Daily Archives: December 7, 2021

Trudeau and the newly sworn in ministers in Ottawa on Oct. 26, 2021 (Courtesy of Alex Ttreault/PMO)

On Sept. 20, voters returned a Parliament that will look a lot like the one Justin Trudeau was stuck with before he called the 2021 election. But one big thing did change. In conversation, senior Liberals were remarkably candid about discussing the last days of Justin Trudeaus government, and the prospect of a government led by somebody else.

Well, the PMs going to need legacy projects, one cabinet minister said, when invited to chat about the governments priorities.

Another member of Trudeaus inner circle was matter-of-fact in discussing the danger a leadership change would represent for the governing party. The Liberals had a decade of increasingly disappointing electoral outcomes before Trudeau became the leader, this person said. Its an open question whether Trudeaus tenure marked the end of those trends, or merely an extended break before the party declines again.

This sort of talk is new. In a party whose unity of purpose Trudeau did much to restore, its long been considered poor form, or wasted energy, for Liberals to contemplate the prospect of life without the leader who brought them back from the brink of irrelevance. This fall, that taboo lifted. Its as though a screw that had secured some plate in the Liberals psyche for nearly a decade had been loosened by one full counterclockwise turn. Suddenly Liberals are granting themselves licence to speculate. And so the biggest question in Canadian politics in 2022 is whether Justin Trudeau will still be Prime Minister when the year is done.

READ:Erin OToole, unresponsive

For what its worth, the man himself insists hes not leaving the top job anytime soon. At his first news conference after the election, a reporter asked Trudeau whether hell lead the party into the next election. He replied with an emphatic Yes!

Thats pretty much the only way you can answer a question like that. The moment you acknowledge an intention to leave, youre basically inviting everyone to ignore everything you say. But it may also simply be true. Trudeau has been Prime Minister for only six years. Voluntary departure from the jobbecause a PM is tired, or wants to arrange an orderly succession, or doesnt like their chances in the next electionis relatively rare, and normally comes after more than six years. Jean Chrtien gave up the job after a decade, under considerable pressure. Brian Mulroney hit the eject button after nearly nine years, dooming his successor Kim Campbell to a brutal electoral reckoning.

Only one prime minister has ever retired voluntarily by the seven-year mark, which is the milestone Trudeau is scheduled to hit in 2022. Lester Pearson retired in 1968, after not quite five years. But Pearson was over 70. Walking away from the best job youll ever have is a big decision, after all. And Trudeau, who has not yet made a decision about home renovations at 24 Sussex Drive, cannot be accused of being impetuous.

RELATED:Theres no you in Team Trudeau

But already the question of Trudeaus future is becoming a feature of political conversation. A Maru Public Opinion poll days after the September election found that 55 per cent of respondents thought Trudeau should step down. A Nanos poll two weeks later found that 36 per cent shared that opinion. Obviously, most of the people who want to see any leader go voted for a different party. But in both polls, Trudeau was mentioned more than other major party leaders as the one who should leave. If nothing else, these results suggest the PM has a tenuous grasp on the hearts of the nation.

Nowhere is it written that a political leader needs to be beloved. All they really need to do is win. In September Trudeau won his third consecutive election. Excellent work, but not all that rare. Seven of his predecessors also won three in a row, including Stephen Harper, Jean Chrtien and Pierre Trudeau. What would be truly unusual would be racking up a fourth consecutive win. Only John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier have ever managed it. (Mackenzie King, whose first and last days as prime minister were separated by nearly 27 years, lost a couple of times amid all the victories, breaking what would otherwise have been longer streaks.)

These considerations start to wear on a leader after a while. And on his team, which helps explain why the Trudeau inner circle has lately grown markedly more quitty. Catherine McKenna and Navdeep Bains once seemed to reside at the heart of Trudeauism. Bains played a key role at the summer retreat at Mont Tremblant in 2012 at which a small team of loyalists hatched and workshopped the Trudeau leadership project. Now both senior ministers have left. So have important political staffers whose lower public profile spared them from some of the indignities of elected office, people like Mike McNair, Elder Marques and Mathieu Bouchard.

MORE:All the good politicians are inMontreal

Every departed colleague stands as a reminder that theres life after politics, a life with more money and less public scrutiny. The temptation to chuck it and find a beach somewhere must always lurk in the background. Alain Jupp, who served briefly as Frances prime minister, gave this impulse a name with the title of his 1993 book, La Tentation de Venise, the temptation to drop everything and head to Venice. For Trudeau, the poster child for that temptation might be Barack Obama, whose U.S. presidency was capped by a constitutional term limit at eight years but who now makes more money from a single speech than he used to in a year.

