.

[waldo]

Ya, well when you're confronted by the cameras and questions all day every day

of course... Harper's not! He's carefully managed/protected... not only is the media screened, the ONLY 5 QUESTIONS ALLOWED are also pre-screened!

[cybercoma]

Ya, well when you're confronted by the cameras and questions all day every day you wind up stating variations of the same message, which means you might misstate things a little.

1st to 41st is not "a little"

[On Guard for Thee]

No, he supports the regime, not necessarily the man in charge. It makes no difference to the Russians who's heading it.

That's interesting since he specifically names Assad when he confirms his support.

[cybercoma]

Harper insisted that Canada has the most generous refugee system in the world. Scott Gilmore breaks it down in Macleans, proving once again that Stephen Harper is liar.

From the article:
Measured in migrants per year, per capita, Canada ranks 24th.
Immigrants as a proportion of population, Canada ranks 49th.
Total refugees hosted last year, Canada ranked 20th.
Refugees hosted per capita, Canada isn't even in the top 30.
Refugees accepted annually, we were 15th last year. Denmark took more at 1/7th our population.
Asylum claims, Canada accepted 13,500 last year, Russia accepted 275,000.

Harper wants to sit at the big boys' table in international relations, but has completely destroyed our reputation. "Nonsense," you say? Look at our track record in the past.

More data from the article:
In 1956, we took in 37,000 Hungarians after the Soviets invaded.
In 1979, we accepted 60,000 Vietnamese in 18 months.
In 1995, 5,000 Kosovo refugees were resettled within a few weeks.

In no way, can we claim to have the "most generous refugee program in the world." We're even a shell of our former selves at the hands of Harper and his Potemkin Town of foreign policy.

[PIK]

Overall who has done more, nobody.

[ironstone]

Say what you want,but Canada is doing a hell of a lot more for Syrian refugees than most of the surrounding Muslim countries.

[eyeball]

If we'd behaved no better than our enemies we'd be supporting the Syrians, as they do, or Sudan, as they do, or Iran, as they do.

Do I really have to drag out a list of the scummier friends we've supported, as they do?

Ok.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=List+of+western+supported+dictators&rlz=1C1GIWA_enCA604CA606&oq=List+of+western+supported+dictators+&aqs=chrome..69i57.14475j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=western+supported+dictators

The lists as you can see go on and on.

Actually when you come right down to it we're probably worse than China and Russia because we're supposed to know better.

Edited September 12, 2015 by eyeball

[Canada_First]

Canada has its own unemployed, tired, poor and hungry to take care of. We don't need more freeloaders. Not our problem.

[cybercoma]

Overall who has done more, nobody.

There's a number of rankings there that show literally dozens of countries doing more.

[Big Guy]

On the latest refugee crisis from former PM Jean Chretien:

"In my travels around the globe, I am regularly asked: What has happened to Canada? What has happened to the advanced, peace-seeking, progressive country Canada once was? What has happened to the country that was a model for peace and stability in a tumultuous world? These questions evoke great sadness in me," Chrétien wrote.

"I am sad to see that in fewer than 10 years, the Harper government has tarnished almost 60 years of Canada's reputation as a builder of peace and progress."

Probably not unexpected from a previous Liberal PM. I am looking forward for a response from former PM's Clark, Mulroney and Campbell to see if this is a partisan thing or a Harper thing.

[GostHacked]

So you're just going to ignore the last half a century of CIA, MI6 (now SIS), and western military manipulation and intervention in sovereign Middle Eastern states? You're going to pretend that the West didn't arm radicals to fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan? That the West didn't pick sides in Iran, sparking off a revolution? That killing Saddam Hussein didn't create a political vacuum allowing extremists to gain power and influence? Pretending the West has absolutely no responsibility in the radicalization of the Middle East is laughably naive.

I don't think anyone wants to listen to some of the facts. I'd like to hear someone arguing that arming terrorists is a good idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen prior to and during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989. The program leaned heavily towards supporting militant Islamic groups that were favoured by neighbouring Pakistan, rather than other, less ideological Afghan resistance groups that had also been fighting the Marxist-oriented Democratic Republic of Afghanistan regime since before the Soviet intervention^{[citation needed]}. Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken;^[1] funding began with $20–$30 million per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million per year in 1987.^[2] Funding continued after 1989 as the mujahideen battled the forces of Mohammad Najibullah's PDPA during the civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992).^[3]

Many posters are taking a very simplified approach to the issue of Islamic terrorism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ایران-کنترا‎, Spanish: caso Irán-Contra), also referred to as Irangate,^[1]Contragate^[2] or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo.^[3] They hoped thereby to secure the release of several US hostages, and to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.

