Canadian Columnists & Opinion

Immigration and Culture:
White Liberalism Unplugged
By Anthony Oluwatoyin
Monday, April 17, 2006
The immigration debate in the U.S. is stalled as brazen aliens--not from outer space--hold up city after city--protesting by the millions, demanding amnesty, demanding a fast track to citizenship, demanding anything that goes well beyond equal rights with legal residents.

The front-page Easter rise of peace activist James Loney from the tomb
By Judi McLeod
Sunday, April 16, 2006

On the day before Easter Sunday 2006, Toronto peace activist James Loney rose, Christ-like, from his tomb.

Eight dead bikers does anyone care?
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Guns and violence? No, the government suddenly becomes worried about regulating tow trucks.

The media missed the gun story
By John Lawrence
Thursday, April 13, 2006
What is important is the graphic illustration of the inability of the Liberals for 13 years to be able to do much of anything when it pertains to violent crime in Canada.

"Ban it!" -- the Liberals way of promoting health
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
We would be much better off if cigarettes remained legal and Liberals were banned.

Sliding over the ice
By Judi McLeod
Monday, April 10, 2006
Call it the imagination of this trying-to-be-Christian, but timing is everything when it comes to monumental discoveries of the secular world.

Louise Russo--don't just show her the money, give it to her
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Monday, April 10, 2006
Two years ago, 45-year-old Louise Russo was shot while standing in line at a North York sandwich shop. The bullet left the mother of three permanently paralyzed.

Liberal prosecutors and five, bold new measures to rein them in
By Anthony Oluwatoyin
Monday, April 10, 2006
Forget liberal judges, its prosecutors that we have to worry about now.

And the world followed...Canada
By John Lawrence
Monday, April 10, 2006
Canada shows real leadership in stopping financial aid to Hamas.

FOR SALE: INJUSTICE
By John Lawrence
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Troubling words and toughts about the Louise Russo case.

It's time to legalize drugs
by Klaus Rohrich,
Friday, April 7, 2006

We're all familiar with the image of burned out prostitutes (or in liberal parlance, sex trade workers), strung out on crack or heroin and turning tricks just to get their next fix. It's a problem that we've had now for over a century (these drugs weren't illegal at one time) and there's no debating the fact that the problem is getting progressively worse in terms of the human toll, as illicit drugs ruin people's lives.

Although we all know that the Liberals are no longer in power, the Natural Government Party is having a difficult time coming to grips with that fact.

The National Post's online edition yesterday proclaimed that Stephen Harper's throne speech was "short on priorities and specifics". Hell's Angels should form next Ontario government
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
The Ontario Superior Court ruled that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was a criminal organization. Luckily for the Hells Angels, there is a way out.

Jail the Journos
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Monday, April 3, 2006

Last week, Conservative Party backbencher Colin Mayes sent a column out to some newspapers in his B.C. riding of Okanagan-Shuswap. The former mayor of Dawson City, Yukon and Salmon Arm, B.C. wrote about the Federal Accountability Act that will hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable for breaches of the public trust. Mayes added, "Boy would the public get accurate and true information if a few reporters were hauled away to jail!"

A paper entitled "Nursery school personality and political orientation two decades later" recently published in the Journal of Research in Personality claims that ones propensity toward liberalism or conservatism can be established in nursery school. Jack Block, professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley (where else?), studied some 100 subjects through their teachers assessments in nursery school to adulthood with follow-up interviews to determine the political leanings of his subjects. Block claims that those children who were deemed to be open, assertive, self-confident, curious, bright and talkative grew up to become left-leaning adults, while those who were rated by their nursery school teachers to be indecisive, vacillating, shy, fearful, easily victimized and anxious ultimately grew up to become more right-leaning or conservative.

 I did an interview on the weekend with a website from the United States, and one of the topics that I touched upon was the way in which some debates are stifled simply by labeling anyone with a different viewpoint. When I checked my email this morning, I found that I, too, am being labeled. Fortunately for me, name calling has never had the desired effect; that is, in silencing me. I stand by my beliefs and my principles, and as conservatives, we are just as entitled to ours as those who are more liberal are to theirs.

It is hard to know if much will be accomplished when the 39^th Parliament begins next week. But one thing is certain it will be entertaining to watch.

