If John A. Macdonald has to go, why not Pierre Trudeau too?

[Gone_Fishin]

If John A. Macdonald has to go, why not Pierre Trudeau too?





While we are in the process of scrubbing our history clean, and exorcising all reminders of our former leaders’ ugly pasts — Sir John A. Macdonald, Edward Cornwallis, and all the other warts on our moral sensibilities — why not remove Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s name from the international airport in Montreal?

And everywhere else, for that matter.

If we are continuing on the path of historical sanitation, then why not get a jump on future generations before they judge us as failing to be pro-active in an era of supposedly principled pro-activity?

So, off with Pierre Trudeau’s figurative head.

If his son Justin, the current prime minister, objects to this progressiveness, then he is not a true progressive.

His father, after all, was not without dictatorial moves. He had no qualms removing the liberties of all Canadians by invoking the War Measure’s Act, and having the armed forces patrolling our streets in tanks.

Over what?

A small band of FLQ activists who killed a Quebec cabinet minister and kidnapped a British diplomat?

In reflection, it was kindergarten stuff when compared to today’s uncertainty and fears that ISIS has some Canadian cell of twisted homegrown jihadists waiting to unleash their lunacy on all of us.

Pierre Trudeau decided not to serve in the Second World War and, according to many stories, rode his motorcycle around Montreal while wearing a 19th-century Prussian army helmet.

And he was a deep appreciator of communists like Mao, Stalin and Castro.

In a biography written by John English, a noted academic and former Liberal cabinet minister, we learned that, while in university, Trudeau wrote a play steeped in anti-Semitic themes, and opposed the entry of Jewish refugees into Canada.

snip

Conservative writer David Frum has documented how Pierre Trudeau travelled to visit Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union after the war to participate in regime-sponsored propaganda events, wrote praising prose about Mao’s arguably murderous tenure in China, and admired Castro to no end.

When a Soviet coup of the Lech Walesa-led Solidarity movement in Poland was being considered in 1981, for example, and then activated, Trudeau said hours later: “If martial law is a way to avoid civil war and Soviet intervention, then I cannot say it is all bad.”

He then added: “Hopefully the military regime will be able to keep Solidarity from excessive demands.”

This is hardly a statement from a political leader who believes in democracy and the evolving will of the people.

snip

And then there was the disaster of Petro-Canada, followed by the wage-and-price controls Trudeau claimed he would never invoke, all capped with the National Energy Program, arguably the worst economic decision made by any politician in the 20th century.

It bristles to this day.

Yet, among today’s progressives, and those who elected his son on the way to resurrecting the myth, Pierre Trudeau remains beloved.

History cannot be changed, but it can be tricked.

Future generations may not be so kind, as John A. Macdonald has found out.

https://torontosun.com/2017/08/27/if-jo ... rudeau-too

[GordonH]

Sanitizing our history doesn’t make what happened go away. Learning from past mistakes and doing better going forward is what is needed.
If we don’t learn from those mistakes, we as a people could repeat history until we do learn.

[The Green Barbarian]

Sanitizing our history doesn’t make what happened go away. Learning from past mistakes and doing better going forward is what is needed.
If we don’t learn from those mistakes, we as a people could repeat history until we do learn.

I agree. I just don't understand how some historical figures can be so vilified by the Left and the whack-jobs out there, and others get a free pass. Justin apologized for the MS St. Louis incident in 1939, where William Lyon McKenzie King sent a boat load of Jewish refugees to their deaths because he was worried about losing votes in anti-Semitic Quebec (good thing a lot has changed since then in Quebec...lol) and yet HIS statue remains. No paint on it whatsoever. Same goes with Alexander McKenzie, who let the Indigenous population starve when the buffalo was almost hunted to extinction and was the father of the "Indian Act". Why is his statue not being removed? Wilfrid Laurier said some terrible things about the Chinese, and he still has a university named after him! Why??

[hobbyguy]

Sanitizing our history doesn’t make what happened go away. Learning from past mistakes and doing better going forward is what is needed.
If we don’t learn from those mistakes, we as a people could repeat history until we do learn.

Yup.

We have sanitized and glorified some ugly people. That has to stop. Yes, everyone has their flaws and everyone is, to some extent, a product of their times and context.

It is hard to remember that prior to John Diefenbaker (Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963) successive governments would not allow indigenous Canadians to vote. (Diefenbaker, despite some flubs, also gave us the bill of rights, which later was expanded and put into the constitution as the charter by Pierre Trudeau.)

It must be galling for some (if not all or most) indigenous Canadians, given the horrific abuses of the past, to see glorification of the likes of John A., Borden and Ryerson being held up as examples for our society.

It is a small thing for us to abandon these symbols of oppression and abuse that have statues and school naming.

I can not pretend to walk in the shoes of indigenous Canadians. If it helps some of them to see the statues and school names etc. changed, then so be it. Certainly it helps to educate me, and hopefully other non indigenous Canadians.

We can not build a better Canada for all if we try to ignore the immorality of the past. A better Canada for all requires us to come to terms with the abuses of the past. Yes, that will not be a happy thing to do, but we owe it to future generations to work our way, step by step, inch by inch, into a better Canada for ALL.

And yes, perhaps we should recognize that all of our leaders and leading figures have flaws and simply stop the practices of statues to people and placing their names on schools etc.

[oldtrucker]

Sanitizing our history doesn’t make what happened go away.

How far back should it go?
A lot of the work done on the pyramids in Egypt was done by slavery, discrimination, and a whole lot of mistreatment by really mean people ....When are we going to pull the pyramids down so all can forget about that dark time in human history?

