THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 318, December 4, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
Home Page   Main Menu   Recent Articles   Site Map   Website Index   Issues & Controversies
  Cyberland University   Political Science, Philosophy, & History: Lectures   U.S. Constitution
  American Constitutional Law   American Constitutional System   American Political System
  Conservatism, Liberalism, & Radicalism   How America Goes to War
  World War IV: Islamist Terror War Against the U.S.A. & the West

CANADA VERSUS RADICAL ISLAM
By Kathy Shaidle

CANADA'S FIGHT AGAINST DOMESTIC ISLAMISM:  CREEPING SHARI'A, DOMESTIC RADICALISM, & ISLAMIST LAWFARE TACTICS IN CANADA -- DEMANDS OF RADICAL MUSLIMS FOR THE MOST EXCESSIVE OF ACCOMODATIONS, ACCOMODATIONS THAT TEND TO REINFORCE ANY ISLAMIC SELF-ISOLATING, ANTI-INTEGRATIONIST INCLINATIONS -- CREATING POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS PARALLEL SOCIETIES WITHIN CANADA -- THE TWIN THREATS OF UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATION & ISLAMIST INFILTRATION
FULL STORY:   On October 14, 2008, Canadian voters handed Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper his second minority government, one even stronger than his first. Harper vows to maintain the nation's military commitment in Afghanistan through 2011, but his dedication to fighting radical Islam at home remains unclear.

Ezra Levant was one of those trying to keep those issues on the table while working the Conservative Party's "war room" during the campaign. Levant famously reprinted the Danish cartoons of Muhammad in his magazine, the Western Standard, back in 2006, an act that got him hauled before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for "Islamophobia." That was Canada's first real taste of Islamist "lawfare" tactics, and its most notorious next to similar charges brought against Maclean's magazine and its columnist Mark Steyn.

Levant is optimistic about the Prime Minister's commitment to fighting radical Islam on the domestic front.

"You might recall," Levant told Islamist Watch right after the election, "that the 18 young Muslims arrested for plotting to blow up the CBC and CN Tower and behead the Prime Minister happened right after Harper was first elected. His response was not the typical politically correct response of having a photo-op with a radical imam."

Rather, the Harper government refused to meet with, and thereby legitimize, radical groups like the Canadian Islamic Congress. Instead, the Conservatives pointedly visited Ahmaddiya and Ismaili Muslim communities, which tend to be more "educated, professional, charitable, liberal."

According to one expert, however, the Harper government still has work to do on the anti-Islamist front.

David B. Harris directs the International and Terrorist Intelligence Program for INSIGNIS Strategic Research. He outlined the challenges facing the new government in the months ahead.

First, says Harris, the government must challenge "Islamist claims of real and substantial anti-Muslim behavior" — claims that simply don't withstand scrutiny.

When radical Muslims succeed in "mainstreaming the victimization narrative," this makes "the mainstream, including courts, vulnerable to demands for the most excessive of accommodations, accommodations that tend to reinforce any self-isolating, anti-integrationist inclinations — and the creation and existence of potentially dangerous parallel societies."

Harris also calls on the Conservative government to ensure that radical Muslim groups "are never engaged in ‘outreach' activity by police and security organizations."

The hot-button issue of immigration is, next to socialized medicine, the most "untouchable" in Canada. Citizens imbibe the civic religion of "multiculturalism, tolerance, and diversity" beginning in elementary school. In spite of that, Harris is blunt.

"Immigration must be brought under immediate control," he told Islamist Watch, "and no longer be viewed as a mere vote-importing mechanism" — the strategy the Liberal Party employed for generations to become, until recently, "the natural ruling party."

Harris adds, "Bringing over a quarter of a million people a year into Canada is unconscionable in this threat environment, and it should be no surprise that our few thousand security officials are overworked."

Whether or not Stephen Harper really has the mandate, let alone the fortitude, to address creeping Sharia, domestic radicalism, and Islamiist lawfare remains to be seen. Like all politicians, Harper is interested primarily in getting reelected and eventually winning a majority government for his Conservative Party. This means not alienating Muslim voters or moderate Liberals. Harper's personal style, which is low key in the extreme, is intended to convey steadiness, but often comes across as indifference. This, in turn, frustrates Canadians concerned about Islamist lawfare and creeping Sharia. (Ironically, the Canadians most vocal about those concerns tend to be Quebeckers — who historically vote Liberal and, once again, rejected Harper's attempts to court them during this election.)

