Supporting Israel - Wooing CanWest, Not Jewish Voters

In my most recent blog entry I pondered the battle between Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff in the arena that is "Support for Israel". The leaders of our two main parties are in a battle to win the votes of Canada's Jewish constituency, or so says a recent CP news story.

The question I raised was basically...Why the fixation on such a small group? Canada has about 300,000 people who identify themselves as being of the Jewish faith, roughly the same as the number of Buddhists, or Sikhs or even Hindus. Muslims by contrast number almost 600,000 in this country. The figures available from StatsCan are from 2001, and given immigration and birth rates, its conceivable that the number of Muslims in Canada has trended significantly higher.

So is this really a battle for less than one quarter of one percentage of Canadian voters? Or is there another reason for Messieurs Ignatieff and Harper to be falling all over themselves in an effort to appear as the Canadian who is Israel's greatest champion?

In searching for another more logical answer I'm drawn to the issue of media ownership in Canada, and the trend toward the creation of media empires. Politicians rely on media to carry their message to the electorate, both in news coverage as well as in editorial and opinion pieces.

Do Canadian media giants have a bias toward Israel when it comes to conflicts and issues in the Middle East? Would a leader or a party seen as being critical of Israel have cause to worry that they might be shown in a negative light?

Israel "Izzy" Asper helped create the massive Canadian media conglomerate Canwest Global Communications. Canwest has ownership stakes in the Global Television Network, The National Post, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun and a host of other newspapers as well as Internet portals and international media companies. Asper was known for his strong support of Israel, in an obituary piece the CBC reported:

"Asper was also known for his outspoken views on many political and social issues, especially his support of Israel. He often used his media outlets to call on the Canadian government to strengthen its support of Israel".


There have been numerous complaints from Canwest publications and news properties centred around a lack of editorial freedom and the need to toe the company line on controversial issues, including conflicts between Israel and the Arab world. Back in 2004 the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations called on the Ontario Press Council to investigate CanWest publications for biased reporting. They cited the fact that in the Post and Ottawa Citizen Canwest had:

"...inserted the word "terrorist" into a Middle East story reported by wire service agency Reuters, and substituted the word "terrorist" for words such as "militant and "insurgent" in an Associated Press story".

While Israel Asper has passed away CanWest is now run by President and CEO Leonard Asper, with David Asper as Executive Vice President and Chairman of the National Post.

Granted CanWest is just one of Canada's media empires, but there's no mistaking its size. It certainly seems more logical to suggest that Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper are catering to the views of a media giant as opposed to worrying about the votes of a mere .2 % or so of Canadian electors.

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Why All The Fuss Over Israel?

Recent media reports suggest the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff are making strides to woo Canada's Jewish voters with strong words in support of Israel. The most recent I've seen comes from the Canadian Press under the headline: Liberals, Conservatives battle for Jewish Support in next election. Stephen Harper is widely believed to be stridently pro-Israel, and with good reason. In this Canwest News Service story it says that Conservatives..."acknowledge that many Canadian Jews appreciate Harper's unwavering support for Israel".

Is Canada's Jewish population so significant that the leaders of our two main parties should be falling all over themselves to voice their support for Israel?

According to Statistics Canada back in 2001 Canada's Jewish population wasn't much greater than the Buddhist population. In fact Canadians of the Jewish faith have numbers roughly equal to that of Hindus and Sikhs as well. We sure don't see Harper and Iggy battling it out to see who can be the most pro Tibet to win votes amongst the 300,000 or so Canadians who follow the teachings of the Buddha. You don't hear either of them having much to say about the Punjab either, a cause celebre with our 280,000 or so Sikhs.

There are hot spots all over the world, and Israel is just one of them. According to canadaimmigrants.com Israel doesn't even make the list of the top 24 countries with citizens immigrating to Canada. You think Stephen and Mike would have more to say on China, with over 300,000 Chinese citizens coming here to live since 1991. India and the Philippines are the next 2 in terms of immigration levels. When's the last time we saw Ignatieff or Harper doing all they can to attract the Filipino or Indian vote?

In the years leading up to the creation of the Israeli state Zionist groups resorted to terrorist acts to achieve their goal of a Jewish homeland. Now there are Islamic groups using terror tactics to achieve the same goal for a Palestinian state. There's no need to pick sides here, a pox on both their houses. Neither side in this conflict has the moral high ground, they're both guilty of atrocities.

