Canadians should recognize Kosovo

In light of the recent savagery committed by Serbs in their own streets, Canadians should recognize Kosovo independence and tell Russian politicians to go to hell. The Russian ambassador to Canada has the unmitigated gall to give the following insulting advice:

“We are both federal states and when you live in glasshouse you don’t throw stones.“

Yes, Mr. Ambassador, but Canadians do not torch embassies nor do they poison their political opponents. Canada is a “federation” but Canadians are different from Russians and Serbs. [I wonder if the Russian ambassador considers a bayonnet and a butter knife as being the same too, hmm???]

If Canadians want to maintain any semblance of being part of a civilized nation, they will distance themselves from the bullying arrogant rhetoric of Russian statesmen.  Canadians will align themselves with other civilized people who did not hesitate to recognize the obvious: Kosovo independence.

Ontario Public Teachers’ Unions: Bringing Stupid To Ontario!

I’m told that at a time long, long ago, Ontario’s curriculum was actually the envy of the world. We were a province which always outperformed the Englands, Japans, and definately the United States of the world. Today, the results are far more mixed. Strangely enough, today’s crisis in education lies at the feet of all three provincial parties: the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals and the New Democrats. Education is one of those issues though where the real blame, like that of municipal government mismanagement, lies with the unions involved. In this case, the culprits of the OSSTF, OECTA, ETFA and their ilk have constructed a system that today serves the union bigwigs more than it does the teachers in the classroom and especially the students. I’ve (thankfully) been outside of the government education system for over five years now but I still have memories going back to the early days of school when union policies either tried to abuse my trust (my grade 3 teacher had us sign a petition to the school board asking the trustees to give the teachers a better raise), indoctrinate me (grade 9’s “religion” class dealt with “moral issues” as the teacher put it like why the Harris government’s Bill 160 was socially unjust) or simply deny me the education that I kept hearing from these unions that I deserved (pretty much the entire experience aside from an outstanding teacher here and there). We now see our students regularly out-performed by upper-crust areas like New Jersey, Eastern Europe and poorer parts of Asia. I know first hand how our current education system fails students, having attended government schools for 15 of the last 25 years and seeing many fellow students’s potential being squashed by union interests.

Meanwhile, I have a few friends in teachers colleges across the province who have reported back that specific unions have come into their classes to tell them the names of Liberal candidates in the local areas that they were expected to vote for “if you want a job after school” or how there are now classes dedicated to teaching how great a man Pierre Trudeau was (even if he were a great man, a controversial statement in itself, should we not teach the students to judge history for themselves?). As they say, your tax dollars at work.

I found this video on YouTube today that brought me back to these issues and reminded me of just how intellectually bankrupt our system is, and ethically destitute the unions which brought it about are. The United States has many good things, and many bad but one constant in the latter category has been its education system which has been a point of grief in that country since at least the time of the civil rights movement. Watching the video, it really depressed me to notice how much of the show could be cast in Ontario these days — particularly the part around the 22 minute mark. John Stossel is a personal favourite, and 20/20 (like all TV investigative journalism shows) should be watched with caution but aside from the fact that the network has a vested interest in not being sued for slander, Stossel makes his best point at the end of the show: a hope that this sparks a debate.

Did We Really Expect Anything Different From the Multicult Experiment?

My colleague Shane has started the first post here on the black school that was approved by the Toronto District School Board this month, and while I still need to do an abortion post as well as a few others I’ve been planning for months, I couldn’t help but jump into the fray of this issue.

Basically, Shane is right that this is the beginning of something. We have crossed the line of officially recognizing the isolationist mentality that we have been acting upon for the past 40 years. Let’s not kid ourselves though, this school, John Tory’s ill-fated campaign promise, and everything that is yet to come should’ve been seen coming from a mile away. In fact, most of us still smugly endorse the culture that is allowing this transformation to take place. You see, unlike the Americans who now have 230 years of generally open immigration experience (and whose one exception happens to be the black slave case), Canada’s current model has only been going for a few decades and it is something that most Canadians like to think makes us superior to our souther neighbours.

