Parliamentary page sacrifices her job for anti-Harper protest

karrie

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I think the fact that any young person in this country would count someone in North Africa as her 'peer' is ridiculous. She ran NO risk, other than expediting the end of her job, in doing what she did. What young people in North Africa and the Middle East are doing, is a risk that I am thankful I, and she, and even you reading this, could probably never truly comprehend in our cushy little lives.
 

TenPenny

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Well she's using the vote as a metric and referencing the four hotbutton issues: jets, environment, healthcare, social programs. I'm sure there's some crossover on some of those between the liberals and conservatives.

Also, by "government" I'm assuming she's just referring to the one and only, Harper government.

She is assuming that anyone who didn't vote Conservative in the last election is opposed to this government's position on those issues.
That's a completely silly leap of thought.

That's akin to saying that if you want to have a steak tonight, you are fundamentally opposed to ever eating fish.
 

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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She is assuming that anyone who didn't vote Conservative in the last election is opposed to this government's position on those issues.
That's a completely silly leap of thought.

She probably means the voters that voted for other parties and not every single Canadian other than conservative voting Canadians.

I think the fact that any young person in this country would count someone in North Africa as her 'peer' is ridiculous. She ran NO risk, other than expediting the end of her job, in doing what she did. What young people in North Africa and the Middle East are doing, is a risk that I am thankful I, and she, and even you reading this, could probably never truly comprehend in our cushy little lives.

Of course, but that's a matter of degree, not principle.
 

karrie

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Of course, but that's a matter of degree, not principle.


I stand on principle to say that standing up in Canada and holding a protest sign, then comparing yourself to anyone fighting for freedom in a country where they will outright slaughter you for such an act, is assinine.
 

TenPenny

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She probably means the voters that voted for other parties and not every single Canadian other than conservative voting Canadians.

But there's no reason to assume that people who voted NDP, or Bloc, or Liberal, or Green don't support SOME, or even all, of those policies she mentioned.
 

mentalfloss

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But there's no reason to assume that people who voted NDP, or Bloc, or Liberal, or Green don't support SOME, or even all, of those policies she mentioned.

Well that depends on the platforms doesn't it? Sure, we can get into the minutia of whether a voter knows who they're voting for, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that most voters that didn't vote conservative won't agree with their platform.

I don't have stats myself, but I'd be willing to bet at least 55% out of the 60% of non-conservative voters probably think Harper is a kitten-muncher.


I stand on principle to say that standing up in Canada and holding a protest sign, then comparing yourself to anyone fighting for freedom in a country where they will outright slaughter you for such an act, is assinine.

She's just comparing the act of protestation - not saying that the degree of difficulty in the protest or the degree of government control is the same as in those countries. It's not a stretch to see how she was inspired, and how Canadians could be inspired, even if our methods of protest are much more limited in scope or fervor.

There are tons of examples of the same thing. I'm sure gay rights activists can take inspiration from gay protestors in the most socially-backwards countries. Or abortion activists, etc.

Or hell, even drug activists. I wouldn't call a Canadian drug activist crazy for taking inspiration from some heroic protestor in Mexico, for instance.

I see what you're saying, and there are definitely holes in her diatribe, but she's got a pretty strong message for the most part.
 
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karrie

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She's just comparing the act of protestation - not saying that the degree of difficulty in the protest or the degree of government control is the same as in those countries. It's not a stretch to see how she was inspired, and how Canadians could be inspired, even if our methods of protest are much more limited in scope or fervor.

You're ASSUMING she's comparing the mere act of protestation. I take it quite literally when she says 'my peers'. I would never call someone 'my peer' unless I counted myself an equal to them in the issue being discussed. Thus I assume she counts herself their equal... that's what the term 'peer' means.
 

mentalfloss

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Not by the recent election, that's for sure.

You think she's a fan of plurality? lol

You're ASSUMING she's comparing the mere act of protestation. I take it quite literally when she says 'my peers'. I would never call someone 'my peer' unless I counted myself an equal to them in the issue being discussed. Thus I assume she counts herself their equal... that's what the term 'peer' means.

I took peer to mean friend or colleague. To each their own I guess.
 

captain morgan

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Not by the recent election, that's for sure.

Damn... Ya caught me before I changed my position (it was already asked and answered).

Regardless, that question goes straight to the heart of your comment relative to illusions of grandeur.... Ironically, she is imposing her values onto the "majority of Canadians" and therefore she is fighting the good fight... The insane asylums are filled with people that have this kind of god complex.
 

mentalfloss

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Ironically, she is imposing her values onto the "majority of Canadians" and therefore she is fighting the good fight... The insane asylums are filled with people that have this kind of god complex.

I don't think you know what the word 'imposing' actually means.

She can believe or say what she wants. If she's wrong, she's wrong. Big whoop.
 

Tonington

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You're ASSUMING she's comparing the mere act of protestation.

That's how I would take what she said, when she explained her comparison of a Canadian version of a popular movement. The Arab Spring is a protest.

I don't really see much else to compare between what the Arabs are protesting, and what she is protesting, besides the act of protesting itself.
 

TenPenny

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Well that depends on the platforms doesn't it? Sure, we can get into the minutia of whether a voter knows who they're voting for, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that most voters that didn't vote conservative won't agree with their platform.

You might think that's a safe bet, but I don't, based on some of the people I know and how they voted and what we talk about.
 

captain morgan

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I don't think you know what the word 'imposing' actually means.

She can believe or say what she wants. If she's wrong, she's wrong. Big whoop.


Well, unless she polled all of the Canadians of which she protested on behalf of, she'd be doing exactly that.... But based on the second part of that ridiculous response, it appears clear that as long as she has MF's approval, well, that's majority enough, eh?

Help me out on something you were pissing and moaning about recently.. I had to do with the majority of Canadians and proportional representation... I'm kinda curious how you and Depape are following this premise?
 
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mentalfloss

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You might think that's a safe bet, but I don't, based on some of the people I know and how they voted and what we talk about.

That's a fair point.

In the end, we cannot really know what a substantial proportion of population is actually thinking so some assumptions have to be made.
 

mentalfloss

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Only if you want to make a fool of yourself in public.

To be fair, there was a poll that was conducted just after the election that does lead credence to the idea that the majority of Canadians are rejecting the conservative mandate.

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/canadian-politics/100284-f-35-jets-corporate-tax.html

In a new poll conducted for CBC News following the May 2 federal election, 53 per cent of people surveyed said they were opposed to dropping the corporate tax rate from 16.5 per cent to 15 per cent. About two-fifths — 39 per cent — agreed with the cut and eight per cent weren't sure.

Just more than half — 52 per cent — said Canada should not go ahead with the purchase of 65 F-35 fighter jets, while 37 per cent polled said the government should buy the planes. Twelve per cent said they didn't know.

Environics polled 2,000 people by phone from May 12 to 22, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
 

karrie

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That's a fair point.

In the end, we cannot really know what a substantial proportion of population is actually thinking so some assumptions have to be made.

I would assume that I'm not the only one who voted for a party other than the Conservatives, but didn't vote just to say no to the Conservatives. For the vote to come in, the voices be counted, the parties placed accordingly, and then still have someone disrupting things because they didn't like the outcome, is frustrating.
 

captain morgan

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