If Harper and Ignatieff are really interested in attracting voters they should go after the almost 5,000,0000 of us who proclaim no religious affiliation.

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Economic 'Green Shoots' Hit By Heavy Drought

If you've been paying attention to politicians, our whoring media, and other vested interests...then you can be excused for believing that the worst of the economic mess is behind us. If however you've been paying attention to basic reality, and are using simple common sense, then you know there's still a lot more pain to be felt, especially here in Canada.

As much as we may like to discount the reality, our economy is tied to the fate of our southern neighbours. The U.S. is our single largest trading partner, everyone in Canada knows that...hence as their economy goes, our's is soon to follow. We've already seen this, the US economy slid into recession back in the summer of 2008, and our's followed close behind about 6 months later.

So how are things looking in the land of the free and the home of the over leveraged? Not good. Jobless numbers for June were just released and the numbers were worse than expectations. No doubt there are spin masters already at work trying to find a way to turn this straw into gold, but reality is reality no matter what is said about the emperor's new clothes....the immediate and near term future doesn't look good.

467,000 American jobs lost in June, and the average number of hours worked dropped to 33.

With the U.S economy being about eight and a half times bigger than our own, the numbers would equate to job losses here of almost 55,000. About the only good news to come out today was the reaction of the world oil price, which slid to under $67 a barrel U.S. Of course those living in and around Alberta's oil patch can be forgiven if they don't see this as something to smile about.

Why do we keep hearing about 'green shoots' and an impending recovery? Pretty simple really, our economy is basically surviving on cheap credit right now. According to Statistics Canada our savings rate had fallen all the way to 1.2% back in the 90s, and one can only assume it hasn't gotten any better in the ensuing decade. With little or no money in the bank to fall back on, that means Canadians must rely on credit to make expensive purchases.

People who are anxious about their jobs, the value of their homes and the overall economic picture...they're not going to be too keen on maxing out their lines of credit. Hence the full court press we're seeing by elected officials and media to convince the great unwashed that our naked economy is actually beautifully arrayed in the finest garments.

How bad are things? Credit to former renegade MP Garth Turner for unearthing this little gem.

How would you like to own a home worth about $1,000,000? Don't think you can afford it? No worries, there's a seller on kijiji willing to let you have this beauty with no money down. They'll even give you $125,000 for the down payment and another $50,000 to help cover the mortgage expenses for a year or so.

Sound too good to be true? Assuming the listing is legit, my guess is we're looking at a builder with a model home to unload. The land and building materials probably cost the builder in the neighbourhood of $500,000. If he can get someone to buy it for a cool million he'll net about 500K in profit according to my assumptions. Tossing the would be sucker...err, I mean buyers $175,000 is a small price to pay to unload this puppy.

The builder gets his money from the mortgage provider, and the new home owner just has to pray real estate values don't tank. A ten percent drop in RE values means a $1,000,000 mortgage on a home worth $900K. A 25% drop could spell bankruptcy and financial ruin.

I'm sure someone will jump in though, what the hell...just listen to politicians, media and real estate shills. Jim Flaherty would probably recommend it right now, then in 3 months he'll say its dicey and 6 months later he'll say it was a mistake. But then....nobody is predicting that we're in for some very troubling economic times.

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A Canada Day Quiz

Ahhhh Canada Day, a chance to celebrate the birth of our nation in Charlottetown's harbour some 142 years ago. Here's a little quiz to see how well you know our home and native land:
(Answers below, try not to cheat.)

1. Canada's first Prime Minister?
2. Canada's longest serving Prime Minister?
3. Canada's first French Canadian Prime Minister
4. Canada's longest serving French Canadian Prime Minister?
5. The leader of the Northwest Rebellion?
6. What was Ontario called at confederation?
7. What was Quebec called at confederation?
8. The Canadian head of state?
9. How many provinces and territories does Canada have?
10. Who was Prime Minister when Canada repatriated the Constitution?

So....How'd you do?





1) John A. MacDonald 2) Mackenzie King 3) Wilfred Laurier 4) Wilfred Laurier 5) Louis Riel 6) Upper Canada 7) Lower Canada 8) The Queen, (or King as the case may be 9) 10 provinces 3 territories 10) Pierre Trudeau

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