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The foreign affairs minister says it was vital that she use only Canadian sources in her foreign policy speech Tuesday. Chrystia Freeland told the House of Commons that Canada should spend billions on hard power military capability. ( The Canadian Press )

Tuesdays Liberal foreign policy statement and Wednesdays national defence reset are interlocking pieces of the same political puzzle. To examine one in isolation from the other is to risk distorting the picture.

In different but related ways both reflect a Trump-imposed shift in Canadas foreign policy priorities.

To measure the magnitude of that shift, compare the equivalent address delivered a little more than a year ago by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freelands predecessor, Stphane Dion.

If one were to put the two speeches side by side, one would be hard-pressed to find evidence that they were delivered in the name of the same government over the short span of 14 months.

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Highlights from the Liberals new defence policy

In a lecture at the University of Ottawa in March of last year, Dion sketched out what was then the governments foreign policy approach. Only in passing did the text of his speech mention the United States. Ditto for Canadas military obligations. And his remarks did not include a single reference to trade.

Dion did introduce a concept called responsible conviction as a new Liberal guiding foreign policy principle. In short, he argued that to be responsible, Canada had to be flexible in its pursuit on the international scene of its principles.

Based on Freelands homily, the words responsible conviction disappeared from Canadas foreign policy lexicon along with the minister who coined them. It was not the only striking difference between the two speeches.

Although Freeland never mentioned Trump by name on Tuesday he was in the subtext of her entire speech. There were 19 references to America and/or the United States. Trade came up a dozen times as did the military.

Freeland delivered her speech in the Commons, an occurrence so rare that veteran Parliament Hill watchers could not remember the last time that had happened. A government that picks a centre stage venue like the House is not one that is trying to fly under the radar.

Highlighting, as it did, a long list of fundamental differences between the foreign policy approach of the Trump White House and Canada, Freelands speech was rightly described as Canadas most assertive foreign policy declaration since the advent of the new administration.

But whether that was a product of inevitability rather than a deliberate drawing of a line in the sand is an open question.

After all, at this time last year the foreign policy tenets Freeland enunciated on Tuesday were largely taken for granted on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. From trade to climate change to the war against Daesh, those tenets were common to the two countries and, quite literally, went without saying.

It should, moreover, be noted that this is hardly the first time Canada has stuck to a multilateral course on a top-of-mind policy issue in the face of a go-it-alone White House. The most recent example would be Jean Chrtiens 2003 refusal to join the U.S.-led offensive on Iraq. Under the Liberals, Canada also signed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change even if the U.S. declined to do so.

If Freeland articulated a new concept this week, it would be her contention that Canada needs to step up its military spending to help fill a Trump-induced vacuum in international leadership.

The governments contention is that by pivoting to a military spending policy thats in line with one of the most vocal demands of the current White House it is doing only what it must to mitigate the administrations potential damage to a multilateral world order.

That same theme was omnipresent on the occasion on Wednesday of the belated unveiling of a revamped defence policy. Over the next two decades, the government is committing to pour billions of dollars it did not budget for into the defence department.

National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan could not say where the money for all the new spending would be coming from. His policy paper is longer on spending choices then on strategic ones. But he was at pains to stress that the policy was based on made-in-Canada choices and not a response to external pressures.

You decide whether this weeks one-two Liberal foreign and defence policy punch showed the Trudeau government has an iron hand inside the velvet glove it has been sporting in its dealings with the Trump administration. Or whether the government is simply recasting its efforts to stay in the White Houses good books in a manner that minimizes the risks of raising hackles in Canadian public opinion.

Chantal Hbert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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Liberals' shift in defence and foreign policy reflect new reality in the US: Hbert - Toronto Star

ZAGREB In a sudden political turnaround, the Croatian liberals decided on Wednesday to join a coalition with the ruling conservatives, just a day after saying they would not.

"In talks with the (ruling) HDZ party we will require to run three ministries," said Predrag Stromar, a senior official of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), after a party council meeting comprising more than 100 members overturned the previous decision to shun the coalition.

The change of heart may lead to a split in the party but could help the conservative HDZ to continue ruling without a second snap election in less than a year.

On Tuesday, HNS leader Ivan Vrdoljak resigned after the party's presidency rejected his proposal to enter the HDZ-led government headed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

In April, Plenkovic fired four ministers from the previous junior coalition partner, the center-right Most ("Bridge") party, as Most supported the opposition in a no-confidence motion against Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, which he survived by one vote.

The HNS has nine members of parliament and it is likely that some of them will not vote for the new majority. Plenkovic, who is also the HDZ leader, must get support from several other deputies, some of them independent, and representatives of national minorities to clinch a new parliamentary backing.

Plenkovic must propose soon four new ministers to parliament to replace those from Most and reshuffle his cabinet to accommodate ministers from the HNS. A vote on those appointments will be the ultimate test of whether he has secured enough parliamentary backing for his cabinet to stay on.