Muslims currently make up approximately two percent of the Canadian population, and the number who could be described as "radical" is far less. However, the radical few are able to generate considerable media attention. While their attempts to effectively "hijack" two magazines through the Canadian Human Rights Commissions ultimately proved unsuccessful, those cases had a chilling effect on journalists and moderate Muslims.

Not all moderate Muslims, however. Three of them recently met at a Quebec conference to discuss radical Islam and its infiltration of Canadian political parties, particularly the country's number three party, the socialist New Democrats (NDP).

Author Tarek Fatah declared that he'd switched party affiliation from NDP to Liberal because, "in the last NDP leadership campaign, I was witness to an attempt by a group of wealthy Islamists to back one member of Parliament for the leadership, with the stated objective of controlling the Party."

While the New Democratic Party could never conceivably form a minority government, let alone a majority one, it is a highly vocal part of the official opposition, represents many of the nation's most multicultural, urban ridings, and can make or break any anti-Islamist efforts the Conservatives may table in Parliament.

Add to that recent hints by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (the country's version of the FCC in the U.S.A.) that it hopes to start regulating the Internet — the key medium for fighting Islamist ideas — and the future looks less encouraging all the time.

Ultimately, Canada's fight against domestic Islamism is in the hands of dedicated, informed individuals, regardless of who happens to currently reside at 24 Sussex Drive.


LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Canada: America's Northern Neighbor & Ally

Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West

Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three    Page Two    Page One

Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors

American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East

International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security

   Page Two    Page One

Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.

Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization

Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies

Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security

U.S. National Security Strategy



Residing in Toronto, Canada, Kathy Shaidle is an award-winning author, blogger, editor, and writer. Shaidle's new book is The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights — and Why It Matters to Americans.


The foregoing article by Kathy Shaidle was originally published in Pajamas Media, December 1, 2008, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat. (Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2019)


Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
December 4, 2008




Return to Top of Page

Go to the WEBSITE INDEX

Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume X, 2008


Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights


Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage

CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION




LINKS TO PARTICULAR ISSUES & SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIES
TREATED IN THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, U.S.A.:

Africa: Black Africa * Africa: North Africa * American Government 1
American Government 2 * American Government 3 * American Government 4
American Government 5 * American Politics * Anglosphere * Arabs
Arms Control & WMD * Aztlan Separatists * Big Government
Black Africa * Bureaucracy * Canada * China * Civil Liberties * Communism
Congress, U.S. * Conservative Groups * Conservative vs. Liberal
Constitutional Law * Counterterrorism * Criminal Justice * Disloyalty * Economy
Education * Elections, U.S. * Eminent Domain * Energy & Environment
English-Speaking World * Ethnicity & Race * Europe * Europe: Jews
Family Values * Far East * Fiscal Policy, U.S. * Foreign Aid, U.S. * Foreign Policy, U.S.
France * Hispanic Separatism * Hispanic Treason * Human Health * Immigration
Infrastructure, U.S. * Intelligence, U.S. * Iran * Iraq * Islamic North Africa
Islamic Threat * Islamism * Israeli vs. Arabs * Jews & Anti-Semitism
Jihad & Jihadism * Jihad Manifesto I * Jihad Manifesto II * Judges, U.S. Federal
Judicial Appointments * Judiciary, American * Latin America * Latino Separatism
Latino Treason * Lebanon * Leftists/Liberals * Legal Issues
Local Government, U.S. * Marriage & Family * Media Political Bias
Middle East: Arabs * Middle East: Iran * Middle East: Iraq * Middle East: Israel
Middle East: Lebanon * Middle East: Syria * Middle East: Tunisia
Middle East: Turkey * Militant Islam * Military Defense * Military Justice
Military Weaponry * Modern Welfare State * Morality & Decency
National Identity * National Security * Natural Resources * News Media Bias
North Africa * Patriot Act, USA * Patriotism * Political Culture * Political Ideologies
Political Parties * Political Philosophy * Politics, American * Presidency, U.S.
Private Property * Property Rights * Public Assistance * Radical Islam
Religion & America * Rogue States & WMD * Russia * Science & Ethics
Sedition & Treason * Senate, U.S. * Social Welfare Policy * South Africa
State Government, U.S. * Subsaharan Africa * Subversion * Syria * Terrorism 1
Terrorism 2 * Treason & Sedition * Tunisia * Turkey * Ukraine
UnAmerican Activity * UN & Its Agencies * USA Patriot Act * U.S. Foreign Aid
U.S. Infrastructure * U.S. Intelligence * U.S. Senate * War & Peace
Welfare Policy * WMD & Arms Control


This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics, civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.



POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS

POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE

Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.

Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs, International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests, Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy

INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z




THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA

An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis

Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor

Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic, Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues


Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity