Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 11, 2015
Stephen Harper deliberately sowing fear against Muslims: Justin Trudeau
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of deliberately sowing fear and prejudice against Muslims in Canada.
The charge came in a strongly worded speech Mr. Trudeau delivered in Toronto Monday night to highlight his views on the importance of liberty in Canadian society.
“These are troubling times,” the Liberal leader told a gathering organized by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “Across Canada, and especially in my home province, Canadians are being encouraged by their government to be fearful of one another.
“Fear is a dangerous thing. Once it is sanctioned by the state, there is no telling where it might lead. It is always a short path to walk from being suspicious of our fellow citizens to taking actions to restrict their liberty.”
In his speech, Mr. Trudeau castigated the prime minister for his comments last month in the wake of a court ruling that struck down the government’s policy that forbid Muslim women to wear the niqab, a religious garment, over the face during citizenship ceremonies.
At the time, Mr. Harper said his government would appeal the ruling because wearing a niqab during the ceremony is “offensive” and it’s “not how we do things here.”
In subsequent days, the Conservative party reinforced that message to its supporters and financial donors, as the Tories gear up for an election campaign.
“We all know what is going on here,” Mr. Trudeau said of Mr. Harper and the Tories. “It is nothing less than an attempt to play on people’s fears and foster prejudice, directly toward the Muslim faith.”
Mr. Trudeau said people can dislike the niqab and refer to it as a symbol of oppression.
“This is a free country. Those are your rights. But those who would use the state’s power to restrict women’s religious freedom and freedom of expression indulge the very same repressive impulse that they profess to condemn.
“It is a cruel joke to claim you are liberating people from oppression by dictating in law what they can and cannot choose to wear.” (Source: National Post)
Letters to the Editor
Muslim radicals a worldwide threat Editorial cartoon
Excellent editorial cartoon of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s blatant, juvenile sucking up to curry voter turn out.
What are not humorous however, are his recent comments equating a real fear of extremism to Canada’s past “dark days.” Unless he, and as an extension, his party, have their heads in the ground and/or stuck up a certain body part, Muslim radicals are a worldwide cancer, and a threat, not dissimilar to any and all past savage regimes — Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Papa Doc etc., the list is long and documented. IS and Boko Haram are indeed terrorist organizations bent on world domination through the use of violence. I read a quote somewhere “the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists, however, the vast majority of terrorists are Muslim.” I believe Trudeau is in over his head, and I fear for Canada should he, God forbid, become prime minister.