When Canadian voters again rejected the nation's "natural ruling party" — the Liberals — and handed the Conservatives their second minority government in the Fall of 2008, Islamist Watch asked some prominent Canadians how Prime Minister Stephen Harper would tackle creeping Shari'a and other manifestations of homegrown radical Islam.

Two years later, it is time to revisit those questions.

In 2008, Ezra Levant, a lifelong Conservative Party supporter, had just emerged as the country's premier critic of Islamist lawfare, having been hauled before a government tribunal for publishing the infamous "Muhammad cartoons." Back then, Levant said that he was optimistic about the government's commitment to battling domestic Muslim belligerence.

Today, he admits that "progress is slower" than he had hoped, but Levant remains encouraged by what he has seen. For example, he lauds the Conservatives' refusal to bow to international progressive pressure to somehow rescue "child soldier" and Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who currently is being held at Guantanamo and just pleaded guilty to murdering an American medic during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.

On the home front, Levant reports that, through sharp criticism and even funding cuts, "the government continues to marginalize the worst groups out there, such as the Canadian Islamic Congress" (CIC) — the Islamist body that unsuccessfully attempted to silence Mark Steyn — "and the Canadian Arab Federation," a peddler of anti-Semitism and 9-11 conspiracy theories.

However, the ruling government faces a continuous uphill battle when instituting even moderate reforms such as those, due in large part to Canada's particular parliamentary structure.

"The main problem for deep reform remains the minority government," Levant explains. "For example, a few months ago, when there was evidence of niqab-clad women boarding a plane without revealing their faces, the Conservatives called for the matter to be discussed at a parliamentary committee. The [Left-leaning] opposition parties, which, together, have a majority on all committees, blocked that discussion."

Salim Mansur agrees that any analysis of the Harper government's successes and failures must take mundane political realities into account. However, the author of Islam's Predicament: Perspectives of a Dissident Muslim is not willing to excuse the Conservatives for failing to embrace necessary reforms.

Mansur accuses Harper of holding back on reforms because the Prime Minister fears alienating Muslim and Centrist voters. Yet, Mansur is convinced that, if the Conservatives were bolder in their opposition to radical Islam, they would gain more overall votes than they would lose.

"It looks to me," says Mansur, that Harper "wants to win the majority without in any way rousing any controversy over the subject of Islamist jihad that he fears will make him lose Centrist votes, hand the opposition a political stick to beat him up with, allow the mainstream media to paint him as a redneck, and drive him out of leadership, if he cannot win the next election with a majority. So Harper is playing safe politically and he is betting that this subject will not turn into the make-or-break issue in the next election."

One of the issues that Mansur says Harper is trying to avoid is immigration reform. It has not escaped the average Canadian's notice that Omar Khadr's parents were immigrants, as were members of the Toronto 18 terrorist group and leaders of the lawfare campaigns targeting Levant and Steyn. Stories about Toronto's "welfare harems" and Quebec's proposed burqa ban also have been widely reported.

Yet, bizarrely, just as voters and even the media have begun openly discussing this "third rail" of Canadian politics, the Conservative Party seems determined to ignore immigration reform. One exception did come late last year, when the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration unveiled a new guidebook for immigrants. At least in theory, all newcomers are required to read Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, which advises them that "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honor killings,' female genital mutilation, or other gender-based violence." However, the Ministry took some heat for appearing to tone down references to gay rights in the guide, presumably to avoid offending the same constituency being warned about honor killings.

David Harris, the Director of the International and Terrorist Intelligence Program for INSIGNIS Strategic Research, seconded the need for immigration reform back in 2008, insisting that "immigration must be brought under immediate control. … 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."

It seems that Harris' warnings have gone largely unheeded by the Conservative Party. He now observes, "Unfortunately, events of the last year or two point to a shifting of the Conservative government in favor of the promiscuous immigration approaches that place vote banks first, and safety and security a distant second."

Harris notes the mixed messages being sent by the Harper government. On the one hand, it has declared that it is distancing itself from groups like the Canadian Islamic Congress. Yet, at the same time, Harris points out, "the Executive Director of the CIC was a featured speaker at a Department of Foreign Affairs event put together by the Muslim Communities Working Group in 2008. The Working Group is a clearinghouse for all things Muslim, has no equivalent relating to any other religion or ideology, and came into existence early in the Harper government's tenure."

When the Executive Director of the CIC was scheduled to speak at an event in October, 2010 — a celebration of "Islamic History Month" at the Department of National Defence (DND) — the outcome was markedly different. Canadian bloggers learned of it and asked why the head of the CIC, Zijad Delic, had been accorded such an honor and why a powerful state agency was granting one religion special recognition. As public pressure mounted, the DND canceled Delic's speech, but the rest of the Islamic history event went on as scheduled.

More mixed messages were sent, notes Harris, when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney addressed a breakfast meeting of the Islamic Society of North America Canada (ISNA Canada) in November, 2008. Continues Harris, "ISNA Canada is apparently the Canadian arm of the American Islamist organization that was designated an unindicted co-conspirator by the United States Justice Department for the purposes of the Holy Land Foundation trial, a successful U.S. terror-funding prosecution."

Further, Harris had called on the new Conservative government in 2008 to ensure that radical Muslim groups "are never engaged in 'outreach' activity by police and security organizations." Yet even today, nine years after September 11, says Harris, institutions like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) remain clueless about the groups and individuals that they embrace.

"Earlier in its outreach program," Harris explains, "the RCMP set up a flurry of roundtables — for adults and youth — and their periodic get-togethers under this rubric have, according to some participants, come to be dominated by Muslim members and concerns. The tendency seems to have been to accept almost anyone as participants, a situation that lends itself to those wishing to gain the imprimatur of a prestige law enforcement organization."

Harris points out that the RCMP has regularly cited "notoriously inaccurate CAIR-CAN [Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations] studies" for "scare statistics" in their public briefings, which spread the myth that "Islamophobic" hate crimes are on the rise.

"This police blunder was the natural result of welcoming CAIR-CAN operatives into outreach activity," Harris says. "Not only has little discernibly been done about the situation, but the Conservative government appears to be allowing things to deteriorate."

Hence, the Young Muslims Canada website boasts of graduating from the Mounties' "Citizen's Academy" on one page, then showcases an essay by Hasan al-Banna, the Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, on another.

When considering this environment of either inexcusable ignorance or cynical pandering by Canada's elites — even under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Harper — it is no wonder that Salim Mansur is pessimistic about the future of his adopted country.

"So you see I am fearful of where we are headed," he explains, "and how badly we need courageous political leadership that can speak to the people without fear about Islamism and the need to push them back now and not when it might be too late. We don't have that leadership in the West — and we don't have it in Canada."

Kathy Shaidle is a Canadian free lance writer, editor, author, poet, blogger, copywriter, and social media manager. She resides and works in Toronto, Ontario, and blogs regularly at Five Feet of Fury. A Conservative and Roman Catholic, Shaidle's commentaries on Islam, Islamism, Shari'a law, political correctness, censorship, free speech, and other issues have sparked considerable controversy.

The foregoing article by Kathy Shaidle was originally published in Pajamas Media, October 31, 2010, 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. (URL: http://www.meforum.org/2771/canada-vs-radical-islam)

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 XII, 2010

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 * Germany * 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