This Statement submitted to Niagara At Large by the Office of Niagara, Ontario area MP Malcolm Allen
(A Brief Foreword from NAL – Olivia Chow, wife of Canada’s late NDP leader Jack Layton and a long-time political leader in her own right, has resigned her federal government seat and will be officially announcing her intentions this March 13th to run for mayor of Toronto in this coming fall’s municipal elections. The current mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, has already announced his intentions to run for a second term as that city’s mayor, despite all of the controversy around his conduct in recent times. Ford has reportedly called Chow’s intention to run for mayor “the best news I’ve heard all day.”)
Olivia Chow, one of Canada’s leading NDP representatives running against Rob Ford in this fall’s Toronto mayoralty race
March 12th, 2014 -“It is with mixed emotions that I mark the departure of the Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina today – my friend and colleague Olivia Chow. But our loss is Toronto’s gain.
As a Member of Parliament, Olivia’s passion, competence and strength were evident as she defended the interests of Torontonians. As an NDP critic, she worked passionately on important files, including rail safety. A visionary, she has always been able to bring people together to get results – such as expanding Canadians’ powers of citizen’s arrest in the “Lucky Moose Bill”.Olivia played a key role in welcoming me to the NDP. I will always remember when Catherine and I met with Jack Layton and Olivia Chow at Mon Village restaurant in Hudson. Deep and lasting ties were formed over that dinner. It was the beginning of a wonderful adventure that continues today.
We wish Olivia all the best in her future pursuits. Olivia Chow is a fighter who will always defend the public’s interest first and foremost. On behalf of New Democrats everywhere, I thank her wholeheartedly for her constant support and her important contributions to making Canada a fairer, more prosperous country.”
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
Ford cut Millions of dollars by not replacing over 2000+ people who either retired or lost their jobs for one reason or another. I am not totally against this as there seems to be too much nepotism in the hiring of Civil Servants and if governments can operate efficiently without 2000+ employees then “ALL” governments Municipal, Regional, Provincial and Federal should do an immediate job evaluation to determine if too much nepotism exists and whether each and every Civil Service employee is value added instead of a liability to stressed taxpayers???? Maybe evaluate the hiring that drove the Sunshine list into orbit around the planets
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It amazes me that someone who was not born here…. and NO I am not anti-immigrant…. can attain a position on various levels of government!
Not that Olivia is a foreign operative, but shouldn’t we have rules in place…. like the US does for its president that our politicians be born in this country to eliminate the possibility of foreign influence within our political system.
It’s been reported by our very own CSIS that this risk is indeed real, yet we don’t have these rules in place. Think about what is at stake…. access to the most resource rich country in the world.
Back to the issue at hand….. I don’t suspect Olivia will do well against Rob Ford because Rob is NOT a politician in the traditional sense and THAT is what people are looking for today. Olivia IS a politician in the traditional sense and her UNION sympathies run deep and voters are finally coming to realize that that is not the way to go these days for reasons I have repeated on this blog numerous times.
Just sayin……
A Response to Greg Middleton’s Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug DraperMaybe it was the recent turning ahead of our clocks, leaving us once again waking up at 7 a.m. in the pitch black and winter cold, that left me a little slow to wake up to the offensiveness of this comment when I posted it.
That is an awkward way of saying that I usually do not approve for posting here comments that are laced with intolerance and prejudice against groups f people. But this one from Greg Middleton got through a fuzzy line I draw that leans on the side of inviting a diversity of opinions – whether I agree with all of those opinions or not – and I apologize for that.
Greg Middleton begins his comment at the bottom of a post on this site about federal NDP member Olivia Chow’s decision to resign her seat in the House of Commons to run for Toronto mayor by saying “It amazes me that someone wh was not born here – and NO I am not anti-immigrant – can attain a position on various levels of government.” He goes on to suggest that foreign born Canadians might be “foreign operatives” with an aim at doing our country harm and should probably not be allowed to run for elected office in this country.
As someone who is married in to an Italian family, where my wife moved to Canada at age five and her brothers were less than 10, but grew up here to earn university degrees in social services and engineering, and paid taxes and helped, in their own earnest and hard-working way, to build this country, I find Middleton’s remarks appalling. He seems to suggest that my wife and others like her who came to this country for a better life and have contributed to it, should take some kind of loyalty test if they run for public office.
And I love the way Middleton tries to temper the bile he spills out by saying; “and NO I am not anti-immigrant.” That is a saw off on the old line I have heard a million times in my life from bigots that goes something like – “Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against black people. I just don’t want them moving next door. ….” If I had a buck for every time I’ve heard that horseshit from a bigot, Niagara At Large would have the resources it needs to be the dominate media player in this region by now.
Once again, I apologize for posting this obscene comment in the first place and I invite Middleton and others who share his views to peddle their xenophobia, homophobia and other diseases to other blogs. I am sure that Sun Media, for example, would be happy to accommodate them.
A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
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I just wish to back up Doug’s statement about his wife’s family. I have known them for 45+ years (decades before I ever met Doug) & I only wish some of our native Canadians were as hard working, intelligent, INFORMED and conscientious citizens as they are! They accomplished much literally from nothing & gave back to our country easily tenfold. All I can say is, our country is made of immigrants & we all were at one time immigrants ourselves unless we are aboriginals.
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“Foreign influence within our political system”, eh? Yes, I quite agree, let’s get rid of it. Let’s start with the bunch running the show in Ottawa. You know, the ones who’ve just sold us out to China — yes, China! — via their FIPPA deal. And they did that without any help from Hong-Kong born Canadian, Olivia Chow. Guess what? The biggest traitors in this country were born and bred here, which only goes to show that any asshole with a desire for power and nothing in the way of scruples can go far in this once great country of ours, because a large percentage of the voting public seems to have lost their minds, not to mention any semblance of ethics. And you’re right about Mr. Ford: he’s no politician. He’s a spoiled rich-kid mamma’s boy with serious substance abuse problem and a penchant for wife abuse. He wouldn’t know a real day’s work if it hit him in the face. But he doesn’t have to, because a whole of people actually believe the delusional bullshit he spouts about saving the city money, despite the fact that all evidence shows the exact opposite. “Our very own CSIS”, you say. You like having the NSA spying on you, do you? Makes you feel secure from foreign-born union-friendly dangerous influences like Olivia, does it?
Well, good for you.
It may all make sense to you, Mr. Middleton, but a growing number of Canadians are waking up to the realization that their country has been stolen from under their feet. And not by the likes of Olivia Chow.
Just saying…
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For everybodies information Hong Kong was ruled by the British Government since the opium wars of1845 and the residents there became British subjects,and carried British passports just like Canadians did, until 1945. when British and Canadian born people automatically became Canadian Citizens. in recent years we have had several people run for Prime Minister who have dual Nationality either UK or French. The voters of Canada are pretty shrewd at finding out where a persons loyalty’s lie.
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