Power Play

Tories hit 43% support: poll

This is why Harper wants an election and this is why NDP will support the budget and this is why the Liberals need to start rethinking our plan..move more to the left or move to the centre right...where we should belong.

Harper and Kenney are bent on destroying the Liberal party and in part destroying Canada by promoting hatred against those who don't vote Conservative. The wedge will divide Canada.

If NDP supports the budget, I don't think Harper will seek an election. If given a chance I think they will prefer Fall 2012, but if the polling stay like this, you never know...

If the budget passes then he would have a lot of explaining to do to pull the plug. I thought Liberals can lose three to five seats, but if this trend continues, I would think five to seven in the GTA! Well the only good thing that can happen with the Conservatives winning in the GTA is that the Liberals will start respecting the moderates in ethnic communities or they will become like NDP in the GTA - keep pandering to the extremists and be a fringe party!

Click HERE for complete poll ratings.

Kenney Warns of Immigrant Enclaves

Kenney is wrong. Ethnic enclaves are not necessarily an immigrant factor, its a social factor. People live where they can afford, but also where it is convenient. Tamils live in Scarborough for the same reason Jews live in Thornhill or Greeks in Danforth. It's the same as Germans in Saskatchewan or French in New Brunswick! It's not just in Canada. Show me a city in Canada or anywhere else and I can show you what he calls enclaves.

And yes, the conservatives are pushing the card in an effort for a majority. They have done their research and know this is going to get them votes in segments of 'white' communities but also among certain immigrant groups, but they are crossing the line and it will hurt them.

At the end of the day, political parties try to appeal to their voter base and push to the extremes, like to the religious and separatist extremists in ethnic communities. In particular, conservatives appeal to the Christian and social extremists and the NDP will suck up to anyone who will vote for them!

Politicians keep screwing up Canada and blame immigrants for it....!

I think what Kenney and his party are doing now is partisan politics, while i have supported Kenney on many of his policy issues, I think the angle they are taking now is detrimental to Canada - the old British style of divide and rule.

Canada has a failed history of forced assimilation. In 1840 we started our first Native Indian school because Christian European immigrants to Canada wanted aboriginal Canadians to "assimilate" into the "civilized" world and forced native Canadians to convert to Christianity. The last of such school did not close untill 1996.

When he is referring to ethnic silos, does it include the Jews, Italians, Polish, Ukrainian immigrants too or just the visible minorities ?

We need to attack the issues, not communities. I have no higher tolerance than him for extremists amongst us, but to label ALL immigrants as a burden to Canada is a shame and it leads to increased racism and xenophobia, something we don't want in Canada.

Click HERE to read the article that prompted this latest entry.

Poor transportation and toilets stand between rural girls and their future

The number one reason why girls drop out of high schools (in developing countries) is because of lack of toilets, which is why I'm more interested in building toilets in existing schools, than building new schools itself. Nine out of 10 rural schools I have visited in India, fail when it comes to toilets for girls!

Asha for education - Canada is the Canadian arm of Asha for Education, a not-for-profit oganization, whose stated mission is "to catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of underprivileged children." Currently, they have ongoing projects to address such girl child issues.

However, the problems are multifold. Because of corruption, city officials don't build toilets and if they are built, they are not maintained. Since there is no proper sanitation in villages, villagers use the toilets and don't clean up either. No one does, and no one does. Hence the toilets are locked. So the problems are in various levels.

We need enforcement and social education to bring change. What we do is play the old game...we pick a model village and bring change there, villages around them look at it and also want to do the same in their villages. 

People are slow to accept change.

See below for Kalpana Sharma's article from India Together

Swati and Anita are two young women from rural Maharashtra. They have one thing in common. Both dropped out of school once they completed Standard VIII. They wanted to complete their schooling. Both spoke passionately to me when I met them about their desire to study. Even their parents wanted them to study further. But circumstances would not permit this.

Both girls faced an identical dilemma. While the school up to Standard VIII was in their village or close by, the high school was some distance away. The only way to go there was by the local State Transport bus. While going to school was not such a problem as it was during the day, at the end of the school day, they had to wait several hours before they could catch the bus back. If for some reason the bus was cancelled, and this would happen with alarming frequency, they would have had to walk back to the village in the dark, something their parents would not contemplate. Hence, the only option was to drop out of school.

In contrast, the brother of one of the girls faced no such problem. As soon as he was through with his classes, he would hitch a ride on a passing truck and make his way back. This was not an option open to the girls.

