Category Archives: Liberal

In the 1990s and early 2000s, it looked like I was ahead, but after Sept. 11, people started arguing he was right, he said. But I dont think its conclusive that Im going to lose.

Liberal democracy, he believes, isnt just an accidental, culturally contingent byproduct of a particular historical moment, as some of his critics have argued. I do believe theres an arc of history, and it bends toward some form of justice, he said.

In his new book, released on Tuesday by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Fukuyama argues that liberalism is threatened not by a rival ideology, but by absolutized versions of its own principles. On the right, the promoters of neoliberal economics have turned the ideal of individual autonomy and the free market into a religion, warping the economy and leading to dangerous systemic instability. And on the left, he argues, progressives have abandoned individual autonomy and free speech in favor of claims of group rights that threaten national cohesion.

The answer to these discontents, he writes, isnt to abandon liberalism, but to moderate it.

Fukuyama said that Eric Chinski, his editor at Farrar, Straus, pushed him to engage with the most thoughtful critics of race-blind liberal individualism, like the Black philosopher Charles W. Mills, rather than the latest media-driven outrage stoked by anti-critical race theory activists.

He may disagree with them, but many critical race theorists in the academy, Fukuyama said, are making serious arguments in response to liberalisms historical, and continuing, failure to fully extend equal rights to all.

Hes more scathing about the postliberal intellectuals of the American right, with their admiration for Hungarys Viktor Orban, like the legal scholar Adrian Vermeule (whom he describes as having flirted with the idea of overtly authoritarian government) and the political scientist Patrick Deneen.

See the article here:

Francis Fukuyama Predicted the End of History. Its Back (Again). - The New York Times

The Liberal leader said he would make sure everyone has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner within 24 hours regardless of where they live, something he characterized as a basic standard that wasn't being met

A Liberal government in Ontario would attempt to bolster the population in the province's north by improving access to medical care, building roads and taking more control of immigration to the region, party leader Steven Del Duca said Tuesday.

Del Duca who is looking to improve his party's third-place position in next month's vote said he would attempt to draw skilled workers to northern Ontario in a bid to boost the region's economy and improve quality of life.

Having more of a say in immigration would help match newcomers' skills to the labour needs of the area, he said.

"We will work with the federal government, seeking a mandate from the people of this province, to make sure that Ontario is in the driver's seat when it comes to our own immigration system," he said in North Bay, Ont.

"Making sure that as the world comes to this country, more and more skilled workers can come to this province of ours, can come specifically to northern Ontario to fill that skilled worker shortage that we have."

If elected in June, the Liberals would appoint a dedicated immigration minister to help newcomers work in their areas of expertise. They would also strike a northern immigration advisory panel of regional municipal leaders and economic development officers to ensure a new immigration system is "in the best interests of the North."

Del Duca made the comments at a campaign stop ahead of a debate between party leaders on northern issues.

The Liberal leader said he would make sure everyone has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner within 24 hours regardless of where they live, something he characterized as a basic standard that wasn't being met.

"That's not good enough for northern Ontario, and that's not good enough for an Ontario Liberal government," he said. "We need to do better."

He said he would attract more doctors and nurses to the region by covering the tuition of medical and nursing students who "commit to working in a rural or remote community."

Del Duca also pledged to build more roads to the resource-rich Ring of Fire to make it more accessible a project he said would draw even more workers to the region.

"I think about, for example, the heavy machine operators that we are going to need to build the road that's going to unlock the potential of the Ring of Fire at long last," he said.

"We need to make sure that northern Ontario has those and other skilled workers to provide the kind of economy and the kind of quality of life where we can move forward together."

The Liberals also promise to get "affordable, high-speed internet" to everyone in northern Ontario by 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2022.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press

Visit link:

Better med care, more say over immigration among Liberal promises to northern Ontario - Sudbury.com

Demonstrators who support abortion rights celebrate outside the Constitutional Court in Bogota, Colombia on February 21. After an 8-hour debate, the court decriminalized abortions during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Chepa Beltran/Long Visual Press/Universal Imag hide caption

Demonstrators who support abortion rights celebrate outside the Constitutional Court in Bogota, Colombia on February 21. After an 8-hour debate, the court decriminalized abortions during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

BOGOTA, Colombia As some U.S. states place more restrictions on abortion and Americans brace for the possibility that the Supreme Court will soon overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the procedure, several Latin American countries have moved in the opposite direction.

