Canada’s Greens Make a Mockery … of Themselves!

Canadians may find it hard to believe, but there are countries in the world where “Greens” are actually a serious, credible political force … and not so much a collection of extremists, bigots and just plain wackos!

In 2004, Indulis Emsis became Prime Minister of Latvia, the world’s first Green head of government. Greens have also been official members of coalition governments in Scandinavia, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, France, Germany …and others.

And those achievements occurred despite the plethora of other left-wing, socially-conscious parties/movements competing for the environmentally-sensitive vote.

But not so in Canada!

Even in environmentally-conscious BC, the “oldest Green Party in North America”, founded in 1983, has never been government or part of a formal coalition government. In 2017, when the Greens elected three MLAs, the party propped up the NDP minority government under a “Confidence and Supply Agreement”, but were never actually part of government.

In Vancouver, when Greens won/played a significant, if minority role, at City Hall and the Park Board, the voters tossed most of them after one term.

Federally, the Greens’ have done even worse: their popular vote has languished mostly between 2.3% and 3.9% … its all-time-high (2019) reaching only 6.5%.

Why?

I put it to you Canada’s “Greens’ are too extreme, too wacko … to be taken seriously!

Canadians see too many of them as extremists, ideological radicals insensitive to realities faced by working citizens, families, businesses, and even a party harboring terrorism-supporting revolutionaries and anti-Semites.

In Vancouver, many voters still shudder at the “record’ of pain/road disruptions/closures/restrictions and the huge costs inflicted on the citizenry (including severe impacts on families, seniors and the handicapped) when even a few Greens held sway at City Hall and the Vancouver Parks Board.

And it doesn’t look like the Greens in Canada have learned yet that support for extremism does not sell!

At a press conference called by the federal Greens, party leader Elizabeth May last week called on the federal government to stop the deportation of convicted REPEAT criminal offender Zain Haq who, according to news reports “for a period of about 16 months starting in 2021 … was one of the central figures in a series of massively disruptive illegal road blockades targeting the Vancouver area”.

“In court proceedings, Crown prosecutors tallied up the damage: Tens of thousands of transit buses, delivery drivers and motorists snarled in traffic for hours on end. Emergency vehicles unable to access St. Paul’s Hospital. Travellers missing their flights out of Vancouver International, the country’s second-busiest airport,” the National Post reported.

“Haq wasn’t only violating the law, but the terms of the student visa on which he had entered the country in 2019. Haq wasn’t meeting academic requirements, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. And — like all international students — he had entered Canada pledging to abide by the law and to leave once the terms of his study were complete.

“His blockades violated court injunctions and — in some instances — Haq was violating his own release conditions. His August 2022 blockade of Vancouver’s Cambie Street Bridge managed to violate two separate release conditions at the same time: He’d been barred from being on the bridge following his arrest at an earlier blockade, and he’d been released from immigration detention just a few weeks prior on the condition that he not organize any more blockades,” reporter Tristin Hopper explained .

(You can read the entire report here: https://link.postmedia.com/view/5c80100795a7a13c2119b5c2mtd5d.913/0ff2d3de)

“Haq is not a violent criminal, and his mischievous convictions do not meet the legal threshold for serious criminality,” his lawyer, Randall Cohn, said in a statement. “He has made a lawful application for permanent residence as the spouse of a Canadian citizen, and he has properly applied to extend the temporary status that was granted to him in April. This deportation is entirely avoidable, resulting from IRCC’s inability to locate his application.” 

May said deporting the Pakistani-born student would unjustly separate him from his Canadian wife while his spousal sponsorship application is still being considered.

I say “To hell with his spousal application”!

Getting married to a Canadian should NEVER guarantee that a repeat, convicted foreign criminal disrupter of the lives of thousands of Canadians … not even a landed immigrant, but here on a student visa …. should get to stay here!

Throw him out!

And I believe May and the Greens once more show how out of touch they remain with the feelings and anger of most Canadians by trying to get him yet another “pass’ … and the Greens are ignoring and insulting more than just the thousands who suffered directly as a result of Haq’s deliberate actions.

If he wants to fight for the climate … let him do so in Pakistan.

According to Human Rights watch “Lahore, city of 14 million people, has – again – topped rankings of world’s most polluted air.”

Here’s something Haq can read on the plane home: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/19/pakistans-deadly-air-pollution-crisis?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-fzQo7mUiwMVrqNaBR20kQKyEAAYASAAEgLaJvD_BwE.

