Octopus Overlords

Incoming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will move quickly to implement campaign promises such as overhauling security legislation, sources in his party say, but faces early challenges with pledges on Syrian refugees and climate change.

The Liberal leader, who is expected to enjoy an extended honeymoon after his massive Oct. 19 election win ended a decade of Conservative governing, plans to call Parliament to return in early December, the sources said, to start work on an agenda which will also include middle-class tax cuts.

"All the low-hanging fruit, all the ones that he can make a decision on right away, I'm expecting we'll see a lot of that happening," said one Liberal Party source, who declined to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of strategic plans.

A second party source, who also spoke off the record, said other measures the Liberals would quickly act on include reinstating a mandatory long-form national census that was canceled by the Conservatives, and naming a commissioner to head an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

"His instinct to try to tick off as many promises as he can is the right thing to do," former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said in an interview.

Trudeau pledged during the campaign that his first piece of legislation would enact tax cuts for income from C$44,700 ($34,140) to C$89,401 and tax hikes for incomes above C$200,000.

He also promised to repeal controversial elements of Conservative anti-terrorism legislation to give more weight to civil rights.

Moving quickly on easily fulfilled promises will give the Liberals time to work out how to deliver on pledges for major infrastructure spending and legalizing marijuana, which the second Liberal source said was likely to occur towards the end of the Liberals' four-year mandate.

Justin Trudeau - Prime Minister.
Ralph Goodale - Public Safety.
Stéphane Dion - Foreign Affairs.
John McCallum - Citizenship and Immigration.
Carolyn Bennett - Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
Scott Brison - Treasury Board President.
Bill Morneau - Finance Minister.
Jody Wilson-Raybould - Justice.
Harjit Sajjan - National Defence.
Chrystia Freeland - International Trade.
Jane Philpott - Health.
Patricia Hajda - Status of Women.
Jean-Yves Duclos - Families, Children and Social Development.
Marc Garneau - Transport.
James Carr - Natural Resources.
Mélanie Jolie - Heritage.
Kent Hehr - Veterans Affairs, and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Catherine McKenna - Environment and Climate Change.
Maryam Monsef - Democratic Institutions.
Carla Qualtrough - Sport, and Persons with Disabilities.
Hunter Tootoo - Fisheries and Oceans, and Canadian Coastguard.
Kirsty Duncan - Science.
Lawrence MacAulay - Agriculture.
Navdeep Bains - Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
Judy Foote - Public Services and Procurement.
Dominic Leblanc - Government House Leader
Marie-Claude Bibeau - International Development and La francophonie.
Dianne Lebouthillier - National Revenue.
Maryam Mihychuck - Employment Workforce Development and Labour
Amarjeet Sohi - Infrastructure and Communities.
Bardish Chagger - Small Business and Tourism.

Jeff V wrote:I remember watching him play quarterback in college. Oh wait, that was Jack Trudeau. Who did Justin play for?

El Guapo wrote:Say, have you guys cut your military spending yet? Just, you know, wondering.

We will maintain current National Defence spending levels, including current planned increases.

Under Stephen Harper, investments in the Canadian Armed Forces have been erratic, promised increases in funding have been scaled back, and more than $10 billion of approved funding was left unspent.

This mismanagement has left Canada’s Armed Forces underfunded and ill-equipped, and the courageous members of the Forces unsupported after years of dedicated service.

We will not let Canada’s Armed Forces be shortchanged, and we will not lapse military spending from year to year. We will also reinvest in building a leaner, more agile, better-equipped military, including adequate support systems for military personnel and their families.

El Guapo wrote:Say, have you guys cut your military spending yet? Just, you know, wondering.

GreenGoo wrote:Civvies are impressed with the new minister. I haven't heard rumblings from the members yet though.

GreenGoo wrote:

El Guapo wrote:Say, have you guys cut your military spending yet? Just, you know, wondering.

Actually the conservatives had already done some fine work in that area.

Isgrimnur wrote:Sikh minister, dude!

El Guapo wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:Sikh minister, dude!

Nice.

GreenGoo wrote:Civvies are impressed with the new minister. I haven't heard rumblings from the members yet though.

So here are the four Indo-Canadians who made it to the cabinet:

- Harjit Sajjan as Canada's defence minister

- Navdeep Bains as minister of innovation, science and economic development

- Amarjeet Sohi as infrastructure minister and

- Bardish Chagger as minister for small business and tourism.

Sohi was born in 1964 into a close-knit Sikh farming family in Punjab. He was 17 when he moved to Edmonton in 1981, sponsored by an older brother.
...
In 1988 at age 24, he returned to India to study with a noted Punjabi playwright and reformer, Gursharan Singh.

There, the young actor joined a group of activists advocating for land reform in the impoverished state of Bihar. Powerful landlords controlled the farmland, and landless peasants had few rights. That November, he went to Bihar to help local villagers organize a protest. The night before their rally, police raided the village.

“When they saw me, a Sikh, there from Punjab and from Canada, they said, ‘We must have a terrorist here.’”

Isgrimnur wrote:I'm pretty sure he had to hitch a ride with the neighbors.

Isgrimnur wrote:So he's a Manitoban Candidate?

Isgrimnur wrote:I'll take it.

Isgrimnur wrote:

I appreciate an appreciative audience.

El Guapo wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I'll take it.

I will also say that I think your "Sikh candidate, dude" joke here was under-appreciated.

GreenGoo wrote:To the best of my knowledge, it's pronounced "seek".

I'm willing to be educated on the subject.

Isgrimnur wrote:Wikipedia pronunciation lists two options:

's' in 'sigh', /iː/ long 'e' in 'bead', 'k' in 'kind'
's' in 'sigh', /ɪ/ short 'i' in 'bid', 'k' in 'kind'

Rip wrote:All good. You really don't need it.

There are no nearby threats.

Rumpy wrote:Heh oops, guess whoever compiled the list miscounted somewhere. Still amazing.

The Liberal government is reinstating the mandatory long-form census that was scrapped by the Conservatives five years ago.

"We need good, reliable data," said Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, who made the announcement on Parliament Hill.

Bains could not say what the penalty would be for refusing to fill out the compulsory questionnaire, but said there will be a "robust" communication plan. The vast majority of Canadians understand the importance of this data and want to participate in the process, he said, noting that 93.5 per cent of the population filled out the forms last time.

The data is invaluable for everyone from city planners and provincial governments to businesses and non-government organizations, Bains said.

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos said Canadians are happy to fill out the long form because they understand it is critical to the well-being of the country.

A promise to "immediately" restore the long-form census was was one of the planks in the Liberal Party's platform during the recent federal election.

Today's announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his new cabinet was sworn in.

"We committed to a government that functions based on evidence and facts and long-form censuses are an important part of making sure we're serving constituents in our communities," Trudeau said, pausing to take a question as he sprinted up the steps to his office on Parliament Hill.

New census packages must be ready to mail out by May 2.

The long-form census would have to be distributed to about 2.9 million households.

The Conservative government cancelled the mandatory long census form for the 2011 census, replacing it with a voluntary national household survey. Bains said that was a bad move based on ideology.

"We know the history of the past government and they very much focused on ideology," he said. "We're focused on sound, evidence-based policies. We want to make sure we're driving good policies based on good evidence and quality data."

silverjon wrote:

Rumpy wrote:Heh oops, guess whoever compiled the list miscounted somewhere. Still amazing.

Or, and I hate to say this, based their count on the number of gentlemen wearing turbans.

Sohi does not. His seat was closely contested, so it was very exciting to see him take office, taking our lefties where we can get them. And now he's a minister.