Should we be on the watch for US interference in the Canadian election?

[TrogL]

Just off the top of my head I can think of a few things:

• Republican donations to Conservative party and/or candidates
  
• poll interference
  
• US purchase of pro-Freeper advertising on Canadian airspace
  
• Fox news (what can I say)
  
• letters to the editor from US sources
  

[Swede]

1. I used to think not,but times have changed,havn't they?

I don't trust the rightwingnuts of any country.

[Spazito]

2. Also the religious right funding ads, protests, Canadian branches

of their organizations. It was brought to the fore in the last election and we need to keep it front and center in this one as well, imo.

[Mother Jones]

3. Absofuckinglutely! We just saw this happen with the same-sex

marriage bill.......calls from churchs all over the U.S were pouring into our MP offices.

Fucking lunatics.

[glarius]

4. The right-wingers know Harper would have put Canada in the Iraq war, since

he went on Fox TV and apologized for Canada not joining Bush's little adventure...We could be watching our soldiers coming home in body bags right now if he was P.M...It seems very likely they would do what they can to help Harper....

[imouttahere]

12. Harper's appearance (and "apology") on Faux should be....

played as a campaign ad for the liberals non-stop. That should be enough to stop these phucks!

[glarius]

13. I agree and it's driving me nuts that NO LIBERAL is even mentioning it!

It's there biggest card to play, I think....What's wrong with them that they are ignoring it?....It's known that Canadians are AGAINST the Iraq war!

[Telly Savalas]

5. Would it help?

How many Canadians would be receptive to an American voice telling them how to vote?

[Lautremont]

6. I'm not sure. What's the population of Alberta?

(note: That's kind of a joke. I actually don't like tarring all of Alberta with that redneck brush, since I know many people who live there and not one would have any truck with Yanqui interference. I know lots of rednecks who wouldn't either, actually.)

[MapleHeart]

24. still

pretty funny (and with no small measure of truth)

[MapleHeart]

25. and

am an Albertan by birth and family roots

[IntravenousDemilo]

7. We must always be on the watch for US interference, and not only

in our elections. I thought that kind of went without saying. The US has monkeyed around at least as far back as the 1960s, when the Kennedy administration gave support to the Pearson Liberals against Diefenbaker -- and it probably goes back even farther than that.

And the US interferes in a lot of our everyday government as well. For instance, Parliament can't even pass a pot decriminalization bill (much less legalization) without getting all flustered about how they'll take it south of the border. Oh, oh, oh, they say, the Americans will stop trading with us if we legalize it. Yes, our good friends in the United States government and their friends in the pharmaceuticals industry. Our good friends would be willing to threaten us over a matter of internal policy? If that isn't meddling, I don't know what is.

[jim3775]

8. It has started

Globe and Mail

U.S. religious right enters electoral fray


Ralph Reed, who led hundreds of thousands of members of the religious right to get the vote out during the era of former U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, told delegates to a Christian conference last night to put on their work boots and tennis shoes and knock on doors.

"Come Jan. 23, there's going to be a new Canada of conservative traditional values," he told a cheering crowd of 400 people who greeted his remarks with a standing ovation.

Dr. Reed, who was also the senior adviser to the campaign of U.S. President George W. Bush and executive director of the Christian Coalition, has the legacy of building what has been called one of the most influential grassroots organizations in modern U.S. politics. He worked to continue down the same track last night.

"We're not trying to change a church into a political party, and we're not trying to change a political party into a church, but if the people of the church don't get involved, somebody else will."

[AX10]

9. As an American, I tell you that you better on watch 24/7.

Bush & Cabal have brutalized America. Harper will do the same should he GOD FORBID, "win".

Vote to keep the Conservative fascsists out!

[CHIMO]

10. Yes

Liberals have the right to express their support for Iraq war, Martin says

DORVAL, Que. (CP) - Liberals who support the war in Iraq have the right to express those pro-war beliefs even if they contradict the official government position, Prime Minister Paul Martin says.

Martin flatly rejected calls to bring into line star Liberal candidate Michael Ignatieff, who came under fire Wednesday from New Democrats who attacked his foreign policy positions. "We're a political party," Martin replied. "Members are entitled to express their opinions."

A renowned Harvard University academic who plans to return home after two decades in the U.S., Ignatieff has been a passionate advocate of President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq and his controversial missile-defence project.

Ignatieff is touted as a potential Liberal leadership candidate-in-waiting, although his entry into Canadian politics has been frustrated by bickering with a Toronto-area riding association that is fighting his nomination.

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n113049A

[Telly Savalas]

15. This is Martin being a tool, not the US interfering.

[CHIMO]

11. U.S. gun lobbyist here to `counsel'

U.S. gun lobbyist here to `counsel'
Canadian shooting group enlists NRA

Official denies interfering with election

The National Rifle Association, arguably the most powerful lobby group in the United States, has been enlisted to help shore up the influence of the Canadian gun lobby during the federal election campaign — something opponents say smacks of foreign interference and is indicative of the NRA's widening influence around the globe.

