I disagree. We are already diverse culturally. we are well into only the second generation of multiculturalism but we are already seeing many of the benefits of the reshaping of our society. Multi-culturalism isn't rending the country to pieces. It enables immigrants and citizens to enjoy the best bits of many cultures while sharing Canadian values and laws. It is ridiculous to expect that the cultural baggage of many third world immigrants miraculous disappears in the first generation, but its gone by the third for sure. As for "shoving French down the throats" of Anglo Canada, perhaps you didn't notice that this country was forged from two nations. One Anglo the other Franco. It stems from the 7 year war peace deal, that allowed the French Canadien to retain their language and their laws. What is the heinous effect of Federal government bi-lingualism? Citizens are guaranteed to get services in either language. In Toronto, where I live, the city and the province both provide services in well over a dozen languages. So that's not a big deal. Of course, many a student is forced to take french as a subject in primary school, which I am sure is torture. As it happens, all four of my children went to french immersion and are fluently bi-lingual. they whined and complained about hating it, and their mother and I kept telling them that they would thank us some day. sure enough as adults each one of them did. He made us aware of Canadian/Canadien heritage. He made us a serious player on the world stage. He didn't screw around with seperatist terrorists and squashed them. He repatriated the constitution and forced Canadians into debating what kind of country we had and would like to have. You earlier disparaged our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Its a damn good one that accurately reflects our values. (althought the human rights commissions have got to go). Pierre forced all Canadians to think about the kind of country we had and the kind of country we wanted. He challenged us to honour the past while we evolved into the future. Did we get it perfect? Naaaaaaaahhhhhh. but we'll keep working on it.
True, but he was a law professor and community organizer and five years older IIRC. True, but PET was an intellectual of the first order, a lawyer, extremely well travelled, and was a back room guy in Quebec that everyone listened to. He was the smartest guy in the room. He did have extensive political experience and a masters of economics. He was a political animal from the get go. Justin was a wastrel in his earlier life. He has a masters of education, he studied engineering, he gad about doing this and that until he apparently found his direction. He is young, he is intelligent, he is good looking, he's articulate, he may make a good prime minister, but to do so in the upcoming elections he'd have to be a miracle worker as well.
law professor?..so how does that relate to business experience? 5 years may matter when you're twenty but at 41 not one bit...Brian Mulronny was 44 when first elected as an MP and had only served 11 months as an MP before becoming PM, where was the seasoning...what you're going to say he was lawyer, what kind of seasoned lawyer takes brown envelopes full of cash without a receipt and claims that's normal business procedure?...so Mulrony with 11 months, PET with 2 years and Obama with 3 years all had less experience than JT in political office... and JT has considerable political and community activity before he ran for office... these are things that you nothing about in regards to JT neither you or I have no idea how smart he is... he has never had a job in economics, this economics master was the guy that during an election debate he claimed Canada was not going into recession there would be no deficit, if I recall that was 1 month before the global economic crisis which everyone saw coming except our PM with his masters of economics, he was either incompetent or lying to us... he's a lifelong professional political hack, a future senator in the making if hadn't become PM... Trudeau has a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from McGill University and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia. After graduation, he worked as a social studies and French teacher at West Point Grey Academy and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia.[11] From 2002 to 2004, he studied engineering at the Université de Montréal.[12] He also started a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Geography at McGill University before suspending his program to seek public office.[13] he's actually had real jobs which he acquired on his ability not with his dads help or his political affiliation as Harper has done... and if you check into his background he's anything but a gad, that's just character assassination which we've had enough of from the conservative party...and I'm not a JT supporter his status quo approach on the senate guarantees I will not vote for him or the liberals...his age is not a factor, he's intelligent, well educated and politically experienced let's not follow the conservative tactics of character assassination and keep criticism directed at his actual performance and political direction based on fact....
That's your right and it's good not to agree on everything. Are honor killings in places such as Mississauga one of the "benefits of the reshaping of ... society"? Or the attempted derailment of a VIA-Rail train near Toronto? The original deal was fine. The takeback from the tour of the Assemblie National in Quebec City was that there were a series of debates on language during the 1790's. The result was that all people were free to debate in Parliament in either language or use either language. This worked fine until 1974, when Quebec first restricted English education and then, with Bill 101 required uni-lingual (French) public signage and severely discriminated and the use of English signage by private businesses. The requirement that services be provided in both languages made Francophones far more promoteable in Federal employment since they are almost always effectively bilingual whereas even Anglophones "immersed" in French did not use French in their daily life in a largely English-speaking continent. In large cities that may be necessary. In a town the size of Hornpaine, Ontario sounds rather expensive. Unless for employment purposes they're still considered not sufficiently Frenchified. And then there is the role of conscious discrimination. Laurier and St. Laurent didn't do that as well? How so? Certainly he didn't re-create the Canada of Vimy Ridge or Juno Beach.
