Blue Like You

While the Toronto Sun is busy savaging Dalton McGuinty for not allowing Ombudsman Andre Marin to investigate hospitals among other areas, we learn today that Health Minister George Smitherman is being moved to a power portfolio of Energy and Infrastructure.

David Caplan of Lottogate fame is taking over Health. McGuinty obviously has no concerns about gambling with the health of Ontario citizens.

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Friday Update: Caplan’s no picture of health - Sun.

Saturday Update : Controversy dogs Minister switching jobs - Globe.

Tuesday Update - Smitherman: Less talk, more walk. (Sun)

For democracy to survive in Ontario, we need strong opposition parties with strong leaders. Right now that is sadly lacking.

With Howard Hampton’s announcement that he is stepping down as leader of the Ontario NDP party, there is now some hope on the horizon. Today’s National Post suggests that there may be some interest among their federal counterparts - MPs likely to join race to lead NDP in Ontario.

My feeling is that the job description requires a voice from the GTA which automatically disqualifies Charlie Angus. Howard Hampton’s northern riding location was an albatross around his neck. Therefore, Angus is problematic for the same reason. On the other hand, he is passionate about aboriginal affairs and politics in general, so perhaps he could overcome the postal code handicap.

The two other MPs who are mentioned in the article are female and located in the GTA area. Both are advantageous to a party seeking more female representation. Also I would imagine that most of their base is located in Toronto in terms of numbers, so either Peggy Nash or Olivia Chow could be credible candidates.

I can’t get too excited about either of the two possible contenders from the provincial caucus - Cherie DiNovo or Peter Tabuns.

Ontario needs a very strong opposition leader. Someone needs to step up to the plate for the sake of the province. Someone with experience , charisma and a gift for eloquence . Who else could we possibly draft?

Hey, how about this guy?

Nah…

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Update: And what are the Dippers saying? Check out New Democrats Online and Ontario NDP Leadership 2009 Coverage for all the latest gossip and speculation.

Dalton McGuinty has just announced that he will be seeking a third term in office! (Globe )

I have no pithy words for this horrible turn of events. Feelings are ranging from shock, horror, disgust and personal anguish, heart palpitations and a dull, sick, thud in the pit of my stomach.

Check out comments following the article, which are actually quite a hoot:

Robert Loblaw from Canada writes: "Dalton must run for a third term - there are so many more things that need to be banned."

* Posted 13/06/08 at 3:23 PM EDT

Atlantica Party.ca - worked for the Bloc from Canada writes:

"Good !

He’s staying in Ontario .

I was afraid he was thinking of taking on a job that may affect other parts of the country."

* Posted 13/06/08 at 3:32 PM EDT

Rick C from Canada writes: "Maybe Dalton should try to actually do something during his second term before talking about a third."

* Posted 13/06/08 at 3:43 PM EDT

Ah, you just head over there and read them all for yourself.

I’m going to try saying a prayer. I think that’s our only hope.

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Update: Speaking of prayers, this whole Lord’s Prayer controversy has turned into quite the can of worms, as Blizzard notes above.

Now we have TWO PRAYERS instead of one on a daily basis, and the secularists are not happy. Activist Henry Beissel states:

"I think it’s very sad that Canada can’t move forward into the 21st century," he said. "This type of religious fanaticism and racism belongs to past centuries and it’s time to move on."

Nice move, Dalton. Now the Lord’s Prayer is religious fanaticism.

How about focusing on something that actually needs to be fixed. Like job losses, maybe?

Bigger Update: HAMPTON TO STEP DOWN AS NDP LEADER: SOURCES. (Note to certain other person. Can you take a hint?)

The Girl in Blue - Friday the 13th just got scarier. That’s right! Friday the 13th!! I should have stayed in bed. Not a good day in Ontario.

Thy will be done - even in Queen’s Park.

Details in the Star .

I guess that the collective wrath of 7,000 e-mails, 23,000 petition signatures and one angry Momma was just too much to ignore.

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Update : Great cartoon by MacKay on Friday the 13th!  Don’t miss it.

Somewhere in all this concern about the "environment" and the harmful effects of carbon on dear Mother Earth, we forgot about the killer that is smog.

The Globe’s Murray Campbell updates us this morning on the Ontario Medical Association’s continuing concerns about smog:

…The Ontario Medical Association said smog is a contributing factor in nearly 9,500 premature deaths each year in Ontario, and it urged people to take proper precautions when high temperatures create a toxic chemical stew of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ozone…

Even though the McGuinty Liberals promised to do better way back in 2003, the facts suggest otherwise:

…Last year, for example, the Environment Ministry issued 13 smog advisories covering 39 days, compared with seven advisories and 19 days in the summer of 2003 under the Tories…

Campbell does note, however that:

…The situation is likely more dire than we knew. In 2003, the OMA projected 1,900 premature deaths because its model dealt only with acute cases such as cardiac arrest. It now includes deaths linked to chronic illnesses as well, which is why the estimated toll has risen..

