| Archives Canada - News and Commentaries 2012 More Prime Minister and the Bible Feb 18, 2012 - The Impact of the Apocalypse of John on an Emerging Police State The Bible, the Prime Minister and Global Warming Civil Disobedience from an Unexpected Quarter Feb 14, 2012 - In a challenge to Ottawa, judge refuses to impose mandatory sentence (of three years in jail on an admittedly unthinking young man, with no priors, who did a video for the internet with a loaded hand gun). Globe and Mail There may be hope for our young people whom the Prime Minister would like to see locked up. Gateway opponents to be put under police surveillance Feb 11, 2012 - Probably just a coincidence that sweeping new anti-terrorism regulations, which will subject opponents of the Gateway to police surveillance and arrest on suspicion of being involved in eco-terrorism activities, were announced while Prime Minister Harper was meeting with the Chinese leadership. Environment Canada Propaganda Feb 9, 2012 - At the funeral of the father of a friend, a mourner summarized the impact of mining and refining oil from the Tar Sands. At the risk of putting words in his mouth, he said that Canada was creating the largest, dirtiest source of industrial pollution in history, and it was the Minister's (Peter Kent) and their job at Environment Canada to convince Canadians and the world that this is a good thing. Baird in Jerusalem: Israel has 'no better friend' than Canada, Globe and Mail, Jan 30, 2012 The reason why! The Gateway and the China Visit Jan 16, 2012 - The Right Hon. Stephen Harper now plans to visit China in February. It is expected that, during his visit, he will reassure President Hu Jintao that the construction of Gateway will proceed as planned – the fix is in. This assurance should lead to more billion dollar acquisitions in the Tar Sands by state-owned PetroChina, and within a short time, give China the type of influence over the exploitation of another country's economic and strategic resource previously only enjoyed by the United States on whose prosperity our economic well-being and security depends. The Prime Minister and Foreign Influence “The Prime Minister is threatening to prevent foreign environmental interests from delaying the approval* of [the Gateway] …“ GM, Jan 6, 2012 Since the vast majority of investment in the Tar Sands is foreign, as pointed out by Joe Oliver in a CTV interview, isn’t the Prime Minister representing foreign interests when he pushes for the construction of the Gateway which will carry "liquefied" tar to be processed in China, and which will maximize the return on these foreign investments at the expense of jobs for Canadians? First Nations e.g. the Haisla have said they will do whatever it takes to stop the government from bulldozing their land to make way for China's pipeline. At about the same time, the government announced that it will change whatever laws stand in the way of building China's pipeline, including laws that forestall the foregone conclusion of the Gateway panel. To get China's pipeline built, the government will have to violate treaties with First Nations. A violent confrontation pitting First Nations, environmentalists and nationalists against the backers of China's plans for its share of the Tar Sands may be inevitable. * Read Fighting the Fix for why the Prime Minister is confident the Gateway will be approved. Enbridge and the Gitxsan Enbridge's exaggerations about Gitxsan support for the Gateway is bringing out the worst in people. This may be Harper's most damaging legacy in behaving like a shill for the oil Industry, and perhaps unwittingly for Chinese interests, instead of as our Prime Minister and an honest broker. The incitement to hatred of First Nations who stand in the way of the Prime Minister's wish to get China's pipeline built whatever the social and environmental cost may play into the government's hands. A Tar Pipe to China and The Ethical Oil Lie In Tar, the Prime Minister and the End of Civility I wrote that Cabinet Ministers were expected to repeat lies scripted for them by the Prime Minister's Office – the biggest lies being about the economic and environmental impact of the Tar Sands – and willingly did so. The Honourable Joe Oliver, the Minister at the center of A Tar Pipe to China and The Ethical Oil Lie may be an exception, a man who will not be coaxed into telling a bold-faced lie. Honour may not have lost all meaning for the Honourable Joe Oliver, and there may be a residual of decency in this servant of the Prime Minister, despite his spirited defense of the indefensible. B.C. coast is hostile country for oil, pipeline panel told, Globe and Mail Jan 12, 2012 The sea off Kitimat may be blue but not the panel which will decide its fate. The Prime Minister has appointed a trio of government bureaucrats, whose destiny he controls, to decide on the pipeline he lusts after, thereby making their decision, for many, a foregone conclusion. Three more reasons to Walk the Gateway. Peter MacKay weds rights activist, former beauty queen ... both his father, former Tory cabinet minister Elmer MacKay, and his mother, Macha MacKay, a psychologist and peace activist, attended the ceremony. Globe and Mail, Jan 4, 2011 It was nice to read that the former Member of Parliament who inadvertently got a head of Air Canada appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada for taking bribes from travel agencies – the same person an official at the airline claimed was the man who was bribed by Airbus Industries – was there for his son, the Defence Minister's wedding. I may not be better than them after all (see Oct. 12, 2011 entry). Could it be the example of the Prime Minister? I don't think so. B. Payeur Keystone inspector alleges shoddy work on original pipeline A former inspector for a company that did work on TransCanada's original Keystone pipeline is accusing the Calgary-based company of a cavalier disregard for the environment. Washington, The