Category Archives: Liberal

Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of martial law being declared in the Philippines, a move that turned Ferdinand Marcos from an elected president into a one-man ruler with dictatorial powers; and a kleptocrat who is estimated to have amassed $10 billion in ill-gotten gains while committing grave human rights abuses over the following 14 years, until he was ousted in the People Power Revolution of 1986.

If there is some irony in the fact that 2022 is also the year when his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, may run for the presidency, there is also, with hindsight, an air of inevitability about it.

Bongbong, as Mr Marcos Jr is universally known, came very close to winning the vice presidency in 2016. His mother Imelda, once infamous for her opulent shoe collection, won four terms in the Philippines House of Representatives after returning from exile in 1991. His sister Imee is currently a senator, having previously been governor of the Marcos home province of Ilocos Norte and a representative for the same area. Despite his undoubted crimes, meanwhile, Marcos Sr was accorded the honour of a burial in the National Heroes Cemetery in 2016. With many now talking of the country enjoying a golden age under the rule of a man who was once reviled, the whitewashing of the Marcos era seems near complete.

Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos, centre, ruled with an iron grip between 1972 and 1986. AFP

But the Philippines is far from alone in displaying what many would consider bewildering nostalgia in a democracy for an authoritarian past. In neighbouring Indonesia, Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto appears little harmed by having been the son-in-law of the late dictator Suharto (who may have looted as much as $30bn from his country); indeed, Mr Prabowo is one of the frontrunners in surveys for Indonesias 2024 presidential election.

In August, I wrote about the re-emergence of Saif Al Islam Qaddafi, whose presidential ambitions in Libya appear to have solid support according to the limited polling available. There have been many reports about nostalgia for Saddam Hussein in Iraq, even though his brutality, his extensive use of the most appalling torture, and his killing of maybe hundreds of thousands of his own people is well known.

Other continents have not escaped this phenomenon. Hywel Williams, director of the Erasmus Historical and Cultural Research Forum in London, points out to me that Europe has a big East-West divide on this. There is fond looking back, for instance, at the regency of Miklos Horthy in Hungary, even though Horthy was an open anti-Semite who allied with Germany in the Second World War. It's the same in the case of the conservative, militarily dominated governments in Poland during the inter-war period. Even France is not immune, as became clear when 20 retired generals recently published a letter warning that the military might need to take action if those who run our country did not end the growing chaos, as they put it.

Saif Al Islam Qaddafi could lead Libya one day, even though his father was overthrown 10 years ago. EPA

Mr Williams thinks that these instances of weakening attachments to the liberal democratic order are directly related to the failure of capitalism to produce goods for the masses. Thats a very 1930s phenomenon, which now comes with a global outsourcing twist". It is certainly true that if the leaders of relatively new democracies fail to deliver the basic needs of the populace adequate food, accommodation, education, health care and the realistic hope for a better life then what may be a novel form of government may easily lose its lustre. In this case, its supposed advantages can appear hollow. Bobby Benedicto of McGill University in Canada wrote in an astute essay earlier this year: Formal institutions of representation often fail to sate the sense of impotence that marks the lives of those who, in principle, come to possess freedom and autonomy.

A yearning for the stability countries enjoyed under authoritarian regimes is also understandable if the democratic present is chaotic and dangerous. But there is also the issue of young people who never knew the past failing to be aware of its often very considerable downsides. Because they have not experienced authoritarianism, they are likely to have both higher expectations of democracy and less information about the costs of authoritarianism, wrote MIT researcher Marsin Alshamary in 2018. By contrast, generations who lived their formative years under authoritarian rule are more forgiving towards democracies, despite their flaws.

The future is certain; its the past which is unpredictable

An old Soviet saying

This is something of which Bongbong Marcos is very aware. Asked about his fathers rule in 2015, he was combative and seductively selective about the elder Marcoss record: Will I say sorry for the thousands and thousands of kilometers [of roads] that were built? Will I say sorry for the agricultural policy that brought us to self-sufficiency in rice? Will I say sorry for the power generation? Will I say sorry for the highest literacy rate in Asia? What am I to say sorry about?