The plan to shut down all coal plants by 2014 leaves too many years in between of coughing and wheezing. It’s a long enough winter, but when we are forced to stay inside in the summer as well, running the A/C to keep out the dirty air, one wonders how this could help possibly help the health care budget and the power grid?

Wouldn’t it be better to install those scrubbers in the interim and rev up the nuclear power production plans?

As Conservative critic John Yakabuski notes, "We don’t hear much as we used to about smog from these operations … "Smog has become the forgotten child of this government."

Now this is an issue which could persuade me to become a passionate environmentalist. Smog is killing us and it is ruining the enjoyment of our brief summer here in Canada. This is happening right here, right now. To me it is much more of an immediate threat than global warming.

Let’s bring that forgotten child back to the Ontario Government’s table of priorities.

Do we have a Canadian law against polygamy or not? And if evidence surfaces that the law is being broken, is it not incumbent on the police to investigate ?

I suppose that if you live in a province that has a two-tiered justice system, and prefers to busy itself with little bans on law-abiding citizens’ rights rather than concentrating on more important issues like the flagrant abuse of women in certain ethnic communities, then you can’t expect anything else.

A letter in today’s Post responds to John Turley-Ewarts’ June 2 editorial (Sharia by Stealth) with a suggestion:

It is regrettable that neither the Ontario Provincial Police nor the Ontario government appears to have the backbone to enforce their own polygamy laws. However I do not believe the situation is hopeless for these ladies.

I cannot believe that any woman would want to continue in a relationship with a man who has behaved in the manner described in this article. Therefore the logical course of action would be for these women to sue for divorce. That would bring the issue into the provincial courts, where they could claim the maximum possible for alimony, child support, division of family assets, etc.

I am sure the prospect of the possible financial consequences of their polygamous tendencies would have a salutary effect on any Muslim men contemplating this course of action and put an end to the practice.

Michael Edwards, Bloomfield, Ont.

Yes, well, all good in theory. However, the reality is that this type of divorce would be highly emotional and very expensive. Yes, perhaps the duplicitous husband could end up paying the bills, but there are no guarantees. Meanwhile, the woman and her children have to undergo a grueling divorce process.

And what about the emotional abuse inflicted on the poor woman when a powerful religious figure warns her:

“You will have to stand beside [your husband] in these difficult times,” Hindy told her. “You should stop causing problems to him. You will not get anything by divorce except destroying your life.”

Where is the feminist outrage, ladies?

Here’s a novel idea. How about we actually enforce the law so that this type of abuse does not continue? If an actual consequence is seen to be likely, perhaps it would discourage such men from even entertaining the idea in the first place.

Either that, or let’s strike down the law.

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Update: Gee, I wonder what’s next ?

This one’s from a few days ago - Tory MPP pushes for Ontario polygamy probe.

Barbara Kay also had a few words to say, as did Macleans’ Chris Selley

Saturday Update : This story makes Europe News - Harems and Hypocrites.

Originally published in Front Page Magazine. BTW, this is a MUST-READ!!!

John Turley-Ewart on how the McGuinty government is trying to worm out of taking action regarding the practice of polygamy in Toronto - Islamic Polygamy continues to get a free pass from Ontario’s Liberal government.

Why is the Toronto Police Department ignoring the evidence?

And why is the McGuinty government turning a blind eye to this abuse?

Don Martin has an article in the Post that actually makes sense - GM closures were inevitable.

No CPC-bashing. It’s merely a very accurate assessment of today’s reality, which is that big gas-guzzling trucks are no longer practical. So Buzz Hargrove’s screaming at the federal government is rather pointless. Why throw good money after bad? Martin sums it up very well:

…Naturally, Jim Prentice made all sorts of sympathetic noises after question period on Tuesday, but his government cannot and should not react by opening the vault to targeted auto sector relief.

Exhibit A against that move is Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who has poured about $400-million of taxpayer’s money into using public money to vaccinate assembly line jobs from an erratic marketplace. All its bought him are 10,000 job losses in an industry that seemed to take the money and invest it elsewhere.

And it’s not over, yet. McGuinty seems deluded enough to believe his government’s investment in the return of the Camaro will pay off with lasting jobs. But muscle cars are second only to heavy trucks in the assembly line for market-driven extinction.

The fed’s better idea was Tuesday’s announcement of funding for 54 research projects into advanced efficiency or environmental technologies for the auto industry.