Canadian Press, Jan 3, 2011 Read Walking the Gateway for why you should believe the inspector, and not TransCanada executives! The Same Wise and Foolish Wish for the New Year In remembering Glenna I wrote that “We have only so much time left to make fools of ourselves, and we should use that time wisely.” It remains my wish for the New Year. 2011 XMAS Holiday Leftovers Fighters for Israel? A former rector of Saint Paul University said that many of Harper’s decision were unfathomable e.g. his obsession with spending more than 30 billion on fighter planes that are totally unsuited for Arctic conditions or the vastness of the territory. I said I doubted very much that the super expensive, short range, high tech fighter planes are meant for the defence of Canada, even if the Russian bomber threat was real. The planes, I said, were likely meant for the defence of Israel, and when you look at Harper’s obsession with the Book of Revelation and its end-of-time prophecies about Israel being at the center of the final battle between good and evil, it makes sense. He paused for a minute, and then admitted that, as preposterous as that explanation sounded, it does explain a lot; perhaps even Harper’s massive prison building program when crimes is at an all-time low, and expected to stay that way because of an aging population. If you believe the End is near and that it will be preceded by a huge upsurge in violence then an even more preposterous explanation for more penitentiaries takes on the aura of plausibility. The PMO and Foreign Policy You can continue to host cocktail parties, so shut up and don’t interfere. If there is anything important to discuss with a foreign government we will send someone over (a suggestion made in a Nov 15, 2007 entry: Expensive Decorations). This is how I understood another recently retired Canadian diplomat’s rant about the Prime Minister’s Office's approach to Canadian foreign policy. She has never heard of me. Therefore, the remarks by another diplomat about the current generation being the main obstacle to the government doing the right thing where I am concern may be exaggerated. 2011 A special Merry Christmas to all the good people who would be made to look bad by people who know no shame. With friends like these! “No Keystone? No problem: Canada will sell oil to China” Prime Minister Harper during the now traditional year-end Christmas television interview. For more on how the Harper government is coercing the Obama administration into taking more of Canada's dirty oil, no matter the devastating impact on global warming read Stop the Pipelines, Save the Planet! and other postings in Canadian, eh! Attawapiskat Liars! One and all! E-mails contradict MacKay’s explanation for chopper request, Globe and Mail, Dec 1, 2011 Harper calls helicopter use ‘appropriate’ Globe and Mail, Dec 2, 2011 It was Peter MacKay lying to David Orchard that allowed the Regressive Conservatives to take over the Progressive Conservatives. There is no lie that the consummate liar that is Peter Mackay can tell of which Prime Minister Harper will not approve. The so-called Reformers' (they are nothing of the kind) rise to power began with a betrayal, a lie, and lies have been sustaining them ever since. Nov 24 - No ceremony honouring Canadian soldiers who died in Afghanistan.Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk, Canada's top soldier defended celebration of Libya where no Canadian died – but not the Afghanistan sacrifice of Canadian lives – because operations there continue to be “high risk.” The government does not want to risk further upsetting the killers of brave men and women by celebrating their death in a noble cause. This is both shameful and cowardly. Oct 12 - Prime Minister Harper is expected to shortly announce the replacements for retiring judges Mr. Justice Ian Binnie and Madam Justice Louise Charron. On that day I intended to reveal what was the Supreme Court connection to the Airbus Affair. If you have read On a Wing and a Prayer, a pathetic story about the demise of our national air carrier, you may have already surmised what I wanted to make public. I told myself it was historically important to set the record straight as to who may have accepted the crucial bribe, even if it was a solicited admission. I was only fooling myself. I was going to bring unproven (the RCMP may have the proof) accusations because I was angry at people who are supposed to be concerned with justice but often can’t be bothered. To do so would mean that I am no better than them, and I think I am better, where the pursuit of justice is concerned anyway. Oct 8 - Non-stop train ‘barrelling down’ on wheat board, Harper declares Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a message for all the critics of his government’s plan to end the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board: Get over it. Globe and Mail, October 7, 2011 Slightly more eloquent than Trudeau giving the finger, and telling Western farmers "Why should I sell your wheat", but just as arrogant. Sep 17 - Dechert and the National Interest Sep 9 - Giving a $ 10,000 tax credit to employers who hire "newer Canadians" i.e. recent immigrants instead of equally qualified "not as new Canadians" is just like McGuinty, he doesn’t think things through. Remember his plans for Sharia Tribunals. Sep 4 - First class train travel Canadian style There were maybe a dozen people in the first class car on the VIA train to Montréal. The menu said that first class passengers would have a choice of shrimp, chicken or pork, as a main course. When the diner service got to an elderly women seated at the back, no more shrimp or chicken could be had, only pork. She was not Jewish or Muslim, but an old-fashion Catholic who did not eat meat on Fridays. All they could offer as substitute to the elderly passenger, who was travelling first class because it was her birthday, was tuna from a can. Aug 28 - A Dilbert Moment at the National Gallery Aug 