Friday, May 15, 2009

Idiocracy



I took a little wander through the list of Conservative MP's and while I didn't examine them all, here are a few that were either born outside the country or lived and/or worked outside our borders.

Rona Ambrose
Tony Clement
Jim Flaherty
Nina Grewal
Jason Kenney
Peter Kent
Deepak Obhrai
Lisa Raitt
Devinder Shory
Vic Toews
Alice Wong

Let's hope none of these people have higher political aspirations than being an MP.

Wherry has another list here.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tony Clement was born in England.

Karen said...

Thx. I added him to the list, though I have to say that I didn't go through each and every MP, so I'm sure there are more that I have missed.

Anonymous said...

Frum can never be PM.
Conrad Black can never be PM.
Alas.

Anonymous said...

uhmmm.....
And your point?

(Born outside of Canada)

Karygiannis, Jim
Liberal Party of Canada
Greece

Volpe, Giuseppe (Joseph)
Liberal Party of Canada
Italy

Cannis, John
Liberal Party of Canada
Greece

Fry, Hedy
Liberal Party of Canada
Trinidad

Martin, Keith P.
Reform Party
England

Ablonczy, Diane
Reform Party
United States

Davies, Libby
New Democratic Party
England

Minna, Maria
Liberal Party of Canada
Italy

Obhrai, Deepak
Reform Party
Tanzania

Toews, Vic
Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance
Paraguay

Bevilacqua, Maurizio
Liberal Party of Canada
Italy

Dosanjh, Ujjal
Liberal Party of Canada
India

Folco, Raymonde
Liberal Party of Canada
France

Grewal, Nina
Conservative Party of Canada
Japan

Guarnieri, Albina
Liberal Party of Canada
Italy

Malhi, Gurbax Singh
Liberal Party of Canada
India

Martin, Tony
New Democratic
Ireland

Ratansi, Yasmin
Liberal Party of Canada
Tanzania

Rodriguez, Pablo
Liberal Party of Canada
Argentina

Savage, Michael John
Liberal Party of Canada
Northern Ireland

Silva, Mario
Liberal Party of Canada
Portugal

Stoffer, Peter Arend
New Democratic Party
Netherlands

Fletcher, Steven John
Conservative Party of Canada
Brazil

Mark, Inky
Conservative Party of Canada
China

Charlton, Chris
New Democratic Party
Germany

Chow, Olivia
New Democratic
China

Clement, Tony
Conservative Party of Canada
England

Dhaliwal, Sukh
Liberal Party of Canada
India

Mourani, Maria
Bloc Québécois
Ivory Coast

Petit, Daniel
Conservative Party of Canada
Belgium

Thi Lac, Ève-Mary Thaï
Bloc Québécois
Vietnam

Murray, Joyce
Liberal Party of Canada
South Africa

Allen, Malcolm
New Democratic Party
Scotland

Hyer, Bruce
New Democratic
United States

Kent, Peter
Conservative Party of Canada
England

Mendes, Alexandra
Liberal Party of Canada
Portugal

Shory, Devinder
Conservative Party of Canada
India

Wong, Alice
Conservative Party of Canada
Hong Kong



Without context about each individual, your little post is rather meaningless don't you think?

Karen said...

Cwtf, the point is that the new Conservative ads suggest that Ignatieff isn't worthy of being PM because he spent time outside of the country.

I have no problem with it and I have no problem with MP's hailing from elsewhere.

Did you read the cartoon?

RuralSandi said...

CWTF - your point is rather meaningless due to the fact you don't get the hypocracy of Harper and his gang. We all know many MP's from all parties were not born here and/or spent a lot of time out of Canada.

So, they pick on Ignatieff - KNB's point is well taken - the point being the "hypocracy" of the Cons. It's the same nonsense as Dion having dual citizenship - many MP's do.

The Rat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Rat said...

