Liberal Party of Canada

Thursday May 29, 2014

Thursday May 29, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 29, 2014

Justin Trudeau responds to ‘bozo eruption’ comment

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has responded to remarks made by one of his MPs, John McKay, about how Trudeau had a “bozo eruption” when he announced Liberal parliamentarians cannot vote in favour of anti-abortion motions or bills.

“Mr. Trudeau respects Mr. McKay. Mr. McKay has strong, personal feelings about this issue and often in those situations people say things that they come to regret. Mr. Trudeau has been very clear that his job is to make decisions that safeguard the rights of all Canadians and that is why he is steadfast in his belief of a woman’s right to choose,” reads a statement issued by Trudeau’s office Monday night.

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McKay, an evangelical Christian who has never hidden his anti-abortion position, was secretly recorded during a conversation he had in Toronto over the weekend.

“I initially thought it was a bozo eruption; that he didn’t actually think about what he said,” McKay reportedly said of Trudeau’s initial position stating new members of his caucus could not hold anti-abortion views.

Trudeau later said Liberal members would be expected to vote against any bill that would restrict a woman’s right to have access to safe, legal abortions, in order to respect the charter.

According to a CTV News report, McKay was recorded saying to an unknown person, “If you don’t know this is a toxic issue for a population, then you have no political sense whatsoever.”

McKay’s comments echo those of recently retired Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who told Evan Solomon, host of CBC News Network’s Power & Politics, that Trudeau’s dictum on abortion “would hurt the party.” (Source: CBC News)

       

 

Friday, May 23, 2014

Friday, May 23, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, May 23, 2014

Justin Trudeau attributes abortion stance to father’s example

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he is following an example set by his famous father when it comes to his position on election candidates and abortion.

In an email to supporters Monday, Trudeau offered a “personal reflection” to anyone who has concerns about his decision to turn away new candidates who are unwilling to vote pro-choice on relevant Liberal legislation.

“I had an extraordinary example in a father who had deeply, deeply held personal views that were informed by the fact that he went to church every Sunday, read the Bible regularly to us, and raised us very religiously, as Catholics,” Trudeau wrote.

“But at the same time my father had no problem legalizing divorce, decriminalizing homosexuality and moving in ways that recognized the basic rights of the people.’

“He too held fast to his beliefs. But he also understood that as leaders, as political figures, and as representatives of a larger community, our utmost responsibility is to stand up for people’s rights.”

Trudeau says he shares his father’s view of leadership in that regard.

“Canadians of all views are welcome within the Liberal Party of Canada. But under my leadership, incoming Liberal MPs will always vote in favour of a woman’s fundamental rights,” he wrote.

“When it comes to actively supporting women’s rights, our party must speak with one voice.”

Toronto’s Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Thomas Collins, has written to Trudeau, urging him to allow candidates to be faithful to their conscience.

Trudeau says while he welcomes input from the prelate, his party is committed to the values laid out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (Source: CBC News)

REPUBLISHED in National Newswatch, Winnipeg Free Press, Red Deer Advocate, Brandon Sun, Prince George Citizen (BC)

 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

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

Trudeau skips out as Liberal conventioneers vote to legalize assisted suicide

Federal Liberals have voted in favour of legalizing assisted suicide but whether Leader Justin Trudeau will run with the idea is a mystery.

Trudeau was not in the room Sunday when delegates to the party’s national convention passed a resolution urging that voluntary, medically assisted death be decriminalized — although moments earlier he had been just outside the convention hall, cheering as the Canadian men’s hockey team won Olympic gold.

He was in the room later when delegates gave him an overwhelming, after-the-fact endorsement of his decision to kick senators out of the Liberal caucus.

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Delegates also passed a raft of potentially costly resolutions that included supporting many big-ticket items:

— An $18-billion-a-year investment in infrastructure.
— Creation of a basic annual income.
— A national transportation strategy.
— Funding for aboriginal education on reserves equal to that spent on provincially operated schools.
— Increased funding for mental health services.
— Expansion and enhancement of the Canada Pension Plan.

