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People distribute food to people at a makeshift camp for displaced people in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 25, as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue.MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images

Some Liberal MPs are continuing to demand a ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus call for temporary pauses in the fighting is not a strong enough stance against the escalating violence.

The Prime Minister has openly acknowledged divisions in his partys caucus over the war that broke out when Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7. Those divisions burst into public view last week, when 23 Liberal MPs signed a letter asking Mr. Trudeau to call for a ceasefire in the conflict.

The government has resisted internal pressure to take a harder stance on Israel, but on Tuesday the Prime Minister said he supports humanitarian pauses, which are shorter and narrower in scope than ceasefires.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau explained that the goals of the pauses would be to allow aid to enter the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, ensure hostages taken by Hamas can be released, and allow foreign nationals to leave the besieged Palestinian enclave.

But we recognize that Israel has the right to defend itself, must do so in accordance with humanitarian law, international law, and we continue to monitor this, Mr. Trudeau said.

The Liberal who spearheaded the creation of the letter, Ontario MP Salma Zahid, said Wednesday that humanitarian pauses fall short of what is needed, considering the scale of the civilian deaths reported in Gaza. She said two of her friends have each lost more than a dozen family members there.

Reports of use of white phosphorus in attacks in Lebanon increase tensions in an already strained situation

We have to call for a total peace. Its important that we make sure that we save the lives of the innocent civilians, she said.

On Wednesday, Sukh Dhaliwal, a British Columbia Liberal MP who did not sign the letter, added his name to the list of those calling for a ceasefire.

I personally think that humanitarian aid should be there and a ceasefire should be there, he said in brief comments to reporters on his way into the weekly Liberal caucus meeting.

The United States and Britain have also supported humanitarian pauses. The Israeli Embassy in Ottawa has not yet commented on Canadas call for such a break in fighting.

According to the United Nations, a humanitarian pause refers to a temporary stop in hostilities, only for humanitarian purposes. The international organization says such a pause has to be agreed to by all parties, occur over a limited period of time and cover a defined geographic area.

Other members of the Liberal caucus expressed opposition to a ceasefire on Wednesday. Such a measure would make Israel vulnerable to Hamas, Ontario Liberal MP Robert Oliphant said. A pause will allow them to maintain readiness but also ensure that aid will be delivered, he said.

Immigration Minister says Palestinians will not be sent back to Gaza if visas expire

But Mr. Oliphant, who is also the parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister, said he has no confidence Hamas, which Canada has designated a terrorist group, would respect a humanitarian pause.

Manitoba Liberal MP Ben Carr said he is still reviewing the governments new stance. He said any pause in the fighting shouldnt detract from Israels right to defend itself.

If we have opportunities that allow Israel to continue to defend itself, and [in] particular to ensure the release of its hostages safely, while at the same time ensuring the protection of life in Gaza, absolutely Im supportive of it, he said.

He added that differences of opinion are expected in caucus. But, he said, This one happens to be more personal.

Some MPs have direct ties to the region, and many of them are receiving feedback from their constituents that differs widely depending on the riding they represent, Ontario Liberal MP Chris Bittle said.

Im hearing a lot more from the pro-Palestinian side of it, but I have colleagues for whom its the exact opposite, he explained.

He said he supports the governments position in the conflict, and the call for humanitarian pauses.

Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather told reporters he doesnt agree with his colleagues who are calling for a ceasefire. He said he supports a call from Defence Minister Bill Blair on Tuesday for Hamas to be eliminated.

He said the Liberals need to keep lines of communication open and acknowledge there are divergent voices in the party.

We have people with strong views on opposite sides and we can still talk to each other, and thats what Canadians need right now, Mr. Housefather said.

Read more from the original source:
Liberals remain divided after Trudeau's call for 'humanitarian pauses ... - The Globe and Mail

By J. Peder Zane Real Clear Wire

Hamas savage pogrom in Israel revealed the moral abyss at the core of Americas left and the cowardice of traditional liberals who enable them.

