Who ever would have guessed that there
would be even more concerns about the proposed new “Office of Religious
Freedoms” that the government is planning on building within the Department of
Foreign Affairs? You see, other countries that have tried (like the States)
have wound up with a department that simply issues government-to-government
press releases and talking points. It can’t actually do much, and for such an
office of our own to be effective, we’d have to staff it with some people highly
trained in areas of theology, history, culture, language, and diplomacy. And on
a $5 million budget, can we actually do that effectively? Not to mention that
already, Christian groups in Canada (for whom this office’s creation is
pandering to) are already sceptical that when it comes to trade versus human
rights, trade wins out every time. Not an auspicious start, then.
But then you have to look at what this kind
of an office represents, and it quickly becomes apparent – a hierarchy of human
rights, where religious freedoms start trumping others. On top of that, those
countries where Christians are being persecuted are problems with human rights
abuses in general, and do we really think this office will actually say
anything about the rights of Muslims being trampled in countries like France,
the Netherlands or Switzerland? It seems unlikely. And so, we are left to
wonder whether this really is a $5 million sop to the evangelical community in
this country, which sees itself as a persecuted minority looking to be pandered
to (if their lawyers before the Supreme Court at the Whatcott trial were any
indication).
It seems that the initial production run of
the F-35 fighter jets we’re supposed to get won’t be able to communicate in the
Arctic. You know, that vast region that we’re going to have them patrolling?
Also, doing so on a single engine, without the search and rescue capacity in
the event that something goes wrong with said single engine? Can somebody
please remind me why we’re buying these things again?
The government has been cutting back on the
number of pieces of contemporary art it rents from the Art Bank – even at the
department of Canadian Heritage.
Kady O’Malley keeps her eye on the current
batch of Private Members’ business and finds three pieces of opposition
legislation has been given the warning that it will require a Royal Recommendation
(as they will cost the treasury money), which they are unlikely to get from the
government, while the presumptive first bill – on requiring financial
disclosure data by unions – has been bumped down while it too is being reviewed
on the likelihood it would require a Royal Recommendation. So you see why
private members’ bills are tricky business?
And Susan Delacourt talks to former Prime
Minister John Turner about his new biography, and what he sees as the
diminishing role for backbench MPs. Also, Liberal Party: not dead yet.
