Where were we? Oh yes. Torture.
By Alison@Creekside
On Friday Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced the government was appointing Frank Iacobucci, a former Supreme Court judge with no legal hold over them, to determine what documents pertaining to the Afghan detainee issue could be released without compromising national security, national defence, and/or international relations. The scope and terms of Iacobucci’s appointment are [...]
The Cons find their wedge issue: Israel
By Alison@Creekside
Two days ago Jason Kenney’s communications director Alykhan Velshi tweeted that Con MP Tim Uppal from the inquiry panel at the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism will be looking for unanimous all-party approval when he introduces a motion to condemn the use of the word “apartheid” as applied to Israel in the House [...]
More Olympics double-standards
By Alison@Creekside
On Valentines Day, 2,000 to 4,000 people marched through Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in the annual Women’s March for Missing and Murdered Women. A memorial march — not a protest — it is organized and led by women of the DTES to remember the hundreds of aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered [...]
The missing Olympic boycott
By Alison@Creekside
Thirty years ago in 1980, Canada joined the U.S. in a 64-country boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On Feb. 15, under cover of wall-to-wall Olympics news, Canada joined 15,000 coalition troops in Obama’s assault on the town of Marjah in Helmand province, the biggest offensive since the [...]
Israel for dummies
By Alison@Creekside
Jason Kenney explains the difference between anti-Semitism and legitimate criticism of Israel at Monday’s session of The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism:
Irwin Cotler: “How does one distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and crossing the line?”
Jason Kenney: “Criticism of Israel predicated on a view of Israel as a criminal enterprise, as a state [...]
Canada v. Khadr, abridged
By Alison@Creekside
Shorter Supremes :While it is true that the Canadian government violated the Canadian charter rights of a Canadian citizen when it sent Canadian agents to interrogate him in a foreign concentration camp and then turned the contents of that interview obtained under duress over to the owners of that concentration camp, and while it [...]
Pie: the new anthrax
By Alison@Creekside
Liberal MP Gerry Byrne says he believes the federal government should investigate whether the pieing of Fisheries Minister Gail Shea by a woman opposed to the seal hunt constitutes an act of terrorism.
I think Gerry should at least get a cupcake for that.
Byrne hails from Newfoundland Labrador where, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada:
“Approximately [...]
Canada to Palestinians: no more schools for you
By Alison@Creekside
Last month Jason Kenney explained his government’s decision to cut off funds to the church aid group KAIROS thusly:
“Our government is working to dismantle the client relationship that existed between the government of Canada and organizations whose priority is seemingly to advocate for the legalization of banned terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as [...]
“Everybody does it,” and other reasons to prorogue democracy
By Alison@Creekside
Top Ten Reasons to Prorogue Democracy . . . so far:
~ Recalibratin’ Economic Action Plan Pt 2 — but not making any changes
~ We got nearly everything we wanted passed anyway
~ Busy busy busy back home on winter barbie circuit
~ Everybody does it, albeit mostly in the 19th century
~ Only “elites” and “chattering classes” [...]
What did Wiebo Ludwig do?
By Alison@Creekside
I don’t claim to be any kind of authority on Wiebo Ludwig — for that you can read Andrew Nikiforuk’s Saboteurs — but in all the considerable coverage of Ludwig’s arrest in connection with six cases of explosions on EnCana’s gas pipelines, I notice the media’s accompanying history of Ludwig makes no mention [...]