[caption id=”” align=”alignleft” width=”298″] Layoffs hit everyone[/caption]

None of the resolutions are binding on the leader and, since he gave no closing remarks and did not hold the traditional wrap-up news conference at the convention’s end, it was unclear which resolutions Trudeau believes should make their way into a 2015 election platform or how a Liberal government would pay for them.

He did give a number of one-on-one television interviews — which were taped before the resolutions were voted upon.

In an interview with Global’s Tom Clark, Trudeau, who has promised not to hike corporate or income taxes or the GST, said the debate to come will be over where to spend the surplus the Harper government has forecast for next year. (Source: Yahoo News Canada)

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Saturday February 22, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 22, 2014

Lots of Cheering in Canada this Weekend

Four years after winning gold on home ice in Vancouver, the Canadians will get a chance to make it two in a row Sunday against Sweden after beating the United States 1-0 in the Olympic semifinals Friday at Bolshoy Ice Dome.

This time, though, it was made possible by a few players who weren’t around in 2010, namely Jamie Benn and Carey Price. Benn scored for Canada on a pretty pass from fellow newcomer Jay Bouwmeester, and Price — chosen by coach Mike Babcock to start over Vancouver golden goalie Roberto Luongo — had 31 saves to make it stand up.

Canada’s victory came a day after the women’s team staged an improbable late comeback to beat the United States for its fourth straight gold medal. Babcock and his players said that victory taught them that “you don’t give in.”

Of course the way Team Canada got to the gold-medal game was very different. It hasn’t trailed for even one second at these Olympics. (Source: CTV News)

Meanwhile, Liberals gathered in Montreal for a policy convention this weekend, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s opening speech Thursday evening took shots at the Harper government, saying Canadians are tired of the tactics of fear and division practised by the Conservatives.

Trudeau also aimed broadsides at the Quebec government of Pauline Marois and the NDP.

The previous leader’s aloofness

In a speech that was earlier broadcast by mistake on closed-circuit television to the media room as it was being rehearsed, Trudeau said Canadians should have trust in the diversity of Quebec despite the Quebec charter of values bill proposed by Marois’s government that would ban the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in provincially funded jobs.

Trudeau praised the diversity he says he knows exists in Quebec, despite “the divisions that are being stoked in this province these days.”

He said he has no wish to join “Mr. Harper and Mr. Mulcair in a contest to see who can make Canadians angrier.” (Source: CBC News)

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Événement du siècle : week-end libéral à Montréal. Shared on L’Expérience lol78

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Thursday, January 30, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, January 30, 2014

Justin Trudeau removes senators from Liberal caucus

Justin Trudeau has expelled from his caucus every single Liberal member of the upper house and has declared there is no longer any such thing as a Liberal Senator.

The Liberal leader said the former members of the Liberal Senate caucus will sit as Independents, and they will have no formal ties to the Liberal parliamentary machinery apart from through their friendships.

Trudeau’s decision will see some lifelong Liberals and key party operators and fundraisers removed from the party’s caucus and forced outside its inner circles – a foundation-shaking decision in a business where power is derived from membership in a political club and the ability to access its best back rooms.

“The only way to be a part of the Liberal caucus is to be put there by the people of Canada,” Trudeau said.

The move stunned both Liberal senators and senior Liberal Senate staffers, who had not been formally advised of the decision. It also blindsided veteran insiders and political observers who had no inkling about the change.

 

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Trudeau’s surprise move came as all parties held their caucus meetings in Ottawa.

Those meetings typically include both MPs and senators.

But sources told CBC News that Liberal MPs and senators were separated and sent to meet in different rooms.

Trudeau advised senators of his decision just after 9 a.m.

Sources said the senators listened and did not ask many questions.

“The Senate is broken and needs to be fixed,” Trudeau told them.

At a news conference just a few minutes later, Trudeau explained why he had made the decision. (Source: CBC News)