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I (naively) hoped that this wouldn't re-surface but now that it has, I'm not surprised. Harper and Co. are steadfast in toadying up to Washington and Co. and se

I (naively) hoped that this wouldn't re-surface but now that it has, I'm not surprised. Harper and Co. are steadfast in toadying up to Washington and Co. and seem to not only disregard the numerous times similar legislation has been shot down, but the fact that almost this exact same legislation has been shot down everywhere but the US. This in particular is politics at it's worst and anyone that actually uses this line should be ashamed of themselves: "The bill will likely be promoted as protecting public health, however, there is a danger that the provisions could be used to stop the entry of legitimate generic medicines." Right out of the US playbook.

corresation 14y ago
Harper and Co. are steadfast in toadying up to Washington and Co. Such partisanship is not necessary: ALL Canadian parties toady up to the US, given that it's 10x our size and are our overwhelmingly dominant trading partner.
- RyanMcGreal 14y ago
  Some toady a lot more than others.
- graeme 14y ago
  Err....do you remember the Iraq war? We weren't in it. Harper demanded that we enter. That was a pretty big deal at the time. The other parties do toady, but there has been a significant increase in toadying under this government. They believe in what they're doing. I do recall there was a fair bit of Americanized copyright legislation under the liberals though. It just kept failing to pass due to frequent changes of government near the end.
  - corresation 14y ago
    Err....do you remember the Iraq war? We weren't in it. Harper demanded that we enter. Firstly, the opposition generally will be against whatever the party in office does. However to your actual example, while that is the standard revisionism, it's completely wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qx6fwn8XM&noredirect=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qx6fwn8XM&noredirect=1 Harper didn't demand that we were in it. He demanded that we be honest about what we were doing in Iraq. At the same time the Liberals proudly promised that they were working overtime to convince the UN Security Council to allow the invasion of Iraq, at which point we would be in there guns in hand. So compare that to what you just said (I don't blame you as it is the completely standard narrative). -We were in Iraq -We were working all channels to get the UN to sanction the war -Then we would be in the war
wheaties 14y ago
Corporations who want legislation passed will try repeatedly until it is passed. They have no incentive not to. What really matters is just how many people will continually combat this. Eventually people tire of fighting and they win.
kafkaesque 14y ago
Honestly, I know politics isn't allowed on this site, but this is why I'm hoping the States will reject the Keystone XL pipeline. If they do, it kind of gives me some hope that all the toadying up would diminish, if at least slightly.
znowi 14y ago
All my Canadian friends are frustrated with Harper. I wonder how did he get elected in the first place? :) From aside, it feels like Canada is being infested with neoliberal policies in disguise under the very leadership of the Prime Minster. Don't let them spoil "the best part of North America" :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtVrDPhHBg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtVrDPhHBg
- mindstab 14y ago
  The same way bush got elected twice (despite all the tech people I hear from in the US hating him): a quiet(ish) massive population of conservatives coexisting uneasily with us. In Canada especially in our rather significant rural areas like the prairie provinces.
  - kafkaesque 14y ago
    Wait...I don't mean to spread false information, so please, anyone, correct me if I am totally off base, and I will even delete my comment, but... I thought it was pretty much agreed upon that George Bush Jr. won through voting machines that had been tampered with and because voting ended as soon as Bush had the majority vote in Florida, when in reality it was later found out Al Gore had more votes. Or did I just pull that out of my ass? Again, if it is false, I'll gladly remove this comment since I was watching it all (i.e., the American gov't) crumble from Canada. Edit: Or was all that just conspiracy theory?
    - graeme 14y ago
      The quantity of votes isn't the determining issue in American election. Instead, it matters whether you win a majority of electoral college votes. Florida had enough votes to swing the electoral college. There was a big controversy about this, and a Supreme Court case, and frankly I have no idea what actually happened.
    - joelrunyon 14y ago
      Bush had more electoral votes. Gore won the popular vote. There were issues in Florida which determined the electoral votes and pushed the state to Bush. Electoral votes are what mater: Bush won.
vy8vWJlco 14y ago
I also naively thought that by "killing" C-30, the online surveillance bill, the Canadian government was respecting the wishes of Canadians who vomited all over it. C-55, introduced on the exact same day, however, retains the ability to bypass warrants, at police discretion. Couple that with the ratification of ACTA (which the EU flat out said NO to), and escalating language over copyright, and C-30 is still on the Canadian government's agenda. All they did was boil it down to the crux: warrants come second. Edit: I submitted to HN for discussion a relevant article by Openmedia.ca... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5308784 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5308784

corresation 14y ago

Harper and Co. are steadfast in toadying up to Washington and Co. Such partisanship is not necessary: ALL Canadian parties toady up to the US, given that it's 10x our size and are our overwhelmingly dominant trading partner.

