Friday, January 05, 2007

It's Official!

From the Office of the Prime Minister: WAJID KHAN JOINS CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS.

CBC says "Dion told the CBC on Friday morning that he had "no indication" Khan would defect". Sounds like a man really in tune with his caucus.

So, are there any more Khanverts out there?


UPDATE: Mixed reaction from Khan's riding.

I just saw an interview on CTV with Khalid Sagheer, the Liberal riding association president for Mississauga-Streetsville. He expressed support for Wajid Khan's decision and had some surprising things to say. Among them was a reference to the "token gesture" that the Liberal party extends to new Canadians - i.e. not much substance.

I hope CTV adds that interview to their website. It was most interesting.


CBC is carrying this story. Will the Riding Association President jump ship too?


Saturday Update: For a good laugh, check this out!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Putting the interests of Canada and Canadians ahead of those of the Liberal Party makes Mr. Kahn a heretic in Liberal eyes. The blind obedience to the leader demande by Chretein seems to be alive and well under Dion. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Red Tory said...

Excitement fills the air. Not.

WED said...

While I imagine this is going to be the only crossing until the next election, I do hope that Khan's decision to leave the Liberals will inspire other moderate Liberals to see that their party is abandoning their views and moving more towards the NDP/Bloc socialist views.

Anonymous said...

I'll forego the all too obvious Belinda references! ;)

".....abandoning their views and moving more towards the NDP/Bloc socialist views." ????

More like completely embraced and not recently.....did you actually miss the last 40 years?

I think I have found a new term
" Dion-ial " !

Anonymous said...

"Putting the interests of Canada and Canadians ahead of those of the Liberal Party"

Glad to see the CPC Central Talking Point Generation system has had its new year's maintenance and is again back online and in fine form.

But I still prefer the main slogan "Canada's New Government, getting things done for Canadians"

Red Tory said...

LS -- But I still prefer the main slogan "Canada's New Government, getting things done for Canadians"

I rather like this one:

"Canada's New Government, tickling you up the ass with the promise of things to come."

Anonymous said...

Hey! Is saying, "tickling you up the ass" allowed on this blog or is Red Tory having a bad day?

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Omar, only moms are allowed to have bad days.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of days, today seems like a slow news day.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

today seems like a slow news day.

Harper sure took this morning's events in his stride - he watched the hockey game this afternoon.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Dion failed his first big test. Good job Dion.

Yes, he certainly looks a bit foolish right now; along with the CBC.

Anonymous said...

I thought the citoyen "issue" was his first big test.

Obviously Khan was still a Liberal when he lied to his party leader about his intentions.

Would you buy a used car from this man?

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Would you buy a used car from this man?

Nice.

So are you guys ready for another leadership race? Dion steps in and loses a member of the caucus right off the bat. Very impressive.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha!
At least you're all on message.

We'll certainly be having a leadership race, in about 10 years.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

L.S. - That could be a long and painful 10 years.

I actually quite like Dion. I think he is honest and straight-forward. Unfortunately that doesn't always cut it in politics. You need a lot of that, but you also need to be a strategist. Dion is a babe in the woods. But heh, not a problem pour moi!

Anonymous said...

It's amazing that most of the outrage at this jumping is coming from the Cons...
Most Liberals don't care...

Anonymous said...

From one of the articles I read today:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion had delivered Khan an ultimatum earlier in the week, telling him he was not comfortable with the MP advising Harper.

"As leader of the party, I felt it imperative that he decide to which party he would ultimately be loyal," Dion said in a statement. "Mr. Khan has now made that decision."

Harper said Khan first offered his services as adviser after 17 Muslim terror suspects were arrested in Toronto last June.


It sounds to me like Khan was perfectly willing to continue his very qualified role as adviser to the current gov. while remaining a Liberal, as Harper seemed as well. The wise leader accepts that s/he cannot know everything, and is willing to seek and accept the knowledge and wisdom of others, and I like the fact that Harper is willing to accept that help from qualified members of other parties.

Dion, however, forced Khan's hand. There was no reason to make Khan choose between being a Liberal and being an adviser to the PM. He could've remained both. It wasn't a loyalty issue until Dion made it one.

Anonymous said...

I was caught off guard with this crossing since I had sent a email to the CPC about Mr.Khan being on a video from a Mosque and he states to the Muslims that the Quran and Allah allows revenge attacks on those harming Muslims or islam , MP Khan made this declaration just after a Mosque was damaged and he feared someone would assume it was a Christian and respond by fire bombing a Church.
I don't think having a Pro-Jihad
Muslim in charge of Middle east issues will make jews in canada feel any safer , and the outrage by Khan after the June 2006 arrests of 17 Pakistani-canadian terrorists was a charade in my opinion because he tried to deflect the blame from the Quran and Islam by pretending to oppose Jihad and revenge attacks on non-Muslims.
MP Khan is right there on video tape confirming that Allah allows violence to those attacking islam or Muslims, so it's pretty rich of him to say one thing to the MSM and then condone terrorism in a Mosque while thinking nobody would hear him outside of the Muslim population.

Anonymous said...

I don't like floor crossers but I really don't like blind partisanship. Dion set the stage for this one by putting the party's interests ahead of the country.

From what I've read, Khan seems like a really good MP and, given his role as special advisor, he has demonstrated that his priorities are right.