However, I don’t recommend Haq try the same disruptive tactics there that he did here.

Harv Oberfeld

(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” for FREE First Alerts to all new postings on this Blog.)

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

USA 2025: the Year of the Mad Hatter!

Donald Trump is mad!

Look up any and every definition of the word “mad” and I daresay every Canadian (and most Americans too) would find the 47th US President fits at least one of the definitions, some would say several, and others would contend ALL.

Yes, Trump is mad … but he is not dumb … or, at least not politically.

As a news junkie and political science graduate, I have watched his popular rise and fall … and then resurrection … since he delivered his first ever political speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2011 … pushing more than a few populist buttons.

And it helps to understand the American people’s unusual, excessive adoration of wealth and celebrities … especially those who know how to “work’ their fans.

Trump offered both … looked rich, knew how to press buttons and exploit nationalistic sentiments.

Then came Trump’s unique creation: a multi-millionaire business tycoon candidate, wearing $2,000 (or more ?) suits, $200 (?) dollar shirts, $100 (?) ties …that almost none of his base could afford … but sporting a $20 Make America Great Again baseball cap that every believer could afford, buy and wear proudly as part of a movement .

It looked ridiculous to some, funny to many, and his wild, provably false statements, displays of appalling ignorance, narcissistic Tweets and, frankly, boorish, repulsive “mad’ behaviours would have spelled doom for a “normal” political candidate.

But in the United States, madness, combined with celebrity, wealth and nationalist (or even religious, racial and xenophobic) rhetoric often works! (Not even cavorting with prostitutes or criminal convictions are necessarily disqualifying factors today.)

“MAGA” pressed millions of people’s buttons and Trump’s targeted red-meat speeches struck a chord … and aided by high housing, grocery and gas prices, skyrocketing illegal immigrant numbers and fears of violent crime … Trump captured more than 77 million votes in the past election!

It was a remarkable accomplishment.

And don’t sell Trump short: domestically, he will remain quite popular if prices of gasoline and groceries fall, if Courts get tougher on violent crime and if there is a major crackdown and deportation of illegals.

Internationally, though, trouble looms.

He will bully, bluster, threaten … and, yes, inflict pain on any perceived weak adversaries, believing they will “cave” in the long run to his demands.

And, make no mistake, Trump … like many other oligarchs, dictators … will be quite willing to see his own population pay the price, even suffer, believing victory in the end will bring relief.

Canada had better be ready for that.

In the face of hurtful, job-destroying tariffs imposed on our products, we must retaliate (not just threaten) with equal import tariffs, especially on goods that can be sacrificed/substituted/imported from other countries.

Products imported into Canada from the US include: all kinds of machinery; electronic equipment; appliances; plastics; leather; rubber products; prepared foods: cereals; baked goods: pastas; fresh and processed vegetables, fruit (Washington apples, California produce, fruit, nuts; Alaska salmon, Florida oranges and juice), wines and liquors.

And virtually ALL of those goods could be sourced locally or imported from other countries that also produce them (where lower labour costs/taxes can compensate for higher transportation costs).

There is no doubt Canada has benefitted greatly from access to the US market, but what many Americans don’t know is that Canada is also the largest export market for 36 US states.

“Canada is traditionally the top U.S. export market, accounting for 14.2% of all U.S. goods exports in 2022. In 2022, Canada maintained its position as the United States’ top trading partner. Canada and the United States trade over US$2.5 billion in goods and services daily,” reports the US International Trade Administration.

And if the dispute gets really ugly, don’t be surprised to see the federal government impose EXPORT tariffs on US-bound high-demand Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity … adding even more costs to Trump’s IMPORT tariffs, making energy very expensive for US consumers.

And since Trump wants the border tightened up, how about enforcing Canada’s Customs laws on how much Canadians can bring back from the US, especially on visits of under 48 hours! (US border towns, cities, shopping malls be warned!)

A trade war will hurt both sides … but history has shown a leader who is “mad” doesn’t let facts stand in the way of his fanatical belief in his “conquering” destiny.

Since Trudeau now is on the way out, the Prime Minister will not feel as politically vulnerable or constrained in exchanging hard economic blows with Trump had he still been looking for re-election.

How ironic: a tough Trudeau could even see his poll numbers rise!

Harv Oberfeld

(Follow @harveyoberfeld on “X” (unless Musk sees this!) for FREE First Alerts of new postings on this proudly Canadian blog!)

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments