As you know the Cons and the Con media are going after Justin Trudeau's statement on the death of Fidel Castro, like a pack of hysterical hyenas.
And are trying to portray him as an embarrassment to Canada, or a communist, or Castro himself.
While their flying monkeys swarm him on Twitter...
As only they can.
But while the whole thing disgusts me, all I can think about is how would the Cubans feel if they heard what was going on in Canada?
The Cubans who are mourning the death of their Comandante.
"We weren't just poor. We were wretched," he said. "Then came Fidel and the revolution. He gave me my humanity. I owe him everything."
The people who thought that Canadians were their friends, the friends who never abandoned them.
I'm sure it would hurt them, at a time when so many of them are so sad...
And at a time when so many must be so bitterly disappointed that the brutal U.S. embargo that has ground them down for sixty years, will probably not be lifted now that Donald Trump is going to be president.
So I'm glad that Justin Trudeau is reminding the Cons, including Stephen Harper's son Ben...
That there is nothing embarrassing about recognizing the special bond between Canada and the Cuban people.
"The fact is Fidel Castro had a deep and lasting impact on the Cuban people. He certainly was a polarizing figure and there certainly were concerns around human rights. That's something that I'm open about and that I've highlighted," he added.
"But on the passing of his death I expressed a statement that highlighted the deep connection between the people of Canada and the people of Cuba."
And I'm also glad that at least one member of the Con media is reminding Canadians that our friendship with the Cubans has always distinguished us from the Americans.
It goes back a long time...
And that Justin Trudeau's message could also be seen to be aimed at Donald Trump.
Was Justin Trudeau’s effusive eulogy of Fidel Castro a message to Donald Trump?
In praising a man loathed by so many Americans, including the president-elect, Mr. Trudeau was acting as his father’s son, reminding everyone that the Castros and the Trudeaus go back, that successive Canadian governments never accepted or agreed with the American boycott of the socialist regime and that whatever foreign-policy heresies the incoming administration might be preparing to commit, Canada is willing and able to go its own way.
The Prime Minister’s eulogy to Fidel Castro may one day be seen as the first item in a cavalcade of differences between Canada under Mr. Trudeau and America under Mr. Trump. The second might be if Mr. Trudeau attends El Comandante’s funeral.
Which would be a good thing.
And is why I believe that Trudeau should ignore Cons like the religious fanatic Andrew Scheer.
Who is demanding that Justin boycott Castro's funeral, and that Canada should send nobody.
Not only should Trudeau not attend, but he cannot send anyone in his place, not Stephane Dion, not the Governor General, not the director of the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau at Global Affairs Canada. No one.
Even though the Harper Cons spent $175,000 to send the Governor General to the funeral of the Saudi King Abdullah, who unlike Fidel Castro really was a bloodthirsty tyrant.
And even though all that boycotting Fidel's funeral would do, is hurt these people...
The ones ones mourning their Comandante. The ones who thought we were their friends.
It's unthinkable, it's too horrible, it must not happen.
Justin Trudeau should tell the Cons and their stooge media to stop yapping like Trumplings.
He should stand up for our Canadian values, and our independence.
And attend Castro's funeral...
UPDATE: Trudeau announces he will not be attending the funeral.
Shortly after news emerged today that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would not be attending Fidel Castro’s funeral, Conservative MPs piled on the PM over comments he made on the Cuban leader’s death.
But the Cons keep attacking him, and Michelle Rempel now accuses him of being a coward.
“If @JustinTrudeau feels that it’s so important to have a rep there, why doesn’t he go himself? Seems a bit cowardly,” she tweeted. “Honestly, can someone please explain the upside of Canada having a state presence at Castro’s funeral?”
How sad for our country, and how low can the Cons go?
38 comments:
'But while the whole thing disgusts me, all I can think about is how would the Cubans feel if they heard what was going on in Canada?'
And who's policies are preventing them from hearing what's going on in the rest of the world?
I'm pretty sure that revolutionary Marxism is not a "Canadian value", actually.
The conservatives have a history of picking an issue and mounting an hysterical, frenzied attack against it. And the media follows them like a flock of sheep. The public gets kind of caught up in it until they think it over. They did it about the $2 per vote subsidy for political parties, the gun registry where they convinced owners they were being treated like criminals and the referendum on electoral changes issue, the accusation the CBC is left wing biased when it spouts the conservative line all the time and has 9 conservative board members. It is a strategy they pull. And it is mostly lies The media is a corporate owned media in Canada except for the CBC and it follows the conservative line. So does the CBC, but it shouldn't.
