For most of the last 48 hours since he heard about the monstrous massacre in Christchurch, Justin Trudeau managed to hold his true feelings in check.
He was quiet and gentle as he visited a mosque to express his solidarity with the Muslim community, and listen to what young people had to say about building a safer and more inclusive society.
But yesterday in the House of Commons he finally let his true feelings show.
And went after the hate mongers with a vengeance.
PM Trudeau on New Zealand attacks:— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) March 18, 2019
"After tragedies like these, politicians often say that it's not a time to talk politics but that instead we should grieve & support the affected communities. I think that's a farce...I think this is exactly the time to talk politics." #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/aF9HCJOKCu
And not just the hate mongers who are poisoning our country with their ugly bigotry.
“Toxic rhetoric has broken into the mainstream,” Trudeau said. “It is anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, misogynistic, homophobic.”
But also the politicians who pander to them for votes.
“As politicians we stand around and offer our condolences, and we say nice things in the aftermath. We say that we will do better. We will say that never again will such hatred be allowed to fester unchallenged. Then, when the flames die down and the smoke clears, we look the other way. We revert back to politicking, figuring out how we can tap into that powerful rage to harness a few more votes,” said Trudeau, at times visibly angry.
“With a wink and a nudge, we legitimize this evil.”
And although he didn't name names, it was clear that he was directing most of his anger at Andrew Scheer and his Cons, who as I said yesterday have been playing a fascist game.
If you look at Andrew Scheer's long record of recruiting and pandering to far-right extremists it's clear that he is a mortal threat to this country and its values. And if Canadians can't see that they will regret it forever https://t.co/nVwagVQiah #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/QObdJS6I6L— 🇨🇦 Simon 🏴🍀 (@montrealsimon) March 18, 2019
Even though hate groups are a growing problem.
Earlier this week, the Liberal government committed funding to research far-right extremism in Canada. Barbara Perry, the researcher who will conduct the study, told the Star she believes as many as 300 far-right extremist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups are currently active in Canada, up from roughly 100 in 2015.
And far right extremists like Paul Fromm will stop at nothing to spread their evil message.
Hamilton police are investigating after a Canadian far-right website reposted the manifesto allegedly written by the terrorist behind last week’s mosque attacks in New Zealand.
The racist manifesto was republished on a website affiliated with Paul Fromm.
It was accompanied by a note attributed to Fromm that called it “cogent” and said violence was “not the way to go, but our vile elites have made it all but inevitable.”
And all I can say is it's about time.
This is my idea of a Canadian Prime Minister.
We must counter this hatred. And together, we will. pic.twitter.com/BqF8qz2FmT— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) March 19, 2019
This is an important fight.
We must counter this hatred.
The bigots must be beaten and jailed.
And the monstrous Cons must be defeated...
14 comments:
I saw it, and read the transcript. It was a beautiful speech. Equal parts Jimmy Stewart, and Robin Williams' "Carpe Diem" from Dead Poets' Society. Very Kennedy-esque... for good or bad.
If, by some miracle fluke of the universe Justin takes home even a hair's breadth of a minority government, the Liberals will need to drag the otherwise useless and incompetent NDP turncoats into bringing back and strengthening Section 13 of the Human Rights Code that Herr Harper eliminated for his Nazi internet troll buddies. One way or another, regardless of the outcome in October, this country is going to erupt. Trump isn't going to let go of the reins of power peacefully, and that anger is going to spill over the border even more than it already has. There's going to be more refugees, more chaos, and something is going to happen in Canada that makes the Christchurch massacre look like a pillow fight and the October Crisis look like trick-or-treat.
People are being killed, and the only thing the Cons and their M$M stooges are doing is screeching about the budget, the fake scandal, and waaa waaa waaa what about jobs in Alberta. Justin should just black out the media and declare a state of emergency. Be a benevolent despot. His father did it. The Cons aren't playing fair, they've chased Wernick out and are poisoning the well with distrust of Canada's institutions and Trumpian "Liberal deep state" BS. There's a coordinated effort to put that Nazi prick in the PM's chair, and the M$M and social media are a threat to public safety at this point. Andrew Scheer needs to be involuntarily committed, the CPC and its provincial Harperite tentacles dissolved and investigated, and Rebel and One Persuades need to be raided by the RCMP. Enough of this bullshit. This is the real scandal. These people are sick.
