Read title.
I think I’m channeling Bender (Futurama)… Moron, heck I’ll channel Red too, dumbass. Seriously read the room dude. Unless there’s a lot more support to the country trying to annex us than I realize. Or just some Albetans and handful others as usual? I haven’t really kept up with things but I hope the general opinion isn’t swayed that direction.
I don’t have time for people who keep on this “we must work harder” for free trade line. The US has broken or gone back on every deal they’ve made. You can’t make a deal with someone who doesn’t want to make a deal.
He rigged the last 3 CPC party leadership votes/reviews.
He couldn’t care less.
Loses last election because people think he’d stay in CUSMA. Doesn’t learn and does this.
25 years commemorating the West’s strong ties with Saudi Arabia.
Conservative leader heads to U.S. To
promote Canada aslick Trump’s butthole, still escalates trade warFixed your headline CTV
Is this a normal thing for opposition to be doing?
I don’t remember opposition leaders travelling the world in the past
Yes. This is just from earlier this year, but still; https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-europe-travel-9.7108961
Sheer did it too: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/scheer-united-kingdom-trip-1.4563485
https://macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/mr-scheer-goes-to-india-for-some-reason/
Rona Ambrose: https://www.ipolitics.ca/2017/04/11/trudeaus-enjoying-a-weird-truce-on-trade-with-the-conservatives/
Part of it is certainly about projecting an image to the people at home, but I think it’s helpful to remember that the Opposition leader is (typically) an MP as well, and meeting with international leaders is an opportunity to learn and share with your counterparts.
None of the leaders they meet with are confused about their roles, lol. Sure, he or Danielle Smith could be making shady pacts and schemes but that’s a different thing than someone trying to pretend they can set policy.
Another benefit of people traveling is that maybe the international leaders just vibe better with them than the members of the current government. Maybe real will recognize real and someone will be straight with PP and get to the point about what the US is actually after and he can bring that insight back home. This is an extremely generous framing but I’m choosing to be kind here lol.
ETA: I went through a list of leaders of the official opposition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Official_Opposition_(Canada)) and searched leaders who were not just placeholders (Candice Bergen, Erin O’Toole) and stopped at Mulcair because that was almost 15 years ago. I did miss Rona Ambrose in my initial post because I forgot she existed I guess, but she did it too. I have added her.
Part of it is certainly about projecting an image to the people at home, but I think it’s helpful to remember that the Opposition leader is (typically) an MP as well, and meeting with international leaders is an opportunity to learn and share with your counterparts.
All foreign visits should be done at the behest, or at least cooperation with, Foreign Affairs. Anything done without their approval is only done in self-interest and frowned upon.
I don’t understand this take but I’d like too.
Is there something about physically going to a place that is different than being in contact with their international counterparts?
Would your view change if you could be certain that everyone involved in these meetings is crystal clear that the opposition leader does not represent the sitting government and has no direct involvement in official diplomacy?
Are you familiar with the concept of shadow ministers? (I am not trying to insult you here).
God forbid someone think I’m being positive about the canadian government but I think it’s contrary to the idea behind a parliamentary system to have the ruling party dictate who the opposition can meet with or where they can travel (with higher scrutiny than is applied to the general population).
I think getting advice from Global Affairs is probably a good idea. The staff (not the minister) are not tied to a party and have a lot of knowledge and experience to draw from. There is no way any politician can be up to speed on everything the way someone who has been solely focused on a particular area can.
There are mechanisms to deal with situations that are considered harmful. For example, on the provincial level Goldie Ghamari was expelled from her party in Ontario because she met with Tommy Robinson (virtually). Party members are beholden to their leader if they want to stay in the party, but individual MPs including the Leader of the Official Opposition are not beholden to the PM or their party. People can object to their trips but that’s different than requiring them to get permission.
There are also specific rules about what they can and cannot do, and this is not tied to who is in charge: https://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-29.2/FullText.html
For example, this article talks about MPs going on sponsored trips, what is allowed and why MPs say they go on these trips: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/members-parliament-sponsored-travel-9.7140842
One of the reasons I feel very strongly about the freedom to travel and learn from others is my personal experience of working at an org where no one traveled or sought to see how others are doing things. As a result, they were easily swayed by lobbying and sales pitches because they only knew what the sales people told them. They were also extremely reactive to legislative changes that they could have been forseen and they could have provided consultation feedback for if they paid attention to anything outside of their fence line. I might have ignored implied pressure to not travel to events myself on occasion 🫣
Yes, it’s annoying to hear about the grandstanding people sometimes do on these trips, but I’d rather suffer though that mild annoyance and hope some member of the delegation learned something useful they can bring back.
Personally, I don’t like a competitively aggressive political climate. I want all parties to stop playing games and work together for a better Canada in an objective easy to understand way that has none of the grandstanding domestic or international.
I would like Canadian political representatives from all parties to have a united front when traveling abroad, and in that world checking in with foreign affairs would be a non-issue.
If we can’t have that all politicians should be free to do as they want and be held to the same standards as any public official when enacting their duties. Foreign trips can just be part of the job, but I think you nailed it with the likes of Smith’s behavior approaching if not crossing the line of appropriate.
I don’t think we have the tools to evaluate harm, or deal with it, and with how polarized our country/world is right now I don’t want any party with the power to dictate such things. But I do still dream of a civil political climate where the opposition can talk and engage with the standing government on matters of state, but I have a much less optimistic view of how these international trips end up working.
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What a fucking traitor. What would the US do if Adam Schiff went to speak to Iranian officials?
I mean the current administration visits Russia all the time.
I take the smallest bit of pleasure knowing that the US public will get to experience his skill in using a lot of words to say nothing at all.
If PP can’t fix it, nobody can. 🙄
I wounder if that Dumb bell will be bringing kettle bells down to maybe insult the US people with during the 9/11 stuff?