Canada's Foreign Affairs minister, Peter MacKay, has announced that Canada has cut diplomatic ties with Palestine as its newly elected Hamas administration determinedly refuses to renounce its violent methods. As a result, Canada becomes the second nation, after Israel, to suspend financial aid to the newly elected government of Palestine.

It's as if Canada's immigration policies are as untouchable as the freaking Magna Carta or Peace of Westphalia.

 On Friday, a major Toronto newspaper ran a story decrying the deportation of honest illegal immigrants. Isn't that an oxymoron?

When one talks about illegal immigrants, they usually do not picture a hard working, law abiding individual, but so far, the people that have made it onto the television coverage of the first group of foreign workers to be expelled from our country seem to be hardworking individuals and well adjusted families.

Reed and Don Irvine.

The indomitable spirit of Reed Irvine lives on at Accuracy in Media (AIM).

The photographs and souvenirs of a 35-year-long career remain on the desk he always used. Books line the shelves as if waiting for the ever energetic Irvine to begin searching again their well thumbed pages.

Anyone looking for hard evidence that the Ontario Fiberals could care less about the basics and are only interested in feathering their own nests, need look no further than what they considered to be "priorities" in their recently imposed provincial budget. The budget was basically a vote-buy, bribing voters in the GTA and other urban centers with their own money, thinking that come the next election, their victory is in the bag.

 Britain's highest court has recently ruled on a case that would help to decide just how much of a right a community would have to set its own standards. The court has sided with the majority stakeholders; the people themselves.

Richmond, BC is front-page news. Again. Earlier this month, the city won the infamous Teddy Award, the annual "Oscar" for gross abuse of the public purse, handed out by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The first Ethics Commissioner in Canada was Howard Wilson. He was not really a commissioner--he was a “counsellor” or advisor. Wilson was appointed by then Prime Minister Jean ChrČtien and reported to directly to him. It didn't take long before Wilson was quite properly referred to as the prime minister's lapdog. MPs from all sides of the House were demanding that legislation be passed to make the ethics counsellor a commissioner who would accountable not to the PM but to parliament.

Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham's threat to sink Stephen Harper's government over Harper's cancellation of the institutionalized government child care monopoly initiated by the Libs during the last Parliament is nothing more than hot air. Graham has acquired a PhD in advanced windbaggery as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of National Defense in the recently deceased Martin government.

Almost as if on cue, after Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were elected to power Jack Layton and the NDP were calling for parliament to debate Canada's deployment of troops in Afghanistan. Jack, of course is simply playing politics with the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who are currently in harm's way in the Middle East. Nothing that is currently happening regarding our military in Afghanistan is the result of Conservative Party policy or actions.

A sex scandal has rocked Ontario. Well, perhaps rocked is not the right word; its more like pebbled. Sex scandals are not uncommon in the world of electoral politics and its nice to know they can happen even in staid Ontario. But alas, as PC Party leader John Tory noted in a weekend press release, this scandal involves rodents.

When Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won the January 23^rd election that ended 12 years of Liberal rule, many of us thought that the gratuitous bashing of the United States that had become a mainstay under the Chrétien/Martin government had ended, at least as long as this minority Parliament lasts. It was an easy mistake to make--we forgot the Senate.

There are many iconic religious leaders in our western nations, but none can grab the headlines like Pat Robertson, evangelical television preacher and the leader of several ministries. Whether he is being taken out of context or simply has a different take on profound events such as 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina, Pat is always one who can inject controversy where there is none.

Andrew Coynes words ring profoundly in the swirl of debate about Canadas "values". Not since Trudeau, has a Prime Minister spoken so boldly of freedom and commitment to its expansion, as the core Canadian belief.

At the most violent corner in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister of Canada stood with relentless resolve. "We live in a dangerous world," the man said, "And we have to show leadership in that world and that's what we're doing and that's what I'm trying to do."

According to a recent poll taken by the Strategic Council for CTV and the Globe and Mail, a majority of Canadians, 55 per cent, now support the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. This is a dramatic increase from the poll taken shortly after the Harper government took power when 62 per cent of respondents were opposed to our commitment in Afghanistan.

As much as I have disliked the last 3 or 4 Liberal Prime Ministers, it is almost with a twinge of pity that I look upon the present day federal Liberal party. Okay, seriously now. Watching the list of people who don't want the leadership position of the federal Liberals is getting really funny to watch.

