West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast Liberals held an afternoon BBQ today in honour of Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.
Ignatieff met with local supporters and politicians, and moved easily into an afternoon of handshaking and kissing babies at Horseshoe Bay Park.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff Makes Pitstop to North Shore
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39 opinions/comments:
Michael Ignatieff is an arrogant ignoramus who wishes he was an American. Why does he have to come here? This isn't the United
States...
Oh yeah Ignory. This isn't Algonquin Park either...
I see the Conservative propaganda is working. Boy you folks are gullible.
Marie-Chaton flew all the way from Montreal with her little girl, just to meet Ignatieff here? Then he picks her little girl out of the crowd to cuddle? Sounds a bit staged, or just a huge coincidence?
More than you think-
From Marie-Chaton's blog:
"Je n'étais pas partie pour ça aujourd'hui, mais j'ai reçu, ce matin, un appel du candidat Libéral de North Vancouver, Don Bell. Il m'invitait à accueillir Michael Ignatieff lors d'un petit gathering libéral à Horseshoe Bay."
Translated:
("I was not party to it today, but I received this morning a call from the Liberal candidate for North Vancouver, Don Bell. He invited me to host Michael Ignatieff at a small liberal gathering at Horseshoe Bay.")
whoever posted this blog should get it right.
It was not about Michael kissing babies.
Micheal came to greet the local supporters from greater Vancouver, Sea To Sky and Sunshine Coast.
Out of hundreds of people, I only saw 2 babies there. This is an example of things being reported out of proportion!
Barf
So Don Bell is called himself the candidate? Has the told the other people running for the position?
Other Liberal candidates? Who are they?
I survived 34 years without Michael Ignatieff. I think I'll survive the next 34 just as easily. ......Next
I live in North Van by the way. My husband works for the Olympic Game.
For the record, I voted Conservative, and I do not like Michael Ignatieff at all.
That said - I have NO idea why folks think it's a bad thing that he spent time out of the country working and going to school.
Perhaps one of you naysayers could explain to me, in a reasonable fashion, how on earth experience gained outside our country could be considered a negative?
In the interest of disclosure, I lived/worked out of the country for several years and without a doubt, it allowed me a far more practical view of the way this country runs.
Marie-Chaton, you live in N. Van yet blog in French. Why is that?
Aren't we in a bilingual country? I blog in French since my family and friends are from Quebec and they read about our family. And for your records, any political party will invite their supporters in such events. I never met Don Bell before, my name was at the Liberal National Party, since I wanted to volunteer, this is why I received an invitation. Anyways, I don't understand why anyone should be offensed by a motherthat is proud the see her daughter meet with a respected politician.
Hey Anonymous and Ignatieff groupie!
When will you stop hiding behind anonymous or not real name?
People will start taking your comments seriously, for now you have no courage and credibility.
Furthermore, giving you more attention doesn't worth it.
People like Ignatieff, Layton or Duceppe challenge some of the stupid decisions/indecisions of the Conservative party such as the EI policies that aren't the same across Canada.
And "Hugh" are you, Hugh?
Marie-Chaton, welcome to North Vancouver. I hope your stay is so enjoyable that you and your family decide to relocate here permanently. We need all the young families we can get and a few more Liberals can't hurt either!
Agreed!
Welcome to North Van Marie-Chaton!
Keep Blogging in French.
Quite refreshing to see a francophone slant to life here in BC.
This is British Columbia, when we speak another language it is Chinese not French and on North Shore it is Farsi.
French is what we are forced to pay for because of Quebec's blackmail not a language we use. Write it if you want, no one will understand it.
Anon 6:52, Speak for yourself you bigot. People like you are ruining our country. If you don't want diversity, move to the USA where your attitude is encouraged.
Good to have you here Marie-Chaton. After you have been here for awhile you may understand why the West is so strongly conservative. I have a number of friends and acquaintances who arrived here from Ontario or Quebec, very Liberal, and after realizing what was going on, became Conservatives.
You're the bigot 7:41 AM Anon, the diversity of Cantonese, Punjabi, Mandarin, Farsi speakers and many others in BC are forced to pay for French. Like this Olympic job which was only available to French speaking Quebecois.
Why would I move to the country Iggy calls his country, America?
Anon 10:16... I guess you live in a different country! I guess you need to get up from your lazy-boy!
This Country gives the possibility to get services in their languages... All Canadians pay for people who are not able to speak either english or french...
Obviously BC RCMP agent were like you and forgot that when they shot to death Robert Dziekanski...
Hugh
I think I might be able to explain why it is a problem that Ignatieff was our of country for so long.
The problem is not the fact that he was away from Canada but that he didn't care for Canada a bit, before he decided to run as a candidate in federal election. Before that, he called UK and US "his countries", declared being a patriot of US, not Canada, and then when he comes back he expects people to be grateful for him coming back. I am not sure if this will answer your question but I tried.
Anon 5:28...
"People like Ignatieff, Layton or Duceppe challenge some of the stupid decisions/indecisions of the Conservative party such as the EI policies that aren't the same across Canada."
They aren't the same across Canada because Chretien and Martin changed the rules in 1996 to reduce the draw down on the EI fund so they could divert $50 billion from EI into general Revenue.
It takes a good deal chutzpah for North Vancouver Conservatives to blast Igantieff for "just visiting". For if Iggy is "just visiting", so is Saxton.
As for Ignatieff's my fellow Americans moments, dare I say this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Prior to Obama's election it is hard to think of single Conservative talking point that had not already been Republican talking point. Of course, Harper took things a step further. He was serial Canada basher too. To wit:
1) Stephen Harper: “Any country with Canada’s insecure smugness and resentment can be dangerous.”