Tragic situation

What is tragic is that both these girls are as bright as any you would meet in a city like Mumbai. The only reason they will not become the engineers and doctors of the future is because there is no reliable transport linking their village to the nearest school. And theirs are not remote villages in the interior of Maharashtra. Swati lives a mere hour away from Pune. If this is the story of Swati and Anita, think how many millions more like them must be chafing at being deprived for no other reason than a safe mode of transport.

We also know that many more girls drop out even before Standard VIII for another reason: the lack of toilets in schools. The latest ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) 2009, a comprehensive survey of government and private schools in 575 out of 583 rural districts in India, revealed that only 50 per cent of government schools have toilets and that four out of 10 government schools did not have separate toilets for girls. Even where there were separate toilets for girls, as many as 12-15 per cent were locked and only 30-40 per cent were "usable". I visited a school in Bihar where toilets had been constructed but within days their doors had been stolen and the toilet pans smashed making them unusable.

If girls dropout when they reach adolescence, it is often for no other reason than the lack of toilet facilities. Even in a city like Mumbai, the dropout rate amongst girls attending municipal schools is markedly higher than that of boys because of the absence of toilets for them.

The annual ASER study, facilitated by the NGO Pratham, is a constant and important reminder of the state of education in this country. In 2009, ASER surveyed 16,000 villages, 300,000 households and 700,000 children. There is nothing on this scale done by an agency outside government, hence its importance. But each year, when ASER results are made public, we are reminded that education is not just about quantity, or the number of children who enrol in school - a number that is increasing - but the quality of the education these children get. And that, although it is getting better in some states, is still shockingly poor.

Conducting simple reading and mathematics tests in schools, the survey reveals that a little over half of all children in Standard V in government schools cannot read a Standard II text book. This means a 10-year-old cannot read what a seven-year-old is supposed to be able to read. What then are these children learning even if they become a statistic showing increased enrolment and attendance in schools?

Disturbing trend

Precious little, it would seem. What they cannot learn in school, they do so by paying for private tuitions. One of the more disturbing statistics in the survey reveals that one in four children in Standard I in private schools is sent for private tuitions as are 17 per cent of Standard I students in government schools. Can you imagine that? Little six-year-olds being sent for private tuition. By the time they reach Standard VIII, over one third try and learn what they are clearly not taught in school through private tutoring. An analysis of the budget of poor people would reveal what a chunk of their earnings goes into such tuitions because they hold on to the belief that education will pull them out of poverty. But given the poor quality of education in these schools, their children will never be able to compete with those with ability to pay for better quality schooling.

Fortunately, not the entire ASER report is gloom and doom. One of the brighter moments in it is the fact that in Bihar, the state considered a basket case on most counts, the dropout rate for girls in the 11-14 age group has reduced from 17.6 per cent in 2006 to 6 per cent in 2009. So Bihar must be doing something right. In fact, one of the striking sights in Bihar today is of girls on bicycles, given by the government if they clear Standard VIII, going to the nearest high school.

The desire to ensure that children get a good education runs deep in most Indian families. Parents will sacrifice and save to invest in their children's future. Even poor families, including the homeless with no secure shelter, find a way of sending their children to school. The increase in the enrolment rate in India - 96 per cent of children between the ages of 6-14 are enrolled in school, government and private - is proof of that.

What urgently needs to be tackled is the quality of education, basic facilities like toilets and running water, and transport, particularly for girls. Even this will not suffice unless there is a notable change in the status accorded teachers who ultimately decide whether and what children learn. Instead of the inordinate amount of attention that continues to be paid to institutes of higher learning, or private institutions that promise to prepare rich children for studies abroad, something much more simple and basic can and needs to be done to educate India and Indians.

Multicuralism has Failed - PM

More and more western countries are saying " State Multiculturalism " has failed. So why has it failed ? The U.S. melting pot seems to be working for them. Immigrants earn the most there, are well integrated and happy. State Multiculturalism also seems to be working in some countries in the East so why not in the West ? What about Canada ?

Some might argue that it is not Muliculturalism that has failed but our tolerance of the intolerance. But isn't that failure a part of Multicuralism ? Canada definitely is ahead of most countries. It is more or less the same as the U.K. in terms of immigrant communities and their success. Where we differ is our foreign policy. So does foreign policy of a country determine domestic integration of a community?