I’m glad Justin Trudeau is letting his anger show. This country is drowning in hate, much of it is aimed at him, and the MSM media doesn’t seem to care. I don’t know how it got so bad, but I blame Stephen Harper for starting us down this road. This is his revenge.
Liberals like to talk beautiful words. I've yet to see any indication they like to actually put those words into any kind of motion.
The northern saga of Bush vs. Clinton. Harper and his White Walkers (Wankers?) vs. Jon -- or rather, Justin Snow. Depending on how you look at it and where you are in the country, "Trudeau Derangement Syndrome" began either in 2015, 2008... or 1968.
It's both sad and frightening that the Cons' core platform is predicated almost entirely upon little more than hate for a humanitarian family. Wonder what Scheer's crackpot religious parents said of Pierre as he was reading storybooks about the Romanovs and Ceausescu. Although for all anyone knows, Andy's swallowed enough poison pizza and conspiracy Kool-Aid that he really does think Justin's biological father is Fidel Castro.
Jackie, would you please stop insulting the NDP - obviously nobody on the left supports race hatred! I was at the spontaneous memorial after the racist Mosque attack in Québec and happened to meet many people I know in Québec solidaire, NDP, Projet Montréal. I walk through a railway viaduct to get to Trudeau's riding.
There is no such thing as a benevolent despot. I have trade-unionist friends who had nothing to do with the FLQ terrorists who were jailed by Trudeau père. Trudeau did some very good things, in particular the first steps against the kind of homophobic laws that killed Alan Turing and many other people, but he was also very contemptuous of ordinary people, telling a group of strikers to eat shit, among other infamous statements.
I hate Scheer, but I'm not much fonder of your McCarthyite rants against the left. We are not your vassals. Mange de la merde!
Simon, where was Justin's mosque visit? In Ottawa or in his own riding, where there are several mosques, but in particular the large mosque opposite the park built by what was then Loblaws? That is where we converged for the solidarity memorial to the people murdered by the far-right Islamophobe p.o.s. It was a huge crowd, mostly very young people who walked from my immediate area (and doubtless others) to that public square outside Métro du parc.
@anon 3:55 -- at least we're restrained enough that, for the most part, we don't carry our frustrations out into the real world, unlike the heavily armed 4chan lunatics the Cons are courting.
@lagatta -- I'm not being a McCarthyite. Please don't think I mean ill towards anyone except those who want to harm Canada, whether deliberately or otherwise. I want center-left liberals and progressives to compromise and work as a team instead of fighting one another, believe me. I'm on your side. But I'm none too happy with Singh's playing lackey for Scheer. That's why I'm upset. Livid, in fact. My anger is based on their behavior from a realpolitik standpoint, rather than a broad-brush whack at the party in general. I don't think for one moment they support race hatred, but they're all too willing, whether out of desperation or otherwise, to aid and abet the ones who do. That's not helpful to their cause. They should have been fighting the common enemy instead of ganging up on PMJT over the fake scandal and other fake scandals, i.e. Indiagate and Elbowgate and the like. Angus is a hypocrite who had no use for JWR until she became a useful tool to bash the Liberals with. Singh put his signature on a Faustian contract with the devil. He went on CTV and called Gerald a liar. So they're just as culpable in the damage that's already been done.
As for the benevolent despot thing, I don't expect that it'd actually happen. It's just spitballing, letting off steam. I'm sorry your friends got caught up in a sweep that, amid all the chaos, evidently went beyond its scope. I just don't know what else can be done when the Cons, like the GOP, are fighting an actual war, Russia-style informational cyberwarfare with the M$M acting as propagandists in their pocket, rather than a normal election campaign with a level playing field. We play fair and they lie and cheat. They work the refs. They rig the game. They fight dirty. They hit below the belt. They make it personal. It's only natural to be frustrated and want them to, at least, be put in the penalty box until they learn to behave.
What Singh is doing is politics in Canada. At one time the NDP, was the official opposition. Its his job to try to get the NDP back into that position. The closer we come to the federal election, the more his focus will start to change.