Like I said, its ludicruous to think that the "illegal" cultural baggage of first generation immigrants is going to completely disappear. You will not the universal condemnation which included some rather vociferous denunciations from the perp's own community. If you followed the story there were interviews with her "friends" and wasn't it interesting that there were white, southern asians and asians in the mix. that's what its truly all about. as for the attempted derailing. considering our participation in the "war against terrorism" we have been ridiculously fortunate that we haven't suffered any major attack, with most "plots" being turned in by the muslim community. Knock on wood, we will continue to be so fortunate - our muslim community certainly hopes so. Think of this as quebec's affirmative action. The french language was being eroded. BTW Its bill 178 requires signage to be french. (notwithstanding) and even then, the law was re-written to conform to the charter after the UN got in on the act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_Thirty-three_of_the_Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms#Quebec The restrictions on English education applied to new immigrants and public education. The Quebec economy suffered for a generation afterwards, but today French is the predominant language in the province and Canadien can live their lives using only their native tongue - seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable outcome to preserve the heritage and nature of la belle province. Only for a moment and that moments gone. EVERY federal employee now knows that to get ahead in federal service requires bi-lingualism. Those days are now long gone. It is interesting that the contemporary debate and disagreements wrt such controversial policies are rendered irrelevant after the initial implimentation inequities are corrected. And in Hornepayne they don't supply those services in multiple languages. Since Ontario has a large francophone population, especially in northern ontario, bi-lingual services are routinely available. All ontarians have the right in court to be tried inthe language of their choice. (F or E). works fine. nonsense. Fluently bi-ligual is fluently bi-ligual. As for conscious discrimination - its just a fact of life EVERYWHERE on the planet. Actually, neither Laurier or St.Laurent did so. If you wish to simply define a countries heritage by its military history then I suppose you are correct, but you will forgive me if I believe that our heritage encompasses one helluva lot more than just that. yes he did, and do you recall why? Regardless, he CRUSHED the FLQ. "As are appropriate in a democratic society" to me is pretty clear and appropriate. As for the notwithstanding clause, we are a confederation and each province should be granted some flexibility. that is not unreasonable, however, exercising that clause is incredibly difficult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Charter_of_Human_Rights_and_Freedoms Only the Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enjoys priority over the Quebec charter. The damage was far far outweighed by the good. Your measurement criterion are skewed and in some cases ill-informed. (you an expat? or married to one?)
Do tell. I actually don't know that answer. And I did speak with a member of the Federal forces brought in to help in the FLQ crisis. He describes a chaotic and horribly managed operation. I'll respond to your response to my private message.
In the absence of a professional designation, business experience and success is usually the next qualification criteria. I guess you aren't 46 - five years of experience and maturity ALWAYS makes a difference, unless you believe that you stop learning after 40. True, I don't know how smart he is, but he most definitely isn't the intellectual his father was and from all that I have seen and heard from him, he isn't in his fathers league from an intelligence standpoint. I am not saying he's not sufficiently intelligent to be prime minister, I am merely saying he pales in comparison to his father. I violently agree that Harper is a poltical hack, and has repeatedly and consistently lied to the people. He's weaseled thru many a scandal that had he been President would probably have gotten him impeached. I have no love for him or his policies. Yes, he was a gadabout. His post secondary education history demonstrates that he was unsettled and searching for his passion. His work history is even more diverse I believe. This is not necessarily a weakness and can in some cases be a strength. It just that I am of the current opinion that he needs to build up a little more strength before taking on leadership of my country. I am fully congnizant of how fearful the Cons are of him. That cheapshot ad they keep running is testament to their paranoia that the trudeau name might resonate with the electorate. I am a life long liberal. I intensely dislike Harper but can admire his political acumen. I liked Jack, but the ndp is a tad too leftist for me. In the past couple of elections I have very reluctantly cast my ballot for the liberal candidate, despite my disgust at their internal incompetence.
I'm not 46? correct I'm 60...three years difference between JT and Mulroney is minimal to the point they are the same age JT has 4yrs more experience as a politician, ...at 60 I've met many 60 yr olds and older who are idiots and many outstanding brilliant people still in their 30s...age is an irrelevant factor being older does not make one smarter or wiser that's a myth, 30 or 70 makes no difference...