[The Green Barbarian]

How far back should it go?
A lot of the work done on the pyramids in Egypt was done by slavery, discrimination, and a whole lot of mistreatment by really mean people ....When are we going to pull the pyramids down so all can forget about that dark time in human history?

The slaves were Jewish though, so it's all good.

[The Green Barbarian]

If John A. Macdonald has to go, why not Pierre Trudeau too?


https://torontosun.com/2017/08/27/if-jo ... rudeau-too

Yes, it's high time we stop glorifying one of the ugliest people in our past, Pierre Trudeau.

[Gone_Fishin]

And yes, perhaps we should recognize that all of our leaders and leading figures have flaws and simply stop the practices of statues to people and placing their names on schools etc.

First thing we need to do is strip the name from PET Airport. Maybe let some Jewish people tear the letters off the building.

And then tear down the PET statue, and crushing it in a grinder, and dump it in the sea beside Cuba.

Screw Pierre Trudeau. Screw that lying sack of crap Justin Trudeau, too. Bunch of racist dinks.

[The Green Barbarian]

First thing we need to do is strip the name from PET Airport. Maybe let some Jewish people tear the letters off the building.

I think that's a great idea. I think that we should also include members of the LGBTQ community in there as well, to mark the love that Trudeau Sr. had for the gay-hating Fidel Castro, and also a select group of family members of those Ukrainians who were murdered by Stalin in the Holodomor, the genocide that was perpetrated on the Ukraine by Stalin, the much-loved by Trudeau communist leader of Russia. All of these affected groups should be involved in tearing down the legacy of such a vile man, who was such a giant stain on Canada for so long.

[GordonH]

First thing we need to do is strip the name from PET Airport. Maybe let some Jewish people tear the letters off the building.

I think that's a great idea. I think that we should also include members of the LGBTQ community in there as well, to mark the love that Trudeau Sr. had for the gay-hating Fidel Castro, and also a select group of family members of those Ukrainians who were murdered by Stalin in the Holodomor, the genocide that was perpetrated on the Ukraine by Stalin, the much-loved by Trudeau communist leader of Russia. All of these affected groups should be involved in tearing down the legacy of such a vile man, who was such a giant stain on Canada for so long.

Actually still is to this day, for what he added to our Constitution. That is causing huge heartache to victims of crime & our justice system.

[RaymondBradley]

Sanitizing our history doesn’t make what happened go away. Learning from past mistakes and doing better going forward is what is needed.
If we don’t learn from those mistakes, we as a people could repeat history until we do learn.

Blah blah...

It's not about sanitizing history.

Do you see statues of Hitler all over Germany?
Statues of Mussolini all over Italy?

Do you remember Russians toppling statues of Stalin after the wall fell?
Where they "sanitizing" history as well then?

You will call those examples "extreme" of course, (because they are all people that committed atrocities against white people), but from my First nations point of view, Macdonald was the beginning of the geocide of MY people.

So long story short, if you want the statue of YOUR founding idiot on display, put it in your yard.

[The Green Barbarian]

but from my First nations point of view, Macdonald was the beginning of the geocide of MY people.

Then you should study history a little harder. Alexander McKenzie was the beginning of the genocide of your people, if you want to call it that. Why aren't you mad at him?

[Gone_Fishin]

Now we're getting somewhere!

Petition launched to remove Ontario statue of Pierre Elliott Trudeau over 'historical racism'


A petition has been started on change.org on Tuesday to get a statue of ex-PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau removed over what they are calling "historical racism".

https://www.change.org/p/mbmayor-remove ... rudeauknew

The petition was started by a "Mark Slapinski at toronto99.com", and it reads:

"Recently, the remains of 215 Indigenous children were found in a grave near a Residential School in Kamloops BC. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada while this school was open, and refused to take action."

"Additionally, Pierre Trudeau was reported to have written an anti-Semitic play when he was in University. It is time to stand up to symbols of racism and hate. The statue of Pierre Elliott Trudeau should be removed from the Vaughan park."

https://thepostmillennial.com/petition- ... cal-racism

[Gone_Fishin]

Like sack of crap father, like sack of crap son.

Turning a blind eye to Pierre Trudeau's unseemly Indigenous assimilation plan


Macdonald's thinking was rooted in 19th century cultural mores. What was Trudeau’s excuse?





There is almost exactly a century separating the governments of Sir John A. Macdonald and Pierre E. Trudeau, but not much difference in their approach to Indigenous issues.

Trudeau’s “Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969” didn’t propose separating Indigenous children from their parents and isolating them in schools where they could be abused by nuns and priests, but the strategy was the same: the best way to handle the Indian “problem” was to get rid of the idea of being “Indian” in the first place. Better to turn them into regular old Canadians like the rest of us. As Trudeau saw it, assimilation as a strategy was far from dead, it just needed updating.

The proposal, known as the 1969 White Paper, was launched by one of Trudeau’s ambitious young cabinet up-and-comers, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Jean Chrétien. It was a monumental disaster. You can date today’s activism to the backlash generated by Trudeau and Chrétien. It makes educational reading for anyone wondering why so little progress was made between 1867 and 1969 — or today for that matter — or who thinks carting off a few statues and renaming some schools is a solution to anything.

snip

Trudeau’s document was withdrawn a year later. Far from contrite, he delivered one of his patented insults: “We’ll keep them in the ghetto as long as they want,” he shrugged. If Sir John A. Macdonald is to be condemned, certainly Trudeau and Chrétien deserve no less, given they had an additional century of history and experience to draw on, and the knowledge, learning and insight that presumably entailed. Macdonald acted on the best advice available at the time, as did those who followed him. His thinking was rooted in 19th century cultural mores. What was Trudeau’s excuse?

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly- ... ation-plan