The buck stops here, the wheels on the bus go round and round, etc.
This makes me very, very happy, and alleviates a nagging concern I (and perhaps others) had had:
What is that? It’s leadership. And therefore good.
Forgive my paranoia, but…you know.
The Supremes strike the right note on speech
They were expected to toss out the hurt feelings stuff, and they did.
They were also expected (by sane people) to preserve non-criminal prohibitions against actual hate, and they did that too:
“Hate speech is an effort to marginalize individuals based on their membership in a group.
Using expression that exposes the group to hatred, hate speech seeks to delegitimize group members in the eyes of the majority, reducing their social standing and acceptance within society. Hate speech, therefore, rises beyond causing distress to individual group members. It can have a societal impact. Hate speech lays the groundwork for later, broad attacks on vulnerable groups that can range from discrimination, to ostracism, segregation, deportation, violence and, in the most extreme cases, to genocide.
Hate speech also impacts on a protected group’s ability to respond to the substantive ideas under debate, thereby placing a serious barrier to their full participation in our democracy.”
Good balance, good decision. A uniquely Canadian compromise. Bravo, Supremes.
In Tuesday’s Sun: I’d like to see Trudeau beat Kenney into the canvas, personally
Can anyone figure out why Jason Kenney is so obsessed with Justin Trudeau?
It can’t be that Kenney isn’t busy. After all, he’s supposedly a super-duper powerful cabinet minister, and he should theoretically be quite preoccupied with running Canada and whatnot.
But there the immigration minister was again last week, taking time away from his duties to excoriate the Montreal Liberal MP, who he clearly detests.
This time, Kenney attacked Trudeau giving paid speeches outside the House of Commons. “I think it’s really strange,” said Kenney, who would know. “He has apparently missed a number of votes in the House.”
Gadzooks! Missed votes?
Shocking as it may sound, so have members of Kenney’s Conservative caucus. In fact, the top 10 MPs with the worst attendance records in the House of Commons last year were New Democrats and Conservatives. Not a single Liberal MP is on the list, however. Funny, that.
But Kenney wasn’t finished with his arch-nemesis, who is arguably richer, smarter and better looking than he is.
“Mr. Trudeau,” Kenney said, “is not in touch with the values or the real issues that face ordinary Canadians. I don’t really know what his background is. I don’t think he’s ever run anything.”
This was an odd remark for the Calgary Conservative to make, too. Before he became a Member of Parliament , Kenney was the mouthpiece for a far-right tax lobby, and as far as we know he wasn’t ever called upon to meet a payroll. He hasn’t ever run a company.
Moreover, Kenney’s “values” — he raised values, not us — were always a bit, well, weird. When he arrived on the Hill, for instance, he bragged about being a 40-year-old virgin, and said he was saving himself for marriage. He still isn’t married and, as far as anyone knows, is still a virgin.
Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, has a drop-dead gorgeous wife, and two kids straight out of central casting. He has the looks of a Kennedy-esque matinee idol, while Kenney recalls a younger, swarthier version of Richard Nixon.
Anticipating the day he and Trudeau lead their respective parties, perhaps the values stuff makes Kenney nervous. Perhaps it should.
But the thing that really, really bugs Jason Kenney about Justin Trudeau clearly is this: People are prepared to pay the Liberal lots of money to hear him speak. Jason, not so much.
Where Justin can command tens of thousands of dollars for a single speech, Jason has never been so lucky. To get better known, then, Jason has been obliged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars — taxpayer dollars — to promote himself. Thus, we learned last year, Kenney authorized the expenditure of $750,000 to track what was being said about him in the so-called ethnic media. (Wonder what his taxpayer lobby group would say about that? You should.)
Asking if Jason Kenney fears Justin Trudeau is rhetorical. He does; he should. On the day these two face off in a federal campaign — coming soon, perhaps — the smart money is on the telegenic Montreal boxer wiping the floor with the plump, 40-something virgin from Calgary.
And that is why Jason is so preoccupied these days with Justin. He saw what Trudeau did to his Conservative pal Patrick Brazeau, and he doesn’t want it to happen to him.
Good luck with that.
George Takach
Smart decision. Others should follow his lead.
Garneau vs. Trudeau: he could’ve been a contender
To wit:
“Marc Garneau is challenging Justin Trudeau to a one-on-one debate.
There are three problems with this:
1. It’s arrogant. It assumes (wrongly) that there are only two credible candidates in the race. Murray and Cauchon would likely feel otherwise.
2. It’s desperate. It’s what also-rans always do when they sense the end is near: they demand a match with the top dog. It’s grasping at straws. It never works.
3. It breaks the rules. They are leadership candidates, in a leadership race, with leadership rules – and lots of leadership debates. Garneau is losing, badly, so he’s started complaining about something that he never complained about before.
With the greatest of respect, I reiterate: this move is arrogant, it’s desperate, and it’s against the rules that everyone agreed to at the start.
Including Garneau.
Why won’t Jason Kenney protect Hungary’s Jews and Roma?
The lawyer to the damned
Now that it’s public, I suppose I can comment on Douglas H. Christie’s newest challenge. Having written an entire chapter about him in Web of Hate, I certainly know enough about him.
Over nearly three decades, I’ve faced off against him in court, and I’ve written about him extensively as a journalist. But he still remains a mystery to me.
In his faith, and mine, you don’t speak ill of the dead or the dying. So I won’t.
I’ll simply say nothing.
I’d say George Takach owes a few people a few apologies
Kingston politician to residents: I dont care what you think
Check this Kevin George guy out: he doesn’t like the results of that poll showing 60 per cent of Kingston voters oppose (most of them strongly) a casino. So he says the poll is wrong and, besides, council has decided the matter, and that’s that.