While most of us have been engrossed in the American election saga, our neighbor to the north is preparing for an Oct. 19th election that may be infused with some imported drama.
As next week’s election draws near, news is that conservative Stephen Harper is going to be replaced with the son a former leftist Prime Minister:
If current polling is to be believed – and recent election upsets in the UK and Israel have taught pundits to take polls with more than a pinch of salt – then Harper will not hold on to government. After languishing in third place for much of the campaign, the Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau – son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau – seem set to return to power.The victory will be particularly sweet here in Ajax, where four-term Liberal MP Mark Holland was routed in 2011 by Chris Alexander, formerly Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan and now a immigration minister in the Conservative government.
True to form, President Obama cannot resist trying to exert some meaningful influence. Since he is apparently unable to do so in the Middle East, where it may actually help our nation, there are reports he is attempting to sway the Canadian vote.
But Judi McLeod of the Canada Free Press has been documenting how Obama is planning the “fundamental transformation” of Canada by taking down Harper’s government and bringing to power a progressive majority assembled from Canada’s Liberal Party and New Democratic Party (NDP), an affiliate of the Socialist International.In a dispatch earlier this year, McLeod provided the facts about the interference of Obama campaign operatives in the Canadian elections scheduled for October 19. “In Canada, Obama’s campaign team is guiding the election campaigns of both the Liberals and the NDP,” she wrote. She urged the Harper government to investigate.She explained why Obama is targeting Canada: “To the U.S., Canada is the country next door, to Obama it’s home of the architects of the maligned Keystone XL Pipeline and home to the world’s Number One elected defender of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”Indeed, for the last seven years, Harper has not only been supporting Israel, but functioning as the leader of the Free World in the face of Obama’s deal-making with America’s enemies and adversaries. In 2014, at the summit of G20 nations, Harper famously told Russian President Putin that he needs “to get out of Ukraine.” Putin replied with a lie, saying the Russians weren’t in Ukraine.
The last time Team Obama attempted to direct an election result, it went spectacularly well . . . for Bibi Netanyahu.
Minimally, the specter of Obama looms over this election cycle as evidenced by the recent candidate debate over foreign policy:
Mulcair took Harper to task for fighting with U.S. President Barack Obama over the Keystone Pipeline.“It’s an old saying that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” Mulcair said. “You are pouring vinegar all over the Americans.”Harper said that he has worked “productively, overall” with Obama and the U.S. during his reign as prime minister. Turning the debate around on Mulcair, Harper attacked him for being against military action in Iraq.“Seriously, if you want to poison the relationship with the Americans… pulling out of ISIS coalition” would do it, Harper said.
Enjoy this sample of gravitas during elections, via the video of the recent Munk foreign policy debate between all three Canadian candidates.
Should Harper fail in this election, Obama will likely be the root cause by either direct interference in the election or the White House’s toxic foreign policies. Or, perhaps both!
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