Trudeau is likely to resist the siren song of a life away from politics for some time yet. But politics will change even before he leaves. Paul Martins ambition was a central feature of Liberal Party life for every day that Jean Chrtien was prime minister. Other party figures who thought they had the luxury of playing the waiting game more coolly than Martin eventually woke up with his footprints on their backs.

If youre Franois-Philippe Champagne or Mlanie Joly or Mark Carney or Anita Anandnames that often figure in speculation about Trudeau successorsyou have to ask yourself two questions, starting right now. First, are you going to be a candidate for leader? Second, is there a subtle way to stop Chrystia Freeland?

READ:The new conductor of Montreals orchestra looks like fun but sounds like business

Surely I deserve some credit for getting this far in an election speculation essay without mentioning Freeland, the finance minister, deputy prime minister and stalwart Trudeau defender. Shes not universally beloved among Liberals. Shes aloof toward caucus colleagues, pays little attention to most briefings from officials, and her oratorical skills land somewhere this side of spellbinding. But so what? Right now her occasional detractors are far outnumbered by those who think shed represent a substantial improvement over Trudeau in intellectual capacity, worldliness and the possession of a closet blessedly empty of skeletons. Almost alone among reputed pretenders to the throne, she has a network within the government of loyal staffers who could form the basis for a solid campaign organization.

Most importantly, her position as frontrunner is generally assumed. In the Liberal Party of Canada, such assumptions normally carry the weight of self-fulfilling prophecy. Liberals have been voting on their leaders since 1919. In all that time, with only a single exception, the winner has been the person who led on the first ballot. In fact, more often than not, there wasnt more than one ballot. The exception was Stphane Dion in 2006. He was in third place on the first ballot. His tenure as leader didnt go well. More than members of any other party, Liberals live to back winners. Offhand its hard to imagine why else anyone would want to be a Liberal. So if your name isnt Chrystia Freeland and you want to lead this party, you need to do more than make your case. You need to make yourself inevitable. And you dont have a week to spare.

Right now, Freelands detractors are far outnumbered by those who think shed represent a substantial improvement over Trudeau (Courtesy of Adam Scotti/Liberal Party of Canada)

But its probably early to be measuring the prospects of individual candidates who havent yet even identified themselves. Liberals face a bigger question: what kind of party do they want to be?

Whatever happens next, Justin Trudeau will almost certainly be remembered as a significant Liberal leader, not only for the way he brought an end to a terrifying decade-long losing streak, but because he provided novel answers to the question of what the Liberal party is for. The change he has wrought was perhaps clearest this past Sept. 14 in Brampton, when Trudeaus nervous and embattled campaign enlisted the help of Jean Chrtien to nail down voter support in the suburban ring around Toronto.

Chrtien peddled his trademark middle-of-the-road nostrums. Its not the time to move to the far right or to the far left, he intoned. It is the time to be in the middle. And the middle, he said, is where Canadians have always known theyd find the Liberal Party of Canada. The Liberal Party is the same party since 1867.

READ:Jason Kenney is sinking. How it all went wrong for him.

Surely Trudeau had to bite his tongue nearly in half to resist the urge to rebut the old man. Nobody in Trudeaus party talks about the centre. When presented with evidence of its existence, say in the person of Chrtien or John Manley or really anyone in a suit, Team Trudeaus normal instinct is to recoil. Trudeaus Liberal Party is a party of cultural combat, self-consciously designed first as a counterweight to Stephen Harpers Conservatism, then to Donald Trumps heady toxic stew, and now to anything that isnt Liberal. The location or even the existence of some purported centre simply doesnt enter into it.

If pressed to explain themselves, Trudeau Liberals would insist that, far from limiting its electoral fortunes, the contemporary partys wokeness has actually bolstered and ensured its electoral success. Trudeau didnt defeat any of three consecutive Conservative leaders thanks to his superior ability as an economic manager. He won as a superior reader of the cultural moment. He didnt win despite the bundle of diversity, reconciliation, feminism, climate activism and abortion rights that grates on earlier generations of Liberals like fingernails on a chalkboard. He won because of those stances, which put a solid floor under Liberal support and motivated a sufficient number of voters to believe they had something at stake in a Liberal victory.

If enough candidates show up for a post-Trudeau leadership campaign to make things interesting, they will surely debate the merits of a move to the centre. If there are enough candidates to debate, at least one will say: Sure, the six-year shopping spree started out fun and turned out to be crucial to getting through the COVID crisis. But now recess is over. Its time to rein in spending, attract foreign investors, grow the economy and do all the other responsible stuff a natural governing party used to worry about.