The highly coordinated war crimes the murder, rape, and torture of civilians were clear to the eyes of the world on that dark day because the butchers gleefully posted videos of their inhumanity.

Oct. 7 appears to have been the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

As has been widely reported, this barbarity gave no pause to many leftists, especially those at top schools, who almost immediately issued statements blaming Israel for the violence. Some grotesquely celebrated the carnage.

These statements were soon followed by messages from several university presidents among others who refused to confront and denounce this evil. Corporate leaders who rushed to denounce the 2017 clashes in Charlottesville and George Floyds death while in police custody in 2020 largely remained silent.

Yes, there have been some signs of a pullback in recent days, but that is merely a cowardly response to the backlash against the shameful defense of monstrous acts. One doesnt need to reject the complexities of the Middle East or even support Israels reprisals to acknowledge that the events of Oct. 7 were indefensible.

And yet, they were defended and diminished by many members of Americas elite, including students who will likely be running our country one day. The same crowd that has insisted that words are weapons and silence is violence, who have used cancel culture to destroy those who say things they dislike, is now saying hey, genocide happens; its complicated.

One hopes the rebarbative response to this savagery will spark a Bud Light Moment for liberals who have made a devils bargain with the left, bowing to its illiberal intentions because of their shame regarding Americas past and their fears of Donald Trump.

This has come at a heavy price. During the last decade liberals have allowed the left to overtake much of the cultural landscape it long dominated: our schools, our media, and much of our politics. They have surrendered the hallmarks of their worldview a generally open-minded understanding that our democracy is a mix of high-minded principles and pragmatic accommodations, which most always acknowledge human frailty to protect the nation from the perils of hubris.

Instead, they have empowered the left, which along with some extreme, but far weaker fringes of the right rejects that tradition. It advances an ideology that, convinced of its absolute righteousness, is largely unaffected by human experience. Never let reality impede your vision.

One of its galvanizing assumptions divides the world into two groups: the oppressors and the oppressed. Expressions of this include the recent rise of concepts such as white privilege, systemic racism, and queer theory. This racialized ideology holds that the oppressed are entitled to fight their alleged oppressors by any means necessary.

We see this, for example, in our daily news coverage where the alleged crimes of the oppressors are cast as grave threats to the Republic, and those committed by the oppressed are acts of rebellion seeking justice or are excused as proof of the degradations imposed by the ruling class.

Such thinking is unspeakably dangerous. As it excuses the behavior of some, it denies the humanity of others. This was the dynamic at work on Oct. 7. Like the Hamas terrorists they celebrated, many on the American left did not see the slaughtered Israelis as human beings but as obstacles to their aims. It is the same ideology that informed the Soviet Union, the Communist Chinese, and the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda.

At a time when Americans blithely call each other Nazis, Hamas action was a continuation of Hitlers final solution. And many of our fellow citizens applauded it.

The hard left will never change. It doesnt really want democracy to succeed and is too invested in its ideology. As the physicist Max Planck observed in a different context, science advances one funeral at a time because true believers are loath to surrender ideas they have spent their lives advancing.

There is still some hope, however, for liberals, whose traditional values are so at odds with those of their leftist allies. Oct. 7 held up a mirror. Will liberals respond to the horrors that all can see? Will they fight back and reclaim their place in our politics and culture? Or will they continue to surrender their humanity, our country, and the world? It is their time for choosing.

J. Peder Zane is a RealClearInvestigations editor and columnist. He previously worked as a book review editor and book columnist for the News & Observer (Raleigh), where his writing won several national honors. Zane has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustines University.

Read more from the original source:
Oct. 7 presents American liberals with a time for choosing - The Highland County Press

1 day ago

October 24, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TORONTO Ahead of the Ontario Liberals leadership debate in Toronto, the Ontario PC Party released the following statement:

After two straight elections of failing to win official party status, the leaderless Liberals are doubling down on sayingNO. No to building homes and key infrastructure. No to keeping costs down. No to building a stronger economy with better jobs and bigger paycheques.

