Well, I hope everyone had fun in the NEP free for all discussion last week (I’m still waiting for an explanation on how Trudeau caused the world price of Oil to plummet – come on guys!). Here’s a catch up on some of the news stories of the past seven days:
Softwood
I’d say it’s time to play hardball on softwood. I’m a big free trade proponent and actually think Canada needs more free trade, not just with the US but with other countries too (preferably ones less hypocritical in their trade practices). But you can’t win every appeal out there and just sit back and take it. I say, hit ‘em where it hurts, and that means energy resources.
Education
While it always pains me to see Paul Martin crack and give the Premiers whatever they want (“Sure Dalton, Ontario has gotten a raw deal. Here’s 5 billion and I’ll personally cut your hair for you every month.”), this is one issue I kind of hope he caves on. I know Paul has never said he’s going to “fix post-secondary education for a generation”, but 2 billion here would go A LOT farther than 2 billion in health care.
Immigration
A new study shows Canadians are far from colour blind when it comes to immigration which is unfortunate. And, on the topic of immigration, I really don’t see why Canada doesn’t up our immigration rate substantially. Increasing to the often talked about 1% would bring nothing but positives.
GG
This was completely unexpected and it’s one of those things where I really don’t want to rush to judgment. I mean, let’s face it, Jean-Daniel Lafond did not found any ad hoc temporary rainbow coalitions – it’s all been accusations and no facts so far. And I’m sure most people who have lived in Quebec for decades have, at the very least, some tenuous connections to separatists.
That said, if Lafond or Jean are close associates of Pierre Laporte’s killers, FLQ sympathizers, or closet separatists, there is no way Michelle Jean should be Canada’s next Governor General. And, if that is the case, there was a massive failure in whoever ran the background checks on the GG.