One of the other candidates will serve up a rebuttal that may sound like this: The centre only looks like the place where the votes are. Historically, the centre has often been where you find apathy and a demotivated electorate. Thats what Joe Clark and Tom Mulcair and Michael Ignatieff found, in three separate parties. The middle of the road is where you go to get run over.

RELATED:The broken triumph of Justin Trudeau

Itll be a fascinating debate, one the Liberals have avoided in public for most of a decade. It will also mark a moment of maximum danger for the party, because leadership changes give voters an excuse to shop around for alternatives. The current Conservative and NDP leaders replaced predecessors who were thought to be electoral under-performersand managed to attract even less of the popular vote. So did every Liberal leader between Chrtien and Trudeau. This, too, will wear on Trudeaus mind as he ponders his future: does he have the luxury of leaving a party that keeps winning elections under his leadership?

Anyone purporting to know Trudeaus mind on these questions is guessing. Hell let us know. Either post-election will drift into pre-election and it will be clear that Justin Trudeau is bidding to enter a pantheon so far occupied only by Laurier and Macdonald; or on some random morning hell invite Liberals to try their luck without him. All thats changed now is that the various considerations behind such a decision are now being discussed, just a little more openly, by the people wholl live with its consequences.

This column appears in print in the January 2022 issue of Macleans magazine with the headline, The life of the Party. Subscribe to the monthly print magazine here.

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The future of the Liberal Partywithout Justin Trudeau - Macleans.ca

Liberal democracy in the UK, and across the western world, is under strain. After the most recent sleaze scandal to have hit Westminster, our polling shows that almost two in three people see politicians as out for themselves. In 1944, when this question was first put to the public, only one in three shared this view.

The leap of faith that voters make when they entrust a small group of people to govern on their behalf is extraordinarily powerful. It allows societies to make collective decisions democratically and efficiently without the need to involve everyone, all the time.

Yet it is also very fragile. Trust in politics is easily lost and hard to regain.

But regain it we must. The decline of trust in politics in the UK and in other liberal democracies over recent decades is damaging society. It is both cause and consequence of the rise in support for populist parties, rhetoric and causes, as well as growing polarisation, seen most clearly in the UK on Brexit.

Populist politicians have been far more successful at tapping into voters discontent with democratic politics in order to win power. From Donald Trump to Viktor Orbn, the populist right has proved its ability to channel peoples anger into illiberal policy agendas. Boris Johnsons government has not gone as far as this group but it is clearly drawing from the same playbook.

The problem is that the solutions put forward by populist leaders retreating into nativism, concentrating power centrally and combining big rhetoric on economic and social change with limited action fundamentally fail to grapple with the underlying causes of our democratic malaise and further deepen democratic decline.

Only a truly progressive reform agenda that seeks to increase both prosperity and justice simultaneously, and to renew representative democracy for the challenges of the future, can really allow people, in the words of the prime ministers former chief of staff, Dominic Cummings, to take back control.

Carys Roberts is executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Continued here:

The loss of trust in politics in liberal democracies is damaging society - The Guardian

To listen to the liberal justices, one would think the Supreme Courts job is not to uphold the Constitution but to maintain public support.

Their boasted concern for the courts reputation should be largely irrelevant in decision-making other than in presuming they will be supported widely if they act in good faith interpreting the law. Filtering constitutional jurisprudence through public relations concerns is improper. It undermines the very Constitution the justices are sworn to uphold.

Yet, repeatedly during oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health case on Mississippis new law restricting abortions, liberal justices harped on how overruling the super case the rare case, the watershed cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey could be what kills us as an American institution.

All three phrases quoted above first came from remarks and questions from Justice Stephen Breyer. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wondered whether the Supreme Court will survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the court has been politicized. Justice Elena Kagan worried about what people would be thinking about the high court.

These concerns amount to a misapplication of Chief Justice John Robertss stated preference for bolstering the Supreme Courts credibility and legitimacy by favoring narrower legal decisions that can secure near-unanimity rather than more sweeping rulings that split it 5-4 along ideological lines. Even that preference of Roberts is problematic, for it can leave key constitutional questions unanswered longer than necessary. At least, though, Roberts's predilection for delaying big constitutional concerns does not extend to making credibility superior to the Constitutions text.