This has a clear appeal, not least because it is based on the truth, however partial. And when democratic politicians can be cast as elites who serve their own interests, not those of the people, a strong leader who may also, perversely, be a child of privilege can manage to present himself as the true voice of the masses. Authoritarian power," Mr Benedicto wrote, "is only experienced as unfreedom if one does not see oneself in the figure that wields it. For those who do, it affords an opportunity to partake in the subjective freedom of a figure who appears as an agent of history rather than a slave to its forces.

Agency: that word is key. If voters feel they are mere servants of an uncaring and capricious market, they may be open to the lure of a self-styled fighter for the little folks through whom real people power can be exercised on their behalf. If Bongbong Marcos and others can harness that, they may not just win power. They will also prove the truth of the old Soviet saying: The future is certain; its the past which is unpredictable.

Published: September 29th 2021, 9:00 AM

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Why so many in the Philippines are wary of 'liberal' ideas - The National

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Next week, the Ontario legislature starts up again and we'll finally get to see what Doug Ford plans to do.

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No matter what you think about politics, this pandemic has shown us that government decisions affect us all.

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They decide whether our kids will be safe, whether our elderly parents will be treated well, and whether workers will be protected on the job.

They decide how this pandemic ends and our economy recovers.

Next week, the Ontario legislature starts up again and well finally get to see what Doug Ford plans to do.

This is a big moment, and one we should all care about.

We need real strength and real action. Not more delays and shrugged shoulders. We need someone to step up and take care of the regular people who have been through enough.

The Ontario Liberal Party will be doing just that, and hope to see some measures announced by Ford that will protect us all and help restore our economy.

Heres what the Ontario Liberal Party will be pushing for:

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Parents cant take another lockdown and our kids cant afford to lose another year of learning. Ford has had two years and billions of dollars to make classes smaller and safer. Our Education Recovery Plan will make school better for everyone, because cuts dont help kids.

The federal government has promised affordable child care, and so far eight other provinces and territories have signed on to take that deal. We know it will help families afford their overwhelming costs and help people get back to work. Theres no reason to delay this deal, and Ontario parents shouldnt get less than families in other provinces.

We make people wear seatbelts because we dont want them to die. We expect doctors to wash their hands before they operate. Theres no question that people who care for the sick, the elderly and the young should be vaccinated against COVID 19. The vaccine is safe and it works. Our Mandate Safety plan will require everyone working with the vulnerable to be vaccinated.

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If youre sick, you should be able to stay home without putting your job and your paycheque at risk. It took Ford more than 400 days to introduce any kind of sick leave during this pandemic. We are calling for 10 paid sick days for everyone in the province, so we can stop workplace outbreaks too.

Most of all. I want a government that works differently. If theres one thing I want to see from Ford, its for him to stop making decisions that help rich people richer, while regular people suffer.

An example I talk about a lot is the Altamont seniors home in Scarborough, which is owned by Sienna Senior Living.

Residents there pay about $2,200/month. On top of that, the government of Ontario pays Sienna about $5,500/month to take care of that same resident.

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So Sienna receives nearly $8,000 per resident per month.

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When the Canadian Armed Forces were called into Altamont last year, they found seniors who werent fed, had untreated wounds and were left in soiled clothing for hours at a time.

This should shock and outrage us all. But you know whats worse? In 2020, Ford gave the company an additional $47 million to help deal with COVID-19.

Right after, Sienna issued a $62.7-million dividend to its shareholders.

That is horribly wrong, and its not unique to the long-term care sector.

Right now, our government is fast to help their well-connected friends, and slow to protect everyone else.

Something needs to change.

Steven Del Duca is the Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.

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DEL DUCA: What the Ontario Liberal Party will be pushing for - Toronto Sun

TORONTO -- Its been a little more than a week since Canadians voted a Liberal minority government back into Parliament, marking an end to the countrys firstand hopefully onlypandemic-era election.

With not much of a change in terms of representation in the House of Commons, what does this mean for the countrys COVID-19 action plan? What comes next in Canadas fight against the virus?

On Sept. 20, Canadians went to the polls to vote for their new government. About 62 per cent of eligible voters turned upand the results were about the same as they were in 2019.

In episode 13 of Life Unmasked, host Ashley Legassic speaks with political commentator Amanda Galbraith, as well as CTV Political Analyst and Former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair about how the pandemic influenced the election results and what happens next. How big of a part did COVID-19 vaccine policy play? Was it the right thing to call an election during a pandemic? What does each party have to do to regain the trust of Canadians?

