Upside: Easier to get restaurant reservations....
The Student Society of McGill University has voted to boycott Israel. The idea came up for a vote twice before in the last 18 months at McGill University, and was put forward again Monday night by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This time, it succeeded. “What we basically did is write a motion and brought it to the general assembly at our student union today. The motion is on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel,” said Laura Khoury of the McGill BDS Action Network. Close to 900 undergraduate students filled nearly four overflow rooms for the hour-long debate. Students voted 512 to 357 in favour of adopting the motion. While it may have been a small portion of the student population of 30,000, they say vote sends a message.
In November 2015, the Federation of Students received a petition of over 4000 signatures to initiate a referendum for the following question:The resolution would have been non-binding on the University, but would have committed student government to advocating for the boycott, including cancellation of a 2014 academic cooperation agreement with The Technion, frequently referred to as Israeli's MIT. This was not just a "divestment" resolution, it was a full-blown academic BDS resolution. The only other such vote I'm aware of in the U.S. was at Bowdoin College in May 2015, which overwhelmingly was rejected by the student body. After an intensive campaign from both the "Yes" and "No" (also here) sides, the results were just announced by the student government:"Do you think the University of Waterloo should sever ties with the following institutions due to their complicity in violations of the human rights of Palestinians: University of Haifa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science?"As per the Feds by-laws, "A Referendum for any purpose connected with the affairs of the Corporation may only be called by: A requisition in writing of either twenty-nine hundred (2900) voting members or at least ten percent (10%) of the voting members of the Corporation, whichever is fewer.." Feds President Chris Lolas was then to verify the validity of the signatures. It was determined that over 2900 signatures were from voting members of Feds, and a referendum was called.
Canada plans to fly in 900 Syrian refugees a day as of next month, according to media reports, as the defense minister said showing compassion for these people sends a message to Islamic State extremists. Canadian officials said details of a plan to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by year's end would be announced Tuesday. The Canadian media reports come amid fears that IS jihadists could slip into the country posing as refugees, in the wake of last week's attacks in Paris that killed at least 130 people.The bill is projected to be 1.2 billion Canadian dollars. Canada has come up with a stupendous rationale for what they're doing. The liberal Canadian Minister of Defence (who is a Sikh, by the way, with what appears to be a pretty strong resume) has made some statements that are similar to the reasoning of liberals in this country as well:
This crisis is not just about a humanitarian project," he said in his opening remarks to military commanders and defense ministers from around the world. "This also sends a great message to ISIS that you might create this environment for us, but we will not let you take advantage of this," he said, using an alternate acronym for the IS group. "By doing our part for this, we are actually hitting ISIS in a different way as well."
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.
“This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world,” Harper said in his address to the nation. “We are also reminded that attacks on our security personnel and our institutions of governance are by their very nature attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all. But let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.”The attack began just before 10 am on Wednesday, when Zehaf-Bibeau fired on the ceremonial guard at a war memorial across the street from parliament. It was here that Corporal Nathan Cirillo was shot; he later died from his wounds. Zehaf-Bibeau then made his way past armed guards and into the building where MPs from both parties were caucusing. Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms, shot Zehaf-Bibeau dead before anyone else was injured. CBC News has terrifying raw footage from inside Parliament's Centre Block:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was heckled by an Arab Israeli member of parliament during a speech in which he slammed those who call Israel an “apartheid” state. Knesset member Ahmed Tibi later stomped out of the room as Harper was speaking.... He criticized those who support a boycott of Israel, equating it with historical anti-Semitism. On some campuses, intellectualized arguments against Israeli policies thinly mask the underlying realities, such as the shunning of Israeli academics and the harassment of Jewish students. Most disgracefully of all, some openly call Israel an apartheid state,” Harper said during his Monday evening address.
"As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some civil-society leaders today call for ...
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird gave a very strong speech (embedded at bottom of post) yesterday at the United Nations against the "nonmember" status for "Palestine," in violation of the Oslo Accords. Damn fine speech by #Canada.— Act for Israel (@ActForIsrael) November 29, 2012 Canada is following...
Robin Williams once said of Canada, "it's like a loft apartment overlooking a really great party." But a study released this week said that while the U.S. has been partying, it appeared that Canadians' net worth had leaped ahead of Americans': The average Canadian has quietly...
I've written many times about Rhode Island's public sector pension problem, which is like an albatross hung around the necks of taxpayers. Although some reforms have been made, retiring at a relatively early age on full or near full salary forevever has created an absurd situation...
In a draft statement the G-8 nations were set to echo Obama's call for negotiations based on the 1967 borders, the same framework which caused outrage in the U.S. Congress: Group of Eight leaders will give "strong support" to U.S. President Barack Obama's call for an...