Because seeking narrower decisions also often means ruling on statutory grounds rather than constitutional ones, Roberts's conception at least has the virtue of having the court defer to elected branches of government rather than seize a power to pronounce broad edicts on policy issues.

Yet in the Dobbs oral arguments, liberal justices sought to subvert the constitutional text just as they did in Casey three decades ago. Casey excused itself by explaining that it reaffirmed Roe's pro-abortion ruling in part because reversing it would weaken the Court's capacity to exercise the judicial power.

The Court's power lies, rather, in its legitimacy," Casey reads, "a product of substance and perception that shows itself in the peoples acceptance of the judiciary as fit to determine what the nations law means and to declare what it demands.

This assertion puts things inside out. First, the courts job is not to protect its own power and legitimacy, but to get the Constitution and statutes right. Second, to the extent that its legitimacy is at issue, it is undermined, not enhanced, by worrying about the publics perception rather than about the Constitutions text.

Finally, concern about the courts power is also backward. Our Constitution makes the people, not the Supreme Court, the arbiters of social policy. Yet Justice Breyer told the Dobbs case lawyers that the country, for better or for worse, decided to resolve their differences by this Court laying down a constitutional principle, in this case, women's choice.

The country did no such thing. In Roe and Casey, the court decided to seize the power to resolve ... differences that properly belongs to the elected branches. It didnt just lay down a constitutional principle; it invented one. Rather than protecting republican processes, it short-circuited them. In so doing, it has catalyzed 49 years of vicious political battles about the court itself while forestalling chances for democratic compromises.

Nothing in the Constitution mentions abortion or anything close to it. Justice Brett Kavanaugh was right to say during oral arguments that the Constitution is, therefore, neutral on the question of abortion, and thus leaves the issue for the people of the states or perhaps Congress to resolve in the democratic process.

Justices who declare laws restricting abortion to be unconstitutional are thus themselves acting in anti-constitutional ways. Their approach is deeply and tragically wrong.

Link:

Liberal justices forfeited the 'legitimacy' they crave - Washington Examiner

To Memphis

Memphis is 200 miles by freeway from Nashville and if Nashville is country, then Memphis is rocknroll, gospel and the blues. First off, a visit to Al Greens Full Gospel Tabernacle Church on a Sunday morning is essential. It is somewhat touristy these days, but this does not detract from the Reverend Als fiery sermons and soulful singing. Beale Street is also touristy, but if you want to hear southern roots music in civilised surroundings, BB Kings Blues Club, Alfreds On Beale and Jerry Lee Lewiss Caf & Honky Tonk will do it for you.

Two other essential stopovers for music buffs are Sun Studios where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others cut their early recordings in the 1950s and Stax, the birthplace of Southern soul music.

And, of course, there is Graceland, Elviss strange mansion, bought in 1957 when he was a 22-year-old rube from Tupelo. Given that it may be moved lock-stock-and-barrel to Japan in the future, a visit is recommended.

Clarksdale is just 75 miles south of Memphis on US Route 61, across the border in Mississippi, and this takes you to the birthplace of the blues, where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Morgan Freemans Ground Zero Blues Club and Reds Lounge are where youll hear the blues, while the Delta Blues Museum is a major attraction.

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Why you're wrong about Nashville, the liberal city making more than just music - Telegraph.co.uk

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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Liberal media helping Democrats steal more elections | Letters to the Editor | The Daily News - Galveston County Daily News

This years election produced nearly the same Parliament, with the same parties holding roughly the same number of seats. But it is also forcing the Liberal government into compromises with Parliament.

Last spring, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government was stalling for time as it fended off opposition demands for the release of secret documents relating to the firing of scientists at a high-security microbiology lab.

They insisted that hundreds of pages had to be withheld for national security reasons, while opposition MPs demanded the Commons law clerk be the judge of that. In the end, the government stalled long enough until Parliament was dissolved.

But now that the Liberals are back with pretty much the same minority government, they face the revival of those demands. This time, they are offering to compromise.

On Friday, Liberal House Leader Mark Holland proposed the creation of an all-party committee of MPs, all sworn to secrecy, which would pore through the documents and decide what can be released, with a group of three former judges tasked to adjudicate any disputes.

The Conservatives, Bloc Qubcois and NDP havent yet said if they will accept the plan. But the government proposal itself marks a change.

Where once the government fenced with the opposition majority in Parliament, rebuffing requests, stalling for time and sometimes threatening an election, they are now forced to offer compromise.

The inconclusive 2021 election has done one thing: It has taken away some of the Liberals tools for stymieing Parliament.

