Zimmer Concerned About Situation in Ethiopia
Prince George, B.C. – The political crisis in Ethiopia has captured the attention of Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Conservative MP Bob Zimmer.
He rose in the House of Commons this week after meeting with a constituent who declined to be named out of concern for the safety of his family.
In his speech, Zimmer noted the country is “potentially on the verge of civil war and/or genocide” and that more needs to be done to address the situation than simply “reiterating concerns” and calling on the government there “to make genuine improvements.”
He noted that the opposition party leader in Ethiopia was jailed upon his return to capital city Addis Ababa following a speech his made to the European Parliament condemning the government for its human rights violations.
Zimmer added a six-month state of emergency “has been declared in an effort to quell dissenters.”
“What is happening in Ethiopia is being called an “abomination” and I encourage this government to sit up, take notice and take the strongest possible stand against it.”
Comments
I thought he was elected to represent the Peace River, not Ethiopia.
Guess I was wrong.
I know, right!
He was, maybe read the entire article. This arose out of a meeting with one of his constituents. If you are in his riding go have a coffee with him if you have any concerns. He represents all his constituents, whether you voted for him or not.
Unless you disagree with him in any way at all. Then you are blocked from his social media, simply for asking a valid question.
Why not ask questions face to face or maybe over the phone, unless you are not asking a question but rather playing jeopardy and just phrasing your answer in the form of a question. Depends if you are looking for an answer or just trying to be funny, insulting, or making a point. Social media is used for much more than just asking a question or stating an opinion these days, just use this site as an example
There are many such Internet unrests happening throughout the world! Should stay within his own riding and look after his people for now, as this is what he was elected for.. What’s he going to do, bring some more illegals to Canada and open up another can of worms, really not a good idea at this time.
I know eh…… he just sits on fb putting on links… Wondered if he ever does anything else
Well at least he isn’t giving away billions to despot ruled countries like dear leader. Hey dear leader how about clean water to our isolated native communities before giving away billions. Oh wait money spent inside Canada does not get you noticed on the world stage.
Canadian native communities are not as sexy as Ethiopa. I wonder which country will be the flavor of the month in April?
I agree. Zimmer continues this line, he’ll be a one term wonder.
Yo, Bob, you heard about the problems with water and no access to some of our native reserves? Take a tour, get a grip.
You mean two term wonder?
Canada does have international humanitarian responsibilities, and Zimmer raised the issue at the behest of a constituent. There is probably not an awful lot that Canada can do about the situation in Ethiopia, but drawing attention to it is a worthy thing to do. Bad press does sometimes cause a rogue government to back down, and there may well be ways in which our government can exert pressure.
That said, Seamutt is right that it is scandalous that many reserves lack clean water. That’s a problem that we know perfectly well how to fix.
How many disadvantaged villages in his riding has he visited in the pasted ? They are his constituents , are they not ? I have yet to see any phone ops on that file . Why is that ? Votes for play ?
Trying to figure out your cryptic post. You mean to say he has been invited to disadvantaged villages in his riding that he ignored or swept under the rug?
How many billions would it cost to set up and maintain clean water facilities to hundreds of remote locations? Reserves should be shut down entiely. With the suicide crises, substance abuse not to mention a myriad of other social issues, reserves are the new residential schools. Maybe even worse.
Reserves are needed to keep their way of life, eliminating them would assimilate them into the populous and they would lose their identity. Reserves are the locations they lived in the past when explorers discovered them, the homes of their ancestors.
Canada is not an arid country. There is fresh water pretty much everywhere. Switching to uncontaminated water sources, adding water purification, and fixing bad sewage systems need not be inordinately expensive.
Politicians… always a hidden agenda. Are we taking 50k Ethiopians next?
This is not a motion or a bill, just a concern to keep in the back of their minds going forward.
Well, good on Zimmer for paying attention to world events. Now if only we could get him to pay attention to his constituents – you know, like we pay him to do?
A constituent brought this to his attention, this is not a motion or a bill. You want him to sit quietly in the house?
Seven out of the eighteen comments so far are slinky’s, and every one of his comments are in defense of Zimmer. Busy day hey, slinky?
Zimmer is a globe trotter, whether its sitting in a bomb shelter in Israel, attending a national prayer breakfast in Washington, or inserting himself into the Ethiopia situation. Appropriate if you are a missionary, NOT so appropriate if your are an elected backbench opposition politician!
Delusions of grandeur Bob?
Those of you saying Zimmer should be doing something else, what is it you want him to do? Concretely, that he could do as a backbench MP?
Represent his own riding with his eye on making it more prosperous and run as efficiently as possible for the changing world . I find this push of his more than a little disingenuous. On one hand he’s for flooding extremely fertile farm land . On the other he’s noticed people staving to death in Africa . I hope he’s at least going to be at the going away party for the peace farm land and tributaries . If used properly it could have feed more than a few of the dead .
The part I find disengenous is not his position on Site C as opposed to the Ethiopa regime… But rather his position on the international small arms trade in relation to an issue like this.
We want Bob Zimmer to do his job, and his job is not being an international global affairs critic!
Conservative MP Bob Zimmer “IS” the official opposition critic for Transport specializing in “Asia-Pacific Gateway”; Assistant / Associate Critic for Employment Social Development specializing in “Family Issues”; Assistant / Associate Critic for Employment Social Development specializing in “Children”.
Bob Zimmer accepted the responsibilities of those roles he was assigned to, other than representing the concerns and interests of his constituents. It would be more appropriate for Bob to talk in private to his colleague; Peter Kent who is the official opposition’s Foreign Affairs critic if he wants the Government of Canada made aware of the Ethiopian situation.
Jealousy will get you nowhere BH
An MP doesn’t have to only “do his job” being a critic. If they are not an opposition critic to a ministry then you say they should just warm a bench? Their job as an MP is to represent their constituents, which he was doing. That “is his job”
Typical lefty that feigns concern about the human condition domestically, but as soon as its foreign… throw them under the bus to the expediency of partisan politics and the convenient position of the moment. Thanks for the example BH… There is a word for that too.
Zimmer is worried about Ethiopia? What about KPMG, our tax judges and tax evasion by the rich?
Good for him for using his position to shine a light on an issue that is troubling to Canadian sensibilities and laying down a marker of concern. I see nothing wrong with that.
The world would be a better place if more people took concern for other people’s that don’t have the ability to voice their own concerns for civilized dignity. Speaking up about injustice costs nothing to a guy in Zimmers position, but can have a profound effect to the development of the political memes in the foreign country that is shamed. A plan on how to address Canada’s official position relating to this matter should be the proper government response. It’s not necessarily an issue about aid, but rather enhancing the diplomatic pressure on a regime that is not sharing our expectations of democracy and human dignity.
That said the problem for Zimmer is one doesn’t hear from him in like four years; few could define what his objective is in Ottawa, other then he was elected to represent his constituents; and yet we don’t hear from him on local issues and then he uses his time to discuss an issue completely alien to 99% of his constituents….
‘The world would be a better place if more people took concern for other people’s that don’t have the ability to voice their own concerns for civilized dignity. – Oh you mean like NATO? That’s just worked wonders. Any more pearls of wisdom, or are you just going to spit out some Tony Robbins quotes all night long?
During the dark ages when the Federal Conservatives were in power, they chipped away at programs that helped define the compassionate, caring Canada built over the course of several generations.
I do believe it was Bob’s government that cut the Canadian International Development Agency’s budget by $319 million. In fact The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was merged into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 by the federal government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Huh, did not hear Bob protesting about that back then, but Ethiopia now? Bang on that drum a little harder Bob.
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