As for America, the U.S. private sector hires people (H1B) and reccomends them for residency (green card). In Canada the goverment brings people (immigration) and reccomends the private sector to hire them! Also in the U.S., it takes about three to four months to sponsor your parents. In Canada, it takes around seven years if they are from China, India, and about one year from the U.K. Even if you are a citizen of Canada, you still go through hassles, unlike in the U.S.

This why the U.S. system is far, far more successful in regards to Multicuturalism than the Canadian system.

See the "State Multiculturalism has failed, says David Cameron" article from BBC News below.

At a security conference in Munich, he argued the UK needed a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to all kinds of extremism.

He also signalled a tougher stance on groups promoting Islamist extremism.

The speech angered some Muslim groups, while others queried its timing amid an English Defence League rally in the UK.

As Mr Cameron outlined his vision, he suggested there would be greater scrutiny of some Muslim groups which get public money but do little to tackle extremism.

Ministers should refuse to share platforms or engage with such groups, which should be denied access to public funds and barred from spreading their message in universities and prisons, he argued.

"Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," the prime minister said.

David Cameron strode firmly into a debate where many politicians tread timidly.

In his view, such caution is part of the problem. In frank language he made abundantly clear he believes multiculturalism has failed. Any organisation that does not stand up to extremism will be cut off from public funds, and he wants the country to develop a stronger sense of shared identity.

It is the first time he has spoken so directly as prime minister, but there are echoes of what has gone before. Tony Blair edged away from multiculturalism in the years after the 7/7 bombings in London, and his ministers moved to stop funding any community organisation that did not challenge extremism. And what of Gordon Brown's continual quest to strengthen "Britishness"?

Behind the scenes, ministers are reviewing the "prevent" strategy, the policies designed to try to deal with extremism. But the review, which had been planned for publication this month, is likely to be delayed. It is not clear yet how Mr Cameron will translate his strong words into action.

Human rights

"Let's properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights - including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism?

"These are the sorts of questions we need to ask. Fail these tests and the presumption should be not to engage with organisations," he added.

The Labour MP for Luton South, Gavin Shuker, asked if it was wise for Mr Cameron to make the speech on the same day the English Defence League staged a major protest in his constituency.

There was further criticism from Labour's Sadiq Khan whose comments made in a Daily Mirror article sparked a row.

The shadow justice secretary was reported as saying Mr Cameron was "writing propaganda material for the EDL".

Conservative Party chairman Baroness Warsi hit back, saying that "to smear the prime minister as a right wing extremist is outrageous and irresponsible". She called on Labour leader Ed Miliband to disown the remarks.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain's assistant secretary general, Dr Faisal Hanjra, described Mr Cameron's speech as "disappointing".

He told Radio 4's Today programme: "We were hoping that with a new government, with a new coalition that there'd be a change in emphasis in terms of counter-terrorism and dealing with the problem at hand.

"In terms of the approach to tackling terrorism though it doesn't seem to be particularly new.

"Again it just seems the Muslim community is very much in the spotlight, being treated as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution."

In the speech, Mr Cameron drew a clear distinction between Islam the religion and what he described as "Islamist extremism" - a political ideology he said attracted people who feel "rootless" within their own countries.

"We need to be clear: Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing," he said.

The government is currently reviewing its policy to prevent violent extremism, known as Prevent, which is a key part of its wider counter-terrorism strategy.

Bunglawala from Muslims4Uk says Mr Cameron is "firing at the wrong target"

A genuinely liberal country "believes in certain values and actively promotes them", Mr Cameron said.

"Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Democracy. The rule of law. Equal rights, regardless of race, sex or sexuality.

"It says to its citizens: This is what defines us as a society. To belong here is to believe these things."

He said under the "doctrine of state multiculturalism", different cultures have been encouraged to live separate lives.

'I am a Londoner too'

"We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values."

Building a stronger sense of national and local identity holds "the key to achieving true cohesion" by allowing people to say "I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner... too", he said.

Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said when Mr Cameron expressed his opposition to extremism, he meant all forms, not just Islamist extremism.

"There's a widespread feeling in the country that we're less united behind values than we need to be," she told Today.

"There are things the government can do to give a lead and encourage participation in society, including all minorities."

But the Islamic Society of Britain's Ajmal Masroor said the prime minister did not appreciate the nature of the problem.

"I think he's confusing a couple of issues: national identity and multiculturalism along with extremism are not connected. Extremism comes about as a result of several other factors," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

Former home secretary David Blunkett said while it was right the government promoted national identity, it had undermined its own policy by threatening to withdraw citizenship lessons from schools.