The Liberals cant wield the ultimate weapon that minority government has when opposition parties band together to make uncomfortable demands that is, threatening an election that one or more of those parties wants to avoid.

This years election sent one main message: that the Liberal government should never have called it. They cant pull the plug on this Parliament for a few years, at least. That makes stalling for time pretty tough, too.

For now, there is no sign that weaker hand is hindering the Liberals policy agenda. They can stickhandle legislation through the House of Commons, looking for support from one party or another usually the NDP.

But the Liberals are now in a weaker position in managing Parliament, and that can give MPs more power to scrutinize the governments actions. And they wont be reassured that the Speaker of the House of Commons, Liberal MP Anthony Rota, has ruled against them on some key decisions.

New Democrat MP Heather McPherson complained last week that Mr. Trudeaus Liberal government often treats the House as an inconvenience and thats not wrong.

Minority Parliaments, at least Canadian ones in the 21st century, are not places for co-operation. Minority governments have filibustered committees and rejected or ignored orders from the House. Stephen Harpers Conservatives repeatedly rejected to summon ministers political aides to testify before parliamentary committees just as Mr. Trudeaus government has.

Now the demand for records that could shed light on why Ottawa expelled and then fired Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, from Canadas National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, could see the House reassert its theoretical supremacy.

What is not yet clear is whether it will seek to do so through compromise or confrontation.

The proposal offered by Mr. Holland last week is similar to the one struck by Mr. Harpers Conservatives after his government was taken to task by then-Speaker of the Commons Peter Milliken for refusing to release documents about the Canadian militarys treatment of Afghan detainees.

Mr. Milliken had ruled that Parliaments privilege was supreme, and its demand for the records could not be refused but he also encouraged a compromise to accommodate the governments legitimate responsibility to protect national security.

It is not clear yet if opposition parties will be willing to make a similar compromise this time. Some MPs dont like the idea that, under Mr. Hollands proposal, it would be judges, not parliamentarians, who would decide what information can be released to the public but the government will want some kind of guarantee that MPs cannot act irresponsibly.

Either way, Mr. Trudeaus government has already come out of the 2021 election with less power to stymie Parliament, and it has to give some ground.

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Dj vu 2021 election weakens Liberal hand in disputes with Parliament - The Globe and Mail

TV host Charlamagne Tha God called out the liberal media Friday night for going "quiet" on former President Bill Clinton's ties to the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this week, Epstein's former pilot Lawrence Paul Visoski testified during Ghislaine Maxwells sex-trafficking trial that among the high-profile names that have flown as guests on the deceased billionaire's private jet were Clinton, former President Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker.

On Friday's installment of his Comedy Central show "Tha God's Honest Truth," Charlamagne took a moment of his "I Call Bulls---" segment to call out the lack of media coverage of Epstein's jet, "aka his child sex-slave dungeon in the sky," since the scandal involves a Democrat.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S PILOT REVEALS NAMES OF HOLLYWOOD STARS WHO FLEW ON HIS PLANE

"Are liberal news media outlets reporting on this?" Charlamagne asked his audience. "I don't know. I've been out of the country. They're not, right?"

"Are liberal news media outlets reporting on this? I don't know. I've been out of the country. They're not, right?"

"It feels kinda quiet on this. And that's why I'm calling bulls---," Charlamagne said. Because if Trump was the only one in that alleged minor-loving mile-high club, I'm willing to bet the millions Trump doesn't pay in taxes that the media would be all over this like Epstein on a- you know what? Never mind. Forget I said that."

Charlamagne Tha God is seen in New York City, Sept. 16, 2021. (Getty Images)

Charlamagne, who's best known as the co-host of popular radio show "The Breakfast Club," also had some fun at the expense of former "Empire" star Jussie Smollett, the self-proclaimed "Gay Tupac" who is on trial for staging the 2019 hate crime hoax, offering a tongue-in-cheek defense of the actor.

"'Gay Tupac' is a great name because Jussie's career is as alive as Tupac is," Charlamagne quipped. "If convicted. he could face up to three years in prison. And I'm calling bulls--- on that, alright? Drop the charges, give him probation, but three years in prison? This wasn't a hoax, just method acting gone wrong!"

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD DECLARES BIDEN DONKEY OF THE DAY FOR INACTION AGAINST GOP'S VOTING REFORM PUSH

"So he told a little white lie to the police. Who doesn't lie to the police?! Y'all lie to the police!" the Comedy Central host exclaimed. "And I can hear some of y'all [expletive] now, He didnt just lie to the police. He lied to the Black community.' Maybe, but what [expletive] don't lie to his community, OK?! Sometimes we make up s--- for entertainment purposes!"