Cwtf, the point is that the new Conservative ads suggest that Ignatieff isn't worthy of being PM because he spent time outside of the countryUhh, no. They say that he's not worthy of being PM because the only reason he came back to Canada was to BE PM. In other words, he doesn't care about Canada, he cares about his resume. Right or wrong, you think you could at least understand the argument you're rebutting instead of beating the crap out of that poor strawman you made.

Karen said...

Oh Rat. I know that's what the latest spin is, but you see, the ads are so poorly executed that whatever ridiculous message was supposed to get out, hasn't.

Have you read or heard how these ads are being received? Check out letters to the editors if you're paranoid about the crazy 'left wing media'.

The message that is being taken away is precisely what I present. I created no straw man. The creative geniuses at the CPC did that all on their own.

RuralSandi said...

Hmmmm....like Harper isn't worried and wants power - LOL

The Con trolls are out in full force today - as usual, when things aren't looking good for them. They're just so obvious.

Steve V said...

KNB

Actually dim bulb there just reinforced your point, because it shows that being outside the country is very routine and cuts across partisan lines. All that says, the attack is ridiculous.

I would thank him ;)

wilson said...

Born elsewhere and chosing Canada is a lame defense.
Iffy comparing himself to the plight of immigrants is just one more example of him being self serving by using others.

Knb,
how many on your list, born in Canada, while working out side the country,
pretended they weren't Canadian?

''it's your American just as much as it is mine''

He told us why he is in Canada
''as sure as I am sitting here, I will be Prime Minister'....

Anonymous said...

Karen, your argument would have made more sense if you compared Iggy to Dianne Haskett - but then again, it would not have been a compliment.


(and make more sense to Rural).

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with Rat. Every ad emphasizes being out of the country for 34 years (presumably his 27 years plus his grad school days). This point is supposed to be an attack in itself.

Karen said...

Wilson, don't be so provincial. It's not uncommon to speak to an audience of a country and assume that stance.

In fact, I listened to a report of what is happening in the British parliament tonight and our reporter, a Canadian, used the term we or our.

Pretend is a game played by children...actually Harper is really good at it...'sweater man'and all.

Talking about issues and trying to get an audience to sympathize with your point, Ignatieff's certainly not the first to employ that tactic.

Does it make him less able to run this country? No. It's a foolish argument.

Karen said...

cwtf...I can't see how. In fact, I still think you are missing the point and simply looking for a way to attack.

Are you serious about raising the bar in this country or not?

And if you are going to use given names...fair's fair don't you think?

Karen said...

Agreed anon and everyone except Harper devotees see the same thing.

Anonymous said...

KNB, sorry about using your given name -

Are you serious about raising the bar in this country or not? And you are raising the bar by saying what?
"Look here, the Conservatives have members that were born out of Canada (and some may have worked out of the country) so this is the equivalent of Iggy coming back to Canada after decades out of the country?" Get real.

The nearest equivalent would be Dianne Haskett, and I'm quite sure you don't want that comparison....

I found the Dion foreigner taunts to be abysmally stupid, yet you feel it's correct to say "but the Connies have MP born outside of Canada"... ignoring that the Liberals have just as many...

Iggy, for all intents and purposes came back for political aspirations, there is nothing that denotes a greater good or cause. It's foolish to pretend otherwise.

Karen said...

No. What I'm saying is that they are diminishing their own while trying to diminish Ignatieff...and they don't seem to realise it.

Political aspirations in and of themselves are nothing to decry.

If the party and Ignatieff for that matter, felt he had something to offer, what's wrong with that?

Aspirations are suddenly something that is bad? What foolishness.

Having no aspirations is what has us in trouble, imo.

RuralSandi said...

It's really hard to take someone like Wilson seriously when they continue to use grammar school name calling. Like Iffy is just so clever....sigh....

Karen said...

Agreed Sandi. If you wander over to the BT's, there are many such school yard taunts used regularly.

It doesn't just detract from a rational discussion, it excludes it completely.