The latest nation to do so was Colombia. On Feb. 21, Colombia's Constitutional Court legalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

"Colombia now is the country with the most progressive abortion laws in Latin America and the Caribbean," says Mariana Ardila, managing attorney in Colombia for the rights group Women's Link Worldwide. In the Americas, she added, only Canada has more liberal abortion regulations than Colombia.

Colombia used to be a socially conservative country with an influential Catholic church. Women were not even granted the right to vote until 1954. Until 2006 there was a total ban on abortion. But that didn't stop women from interrupting their pregnancies in often dangerous ways.

"In the 1970s, abortion was the first cause of maternal mortality," says Dr. Laura Gil, a Colombian gynecologist and abortion rights activist.

"Most of the abortions were carried out with traumatic procedures. It could be people that had no training at all and would try with knitting needles," she says. "Many women would try to get abortions by injuring themselves, by falling down the stairs or by drinking poison. I can remember women with their internal organs totally destroyed and handcuffed to their beds and being interrogated by the police."

But a number of things have changed over the years.

As Colombia became a more urban and educated society, church influence waned. Colombia's long-running guerrilla war was also a factor. Partly to convince left-wing guerrillas to disarm and take part in legal politics, Colombian lawmakers in 1991 agreed to write a new, more progressive constitution.

The search for peace "was a very important factor in all of this," says Arlene Tickner, an international relations professor at Rosario University in Bogot.

Although the war continued, the 1991 constitution strengthened individual rights and laid the groundwork for landmark court decisions legalizing euthanasia in 1997 and same-sex marriage in 2016 and expanding abortion rights.

In 2006, the Constitutional Court, which was established under the new constitution, decriminalized abortion in cases of rape, fetal malformation and when the woman's health is in danger. As the procedure became more common, and as deaths from illegal abortions diminished, polls showed more and more Colombians supporting some form of abortion rights.

Then came Latin America's so-called marea verde or "green wave" of demonstrations.

A pro-choice activist (in green) argues with a woman opposed to the legalization of abortion outside the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires on June 13, 2018 the year that Argentina legalized abortion. Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

They started in Argentina in 2018 when activists wearing green scarves the color of the pro-choice movement in Latin America took to the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities to pressure lawmakers into legalizing abortion. In 2020, Argentina's Congress voted to legalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of gestation. Last year, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that criminal penalties for abortion are unconstitutional.

These developments fed the push to broaden access to abortion in Colombia, says Ardila of Women's Link Worldwide, which was one of several Colombian groups that last year petitioned the Constitutional Court to address the abortion issue.

"The victories of one country inspire other countries," she says. "We share strategies. We talk to each other. We learn from each other."

One recommendation ahead of the February court decision, she said, was to use familiar faces to destigmatize abortion. The result was a widely circulated video in which Colombian TV and film stars point out that women from all walks of life seek abortions, whether or not it's a crime and sometimes with tragic results.

Prior to the court decision, most Colombian women seeking to prematurely end their pregnancies took the drug Misoprostol, often prescribed for stomach ailments, which was a relatively safe way to induce abortions even though doing so remained illegal, says Dr. Gil, the gynecologist. But others, some of whom didn't know about Misoprostol, resorted to riskier, clandestine medical procedures.

In January, Lorena Gelis, a 37-year-old woman in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla died from severe bleeding after a botched, unauthorized abortion, her former partner, Sergio Ordosgoitia, told NPR.

"I spoke with her on the phone the day she died, and she sounded in really bad shape," Ordosgoitia, who was traveling in Europe at the time and is now looking after their two teenagers on his own. "The news of her death was cruel and devastating."

Advocates predict such tragedies will become mostly a thing of the past following the Constitutional Court's February ruling. But its narrow 5-4 decision legalizing abortion has provoked a backlash, with anti-abortion groups holding marches in the streets of Bogot, the Colombian capital.

Critics, like Ivan Duque, Colombia's conservative president, are outraged that the court's decision allows abortion for up to 6 months of pregnancy. (They set the cutoff point at 24 weeks because after that premature babies have a better chance of surviving outside the womb.)

"Five people cannot tell an entire nation something so atrocious that a life can be cut off at 6 months," Duque told reporters after the ruling.