"Hey Jussie, 'Gay Tupac,' keep your head up, alright?" Charlamagne told the embattled actor.

Actor Jussie Smollett arrives at a Chicago courthouse, Nov. 30, 2021. (Associated Press)

"Tha God's Honest Truth," which is produced by Stephen Colbert, premiered on Comedy Central in September.

Charlamagne's radio show "The Breakfast Club" became a major destination for Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 election cycle, generating headlines with then-White House hopefuls Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris.

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Most notably, Charlamagne's 2020 interview with then-candidate Joe Biden sparked controversy on the campaign trail when the former VP told Black voters, "if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't Black."

Biden later apologized.

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Charlamagne Tha God calls out liberal media for being 'quiet' on Bill Clinton's ties to Jeffrey Epstein - Fox News

Liberals enthusiastically pick the Munawar Faruqui saga, but remain silent on the lynching of two sadhus by a mob in Maharashtra. This blinkeredness is not serving any true liberal clause in any real sense

Freedom of expression has been much in the Indian news these last few weeks.

Dress and furnishings maker FabIndia came under fire for referring to Deepavali as Jashn-e-Riwaaj. Actor Kangana Ranaut faced a furore for saying that the Independence we got in 1947 was alms (bheekh) and that real freedom came only in 2014.

Comedian Vir Das had police cases filed against him for his monologue in Washington DC on two Indias. Munawar Faruqui says he will quit stand-up comedy after several of his shows were cancelled due to fears about protests.

Fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee withdrew an advertising campaign for his line ofmangalsutrasthat featured surly women in lingerie and the Hindu necklace that signals marital status. Journalist Rana Ayyub wrote inThe Washington Postthat the filmSooryavanshiwas dangerous and that every third frame of the film is a bloodcurdling Islamophobic image.

As any sufficiently logical person could tell us, freedom of expression finally distills down to the right to offend. As Salman Rushdie, who surely knows more on this matter than most of us, stated famously: Without the freedom to offend, (freedom of expression) ceases to exist. But people surely also have the right to be offended?

I believe in the efficiency of markets, as long as broad but effective government regulations exist to deter and punish the wayward. The same applies to a democratic society. Free speech too is subject to some freedoms and conditions, as laid down in our Constitution.

FabIndia and Sabyasachi should be free to advertise their wares as they think fit and in a way that they think would attract customers. But it is also entirely within the rights of some potential consumers to say: Their message offends us. Dont buy their products. Everyone is free to buy a FabIndia kurta or a piece of Sabyasachi-designed jewellery. Just as any citizen has the right to protest peacefully in front of a FabIndia store.

Stakeholder activism is an integral part of markets, and corporations include customers in their definition of stakeholders. One could cite many examples of ads being withdrawn by major brands after a consumer backlash, but two will suffice.

In 2009, Bacardi ran an ad that seemed to imply that ugly women would look more attractive if men had a few pegs of the white rum. In 2017, a Pepsi ad showed a white woman offering a can of the beverage to a policeman watching over a peaceful street protest. The protestors cheer her and the policeman grins appreciatively. Black Lives Matter activists felt that the ad trivialised their movement against police brutality. Both companies decided that it would be better for businesses to apologise and withdraw the ads.

These principles apply in India too. And it is up to the brands to decide how to respond to criticism, based on their understanding of the market.

Two groups are at war every day on Indian social media. Some Indians spend their waking hours abusing Narendra Modi, and the rival group spends 18 hours a day praising every move that Modi may or not have made. Both sides often make wild claims and are rude and cruel. I support the freedom of expression of both sides while retaining my right to laugh at or be annoyed by their opinions.

But questions remain. Why does the recent Tamil hit film, based on a true incident, change the religion of the real villainous police officer from Christian to Hindu, and de-Hinduise the names of a few of the victims? Will Sabyasachi ever designhijabsand run a campaign with women dressed only inhijabsand undergarments?

Liberals are upset because, inSooryavanshi, terrorists offernamaazbefore they go off to kill innocents. But it is an irrefutable fact thatjihadisbelieve they are doing Allahs will and seek His blessings before setting off on their ghastly missions. In fact, several characters and scenes inSooryavanshistrongly refute the easy generalisation that Indian Muslims support acts of terror. The villains are even given back-stories where they lost family members in riots, which led to their thirst for revenge on Hindustan. As the films director Rohit Shetty has noted, no questions were asked about religion and caste when he had Hindu villains in all his other films. And those men had no back-stories to even remotely explain their venality.

