[OnTheIce]

andyt andyt:

What, Trudeay is ineligble to speak about the erosion of the middle class? How does any politician speak to or for the poor? Or the very rich for that matter? Think of those poor dears without representation. Talk about pols pandering to a class.

By his income, as an adult, he most certainly was part of the middle class. He grew up in privilege, but the jobs and experiences described in the article are certainly those of middle class kids. 20k a year extra doesn't seem that munificent to me.

The article said he had 4 speaking engagements, vetted by the ethics commisioner. I doubt Trudeau is the only MP who earns extra income. But fine, let's see what the fallout is. I have no horse in this race, just get tired of the bullshit being flung. I was actually more in favor of MHF until she made that classless comment. Gunnair wrote a very good post about the same bullshit that happens on this forum. Not a gun owner, can't comment about gun control. Not in or ex-military, can't comment about that. Etc. Seems as if all of us should shut up about FN issues then. AFAIK we nobody currently on the forum is one of them.

Harper would have to shut up about working men and women, since he's never had a real job in his life. Just politics.

I personally don't like politicians of any stripe looking to score points based on subjects they have no credibility on. It's fake and I see right through it as do most people.

After completing school, JT rolled right into being a teacher. On top of receiving a full-time salary from his job, he received other financial benefits and had a wife with a successful career in broadcasting and modelling.

The only BS here would be you trying to portray JT as some hard working middle-class guy.

Speaking of BS....and your concern for accuracy here, Harper did have a real job before entering politics and actually came from a middle class family. Imagine that.

Justin is a privileged man that has never experienced middle-class in his lifetime. Let's just be honest about it and move forward.

[andyt]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

After completing school, JT rolled right into being a teacher. On top of receiving a full-time salary from his job, he received other financial benefits and had a wife with a successful career in broadcasting and modelling.

Yes, he earned $44k a year. Many middle class kids do this well or much better, many get a job as a teacher right out of school. He left teaching to return to McGill to study engineering. He married after he left McGill.

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

The only BS here would be you trying to portray JT as some hard working middle-class guy.

Teacher is very middle class and seems like hard work to me. I would hate it.

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Speaking of BS....and your concern for accuracy here, Harper did have a real job before entering politics and actually came from a middle class family. Imagine that.

What was it?

[Gunnair]

What's makes middle class entitled to rule?

Who cares what 'class' he belongs to...he ought to be judged on what he'll bring to the table, and frankly, until he is tested, everything is speculation.

[andyt]

Gunnair Gunnair:

What's makes middle class entitled to rule?

It doesn't. At least not the middle middle. Most pols are lawyers and such, many complain how much earnings they have to give up to enter politics, where they make over 100k minimum.

Attack JT for his policies, (if he has any) but what's flung at him here is shit, and shame on MHF for starting it.

[Gunnair]

andyt andyt:

Gunnair Gunnair:

What's makes middle class entitled to rule?

It doesn't. At least not the middle middle. Most pols are lawyers and such, many complain how much earnings they have to give up to enter politics, where they make over 100k minimum.

Attack JT for his policies, (if he has any) but what's flung at him here is shit, and shame on MHF for starting it.

Agreed. Noted that she apologized for it today as well.

[CanadianJeff]

I love how all the conservatives jump all over this guy because they think they will nail him in the polls and the Liberals love him because they think he will bring them some mystical recovery from a horrid election.

I would like to point out it's highly unlikely either will happen IMO both because the conservatives are correct (Justin would be very very easy to smear) and frankly the NDP didn't get to be the opposition without changing the way they do things.

I expect unless the Liberals decide to merge with the NDP you will see a close repeat to the last election in a few years. Frankly maybe just maybe the NDP have changed enough to warrant a second look. I certainly know last election Jack Layton had me looking and Mulcair has done a good job making his party look more towards reason then left wing propaganda.

[andyt]

She knows she shot herself in the foot with Liberals, but has sure given the Harperoonies something to foam about. Maybe if Justin wears as sweater vest it will help.

[N_Fiddledog]

$1:

Justin Trudeau lived a fairly obscure, if privileged life, until 2006. After Paul Martin’s disastrous election campaign, Trudeau’s name was floated to lead the Liberal party. And he did not rule it out.

In fact, he loved the attention. And he started getting speaking invitations — and getting paid for it. A few grand here and there — all legal — but it started to add up.

On Feb. 22, 2007, Trudeau announced his intentions to run for the Liberals in Montreal. And that hobby he had — public speaking for cash — took off like a rocket. In the next five weeks, he made $40,000 in speeches.

On April 29, 2007, he won the Liberal nomination and became the party’s official candidate. But instead of throwing himself into his neighbourhood, he left it, flying around the country, giving up to four or five speeches in a single week. That’s $40,000 a week, in personal income.

