Free Republic

The Canadian House of Commons declared Russia’s actions in Ukraine a “genocide” on Wednesday, listing alleged crimes including killing civilians, descreating bodies, kidnapping children, torture and rape. The lawmakers unanimously approved the measure, which said there is “ample evidence of systematic and massive war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against the people of Ukraine.”

Progressive golden boy Justin Trudeau showed his authoritarian colors on Wednesday as he threw a temper tantrum in Canada's legislature, grabbing one member of Parliament and elbowing a female member in the breast. Why? Trudeau was upset that opposition MPs had taken a few moments longer than he liked to begin voting on a key piece of his legislative agenda. Trudeau's Liberal government had made a motion to shut down debate on a bill that would allow assisted suicide in Canada. Opposition MPs on both sides of the issue claim the government bill is flawed and needs more debate and...

The Palestinian Authority is fuming after Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, met Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in her eastern Jerusalem office this week. Such a move is normally avoided by visiting diplomats since world countries do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, which it liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. "The visit is a slap in the face to the Palestinian people," former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Nabil Shaath wrote in a commentary published by Canada's daily Globe and Mail on Friday.

They saw a housing boom, they saw a recession, and yet the Canadian housing market is still cooking with gas. Why? Fundamental differences in Canadian banking, borrowing and home buying. I spent the day in Toronto a few weeks ago and was really interested to see how a few miles can span such a huge difference in collective attitude.

Leaflets mailed to homes in heavily Jewish districts of Canada's major cities last November struck with uncharacteristic ferocity at the political party that Canadian Jews have long favored. Canada's Liberal Party, the Conservative Party broadsides charged, had "opposed defunding Hamas and asked that Hezbollah be delisted as a terrorist organization." The Liberals had "willingly participated" in the 2001 "overtly antiSemitic" Durban international conference on racism. And Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff had "accused Israel of committing war crimes," the leaflets charged. Only the last charge was incontestably accurate and free of distortion. But the mass mailing reflected a new facet...

Sometimes, patriotism can be awkward. Especially when it means admitting to an international TV audience that your nation’s broken health care system forced you onto welfare, into adult diapers, and hobbling with a walker. And all before the age of 30. Embarrassing perhaps, but for Canadian Lin Gilbert, the time had come to share her story publicly this week. Especially after her 15-year-old son was recently diagnosed with the same health condition leading to her suffering. “As a parent, I will do anything to help him. I will borrow the money, I will do whatever it takes,” she said. “If...

Voters electrified as Canada's PM hits back in war of words with US By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 16/12/2005) Canada's increasingly heated war of words with the United States intensified yesterday, with the prime minister demanding that Washington halt attempts to "dictate" to its northern neighbour. Paul Martin responded after the US ambassador to Ottawa accused him of playing politics with the relationship between the two countries. Paul Martin: 'I am not going to be dictated to' Mr Martin, who has called an election for next month, shot back: "I am not going to be dictated to as to...

Marc Emery has built a multimillion-dollar business selling marijuana seeds and paraphernalia while thumbing his nose at authorities in his native Canada, even challenging them to arrest him. Yesterday, the man known as Canada's "Prince of Pot" was arrested in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on a U.S. indictment charging him with selling millions of dollars worth of marijuana seeds to customers throughout the United States. Emery, the 47-year-old leader of British Columbia's Marijuana Party, has earned about $3 million a year selling the seeds through his Internet Web site and by mail, federal officials said. Emery and two accomplices, Gregory Williams,...