Thursday, March 16, 2017

John Helmer — The Canadian Establishment and Prime Minister Trudeau Aim at Ousting Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland


More on the political drama in Canada.

Dances with Bears
The Canadian Establishment and Prime Minister Trudeau Aim at Ousting Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland
John Helmer

Also
On 10 January 2017 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired his minister of external affairs, Stéphane Dion, and replaced him with Chrystia Freeland, who was then minister of international trade. This cabinet shuffle might not have gotten much public notice except that Dion is a distinguished parliamentarian, former leader of the party and leader of the opposition, and a former key minister in the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien. Freeland, on the other hand, is a well-known Ukrainian ultra-nationalist and self-declared Russophobe and hater of Russian President Vladimir Putin....
Strategic Culture Foundation
Will Chrystia Freeland Finally Ruin Canadian-Russian Relations?Michael Jabara Carley | Professor of history at the Université de Montréal

5 comments:

Peter Pan said...

What drama?
You have to be a political junkie to care about any of this. Russia is not that important to the average Canadian (outside of a hockey rink). As for Canadian MPs... they are interchangeable.

lastgreek said...

Bob,

My 10-year-old nephew's hockey coach went to law school with PM Justin Trudeau (PMT). He got to know him well, and he said some not-too-flattering things about him -- that he wasn't a very good student and stuff like that.

Yeah, whatever. I do know this, though. PMT never misses attending Montreal's annual March 25 Greek Independence Parade. My 10-year-old daughter got the chance to meet him last year, and she still talks about him -- about how nice and charming he was. He was indeed, aaaaaand he's just as super attractive in person as he looks on TV. Friendly advice: Best to keep your significant other a fair distance away from this man ;)

PS: I think Justin and Ivanka would have made a stunning couple a la JFK and Jackie O

Peter Pan said...

lastgreek,

Thank-you for your anecdote. I don't know the man but I'm reminded by the fact that his brother Michel died in an avalanche years ago.

This is an article with an excerpt from Justin Trudeau's memoirs:
https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2014/10/17/justin_trudeaus_memoir_my_father_was_never_the_same_man.html

Michel Trudeau enjoyed nature and died doing what he loved. So may we all.

Terry Fox and Steve Fonyo are cultural icons that I've been reminiscing about in recent days. The hero and the fallen hero. But what is more intriguing - the archetype or the personal events that shape the person?

Indeed, there were jokes galore about 'the look' that Ivanka gave our PM. Good for her.

lastgreek said...

Fair to say that my riding is one of the safest Liberal ridings in Canada. It was Stephane Dion's riding, and now that he's retired we're having a by-election.

I got to meet the new Liberal candidate last week. She's only 26 years old, of Greek heritage, a public high school teacher in the area (and where my daughter will be attending next year) ... and drop-dead gorgeous. I dunno, Bob, that Justin attracts beautiful women like moths to a flame ;0

Peter Pan said...

So we could say that your local MP has the looks, The Donald has the power, and Justin has both.