Instead of a melting pot, we like to think our society is multicultural, where you can bring not only the food, dress, music, and language from back home but also the racism, ills, cultural norms and other attributes that most of us would personally find undesirable. When a family from the Middle East punishes their daughter harshly for not wearing a hijab, as a Mississauga father did in killing his daughter over the issue, we always see the culprits at the CBC, Libblogs and the general bleeding hearts quickly run in to caution us that it is we, the ones who have been assimilated into what used to be Canadian culture, who need to adopt sensitivity, not the individual(s) who came here to seek the better life/wealth that our culture had a large part in creating! By letting different ethnic groups go about their business, just not around my family though if you please, these newcomers who include many individuals who want to escape the ills they left behind and become truly Canadian, are marginalized. Unlike the Americans or Japanese (to name a couple), we don’t create a systematic incentive so strong that one cannot help but learn passable English within a year of landing here (I should know; my neighbours two doors down don’t speak enough English to understand me saying “hello”, but live off of the welfare program all day in their new dwelling). Nor do we create any other incentive that will make people stop saying that they’re Indian, African or Dutch, but rather that they’re just Canadian!

I know some of the people who are up in arms over this post already wouldn’t like me quoting from our Lord, but He had some pretty wise things to say that apply to all of society, not just Christians. The one that comes to mind is that “a house divided will surly fall.” As North York becomes the newest member state of the African Union, and Islam prepares to move Mississauga into a vassel dar al-Islam, we might want to step back for a moment and consider that for a bit, and maybe explore whether we’re paying a higher price to get sushi at the mall than we have to…or than we can afford!

The Road to A Harper Majority…

…is paved with the extortion attempts of Natives. Well, not like the majority highway that the Prime Minister is currently paving in Quebec, but consider this: a Liberal Premier is currently allowing a lot of terrorist Natives to run amok in Caledonia, the Conservative government in Ottawa is refusing to break bread with this group and now the Natives are threatening every community along the Grand River — many of which are part of swing ridings in south-western Ontario. Out of these ridings, Kitchener-Waterloo, Kitchener Centre, Brant and Guelph are all held by Liberal MPs and the latter three were all won within reasonably close margins (Kitchener-Waterloo is a distinct beast which likes to stick with an incumbent). Four ridings, 1.3% of our national seats total, could make all the difference if Stephen Harper is able to pick up another 20 seats in Quebec as many speculate he will do; in fact, it could turn a strong minority into a razor-thin majority. The Natives, in their quest to get their way, might consider this before they attempt to extort money and illegitimate taxes out of the half-a-million residents who live along the Grand River.

I’m sorry that they feel that their people got a raw deal from Confederation and in a perfect world, yes, the treaties negotiated over a hundred years ago (and gifts for that matter) were done in bad faith, but a Native today has no more right to rule over this land than an immigrant, a native-born Euro-Canadian or anyone else for that matter. Canada is a U.N.-recognized, politically sovereign entity which calls the shots in its territory. In all fairness, what have any of these mobsters or terrorists now crying crocodile tears done to deserve the very generous tax exemptions, government programs and hand-outs that they get besides winning the genetic lottery? Have all of those perks been considered by these people or should we subtract all of the tax money behind them from the total we are to pay this band for the Grand River territory (IF we even owe it to them post-negotiations!), because it might just turn out that the Natives owe us a nice big fat cheque along with the apology!

Why Emery Has To Go…

A lot of secular libertarians are talking up a storm this month since decisions are coming down the line now on whether a B.C. businessman, Marc Emery, should be extradited to the United States at that country’s request to face charges over selling marijuana seeds through the internet to U.S. customers. The libers are taking exception to this mainly over the fact that they don’t think that narcotics should be controlled substances, but at least some of them have been making decent attempts to justify their stance outside of just saying *it’s the right thing to do*. (note to all John Tory supporters: take a clue here!)