"The conservatives have a history of picking an issue and mounting an hysterical, frenzied attack against it. And the media follows them like a flock of sheep. The public gets kind of caught up in it until they think it over." You're absolutely right, Anonymous. Excellent summary! And, I would add, copied directly from U.S. style Republican, right wing approaches.
I half to laugh at the attempt to elevate Ben Harper, we already saw what a disaster it was to elevate his father and cronies who had no real world experience or ability to hold contradictory ideas in tandem.
We spent a couple of hundred thousand to honour a Saudi King, lets make it a least a millon for Fidel. Go Justin Go, as you can see by my avator I am a little biased.
You don't say........
These Cons sicken me with their sanctimonious bullshit. The only reason they're frothing at the mouth is from the pleasure they're deriving from knocking JT down a few pegs. Where was their outrage when JT visited Cuba and tried to visit with Fidel? Why? I'd say the USA didn't make a fuss so they didn't get to play follow the leader.
These disgusting Cons and their media enablers are the true embarrassment to this country. Instead of offering original, thoughtful ideas on making Canada a better place, they attack JT any way they can and then chortle among themselves like a pack of mutant children. It's a pathetic state this country is in. It seems the divisive, nasty, Neanderthals known as the Con base are here to stay thanks to Stephen Harper. That's his legacy. As for the illiterate Harper junior, he should really learn spelling and grammar before posting to Twitter.
If Fidel hadn't attended Pierre's funeral I'd say don't go, send Dion. Except, Fidel did attend by no small feat so I hope he does attend.
JD
Looks like Trudeau won't be attending the funeral after all. I think Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, a slew of other politicians and the hashtags #TrudeauEulogies #trudeaueulogy (which have been trending for two days) has effectively shamed him out of it.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pm-trudeau-won-t-be-attending-fidel-castro-s-funeral-1.3180214
-MC
Not to mention Maxime Bernier, Lisa Raitt, and Peter Kent coming after Trudeau here at home.
-MC
I realize that attitudes in the US are bound to be a product of their unique situation with regard to Castro and Cuba, but I don't get what's happening with all these Cons in Canada carrying on about Trudeau's statement being such a national embarrassment and affront to principles of human rights, particularly now with Ben Harper and over the weekend with his dad's number-one prize chicken, Lisa Raitt. Were they not listening when the old man advised us that expressions of concern over human rights, like so many other constructs that constrain markets, are often nothing more than "a front for protectionism"?
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2011/08/10/harper_lashes_out_at_critics_of_canadacolombia_freetrade_deal.html
“We can’t block the progress of a country like this for protectionist reasons, and you're trying to use human rights as a front for doing that.”
For what purposes are "human rights" being used as a "front" this time and who's doing it now?
These guys never fail to confuse. Are they that stupid or just opportunistic and hypocritical liars?
seems to me that if JT doesn't go, it is less because he is a coward and more because he's been conned.
he should go.
bring a better compass to post-truth beginnings, as the world hurtles into a new order.
Canada isn't a sheep, but a shepherd and so it was with Castro.
Its moneyball plain and simple. Why we give money to these math Barbies is beyond me.
I have no problem with Trudeau's statement regarding the death of Castro. he was a great man. he didn't always do great things, but he did provide his nation with education and health care for all and preserve its culture. /that is a tremendous accomplishment given the lack of resources the country had.
as to Ambrose and any number of others screaming like banchees about it all, gee lets have a look at he Shah of Iran who the U.S.A. supported, all those dictators in Vietnam, Libya, Iraq, a lot of other middle eastern countries, central America countries, south American countries. None of these countries ever provided health care and education for their citizens and killed a whole lot more. We have to look no further than China today which does not provide free health care for its citizens and is a dictatorship.
What most of them are pissed about is that Castro outlived all those American presidents and his country is still standing, free.
Trumps threats to cancel the deal Obama made with Cuba is all about Cuba not wanting Trumps hotels there. That's why Trump is making his threats.
Fidel Castro wasn't prefect by a long shot and he was a dictator but have a look at Haiti, Jamamica, Central America and all their poverty, lack of education, health, with children left to fend for themselves. lets have a good look at Brazil which still has death squads which kill children and adults them deem a problem. No Castro worked for his country and did a better job than most of these other leaders.
Trudeau ought to go to the funeral. this negative press will pass and Castro in the grand scheme of politics in this world was a remarkable persona and leader.
I am not a fan of communism or dictatorships but Castro freed the Cuban people from a corrupt,soul destroying dictatorship that was far worse. Respecting Castro is actually supporting the Cuban people who in spite of the overwhelming power of organized crime and US policy paranoia actually managed to create a stable civilized society.With the passing of Castro the Cubans need support more than ever in order to make the transition to a more open society. Almost on cue it seems the darker forces are amassing to revert it back into a drug dispensary and soul destroying playground for the well connected.