Anti-abortion demonstrators protest outside the Constitutional Court in Bogota, Colombia, on February 21 after the court decriminalized abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Cristian Bayona/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

Elsewhere in Latin America, many people and government officials feel the same way. Although abortion is available on demand in Cuba, Guyana and Uruguay, the procedure remains illegal under most circumstances across much of the region. Abortion is totally banned in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, even in cases of rape or incest.

Still, Dr. Gil says that the recent legal breakthroughs in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia could help the Green Wave spread to other countries in the region. The latest to take up the issue is Chile. There, a special assembly is writing a new constitution that is expected to include abortion rights.

"This will ultimately lead to a wider legislation, like the (court ruling) that we got," she says of the court ruling in Colombia. "It's an example for the rest of the region.

Supporters of the legalization of abortion clash with riot police during International Safe Abortion Day in Mexico City on September 28, 2020. Last year, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that criminal penalties for abortion are unconstitutional. Victoria Razo /AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Supporters of the legalization of abortion clash with riot police during International Safe Abortion Day in Mexico City on September 28, 2020. Last year, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that criminal penalties for abortion are unconstitutional.

Original post:

Abortion laws in Colombia are now among the most liberal in the Americas : Goats and Soda - NPR

A former Australian of the Year and mental health advocate says Liberal MP Fiona Martin's campaign has selectively quoted him in a reelection endorsement for her without his knowledge.

Patrick McGorry, the executive director of Orygen and professor of youth mental health at the University of Melbourne, has asked the Member for Reid to take down a digital ad in which he was featured.

Professor McGorry told the ABC he was "very concerned" by the ads, targeted at young adults under 35 years old, published across Facebook and Instagram.

"I've called her to say I'm extremely concerned ... that my image and supportive comments have been used in the election campaign," he said.

"This was done without my knowledge and the authorisation and I've asked her to remove that from her election material."

Dr Martin told the ABC she had agreed to this request.

Professor McGorry said he sent Dr Martin an email in March, before the election was called to thankher for chairing a parliamentary inquiry into mental health which was tabled at the end of last year.

Dr Martin's ad, which also spruiked her involvement in mental health services, used only the first and last sentence of the 214-word email he sent her.

"Dear Fiona, I wanted to thank you for your committed and effective advocacy for investment and reform in mental health care," the ad read over an image of Professor McGorry.

"You have been a tireless leader and advocate for mental health not only nationally but also in your own Community. I hope your efforts are successful."

The below is the full email Patrick McGorry sent Fiona Martin on March 22, which he has given the ABC permission to publish. The bolded sections are words which were used in DrMartin's ads.

Dear Fiona

I wanted to thank you for your committed and effective advocacy for investment and reform in mental health care. The parliamentary inquiry you chaired on mental health, in collaboration with Emma McBride from the ALP, was a key bipartisan process which has moved things forward in several important ways. Your professional background as a psychologist proved invaluable and is a unique asset for the field within the current parliament. As you know, I led the advocacy alongside Angus Cleland of Mental Health Victoria which led to the creation and funding of the adult mental health hub model. Now branded as Head to Health Centres these are being scaled up nationally, again with bipartisan support as has occurred with headspace. I am delighted that you have been advocating strongly to have one of these key platforms of care in your own electorate. These hubs are essential backup systems of care for GPs and psychologists for the missing middle those Australians with more complex and sustained mental health conditions for which primary care is simply insufficient on its own. In this and many other ways you have been a tireless leader and advocate for mental health not only nationally but also in your own community. I hope your efforts are successful. Kind regards Pat McGorry

Professor McGorry said the quotes were selectively taken from his email, that he did not consent to it being published, and the ad could compromise his advocacy work.

"I've been absolutely strict over many years about a bipartisan approach to mental health ... so I'm very surprised to hear that information," Professor McGorry said.

"It seems to be implied in that statement that I'm basically advocating people vote for her, and I certainly never would have said that."

Dr Martin, in a statement to the ABC, said she had spoke to Professor McGorry and would remove the advertising.

"I have enormous respect for Professor Patrick McGorry," she said.

"We have been able to work closely together to achieve important outcomes in mental health and suicide prevention. Earlier this year, I asked Pat for words of endorsement that he had kindly provided, and unfortunately there was a misunderstanding about how those words would be used.

"We have spoken today, and I offered to rectify this misunderstanding by removing the advertising, which he has accepted."

The electorate is crucial for the Liberal Party in this election, and Dr Martin, who holds the Western Sydney seat by a 3.2 per cent margin, is trying to withstand a challenge from Labor candidate Sally Sitou.

