Tuesday, January 22, 2008

John Manley - A Liberal Canadians can be proud of

The National Post appears to be posting their editorials the night before on their blog, which is great for political junkies.

The one that caught my eye tonight is John Ivison's "Manley report invokes the spirit of Lester Pearson", which is a surprisingly strong attack against Stephane Dion:
...What's more, the report is clear that to withdraw from a combat role, in favour of training Afghan forces as Mr. Dion advocates, "falsely implies a clear line between training roles and combat activity; in reality, training and mentoring sometimes mean conducting combat operations with them."

Mr. Dion doesn't appear to have much wiggle room but if he was half the politician Mr. Manley is, he would clasp that statement close and say that's what he meant all along -- combat if necessary but not necessarily combat...
(Note: Wednesday's print edition has retitled the same editorial - Liberals best think again.)

John Manley's contribution to this report, and his frank, nonpartisan reflections that were voiced in today's press conference all serve to underscore how far the Liberal party has fallen by comparison.

If John Manley were the leader of the Liberal party today, Stephen Harper would have a worthy opponent - and perhaps Canadians would have a Parliament that actually works in the best interests of the country and the world.


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Related: CTV - Opposition renews calls for ending combat mission:

...Speaking at a press conference after his panel delivered its report, Manley said that Canada must stand up for the rights of individuals, "of the human security of people whose own governments can't protect them."

"There are times when we have to count, there are times when it matters ... (that) we are prepared to be out there," he continued, "and we're prepared to pay the price because that's what you expect of a country like Canada."

Carleton University professor Elinor Sloan, a supporter of the mission, told CTV Newsnet she found Manley's words to be one of the more eloquent statements on why Canada should stay in Afghanistan...


I quite agree.

Strange that a Liberal made me feel so proud to be a Canadian today.

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On the other hand, not all Liberals share my enthusiasm . . .


Wednesday Update: The Record shocks me again! Keep our troops in Afghanistan.

The Province - Manley hopes his old party can rise above domestic politics.

Just Right - "military sugarcoating what is going on" .. Newman on Afstan.

7 comments:

JR said...

I agree, Joanne - Manley did a fine job. I caught his interview on Don Newman's Politics where Newman made this bizzare suggestion, among others, which Manley handled rather well.

Roy Eappen said...

I don't actually like Mr Manley, but his report is very well done. The grits will have trouble not backing the report. Indeed it seems many grits in caucus do support the report.

Anonymous said...

His suggestion that the government needs to explain the mission is countered by the negative spin put on the report by all the usual left-wing suspects (see National Newswatch for a sample of the negativity).

Just how is that supposed to happen when the majority of the press in this country want to put a negative spin on any story regarding the Conservative Government?

Talk about cherry-picking....

Kudos to Mr. Manley for telling it like it is and actually standing up to the negativity put forth by the liberal-left interviewers.

maryT said...

The CBC is at it again. This morning they had a clip of interviews with various citizens, some military, some not, and all said-paraphrased- get out now.
Anyone who has ever been involved with one of these man on the street interviews can attest that only one point of view comes thru.
I remember when the constitution was signed, and was asked my thoughts. As soon as I said it was the worst thing-reporter told the camera man to stop-. I followed the crew for 45 minutes and out of all they stopped, only 2 said it was great. That night all across Canada people were saying it is great, not one negative comment made it to air.
Unless you are involved you have no way of knowing this.

Anonymous said...

I was insulted by HM PM SH saying at year end that he doesn't know if Canadians understand the mission. Perhaps he doesn't understand Canadians. I don't think he understands diplomacy or international relations as well as I would like.

I support the mission, and think we should increase our strength if anything. But we are in NATO, and we should expect them to rotate in as they are supposed to. If they won't, we can't just abandon Afghanistan. We would have to stay for however many decades it takes. Instead, if NATO reneges, we should withdraw from NATO.

Möbius said...

I was insulted by HM PM SH saying at year end that he doesn't know if Canadians understand the mission. Perhaps he doesn't understand Canadians. I don't think he understands diplomacy or international relations as well as I would like.

He's quite right. Ask any "average" Canadian if they understand what it's about, and they don't know. I have. Several of them seem to think it's all about Iraq. Never overestimate the intelligence of the average Canadian.

Möbius said...

Not a fan of Manley originally, I predict he will run for the LPC leadership in the next 5 years, and win.