Garrett Woolsey

Sceptical observer of CDN media and politics.
RCMP veteran BC, AB and NL.
#LetsGoOilers
Good faith assumed.

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

Canadians have been played for suckers by the Liberals. Same old gang that drove Canada into the ditch this past decade is still in charge.

[CTV Question Period @ctvqp]

Carney is 'significant departure' from Trudeau on policies, relations with Alberta and Saskatchewan: Leblanc.

Catch the full interview with ⁦@DLeBlancNB⁩ Sunday at 11ET/8PT on CTV and CTV News Channel. #cdnpoli https://t.co/6Nieg9NXvg

[Scott Robertson @sarobertson_]

David Herle: "There's no independent Alberta. This little landlocked area sitting there in the middle of the continent. They're either part of Canada or they're part of the US and they need to get their heads around that. If they think they're neglected now, they should ask North Dakota."

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

@alanfryermedia His 'focus' is responsible. Good grief, they can't help but try to buff him up even in the face of the mildest of criticism.

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

@paulvieira Would you be able to quote or link to the rule? I'm intrigued with how media come to adopt government and/or expert terminology and put it into regular use. @Pagmenzies might also find this of interest.

[Michael Geist @mgeist]

This is far longer than my typical post, but it tells an important story of what appears to be an attempt by leadership at Massey College to censor a major conference on antisemitism, leading to the resignation of one of its senior fellows.

The disappointment that greeted Mark Carney’s antisemitism speech this week is partly a function of a Jewish community that has been facing real threats for months, with fears that our governments and institutions have been unwilling to confront them directly and honestly. Hours before the Carney speech, I received a note from Peter Biro, a Toronto lawyer and longtime senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, that provided a tangible example of the harm. Biro, facing what appears to have been an attempt by Massey College leadership to censor a major antisemitism conference planned for this fall, resigned his fellowship rather than succumb to it.

Biro proposed, organized, and committed to personally fund a one-day conference, “Antisemitism in Our ‘Free and Democratic Society’: A Canary’s Song,” co-presented with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and featuring Deborah Lipstadt, Deborah Lyons, and Irwin Cotler, among others. According to his resignation letter, which I am sharing here with his permission, the College told him it had never approved the event and insisted on appointing an advisory committee to review, curate, and approve a version of the program that fit the College’s “mission and approach.” When he asked who had raised concerns and whether such a committee had any precedent, he says he received no answer.

Biro calls the stated objection false and a pretext. The real concern, he argues, is the substance: how antisemitism would be examined, by whom, and whether a human rights centre founded by a Jewish and Zionist lawyer was an acceptable partner. That objection makes little sense, since the College itself partnered with the very same centre only months ago. In Biro’s words, the committee “looks and feels less like prudent corporate governance and more like antisemitism.” Read the letter and judge for yourself.

Here is the part that should worry everyone. An academic institution responded to a conference on antisemitism, organized by one of its own fellows and featuring some of the world’s most notable antisemitism scholars, by insisting that an oversight committee was needed to decide whether the subject was being handled appropriately. I’ve organized many conferences and never had university leadership intervene in this manner. Massey College, much like Mark Carney, had a chance to lead, but both failed to meet the moment. The conference will go on in Toronto on September 15. The stain on Massey College will not come off as easily.

[Alan Fryer 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @alanfryermedia]

MSM trying to make something out of nothing in defence of PMMC.

[Thomas Juneau @thomasjuneau]

Antisemitism is a major & growing problem in Canada, & a blight on our democratic health. Criticism of Israeli policies is legitimate & necessary. But attacks on Jewish Canadians simply because of their religion or the denial of Israel's right to exist is bigoted and idiotic.

[Military Strategy Magazine @milstrategymag]

What happens when the battlefield can increasingly see everything?

Always free to read 👉 https://t.co/4uGe1M77hz

[Hon. Lisa MacCormack Raitt P.C. @lraitt]

Composed and logical in explaining a complex position, pushing back on the framing that seeks to play gotcha politics. Great first outing Madame Leader.

[Mark Goldberg @Mark_Goldberg]

In speech, @MarkJCarney cites "drove Jewish students from common spaces on our university campuses" as an example of antisemitism.

Help me understand why he appointed the lawyer who filed a Charter challenge against @UAlberta for removing its encampment https://t.co/C1P4EnCmbL

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

Maybe they did, and their views weren't seen as disqualifying.

[Mark Goldberg @Mark_Goldberg]

Is it possible, once again, that no one on the appointments side for the new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion thought to use Google?

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

@Mark_Goldberg @liberal_party @EvanLSolomon @RachelBendayan @AHousefather @BenCarrwpg heh - props are props.

[Steven Pinker @sapinker]

Though battle deaths per capita and autocracy have crept upward in the past few years (while still well below 20th-century rates), most other indexes of nonviolence and well-being continue their progress and are at historical records. One example: decriminalization of homosexuality.

[Quillette @Quillette]

Jewish testimonies before Australia's Royal Commission paint a portrait of a culture already transformed—one in which Jewishness has become a professional and social liability, writes @IzaTabaro.

https://t.co/W6Bu360osk

[Alan Fryer 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 @alanfryermedia]

I can’t help but feel that if it were a Davos stage instead of a Toronto synagogue, Carney would have put far more thought and effort into his speech on antisemitism.

[Rupa Subramanya @rupasubramanya]

Carney has unveiled a new council to combat antisemitism in Canada. The lineup includes a former Liberal minister who is a Muslim, a DEI executive who is also Muslim, a progressive lawyer interested in social justice issues who represented pro-Palestinian encampment activists, an LGBT activist, and an Olympic speed skater.

Only one member is Jewish: Senator Marc Gold, has a long public record in Jewish communal and pro-Israel advocacy.

Seems like expertise in antisemitism was considered optional. If the goal was to reassure Jewish Canadians, this is a bizarre way to go about it.

https://t.co/SdnrHYuFVZ

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

@rupasubramanya Nobody is reassured by this.

[Pierre Poilievre @PierrePoilievre]

This is the kind of decisive response to a recession that only a master economist and crisis manager could give.

[Garrett Woolsey @nanytrulz]

Omar Alghabra and a bunch of also-ran politicians. This is worse than useless.

[Prime Minister of Canada @CanadianPM]

Prime Minister Carney highlights new measures to combat antisemitism and support Canada’s Jewish community. Details: https://t.co/RcUkAW4IjH

[Alain Chagnon @AlainChagnon2]

Ouch !
Via @nspector4