Australian PM addresses Parliament

[sanch]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060518.whoward0518/BNStory/Front/home

Ottawa — Australian Prime Minister John Howard blew into Stephen Harper's Ottawa with a bracing blast of conservative geopolitics Thursday.

Mr. Howard, the first foreign leader to visit Canada since Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives took office, delivering a rousing speech to a joint session of Parliament in which he lavished praise on the United States as a global power, lauded an alternative to the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, and cautioned that nuclear non-proliferation shouldn't be used to hinder Canada and Australia's uranium industries.

“Australia, as you know, is an unapologetic friend and ally of the United States,” Mr. Howard told a Commons chamber that's heard all-too-frequent criticism of Washington in recent years.

 

[FiveParadox]

Re: Howard Addresses Parliament

I was rather bemused by the speech made by His Excellency John Howard, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, to our Senators and Members of Parliament to this Thirty-ninth Parliament of Canada. Mr. Howard seemed to be attempting, in my opinion at least, to "put the opposition in its place" for its criticisms of the administration of the United States of America in recent sessions. The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., the Member for Calgary Southwest and the Prime Minister of Canada, echoed Mr. Howard's expressions statements in relation to the war against terror.

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Australian PM address

I don't understand what the Australian Prime Minister was doing addressing the Canadian Parliament.

Could someone explain to me what he was doing?

 

[FiveParadox]

As a matter of relationships between nations, the Government of Canada has, on occasion, invited some heads of government to address a joint sitting of the two Houses of the Parliament of Canada — that is what occurred with the address from Mr. Howard to our Senators and Members of Parliament.

 

[JonB2004]

Re: RE: Australian PM addresses Parliament

As a matter of relationships between nations, the Government of Canada has, on occasion, invited some heads of government to address a joint sitting of the two Houses of the Parliament of Canada — that is what occurred with the address from Mr. Howard to our Senators and Members of Parliament.

:x

That's stupid!

We wiped out an entire sitting of Parliament. Not that anything was going to get done anyways, but it still the point that we wiped out an entire sitting.

Just so we can build useless relationships with other countries!

*mutter* Stupid government! *mutter*

 

[FiveParadox]

Our relationships with other nations are not "useless" in the least; however, this particular address to the Thirty-ninth Parliament of Canada was, in my opinion, nothing more than an opportunity for the Prime Minister to invite over a friend to spew covert conservative threats and pressure. However, on a more constructive note, the House of Commons did have Question Period and, if I remember properly, Routine Proceedings (which, I suppose, are the most paramount of functions, anyway).

 

[Hank C]

Well its the first time I have really seen Howard and I like him. For a liberal he seems fairly grounded, unlike Paul Martin who was an international embarrassment, who didnt exactly project Canada as a strong player on the internation stage.

Australia is a little country (in terms of economy and population) who is punching above their weight when it comes to foreign policy and military development, something Canada has fallen behind on after years of Liberal Party negligence. Howard is a good ally for Mr. Harper to develop a strong relationship with.

 

[Tom Green Fan]

The thing you have to understand with Australia is that the Liberal Party (Howard's) is actually conservative while the Labor Party are Liberal.

But I like John Howard, he's done a great job, you don't get re-elected 3 times unless you're doin a good job