Burlington columnist links the Boston Bombings, Justin Trudeau and Tory attack advertisements

By Ray Z. Rivers

Ray Rivers will write weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat after which he decided to write and has become a  political animator.

BURLINGTON, ON. April 29, 2013.  ‘Root-causes’ you say?  Justin Trudeau dared to utter that phrase in his interview with Peter Mansbridge, shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings.   Trudeau was “committing sociology”, the Prime Minster accused, as if that was one of the unforgivable crimes the PM had included in the government’s new ‘safe-streets’ legislation.  

Afghan women being taught some of the basics through funding provided by the Canadian International Development Agency – getting at the root causes of political violence.

National Post right-wing columnist Barbara Kay had earlier taken her aim and fired a volley at the young leader – showing his ‘inner sophomore’, she accused.  She went on to draw a comparison to his father, when as PM he brought out the army to quell the FLQ hostage crisis of 1970.    True enough he activated the War Measures Act, but Pierre also dealt with some of the “root-causes” – the disenchantment and estrangement of Quebecers’ from their rightful role in the federation.  Lest we forget, he introduced official bilingualism, regional economic development, and the inter-provincial equalization program.

Of course Kay and Harper are playing politics, aren’t they?   Everybody knows that for every effect there is a cause…and a root-cause.  I mean why else is Canada providing social and economic aid to Afghanistan, except to remove the kind of ‘root-causes’ that contributed to 9/11, right?  Under Stephen Harper, Canada, proudly, has become one of the world’s top donors of economic development and educational assistance in Afghanistan, raising the levels of education, ensuring greater food security, and regional development of that nation, one of the world’s poorest. 

In 2011, Canada assisted over 1600 schools graduate almost 50,000 students, 85% of them girls.  And we helped Afghan small and medium businesses create over 20,000 new jobs, injecting $325 million in the national economy.  These are very impressive stats for a government that doesn’t believe in ‘committing sociology’ and in considering and reducing ‘root-causes’. 

Return to the Front page
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

1 comment to Burlington columnist links the Boston Bombings, Justin Trudeau and Tory attack advertisements

  • MNBennett

    Look forward to reading more Ray. Thanks for contributing to the Burlington dialogue with the provincial/federal perspective.