David Cameron

Saturday September 27, 2014

Saturday September 27, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 27, 2014

Stephen Harper more open with Americans, UN than with Parliament

Stephen Harper made an important announcement Wednesday about Canada’s willingness to do more in the battle to stop Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

You might have missed it, though, because the prime minister let it slip during a question and answer session before a business audience in New York City.

Wednesday September 3, 2014Harper told an interviewer that Canada will consider stepping up its contribution to the US-led effort to stop ISIS, apparently at the direct request of the Obama administration.

“The United States just recently, in the past couple of days, has asked for some additional contribution,” Harper said, before deflecting questions about what kind of support was being sought.

“Since they didn’t release the letter publicly I’m not going to do that,” he went on.  “I’ll just say the government of Canada will make a decision on that very shortly.”

Canadian government sources indicated later that the request is “not for combat” troops. So as information goes, it’s a shred.

Saturday September 13, 2014But it’s more detail than what the Conservatives have shared in the Commons, where opposition parties can barely get the government to divulge anything about the role Canadian Forces personnel already are playing in northern Iraq, or even how long those soldiers might stay.

Harper also didn’t mention the U.S. request at a news conference on Monday, when a reporter asked what concrete action Canada would take in response to new threats from ISIS to target Canadians.

Stephen Harper Crusader King Stephen Harper Crusader KingNow, this isn’t the first time Harper chose to announce significant government policy overseas. Canadians first learned of the plans to make them wait longer to collect Old Age Security from a speech the PM gave in Davos, Switzerland in 2012.

When it comes to an audience, Harper obviously prefers barons of business to members of Parliament. (Continued: CBC News)

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

 

Post by Enough Harper.

Tuesday March 25, 2014

Tuesday March 25, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 25, 2014

G7 leaders agree to abandon Sochi summit, will hold June meeting in Brussels

G7 Leaders agreed Monday to hold their own summit in Brussels, abandoning plans for a scheduled G8 summit with Russia in Sochi amid political turmoil in Ukraine.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014In a joint statement, Western nations and Japan said it will “suspend” its participation in the G8 until Russia “changes course,” and that they will meet in G7 “format” for the summit in Brussels.

The decision comes as G7 leaders held an emergency session in The Hague to discuss what to do about Russia in light of the ongoing crisis in eastern Europe.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged his G7 counterparts to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin from the G8 due Russia’s recent annexation of Crimea and its aggression toward Ukraine.

Tuesday June 18, 2013Earlier, Harper said discussions on Russia will have to be made a priority over economic concerns.

Harper and his fellow G7 leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, gathered at the official residence of the Dutch Prime Minister.

A Russia-European summit that was scheduled for June 3 in Sochi was previously cancelled. (Source: CTV News)

CONTEXT – U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, West Germany, June 12, 1987:

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Graeme MacKayBy Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Online porn: David Cameron declares war

The Prime Minister is to outline plans for every UK internet user to be asked whether they want access to pornography.

Every internet user in the country will be asked whether they want to have access to pornography, David Cameron will say, as he warns that hardcore images are “corroding childhood”.

A joint British and American “task force” will be created to tackle obscene websites, while Google and other search engine providers will be required to draw up a “blacklist” of the most depraved and illegal search terms, the Prime Minister will announce.

The initiatives will also include new measures to stop children accidentally stumbling across explicit but legal pornographic images in public places, according to well-placed sources. The six biggest companies providing access to wireless internet in cafés and railway stations have all signed a deal to block legal pornography where children could view it. The roll-out of “family friendly Wi-Fi” is expected to begin from the end of August.

The moves follow concern that hardcore and violent images are damaging children’s lives while access to illegal child pornography has been linked to high profile crimes.

Mark Bridger, who was convicted of murdering five-year-old April Jones, and Stuart Hazell, who murdered Tia Sharp, 12, were both found to have viewed child pornography online. Children’s watchdogs have also found that boys’ attitudes to women and girls were in danger of being shaped by their easy access to pornography online. (Source: The Telegraph)

Tuesday June 18, 2013

Tuesday June 18, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 18, 2013

‘Thugs’ vs. cannibals as Putin and Harper Trade Barbs

This week’s G8 summit at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, got off to the worst possible start as talks between the two leaders immediately stalled.

Putin refused to stop providing arms to Bashar al-Assad and rebuked Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama for aiding the rebels fighting the Syrian leader.

“You will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras,” Putin said at a press conference. “Are these the people you want to support?”

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was equally blunt ahead of the G8 meeting, saying that Putin, Assad’s only big-power ally at the G8 table, was supporting thugs.

“We are not, unless there is a big shift in position on his part, going to get a common position with him at the G8.”

The United States said last week it would step up military aid to Syrian rebels — a move which officials said would involve supplying the Western-backed Supreme Military Council with automatic weapons, light mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

The European Union has also dropped its arms embargo on Syria, allowing France and Britain to arm the rebels, though the two countries say they have no immediate plans to do so. (Source: The National Post)