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| Great White North |
| Canada kicks the bums (chretien) out; new PM Martin to repair U.S. relations |
| 2003-12-13 |
| Paul Martin became Canada’s 21st prime minister on Friday and immediately announced sweeping reforms, declaring a wish to bring in "a new agenda of change and achievement" ahead of an election expected for next May. IOW, we’re going to quit pissing on the U.S. flag Martin, pledging to "restore the tone" of ties with the United States, created a new cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and appointed a special parliamentary secretary to help smooth dealings with Washington. "I only hope I can repair the damage that idiot Chretien has done" He also promised to give legislators a more effective role in Parliament and he introduced several measures designed to make government less prone to the kinds of spending scandals that dogged Chretien’s last years in power. "quit acting like the damn french!" Martin picked western Canadians for the two most powerful jobs — finance and deputy prime minister — in a switch from Chretien’s era when those posts were always held by people from the central provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Finally, the turds from Quebec are being kicked out; the only thing worse than a frenchman is a WANNABE frenchman Martin wants to cut into western Canadian alienation, a phenomenon that has minimized Liberal seats in the region. he knows the Western Provs want to secede and join the United States Alberta’s Anne McLellan, formerly health minister, became deputy prime minister and heads the new public safety ministry, intended to mirror the U.S. Homeland Security Department. "Yeah, all you frenchies? FIRED! Git out, don’t let the door hit you in the etc., etc.,. Stephen Harper, a leader in the opposition Conservative Party, said Martin should have fired all Chretien’s ministers. we should be so lucky "For all the talk of real change and a major shake-up at the top levels of government, this was more illusion than revolution. Paul Martin shuffled the deck, but the front bench is still the same bunch of jokers," he said. give them some rope, let them hang themselves Pratt stood out against the government’s opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq and wants more military spending to boost what many see as Canada’s dwindling influence abroad. obviously one of the ’GOOD’ canadians; there were a few good frenchmen and even a few good germans after WW2, also |
| Posted by:4thInfVet |
| #8 As for the comment about the Asian immigrants being anti-American, I disagree. Most Asian immigrants to Canada are from Hong Kong and couldn’t give two shits about the US or its policies. Actually, Hong Kong immigrants are among the most pro-Chinese and anti-American folks you will find. They got foreign passports because Western governments mistakenly increased their immigration quotas (in the post-handover era) for Hong Kong out of sympathy, in the event of any potential political repression by the Chinese government. Hong Kongers have taken advantage of this loophole to get escape hatches, without necessarily transferring their loyalties from the Chinese government. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-13 11:41:27 PM |
| #7 I grew up in Edmonton and live in the US now. I doubt that Western Canadians would want to join the US. I think they more or less want to go out on their own and form their own independent country. They really have and are still getting a raw deal from the Feds. Also, Edmonton is a very left-wing city, though Alberta is generally conservative; Manitoba just elected an NDP (i.e. socialist) premier; and BC is pretty much run by Vancouver, which is so left-wing that it makes California look like Texas. Personally, I don’t think Martin will make things that better (though it is difficult to do much worse). He’s still left-wing and originally from Quebec, which to me says multitudes. These Western Canadian appointments were just window dressing and the policies won’t change that much. I think you will definitely see a less hostile (at least overtly) attitude towards the US, which isn’t a bad thing. Besides, Chretien’s anti-American stance was very popular with most Canadians. It is just the business community that wanted things to cool down as they have so much to lose in lost exports. As for the comment about the Asian immigrants being anti-American, I disagree. Most Asian immigrants to Canada are from Hong Kong and couldn’t give two shits about the US or its policies. In fact, I would say that most of them would have preferred to immigrate here rather than Canada. They aren’t generally patriotic Canadians either. Most of them went to Canada to flee the impending communist rule of HK and obtain Canadian citizenship, which is the easiest to obtain among any Western nation. After they get their citizenship, they fly back to HK where they can make the big bucks because they know they won’t make money in Canada. |
| Posted by: LJ 2003-12-13 8:34:15 PM |
| #6 Rafael, come on now thats not quite true, San Francisco, LA and San Diego (not to mention Berkley) have been giving the rest of Cali a bad name. If you go to the San Joaquin Valley or just about any other place further inland theres a lot more conservatives out there, heck if you just look at the way the counties vote it shows that something like 2/3rds of them are republican voters. Its just that those by the sea cities have such a huge population it drowns out the saner voices (hence why SF is now choosing between a green party member and a far lefty democrat for mayor). |
| Posted by: Val 2003-12-13 3:31:17 PM |
| #5 Martin and Chretien have one thing in common. They are absolutely humorless. |
| Posted by: Tancred 2003-12-13 10:39:41 AM |
| #4 but they're well to the left of even California. That's hard to believe. California is just plain el whacko. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-12-13 7:56:43 AM |
| #3 ... they'd never, ever join the States Hmmm. That's interesting. I spent some (too much) time in Edmonton, just about everyone I talked to (i.e. bartenders and patrons) were curious about the process of how a state would go about joining the union. My response, other than a drunken "huh?" was a mumbled something about 4/5ths states voting for such and such, a pinch of thyme, some wildberry root, and whathaveyou (that canadian beer has some kick, eh) BOOM you're a state! Then they started talking about the Oilers and I was lost. But I KNOW they consider joining the Union an alternative. It's a popular idea, at least among the drunks in Edmonton that I met (not that i went to many green party meeting while i was there). ps. i was doing job for a charity, so i know they were hardly your average canadian fascist |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2003-12-13 1:38:58 AM |
| #2 he knows the Western Provs want to secede and join the United States When hell freezes over - these provinces may be conservative for Canada, but they're well to the left of even California. If admitted to the Union, they'd be instant Democratic states. Since the pattern is for one Democratic state and one Republican state, I don't see any Canadian provinces being added to the US anytime soon. At the very least, they'd have to spend decades being Federal territories before being admitted. I don't see them agreeing to that. Note also that Western Canada is also where a lot of Asian immigrants have ended up, most of whom are pretty anti-American - we don't need more fifth columnists in this country. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-13 1:33:12 AM |
| #1 he knows the Western Provs want to secede and join the United States That's half-right: they might want to secede. But they'd never, ever join the States. Wouldn't happen in a hundred years. They like us just fine, but they also like that border. I've got friends up there, and when you visit Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, etc., you realize that it IS a different country. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-13 1:14:58 AM |