It is the second time in less than a day Dr Martin has come under the spotlight while on the campaign trail.

Her Labor opponent Ms Sitou, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, has accused Dr Martin of confusing her for another Asian-Australian during a heated debate on 2GB.

The Coalition has faced a barrage of criticism for featuring prominent charity figures and community leaders on endorsement materials without their knowledge or permission.

News Corp on Wednesday reported that Ryan MP Julian Simmonds had distributed what purported to be a personal endorsement from a priest without authorisation.

The Guardian reported that The Pyjama Foundation and Access Arts both demanded Brisbane MP Trevor Evans stop distributing material that appeared to offer him their endorsements.

Loading form...

Posted6h ago6 hours agoWed 11 May 2022 at 9:06am, updated1h ago1 hours agoWed 11 May 2022 at 1:47pm

Go here to read the rest:

Former Australian of the Year says Liberal MP Fiona Martin selectively quoted him in political endorsement without his knowledge - ABC News

For too long, college students have been forced to make a false choice between a life-shaping liberal arts education or a pre-professional education that gives them valuable career skills.

The reality is that schools need to provide students with both. This requires moving from an either/or approach to a both/and mindset. Denison Edge is one of the ways were making that happen.

Located in the middle of downtown Columbus, about 30 minutes from Denison Universitys main campus in Granville, Ohio, Denison Edge provides stackable skills and certifications that cater to the needs of todays job market. The offerings cover practical areas ranging from sales and marketing, to finance and analytics, to supply chain and logistics.

As an extension of Denisons Knowlton Center for Career Exploration, Denison Edge serves current liberal arts college students, recent graduates, and professionals. The goal is to provide the skill sets, direction, and networking opportunities to help them succeed in their career journeys.

For example, an undergraduate whos been majoring in economics might enroll in an Excel certificate program to improve their odds of landing the desired internship. In one case, a young alumna working in real estate completed a marketing credential to support her business aspirations.

Since its launch in January 2021, nearly 350 students have taken advantage of Denison Edge programs. Currently, about 70% of participants are college students, and 30% are working professionals. Approximately 15 instructorsa mix of Denison faculty and local business expertsprovide in-person instruction to intimate classes of 10-20 students.

While online and virtual skills programs have their place, the in-person approach offers several advantages. Theres a cohort effect, a small classroom effect, and a mentoring effect that comes into play. Perhaps because of these intangibles, there are also much better odds for course completion than many online programs.

Despite what the name might suggest, Denison Edge isnt just for Denison students. Kenyon College, Otterbein University Marietta College, and Ohio Wesleyan University are just a few of the institutions whose students have taken advantage of our courses. We want to be a home base for anyone in the region who wants to pick up some last mile skills.

There are several signature course areas that Denison Edge uses as delivery mechanisms for skills and certifications. The first one is credentials. Like a typical college course, credentials are a deep dive into a topic requiring 30 hours of in-person learning over a 10-week period. For those who need a quicker path to top off their skillset, Denison Edge offers accelerators, which require 4-12 hours of content time over the span of 2-6 weeks.

And this summer were launching a summer immersion program that will enable a small group of 20 students to work full-time directly with a company here in Columbus for 6 weeks helping them solve a real-world business problem. Thats a terrific way to make valuable use of the full calendar year, given that students are only in classes for 60% of the year.

Were serious about making these skills, certifications and experiences stackable, too. We work with a digital badging company that provides unique identifiers to anyone completing our programs; students then place these badges on their LinkedIn profile or resume. Companies can verify the program that the students or the professionals participated in, what the content of that program was, and how grades or marks were assessed.

Crucially, we can keep a finger on the pulse of the business community in Columbus to ensure that the programming were offering is relevant and that students are gaining the skills that companies are looking for. Columbus is humming these days, so its important to make sure the talent pipeline is firing on all the right cylinders.

If were going to serve our students in helping them successfully launch, and if were going to serve the larger world in providing talent that can drive economies forward, we must get out of this either/or bind that requires students to choose between a liberal arts education and technical pre-professional skills.

They need both. And with Denison Edge, we feel like were tearing down the old paradigm and building a model for where education needs to go.

See the original post here:

College Students Shouldnt Have To Choose Between Career Skills And Liberal Arts - Chief Executive

Last year, on the final day that the House of Commons sat before rising for the summer, the Trudeau government tabled a bill that would have allowed the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints of alleged hate speech on the internet.