He accused Education Secretary Michael Gove of threatening to remove the subject from the national curriculum of secondary schools in England at a time "we've never needed it more".

"It's time the right hand knew what the far-right hand is doing," he said.

"In fact, it's time that the government were able to articulate one policy without immediately undermining it with another."

Anti-Semitist Al Qaradawi Urges Egypt's President Mubarak to Step Down

If Mubarak is going to step down as leader, then Egypt can not afford a vacuum in power. An able transition needs to be planned, which should include Mubarak himself. Those who think the Muslim Brotherhood are an alternative here is Qaradawi the chief theologian of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Listen to him.

 

I'm fanatically in favour of democracy be it Egypt or Burma, but we also need to be pragmatic that it be a grass root driven one, not like Iraq. We want to support democracy in Egypt because we hope it will make the country better and if our desire is to make the country better, then we need to be pragmatic to ensure a smooth transition.

Remember Egypt has been the pillar of peace in the region and replacing Mubarak with a Israel hater will only makes things worse for Egypt and Egyptians.     

                                                                                   

Moreover, in my opinion any dictatorship, be it China or Egypt or Burma, are the same, but sometimes people under a dictatorship (China) maybe better off than people under a democracy(Sri Lanka). Given a choice, yes democracy is better than dictatorship and that applies to Mubarak too. I support removing Mubarak and replacing with a democracy, but my support is limited and should be limited to my cheering over beer, not interfering in Egypt. Let the people decide and the options be clear on what they are and where they stand on domestic and international issues. Is that too much to ask ?

 

Tamil Tigers may be using Canada as base: official

Hahaha! This is what we have been saying all along and the Tiger Congress has been obviously denying it! Security experts have also said that more than a dozen of the deadly Black Tigers were in the boat and many leadership in the LTTE in Europe are looking to move to Canada. Canadians, who do you trust to protect our country RCMP and CSIS or the Tiger Congress? We need to put a firm stop to this menace!

Security experts in the US, Singapore and elsewhere have also said the same thing. We need to process all the applications, weed out the LTTE and deport them. All the other civilians should get a fair trail and those who are eligible should be allowed to stay in Canada. Simple as that!

There are two kinds of people coming in the boat - LTTE and Civilians. I will come to fight for the rights of the civilians and yes Canadians will listen to me because they know well. I will also be there to protest against the LTTE! Let's keep the good people; they are very hard working and have a lot to offer Canada. Let's send back the "bad" ones after due process...we don't need them here!

See Ian MacLeod's article in the National Post below for more on the above issue.

Security intelligence authorities are warning that exiled Tamil rebel leaders are re-establishing their violent Sri Lankan separatist movement in Canada.

“We don’t know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear — to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership. Some leadership is already here,” a well-placed federal government official told the Ottawa Citizen.

The warning accompanied a report late last week to senior government officials revealing that two southeast Asian smuggling syndicates are arranging the launch of two more shiploads of Tamil migrants to British Columbia in the coming weeks. The boats are expected to carry as many as 50 former Tamil Tiger rebel leaders and fighters, according to intelligence estimates.

“Why here? It doesn’t make any sense because it is much easier to go to Australia,” said the official. “This is the reason.”

Two previous cargo ships, Sun Sea and Ocean Lady, arrived off the west coast last year and in 2009 carrying a total of 568 migrants, including several men the government suspects are former rebels.

“How many have made it through, how advanced they are is not clear, (but) we’re concerned,” said the official. “Canadians expect us to avoid becoming a haven for terrorists.”

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, were defeated in 2009 after waging a three-decade civil war for independence. The group has been outlawed in Canada since 2006.

Human rights groups and Canadian Tamils urge compassion for the migrants and have called for a broader public understanding of the complex political situation in Sri Lanka. As members of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, many of the men are fleeing persecution and face torture or death if returned to their homeland, they say.

Two Federal Court decisions released last week disclosed that federal investigators have identified at least two Sun Sea passengers as LTTE members. Both were ordered to remain in custody, although the Immigration and Refugee Board had earlier approved their release.

In all, about 225 out of the 380 men and about 57 out of the 63 women from Sun Sea have been ordered released. Many of those releases have been stayed because the government appealed them in Federal Court. The remaining 49 are children, who were not detained, but remained with their detained parents.

David Poopalapillai, national spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said federal officials have yet to make public any evidence that “hard-core” LTTE militants are among the migrants or establishing themselves in Canada.