As a general observation it would seem that the US war on communism/socialism takes precedence over the war on drugs. Given the state of US drug consumption perhaps their priorities are misplaced. Also the Con's "values" test would seem to apply to countries as well. Similar to screening poor immigrants and declaring them persona non grata ,low commercial value countries that fail to meet Canadian values are simply deleted from the official Canadian world map with respect to travel, communication, and even simple awareness. Sort of a child like solution where you don't look under the bed or open a closet at night least the monsters escape. The only difference is that children don't seem to discriminate between rich and poor closets.
RT
Shamed out of it? Really? First, he didn't say he was going to begin with. Secondly, he didn't retract his original statement, he clarified it for the Con hyenas who helped make this a world-wide story. But I must commend your psychic ability MC as I fully expect the Con's to be using those talking points Tuesday.
What I see here is JT having to make the extremely difficult decision of attending the funeral out of loyalty to his father and to the long lasting friendship between the two families. Weighing against that is what's best for our country under a Trump led US government. Trump has shown his petty vindictiveness many times before and would surely try and punish us if JT attended.
I wanted him to attend but I now believe he's doing what's best for the country. Anyone who can look at this objectively would agree I think.
JD
The cons are a nauseating disgusting bunch of hypocrites, unbelievable that the same lemmings who were quiet when Harper praised a misogynist, bloodthirsty Arab oil sheik like the Saudi king are now outraged over a man who not perfect did less damage to the world than the Saudis. Conservatives are truly a nauseating bunch of blowhards.
hi anon...nobody is preventing them from hearing what's going on in the rest of the world. They are an extremely educated people, and have a better grasp of world affairs than many Canadians. And if they don't find out from their news services they will hear what happened from the tens of thousands of Canadians getting ready to head down there. And they will let them know who was responsible...
hi anon 10:16 am... Marxism is not a value it's a political option. Free education and healthcare are values, and they are ones that most Canadians share, even if they can't match them. For free university education is not available in this country. So who has better values? And who can say that poor but proud little island can't teach us a few things?
hi anon...I agree with every word. And this was one of the most frenzied and hysterical attacks the Cons and the Con media have ever mounted. And you're right about the CBC. I'm a big supporter of public broadcasting, but it doesn't reflect the views of most Canadians. It's run by a small right-wing clique that kisses the asses of their Con board. And as for the privates they are like a school of fish. When one tries to suck up to their right-wing bosses, the others are sure to follow...
As the saying goes, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
But it is an imprecise cliche:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/is-one-mans-terrorist-another-mans-freedom-fighter/257245/
hi Steve...yes, like father like son. Sadly Ben is turning out to be a political clone of his nasty daddy. But then of course he does know something about embarrassing behaviour. For who can forget the night he held a swim suit party at 24 Sussex, and some underage girl was found half naked lying on the ground suffering from alcohol poisoning? I mean that's a scandal. And since I believe he is studying law, maybe one day he can explain why nobody was charged?
hi JD...it has been a sickening spectacle. And it is embarrassing. They're putting down the Cubans just to try to get at Justin Trudeau. You can't get much lower than that. I've always hoped that Canada would pay more attention to Latin America, but judging from this sordid and very cheap episode I'm going to have to wait a little longer...
Monday, November 28, 2016
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Pub=hansard&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1
Hon. Denis Lebel (Lac-Saint-Jean, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister displayed a lack of judgment once again last weekend in his remarks following the passing of dictator Fidel Castro. His statement shocked many Canadians.
Now that the Prime Minister has acknowledged that Fidel Castro was a dictator, will he also acknowledge his lapse in judgment?
Hon. Stéphane Dion (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, I believe that the vast majority of foreign heads of state did not call Fidel Castro a dictator at that particular moment, even though that is what he was. At the news of Fidel Castro's passing, they chose to try to say something positive about him.
That is what the Prime Minister of Canada did, and that is what the other world leaders did, because the intention was not to revive old antagonisms, but to show support for the people of Cuba and encourage them to look forward and create a better future for their children.