I have watched the objectionable Munawar Faruqui videos. Humour is of course the ultimate test of freedom of speech. But to joke about the 59 human beings many of them women and children who were burnt alive at Godhra is not merely tasteless; many comedians across the world have made their fame and fortune from being tasteless. Such a gag could inflame a few hotheads enough to put some more innocent lives in danger. And we should feel exactly the same way if someone made fun of the Muslims who died in the post-Godhra riots. The right to offend comes with some boundary conditions.

Much of the liberal outrage that we see currently seems to be highly selective. Faruqui is being portrayed as a victim of Islamophobia, but if say a Brahmin called Mahesh Tiwari cracked a burning train joke about the Godhra incident, would he not have faced the same criticism that Faruqui faces?

Islamophobia has become such a broad-brush term used at the drop of a hat, that one doesnt even know what it means any more.

I cant remember any liberal condemnation of Haji Yakoob Qureshi, the Bahujan Samaj Party leader from Meerut, when he announced a Rs 51-crore reward for the men who killed journalists working for the French satirical magazineCharlie Hebdo. Would such a condemnation have been Islamophobic?

Last week, the Toronto District School Board cancelled a talk by Nadia Murad, an escapee from the Islamic States sex slavery and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Apparently, Murad, a Muslim victim, talking about Islamist terrorism could promote Islamophobia and offend Muslim students. Indian liberals cheered the American academics who organised the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, held ironically to coincide with the 20thanniversary of the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda. Yet, they and the same American intellectuals have not even hinted that the Toronto Boards decision could be problematic.

Indian liberals pick and choose their outrages. They stay silent when twosadhusand their driver are lynched by a mob in Maharashtra with the police looking on helplessly, when a Hindutva leader is killed after public rallies openly call for his beheading, or when armed agitators try to raise the Khalistan flag at Red Fort on our Republic Day.

This blinkeredness is not serving any true liberal clause in any real sense. Let the same logic be applied uniformly to all to both people who need their rights protected and to those who need to be denounced. Freedom of expression is too precious a commodity. Its myopic adulteration is dangerous for our society.

The writer is a former editor of Financial Express, and founder-editor of Open and Swarajya magazines. Views expressed are personal.

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Why liberals should not pick and choose outrages based on their whims and fancies - Firstpost

BEIJING, Dec. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China Liberal Education Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: CLEU) ("China Liberal", or the "Company", or "we"), aChina-based company that provides smart campus solutions and other educational services, today announced its financial results for the first six months of fiscal year 2021.

Ms.Ngai Ngai Lam, Chairwoman and CEO of China Liberal, commented, "We still delivered respectable results in the first half of the fiscal year 2021, although the ongoing uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic caused many Chinese universities and colleges to hold off on their 'smart campus' project plans. Through our efforts and dedication, we achieved highly resilient financial results while prioritizing our customers during the pandemic. For the first half of fiscal year 2021, our revenue decreased by 18.5% year-over-year to $1.85 million from $2.27 million for the same period last year. However, our gross profit reached $1.37 million, an increase of 74.3% from $0.79 million for the same period of last year, and our gross margin was 74.2%, a year-over-year increase of 39.5% from 34.7% for the same period of last year. We are also excited about our business progress of integration of enterprises and vocational education business(tailored job readiness training services). To address the actual needs of regional economic development and industrial upgrading and transformation, we provided colleges and universities with school-enterprise integrated education solutions. We strived to establish a talent training system and a comprehensive platform, providing talent trainings and co-op opportunities for students. In addition, our self-developed and patented all-in-one teaching machine, AI-Space machine, has been recognized by the market and the industry and installed in several colleges and universities across China, including Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, and Straits Institute of Minjiang University, laying a solid foundation for our future potential revenue growth. We believe that we are well-positioned for the future with our brand awareness, innovative technologies, and loyal customer base."

First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Highlights

For the Six Months Ended June 30,

($ millions, except per share data)

2021

2020

%Change

Revenue

1.85

2.27

-18.5%

Gross profit

1.37

0.79

74.3%

Gross margin

74.2%

34.7%

39.5%

Income (Loss) from operations

0.30

(0.11)

NM

Operating profit(loss) margin

16.3%

-5.0%

NM

Net income (loss)

0.23

(0.08)

NM

Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per share

0.03

(0.02)

NM

First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results

Revenue

Revenue decreased by 18.5% year-over-year to $1.85 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021 from $2.27 million for the same period last year. The decrease in revenue was mainly driven by decreased revenue from technological consulting services for smart campus solutions as the Company did not enter into new large "smart campus" project contract with Chinese universities/ colleges during the six months ended June 30, 2021 since continued uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic caused many Chinese universities/colleges to hold off on their "smart campus" project plans.