“Until there is clear, concrete evidence to back up these claims, responsible officials should reserve judgment,” he said. “It causes anxiety, it hurts the community and we’re very disturbed. It’s a stigma.”

Mr. Poopalapillai said the organization has no knowledge of more illegal migrant ships, and if the government wants to stop the arrivals, it should process potential Tamil refugees in Southeast Asia and expedite the two to four years Canadian families now typically wait to sponsor immigrating relatives.

Finally, he said, the Harper government should pressure Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reduce the oppression and improve the poor living conditions Tamils there continue to suffer.

Soon after the war ended, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website published an LTTE statement that it was establishing a “transnational” government among the group’s overseas diaspora to carry on their political struggle.

No countries were named, but Canada is home to the largest Tamil diaspora, estimated to number 300,000. The vast majority live peacefully, mostly around Toronto.

Still, that makes Canada one of the few places in the world where “LTTE terrorists and supporters might seek to hide in plain sight, and potentially launch terrorist activities,” RCMP Commissioner William Elliott noted in a 2009 speech.

“Remember that in its aspirations for a Sikh homeland, the Babbar Khalsa had no specific grievance with Canada. However, their activists and sympathizers here both conceived and carried out the Air India bombing. The result was the world’s worst terrorist attack involving aircraft before the fall of 2001, and the worst mass murder in Canadian history,” Elliott said.

Violence is not the only concern. Experience shows immigrant communities are often threatened and intimidated by exiled militants into supporting, financially and otherwise, violent causes in their homelands. There’s also a risk of radicalization of the community’s youth.

The Harper government is expected to push its proposed anti-smuggling legislation when the House of Commons resumes sitting Jan. 31.

The new law, which the opposition has vowed to vote down, would toughen jail terms and fines for those found guilty of human smuggling and penalize asylum seekers who are deemed to have paid human smugglers to get them to Canada. Previous migrants have paid $40,000 to $50,000.

Migrants also could be detained for a year or more without review and they would be barred from becoming permanent residents for five years, even if their refugee claim is accepted.

Pakistan Muslim scholars praise killer of governor

My dear Pakistani friends in the diaspora, if you don't speak out now, Pakistan is out for the jackals, moving to a state of religious anarchy that is dangerous for South Asia. The killer was flowered with rose petals as he entered the court! Outrageous!! The U.S. has ruined Pakistan and needs to clean up the mess, now or be ready for Afghanistan-II.

The solution to the problem, I think, lies in three forms.

1. The Liberals in Pakistan(who are under immense attack) need to speak up, like the lawyers did.

2. The diaspora needs to support the Liberals in Pakistan and pressure their governments in the west to pressure Pakistan. Pakistani Canadians need to pressure the Conservative government to take measures by engaging Pakistan. Western governments need to pressure Pakistan dangling the aid card and other diplomatic means, so that Pakistan gets its act in place.

3.The U.S. needs to get its act in place as well. They have screwed up Pakistan with decades of tribalism politics. They have funded and protected the ISI and Q branch who siphoned billions into jihadi terrorrism and madrasa's. Kayani seems to get away with everything and the U.S. keeps quiet on it.

See below for Ashraf Khan's Toronto Star article with more details.

Lawyers showered the suspected killer of a prominent Pakistani governor with rose petals when he arrived at court Wednesday and an influential Muslim scholars group praised the assassination of the outspoken opponent of laws that order death for those who insult Islam.

Mumtaz Qadri, 26, made his first appearance in an Islamabad court, where a judge remanded him in custody a day after he allegedly sprayed automatic gunfire at the back of Punjab province Gov. Salman Taseer while he was supposed to be protecting him as a bodyguard. A rowdy crowd slapped him on the back and kissed his cheek as he was escorted inside. The lawyers who tossed handfuls of rose petals over him were not involved in the case.

As he left the court, a crowd of about 200 sympathizers chanted “death is acceptable for Muhammad’s slave.” The suspect stood at the back door of an armoured police van with a flower necklace given to him by an admirer and repeatedly yelled “God is great.”

More than 500 clerics and scholars from the group Jamat Ahle Sunnat said no one should pray or express regret for the killing of the governor. The group representing Pakistan’s majority Barelvi sect, which follows a brand of Islam considered moderate, also issued a veiled threat to other opponents of the blasphemy laws.

“The supporter is as equally guilty as one who committed blasphemy,” the group warned in a statement, adding politicians, the media and others should learn “a lesson from the exemplary death.”