I quite agree that age is irrelevant to intelligence. Wisdom on the other hand is generally derived from experience, in which case age can have a very substantive effect. BTW - I'm 60 too. Its kinda surreal saying that. I'll tell ya in 1970 I figured I had maybe 5 or 7 good years left. I miscalcuated slightly, but I blame that on the drugs. I suppose its merely a question of interpretation. I don't consider people making professional career changes to be flighty. I don't know the impetus for your daughters mulitple degrees (not post grad?), if it was to create a better CV then great. But given the sporadic nature of JT's academic career I infer, that he was searching for his passion, more than executing a plan. I am also perplexed that you would think that a young person who is unsure of his direction, particularly a young person whose father has public statues, schools, roads, etc named after him, might take some time before his direction coalesces and his passion is found. It certainly shouldn't be construed as negative. I used the term gadabout as synonomous with wanderer, not in any perjorative sense. BTW, I am of the opinion that the day you stop learning should be the same day you die.
I never felt that way until I hit 50...less drugs I suspect... it's quite common for people to find new passions few us have the opportunity to act upon them, I wanted to go back to uni but once you accumulate a family and debt/mortgage it's very difficult, if I had JT's inheritance I could have done it quite easily... not everyone wants to follow in their fathers footsteps, I didn't and none of of brothers did...none of mrs wyly's brothers followed their father career either...and all of us are quite proud of our fathers accomplishments... according to my neurologist buddy the day you stop learning is the day you start dying, the body follows the brain...continual learning keeps the brain sharp he says it's just like a muscle and needs to be exercised with a variety of new challenges...
probably. its funny how the "baggage" we accumlate often makes our decisions for us. I might have whinged about the debt I accumulated over my life, but never about the family. For me, the trade offs required to hear "i love you daddy" every day were more than worth it. I suspect its the same for most of us old farts. Agreed. I've spent the goodly part of my adult life trying not to be my father. But he doesn't have any statues and won't be in any history books. gotta admit it could be a real tough act to follow, simply because of those who associate the name with unrealistic expectations of equivalency. besides which, us old 'uns aint got much better to do than cogitate..........
do overs... yeah, there was that threesome I turned down in Vancouver and the foursome with three ladies I met in an A&W in Saskatoon...what was I thinking , idiot!...now that I'm "wiser" no one's asking...
I also really liked Mr. Bob Rae. Green Party leader Ms. Elizabeth May made me aware of some very interesting things about him in a youtube interview. I will try to find it.
Then you definitely would not like to see me.......... become National Leader of the Conservative Party! http://www.politicalforum.com/canada/458437-p-m-trudeau-allows-liberals-participate-free.html
But.... he managed to keep Canada together in spite of a great deal of anger there in Quebec........... His methods left much to be desired though?! http://www.politicalforum.com/canad...e-elliott-trudeau-save-world-environment.html
Oh, YOU wouldn't mind the poodle role? I'm glad you didn't get voted in as PM and hopefully never ever will in the future either! Just look over to the blessed United States... it is very obvious they are being ruled by the Zionists. And you want that for Canada, too? I can't tell yet how far down Justin Trudeau will bow to them or rather have to bow, but at least he is young and enthusiastic and open. He showed guts and determination to stand his ground in the Middle East and pulled out his fighter jets. Poodle Harper, in contrast, couldn't get fast enough involved bombing Libya or sending weapons to the Zionist Junta in the Ukraine. Let's give Justin 10 years and then see where Canada stands.
There is a saying that a film devoid of conflict is boring! If you could get some family and friends together and form a film production cooperative...... or company.... I will donate film through youtube that you can use..... and perhaps we can get some interesting conflict started .....
Well.... I think you may get a few ideas from post #2 over in this discussion...... http://www.politicalforum.com/canad...ts-take-937-those-syrian-refugees-canada.html
#2, about the old Mr. Trudeau? No, I know nothing about him, except that he married Margaret and had three sons. His political ambitions or failures are unknown to me.
More like he stirred up divisions and then tried to save himself from going too far. There was no burning need to change the flag in 1963. Changing it didn't appease Quebec separatism; it fueled it. Fast forward to 1969. The legislation concerning bilingualism also didn't appease Quebec separatism; it fueled it. The FLQ crisis erupted within a year of this supposedly unifying legislation. Merging the armed forces and deleting the word "royal" in or about 1974 also didn't appease Quebec separatism; it fueled it. The 1976 election of the Bloc Quebecois was its most immediate fruit. Appeasement never solves problems; it gives you more of what you're trying to appease.
I will try to keep this principle in mind as I attempt to come up with possible remedies to problems that are facing Canadians at this time. Thank you for elaborating on this angle on this topic. - - - Updated - - - I was born in 1959 so P. M. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a major player up here for most of my life.
I see! The elder Trudeau made an impression on you and now you want to become a politician also... perhaps even aspiring for the position of PM? Good Luck! I can't help it, I like this guy...