I hope this does NOT lead to a gaggle of Liberals crossing the floor but I wouldn't mind if a flock of undecided voters parked their vote away from the Liberals.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Kunoichi - Yes, it seems that Dion forced this issue to come to a head. I hope he's satisfied.

Anon at 10:36:39 PM: Do you have some kind of URL or reference to that incident? Did you ever hear back from the CPC about your concerns?

I would want to hear that comment in context before I pass judgement.

I had heard quite the opposite - that he had been urging Canadian Muslims to be watchful for signs of covert extremist activity.

Perhaps he had acknowledged that the Quran makes statements to that effect, but it doesn't mean that he would condone it.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I hope this does NOT lead to a gaggle of Liberals crossing the floor but I wouldn't mind if a flock of undecided voters parked their vote away from the Liberals.

Well it wouldn't bother me, Mac. ;)

Rumour has it though that this was all planned by Dion because (a) he wasn't ready for a spring election and now can save face by voting against the goverment as long as the NDP supports it, and (b) he wants to parachute some leadership candidates into safe seats in Toronto.

This is what I'm hearing. Or is he just saving face once more?

Anonymous said...

I think Dion did give Khan an ultimatum; Dion being the arrogant Liberal thought there was no doubt Kahn would choose to stay with the party of "Canadian Values". How could he not? Remember, Stephane Dion still believes the Liberals have a divine right to rule and did not deserve to lose the last election. (In my view, they should have been wiped out)

Looks like the surprise was on him.

And that Cherniak petition. Absolutely hilarious and the funniest thing I have read in a long time!

Anonymous said...

Re floor crossers: I think the CPC is due a few more; look at all the ones who went Liberal over the last few years...Keith Martin, Scotty Brison, Belinda Stronach, Joe Pesochilido (who?), probably more. So yeah, keep 'em coming. The more the merrier. Remember that Harper said he was against legislation banning floor crossing because it gave too much power to the leader. So, until such time as the rules are changed, it's fair ball.

I'll never forget Dithers' smug face that day he sat there with Belinduh...

Bring it on.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

And that Cherniak petition. Absolutely hilarious and the funniest thing I have read in a long time!


Funniest thing is that he's gone through and voided all the humourous lines. Geez, what a spoil-sport!

BTW, not too many serious signatures left.

Anonymous said...

The petition looks even more ridiculous with all those voided signatures!

BTW, did he have it in his heart to make a similar petition with Belinduh crossed over? I think not.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at Fri Jan 05, 10:36:39 PM EST wrote:
«the outrage by Khan after the June 2006 arrests of 17 Pakistani-canadian terrorists was a charade in my opinion»

And Joanne at Sat Jan 06, 07:57:28 AM EST replied:
«Do you have some kind of URL or reference to that incident? Did you ever hear back from the CPC about your concerns?
I would want to hear that comment in context before I pass judgement.»

I'm with you, Joanne. I would like to see some proof of those allegations. I saw a similar accusation made by someone posting at SDA on August 10, 2006, but again with no evidence.

Here's what I've been able to find re: Mr. Khan, showing he is against extremism:
1. http://tinyurl.com/y3x8go
«Pakistani scholar Farhat Hashmi entered Canada in October 2004 on a visitor's visa, has twice been denied permission to work, and was ordered to leave the country in September 2005. ...
Moderate Muslims believe her lessons encourage extremist views among her students in Mississauga — the same Toronto suburb where many of the 17 men arrested last month on terrorism-related charges grew up and allegedly developed into radicals. ...

Wajid Khan, Liberal MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, wants her gone pronto. He doesn’t understand why the immigration bureaucracy hasn't acted on the eviction letter delivered nine months ago. He's not the only one.»

2. http://tinyurl.com/mmot2
«Liberal MP Wajid Khan was making what he thought would be a routine visit to the Al-Rahman Islamic Centre in his Mississauga-Streetsville riding. The drop-in took an unexpected turn when the mosque caretaker who was to introduce Khan instead began railing against Muslims participating in mainstream politics. It was a memorably unpleasant encounter for Khan, but it came to public attention only because of the identity of the radical who delivered the tirade: Qayyum Abdul Jamal, now 43, one of the 17 terrorist suspects arrested in Toronto, and the man singled out as a mentor to the much younger accused would-be bombers.
According to Khan, Jamal's rant that day reached an outrageous climax with the charge that Canadian troops in Afghanistan were "raping Muslim women." It was too much for the MP. "I stood up and moved this gentleman, if I can call him that, aside, and spoke to the congregation -- utter nonsense, this isn't true, our troops are doing a wonderful job," Khan recalled in an interview. "Most of the congregation was very pleased with my comments and very upset with this gentleman."»

Anonymous said...

The petition was hilarious. Too bad Jason is such a spoil-sport and deleted almost everything.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Gabby, yes. Thank you for setting the record straight. That is what I recall as well. I have little use for people posting under the name "anonymous" that want to spread petty gossip.

Yikes! I think Red Tory is rubbing off on me. Gah!



Mac - . Too bad Jason is such a spoil-sport and deleted almost everything.

No kidding! A lot of creative effort had gone into that. I was going to add one under the name of Belinda S.:

"Nobody should be crossing any floors unless they're wearing designer shoes."