A new early election, after the one held last September also following a split between the HDZ and the Most, would harm the pace of economic reforms needed to improve the investment climate and meager long-term growth prospects in one of the European Union's weakest economies.

(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

BEIRUT A military alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad threatened on Wednesday to hit U.S. positions in Syria, warning its "self-restraint" over U.S. air strikes would end if Washington crossed "red lines".

DUBAI/DOHA U.S. President Donald Trump offered on Wednesday to help resolve a worsening diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other Arab powers as the United Arab Emirates invoked the possibility of an economic embargo on Doha over its alleged support of terrorism.

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Croatian liberals change mind and opt to join conservative-led government - Reuters

TORONTO Ontario's Liberals "tend to steal" her party's ideas, and with one year left until the next provincial election, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says they're doing it again.

In the 2014 election, Horwath faced criticism from her party's rank and file that her platform wasn't left enough, and that her campaign ran to the right of Premier Kathleen Wynne's Liberals, who ended up winning a majority government.

But despite the criticism and her party's disappointing third-place finish the 54-year-old politician managed to survive.

Nothing has changed, a defiant Horwath said in a recent interview.

"We know what we stand for and we know what we believe in," said the Hamilton Centre MPP. "Those things haven't changed, ever."

Horwath, who has been leader since 2009, is not deterred by the governing Liberals' recent announcements, including a $15 minimum wage, union-friendly labour reforms and free tuition for low- and middle-income students measures that fall right into traditional NDP territory. Another Liberal promise a pharmacare program to make drugs free for Ontarians under age 25 was announced mere days after the NDP unveiled its universal pharmacare plan earlier this year.

"It's a funny thing about the Liberals," said Horwath. "They tend to steal our ideas and then really fumble the ball when it comes to implementation or getting it right. So they like to take our ideas and then mess around with them so that they don't actually come out to be exactly what we would hope."

Many observers believe there is an appetite for change in the Ontario electorate the Liberals have been in power for 14 years which bodes well for Horwath's party and the Progressive Conservatives.

However, some New Democrats acknowledge that having the governing Liberals on their ideological ground could pose a problem for their party.

Author and activist Judy Rebick warns the NDP will find itself in the same squeeze as last time around, particularly as the Liberals have the backing of organized labour.

Rebick was one of 34 longtime NDP supporters who wrote Horwath a letter in the middle of the 2014 election campaign, accusing her of trying to win Conservative votes while abandoning the party's progressive base.

She now believes the party has learned its lesson, citing some of the very ideas that the Liberals have adopted, such as the $15 minimum wage and pharmacare as evidence the NDP is on the right track.

"I think the NDP's only chance for success is to be bold, on the left of the Liberals," said Rebick.

But a former top NDP official thinks that's a dangerous game.

Getting into a "bidding war" with Liberals to see who can go farthest left will end up with the NDP losing credibility in the eyes of voters, who have held former premier Bob Rae's unpopular NDP government against the party since the 1990s, said Karl Belanger, a former national director of the federal New Democratic party.

"The key challenge, of course, is to appear as a competent party that can take over the reins of power and govern for the common good," he said. "The reality is that the Liberals ... can manage to go hard left and still appear credible, while the NDP are carrying the weight of the previous NDP government."

Instead, Belanger said, the NDP needs to propose policies with broad appeal.

"It doesn't mean you're going against your values," he said. "It means you're listening to communities, listening to their people on the ground and their concerns, and trying to bring forward policies that will help them in the end."

Genevieve Tellier, a political-science professor at the University of Ottawa, said the NDP has long had tension between left and centrist voices within.

"It's a difficult question of balance," she said, "where to fit on this ideological spectrum."

Tellier said the Liberals' strategic turn left likely indicates they believe public has an appetite for that shift.

However, she said that instead of trying to outmanoeuvre the Grits, the NDP should focus on convincing the public they can be good managers of the province, without the scandals and apparent sense of entitlement of the governing party.

The popularity of the NDP leader a recent Forum Research poll found voters gave Horwath the highest approval rating among the three leaders and found her the most trustworthy could be an asset for the party heading into the June, 7 2018 election. But, Tellier said, she is also now a veteran on the job, which can make it harder for her to convince the public that she represents the change they're looking for.

Despite the Liberals' penchant for her party's ideas, Horwath believes only the NDP can deliver on those promises.

"We believe that people need a break, that folks need to build a decent quality of life," she said. "But we don't just believe that on the eve of an election, we believe that all the time."

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Ontario's Liberals 'stealing' NDP's ideas, says Horwath - Hamilton Spectator

Why is Donald Trump the most hated president by the Liberal media ever? Because he's the biggest threat to liberalism to ever exist.Liberalism is under assault and Trump is at fault.