The scandal began as an operation to free the seven American hostages being held in Lebanon by a group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. It was planned that Israel would ship weapons to Iran, and then the United States would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of the U.S. hostages. The plan deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages.^[4][5] Large modifications to the plan were devised by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.[6

Edited September 12, 2015 by GostHacked

[cybercoma]

I don't think anyone wants to listen to some of the facts. I'd like to hear someone arguing that arming terrorists is a good idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

Many posters are taking a very simplified approach to the issue of Islamic terrorism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

It certainly does a lot to keep people employed in the military industrial complex. Arm militants then years later fight against them yourself or arm other militants against them. Rinse. Repeat.

[cybercoma]

I hope Harper doesn't fall off his bike back-pedalling so hard on Syrian refugees. After missing their targets for 2014, announcing new targets at the beginning of 2015, refusing to disclose their progress on those back in July, and now announcing a new target of 20,000 refugees after the s*** hit the fan, the Tories have announced further steps to aid Syrians.

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/dev/news-communiques/2015/09/12a.aspx?lang=eng

They will match any contributions people make to registered Canadian charities that aid Syrians up to $100 million dollars total.

I guess those Conservative supporters who think Syrians should rot in the desert have some letters to write to their party.

Edited September 12, 2015 by cybercoma

[waldo]

On the latest refugee crisis from former PM Jean Chretien:

"In my travels around the globe, I am regularly asked: What has happened to Canada? What has happened to the advanced, peace-seeking, progressive country Canada once was? What has happened to the country that was a model for peace and stability in a tumultuous world? These questions evoke great sadness in me," Chrétien wrote.

"I am sad to see that in fewer than 10 years, the Harper government has tarnished almost 60 years of Canada's reputation as a builder of peace and progress."

Probably not unexpected from a previous Liberal PM. I am looking forward for a response from former PM's Clark, Mulroney and Campbell to see if this is a partisan thing or a Harper thing.

from that Chretien 'open letter' published today in the G&M: Canada must reclaim its role as a world leader --- he does acknowledge both Mulroney and Clark: "Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark, his foreign affairs minister, took the lead in the struggle against apartheid and the movement to free Mr. Mandela. On this point, Mr. Mulroney was not afraid to stand up to Margaret Thatcher and our close ally, Britain. He rightly saw that they were wrong."

[waldo]

I hope Harper doesn't fall off his bike back-pedalling so hard on Syrian refugees. After missing their targets for 2014, announcing new targets at the beginning of 2015, refusing to disclose their progress on those back in July, and now announcing a new target of 20,000 refugees after the s*** hit the fan, the Tories have announced further steps to aid Syrians.

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/dev/news-communiques/2015/09/12a.aspx?lang=eng

They will match any contributions people make to registered Canadian charities that aid Syrians up to $100 million dollars total.

I guess those Conservative supporters who think Syrians should rot in the desert have some letters to write to their party.

just watched a sorry-state presser with Harper Conservative Minister for International Development, Christian Paradis... continued to dance around the "big announcement" Harper alluded to in recent days... continued to speak to the "3-pronged approach" --- increasing the intake of refugees from the region, supplying humanitarian aid on the ground, and offering military support to fight Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Harper's just brash enough to announce increased military participation!

in this case, of course... conditional on Canadians/charities bringing forward monies first! No direct unconditional monetary commitment made by Harper Conservatives.

Edited September 12, 2015 by waldo

[Scotty]

There's a number of rankings there that show literally dozens of countries doing more.

Only if you forget that most of those countries don't allow refugees to be citizens, and don't provide any money for them to live.

And if you forget how the numbers have been massaged. For example, he says that immigrants as a proportion of the population, Canada ranks 49th. The only way he can get that number is to base is strictly on one year, forgetting Canada has been taking huge masses of immigrants for decades, and that in our largest cities, those who immigrated now outnumber Canadian born.

[Scotty]

A cautionary tale from todays' Globe, for all you enthusiastic refugee lovers.