Life Unmasked airs first on the iHeart app every Thursday morning before becoming available on other streaming platforms. If you have questions for the podcast team, or an idea for an episode, please email lifeunmasked@bellmedia.ca.

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Canada has another Liberal minority government. What does that mean? - CTV News Toronto

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Opinion: Liberals should leave the past in the past where it belongs, declared Vancouver entrepreneur Gavin Dew, 37, taking aim at ex-cabinet minister Kevin Falcon, 58.

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VICTORIA The first debate of the B.C. Liberal leadership campaign was just getting underway this week when the youngest candidate in the field took a shot at the oldest.

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The Liberals should leave the past in the past where it belongs, declared Vancouver entrepreneur Gavin Dew, 37, taking aim at former cabinet minister Kevin Falcon, 58.

Later in Tuesdays debate, Dew honed the millennial versus boomer attack into the meanest laugh line of the night. In choosing the next leader, he said, the Liberals should think Netflix instead of rummaging in the discard bin at Blockbuster.

Dew wasnt the only candidate in the 90-minute debate, broadcast live on the Liberal website, to target Falcon in backhanded tribute to his front-runner status.

MLAs Michael Lee, Ellis Ross and Renee Merrifield questioned whether Falcon who sat out the last three provincial elections was all in for the next one.

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You are arguably doing this off the side of your desk, charged Lee, noting that Falcon hasnt stepped down from his executive position with Vancouver-based Anthem properties.

Falcon, no slouch in the corners, shot back that neither had the three MLAs taken leaves from their taxpayer supported day jobs.

That still left the question of whether Falcon would commit to run for the Liberals in the next provincial election, whether or not he wins the leadership. Fair question, given that Falcon himself made use of it when he ran against Christy Clark for the Liberal leadership in 2011.

In that race, Falcon was a senior minister in the then-Liberal government and Clark was in about the same position as Falcon is today. She had retired from the legislature in 2005, sat out the next election as well, pursued a successful career in radio, and only returned to the fray when the leadership became vacant with the pending departure of Gordon Campbell.

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So Falcon, whose rivalry with Clark dates to 1980s student politics at Simon Fraser University, challenged whether she would run for the Liberals in the next election even if she didnt win the leadership. As it happened, Clark won and it was Falcon who chose not to run in the 2013 election for what he now says were family reasons his wife was pregnant with their first child.

That decade-old backdrop of events sets up a rough exchange in Tuesdays debate regarding Falcons intentions this time.

In 2011, you promised to run again if you didnt win, but you broke that promise, challenged Merrifield. Will you run if you dont win this leadership race?

Falcon tried to brush off Merrifields version of what he had said during the race with Clark in 2011, claiming that he did not foreclose the opportunity of perhaps running again in the future.

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When it became Dews turn to speak, he pounced.

Kevin has forgotten what he said in 2011, Dew advised the online audience, fingering an apt bit of research with undisguised relish.

But Ill read it out for you, he continued, then did so, quoting Falcons challenge to Clark during the 2011 leadership race: Ive made a commitment to run in this election win or lose. Whether I win or lose Im going to be a candidate for this party.

It was as if Clark herself had materialized to swat Falcon up the side of the head.

Then, adding insult to injury, Dew added that as Falcon was unlikely to acknowledge the comment, he would move along and ask a question to one of the other candidates in the field.

A bit later, Merrifield nailed down what was obvious from the outset about Falcons intentions.

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Will you run in the next election if you dont win leadership? Yes or no? she challenged.

To be clear, no, said Falcon. Im running to be leader of the B.C. Liberal Party.

When party members cast their votes Feb. 5, do they want him, baggage and all?

Im proud of the fact that Ive bled for this party, says Falcon, inviting members to look at my record.

Lee, who finished third in the 2018 leadership and is probably running second in the current race, noted that the Liberal vote share has dropped by about 40 per cent over the last five elections.

Bragging about bridges we built in the past wont attract new voters, he declared, taking a swipe at Falcons resume, top heavy as it is with infrastructure projects like the new Port Mann Bridge (tolls included) and the Canada Line.

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Though Falcon continues to maintain that the Liberals got the big things right during their time in office, even he admits they missed major opportunities to boldly address issues like low-cost child care, housing affordability, mental health and the environment.

