Scott's DiaTribes » Search Results » KAIROS

Conservatives in contempt of and contemptuous of Parliament

Scott Tribe — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:21:08 +0000

I was surprised to see that the Speaker ruled not just on one contempt ruling, but both on the same day. Obviously he felt both were similar in their nature and both could be ruled on at the same time. In both cases, he found that 2 breaches of Parliament by the Conservatives has appeared to have taken place:

The Conservative government has been dealt two blows in the House of Commons, bolstering charges that it has lied to the country and kept information that is politically sensitive under wraps…the government refused a request to provide breakdowns of the costs of its planned corporate tax cuts, of its various [...]

If Harper refuses to back down on Oda staying in Cabinet..try pulling the plug

Scott Tribe — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:48:45 +0000

Chantal Hebert makes her case in the Toronto Star this morning that the Bev Oda affair and Harper’s refusal to sack her because of her misleading Parliament is a far better reason to be pulling the plug on this government then even the Budget:

If Harper was the leader of the official opposition, he would already be taking steps to withdraw the confidence of the House from the government. In the spring of 2005, he reversed his support of a Liberal budget to step in front of an opposition parade to oust Paul Martin from office over revelations pertaining to the sponsorship scandal. At the time Harper argued persuasively [...]

Oh Oh Oda

Scott Tribe — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:56:16 +0000

Bev Oda jumps to the top of the list of Conservative Cabinet Ministers who aren’t qualified to be in Cabinet over her blatant misleading of the House of Commons on this issue:

International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda on Monday admitted she was behind the mysterious “not” that was handwritten on a government document that ended funding for church-backed aid organization KAIROS and its international relief work. Reversing her earlier testimony at a Commons committee — where she had claimed not to know who penned the extra word — Oda revealed she had, in fact, directed an unnamed official to add the word “not.” “The funding decision was mine. The [...]

A comparison between Christian groups; who gets gov’t funded, who doesn’t

Scott Tribe — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:30:52 +0000

These folks, as pointed out by BigCityLib, get funded. I’ll quote from one of the members from that group her description of the aims of that group:

Learners who begin in their mother language have better cognitive development and are likely able to handle demanding subject matter. Trudell says their whole approach to education is with an eye cast toward the Gospel….Once the translations are completed and available, churches can move forward in discipleship, while keeping the community’s identity intact, much more quickly. “If the education system can produce readers of the Scripture,” says Trudell, “that’s a real boost for us in Bible translation because we have an automatic, [...]

James Lunney: church groups are being meanies, so I’m not meeting them

Scott Tribe — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:44:07 +0000

What a brave guy James Lunney, (MP for Nanaimo-Alberni) is. He refuses to meet with church groups affiliated with KAIROS Canada who are upset at the Conservative government pulling its funding because of the Conservative government claims it’s anti-Israel (made by Jason Kenney in Israel, you might remember. You also might remember Kenney isn’t even the Minister in charge of handing out CIDA grants to NGO’s – that would be Bev Oda, who gave an entirely different reason in the House of Commons for the KAIROS Canada grant removal).

The reason given by Lunney for not meeting these folks? Such radical church groups as Quakers, Mennonites, and Anglicans are [...]

Some more on the Conservatives imitating Ebenezer Scrooge vis-a-vis KAIROS

Scott Tribe — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:43:45 +0000

Ellie Kirzner of NOW Magazine takes apart Jason Kenney and his ally in the Toronto Star Rosie DiManno, and their attacks on KAIROS. I’m going to quote a large excerpt, because it’s a good piece:

…So unsettling is the anti-Semitism charge that many are preferring to believe that Kenney really didn’t say what it seems he said. Rosie DiManno in Monday’s Star argues that the minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism didn’t overtly accuse KAIROS of anything but merely opined that the group had taken “a leadership role in the boycott’’ of Israel. That’s the tack the Canada Israel Committee is taking too. When I ask Sara Saber, the [...]

The Conservatives impact around the world due to the Kairos cuts.

Scott Tribe — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:17:49 +0000

The impact is all very negative, as you would expect. “Canada’s back?”. More like Canada’s disappearing under Harper.

Programs to 6 different countries will be specifically affected by this bit of petty vindictiveness by Harper, Jason Kenney, Bev Oda, and the rest of this disgraceful lot. Specifically, key partners of KAIROS in Columbia, Sudan, The Congo, Indonesia (which, by the way, has a picture of Deepak Obhrai, the Parliamentary Secretary to Foreign Affairs, attending the opening of and being the guest speaker of the first ever human rights school there in July 2009, funded with KAIROS/CIDA money), and Mexico. You can read for yourself the different specifics of the [...]

Outraged at the KAIROS cuts by the Cons? Here’s 7 ways to support KAIROS

Scott Tribe — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:33:12 +0000

This got passed on to me from the United Church of Canada Twitter feed (yes, I was a bit surprised they use Twitter). They’ve linked to a page over at KAIROS that lists seven things you can do to support KAIROS and try to let the federal Conservatives know you don’t appreciate or support their funding cuts.

I’ll note as an aside that not listed in the members of the Federal Cabinet to contact is Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration who set off the firestorm by claiming KAIROS Canada’s funding was cut because they were anti-Israel/anti-Semitic, so I’m slightly curious whether this page was made before Jason Kenney [...]

KAIROS Canada member churches speak out against Kenney’s ‘anti-Semitic’ charges.

Scott Tribe — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:10:16 +0000

As I was hoping they’d do, the member churches that belong to KAIROS Canada are starting to push back against the federal Conservatives and Jason Kenney for his remarks that KAIROS Canada was stopped CIDA funding due to the organization being anti-Semitic or anti-Israel:

The United Church of Canada and other Canadian churches are demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper explain why one of his cabinet ministers accused them of being anti-Semitic. The United, Catholic and Anglican churches are part of KAIROS, an aid group that was shocked to hear Immigration Minister Jason Kenney say its funding was lifted as part of the Conservatives’ effort to cut off anti-Semitic organizations. [...]

KAIROS Canada officially responds to Minister Kenney.

Scott Tribe — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:05:45 +0000

KAIROS Canada has just issued a news release responding to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s statements that CIDA funding was cut to it because of the organization supposedly being anti-Israel/anti-Semitic. I’ve highlighted a main point (or two) in here amongst some other very relevant and troubling issues that KAIROS Canada has brought up. It appears that Minister Kenney is confusing 2 different organizations statements and positions:

The Minister of International Cooperation, Bev Oda, has been telling KAIROS, Parliament and the Canadian people that funding to KAIROS was cut because its work did not fit current Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) priorities of economic growth, food security and children and youth.

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