The Liberals knew full well that they would be calling an election less than two months later, and that their last-minute bill would die on the order paper. But tabling it gave them an opening to boast at the start of the pre-electoral summer of 2021 that their government had taken action to protect Canadians against hate speech and hate crimes online, even though they had taken no such action. And still have not. And, as we will explain in a moment, probably should not.

The Liberals have not reintroduced the bill to date, as they implied they would in their election platform. Nor have they kept a campaign promise that, if re-elected, their government would introduce separate legislation within its first 100 days to combat serious forms of harmful online content.

This is not to say they wont do these things, eventually. But the fact that 100 days have come and gone without the promised legislation is evidence the Trudeau Liberals have discovered a simple truth: that sloganeering about online harms is easy and attracts votes, while actually following through is hard, and may attract (and deserve) criticism.

Any attempt by Ottawa to regulate who says what on the internet is a minefield, because doing so necessarily impinges on the most fundamental democratic freedom freedom of speech.

The Trudeau governments plan to go after digital hate speech under the Canadian Human Rights Act, and giving the power to investigate and regulate it to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, is fraught with problems.

A previous Liberal government tried it in 2001, when it specifically amended the act to make it a discriminatory practice to subject anyone online to hatred or contempt based on a prohibited ground of discrimination, such as religion, race or sexual orientation. The clause was repealed in a Conservative private members bill in 2013 because of fears it was having a chilling effect on free speech.

Those fears were well founded. In one famous case, the Canadian Human Rights Commission investigated a complaint about a 2006 Macleans magazine article titled The Future Belongs to Islam.

The commission ultimately dismissed the claim that the article exposed Muslims to hatred or contempt, on the grounds that ruling otherwise would be an unreasonable impairment of free expression. But that didnt prevent Macleans and the articles author from having to go through a long, expensive and difficult CHRC process.

Subsequent reports commissioned by the CHRC suggested fixes, such as allowing the commission to quickly dismiss unfounded complaints, and to assign costs for abuses. Better yet was the recommendation to leave the prosecution of hate crimes to the criminal justice system Crown prosecutors, judges and real courts. That is what ultimately happened, and that is what the Liberals now want to change.

The 2021 Liberal bill aimed to once again make alleged hate speech something the CHRC could investigate, under the rubric of discrimination law, while also modestly shortening the CRTCs leash compared with the 2001 legislation. Notably, it put a high bar on hate speech, categorizing it as something that is likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group a definition in line with Supreme Court rulings. It also added that a communication doesnt constitute hate speech solely because it expresses mere dislike or disdain or it discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends.

But classifying hate speech as a legally discriminatory act, to be dealt with by a human-rights apparatus rather than a court, remains as problematic a move as ever. Freedom of expression is not absolute in Canada no right is but the bar for overriding it has always been extremely high, and must remain so. Whats more, the bar for hate speech ought to remain in the criminal realm, where it is an offence that is only applicable to the most rare and extreme cases. Allowing it to be turned into a human-rights complaint was a mistake then, and its a mistake now.

The Trudeau governments plan to introduce sweeping legislation to limit online harms, and to force social-media companies and search engines to take down flagged content, is equally fraught. We will look at that later this week.

Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. Get the Opinion newsletter. Sign up today.

The rest is here:

Globe editorial: The Liberals are eager to talk about regulating speech online but wisely reluctant to actually do it - The Globe and Mail

Breadcrumb Trail Links

Publishing date:

The long-gun registry returns starting next week.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Oh, Im sure Trudeau Liberals will claim they are not reviving the convoluted, expensive, controversial, useless registry. After all, they swore up and down before the 2015 election they would never reinstate the registry if elected.

If you call any Liberal MPs office and ask about Registry 2.0, I am confident youll get some talking-points answer along the lines, Were just asking anyone selling a gun in Canada to keep a record of who they sold it to. That information might be useful if the gun is ever used to commit a crime. And isnt that what we all want, a safer Canada?

Except thats not exactly what the Liberals are doing.

Consider whats going to happen starting next week if you own a gun and want to sell it to a relative or friend, or if youre a generous uncle who wants to give an old firearm to a niece to start her in hunting.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

These are the hoops you will have to jump through.

You will have to call up the RCMPs Registrar of Firearms, provide him with your possession and acquisition licence (PAL) number.