Jamat leader Maulana Shah Turabul Haq Qadri paid “glorious tribute to the murderer ... for his courage, bravery and religious honour and integrity.”

Mumtaz Qadri told interrogators Tuesday that he shot the liberal Taseer multiple times because of the politician’s vocal opposition to the harsh blasphemy laws.

Qadri is a name commonly adopted by devout men of the Barelvi sect.

Mumtaz Qadri is accused of pumping more than 20 rounds from his assault rifle into Taseer’s back in an Islamabad street on Tuesday. The commando, who had been assigned to protect his victim, has yet to be charged with a crime.

A senior police official who interrogated Qadri said he was determined to stand by his confession that he was proud to kill a blasphemer. The official said Qadri had looked for a chance to kill the governor since joining his security squad on Tuesday morning, but did not get the opportunity at the presidential or senate buildings.

His chance came when the squad was called to escort Taseer from a restaurant on Tuesday afternoon, the official said.

After the attack, Qadri threw his weapon down and put up his hands up when one of his colleagues aimed at him, pleading to be arrested alive, the official said.

In the northwest city of Peshawar, more than 40 students rallied for Qadri’s release. “All of us students are proud of him, of what Mumtaz did,” protester Faisal Khan said.

Taseer, 66, was a senior member of the ruling party and close ally of U.S.-backed President Asif Ali Zardari. He is the highest-profile political figure to be assassinated since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was slain three years ago.

An outspoken moderate in a country increasingly beset by zealotry, his death was a reminder of the growing danger to those in Pakistan who dare to challenge Islamist extremists.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other senior ruling party officials joined up to 6,000 mourners who gathered under tight security to pay silent homage to him at the funeral at his official residence in the eastern city of Lahore.

His assassination added to the turmoil in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the government is on the verge of collapse and Islamic militancy is on the rise.

Khusro Pervez, the commissioner of Lahore, said city authorities had deployed additional police to keep the peace before and after the funeral. Thousands of police guarded the governor’s residence and other key sites.

The governor’s residence has been the scene of angry street protests in recent weeks against Taseer’s call to repeal blasphemy laws that order death for anyone convicted of insulting Islam and his support for a Christian woman sentenced to die for allegedly insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Political allies questioned why Taseer hadn’t been better protected.

In a nod to his campaign for legislative reform, the leading Islamabad newspaper Dawn reported in a front page headline: “Blasphemy law claims another life.”

Although courts typically overturn convictions and no executions have been carried out, rights activists say the laws are used to settle rivalries and persecute religious minorities.

Taseer’s admirers called the governor a courageous opponent of Pakistan’s shift in recent years away from South Asia’s Sufi-influenced moderation to the more fundamentalist approaches to Islam found in some areas of the Middle East.

His death also came as a blow to the ruling party, which is struggling to retain power after the defection of a key ally from its governing coalition that left it without a majority in parliament.

Immigrant Settlement funds cut for Ontario

A government that has always yucked about integrating immigrants is now cutting funds to immigrant settlement agencies that work with women and children in GTA!

I hate most of these agencies because they are useless, but the ones targeted by Kenney are the good ones doing good work with women and children. They cut because they are servicing in Liberal MP areas - that's the bottom line.

See below for the CBC article with more details about the cuts.

The federal government has reduced funding for settling immigrants in Ontario because the money is now needed in provinces where the influx of newcomers is growing, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Thursday.

Kenney said Toronto, for example, is settling fewer new immigrants, and that other parts of Canada are settling more.

"Toronto in particular is receiving fewer newcomers. More people are deciding to settle in other provinces, particularly western and Atlantic provinces, and so what we have to do is re-allocate the settlement funding to make sure that it’s following the newcomers," he said.

"It’s not fair to give settlement agencies in Toronto, that have seen a decline in number of immigrants, more funding than those that are struggling in other provinces, which are seeing an expanding number of newcomers," Kenney said.

Various agencies across Canada have been informed by letter in the last two weeks that their funding will be cut by $53 million in the next fiscal year, nearly $45 million of that in Ontario alone.

At least 10 immigrant settlement agencies in the Greater Toronto Area have been told their federal funding will not be renewed next year, and up to 35 others across Ontario are facing cuts.

Citizenship and Immigration says the cuts are part of an annual funding review of settlement programs, which help immigrants improve language skills and find jobs. The federal government says it is trying to make settlement spending more equitable to other parts of Canada.

Kenney's office said that since the Conservatives came to power they have tripled the amount of cash that goes to these settlement agencies. Officials say in 2005 the funding was $111 million, and in 2010, it was $346 million.