Glen Caroline, director of the NRA's grassroots division, is a keynote speaker and is giving a seminar today in Scarborough at the general meeting of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, an umbrella organization of recreational firearms groups. It has 10,000 members.

The association invited Caroline to tap into the NRA's 135-year-old expertise "on grassroots lobbying ... basically (help to) increase the presence, how to help our candidates. They're not coming up here to interfere with the election or tell us who to vote for, they're just telling us how to become more politically active," Larry Whitmore, the association's director of sport development, said yesterday.

"We as firearms owners have not been very good at protecting our rights with the government because we're just not organized enough and we thought we would learn from the best."

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133566817747&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

[Telly Savalas]

14. Bring it on.

If the CPC is going to succeed, they have to make serious headway in suburban Toronto ridings. (Where else are they gonna pick up serious numbers of seats?) Since gun violence in the GTA is becoming a more serious and publicized problem, the Tories would only be shooting themselves in the foot by promoting more lax gun laws (pun intended).

[pbca]

16. Perhaps But...

Don't you think that at the moment the Freepers are more concerned about keeping power in the US and their own looming election?

[imouttahere]

17. Who knows what these neo-con fascists are thinking?

You would think they would only be concerned with what is going on in the U.S. Do they think the Canadian way of life will poison the U.S.? It's the other way around, morons!

[PDJane]

18. The neo-cons

seem to think it's their duty to make the entire world into an image of the US. Religious, fascist, and good for the rich.

[CHIMO]

19. Gun lobby scraps ads in wake of Toronto shooting

Gun lobby scraps ads in wake of Toronto shooting
Last Updated Fri, 30 Dec 2005 09:32:40 EST
CBC News

In the wake of a deadly downtown Toronto shooting on Boxing Day, gun lobby groups have scrapped their plan for a $100,000 ad campaign in the city to attack the Liberals' proposal to ban handguns.

The campaign, by the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action and the Canadian Shooting Association, had been designed to argue that responsible gun owners are not at the root of the crime problem.

At first, the lobby groups intended to present the campaign despite the Dec. 26 crime that horrified the country, when a teenage girl died and six others were injured as gunfire erupted on a busy Toronto street.

Whitmore has denied the U.S. lobby group was involved in any way.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canadavotes2006/national/2005/12/30/gun-lobby051230.html
Nope. Nothing here. Move along.


http://www.guncontrol.ca/Content/New/12NRA05.pdf

[iverglas]

21. why, quelle coincidence!

"the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action"

NRA Institute for Legislative Action
"The lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association."

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is committed to preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

http://www.cila.org/
"THIS DOMAIN IS FOR SALE"

Oh well. Try here ...

http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html#2.3

The Canadian Institute for Legislative Action is a Canada wide coalition of pro-firearms and shooting organizations devoted to preserving, promoting and protecting firearms and related activities. CILA has a full time representative in Ottawa and maintains offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

But not too damned original.

[CHIMO]

20. An Extensive Web of Financial Ties

An Extensive Web of Financial Ties
Nonprofit Group Linked to DeLay Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Abramoff

The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480.html

Establishment of an International Family Network

On the last day of the Congress, participants were asked to assemble according to their geographical region. The breakdown of the regions were Australia; Asia; India and Pakistan; Africa; Europe; Latin America, and the U.S. and Canada.

Each region elected an organizing committee that will form part of the World Family Network that will have its headquarters in New York City. This Committee is to meet there on a regular basis.

The work of this Committee is to be organized around the Mexico City Declaration. The Committee will receive reports, evaluate proposals and make recommendations. It will also establish a website http://www.profamilia.org/. This site will publish information on available resources on the pro-family cause in different languages. It will post a bibliography, successful programmes established elsewhere, materials and ongoing projects; in general, the site will be of service to the international network of family organizations.

This international network for pro-family organizations has been long overdue. The anti-family/life organizations have been at this for a long time, so we have much catching up to do. However, enthusiasm for the establishment of an international pro-family network is extremely high. It is expected that it will take a year or so to get this network off the ground - but with the goodwill and genuine interest, which were present in abundance at the Congress, it is believed by many that the pro-family forces around the world will have, at last, a solid, permanent organization to make a large international impact.

http://www.realwomenca.com/newsletter/2004_may_jun/article_7.html

[glarius]

22. Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition which worked to elect Bush

was in Canada recently, handing out his "expert" advice in how to elect a Conservative government....I was running through the channels a week or so ago and saw dear little Ralphie, standing at a lecturn, lecturing some Christian group in Canada in the strategy which he said would get them a Conservative victory....Also, whenever you see Harper making a speech, he is standing in front of some sort of wall which has a propoganda slogan etc. on it....It is so reminiscent of what Bush does in all his little talks to the nation...

[Spazito]

23. Yep, Harper, our own bush wanna-be

It is my hope that little Ralphie will have his hands full with defending himself against criminal charges for his tie with Abramoff and the outing of his phony 'christian' front. When that happens we can write letters to the editor re this to point out and tie him to the faux Cons and their phony right wing 'christian' supporters.

[PDJane]

26. Yes. We should.

I mean, why stop at fascism in only one country if you have a resource-rich country ripe for the picking north of the border?