naming him, insinuated that Erin O’Toole was placing his party’s “political interests” ahead of fruitful Canada-China relations.
David McNamara
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says anti-Semitic comments by two of his party’s candidates who resigned were “completely wrong.” “Anti-Semitism is real,” Singh said during a campaign stop in Essex, Ont. “We’re seeing a scary rise in anti-Semitism, and we are unequivocally opposed, and we’ll confront it.” The party confirmed Wednesday that Dan Osborne, the candidate for the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester, and Sidney Coles, the candidate for Toronto-St. Paul’s, ended their campaigns and “agreed to educate themselves further about anti-Semitism.” Singh said anti-Semitism has no place in his party and the candidates made the right decision to resign. “In addition, they’re talking about the importance of getting training,” Singh said. Coles, who has since deleted her Twitter account, was reported to have posted misinformation about Israel being linked to missing COVID-19 vaccines. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, a non-profit human rights organization, shared images purportedly from Coles’ account over the weekend. Coles later apologized on social media. […] “I want to offer an apology,” Osborne tweeted Sunday.
This time last week, virtually all of the major parties could have been happy with their prospects in Quebec. Buoyed by an endorsement from the popular Quebec Premier François Legault, the Conservatives were set to capture six more seats than the 10 they won in 2019. The NDP were poised to get a couple more additions to their one-member Quebec caucus. And the Liberals were set to roughly maintain the Quebec seat count they won in 2019; not great, but a rare point of light in an election that has seen Liberal support plunge elsewhere in the country. Then, something happened. Over the weekend, Polly’s projections for the Bloc Québécois seat count jumped from 22 to 38. After languishing behind the Liberals in Quebec for much of Election 44, the Bloc was suddenly leading the province’s popular vote and was in realistic contention to become the third-largest party in the 44th parliament. The weird thing about the Bloc Québécois is its ability to steal votes from across the spectrum. According to Polly, last week’s surge in Bloc support coincided with plummeting support for the Liberals, the Conservatives and even the NDP.
The packed Liberal rally in Brampton on Tuesday night was an example of Justin Trudeau’s entitlement and privilege on full display, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said Wednesday. If you haven’t seen the photos, Trudeau’s Liberals packed more than 400 people into a banquet hall with no social distancing or attempts at it. All the while, Trudeau campaigned as the leader of the only party that could end the COVID-19 pandemic. “That’s Justin Trudeau, a man who lectures you about the rules he isn’t willing to follow himself,” O’Toole said. This was the second time Trudeau has held an event in violation of Ontario’s COVID-19 regulations while claiming to follow them. The first time was two weeks ago in Mississauga when he packed a small restaurant. “If you want to end this pandemic for good, go out and vote Liberal!” Trudeau called out to the crowd packed in around him. Trudeau has criticized the work of conservative premiers across the country in handling the pandemic but when in Ontario, he doesn’t even follow the rules set out by one of those premiers — all while telling voters that a Liberal government is key to ending COVID.
At the recent English language leaders debate, Justin Trudeau made a comment about lobbing tomatoes at China. It’s not a comment he would have made if he knew how much tomatoes cost; they’ve gone up in price 20.1% since January alone. Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report in August said we paid 4.1% more for goods and services than we did a year ago. That’s just the average, of course, so some things were up by much more: gas, up 32.5%; pork, up 9.3%; furniture, up 8.7%; chicken, up 8.4%; vehicles, up 7.2%; and appliances, up 5.3%. If you have felt like life is getting more expensive, you’re right. This is the highest inflation has been since 2003 and the Trudeau government has no plans to deal with it. When last month’s inflation figures came out just as the election was getting underway, Trudeau was asked about the issue. Specifically, would he keep the Bank of Canada mandate in place that aims to keep inflation at 2% or lower, or would he let it rise like some progressive economists are suggesting should happen. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t think about monetary policy. You’ll understand that I think about families,” Trudeau famously said.
Gen. Austin Miller, the Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 2018 through July of this year, reportedly warned Democrat President Joe Biden against withdrawing all forces from Afghanistan, and he strongly pushed back against intelligence reports that said the Afghan military could hold off the Taliban for 1-3 years, indicating that they would collapse significantly faster. Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich said that Miller made the remarks during a classified Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, according to multiple sources who were present in the hearing. “According to two members present for the hearing, Gen Miller passed his recommendations through the chain of command — that the US should keep a level of troops on the ground (2500 was the number at the time) in order to maintain stability given the Taliban threat assessment,” Heinrich wrote. “Miller’s view was troops should maintain holding pattern — potentially supplemented by add’l forces from allied nations — given the threat. Miller shared no recommendation on how long forces should have stayed, making clear he didn’t know what the end timeline would be.”