this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024

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118

U.S. 'unable to step up' on Ukraine aid, leaving Canada to fill the gap, says Freeland (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

As a canadian id be happy if we met the 2% gdp target, as an engineer i see it as public spending to help boost our high tech industries and prevent skilled workers from packing up and leaving.

But the government needs to carve out an agreement as a part of NORAD where canadian companies can sell defence products to the US without being american owned and 51% american operated.. otherwise were just paying money to lose industries and the biggest purchases most of our governments will ever make just go to building industries and jobs in other countries. Imo thats why we currently dont hit the spending target, wheres the economic benefit in an age of economic problems?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Asked whether Canada would increase spending in the forthcoming April 16 federal budget, Freeland declined to give an answer either way.

Gee, I sure hope we do. I don't really want to be dependent on the US any more than we have to in this increasingly dangerous world. We actually cut funding the last time around. Her dodging the question doesn't inspire confidence although I guess it's pretty secret what's going to be in there.

[+] [email protected] -21 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Her grandfather was a Nazi. She can't escape that and refuses to address the reality of it so she comes out with headlines like this. It has zero possibility of becoming reality in an effort to create a different narrative around her eventual run at the p.m. Spot.

She's very quickly becoming someone not worth listening to in Canada.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

What did your grandparents do? I somehow doubt all four were complete saints.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

One was a farmer, the other an electrician. The ladies were home makers . All served for the allied forces in the war. Certainly not Saints, certainly not Nazis or sympathizers.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Are you sure? Obviously they weren't very feminist, and so it's not far fetched they were a bit racist too. Where did the farmer get his land? If he was Canadian was he native, or did someone steal it?

You see where this line of reasoning goes? We're all descended from bastards. That doesn't mean anything because it can't mean anything.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I disagree but because I have German ancestry there's probably a nazi somewhere in my family tree so it's not worth listening to anything I say. That's good because otherwise you might hear me call you a racist asshole.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you look at anyone with recent German ancestry, you'll find nazis. One of my great grandfathers was a nazi. Is that some kind indictment against me? Does it outweigh the other three ancestors that fought against fascism? I don't understand why people make such a big deal out of this.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

On that note, I guess I don't understand why a Nazi grandfather has any meaning whatsoever. I think her response to someone pointing that out should be "Yup, can't pick our relatives," shrug, and move on.

Being descended from a villain or hero doesn't tell us enough about a person to have any meaning.

[+] [email protected] -6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Having a sordid family history certainly isn't disqualifying. Not being honest and transparent about it raises more Red flags than I'm willing to accept from someone angling to run a country.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

While there is a part of me that agrees with you, I also try to cut some slack. She is as human as the rest of us and there aren't many of us who are comfortable talking about our unsavory relatives.

Ideally, she would have whatever it takes to be both open and dismissive of this fact, but of everything that I consider disqualifying, this relatively minor personal failing doesn't even make the list. Let's face it, the only people making this an issue are busybodies and dirt-diggers, hardly the people she should be paying attention to.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm taking it more as a stain on her due to how she's handled it rather than the issue itself. If she can't be honest about something so evidently obvious, how do you trust her to be honest about the issues that face the country?

I don't think she came across as honest and forthright with how she handled the COVID situation also. She made Trudeau look good and at this point that's really hard to do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That, of course, is for you to decide. But (you knew it was coming!) I think it's counterproductive to expect perfection and making much of this issue just strikes me as petty.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

No one expects perfection from a politician, I'm just not going to back someone who so obviously lies and obfuscates. It's like voting for Doug Ford. Doesn't help anyone.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Can you give me a brief rundown on your family history?

Include all the gory details.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

To busy funding a genocide to help stop one...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

The one thing I'll give them is their priorities have always always been consistent...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada's commitment to Ukraine has been an important contribution to NATO's strength at a time when the United States has been "unable to step up" on aid to the embattled country.

Freeland was responding to a question about Canada's efforts to meet NATO's military spending target for member nations — two per cent of GDP — in an interview airing Saturday on CBC's The House.

She told host Catherine Cullen that Canada's per capita commitments to Ukraine — which she called "NATO's most pressing challenge" — had been very significant.

"Canadians can stand up tall and proud, knowing that our country is absolutely doing our part to resist Russia [and] support Ukraine, which is NATO's biggest fight," she said.

Freeland said "shenanigans in Congress" have left the U.S. unable to provide much-needed support to Ukraine as it fights to defend itself from Russian forces.

And I've been equally clear that I don't think it's fair to assess Canada's performance or commitment to defence by reference to any single metric," he said.

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