[quote=“crazy Horse”]
[quote=“hitest”]
What I find terrible is that our reputation with the World has been tarnished because we have a Prime Minister who is using racist tactics to get re-elected.[/quote]
Are you talking about the niqab issue?
Why do we have to please “the world”? 70-80% Canadians agree with the PM on this one.[/quote]
There are lots of reasons for being disappointed about how our international reputation has declined. We no longer have a seat on the Security Council because we are not as well trusted internationally, particularly by smaller and non-aligned countries, at least in part because we’ve withdrawn support for UN programs and peacekeeping missions. Our largely symbolic air operations in Syria are without either UN or NATO approval.
We’ve become laggards rather than leaders on international environmental issues. That is not even a left-right issue as the positive example of the Mulroney government demonstrated.
From a different (even rightist) perspective, our government likes to talk tough about sensitive issues concerning Palestine and Israel, Iran’s nuclear program, Ukraine, and ISIS, but the reality is that our contribution to the US coalition is token, and we’ve let our military become badly run down, to the disappointment to our allies. The government’s military procurement program has been a fiasco; we can’t even keep our navy at sea for extended periods without borrowing logistic support.
Here’s an interesting article by Brian Stewart on that topic: < cbc.ca/news/politics/canada- … -1.3242611 >. It’s interesting to read that although our armed forces have not quite become a mercenary force, Canada is paid by NATO to participate in military expeditions. Perhaps that’s why Canada was not invited to the Iranian nuclear talks, notwithstanding that the government says that to be taken seriously by our allies we must play a military role.
As for what the majority think about Harper’s position on the preferences of extremely modest Muslim women, not all issues can be reduced to what the majority thinks. Majority rule applies to many but not all issues.
Like other leading democracies we elect majoritarian governments to set budgets, deliver programs and set policies, but we have a Charter that guarantees individual and minority rights on issues like freedom of religion, association, expression etc, even if the majority happens to disagree. The courts play an essential role in our democracy, and the government of the day, no less than the rest of us, is subject to the rule of law.
So it should be disappointing that on the one hand we are well regarded for having a modern Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially compared to the Americans (who labour over what the ‘Framers’ intended over two centuries ago), but we have a government that has a strained relationship with the courts at the best of times, and on the niqab is dismissive of how the courts have ruled on two occasions.
It’s time for Harper to go.