Among the more reasonable explanations that I’ve been offered are that if the roles were reversed, the U.S. would be laughing right through the primaries at the thought of turning one of its citizens over to a foreign nation to face a criminal charge that it is not willing to make itself, and that Emery is just being used as an example; there are many B.C.-based websites that offer the same service that Emery has, but the U.S. law enforcement agencies aren’t even recognizing their existence.

There are problems though, even with these justifications. First, while it’s true that the U.S. would be more keen on keeping its own safe, I seem to recall many examples wherein the country is willing to extradite American citizens to Europe, or Canada to face charges such as fraud, murder or theft; if I’m not mistaken, many of the recent business scandals that have been recently rocking the U.S. financial world involve execs in just this situation. Irregardless, two wrongs wouldn’t make a right; everyone, including Emery, agrees that he willingly provoked the States and is now facing the consequences. Canadian law is quite reasonable in this case, giving discretion to the Minister of Justice, Rob Nicholson, who has the ability to veto a citizen’s transfer to a foreign country to face charges if he feels that there is the potential that that individual’s basic rights (to a fair trial, to life…) would be violated or that the crime stated is unreasonable (eg. if you are a woman charged with walking down the street sans a male escort). This allows our nation’s officials to get a glance at the situation and make a judgment call. As for why Emery is being singled out, I understand that he’s particularly provocative and even if he isn’t the biggest or more dangerous seed seller out there, it’s the U.S. government’s freedom to decide who and who they will not contact Canada about wishing to prosecute.

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With all of that aside though, let us remember one thing here. Marc Emery knowingly conducted business in the United States. As unfair as it may seem to someone like me, when a site like Pandora, is told that it is not authorized to allow its service into Canada by the music industry, it has to comply lest it is in contempt of the law. Likewise, the U.S. is a playground with different but very specific rules regarding drugs: zero tolerance. Emery does not have an entitlement to sell his product wherever he pleases; whenever he enters a different jurisdiction, be it Vancouver, Saskatchewan, or Chile, he must respect the rule of law as it pertains to that area. I have very little sympathy for the man as he seems to have set up his business in a blatant attempt to fudge the rules, or at least side-step them; if a perfectly legitimate business did this, we would call that evasion and an investigation would follow.

Marc Emery will certainly face a steep sentence if he is convicted in the States, make no doubt about it. However, he knew the risks going into the situation and figuratively thumbed his nose at America’s right to authority as he did so. To cry foul now that the tables are turned is to completely disregard every step he’s taken up until now!

Give & Take

First off, Merry Christmas to all the readers of ThePolitic who visit here frequently. I hope that you and your families get to enjoy the Christmas holidays and are blessed with the knowledge that true peace is achievable through Him that was born when he didn’t need to be, and died that death would not be the end.

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Now that we’ve all settled into winter here in Canada and the Bali Summit is complete, the focus is starting to turn to the mission in Afghanistan. It struck me yesterday in my travels during the Boxing Day trials that these two political theatres have an interesting correlation that everyone on the Left, the Right and in between should heed:

In the environment sphere, the Left tells us that despite the fact that the U.S., China, and India (the global leaders in CO2 emissions and real pollutants) have, to date, not signed onto any treaty that would limit their emissions Canada should step up to the plate and do more than our fair share in reducing these emissions so as to at least reduce the alleged damage that would occur due to CO2 build-up in the atmosphere.

In the global security sphere, the Right is telling us that despite the fact that Great Britain, Germany, and Italy (the other coalition partners that are part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan) aren’t contributing their fair share in the heavy-fighting reasons in southern Afghanistan that Canada should step up to the plate and finish the job no one else is willing to in Afghanistan so as to at least bring stability to the Afghan people.