For the Six Months Ended June 30,

($ millions)

2021

2020

Revenue

Revenue

Cost of Revenue

Gross Margin

Revenue

Cost of Revenue

Gross Margin

Sino-foreign Jointly Managed Academic Programs

1.42

0.23

84.0%

1.26

0.26

79.2%

Technological Consulting Services for Smart Campus Solutions

0.34

0.19

43.9%

0.93

1.21

-29.3%

Overseas Study Consulting Services

0.03

0.02

29.3%

0.07

0.01

82.9%

Tailored Job Readiness Training Services

0.07

0.04

37.9%

-

-

-

Total

1.85

0.48

74.2%

2.27

1.48

34.7%

For the six months ended June 30, 2021, revenue from sino-foreign jointly managed academic programs increased by $0.16 million, or 12.3%, to $1.42 million, from $1.26 million for the same period last year. This increase was primarily attributed to an increase in the number of students by 173 or 6.5%, to 2,841 students in six months ended June 30, 2021, from 2,668 students in six months ended June 30, 2020. Furthermore, the increase is also attributable to an approximately 9.03% positive impact from foreign currency fluctuation when the average exchange rate used in converting RMB into USD increased from $1 to RMB 7.0416 in the six months ended June 30, 2020 to $1 to RMB 6.4587 in the six months ended June 30, 2021. The increase is partially offset by a 3.3% decrease in average tuition fees. The decrease in average tuition fee was mainly caused by change in student mix enrolled in different academic programs with the universities/ colleges.

Revenue from technological consulting services for smart campus solutions decreased by $0.59 million, or 63.8%, to $0.34 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $0.93 million for the same period last year. The decrease was primarily because the Company did not obtain smart campus projects of large size during the six months ended June 30, 2021. In addition, the continued uncertainties associated with COVID-19 caused many Chinese universities/colleges to hold their "smart campus" project plans.

Revenue from overseas study consulting services decreased by $0.04 million, or 64.2%, to $0.03 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $0.07 million for the same period last year. The decrease was mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused certain countries closed its borders and imposed travel restrictions. As a result, the number of students interested in seeking overseas education reduced significantly. A portion of our revenue from overseas study consulting services was recognized when the students received offers and obtained appropriate visas. For the six months ended June 30, 2021, none of the students who participated in overseas consulting services received offers or visas as they have not yet completed their trainings and studies compared to 11 students who received school offers and obtained visas in the same period in 2020.

Revenue from tailored job readiness training services was $0.07 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, compared with nil for the same period last year. The Company provided tailored job readiness training services to more than 130 students for the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue decreased by $1.00 million, or 67.8%, to $0.48 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $1.48 million for the same period last year, primarily due to the decreased hardware costs of $1.02 million associated with the smart campus projects.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased by$0.58 million, or 74.3%, to$1.37 millionfor the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$0.79 millionfor the same period last year, while gross profit margin increased by 39.5%, to 74.2% for the six months endedJune 30, 2020,from 34.7% for the same period last year. The increase in gross profit and gross margin was primarily due to decreased hardware costs associated with the Company's technological consulting service projects.

Operating Expenses

Selling expenses decreased by$53,872, or 41.3%, to$76,593for the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$130,465for the same period last year. The decrease in selling expenses was primarily attributable to the decrease in the rental and office expenses and depreciation expenses by $54,679 when the Company relocated to a smaller office space.

General and administrative expenses increased by$224,833, or 29.2%, to$995,451for the six months endedJune 30, 2021, from$770,618for the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in salaries and welfares expenses of $74,630 resulting from increased number of administrative employees, an increase in professional services fees of $57,300, an increase in share-based compensation to independent directors of $53,250 and an increase in independent director compensation of $28,419.

Interest Income

Interest income decreased by $22,797 or 27.5%, to $59,973 for the six months ended June 30, 2021, from $82,770 for the same period last year. In connection with the Company's technological consulting services for smart campus projects, the Company recognized financing component resulted from a timing difference between when control is transferred and when the Company collected cash consideration from the customer. For the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized $56,511 and $79,907 interest income in connection with the aforementioned financing component, respectively.

Other Expense

Other expense was $7,249 and $907 for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, the increase was due to increased bank charges.

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China Liberal Education Holdings Limited Reports Financial Results for the First Six Months of Fiscal Year 2021 - PRNewswire