Youll have to collect your nieces PAL number, too, and give that to the Mounties, which presupposes both of you have gone through all the paperwork, safety courses, mental health and criminal background checks to get PALs in the first place.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

While youre at it, the registrar will also need both your addresses and phone numbers, and some personal identification number like a drivers licence, social insurance number or passport.

And, of course, the Mounties will need the make, model and type of firearm youre giving away, plus the serial number.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Then, and only then, will the RCMPs registrar issue you a reference number that both you and your niece can enter on your PALs, after which youre free to give your niece the gun.

(Hope you didnt want it to be a surprise.)

Every detail above will be entered into the Mounties firearms computer. Maybe Im just being paranoid, but that certainly sounds like a registry to me.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

What makes it sound even more like a registry is that fact that if you give the gun to your niece or she accepts it from you before every t is crossed, you could both be heavily fined or even go to jail.

Gun stores must also record all the personal details of everyone they sell a gun to, including their PALs, plus all the details of the guns. And they must keep the records for a minimum of 20 years.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Moreover, police or provincial firearms officers may demand retailers produce any or all records in their files at any time, and they dont need a warrant to do it. That also means they dont need a specific reason like suspicion of a crime to search a gun shops records.

Of course, crime guns in Canada dont come from gun shops here, for the most part. And they certainly dont come from uncle-niece gifts. The vast majority of guns used in crime in Canada upwards of 90 per cent are smuggled in from the States.

So while the Liberals are bringing in their new backdoor registry next week, theyre surely also clamping down on gun smuggling and violent gun crime, right?

No.

Indeed, because gun smuggling, armed robbery, drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms are all crimes in which Indigenous and black Canadians are disproportionately involved, the Liberals are shortening sentences for violent gun crime as an important step in addressing systemic racism.

Hunters, farmers and generous uncles are all subject to the new registry, but real gun criminals are not.

How successful do you think the new registry is going to be at making Canada safer?

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

From our newsroom to your inbox at noon, the latest headlines, stories, opinion and photos from the Toronto Sun.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Original post:

GUNTER: The Liberals have sneakily brought back the gun registry - Toronto Sun

Article content

RENFREW Over the weekend, Liberals across Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke nominated Oliver Jacob, McNab/Braeside councillor, as their Ontario Liberal candidate for the June 2 election.

Over the last two years, Canadians have learned just how much we can accomplish when we work together to support everyone in our community, particularly the most vulnerable, said Jacob. In this campaign, I am proud to represent Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke as your Ontario Liberal candidate as we work together to invest in high-quality education, invest in supportive health care and revitalized long-term care, and bring much needed support to our small businesses and communities right across Renfrew County.

Born and raised in Renfrew County, Jacob is a community leader, youth advocate and volunteer who has worked in communities across Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. Since 2018, Jacob has served as one of the youngest municipal councillors in the history of the Township of McNab/Braeside.

According to a Liberal press release Jacob, as a municipal politician, has championed community engagement, community safety and wellbeing, and is supporting programs that increase affordable housing options through the Greater Arnprior Community Council on Poverty and Homelessness.

He also brings proven leadership experience through various volunteer roles including as a board member of Arnprior Regional Health, United Way East Ontario Renfrew County, and as the former co-chairman of the Renfrew County Youth Network, the release states.

After completing a bachelor of arts with double major in history and politics at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Jacob returned to Renfrew County to start his career working with both the Town of Arnprior and the Labour Market Group of Renfrew and Lanark.

These professional experiences have proven the need for a strong, progressive government that listens to the unique needs of rural workers, businesses and community groups and to provide real leadership on key local issues like housing, education, health care, food security, infrastructure renewal, broadband internet, cellular service and much more, the release concludes.

Link:

Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Liberals announce Oliver Jacob as their 2022 provincial candidate - Pembroke Observer

In case the images of the treasurer campaigning on the line at an early voting booth werent enough of a giveaway, Josh Frydenberg is in trouble.

A YouGov poll published in The Australian has him on track to lose the Liberal heirloom of Kooyong (represented by Robert Menzies and Andrew Peacock no less) to independent challenger Monique Ryan.

Ryan has momentum, a well-resourced volunteer army, and she put in a strong performance at a candidates debate last week. Our sources tell us there are more Ryan corflutes than Frydenberg ones on the treasurers own street.

At a press conference today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison evaded questions about his future treasurer: Thats not something Im speculating on because I know Josh will be returned.