Later he would say that this party requires a reboot and a rebuild, and a potential rebranding.

The bit about rebranding was a glancing reference to his early call for the party to change its name, which provoked a sizable backlash, especially among Liberals who also count him as a Conservative and themselves as, well, liberals.

Still, Falcon entered the race as the front-runner and there he remains, as Tuesdays gang-up by the other candidates confirms.

But thats far from saying Liberals have embraced him as the way to recover the majority they squandered in 2017 and all the seats they lost in 2020.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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Vaughn Palmer: Falcon may be Liberal leadership front-runner, but that doesn't mean party has embraced him - Vancouver Sun

The Liberal Party is requesting a recount in the federal riding of Chteauguay-Lacolle after Elections Canada reported what it called a "potential anomaly" in the count that saw the Bloc Qubcois candidate defeat the Liberal by 286 votes.

Elections Canada confirms it detected a possibleissue with one of the ballot boxes after the results had been finalized. The agency did not offerdetails.

"Since validation, Elections Canada has become aware of a potential anomaly with the results reported for a single ballot box at an advance poll," Elections Canada spokespersonNatasha Gauthiersaid in a statement to CBC News.

"We have been informed by the Liberal Party of Canada that they are taking the necessary steps to request a judicial recount under the relevant provisions of the Act."

The riding's result was the seventh-closest in the federal election, according to Elections Canada's results. Bloc Qubcois MP Patrick O'Hara won on Saturday with a 0.59 per cent margin overLiberal incumbent Brenda Shanahan,who was first elected in 2015.

The Liberal Party said that it's "important that every vote is counted."

"The Liberal campaign has full confidence in the avenues provided for in the Canada Elections Act for close results like the one in Chteauguay-Lacolle," wrote Liberal spokesperson Braeden Caley in a statement to CBC News.

The Bloc Qubcois says it will not be commenting on the matter.

Elections Canada says itdetected another issue earlier with the vote count in the Quebec riding.

The Liberals said they were told areturning officer accidentally entered 410 votes for the Bloc Qubcois candidate, rather than 40 votes.The typo was discovered in "one of the result numbers for one of the polls" during the validation process and corrected, said Elections Canada.

"This was due to human error," wrote Elections Canada. "The aforementioned typo was checked and corrected at this time, as were other data-entry typos discovered during the validation process. None of these errors changed the outcome of the results."

Candidates were notified and representatives watched the validation on Sept. 25.

Elections Canada said that no other parties have yetasked for recounts in other ridings, but they have until four days after the validation to submit a request.

"Judicial recounts are designed to the verify the arithmetic of the count or a contested election proceeding brought on the basis of an alleged irregularity," wrote Gauthier. "They happen every election and they are an important part of the democratic process."

Excerpt from:

Liberal Party requests recount in tight Quebec race it lost to Bloc - CBC.ca

This is my final regular post for theAnxious Benchafter nine years on its roster of writers. Thats a long time to stay on any bench, let alone an anxious one. But its been a wonderful resting place for me, because of the friends who have sat on it with me. Im grateful to them and to Patheos for the liberty Ive enjoyed to fill this space with what moves me.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finds itself at something of an inflection point, explained Emily Kaplan in a recent essay for the Washington Post magazine. The Rise of the Liberal Latter-day Saints, announced the headline. (They could be the LLDS).

Whats the evidence for this? In a way, quite a lot. Kaplan profiles a progressive ward in Berkeley, visits a gay Latter-day Saint mens group in Rexburg, Idaho, and she references Jana Riesss findings that around 20% of young Latter-day Saints do not identify as heterosexual. In other words, liberal Latter-day Saints arent hard to find.

Mormon politics, moreover, have changed a great deal. According to Pew, 80% of Latter-day Saints voted for George W. Bush in 2004. More young (under 40) Mormons voted for Biden than Trump in 2020, but Trump may have increased his overall Mormon support in 2020. Still, there is something afoot.

As other scholars (here Ben Park) have noted, Kaplan could have written a similar essay anytime in recent decades, about Latter-day Saints who dissent from current policies and doctrines and who advocate and agitate for change. It may well be that the young and rising generations stance on LGBT will fundamentally change this dynamic. But Im skeptical.