In the growing phenomenon called "Eminent Domain" the wolf is lurking at the back door.

In the U.S. the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee will soon decide the fate of the Property Rights Protection Act (S.1313).

If anyone's going to cause us to lose this War on Terror, it's guys like NDP Leader Jack Layton who don't seem to understand the importance of wartime PR.

Now that Canada has racked up 10 casualties fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan since 9/11, Jack feels that it's time to publicly debate why we're there. Hey Jack, don't you have a parade float to decorate, or something?

At the risk of being accused of generalizing, I have come to believe that the reason our government has become so wasteful and ineffective is because of greedy politicians. Politics is easy. Its an area that doesnt always attract the sharpest knives in the drawer and unlike the private sector; if a politician fails to perform he cant be fired. Yes, he can be defeated at the polls, but given the strength of an incumbent politicians position thats often a very tough proposition.

The audacity of Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro's plans to investigate Prime Minister Harper and International Trade Minister David Emerson is a display of blatant partisan hypocrisy by a public servant whose practices and purposes have been roundly condemned and whose own public proclamations have compromised the very integrity of his office.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision concerning a Quebec Sikh students right to carry a ceremonial dagger or kirpan. In Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys, the court held that an "absolute" prohibition against Sikh students wearing kirpans breached their right of freedom of religion under the Charter.

Few Canadians, and that includes numerous MPs and media, understand what Canada is doing in Afghanistan, or why we are there at all.

I have to apologize to my readers. I completely missed it!

I was still recuperating from the festivities of Black History Month and was not prepared for another celebration of a minority.

Reading a statement on a website yesterday, I came across an accusation leveled at the Governor of a northern U.S. state. The accusation was not only pointed at him, but at his entire legislature. I must point out that the website I was on belonged to a neo-liberal organization (neo-lib, another new word) and the name of it is not important. It seems that some recent legislative decisions have been made with which the neo-libs vehemently disagree.

Last night I did something that I have not done for a long time. I watched the entire Academy Awards show.

Well, not quite, I did miss the “Best Director” award because I had to walk my dog.

John Ryan, a retired professor at the University of Winnipeg, has written a letter to all of the Liberal and NDP MPs. Ryan is urging them to consider having the two parties work together with a view of merging in the future to form the "Liberal Democratic Party". As a start, the two parties would agree to field only one candidate in each riding, to be followed by seriously merger discussions.

In our perennial whine fest over the state of healthcare in Canada, we tend to show our worst side. The editorial in last Sundays Toronto Sun seems to sum up the majority of Canadians position on healthcare most accurately: we dont mind eating sawdust so long as no one has an opportunity to buy steak.

The economic and social construct known as Quebec Inc. is a structure of parallel pillars. Buttresses of centralized state control and intervention with four times the number of bureaucrats than the State of California serving a population one-fifth the size.

Bureaucracy has no heart. Worse, it has no brain. Most of us use humour in coping with the no-commonsense red tape craze that seems so apparent at most government levels. But when bureaucracy climbs into the beds of your loved ones, its heart breaking.

If like me you are a student of contemporary culture, then Im sure that you understand rap music and what separates the good from the bad. Having watched a number of rappers rise and ultimately fall (literally) over the past decade, I think I am beginning to understand what rap music is all about.

The bodies of two Canadians, Domenic and Nancy Ianiero, were found in their hotel room at the Barcelo Maya Beach resort in Mexico on February 20. Their throats had been slashed.

It was about 18 years ago, when, out of purest curiosity, I first ventured inside a Wal-Mart store in Florida. This chain had not yet penetrated Canada, but was expanding rapidly and making waves in the United States, particularly in small-town America where it was being accused of driving Mom & Pop, Main Street stores out of business.

A poll done last week by Strategic Counsel for CTV and the Globe and Mail made some disturbing findings about how Canadians view terrorism.

By Anthony Oluwatoyin
Wednesday, March 1, 2006

War is brewing. And not just in Iraq. Culture wars. And, did I say, not just in Iraq? Conservatives are set to fulfill a pre-election pursuit. To raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. And liberals are more determined than ever to expose themselves like something that is the very reason for wanting to raise the age of consent in the first place.

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