Bonnie Crombie has abandoned her city as mayor and missed critical votes to build more homes. Her record on building homes is abysmal. She saidNOat every turn, and now Mississauga is failing to build its fair share of homes.

Yasir Naqvi wants to continue the Wynne Liberals legacy of sayingNOto good-paying jobs, as he advocates for higher taxes, fewer jobs, smaller paycheques, and less opportunities for workers and their families.

Nate Erskine-Smith is sayingNOto public safety and will roll back our governments efforts to support our police services and put more boots on the ground, putting the safety of our communities at further risk.

Ted Hsu is sayingNOto nuclear power, risking blackouts and brownouts and putting his own ideology over the wellbeing of Ontario families.

These Liberal candidates can agree on one thing. Theyll keep sayingNOto keeping costs down by imposing a carbon tax that makes everything more expensivewhich every single leadership candidate supports.

Lets be clear: Its not whether they support a carbon tax, but how high they would make it.

Ontario cant afford another harmful NDP-Liberal coalition.

Under their watch, they chased away 300,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs, levied a painful carbon tax, closed 600 schools, and built less than 700 long-term care beds across the entire province.

Only our Ontario PC team will continue to get it done by building highways and transit, cutting red tape and lowering taxes that have helped businesses create 700,000 new jobs and counting, and keeping costs down for families across the province.

-30-

Media Inquiries:

Zachary Zarnett-Klein

Director of Communications, Ontario PC Party

[emailprotected]

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Leaderless Liberals Vow to Turn the Clock Back to Costly and ... - PC Party of Ontario

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Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Oct. 16.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press

A federal election could be two years away, but Pierre Poilievre is already in campaign mode, targeting ridings held by the Liberals and the NDP as the Conservatives set their sights on forming government.

Mr. Poilievre will hold two Axe the Tax rallies against carbon pricing in Atlantic Canada this week in Windsor, N.S., on Thursday and St. Johns on Friday. He is also expected to focus on the high cost of living and housing, priority issues for the party this fall.

The Conservatives are going full tilt, said Fred Delorey, a partner at NorthStar Public Affairs who served as national campaign manager for the Conservative Party in 2021.

They have the money; theyre awash in cash, he said. They have the momentum and theyre running a full campaign where Poilievre, his message, is resonating with Canadians. So hes out pushing it hard.

The Conservatives have been leading in a number of recent public-opinion polls. The party also raised nearly $8-million in donations from almost 47,000 contributors between April and June. By comparison, the Liberals raised about $3.2-million from more than 30,000 people in that period.

Scott Reid, who served as director of communications for former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, said the Conservatives are going into ridings they do not hold because they believe that voters in the next election will be interested in change, with the Liberals having been in power since 2015.

Robert Staley, chair of the Conservatives fundraising arm, shed some light on the partys thinking about Mr. Poilievres tour during its policy convention last month.

Our tour is not directed at bringing out the faithful to [the] leaders rallies although we are delighted when the faithful attend and fill a room, Mr. Staley said.

With our leaders tour, we are now trying to reach new voters with Pierres common-sense messages. That means doing more to advertise events and to reach people who otherwise wouldnt have supported the party or havent in the past supported the party.

Spokespeople for Mr. Poilievre and the party did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Mr. Poilievre held a rally in the Vancouver Centre riding that Liberal Hedy Fry has held since 1993, and where the Conservatives came third in the 2021 election.

Ms. Fry, who is planning to run for an 11th term in the next election, was dismissive of Mr. Poilievres efforts.

I dont think people in a riding like mine and in many of the ridings in Vancouver, which are very progressive ridings, think the Conservatives have anything to offer them, she said in an interview. Vancouver Centre, she said, is very fallow ground for Conservatives of his ilk.

A month before the Oct. 13 rally in Vancouver, Mr. Poilievre held a rally in the North Island-Powell River riding of New Democrat Rachel Blaney. About 1,500 people attended the gathering in the Vancouver Island riding.