So were doing the speculating for him.

Frydenberg technically leads Victorias ambition faction thats loosely aligned with Morrisons centre-right grouping. But ideologically hes seen as a more moderate type than many on the Liberal frontbench. His loss would trigger a dramatic shift within the party.

First, lets war-game a few scenarios. If Morrison hangs on and Frydenberg loses, his coveted spot as treasurer becomes vacant. Defence Minister Peter Dutton would firm up as Morrisons heir apparent for the leadership, creating potential for succession-plan tension between the two as the term grows stale.

Dutton as treasurer seems an odd fit considering he enjoys the bluntness of Defence, but given his influence within the party the portfolio would be his for the taking.

Other potential contenders come from Frydenbergs own grouping. Michael Sukkar, a leading Victorian powerbroker and current assistant treasurer and housing minister would be in the mix. So would Trade Minister Dan Tehan.

Alex Hawke, a close ally of the PM and leader of the centre-right faction, would undoubtedly rise under a reelected Morrison government, although his personal brand has taken a hit in NSW after widespread infighting over preselections.

A slightly more likely scenario would be a Frydenberg loss and a Labor win. In that instance, its hard to imagine Kooyong being the only seat swept away in the teal wave. If the teals pick up more than one seat, it would represent a dramatic shift in the partys base, with the most affluent areas of the country no longer assured Liberal territory.

Of course, theres every chance the teal wave could be a one-hit wonder, a protest vote against the Morrison governments foot-dragging on climate change and integrity issues. But with Frydenberg gone, and Morrison an election-loser, it would all but pave the way for Dutton to assume leadership of the Coalition.

Dutton is more conservative and less obviously pragmatic than Morrison. Hes also a highly divisive figure in the cities. Any remaining urban moderates would get nervous about their futures. Dutton would be likely to continue with a turbocharged version of Morrisons suburban strategy, tying the partys electoral future to outer mortgage belts, regional centres and mining communities.

With the partys focus shifting, it would be increasingly difficult for moderates to exert their influence over the party at a federal level. Already underrepresented among its most vocal, senior figures, there is no clear moderate candidate for the leadership, or Treasury.

The most senior figures include two senators Finance Minister Simon Birmingham and Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne whod be unable step into the leadership. That leaves Paul Fletcher, perhaps not an obvious leadership contender, but a potential candidate for Treasury in any scenario.

Naturally this is all deeply speculative. Alliances shift, and election results have a way of bringing about seismic change within political parties. However, its clear Frydenbergs fight isnt just about Kooyong, but the very future of the Liberal Party.

Read the rest here:

Frydenberg: if he loses, the Liberal Party would be changed dramatically - Crikey

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Jesse Watters responded to left-wing protesters showing up outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Monday.

JESSE WATTERS: [The protest] was enough to force Justice Alito and his entire family into hiding. They've moved now to an undisclosed location. An angry left-wing mob has forced a Supreme Court justice into hiding. Let that sink in. If men wearing MAGA hats forced Justice Sotomayor into hiding, how do you think that would go down?

And this was just a warning shot: We know where you live. Do what we say or else.

We know what the pro-abortion protesters are capable of. In Wisconsin, some lunatic firebombed a pro-life group's headquarters. They actually threw a Molotov cocktail through the window. And if that message wasn't clear enough, they used spray paint to spell it out. 'If abortions aren't safe, then you aren't either.'

Planned Parenthood calls abortion sacred. Now, when something is sacred, it takes on a religious connotation. This is a religious war for the left. So anything goes. The ends justify the means The White House did nothing to stop this. Last week, they refused to condemn protesting at homes, and they gave this weekend's protest license. Now, after the backlash, they've released a weak statement saying President Biden strongly condemns this attack and political violence of any stripe. Now, to give that a little context, it took less than 24 hours for Joe Biden to condemn Jussie Smollett, a fake lynching.

But at least they're not condoning this action, which is more than we can say about Nancy Pelosi [who] released a statement this morning saying[,] "We have been moved by how so many have channeled their righteous anger into meaningful action." Letting threats of violence slide is nothing new for Nancy. During the summer of 2020, when rioters were hell-bent on tearing down our history and desecrating statues of our founders, Pelosi was covering for them.

WATCH THE FULL MONOLOGUE HERE:

View original post here:

Jesse Watters: Liberal protests at homes of Supreme Court justices are just a warning shot - Fox News