I can’t say I disagree with the little man from Shawinigan.
“In 2003, to the dismay of our American and British allies, we refused to go to war in Iraq because the UN refused its consent to what is now universally acknowledged as a big mistake. Canada was noticed and respected for this decision.
However, since then something has happened to Canada’s international reputation. I fear it has been altered and damaged for a long time. In 2010, for the first time, Canada’s bid for a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations was defeated. The next year we sent our planes to bomb Libya, and we are now participating militarily in Iraq and Syria.
After the campaign in Libya – which we now know had disastrous consequences in the region – the Harper government trumpeted Canada’s bombing role with a flyover above Parliament Hill to celebrate our “victory.” This is a ritual normally characteristic of conquering and warlike countries.
Today, with great sadness and shame, I am watching Mr. Harper’s cold-hearted reaction to the tragedy of refugees from Syria and Iraq. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped up to the plate, and the world looks upon the generosity of her country with admiration. The same goes for Norway, Sweden and Finland, which have welcomed refugees and do not erect roadblocks to taking them in. Instead they get rid of roadblocks. But not Mr. Harper. He has shamed Canada in the eyes of Canadians and of the international community.
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.
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. During all these years, government leaders, whether Liberal or Progressive Conservative, have sought to understand, engage and influence their international peers, including those with whom they disagreed. They did not try to embarrass or give other countries lessons in good behaviour. Rather, they patiently sought to convince others of the universal values that make our global community a better and safer place to live.”
Oh if we had the handshake now to deal with the Harper foolishness…*pines*
[Source]
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
15 comments
September 14, 2015 at 7:59 am
john zande
Chin up, I bring you good news… We just oustered Abbott in Oz, so you can now do the same with Harper.
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September 14, 2015 at 8:10 am
bob
Unregulated capitalism sucks.
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September 14, 2015 at 11:47 am
The Arbourist
@JZ
Fantastic news!
Getting a rank misogynist out of the seat of power always brightens my day. :)
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September 14, 2015 at 11:55 am
john zande
rank misogynist, climate change denier, and Jesus freak. We’ve never had a religious PM before, and he repulsed a lot of people by wearing it on his sleeve.
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September 14, 2015 at 11:56 am
The Arbourist
Our tries to do it, but I think his handlers have dissuaded him for the most part. We get the odd “god bless Canada” but not too often.
It just sounds so stupid. :/
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September 14, 2015 at 12:01 pm
john zande
This is what the Grade A Dick said in response to his Zero-Boat (refugee) policy:
“Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.” (Panel discussion, “Tony Abbott on Q and A” on abc.net.au, April 5, 2010.
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September 14, 2015 at 12:05 pm
john zande
And just to hit home how much of a strange fellow he was, watch this atomic pregnant pause ala Abbott
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September 14, 2015 at 12:11 pm
The Intransigent One
@JZ – holee shitballs what a dumbfuck asshole!
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September 14, 2015 at 12:11 pm
The Arbourist
Oh wow.
That was painful. One of the qualities of adulthood is being able to own up to your fuckups.
It goes double-plus for politicians. And as the video demonstrates, Abbott just isn’t there.
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September 14, 2015 at 12:12 pm
john zande
And now he’s gone, and now he’s gone, and now he’s gone!!! :)
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September 14, 2015 at 12:15 pm
The Arbourist
@JZ
Wow, watching a poor rationalization on the fly – so silly.
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September 14, 2015 at 12:20 pm
The Arbourist
@JZ
Hopefully we can join you in the happy dance after the Canadian federal election in October. :)
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September 16, 2015 at 2:38 am
VR Kaine
“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.”
Chretien was an idiot and useless when it came to anything concerning security and/or foreign policy. While one can praise his unwillingness to automatically side with America, they cannot credit it to being due to any sort of rational thinking or insight – it was simply his arrogance and ignorance calling the shots there, not any sort of intelligence. He continuously had his head in the sand and it was a well-known fact that he and Bush hated each other (despite Chretien’s lies to the contrary).
That “peace-seeking, progressive country Canada once was” was trying to live in a dream world where no evil people would ever use nice ole Canada to achieve their terrorist goals, and yet it was happening under his watch.
Fast forward to today with him or any other Liberal in power, and I’m certain they’d be desperate to follow Obama’s lead and continue to step aside for “progressive” reasons while groups like ISIS continue to grow and thrive (along with behead, burn people alive, beat women, kill Christians, destroy historic monuments, rape young girls, etc.) All this while continuing to decimate their own military, I might add.
Liberals (both big and small ‘l”) suck where foreign policy is concerned, and they suck even worse when it comes to defense strategy. They worry more about their fake morals than they do about solving a problem – even where egregious violations of their (ultimately phony) moral code is concerned. That’s why they’d be useless in a fight (if they ever had the guts to be in one that is). The “fair share” liberal move is to simply stand there and bark annoyingly like some toy poodle even while innocents are right in front of them getting slaughtered. Women, children, whatever – doesn’t matter. The keeping of their hands in their pockets while staring down at the victims being beaten is not only a deliberate and shameless act for them, but one that in their eyes is perfectly OK.
Being someone who travels around the world, it would be (and has been) embarrassing to be from a country that tries to pretend something like ISIS is everyone elses’ problem and not our simply because we’re demanding that other countries fight our battles for us. In Chretien’s time he was an embarrassment at best.
And although libtards here will hate to admit it under Harper, the fact is Canada is STILL seen as a highly peace-seeking, peace-loving country by pretty much the rest of the world, even with a more on-the-ball-militarily Prime Minister at the helm. To make it seem like Harper has somehow ruined all that is to fall for Liberal political spin in advance of election time, plain and simple.
[@Vern
We also hate the level of insulting, erroneous, partisan-bullshit you have been regularly bringing to this blog as of late. Vacation time for you. ]
[ed. The Arbourist]
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September 16, 2015 at 7:47 am
bob
kane just making a moment here to let you know that most people probably see where you are coming from- but your corporate pr slant is coming into disfavor. Most trolls, too, seem to be verbose. Since you take the liberty to name call libs and give us motives and feelings of your own conjecture, I’ll challenge your self righteousness and your sheepleness w the idea that that mindset for aggressive military/ perpetual conflict is what brought us all this suffering, inequality, violence and ISIL.
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September 16, 2015 at 10:52 am
The Arbourist
@Bob
Thanks bob, well said. :)
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