Im not skeptical of the inevitability of change over time. For all of the sense that the LDS Church moves slowly, I dont know that this is more true than of many other large religious organizations. At the very least, Mormon polity leaves open the possibility of quick change. On LGBT issues, the church has already changed its policies and tone to a substantial degree over the last two decades, Elder Hollands recent rhetoric notwithstanding. No doubt there will be future change, as Patrick Mason suggests in the essay: People have already started to do the work to sketch out a theological rationale that would allow for the kind of revelation that allows for womens ordination, for same-sex marriage, all kinds of things .. what was once possible then becomes probable.

Possible, certainly. Probable, hard to say. I see the churchs leadership remaining firm on not ordaining women for quite some time. LGBT issues seem to be more of a pressure point, and if large numbers of members really large numbers started leaving the church over the issue, that might produce change.

Several things give me pause, however. The rising generation is pushing [any] church left story is a near constant refrain in the media and even in scholarship. You can see that with stories about the evangelical left. Ive been reading about that since I started reading about evangelicalism, and its been a while now. To be sure, the structure and dynamics of evangelicalism are very different. In many respects, evangelicalism is more progressive than it was a few decades ago. Or, better put, some segments of American evangelicalism have become more progressive on matters of gender, race, and LGBT issues. At the same time, white Americans who identify as evangelical or born again have become even more solidly Republican and supportive of Christian nationalism. It is as at least as likely that progressive evangelicals will leave evangelical institutions than that those more conservative institutions will adapt to progressive values. Latter-day Saints might be more reluctant to give up on their institutions, more willing to stay in order to change them, but thats not necessarily the case in the long run.

There also seems to be a general presumption by many that change will always be progressive. Sometimes institutions retrench or embrace more socially conservative positions. In some institutions, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, change ultimately depends on the opinions of the thousands of messengers who attend meetings. In the LDS Church, change ultimately depends on the revelatory leadership of a small number of men.

Kaplans essay also focuses exclusively on American Latter-day Saints. Its true that a sizeable portion of young American Latter-day Saints dissent from current doctrine on issues such as same-sex marriage. But would the church be immune from the international divides that have riven the United Methodist Church and the Anglican Communion? Would church leaders be more concerned about disaffected young Americans or presumably more socially conservative church members in Latin America and Africa? Im not sure, because I dont know enough about these dynamics within the church. But Im not sure theyd push in the direction that progressive American Latter-day Saints desire.

Historians arent prophets, either in the generic or specifically Latter-day Saint case. Its hard enough to figure out the past. But one thing is sure. You only have to look at the history of religious institutions to know that their futures are full of surprises.

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The Future of Liberal Mormonism | John Turner - Patheos

The centre-left contender to fill Angela Merkels shoes has announced his intention to forge a social-ecological-liberal coalition following Sundays knife-edge German national vote, as momentum slips from the outgoing chancellors own designated successor.

The voters have made themselves very clear, Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic party (SPD) said at a press conference on Monday morning. He pointed out that his centre-left party, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic party (FDP) had all picked up significant numbers of new votes at the election, while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a loss in support of almost nine percentage points.

And thats why we have a visible mandate that the citizens of this country have formulated, said Scholz, who is vice-chancellor in the outgoing government.

The Greens and the Free Democrats, who achieved 14.8% and 11.5% of the vote and could form a stronger bloc than either the SPD or CDU/CSU, have agreed to hold exploratory talks with each other before entering negotiations proper, the FDP leader, Christian Lindner, said on Monday.

As well as joining a power-sharing deal with the SPD, nicknamed traffic light after the parties traditional colours, the Greens and FDP could theoretically lend their support to a so-called Jamaica coalition with the CDU, led by its chancellor candidate, Armin Laschet.

As exit polls on Sunday projected the SPD and CDU to be tied in a dead heat, Laschet initially sounded bullish in his determination to lead the next government, saying we will do everything to form a government.

But after the SPDs lead increased as votes were counted and it went 1.6 percentage points ahead of the CDU, which also recorded its lowest-ever share of the vote, Laschet gave a more modest impression the next day, without ceding his claim completely.

While the result of the vote cannot, must not and wont satisfy the [Christian Democratic] Union, the CDU leader said at a press conference, it did not yield a government mandate for either of the largest parties.

