blackbird

I am not speaking about Iran. I know of course they do not have democracy or freedom speech in those kind of countries. I was referring to Canada where we still have a certain degree of freedom of speech and must defend it.

The way to respond to those things in a democracy is to use reasoning why it should not be done. Debate and discussion is how we operate in a democratic country. That's why it is a dangerous path to try to silence people as some liberals and left want to do.

One of the problems is what does the word Islamophobia actually mean? If it means one disagrees with the Islamic religion, the Quran, and Sharia Law, I guess many of us would be described as Islamophobic. That's why the it was a poor choice to use that word and make it the centerpiece of policy by the Liberal government.

I agree. Well said. Those are real reasons why she should not be appointed.

Don't forget people still have the right to freedom of expression in Canada. We used to see Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons coming to the door to try to get converts or spread their message. That is part of freedom of expression and freedom of religion which is a fundamental right in Canada. Nobody is having a religion "imposed" on them by people handing out tracts or trying to talk to people. You have the freedom to decline to discuss anything with them. Freedom of expression is all about having the freedom to speak your beliefs, whether true or false. We do that in the political realm all the time. People do that in their social circles constantly. That is what life is all about. You are free to believe what someone else says or not believe it. But we don't try to silence other people from speaking on certain topics if that is their desire. That is what they do in totalitarian states or dictatorships. We don't do that here because that would be a violation of basic freedoms. We cannot interpret people speaking their truth or belief as "imposing". That looks like trying to stop people from speaking. The only exception to this principle would be people in positions of authority should not be using their positions to impose their religion on people who must deal with them as in the debate over bill C21 in the Quebec secularism law. That is why I agree with the law. I would view wearing religious symbols when you are in a position of authority, such as a school teacher, as imposing some religion on the students and should not be allowed.

The way I interpret Trudeaus' appointment is to oppose or discourage hatred of Muslims and oppose any form of violence or hateful behavior. I think that is fair enough because there have been a number of hateful terrorist attacks and a number of hateful actions against Muslims and their places of worship. So it is reasonable to discourage that behavior. I don't see it as meaning one must accept Islamic beliefs or the Quran. But they should have the freedom to practice their religion peacefully just as anyone else in a free country.

I would always defend your right to do that. Jesus said to turn the other cheek in such cases.

As I predicted, the teen age girls who attacked a teenage girl in Surrey are not facing jail time so far. "SURREY, B.C. - A teenager who took part in the swarming of a 15-year-old girl in Surrey last year will not serve any jail time. Instead, the young offender, whose identity is protected by the courts, was given an 18-month conditional discharge after earlier pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm. She must abide by a series of conditions including taking part in an intensive support and supervision program and volunteering. Last May, a group of teenage girls swarmed the victim. She was kicked and punched as other teens looked on." Surrey swarming attack: No jail time for teen offender | CTV News This is one of the endless farcical court decisions in Canada. There is no justice under the Liberal-NDP government in Ottawa. In another swarming attack in Ontario, a 59 year old man was killed. We have yet to see what the punishments will be for this crime. I am not holding my breath. 8 teenage girls in Toronto killed a man in a swarming attack. What is it? (dailyo.in)

If Canada had been smart, they would have combined the coast guard and navy. It would have made a lot of sense because we need both on our coasts and would save billions of dollars.

"Canada needs an Arctic defence strategy as Russia, China eye the north" COMMENTARY: Canada needs an Arctic defence strategy as Russia, China eye the north - National | Globalnews.ca

In case you haven't figured it out yet, that's exactly how politics works if you want to win an election. People vote for the party that can best expose the other party. Its called politics. Conservatives point out the legitimate failures of the Trudeau government. Of course it requires criticizing them because those are the facts and only facts that people listen to.

They're definitely not fit for a northern country like Canada. They appear very fragile and junky. They would not be able to withstand the Arctic for one thing. A vessel in the Arctic must be capable of breaking through heavy ice. These would not fit that category. Guess the never thought of that when they bought them. They were purchased just to be able to say we have some subs. Useless.