[big snip]
Video:
Question Period - November 28, 2016
http://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/question-period/episodes/49376401/
http://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/question-period/
hi MC...Don't tell me you're now getting your information from Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. But yes Trudeau won't be going, but only because I think he's going to be very busy in the next few days selling his pipeline choice. I thanked he behaved very honourably, respected the grief of our Cuban friends, while the Cons kicked them in the face, and thoroughly disgraced themselves. Which will cost them because most Canadians, especially those who have visited Cuba have very warm feelings for the place and its people. When will our lost Cons stop acting like Republicans and start behaving like Canadians?
hi MC...they day I care about what any of those there Cons have to say will be the day I will die of boredom. Maxie, the boob from the Beauce, has at least some comic value. But Kellie Leitch and the grubby old Peter Kent are ugly. And none of them are in any position to shame anyone...
hi John...I think the Cons are acting like that because they have become more and more Americanized. Their ideology is Republican, and they have forgotten that our distinctive Canadian values help make us an independent nation. And all I would say to progressives is please attack them like they attack us...
hi Luce...I'm very disappointed that Trudeau isn't going, but it's probably just as well. He has a big pipeline decision to make this week, and he went to Cuba that's all he would be asked about. So it might ruin the funeral and he is better off here...
hi Steve...thanks for reminding me that Castro also did a lot to fight racism. He elevated the status of black Cubans, supported their arts and culture, and even sent troops to Africa to fight the apartheid regime...
hi e.a.f... It seems that Trudeau won't be going to the funeral. I can understand why he isn't, and he does have a turbulent time ahead of him with the pipeline decisions to be announced this week. But I'm still disappointed, for his absence will be perceived by the Cubans as yet another attempt to diminish them and their revolution. Lucky I'm around to lie on one of their silky white sand beaches, sip a cool drink, and apologize in the name of all of us... ;)
hi RT...exactly, some people in the U.S. still regard the island as their sunny playground of mob casinos and brothels. Or their very own possession. And like many Canadians they look down on the people of Latin America, or ignore them altogether. I like to think of myself as a citizen of the New World that stretches from the Canadian Arctic to Patagonia. I like my world, and the shabby small minded Cons disgust me...
hi Mike...you're right, the hypocrisy is nauseating. I heard some Con yesterday on TV, I believe it was the grubby Peter Kent, try to claim that King Abdullah had made Saudi Arabia a more enlightened place. Even though he chopped off many more heads than ISIS, and his kingdom was and remain the nexus of terrorism. Fidel Castro wasn't perfect, but he did good things, he came to symbolize resistance, and he will be long and fondly remembered by his people....
We already have an education and healthcare system in this country that far surpasses anything to be found in Cuba. Without having to resort to a Marxist revolution and the political repression it would inevitably entail. Your "proud little island" could benefit infinitely more by aspiring to our British-style constitutional democracy than the other way around. The only thing the Castro regime can teach us is to be very, very wary of Utopian schemes.
Fuck the Harpercons!
That is the lesson Trudeau should learn. Harpercons are obstructionists, whiners, and bullies. There is only one thing they understand and that is power.
No one in Canada interprets Trudeau's decision as a measured compromise. They all see it as a retreat and a form of weakness.
Weakness and compromise do not work against bullies. That is a universal law based on historical fact. Study history.
Anon--I'm always amused by this "Utopia" notion that seems to precede any criticism of Marxism (as if any critic has actually taken the time to you know, study Marx. But whatever...) Don't think Marx ever promised rainbows and puppies.
But talk of political repression sounds rich coming from short-sighted know-nothings who have never been to Cuba. You think if Cuba democratically elected Fidel that suddenly the US would have chucked the embargo and shrugged their shoulders saying "Well, the people decided..."?
Chile took that route. Ask Salvador Allende how that ended.
Wowwww... talk about a "heads I win, tails you lose" situation. Trudeau expresses his heartfelt feelings about a man who is essentially a family friend, he's raked over the coals for it in glib tweet after glib tweet all weekend. He opts not to attend the funeral and he's labeled a "coward"?
Gee, almost as if they don't give a fig about the Cuban people and are just using them to score cheap political points.
Whatever Marx may or may not have promised, his ideology has certainly failed to deliver anything but misery, anywhere. If it looks great on paper, but fails spectacularly every single time it is put into practice, then yes, "utopia" is exactly the right word for it.
Also, talk of rainbows and puppies sounds rich coming from short-sighted know-nothings who have never been to the Human Rights Watch website, where they have an extensive entry on your favourite fantasy island.
Anon-I notice you didn't acknowledge what I said about Allende. Cuz that's the part that kinda turns the spotlight back on the so-called "freedom-loving" U.S. of A.
And yes, I've been to the Human Rights Watch site on Cuba. There's little freedom of assembly, no freedom of the press, a sketchy court system and it is a unitary one-party state. It also had little choice beyond that or American puppet state. And American puppet states in Central/South American in the 60s and 70s were dime-a-dozen.
Chile did take that route, it's now the most developed country in South America.
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