
In his press release, Baird reminded us of Malala Yousfai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot by the Taliban, of the religious persecution of minorities in Iran, of political prisoners in North Korea, and of political activists in Hong Kong. As a human rights activist, I didn't expect Baird to raise all cases of abuses, human rights violations and injustices. This is simply impossible. Nevertheless, as a Canadian, I would assume that his press release would show more subtleties, courage and admit some mea culpa. Clearly, I was dreaming, as I would be ignoring the strong ideology tainting the Conservative government and its highly partisan approach to politics.