Michael Ignatieff,
You hold the position of the Leader of the Loyal Opposition in our House. You may be aware of this, if so, this is not coming across to the electorate. As the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, you have the honour and the priviledge and the duty to stand up in our House and demand accountability from the minority Government who seems to enjoy your confidence so consistantly lately.
My Member of Parliament has recently announced his (lame duck) retirement from politics and so I see little reason to bother him. That is why I’m going over his head. I have no choice. I have no Representation in Parliament.
My son left for pre-deployment training this morning, for a mission that I and many Canadians, maybe a majority of Canadians, believe to be unwinnable, immoral and illegal. You must know that the Afghan people will look at any NATO uniform as a Hostile Occupying Force, propping up an illegitimate corrupt puppet government with no democratic credibility. They will be targetted accordingly. Regardless of the status on the mission statement. Women and children will continue to suffer disproportionately. The insurgency will continue to be fed by NATO trained and equipped ANF/ ANP deserters. I’m guessing the casualties will not be treated as veterans, if they are lucky enough to return. Will NATO continue to negotiate with Taliban and ignore RAWA and Malalai Joya? For a smallish woman, she is certainly the elephant in this room. Why do her words of wisdom continually fall on such deaf ears? You cannot impose democracy, it must be won by the citizens!
I don’t know who’s funding you, but from here it looks like the same Corporations that are funding the Conservatives. You have ignored opportunities to correct the problems this government has with Parliament in the Afghan Detainee issue, the free trade issues and it’s encroachment on our sovereignty, the omnibus budget and it’s ridiculous “mandate-in-a-budget”, the willful ignorance shown by the conservatives on what constitutes democracy in a Westminster Parliamentary Democracy.
I hold you as responsible as Stephen Harper for this undemocratic mess. You are in a position, more than anyone else in the entire country, to hold this ideological quagmire to account. Yet you continue to prop them up. It undermines your legitimacy as Liberal Leader. You will not receive the mandate you request from the electorate until you develop a policy platform that shows Canadians the vision we need to progress. Until you can show us a way forward for the progressive social democracy that we all want to be, you will continue to prop up this failed State and the western world will leave us in the dust. Your choice, Mr. Ignatieff, Man up.
![[small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg]](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WGczmWu7Wwc/SdCJyy2LN1I/AAAAAAAABWE/ABYCkbJaKaQ/s1600/small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg)
Well, at least Ignatieff spared us the “I will be watching you like a hawk” this time around.
Like you say, the mission is immoral and, likely, illegal too. Only those who are ignorant of the history of Aghanistan would have thought that the mission was winnable (these guys had fought off Alexander the Great, two British invasions and a 10 year long Soviet occupation). We are supporting the druglords and warloads who form the Northern Alliance. Many of these NA guys are communists and had supported the Soviet invasion which killed over a million Afghans. Many of the casualties were women and children. Additionally, the Soviets and their NA allies displaced some 6 million people. Drug production has increased over 90% since our puppet, Karzai, took over. The Taliban, being religious, were against the drug trade (thus the mice were happy once the Taliban-cats had been chased to the mountains). So now Harper and Ignatieff are telling Canadians that to admit our mistakes and leave Afghanistan immediately would be a disrespect for the Canadians lives that had been lost to support this?
Ignatieff demands details of the mission from Harper AFTER both he and Rae had publicly stated that they would not be forcing a vote on the issue. Very similar strategy to his enumerating all the things that were wrong with the budget and then turning around and voting to pass the budget without a single amendment. Clearly, either the Libs were in agreement with Harper on extending our stay or Ignatieff must be one very, very slow learner. Bob Rae did surprise me though — I had thought that he was a smarter politician than this.
Why would Ignatieff/Rae share the anger and frustration associated with the extension of the mission with Harper? Sometimes, I have to wonder if there really is a coalition between the Cons and Libs or is Ignatieff really a Cons mole inside the Lib party?
ck Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 8:57 PM
…have to wonder if there really is a coalition between the Cons and Libs or is Ignatieff really a Cons mole inside the Lib party?
Highly unlikely. Harper is a junta lite dictator, far more frightening than Iggy could ever be.
I do, however, believe, well more than believe, I’m actually pretty sure that both have been approched by some serious lobbiests. There is no other explanation.
Speaking of coalitions; You wanna quasi coalition to look for? How’s about the Bloc Quebecois and Stephen Harper?
http://www.hilltimes.com/page/view/votes-11-15-2010
Everybody keeps pairing the Bloc and NDP in this vehement opposition to this new mission. However, if one takes the time to look and read and listen, it’s Jack Layton and the NDP making the most noise. Duceppe is only making some tepid noises; nothing really compelling. Plus, Duceppe did sign with the Liberals and the Harpercons on that thingey regarding detainee documents. I remembered all the rage against the Liberals, but the bloc’s participation was largely ignored.
Yes, I looked today and Gilles Duceppe has supported the war in the past, but was strangely silent about this issue today. I thought the bloc was a progressive socialist leaning party, but maybe Mr. Duceppe is willing to trade Canadian lives for international support for Quebec the Nation State, or something like that.
I think that all parties have been lobbied alright ck, they know full well who they work for, and it isn’t us! Except maybe the NDP. I’m grateful to Jack Layton for standing up on this issue.
ck Reply:
November 16th, 2010 at 10:22 PM
The bloc a socialist leaning party–believe it or not, if you read Duceppe’s history, he was once a Maoist communist. Many of his generation along with many of the FLQ also had affiliations with communist groups in Quebec and there were witch hunts. A former co-worker’s husband was arrested for such communist affiliations back in the day. I digress…
It is a left leaning party–depending on the leader. When it first came out, led by Lucien Bouchard, I suspect it was more centered; let’s not forget where Bouchard was before, in Mulroney’s cabinet. Under Duceppe, it did go left leaning.
However, now he is concentrating on getting Quebec sovereignty; I suspect the arena is a smoke screen, more than anything else. Let’s not forget that Pierre-Karl Peladeau does appear to have close ties with Harper and has been lobbying hard to have a publicly funded hockey arena, while he would bankroll a financially insolvent team from the Southern US.
When Harper left the door open a crack regarding funding for that arena, Harper’s numbers went up in La Belle Province at the expense of the Bloc, not the Liberals or the NDP (not that the NDP can go any lower; they only have one seat here). I first thought to myself: Duceppe, what the fuck are you doing? Then I remembered one thing Chantal Hebert wrote in her column a long time ago: Duceppe’s ideal conditions for a “yes” win on sovereignty in the next referendum would mean a Harper majority. So, one has to wonder…
Any of those columnists, pundits and bloggers automatically assuming that the Bloc is joining Layton’s outcry is not paying close enough attention.
Thanks for the insight ck, an interesting man for sure, and one that bears watching. I think these pundit types may be just reading copy from the PMO most of the time, especially regarding scarey socialist coalitions. Seems to me, the coalition action is all on the Cons, they’ll get into bed with anyone apparently!
The invasion of Afghanistan was on the American drawing board well before 9/11/01. It was a war Canada never should have joined, and it’s time we got out.
Tell Parliament what you think of this atrocious policy. Join the Virtual March on Ottawa, Nov. 18. More information at the Canadian Peace Alliance: http://www.acp-cpa.ca/en/VirtualMarch.html