This morning Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet held a press conference about International Relation, which was expected since Canada had lost the bid for the seat ant the UN Security Council. Issues that were brought up by the Bloc leader were the financial compensation that Canada would have received, the black box from the Iranian plane that was shot down and the relationship with China amidst the Meng Wanzhou trial. He pointed out that Trudeau probably, was looking forward to achieving some type of justice for the victims of the plane crash, yet Journalists would no sway away from the incident that had occurred in the House, which involved NDP leader Jagmeet Singh being thrown out.

During the vote to pass a bill that will fight systemic racism, putting in place various measures that Singh expected full approval, yet according to Singh, Bloc Quebecois member Alain Therrien made a dismissive motion with his hand, making direct eye contact with Singh. He felt as if Therrien was being dismissive of the issue of systemic racism and therefore, called out Therrien as well as the Bloc Quebecois as “racists”.

Blanchet reiterated that he knows MP Alain Therrien very well, and that the notion that they are racists is absolutely absurd and uncalled for. He reports that both Alain and himself have gotten numerous calls about the accusation recently, and that being accused as a racist holds a stigma. With regards to what Therrien will do and how he will respond, Blanchet has left that up to him to decide how he would like to proceed and respond. Blanchet however holds a different perspective on the issue.

Jagmeet Singh was asked to rescind his accusation, and when he did not agree to, was ejected from the house. Blanchet reasons, that because this punishment was so lenient, that other members will not fear using such words, or calling other members names. Explicitly saying that he would like the matter to be handled more seriously, but sincerely hopes that Singh will apologize, as he is open to a phone call from the NDP leader. So why did the Bloc Quebecois say no to the passing of the bill?

The reason Bloc Quebecois did not approve the motion, is because they feel that the issue of systemic racism should be handled by The Public Safety committee. The conclusion that the committee comes to about, say the re-evaluation of the RCMP rules and regulations around racism, should not be done so by a individual, and we therefore cannot rush to conclusion on the matter of systemic racism. Thus, Mr. Singh’s accusation of saying that you are a racist by denying the motion is uncalled for, as denying this motion doesn’t necessarily make you a racist.

That’s definitely a politicized answer.

Justin Trudeau spoke to Canada today, and refused to acknowledge that Canadian Foreign Policy or anything other than Canada entered the race only 4 years ago, whereas the other countries Norway and Ireland entered the race 10 years ago, to be the only reason to Canada not having won a seat. Although during the announcements of the winners, the UN had announced that they look forward to Canada leading the way with their leadership. There was another reason that Canada didn’t get the votes that it needed, it also turns out that the Stephen Harper government, which Trudeau heavily criticizes, managed to obtain more votes than Trudeau did for the U.N. Security Council when his government was in power.

Canada will be receiving a contact tracing app, where the Canadian government was working with Shopify and Blackberry for. Following Apple and Google software fixes, previously there were issues with the app running in the foreground, draining ample battery life leaving it a burden for many users to keep their phones alive, yet now the app will be able to run in the background so that once you download the app, you can forget about it an that it’s there and running. The app is said to take no personal information, including location, and uses codes to let you know if you are near someone who has been tested positive for COVID-19. Once notified, you call Public Health and let them know, they will provide you with the next steps. There are millions of smartphone users nationwide, and although downloading the app will be voluntary, Trudeau and app producers have expressed that the more users that download the app, the better. The app will be made available to download July 1st, more information to come.

I do understand that Jagmeet Singh’s position, especially when he was campaigning in Quebec, someone had yelled “take off your turban”. The Bloc Quebecois leader is quick to say that other parties need to work together with committees and Canadians. Yet is very selfish when it comes time for Quebec to work together with Canada. I find it astounding that he asked for the provinces to issue health transfers to Quebec during his press conference this morning.