"All four of Canada's submarines were tied up last year for repairs and maintenance — news that has the opposition Conservatives questioning whether the Liberal government can keep the second-hand fleet afloat for another two decades.' Canada's submarine fleet spent 'zero days' at sea last year: government documents | CBC News What use are submarines if they are tied up for repairs and maintenance much of the time? Canada had no submarines available for a full year. They even look untrustworthy and like pieces of junk.

To operate in the Arctic a vessel must be very reliable, have a special hull to withstand hitting large chunks of ice. I doubt the old submarines Canada bought are capable of that.

They can't be deployed there because they are poor quality and the Arctic is a remote, rugged place. Artic vessels must be capable of withstanding being hit by large ice blocks. Of course. Canada has three large coastlines to defend and the best defence against a submarine is another submarine.

That's not correct. America is our ally and has no interest in taking over Canada. We could be required to defend the Artic from a country who decided to take it over, like China or Russia. But we do have a commitment to NATO and our allies, which includes defending Europe. Because of neglect of our military, it could not be much help now.

We have liberal and left politicians whose whole purpose is to divide Canadians based on race, ethnic origin, religion and ideology as much as they can. Constant talk about diversity and inclusion, etc. are extremely powerful divisive words. talking about race repeatedly and having the CBC, CTV promote their agenda is doing nothing but cause division and distrust of politicians. Yet a large percentage of voters continue to support them and vote for them. This might be just one big reason why this country might not survive in its present form.

Yet another issue just raised its ugly head in the health care system. Global BCTV News just reported doctors are spending a huge about of time on paperwork and miscellaneous duties. This is cutting into the number of patients they can serve. Paperwork is a cornerstone of bureaucracy plus computer work for everything. You couple that with endless procedures and regulations and you have a recipe for disaster. I believe that is one of the major problems with the public health care system. Nobody is even talking about the bureaucracy, administration, and paperwork and computer work associated with everything they do. This may be one of main reasons why the health care system is struggling to keep afloat. Another thing about public systems is it is heavily controlled by bureaucrats from the top down. Nobody can innovate or do anything to speed things up because they will run afoul of the delegated way of doing things. These problems are likely next to impossible to change in any significant way because they are deeply entrenched in the system. People should know the NDP and liberals do not understand these things. The government has increased the federal civil service by 25% since 2015 when they came into power. Bureaucracy is big government and that is what they believe in. So don't expect things to change. More money will be spent but I will be surprised to see significant changes in the way the system operates. I have not heard of anything that is going to solve the problem of over a million people not having their own doctor in B.C. for example. One would think with the years that this problem continued to grow, they would have seen this coming and done things to avoid it. But the fact they did not stop it from happening is a sign that politicians do not have the answers and since they control the system, how is it going to change? Meanwhile the NDP is demanding that the public system be expanded and far more people hired as if that is the only problem. More bureaucracy and more money thrown at a bad system will not fix it.

How could the Canadian government be so dumb to buy four junked submarines from the British? "'I'm appalled we've done a dumb deal with an ally like this.'—Mike Hancock, British MP "My God, it's a sad tale, isn't it? 'Buyer beware' should have been painted on the sides of these submarines." Hancock, a member of Britain's coalition government, has tabled questions in the Westminster Parliament about the deal. He told CBC News he is asking "why we sold them to you knowing there were intrinsic problems in the submarines." "It's either incompetence on behalf of the Canadians, or sheer, smooth-talking salesmen from the MOD [Ministry of Defence] here in Britain," he added. Canada paid $750 million for four used Victoria-class Royal Navy submarines in 1998. They had been decommissioned in 1993 when the U.K. decided to focus solely on nuclear subs. The subs had been based in Hancock's Portsmouth riding. Canada renamed them: HMCS Chicoutimi. HMCS Corner Brook. HMCS Windsor. HMCS Victoria. Since then, the navy has spent billions of dollars trying to get them in fighting shape." Used subs a 'daft' deal for Canada, U.K. MP says | CBC News We should not forget what a disaster the Canadian military equipment purchasing system. We needed a major change long ago but it doesn't look like it happened. The F35 fiasco that dragged on for years is another example of the mismanagement by the government.