RyanMcGreal 14y ago
Some toady a lot more than others.
graeme 14y ago
Err....do you remember the Iraq war? We weren't in it. Harper demanded that we enter. That was a pretty big deal at the time. The other parties do toady, but there has been a significant increase in toadying under this government. They believe in what they're doing. I do recall there was a fair bit of Americanized copyright legislation under the liberals though. It just kept failing to pass due to frequent changes of government near the end.
- corresation 14y ago
  Err....do you remember the Iraq war? We weren't in it. Harper demanded that we enter. Firstly, the opposition generally will be against whatever the party in office does. However to your actual example, while that is the standard revisionism, it's completely wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qx6fwn8XM&noredirect=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-qx6fwn8XM&noredirect=1 Harper didn't demand that we were in it. He demanded that we be honest about what we were doing in Iraq. At the same time the Liberals proudly promised that they were working overtime to convince the UN Security Council to allow the invasion of Iraq, at which point we would be in there guns in hand. So compare that to what you just said (I don't blame you as it is the completely standard narrative). -We were in Iraq -We were working all channels to get the UN to sanction the war -Then we would be in the war

wheaties 14y ago

Corporations who want legislation passed will try repeatedly until it is passed. They have no incentive not to. What really matters is just how many people will continually combat this. Eventually people tire of fighting and they win.

kafkaesque 14y ago

Honestly, I know politics isn't allowed on this site, but this is why I'm hoping the States will reject the Keystone XL pipeline. If they do, it kind of gives me some hope that all the toadying up would diminish, if at least slightly.

znowi 14y ago

All my Canadian friends are frustrated with Harper. I wonder how did he get elected in the first place? :) From aside, it feels like Canada is being infested with neoliberal policies in disguise under the very leadership of the Prime Minster. Don't let them spoil "the best part of North America" :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtVrDPhHBg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtVrDPhHBg

mindstab 14y ago
The same way bush got elected twice (despite all the tech people I hear from in the US hating him): a quiet(ish) massive population of conservatives coexisting uneasily with us. In Canada especially in our rather significant rural areas like the prairie provinces.
- kafkaesque 14y ago
  Wait...I don't mean to spread false information, so please, anyone, correct me if I am totally off base, and I will even delete my comment, but... I thought it was pretty much agreed upon that George Bush Jr. won through voting machines that had been tampered with and because voting ended as soon as Bush had the majority vote in Florida, when in reality it was later found out Al Gore had more votes. Or did I just pull that out of my ass? Again, if it is false, I'll gladly remove this comment since I was watching it all (i.e., the American gov't) crumble from Canada. Edit: Or was all that just conspiracy theory?
  - graeme 14y ago
    The quantity of votes isn't the determining issue in American election. Instead, it matters whether you win a majority of electoral college votes. Florida had enough votes to swing the electoral college. There was a big controversy about this, and a Supreme Court case, and frankly I have no idea what actually happened.
  - joelrunyon 14y ago
    Bush had more electoral votes. Gore won the popular vote. There were issues in Florida which determined the electoral votes and pushed the state to Bush. Electoral votes are what mater: Bush won.

vy8vWJlco 14y ago

I also naively thought that by "killing" C-30, the online surveillance bill, the Canadian government was respecting the wishes of Canadians who vomited all over it. C-55, introduced on the exact same day, however, retains the ability to bypass warrants, at police discretion. Couple that with the ratification of ACTA (which the EU flat out said NO to), and escalating language over copyright, and C-30 is still on the Canadian government's agenda. All they did was boil it down to the crux: warrants come second. Edit: I submitted to HN for discussion a relevant article by Openmedia.ca... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5308784 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5308784