Toronto Liberal MP Bob Rae slammed the cuts.

"I don't think I've ever seen such a harsh and draconian and inexplicable cut to the most vulnerable people in our midst," he said.

"We as a community, we as a city, as a greater city, we accept and welcome well over 150,000 people a year from around the world," he added.

Toronto's South Asian Women's Centre may have to close

In light of the news of funding cuts, one agency that has served newcomers to Toronto for over 20 years said it may have to shut down.

Kripa Sehkar, executive director of the South Asian Women's Centre, said she was blindsided by the letter from Citizenship and Immigration.

"It was the most devastating news," she said. "This was not the [holiday] gift we expected from them."

More than half of the centre's operating budget, $570,000, will disappear.

For 20 years, women from countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have made their way to the centre's doors to get help settling in the city.

Sehkar said it served 14,000 clients last year, mostly South Asian women, and the cuts mean nine people are facing layoffs and hundreds of newcomers will be left to fend for themselves.

"We're still absorbing the news," Sekhar said. "Our hope is that this decision would be reversed."

 

Sri Lanka's Economy Expands 8%

Sri Lanka is one of the top future emerging markets, that Canadian companies need to look at. High literacy, ports, skilled labour and proximity to India provides an excellent growth opportunity for Canadian companies in a market whose GDP will grow in double digits for the next five years. Now is the time to get in!

Sri Lanka's tourism industry will also balloon and soon become number one, surpassing textiles and tea. This will create thousands of new jobs and westerners (and easterners) are happy to invest in tourism rather than tea or textiles...

The other sectors that will also see growth is infrastructure, with all the construction, oil and gas...

Sri Lanka  is a good place to invest now!

See below for Anusha Ondaatjie's article "Sri Lanka's Economy Expands 8%, Faster than Expected"

Sri Lanka is one of the top future emerging markets, that Canadian companies need to look at. High literacy, ports, skilled labour and proximity to India provides an excellent growth opportunity for Canadian companies in a market whose GDP will grown in double digits for the next five years. Now is the time to get in!

Sri Lanka’s economy expanded faster than analysts estimated, stoking price pressures that may force the central bank to raise interest rates.

Gross domestic product rose 8 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier after advancing 8.5 percent in the previous quarter, the statistics department said in a statement in Colombo today. The median of five estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 7.6 percent gain.

Sri Lanka’s central bank said yesterday it will take “appropriate” steps to check any “build up of demand pressures” after it kept borrowing costs unchanged for a fourth straight month. The end of a 26-year civil war in the nation has encouraged investments from companies including Aitken Spence & Co., helping make Sri Lanka’s benchmark All-Share Index the world’s second-best performer this year.

“With growth strengthening, the central bank will be concerned about inflation,” Sanjeewa Fernando, an analyst at CT Smith Stockbrokers Pvt. in Colombo, said before the report. “If inflation heads toward double digits, the central bank will surely tighten monetary policy.”

The Sri Lankan rupee was little changed at a two-year high of 110.93 per dollar at 3:28 p.m. in Colombo today, according to Standard Chartered Bank. The yield on the bond maturing in November 2013 was unchanged at 8.25 percent. The All-Share Index fell 0.2 percent.

Rate Stance

Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday held the central bank’s benchmark reverse repurchase rate at 9 percent, the lowest level since November 2004, and the repurchase rate at 7.25 percent, after lowering them in July and August.

Consumer prices in the capital, Colombo, rose 7 percent in November from a year earlier, the most since February 2009, after gaining 6.6 percent in October.

Cabraal reduced borrowing costs in 2010 to support economic expansion even as counterparts in neighboring India and Pakistan tightened monetary policy. He said Nov. 16 that rates are likely to stay unchanged until next year.

India on Nov. 2 boosted rates for the sixth time in 2010 to rein in consumer-price inflation running at more than 8 percent. Pakistan increased its benchmark discount rate on Nov. 29 for the third time since late July. Pakistan’s inflation rate rose 15.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the highest rate among the 17 Asian economies tracked by Bloomberg.

Sri Lanka is charting an economic policy aimed at accelerating growth and controlling inflation. Policy makers said Nov. 22 they will cut taxes on banks and builders, adopt an inflation target, and ease foreign-exchange rules.

Consumer Demand

Consumer demand and investments are growing in the Indian Ocean island nation after President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in May 2009.