As for Hargrove’s profanity-laced demand for the government to "prevent a company from selling trucks into this market when it no longer makes them," Prentice has an obvious shrug given the doomed plant exports 90% of its production south: "Insults and profanity are not going to cause U.S. consumers to increase their purchase of trucks."

It would be easy for the Conservative Government to play the cherry-picking game the way the Liberals love to do, but instead they are acting responsibly with taxpayers’ money.

And Buzz Hargrove is throwing a tantrum because he isn’t getting his way. No wonder he supports the Liberal Party of Entitlement .

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Wednesday Update: Yeah, this will really help… Workers form road block to GM’s head office to protest plant closure.

Record - Auto cuts hammer local workers.

Thursday Update: McGuinty under fire over GM loan - Record.

Important Update : Safa Rigby responds in the Comment Section on the previous post .

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The media torch for the polygamy exposé in Toronto has now been passed to the National Post . John Turly-Ewart picks up the story today, and reveals that Safa Ribgy recently learned that her husband had not one, but two other wives:

…She’d followed her husband’s advice that she leave Toronto and live in Egypt for a year on the grounds that it would be better for their children to spend more time in a Muslim country. Now she knows it was a ruse. During her time there, he married two other women…

I really don’t understand why the CBC doesn’t base a series on this story, rather than Little Mosque on the Prairie. It would seem so much more realistic and relevant. Oh my, what a politically-incorrect notion that was! The Thought Police will surely get me now.

In any case, you can see the cultural brow-beating of Muslim women in this statement by Imam Aly Hindy , when Ms. Rigby confronted him about performing a marriage ceremony when he knew that her husband was already married:

“You will have to stand beside [your husband] in these difficult times,” Hindy told her. “You should stop causing problems to him. You will not get anything by divorce except destroying your life.”

Wow! Talk about emotional abuse.

Meanwhile, the Conservative opposition raised the question in Queen’s Park. Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin replied with the following bafflegab :

“Polygamy is a serious crime in Ontario. It’s not something that’s tolerated. As you know, the best advice I can give the honourable member opposite is that if she has any evidence that someone is engaging in multiple marriages, she should report it, because our Registrar General and our official reporting mechanisms have no evidence that that’s happening. As you know, Mr. Speaker, marriage is a contract. A contract requires a licence, and once a marriage occurs, it has to be registered. There are no multiple marriages being registered in the province of Ontario.”

As Turley-Ewart points out, just because a marriage hasn’t been officially registered, doesn’t mean that a crime wasn’t committed according to Section 293 of the criminal code:

…Contrary to Mr. McMeekin’s assertion in Ontario’s Legislature, there is no suggestion that a polygamous marriage has to be registered before the government can act. Indeed, the wording of Section 293 suggests the drafters sought to render illegal exactly this sort of situation.

By turning a blind eye to polygamy, Premier McGuinty is giving licence to shariah by stealth…

Dalton McGuinty is very good at appearing to do something with his fondness for bans on minor issues, but when it comes to really important stuff like upholding the law, then he runs for cover.

Meanwhile, the Safa Rigbys of Toronto live under the shadow of his tacit acceptance of Sharia law.

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Related : B.C. launches probe into polygamous community - CTV.

Tuesday Update: Good for Lisa Macleod - Tory MPP pushes for Ontario Polygamy Probe (Star).

I must give credit to the Toronto Star for continuing to push this story-line regarding the problem of polygamy in the Toronto Muslim community, and all the incipient harm that the practice is causing.

The case of Fouad Boutaya is particularly intriguing and somewhat tragic. It is tied into a previous report on the situation of Safa Rigby whose sad tale was revealed in the Star on May 24 . It was Safa’s story that encouraged Boutaya to disclose his own, because they are both the victims in the same case of polygamy.

To make a long story short, Safa Rigby married Hossny Ismail and they had 5 children. Meanwhile, Fouad Boutaya married a woman and had 2 children with her. Then Ismail and Boutaya’s wife decided to get married, even though she was still legally married to Boutaya . The religious ceremony was performed by Imam Aly Hindy .

Need a program? I don’t blame you.

The murky issue here is that the cloak of religious rights is being used to defend a polygamous union that has hurt both Rigby, Boutaya, and their combined 7 children. As Boutaya points out:

"This is not Islamic. Nothing about this marriage was Islamic," said Boutaya, who now has sole custody of his two children. "They used Islam to hide their affair."

According to the article, NDP MPP Andrea Horwath has been trying to get the government to address the issue of polygamy for years. But governments of all levels and stripes seem reluctant to get involved.

Once again, political correctness is undermining Canadian values. And the irony is that the very people who are being hurt are the ones that come to Canada with the hopes of a better life, and a strong belief that Canada is different - That a law here means something and is not to be broken.

And now their hearts and lives are broken instead.