Not only Social Democrats question Laschets analysis of the result. On Bild newspapers own television channel, the tabloids commentator Paul Ronzheimer said the Rhinelander gave the impression that he lives in a different reality.

Several conservative politicians who had backed the CDU candidate on election night distanced themselves from his boosterish determination on Monday morning.

Second place cannot be construed to amount to a mandate to form the next government, tweeted Markus Sder, the Bavarian state premier whom many conservatives had wanted to see run for the top job in Laschets stead. At a press conference, the southern German leader talked of a disappointing result and a defeat that cannot be sugarcoated.

I think a lot of voters were irritated by what Laschet said on Sunday, said the political scientist Andrea Rmmele on public broadcaster ARD. I think its dawning on them that that wasnt a particularly smart move.

Olaf Scholz

The finance minister and deputy chancellor in Merkels last government, has been an influential player in German politics since 2002, when he became the centre-left Social Democratic Partys general secretary under Gerhard Schrder.

A former labour lawyer and deputy leader of the SPDs then anti-capitalist Young Socialist youth wing, the taciturn 63-year-old has for most of his career been associated with the partys right: as senator for the interior and then mayor of Hamburg, he often pursued strict law and order policies and continued the mercantilist traditions of the rich port city in Germanys north.

In the federal finance ministry, Scholz made sure not to shake German orthodoxies around balanced budgets. I am liberal, but I am not stupid, he once told an interviewer.

His supporters say the keen jogger is not only highly competent and a stickler for detail, but also more leftwing than his reputation. Along with his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire, he was one of the driving forces between the plan to introduced a global minimum corporate tax that was backed by the globes leading economies this summer.

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In Saxony, where the CDU ceded several constituencies to the far-right Alternative fr Deutschland (AfD), the state premier, Michael Kretschmer, described the outcome of the vote as an earthquake that did not give his party moral authority to lead the next government.

At this election the CDU was not the first choice, Kretschmer told the broadcaster MDR. There was a clear mood for change, against the CDU.

The Saxon leader blamed his partys poor result in the south-eastern region largely on the government handling of the Covid pandemic. Federal structures initially allowed his state to pursue its own course with social distancing rules, for example by ruling out closures of nurseries and primary schools. Later in the pandemic, state authorities were overruled by Merkels federal government.

Scholz, the frontrunner to eventually take over Merkels keys to the chancellory, said on Sunday evening he was confident there would be a new government by Christmas.

But the pace of coalition talks in the coming weeks will be unhurried and cautious, not least because the last time three German parties entered talks to share power in government, between the CDU, the Greens and the FDP in 2017, the experiment ended in failure.

On Monday, Scholz promised to approach talks in a very pragmatic and unboastful fashion.

Should Scholz be able to convince the Greens and FDP to enter coalition talks with his party first and on exclusive terms, a leisurely pace may also work in his favour. The fragile truce that has persisted among Germanys conservatives so far is unlikely to survive a protracted period of watching its historical rivals inch their way to power.

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Germany: SPD intends to form coalition with Greens and liberals - The Guardian

OTTAWA -- All federal parties except the Conservatives say they believe Members of Parliament should be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before entering the House of Commons when it resumes in the fall.

They are split, however, on whether Parliament should be allowed to function under any kind of virtual hybrid model as was the case throughout the pandemic and leading up to last month's election call.

It's an issue parliamentarians will have to decide on as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to name his new cabinet next month after saying Parliament would be recalled sometime before Dec. 21.

During the election campaign, which saw him re-elected for a third time with a slightly larger Liberal minority, Trudeau made it a rule that all Liberal candidates without a medical exemption must be double-vaccinated against COVID-19. The federal NDP and Bloc Quebecois required the same.

"With the return of Parliament this fall, this will be a relevant issue," said Simon Ross, press secretary for Liberal Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez.

"We believe MPs who choose to set foot on the floor of the House of Commons and committee rooms should be fully vaccinated, unless there is a valid medical exemption. This will be a key part of future discussions on the return of Parliament. It's a matter of safety for all MPs, their communities and for all staff who work at the House of Commons."

