Politics in Canada

Name-calling and Ad Hominem Attacks

These days, even in Canada, political discussion has sunk pretty low and, in many cases, has lost any sense of civility. Far too often people attack one another, or the various parties, on personal and ugly grounds. Name-calling and ad Hominem attacks are the tools of those who have little to say. Those who fly the black "F*ck Trudeau" flag, or conduct a siege chanting "Freedom!", are good examples of politics gone seriously wrong. Recently an acquaintance posted a nasty bit of thin gruel on Facebook -- a repost of a purported article from a European paper that stated, without argument, that Justin Trudeau is an idiot and worse still are all the idiots who voted for him.

I challenged my friend saying this bit of naming calling was an ad hominem attack without substance and asked, "What exactly have you got against Trudeau?". His reply, and my rejoinders, follow:

Major accomplishments prior to being elected to the highest office in the land were instructing snowboarding, practicing yoga, and substitute teaching high school drama classes.

·        Jesus was a carpenter. To attack a person on where they come from rather than what they do is an ad hominem attack. If you have to be a lawyer or MBA to be in parliament then we are screwed.

Invoking the Emergencies act for a minor disturbance, all he had to do was go talk to these people, instead he went into hiding like the chicken shit he is.

·        Oh gosh, we disagree here. I don’t call it a “minor disturbance” nor did those in Ottawa who lived thru it (or the border blockades, or the guns at border blockades). If you believe that talking to these people (which leader of these people) was enough to resolve the problem you’re mistaken, eg. there was the manifesto to replace parliament, real threats, and people saying we’re not going anywhere until you lift border requirements (nevermind that the same border requirements were there to get into the US).

Paying off a terrorist with 10.8 million

·        I assume you’re talking about the Khadr affair. Two points. To call call Khadr a “terrorist” is again an ad hominem. I’d call him a prisoner of war in Guantanamo who was tortured by Americans and not protected by the government of the day (which I believe was Conservative).

Forcing carbon taxes on a nation that contributes little to world carbon footprint.

·        Canada has a small population. The burden we put on the carbon footprint is disproportionate. One of Kant's categorical imperatives is the universalizability principle, in which one should "act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.” If you want to solve a problem, be part of the solution.

Flying all over the world on meaningless jaunts while telling us that oil is bad.

·        There have been some meaningless jaunts yes. But let’s not tar them all.

SNC Lavalin. Enough said.

·        There’s the scandal of SNC Lavalin bribing Libya and the scandal of trying to suppress the story. The liberals under Trudeau are guilty of the second.

Calling an election in the middle of a pandemic.

·        Is there a party that doesn’t call an election when it’s opportune?

Backing off on electoral reform.

·        Agreed. As an NDP supporter I was pissed.

The WE charity scandal. Attempting to hand an unneeded sole-source contract to WE Charity for nearly $1 billion after Trudeau’s mother and brother received around $300,000 from it for speaking gigs.

·        Agreed. Scandalous.

Wearing blackface then calling anti vaxxers and convoy protestors racist.

·        The blackface was wrong, agreed. Anti vaxxers and convoy protestors are wrong and silly too. And at least some of them are racists.

Hiking the national debt by billions of dollars, thus indebting future generations in perpetuity

·        During the pandemic keeping people sheltered and fed is important. I have no qualms about going into debt for that. Nor am I concerned about spending to support the UA or other crisis. Solving the debt problem by taxing the poor will not help. I am happy to pay more taxes.

Millions spent travelling and giving away foreign aid in pursuit of a useless, temporary seat on the UN Security Council.

·        I think we covered the travelling issue already. I am for foreign aid (cf. convoy protestors who claim not to be racist). As for the motives for Trudeau doing so, that’s your guess. Supporting those in need is the compassionate thing to do.

Regulations and taxes on oil from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, but not on oil from Saudi Arabia.

·        I am for taxing and regulating all our industries. I am appalled by what Saudi Arabia has done to Jamal Khashoggi. Nor do I like what the Saudis did/are doing in Yemen and that the Liberals have honored a previous (Conservative) agreement to sell them LAV’s to do so. Ps. Any taxing of any imports would be a tax burden on Canadians not the country of origin.

Imposing tough environmental assessments on new infrastructure projects, except in the case of a cement plant in Quebec.

·        Agreed. Regulations should be consistent.

I could go on but if you want to support this clown, that's your privilege as a Canadian.

·        Ad hominem attack on Trudeau and his supporters. Ps. I’m not a supporter of either.