In the last eight months of 2007, as the official Liberal candidate, Justin Trudeau made close to half a million dollars on the speaking circuit. Nothing had changed about him except one thing: He was a politician now.

That’s what made him bankable. He was still an unaccomplished man. He hadn’t written a book, or started a business, or led a project, or really done anything other than say he was going to Parliament.

And even when he was elected to Parliament on

Oct. 14, 2008, he didn’t stop selling his time to the highest bidder.

In fact, he raised his rates.

Three weeks after his election win, he gave a talk to Rogers Media, one of the biggest companies in Canada, and one of the most highly regulated by the federal government — and charged them a cool $20,000. That became his new standard fee.

Trudeau became his party’s critic for youth and post-secondary education. He sat on parliamentary committees that dealt with universities and schools.

Yet, during that time, he continued to bill universities tens of thousands of dollars for the pleasure of his company. Since he entered politics, he billed universities and colleges $77,000 to meet with them. And in return, Trudeau was lobbied five times from universities, including those he had invoiced. (Opposition MPs have only had to disclose their meetings since 2010, so there may be more.)

Universities are rich. High schools and elementary schools are not. But since starting his Liberal career, Trudeau has billed schools $205,000 for speeches.

It’s not just a conflict of interest. It’s an intolerable burden on schools, that scrape together his speaking fee from money that should be going to textbooks or extracurricular activities.

Once word got out that Trudeau the politician was for sale by the hour, other industries lined up, too. Banks. Industry lobby groups. Economic development corporations. They ponied up $311,000 to Trudeau after his political career started.

Altogether, Justin Trudeau raked in $966,500 from private clients after he pressed start on his political career.

Some of his speaking clients, like the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, paid him $20,000 for one speech in 2010. It’s illegal for unions (and corporations) to give a dime to Trudeau’s political campaign. They just gave it to him personally, and called it a “speaking fee.”

Trudeau doesn’t need the money. He inherited millions in real estate and stocks from his father — plus a 1957 Mercedes Roadster worth approximately a million dollars.

So why did he do it?

Why did he routinely skip important parliamentary debates — including the Liberal party’s own motions — to grab $10,000 or $20,000 for his own wallet? Why did his parliamentary staff tell citizens calling them inviting Trudeau to speak, to contact his personal business agent, who then quoted a $20,000 fee?

Why? Because no one in Trudeau’s life has ever told him no — not his father who spoiled him, not the schoolgirl crowds who cheer him, not the Media Party that has crowned him, and not the Liberal party that will soon be owned by him.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/02/15/so ... trudeau-no

[Public_Domain]

[Zipperfish]

jj2424 jj2424:

Did the old man piss it all way on wine and woman?

He spent it all on wine and women, and just wasted the rest.

I suppose if you had that kind of money you'd spend it on your new pair of grumpypants.

[Zipperfish]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

She doesn't want to play the class warfare card. She's not playing it, she's objecting to it being played. I think the audience missed that. She made it personal though by pointing out how an upper class kid rings phony pretending to have some connection to a lower one in any case.

..and thereby playd the class card, and lost any legitimate greiavance against playing the class card.

[EyeBrock]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

jj2424 jj2424:

Did the old man piss it all way on wine and woman?

He spent it all on wine and women, and just wasted the rest.

I suppose if you had that kind of money you'd spend it on your new pair of grumpypants.

Para phrasing George Best! Zip you are impressive!

[Zipperfish]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

[qu
After completing school, JT rolled right into being a teacher. On top of receiving a full-time salary from his job, he received other financial benefits and had a wife with a successful career in broadcasting and modelling.

The only BS here would be you trying to portray JT as some hard working middle-class guy.

Speaking of BS....and your concern for accuracy here, Harper did have a real job before entering politics and actually came from a middle class family. Imagine that.

Justin is a privileged man that has never experienced middle-class in his lifetime. Let's just be honest about it and move forward.

I know his dad got him a job at Imperial Oil--is that the one you're talking about. Don't think that was full time, though. Basically he's always been a political animal. Fine. He's a very astute politician, never far from politics. Any stint he had in the private sector was pretty short lived,. As far as getting on Trudeau's case because he was "only" a drama teacher...well you know what they say about people in glass houses.

So let's be honest about that too, while we're getting all honest here.

[Zipperfish]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

jj2424 jj2424:

Did the old man piss it all way on wine and woman?

He spent it all on wine and women, and just wasted the rest.

I suppose if you had that kind of money you'd spend it on your new pair of grumpypants.

Para phrasing George Best! Zip you are impressive!

Gorgeous George!

[CanadianJeff]

andyt andyt:

She knows she shot herself in the foot with Liberals, but has sure given the Harperoonies something to foam about. Maybe if Justin wears as sweater vest it will help.

Well he will also need a horrible hairdresser if he wants to catch Harper in the fashion department.