You can become the P.M. and not have a majority government, and run the government. In previous governments, twice that I can recall, the NDP supported the federal Liberals in passing the Budget to ensure they stayed in office. While Harper was P.M. all opposition parties came together to discuss forming a loose coalition to defeat harper. Harper's reaction was to prologue parliament.
Angus is an honourable member of Parliament and has served his constituents and Canada for a fair amount of time. He is respected member of Parliament. You may be surprised to know many from different parties are friends and socialize.
Of course Singh may call Butts a "liar" if he used those words. There is nothing wrong with that. its his job. In the U.S.A. there are only two political parties and people tend to stick with them, but in Canada, there are people and lots of them, who have voted for all 4 major parties and in Quebec, all 5 (that includes the Greens across Canada).
if Trudeau can not take on the criticisms of other leaders, then he isn't strong enough to be the leader of the federal Liberals nor the P.M. In my opinion, Trudeau will get through this. All of this SNC stuff is just so much "dust in the wind". its all the Cons have to run with and they will continue to run with it until after the federal election. What is currently going on, is nothing unusual. its just politics. Any one who goes into politics understands its not a walk in the park.
Right now Singh has to make an impression. that means taking the positions he is. Come election time, he'll be training his mouth on Scheer, because he knows he won't be the next P.M. but he does have a shot at being Leader of the Opposition and to be the first Sikh to be the leader of the official opposition in Canada will be a very big deal. I can remember when Moe Sahota was elected the first member of a legislature (B.C.) in Canada and that was some time in the 1980.
You're not going to change any one's mind with what you write on the subject and I'd suggest not everyone is "amused" by your position. Your writing is great, has a lot of humour, but we in Canada still do politics a little differently than the U.S.A. and yes, I expect Trudeau to continue to be P.M. until he is tired of it. Right now there isn't much of an alternative. The alternative when it comes will come from within his own party. My take on it is JWR isn't interested in being P.M. at this time nor are the federal Liberals interested in an internal war. (for a lawyer such as JWR, I'd expect her to want to sit on the Court at the Hague) They know how it damaged their party the last time they had one, when Paul Martin and his people decided to take a run at Jean Chretien. Which actually reminds me, here in Canada it is not unusual for NDP politicians to switch to the federal Liberals. Ujjal Dosanjh, a long time NDP politician in B.C., cabinet minister, acting Premier, was asked to run by the federal Liberals and did so. He then became a federal Liberal Cabinet Minister. The first NDP premier of Ontario, Bob Rae, 1990 to 1995, switched back to the federal Liberals, was a Cabinet minister and for almost 2 years was the interim leader of the federal Liberals until Justin Trudeau was elected leader. if Singh wants to truly "knock out" Trudeau, he'll switch to the federal Liberals and run for the leadership of the party, which I don't see him doing. My take on it is, Horvath the leader of the Ontario NDP isn't going any where, taking over the federal NDP is a nice gig until he can replace Horvath. If you're an ambitious NDP member you switch to the federal Liberals later.
Don't know for sure what religion Scheer's parents are. it doesn't really matter. The way their son is, may not be their fault, but rather simply a matter of genetics and blind ambition. he did move from Ontario to Sask. where he got into politics. He may have acquired his "religion" when he married in Sask. it does happen. Lets not blame the parental units for everything.
I am totally appalled at what I witnessed on TV yesterday when I tuned in to hear the Budget Speech! It was a Total Disgrace!
I don't know either, but suspect that they might have been fundamentalist Calvinists. I really don't want to waste a few hours of my time reading a biography of such a boring person.
Hope that this blog looks at the budget. Increase in subsidy for electric cars ... unfortunately Orange Oaf of the South intends to abolish such subsidies down there...
Got that wrong - he just sounds like a fundie Protestant - they were fundie Catholics. Doubtless the kind that think Pope Francis is the reincarnation of the Che.
I'm not keen on a subsidy for electric cars. its a subsidy for people who really don't need it. If you can afford an electric car, you're already way ahead of the game. pay for your own new car. Of course it will get more than a few votes from enviornmentalists
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