In recent months, Mr. Poilievre has also held a series of rallies throughout northern Ontario, on PEI, and in B.C. This month, he has held Bring it Home rallies in Whitehorse, Oliver, B.C., and Vancouver.

Ahead of this weeks St. Johns event, Labour Minister and St. Johns South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus ORegan said in a statement that he stays up nights worrying what Pierre Poilievre would do to Newfoundland and Labradors economy.

Yaroslav Baran, who served as a communications adviser to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said rallies allow the leader to engage with voters outside the closed bubble of Ottawa. Mr. Poilievre tends to shake hands and pose for photos with any members of the audience who wants one, he said.

A federal election is not expected until the fall of 2025 because of a current working agreement between the governing Liberals and the New Democrats. However, that agreement could be at risk after the NDP, at its policy convention earlier this month, passed a resolution saying the party will withdraw its support if the government does not commit to a universal, comprehensive and entirely public pharmacare program.

Jamie Ellerton, a founding partner at public relations firm Conaptus and a former senior Conservative staffer, said strategic communications and marketing teaches that you dont get a buyer the first time you offer what youre selling. It is important to build brand equity, trust and a relationship, he said.

As [Poilievre] delivers his message now, its building those relationships on a personal level but also building a relationship with Canadians writ large to rebuild the Conservative Party brand and frankly define Pierres leadership, he said.

Mr. Reid said it is more challenging for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to hold rallies for his own political interests because he bears the weight of voter disappointment and concerns inevitable with being in government.

But Parker Lund, a spokesperson for the Liberal Party, said volunteers in ridings across Canada are connecting with Canadians and that in the coming months and years the party will continue our efforts to grow our movement by engaging more Canadians than ever before.

Mr. Lund said a sign of that political strength could be seen in the partys national convention this year when half the 4,000 delegates attending were at their first-ever such party event.

Go here to see the original:
Pierre Poilievre in campaign mode, targeting ridings held by ... - The Globe and Mail

Release date: 26/10/23

After more than a decade of mismanagement and sabotage of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan under the Coalition, whereby upstream states were allowed to ignore efficiency deadlines, voluntary buybacks are now the only way South Australia will recover the bulk of the 450 gigalitres promised but not delivered.

The Albanese Governments Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023 passed the House Representatives this week despite the Opposition, including Mr Stevens, voting against it.

Speaking against the Bill, Barker MP, Tony Pasin, claimed the Riverland population shrunk by 30 per cent the last time we did this despite official data showing no such reduction.

The Royal Commission into the River Murray in SA dispelled the myth voluntary buybacks adversely impact communities.

In his report, Royal Commissioner Brett Walker SC said, there is no proportional relationship between a reduction in the use of water for consumptive use, and farm production.

In a submission to the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill 2023, the Commissioner for the River Murray, Richard Beasley SC, also highlighted the lack of any peer reviewed research on supposed impacts of buybacks.

These assertions are not supported by peer reviewed economic research or papers, or defensible economic reports, Mr Beasley said.

What has been established by such reports, Mr Beasley continued, was:

In the event there were any legitimate impacts on communities, the Albanese Government has set aside $20 million for South Australia.

Federal SA Liberals have been having a bob each way on voluntary buybacks, opposing them in country seats and supporting them in marginal city seats.

However, when it came to the crunch, the hard right, which has taken over the party, got their way and voted against the interests of all South Australians.

Im staggered that people elected to represent South Australias interests on the national stage have instead sided with upstream states that seek to deny our State what was promised to get us to sign up to the Plan.

They are not on Team SA and have abandoned our irrigators and the more than one million South Australians that rely on a healthy working river.

I know there are South Australian irrigators wanting to sell some of their entitlement for the environment because Ive had state Liberal MPs call my office inquiring about how their constituents go about applying.

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SA Federal Liberals vote against Bill to recover 450GL of River ... - Premier of South Australia