The Conservatives saw 119 MPs, including incumbents and new candidates, elected on Sept. 20, after the party spent the race dogged by questions about its opposition to making vaccines mandatory as a tool to defeat COVID-19 because it believes in the rights individuals have to exercise their own health choices.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole refused to say on the campaign trail whether he knew how many of those running for the Tories had been fully vaccinated, saying he told campaign teams that those who are not immunized against COVID-19 should take daily rapid tests.

"If Mr. Trudeau believes it was safe enough to have an election during the fourth wave of the pandemic, it's safe enough for the House of Commons to resume in-person sittings," said O'Toole's director of communications Chelsea Tucker.

"Canadians deserve a government that is accountable to its constituents and that's why under no circumstances will Conservatives support virtual Parliament."

It's unclear how many members of the Conservative caucus are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and how many may not be. They will convene next week for their first in-person caucus meeting since the election, where they will have to decide whether they want to review O'Toole's leadership following its loss.

MPs will be expected to follow public health guidelines, like keeping their distance, but it's not yet known whether those elected who may be unvaccinated are expected to undergo daily testing.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said Wednesday he wants to see Parliament resume quickly with MPs having to be fully vaccinated in order to be there in person because now vaccines against the novel coronavirus are more widely available.

"They get fully vaccinated or they stay home," Blanchet said of Conservative MPs who might not have had their shots.

"Parliament should not come back under any kind of hybrid formation now we know that we can go on with the way this building is supposed to work, and we should not refrain from doing so because a few persons don't believe that the vaccine works. This belongs to another century."

NDP MP Peter Julian said in a statement that because Canada is battling a fourth wave of the virus, the party wants to talk to others about continuing some of the hybrid practices when Parliament resumes.

"All of our NDP MPs are vaccinated and we've been very clear that federal government employees must be vaccinated too. Getting vaccinated is the right thing to do and elected leaders have a responsibility to set a good example by following public health advice," Julian said.

The call for MPs to be vaccinated comes as Trudeau works on bringing in a mandate requiring the federal civil service, along with those working in its federally regulated industries, to be fully vaccinated.

His government has promised to make it a rule by the end of October that travellers flying or taking a train in Canada have to be immunized in order to board.

Many provinces have already introduced a vaccine passport system requiring consumers to provide proof of immunization to access non-essential businesses like restaurants and sports and entertainment venues.

"For the safety of House of Commons staff, translators, pages, security, other MPs and their staff, all parliamentarians should show proof that they are fully vaccinated in order to take their seats in the House," tweeted former Liberal cabinet minister Catherine McKenna, who didn't seek re-election, but served for six years in government.

As of Friday, Health Canada reported that around 79 per cent of people 12 and older have been fully vaccinated, with about 85 per cent receiving at least one dose.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 29, 2021.

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Liberals, NDP, Bloc say MPs should be vaccinated to be in Parliament, not Tories - CTV News

Several Liberal MPs, including Victorians Katie Allen and Tim Wilson and NSW MPs Dave Sharma, Jason Falinski and Mr Zimmerman, have been agitating internally to reopen the international border sooner than planned for Australians vaccinated against COVID-19. They argue they should be able to self-isolate at home on their return, without states having to raise their hotel quarantine caps.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Sky News Australia this week that the implementation of home quarantine and apps proving COVID-19 vaccination were what Australia needed for international travel to work.

To enable Australians to travel overseas again vaccinated Australians, for vaccinated Australians to come to Australia, for people to be able to move around then home quarantine needs to work, Mr Morrison said.

The QR code readers that the states have, they need to work to be able to show whether someone has been vaccinated or not. Were working with the states and territories to enable that.

Mr Sharma, the member for Wentworth, said he wanted Australians free to travel overseas once again without an exemption or permit, as soon as possible.

For fully vaccinated Australians, this should be when we reach an 80 per cent vaccination rate, in line with the national cabinet decision. This would be the restoration of a key personal freedom, he said

Dr Allen, who represents the Melbourne seat of Higgins, said lifting travel restrictions should be complemented with protocols including home-based quarantine and rapid antigen testing.

I look forward to hearing the results of the SA pilot about how effective it is, she said.

Mr Falinski argued that international restrictions should be lifted for each state when they hit the 70 per cent vaccination mark.

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There isnt someone who doesnt have a friend, family or someone they care about living overseas, he said.

Queensland MP Julian Simmonds said Australians wanted freedoms returned and national cabinet must return freedom to travel for those who have done the hard yards and been vaccinated.