Sweden's Ugly Immigration Problem

Sweden’s fantasy is that if you socialize the children of immigrants and refugees correctly, they’ll grow up to be just like native Swedes. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Much of the second generation lives in nice Swedish welfare ghettos. The social strains – white flight, a general decline in trust – are growing worse. The immigrant-heavy city of Malmo, just across the bridge from Denmark, is an economic and social basket case.

Sweden’s generosity costs a fortune, at a time when economic growth is stagnant. The country now spends about $4-billion a year on settling new refugees – up from $1-billion a few years ago, Mr. Sanandaji said. And they keep coming.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/swedens-ugly-immigration-problem/article26338254/

[Argus]

On the latest refugee crisis from former PM Jean Chretien:

Canada was never a builder of 'peace and progress' under Chretien. In fact, he reshaped our foreign policy so that we completely ignored human rights violations and led one group of begging industry and political leaders after another to various parts of the world in search of contracts and trade. He was also a venal, vindictive, corrupt man and a thoroughgoing liar.

Not that any of that will bother you, of course. You're the guy who takes moral advice from Vladimir Putin.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Argus

[Argus]

from that Chretien 'open letter' published today in the G&M: Canada must reclaim its role as a world leader --- he does acknowledge both Mulroney and Clark: "Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark, his foreign affairs minister, took the lead in the struggle against apartheid and the movement to free Mr. Mandela. On this point, Mr. Mulroney was not afraid to stand up to Margaret Thatcher and our close ally, Britain. He rightly saw that they were wrong."

You mean he rightly saw that Canada had no real economic interests in that region, while the UK did. That allowed him to play the noble moral leader with no costs attached.

And what exactly were the results? Zimbabwe is in every way, shape and form worse for the population than Rhodesia was, and South Africa continues to spiral downward into an oppressive marxist dictatorship.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Argus

[Canada_First]

Rhodesia and South Africa are in every way ran worse now then they were under white rule. Sorry but it's true. Rhodesia had thrIvins farms white owned now those same farms sit abandoned. Inflation is out of control. Mugabe has ruined that country. It's sad as its my place of birth.

Mugabe has poisoned the citizens by pitting blacks against whites and stealing all white owned lands.

[Big Guy]

International publications appear not to be follpwing the Harper rhetoric regarding Canada's role in the world:

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21664208-canadians-see-themselves-global-benefactors-fact-they-have-been-pinching

Oh, who cares anyway!!

[Argus]

International publications appear not to be follpwing the Harper rhetoric regarding Canada's role in the world:

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21664208-canadians-see-themselves-global-benefactors-fact-they-have-been-pinching

Oh, who cares anyway!!

The only people who give a damn about Canada's 'role in the world' are the leftists who used to swoon with delight every time we wrapped our arms around Muslim extremist governments and voted to condemn Israel again.

[cybercoma]

Well, it turns out the Harper Government™ has made a complete about-face on this. Not only are they going to let in thousands and start up an aid fund of millions of dollars, but they're also going to "expedite the process."

[Keepitsimple]

Predictable. With the stimulus, the NDP said the government was not spending enough.....and the Liberals said they were not spending it fast enough. Now of course, they are complaining about the ensuing deficits. With refugees, the NDP is saying the government is not admitting enough of them and the Liberals are saying they are not admitting them fast enough.

But hey - that's politics I guess.

[cybercoma]

In January 2015, Jason Kenney on behalf of the Harper Government™ committed to taking in 10,000 refugees. However, you can't ask now immigration minister Chris Alexander because Citizenship and Immigration Canada says the info is "not publicly available." You can't file an access to information request though because the immigration department's information and privacy division says it's "material available for purchase by the public." So if you want to know how your Harper Government™ is doing on their promises you have to fork over cold hard cash to the tune of $100 for the first 10 mins access to the database and $30 for each additional minute, rounded up of course.

Today we found out exactly why there's a Kafka-esque labyrinth to get information on how the Harper Government has lived up to Jason Kenney's commitment from January.

The Prime Minister’s Office directed Canadian immigration officials to stop processing one of the most vulnerable classes of Syrian refugees this spring . . . The processing stop, which was not disclosed to the public, was in place for at least several weeks.

The Prime Minister’s Office asked Citizenship and Immigration for the files of some Syrian refugees so they could be vetted by the PMO – potentially placing political staff with little training in refugee matters in the middle of an already complex process.

Full article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prime-ministers-office-ordered-halt-to-refugee-processing/article26713562/

Edited October 8, 2015 by cybercoma