While the "economy burns", hyperpartisan Conservatives would rather attack a Liberal MP over her family's (not her own) live-in caregivers. Never mind the fact that Ms. Dhalla spent very little time in this extended family household, or that the caregivers were hired by someone else in her family, were not to care for her, and were never "supervised" by her...This is the typical "stink" of the Conservative slime machine. They have a history of drive-by smears. False allegations, etc. Remember the false charges against Mr. Goodale? Remember the attacks on Navdeep Bains? The Cons have their "favorite target MPs". Usually suburban MPs in hotly contested areas, or areas where they have some key "friends" working...
The market dipped today, Prime Minister "Good Opportunity To Buy Stock" is in hiding in Europe (running from the hammering he's taking in the polls over his lack of anything resembling responsible government), and this is when the Con-Caucus get's all hyper and partisan... It's a recurring them. Any time the Reform-a-Tory in Chief leaves town, the kids get to play (and speak). The Dhalla gambit is one that came from 2nd in Command (Kenney) who is working hard to get his buddy elected in Dhalla's riding (and has been for some time).
So, is this so-called "scandal" involving the family of a Liberal MP really more important than Canadians losing their jobs?
Is it more important than Mr. Kenney talking about immigrants creating ghettos and causing crime to the Calgary Herald?
Is it more important than a report that shows Conservative cuts led to Canadian deaths during the listeriosis scare?
Is it more important than the hundreds of thousands of "0-down" mortgages coming up for renewal this year? Yes, we have to thank Harper for creating the Canadian version of the sub-prime crisis up here...
Is it more important than a Canadian child soldier languishing in a foreign prison?
Is it more important than the 100s of aboriginal women who are murdered each year, or the 100s murdered by privately owned firearms in "domestics"?
Is it more important than the 1000s of Canadian children who go to sleep hungry every night? The drug-abuse issues in the far North? The Conservative Government's abandonment of the First Nations?
Apparently, for the Conservative drive-by smear machine, it is...
Turning the channel takes on a whole new meaning. This time (and every other time - for the Cons) it's personal... Remember, Dhalla's name is not on anything but blatant accusations at this time...
6 comments:
"Is it more important than Mr. Kenney talking about immigrants creating ghettos and causing crime to the Calgary Herald?"
Again, this is simply not true. Jason Kenney: "We want to avoid the kind of ethnic enclaves or parallel communities that exist in some European countries. So far, we've been pretty successful at that, but I think it's going to require greater effort in the future to make sure that we have an approach to pluralism and immigration that leads to social cohesion rather than fracturing."
In other words, he is saying that if we do not xyz the risk of ethnic ghettos is there. The problem is that his disagnois of the potential problem and his suggested remedies are all wrong.
Whether there is truth behind the allegations or not, the CONs are taking it to the bank. Exploiting an alleged exploitation charge. While Dhalla's side of the story remains to be heard, the CONs are out and about trying to score political points, exploiting immigrant voters. This is how they targeted Sgro, Stewart, Goodale, Bains, heck, even Maher Arar. Lucky for them the press never has to worry about accountability.
Koby: First of all, I don't appreciate the connection between immigrants and crime (regardless of government policy) - it's just not true (and crime stats show it). As far as what Kenney said, my interpretation is the same as the Herald's. The quote from Kenney you use is not the same as the one I was pointing out.
Your last paragraph outlines what you miss. He talks about ethnic "ghettos" and crime, like they are related, and this is untrue, and a might xenophobic at best. His words will cause more Canadians to associate ethnics with crime - and I think that is WRONG.
What is the quote you were talking about. Kenney has going on about for some time and any time I come across it has always been a variation of what I quoted above.
A couple of points: ghettos and crime almost always go hand and hand. That is part of what makes a ghetto a ghetto. If I really thought that Kenney was making such a connection I would be licking my chops. Comments such as the following from Stephen Harper only come up every once in a blue moon and are pure political gold. Stephen Harper 2001: “West of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada: people who live in ghettos and who are not integrated into Western Canadian society.”
As for various ethnic communities and the latest gang killings, not much is needed to refute the notion that crimes are being committed by one group. To wit, the Bacon brothers are two of main villains and the name of one of the main gangs is the UN gang.
As for Jason Kenney use of Europe as example, it incredible that no has called him on it. After all, this Conservative government has made it very easy for companies to import unskilled foreign guest workers with virtually no language skills. The reason for Europe's troubles is that no one had they good sense to question whether having people of colour performing all the jobs white Europeans did not want to do would be poisonous to race relations. Canada has succeeded where Europe has failed because they gave immigrants the same rights as native born Canadians, imported immigrants for their skills and not because they were easily exploitable. Message Canada sent out was "come become one of us". By contrast, the message Europe guest worker program sent was "you are here for one thing only -- to clean are floors and washrooms. The cleaning supplies are in the closest. Get busy." Nothing says throw away person like designating them as "guests"; of course giving employers easy access to workers without the legal or linguistic ability to defend themselves will lead to abuses and these abuses will poison the social environment.
As for integration, it is all about economic equality and social mobility. The notion that whether immigrants will integrate hings on them learning about Vimy Ridge is laughable.
Thanks for the suit tip by the way.
Koby... strangely, I think you and I are getting at the same thing here. My point is that the optics of Kenney's statements makes Canadians think that immigrant communities foster crime. Sure, he folds it into other neatly phrased statements, but, c'mon, we all know where they stand on this.
You're welcome on the suits.
'so-called' scandal. Even Liberals see this as probably getting worse. Notice how nobody in the Liberal party is backing her up here, including the leadership. They know her better and STILL don't believe her.
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