Do you believe the federal and provincial governments will be able to fix our broken health care system? I heard that seven million people are without a family doctor in Canada. It is obvious band aid solutions will not fix that problem. We still have people like the NDP fighting against allowing private clinics from operating even though they might be able to help solve the overworked public system and the important point is people will still be covered by the government. It is not a pay for service private system. So why would the NDP oppose allowing private providers from assisting in providing services if it gets the job done and reduces waiting lists? Is the NDP more interested in ideology or fixing the system so the patients will be helped? Seems like to me they are more interested in protecting the unions in the public system rather than putting patients first. ________________________- "Can Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s 13 premiers and territorial leaders fix our health care system that decades of federal and provincial governments of all political stripes broke? Obviously it can’t all be done at once when they gather in Ottawa Feb. 7 to set the stage for a deal where the federal government will increase funding to the provinces and territories in return for conditions on that funding they will have to agree to individually. The problems go back decades. Fixing them will take years. The question is whether the agreements arrived at today will point Canadian health care in the right direction, with effective reforms. Politicians going back decades were responsible for creating the myths that Canada’s health system care is free, publicly-funded and the best in the world. In reality, our system is expensive compared to other countries around the world with comparable universal health care systems." GOLDSTEIN: Health care is broken and our governments broke it (msn.com)

"If the reports are correct that a significant number of Canada’s main battle tanks are poorly maintained and possibly inoperable, this may reflect broader problems within the Canadian Forces. The cost of maintaining battle tanks is predictable and the cost of not adequately maintaining them is foreseeable. This problem is a decade in the making and totally avoidable." Letters: Defence minister should step down over tank debacle (msn.com) This is a result of the low priority the liberals have given the military. Perhaps partly because there are many pacifists in Canada and especially in the Liberal and NDP parties. They live under the delusion that peace and diplomacy can protect a nation from aggressors. That is not how the real world is. It is a utopian dream of many liberals but it is not reality. They much prefer to support things like the U.N. and W.E.F. and send hundreds of millions of dollars to various other countries.

Canada is broken. That reason is more than enough reason to demonstrate and protest against the government. Trudeau and the liberal government should resign and allow Canada to try to get out of the mess it is in with a broken health care system, broken military, broken housing supply system, broken justice system, broken economy with the inflation and many other things.

No, I don't think that it refers specifically to them although they might be included. One Bible commentary says: "The nations which made war against Jerusalem shall be destroyed partly by the rotting away of their bodies even while they are alive (Zechariah 14:12), partly by mutual destruction(Zechariah 14:13), and partly by Judah's fighting against them (Zechariah 14:14). To express the idea of their utter destruction, all the different kinds of plagues and strokes by which nations can be destroyed are grouped together. In the first rank we have two extraordinary strokes inflicted upon them by God. Maggēphâh always denotes a plague or punishment sent by God (Exodus 9:14; Numbers 14:37; 1 Samuel 6:4)" Zechariah 14:12 Commentaries: Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. (biblehub.com) These commentaries don't say it will be nuclear war. They say it could be destruction inflicted by God against the enemies which made war against Jerusalem. Some verses in the Bible mention Gog and Magog will come down from the north to attack Israel in the future and they say this refers to Russia. Israel has had many enemies throughout history who wish to attack and destroy it. The Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and dispersed Israel around the world. Jerusalem has been the most fought over city in the world I believe all through history up to the present. Arab terrorists are killing people just today or yesterday in Jerusalem. Some of the crusades were fought over control of Jerusalem between Muslims and the Christians that travelled there from Europe. The British managed to gain control of Israel back in 1917. There are many videos on youtube about the crusades, and various battles. One reason is because Israel is God's chosen people. Much of world hates them perhaps because they sense this. Hence the holocaust.

"Zechariah 14:12 - And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." That doesn't sound like climate change, more like nuclear war.

You obviously don't know what is going on. Quebec does receive special favour in every area and has soveriegnty in the area of species at risk as well. "For example, Quebec does not participate in the development of Canada-wide policies and mechanisms for the conservation of species at risk, and as such, will not implement the proposed Pan-Canadian Approach. Quebec intends to work in complementarity with the federal government in setting priorities for the recovery of species in precarious situations, within already existing mechanisms." Overview of the Pan-Canadian approach to transforming Species at Risk conservation in Canada - Canada.ca