McGuinty, Miller Out of Touch?

Now is not a good time to go to China, especially if you're a politician. Try telling that to Dalton McGuinty though. I certainly guarantee that if this was Mike Harris doing this, there would be a lot more outrage. Yesterday, McGuinty met with Chinese business people while pro-Tibet protesters marched outside. He snuck out the back door in order to avoid them, something the National Post labeled as shameful. Also in the news is Toronto mayor David Miller's business trip to China. Milton mayor Gord Krantz will be acompanying him, as well as several other GTA mayors. All on the tax payer dollar I might add.

I find it somewhat ironic that left wing politicians in Canada would be so eagar to keep China happy when the right wing is less tolerant. Well, not so much ironic as hypocritical. The left for years has been pressing the rights of minorities in our own country yet when it comes to Tibet, they suddenly become silent. All of a sudden, it seems some cheap lead painted garbage and a bunch of jocks running around in circles is more important than the poor guy getting his head blown off for speaking out against the communist government. Then again, maybe McGuinty and Miller are trying to get some pointers from the Chinese communist party on how to subjegate their own people. I think both McGuinty and Miller are classic examples of weak leadership. They refuse to stand up to the wolf in sheep's clothing and tackle the real issues. Both say they will bring up human rights but the word of the mayor of some backwater city in meek Canada isn't going to have a lot of clout with the communist leaders. If anything, their economic summits should be postponed until at least the olympics are over, if not cancelled entirely. That would show strong leadership, that these two men actually have a backbone. Neither does though and there's ample proof of that with the way they deal with issues in their own jurisdictions.

Speaking of jurisdictions, I have to question whether individual provinces and cities should be making bilateral international deals on their own. Shouldn't international relations, both economic and political be made through the federal government? It seems to me that the feds are the only ones willing to push China on their human rights abuses. Also puzzling is why Kickback Krantz is going considering that the Town of Milton does absolutely no trade with China. The town has almost no manufacturing or natural resource industries. I can't help but think our tax dollars are being used for a summit that amounts to little more than a free vacation for politicians. It also gives Gordie a good opportunity to get out of Dodge after the huge mess he's made in the last five years.