But he said it was important that any agreement made by the states in national cabinet was adhered to.

In my state of Queensland it is clear Premier [Annastacia] Palaszczuk will say one thing in national cabinet and then move the goalposts if she thinks it benefits her politically, he said.

Victorian Labor MP Julian Hill said people were desperate to be reunited with family overseas, but the Morrison government would get no thanks when it finally lets people out of a lockdown prison.

There would be no travel bans now to lift if the Morrison government had ordered enough vaccines last year, Mr Hill said.

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Liberal MPs want ban on Australians heading overseas lifted within month - Sydney Morning Herald

CALGARY -

Lawyers for a Conservative candidate will ask the court to set aside the result of last week's federal election in the riding of Calgary Skyview while officials investigate allegations another candidate removed her campaign literature from a doorstep and left a flyer with an incorrect polling address.

"We have begun drafting and hope to file in a week or so," said Kyle Shewchuk with Guardian Law Group, the firm representing Jag Sahota.

Sahota lost to Liberal candidate George Chahal by about 3,000 votes in the northeast Calgary riding.

Footage captured by a doorbell camera the day before the vote shows Chahal appearing to pick up a campaign postcard of a competitor and remove it from a front porch.

A complaint was made by the homeowner, Glenn Pennett, last week to Calgary police, which was forwarded to its anti-corruption unit.

Another complaint was also made to Elections Canada, which was forwarded to the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Election, which is "the independent officer responsible for ensuring that the Canada Elections Act (the Act) is complied with and enforced.

"The Office operates independently of Election Canada, which is the agency responsible for the administration of the federal elections," read a statement.

"In keeping with the confidentiality provisions of the Act, the CCE generally does not confirm whether it has received a complaint or has initiated an investigation into a particular issue.

"Generally speaking, every complaint is reviewed to determine if it falls under the commissioners mandate. If the issue falls within the commissioners jurisdiction, a review or investigation may be carried out to determine whether or not there was, in fact, wrongdoing under the act.

"The Commissioner can also initiate a review or an investigation of his own initiative, absent a complaint being made. The length of time necessary for a review or investigation can depend on several factors, including the complexity of the file, the level of cooperation from the people or entities involved, and the information shared with the CCE."

Any decisions made by the commissioner will be released publicly.

The chances of Sahota's appeal being successful are low, said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt

"They're not about to call for a new election" he said. "There would have to be extensive evidence that this impacted the election for them to do that. Even when we had the robocall issues in Guelph a couple years ago and people went to jail, they never said 'let's re-run the election."

The issue could also be damaging to Chahal's chances of being named to the federal cabinet, said Bratt.

"Not now, I don't know how they touch him," he said.

"He's gone from being a superstar to a very murky future in less than a week. Best case, they leave him out of cabinet and wait for this investigation to go through, but it could get worse for him, depending on the decisions made. He could be removed from caucus, he could be fined there's a lot at play here.

"You have to think that even through there is one video clip, this was not a one-off, and this isn't a volunteer, this was the candidate himself."

The Liberal Party issued a statement Wednesday afternoon.

"Mr. Chahal and the Liberal campaign in Calgary Skyview received strong support for our positiveplan to build a better future for Calgarians and all Canadians, and he looks forward to working hardin Parliament for the people of Calgary Skyview," it read.

"The Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections does vital work to support our democraticprocess, and like all of our campaigns, Mr. Chahal and his team will always be available torespond to any inquiries with respect to this recent election."

Chahal's campaign manager, Randall Zalazar, has said he did remove the flyer, but there was a reason why.

"While dropping off polling info flyers prior to polls opening on Election Day, George removed a piece of campaign literature that identified an incorrect polling location for the person residing at the address," he said, in an email to CTV News.

"All through Election Day, campaign volunteers found incorrectly labelled materials across the eastern side of the riding. Our campaign contacted Elections Canada and advised them of the issue."

Pennett, who supported Sahota, earlier told CTV Calgary he was frustrated and that Chahal shouldn't have removed the paper from his property.

"He's destroying something from somebody he's running against and leaving his card, which was totally the wrong information," he said.

Chahal was the only Liberal to win in Calgary.

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Conservative candidate to request Liberal win be set aside in Calgary Skyview - CTV News Calgary