The first reason why liberals hate President Trump is because he's Politically Incorrect. They don't understand how someone so Politically Incorrect could ever get elected? He did the opposite of everything they said you have to do to get elected. President Trump punched political correctness in the face and won.

The Media is flipped out about Donald Trump tweeting. This should immediately tell you that Donald Trump tweeting is actually a good thing, not a bad thing. They cannot control the news narrative with Trump tweeting.;This drives them nuts.

Donald Trump denies global warming is caused by man. Climate Change the second most important issue to liberals in this day and age. Donald Trump has brought that under assault. The Liberals cannot afford to be exposed as liars on this issue, this is why they try to shut down anyone who argues against them.

Liberals know that you can control every aspect of someone's life through carbon emission regulations. Not just individuals, but businesses as well. They will fall under complete and utter government control. Liberals will never let the climate change issue go because of this.

Since President Trump is already the most hated man in a liberals world, now is the perfect time to go after their number one issue....... abortion.

As the liberals salivate over James Comey's upcoming testimony, republicans in congress should be aggressively pushing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. Now is the perfect time to do so. Republicans need to stop wasting this opportunity to take advantage of the liberal Hysteria.

Killing babies in the womb is extremely important to liberals. They wouldn't know what to do without going to sleep at night knowing babies are being Blended up in the womb. They have a passion for the death of children for some reason. The most evil thing in the world today is the killing of innocent babies, yet it is the most important issue to the left.

Why would any American allow themselves to be associated with a party that celebrates the murder of children. The very fact that I am so blunt about this, will no doubt cause the left to send hatred my way. Well, Because I know this, I will do it for them.

How dare I defend a baby's right to live! It is a woman's right to kill her child! You don't want your daughters punished with a baby! I am a cruel and hateful person for daring to protect innocent life. I obviously hate women tremendously. All those little baby girls that I'm trying to save, proves how much I hate women!

The left will call me a monster. But the child who has been saved from abortion, they'll call me a hero. I can live with that.

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Liberals Will Hate Me Almost as much as Trump After Reading This - WSAU (blog)

By Staff The Canadian Press

VICTORIA Politicians have been called back to the British Columbia legislature on June 22, setting the stage for a showdown between the ruling Liberals and two opposition parties that want to defeat them.

Premier Christy Clark has said she expects to lose a confidence vote in the house after the New Democrats and Greens reached an agreement to allow the NDP to form a minority government.

No party won a majority of seats in a provincial election last month. The Liberals won 43 seats in the 87-seat legislature, with the NDP winning 41 seats and the Greens three.

The results left Clark with a tenuous grip on power and spelled the likely end for the Liberals 16 years in government.

Government House Leader Mike de Jong says the first order of business will be to elect a Speaker.

After which, and in the aftermath of a very close election, the government will seek to determine if it continues to enjoy the confidence of the house, he said in a statement Wednesday.

Before de Jong made the announcement, Horgan expressed his frustration about the length of time it was taking the Liberals to recall the legislature.

I cant walk down the street now without someone coming up to me and saying, So are you the premier or is she the premier? Whats going on? he said earlier Wednesday.

I think we need to get certainty. Its well over a month since election day. People want to know. Lets get on with it.

Green Leader Andrew Weaver welcomed the decision to recall the house.

Im glad that the premier has finally decided to recall the legislature, Weaver said in a statement. In the weeks since the election, it has been encouraging to see all three parties agree that British Columbians want us to work together.

The first order of business selecting a Speaker is a tall one. The narrow election results mean none of the three parties are eager to give up one of their voting members to take on the role.

I rather suspect theyre all going to file in, take their seats and stare at each other for a while, said Hamish Telford, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley.

The Speaker enforces the rules in the legislature and only votes in the event of a tie, and even then only to maintain the status quo, as per tradition.

All members of the legislature who are not cabinet ministers are eligible to be Speaker, Telford said.

Telford said he expects Clark to announce a cabinet before June 22 and she could appoint potential Speakers from her party to cabinet, such as former Speaker Linda Reid, to make them ineligible for the job.

When there has been an impasse over the Speaker, legislatures have been dissolved and another election held, he said.

But if a Speaker is chosen, the government would introduce a throne speech, Telford said. There would be a reply from the Opposition, a debate and then a confidence vote.

If the Speaker comes from the Liberals, its likely the government will be defeated. If the Speaker is a New Democrat, a tie is expected, he said.

Telford said in that case, he thinks the Speaker would likely break with convention and vote against the Liberal government.

I have yet to find a case anywhere in the Commonwealth where a Speaker has voted in such a way that it leads to the defeat of the government, he said. Thats not to say there hasnt been a case, but I havent found one.

By Laura Kane in Vancouver.

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BC legislature called back, Liberals face defeat - Globalnews.ca