2) Stephen Harper "Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status"
3) Stephen Harper: “Whether Canada ends up as one national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion."
4) Stephen Harper: “Canada is a Northern Welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.”
5) Stephen Harper: “I delivered [speeches] everywhere I went … about the spirit of defeatism in the country” National Post, May 31 2002
6) Stephen Harper: “west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society.”
Harper is very inciteful. It's too bad our system typically advances nicey nicey whelps like Dion instead of celebrating straight shooters like Harper.
Well done Stevo.
Anon June 9 7:41.00 AM, I think Anon June 9 6:52:00 and Anon June 9 10:16:00 AM are Chinese-Canadian. In case you haven't been told yet, Asians are the majority in Greater Vancouver. Mandarin Chinese will be the largest nationality and will be the most-used language in the country in two, and the most three, generations (and well within the lifetime of many people on this blog). Simple arithmetic. French, unfortunately, will not even matter then.
That is not meant to be a criticism of Chinese-Canadians, by the way. Merely a statement of fact.
Yeah, I'm third generation Chinese. I speak three languages. My ancestors had Acts of Parliament passed again them.
We don't care about "deals" that Europeans made over 200 years ago. A few years from now, people from Asia will be the majority in not only BC, but Toronto and even parts of Quebec. We live in a democracy and we will vote for democratic change that doesn't give special rights to one group of old white people.
It's a democracy you can't stop it, it's the natural course of history.
And for that we can thank Pierre Trudeau. This used to be such a good country.
First Nations bands had better get everything that Gordon Campbell is offering them now, and more if possible, because if that poster has his way they will end up last and with nothing.
Anon June 10, 2009 7:56:00 PM, you're coming off as quite the racist. If you want a melting pot, your family came to the wrong country. You need to move South.
Two Issues:
1) Ignatieff's Visit (the point of this topic) I think that he really really wants to be Prime Minister (he even moved here from the U.S to try it out) which is admirable. I just think that it's a little arrogant to put the entire country through an election to satisfy his personal ambition. Given that if this little adventure doesn't work out for him, he claims he wants to move back to the U.S and Harvard, I don't think the average Canadian will give him the time of day - let alone the keys. Particularly in the middle of a global recession in which Canada under our Canadian PM is faring far better than anywhere else.
2) I would suggest that those involved get off the race issue. It's just not helpfull. However, I found the post by the Chinese fellow, more than a wee bit smug. Liberal democracy is a gift of the west, and always needs to be respected.
If by "under our Canadian PM" you mean Paul Martin then you are correct. Canada's global position of relative strength is a product of Paul Martin's fiscal policies. Had the Harper regime had more time in office before the recession we would be in a much more precarious position.
Remember, the first quarterly deficit came a full year before we were in a recession. Harper had slashed revenue while introducing the largest federal budgets in history. Then came the bad news about the world economy and tanking commodity prices.
We will survive this fiasco DESPITE not because of the Conservatives.
And Iggy will be PM; the question now is minority or majority. It is getting close to a sweep in Ontario for the Liberals.
Martin, under Chretien, was forced into those policies because, as Chretien quite clearly stated in a TV interview, was essentially about to have its debt called internationally. Martin was extremely fortunate in having years of huge income surpluses in a booming world economy, to use to balance the books. In spite of this, comparatively little of the national debt was paid down. It could, and should, have been paid down much more, but had the Liberal government not been forced to do something it would likely have not done anything and would have continued to put Canada further in the hole financially.
Oh how I hope North Conservatives forge ahead with this talking point. Let us see how easy 1 can be turned into 2.
1) Ignatieff's Visit (the point of this topic) I think that he really really wants to be Prime Minister (he even moved here from the U.S to try it out) which is admirable. I just think that it's a little arrogant to put the entire country through an election to satisfy his personal ambition. Given that if this little adventure doesn't work out for him, he claims he wants to move back to the U.S and Harvard, I don't think the average Canadian will give him the time of day - let alone the keys. Particularly in the middle of a global recession in which Canada under our Canadian PM is faring far better than anywhere else.
2) I think that Saxton really wanted to be MP(he even moved here from Singapore to try it out) which is admirable. I just think that it's a little to arrogant paracute into a community in which he has no personal connection to just to satisfy his personal ambition. Given that he can always go back to Singapore, Hong Kong or Switzerland, if his little adventure does not pan out, I don't think North Vancouver will again vote him in as there MP.
Except that Saxton did not move here from Singapore to "try it out." He and his family have a long and honourable association with North Vancouver, and Saxton was living and working back in Vancouver long before deciding to run for the nomination. Also, he moved back to North Vancouver years ago.
Anon 9:17:00 AM - You have to to be kidding...really?
Canada's realitive strength is because the Conservatives have created the enviroment for stability - That's a given, please read your financial press.
Harper has run the most effective minority goverments in Canadian history and everyone knows this. If you believe that the next election will result in a Liberal sweep under the smug American Ignatieff you're sadly mistaken.
Canada needs to be run by solid Canadians, not waffly American intellectuals from the East. Ignatieff has no traction in the West and never will.
Best of luck though.
Cheers.
I think Harper had a majority for the taking last fall but blew it with some incredibly ham-fisted actions in Ontario and Quebec just before the election.
Thus he is seen by the opposition parties as vulnerable.
Since I'm a Conservative, I want to see a strong performance in the next 6-12 months followed by a majority - and that means governing with a much softer hand than previously.
His main problem is that he's seen as stern and inflexible and while those who know him say that's not at all the reality, people DO think that way. That needs to change to get the majority that I feel he's earned.
But please no more "put the boots to the opposition" cause that just ain't necessary!
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