It’s an interesting comparison especially when you factor in the rebukes to each respective argument. While I would argue that the Afghan mission has more success, both initiatives are only tentative and not guaranteed to bring on a better world and both are costing our economy money that opponents would be better spent.

The only consideration that I believe we should be factoring into these issues as we consider how to move forward on them is that in both cases the other countries of the world are either too lazy or too hypocritical to engage in the endevours themselves, so whether it is fighting the Taliban in the mountains of Asia or car emissions on the 400, we shouldn’t be looking to the international community for either guidance or support. Rather, our policies should be based on a clearly thought out vision that is prudent and ultimately promotes Canadian values and growth. Consider this when both issues come up in next year’s almost-certain election when all four party leaders pitch their vision (or lack thereof) of why we should hitch our coach to their particular wagon!

The Poppy is Offensive - BAN IT!

Hat tip to the magical small dead animal - Judge bans the poppy from her courtroom.

“However much you may think that’s a totally acceptable symbol, and that is totally neutral, that might not be entirely the case for everybody who comes to court,” Woolcott told the Waterloo regional police officer.

You must not wear the poppy.  The poppy represents the remembrance of sacrifice.  That sacrifice was for freedom.  Some people in Canada do not like freedom.  In fact, they oppose it.  We, as a free society, do not wish to offend anyone - especially those who oppose freedom.  We must not wear flowers representing freedom in their presence.

Lest they be offended.

Catchy.

The Birth of Democratism

*

Ideology is substitute religion, a belief system based on ideas that are often contradicted by history and common sense. Yet men will adhere to ideologies with a zealotry that borders on fanaticism.

Marxism, fascism and socialism were are ideologies, gods that failed. So, too, is democratism, the Gospel of George W. Bush.

Democratism is a belief that all men are equally endowed with a desire for freedom and an aptitude for democracy. All can be uplifted, and all brought to see that democracy is the one true path to peace in our world. In democracy lies our salvation.

Let’s Fight About Something Else: Toronto Maple Leaf Fanboys

Just read in a comment thread over at sportsnet.ca:

Matty, Nikky, and Steener are playing the best hockey of their careers in training camp. Matty and Steener have been battling for ice time especially on the power play, with the likes of Welly, Tucker, Poni, and now Jason Blake, and I think Matt and Alex have become better hockey players because of it. With Welly out for at least a month, they now have their oppurtunity to get second-line duty, and extra pp and pk ice time. As for Tucker, he has to be watching his back with guys like Matty and Steener playing outstanding right now.

That’s just an embarrassment. Dude, you are NOT in the Leaf locker room! You are NOT on the team! Leave the lame, unimaginative nicknames for teammates who have been concussed 5 too many times to actually think of something original.

Besides. The Leafs suck. Luongo is taking the Canucks all the way to the finals. Sorry.

Could this be the beginning of something more?

Harper’s wooing of Quebec could do wonders for provincial rights; in some quarters,  better described as provincial accountability for their own jurisdictions and raising the monies to service them.

If Harper now hopes to satisfy Quebec, provincial officials suggest he might agree to the province’s long-standing contention that it should be able to opt out of national cost-shared programs and still get its share of federal booty with no strings attached. He might also agree to extend any limitations to federal-only programs.

Such measures would provoke concern in some quarters, especially among Liberals, that Harper is weakening the national fabric, ending the possibility of creating new coast-to-coast social programs with national standards. And it could hand Dion, who is intimately familiar with the file, an issue upon which to finally define his shaky leadership.

Still, some provincial officials suggest any backlash will be muted by the fact that Harper won’t be enshrining the new limitations in the Constitution. A federal law can be changed by future governments, administrative agreements eventually expire, policy statements can be ignored.

“It seems all esoteric to me,” says one provincial official. “Unless they’re talking about amending the Constitution and have the votes to do it, it seems like all sound and fury.”

I say, roll back the federal government!

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