Sri Lanka’s personal and corporate credit grew 15.5 percent in September from a year earlier, almost double the level in July, according to the central bank. Tourist arrivals rose 46 percent in the 11 months through November from a year earlier, according to the nation’s tourism agency.

Aitken Spence, Sri Lanka’s biggest operator of resorts, said Sept. 30 it will build a hotel with Six Senses Resorts & Spas in an investment worth as much as $40 million. Profit at John Keells Holdings Plc., the country’s largest company by market value, rose almost five times to 2.9 billion rupees ($26.2 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

The Colombo Stock Exchange index has climbed about 90 percent this year, behind only Mongolia among benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg.

Tax Cuts

Rajapaksa, while unveiling the 2011 budget in Colombo on Nov. 22, announced plans to lower the value-added tax for lenders to 12 percent from 20 percent, reduce the levy on construction companies to 12 percent and offer breaks to tea and rubber companies.

The government will also allow foreign investors to buy corporate debt in the country, let local residents purchase shares of foreign companies and enable insurers to invest up to 20 percent of their “long-term fund and technical reserves” abroad, he said.

Sri Lanka plans to introduce inflation targeting in its monetary policy in order to keep prices low for long periods, the central bank said Nov. 22. It didn’t say what level of inflation it would target.

The International Monetary Fund said Dec. 13 that Sri Lanka’s economy remains “strong” and GDP is likely to grow about 7.5 percent this year.

Toronto Youth 'Brainwashed' with Extremist Views of Islam, report says

This is funny. Tarek Fatah has been saying this all along and he was ridiculed for it. Now a two year international study costing millions is saying the same thing. Maybe Canadian politicians should start listening more to Canadians on Extremism, be it Jihadi, Khalistani or LTTE. Maybe our politicians should stop vote pandering and stop this abuse of I call "genocide" you give "votes".

See below for Isabel Teotonio's report on The Toronto Star.

Muslim youth say extremism is on the rise and that “brainwashing” is taking place in Toronto, according to a two-year international study on homegrown terrorism that will be released Wednesday.

Researchers with a UK-based think-tank studied the differences between violent and non-violent Islamic radicals across Europe and Canada — including the so-called Toronto 18 terror cell — and conducted focus groups in Toronto and Montreal with about 70 Muslim youth last year.

One focus group in Toronto made up of young men between the ages of 18 and 30, “was unanimous that brainwashing was taking place,” says the 250-page report, titled The Edge of Violence.

Pamphlets containing extremist views were being handed out in downtown public spaces, such as outside Toronto Eaton Centre, they said.

But while the literature promoted an extreme interpretation of Islam, there wasn’t an overtly violent element to it, said Jonathan Birdwell, one of the authors of the report by Demos, a think-tank focused on power and politics.

“I recall young people talking about brainwashing and I thought it was interesting that they put it in those terms,” said Birdwell, who was in town last weekend with co-author Jamie Bartlett to present their findings to members of the Muslim community.

In Toronto, researchers noted that Muslim youth were divided over the prevalence and threat of radicalization, but that various community experts saw radicalization as pervasive and dangerous.

Muhammad Robert Heft, who until recently ran P4ESupport, a centre for troubled Muslim youth that included a deradicalization program, wasn’t surprised by the findings.

Radicals typically brainwash youth into accepting extremist views as the pure teachings of the Quran and Hadith. The youth then build on those beliefs and undergo a process of “self-radicalization,” often concluding that the answer to the world’s problems is violent jihad, Heft told the Star.

Isa Munro, who participated in one of the focus groups for the new report, said when he converted to Islam nearly three years ago he felt like he was being brainwashed. But he thought it was for his own good.

“Nobody ever brainwashed me to be violent. I felt like I was being brainwashed to benefit myself,” Munro, 30, told the Star. People were giving him “proper advice” on being a good Muslim, he added.

Around the same time, Munro also starting having “extreme views,” thinking he wanted to study Islam overseas and participate in jihad. But he says those thoughts dissipated after attending Heft’s centre, which closed in April because it lacked funding.

“Now, I’m trying to be a good citizen… I just don’t have it within me to do those things.”

A shorter version of the report was released in March, when the case of the Toronto 18 was still before the courts. With the trials now over, publication bans have been lifted and the researchers are releasing a new, more complete version.

The researchers, which include McGill University PhD student Michael King, also traveled to Ottawa this week to meet with government officials. They argued that the al-Qaeda brand must be stripped of its glamour and mystique by emphasizing the incompetent and theologically incompatible side of al-Qaeda inspired terrorists.