18 - Angry Bill Elliott to the UN PM restores ‘royal’ moniker to Canada’s navy and air force Royal label lets troops stand a little prouder, a little taller," says Defence Minister Peter MacKay. "Rebranding forces will honour military heritage and past victories," says Prime Minister Harper. Canada’s armed forces will again be flying the colours, so to speak, of a foreign aristocracy* responsible for Passchendaele (1st Earl Douglas Haig, the Butcher of Flanders), Dieppe (Lord Mountbatten) and other military misadventures in which the Canadians were just so much cannon fodder. Maybe Lucien Bouchard was right all along; Canada is not a real country. * Unlike the Australians, Canada allowed the British to execute Canadians soldiers deemed to have failed in their duty to the King. 23 Canadian volunteers were shot by British firing squads during the First World War; as if an estimated 64,944 Canadian men giving up their lives for the Royals were not enough. July 12 - Tar Nation July 1 - Regrets, Cancer and the Poetry of Haiyan Zhang June 27 - Something for those who see no harm in establishing Sharia tribunals to deal with financial and family matters to consider (see also Lady Cox’s Gambit). June 25 - Clues to Prime Minister Harper's stand on global warming and Israel. The Canadian Senate "Harper could go nuclear on Senate reform" Globe and Mail, June 20. There is nothing wrong with the Senate that changing the way appointments are made can not fix! Japan In The Interviews With the unfortunate events in Japan, a short excerpt from the Boom-Boom Singh interview about late 19th century Canada and the first Japanese immigrants seemed appropriate. It’s about the exploitation of immigrants, mismanagement of a vital fishery, scapegoating the Natives and the outcome of a demand by native women for better working conditions (probably the first “labour action” by working women in Canada). Not that much has changed in over a hundred years, except for perhaps native women demanding better working conditions. Japan in Shooting the Messenger Tokyo Lets the Cat Out of the Bag is about our embassy in Tokyo confirming how many millions Canadian diplomats and their staff were stealing, and why they did it. Corruption Canadians have become largely immune to corruption in high places. Many now consider government Ministers who brazenly break the law and lie and pretend otherwise as people to be admired and are set to re-elect probably the most ethically-challenged government in Canadian history. With most of the world opting for more freedom, a fretful, aging population, which the outgoing government has been courting by promising to put more young people in jail and keeping them there longer, has been opting for less. Harper's generational politics threaten to further divide a fracturing nation by pitting the young who don't vote, against the old who do, to win an election, and it's working. Public opinion surveys indicate that our aspiring strongman will be returned to power on May 2. A Contempt for Democracy For the first time in our history, Canadians are going to the polls after the government was found "in contempt of Parliament". A first, not only for Canada, but for the entire British Commonwealth. Apr 16 - Canadian vs. American Health Care Nepotism Harper government set to appoint prominent Tory's niece to agency board (Rights and Democracy) The revelation that Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has selected lawyer Katrine Giroux [niece of Bernard Lord] for the job follows a series of accusations over Conservative patronage appointments. Globe & Mail, April 01, 2011 Micronepotism is to macronepotism what microeconomics is to macroeconomics, a pure form of nepotism. In micronepotism, there is a direct filial relationship between the appointed and the one doing the appointing, and the appointment is made away from the public eye. Micronepotism usually also involves breaking some rule or regulation to get your progeny or a relative a job for which he or she is typically not qualified. Macronepotism is more like that practiced in the case of the niece in the headline by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lawrence Cannon, and the even more honourable, the Right Honourable Prime Minister. The only similarities between the nepotism of the two aforementioned honourable men and that of the uncle in The Niece is that, in both form of nepotism, the person who gets the job is normally not only undeserving, but unqualified. Macronepotism sets a bad example, and is an encouragement to micronepotism. A Chip Off The Old Block "Bev Oda’s testimony at Friday’s contempt hearings included an outright admission of managerial incompetence by government." Globe & Mail, March 18, 2011 The Honourable Bev Oda is the Minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). With the connivance of her officials, she falsified funding documents, then lied to Parliament about it, ostensibly to protect the Prime Minister. CIDA, A Chip Off The Old Block you might say. Thirty Pieces of Silver in Canadian Dollars Disgraced integrity czar’s $500,000 severance deal includes gag order. Globe and Mail, March 4 In Canada, selling out the people you swore to help and protect and keeping your mouth shut is a profitable enterprise judging from the reward the Government has bestowed on former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet. That is on top of her generous government pension which she gets to keep for not doing her job which the protagonist of Shooting the Messenger lost for doing his. The Genies. Embarrassingly Canadian! The Genies, Canada’s answer to the Oscars has become a showcase for American talent who can’t be bothered to show up to pick up their awards – best actor: Paul Giamatti, supporting actor: Dustin Hoffman, supporting actress: Minnie Driver. The Genies made liars of more than one presenter who praised Canadian talent as being equal if not better than the variety found south of the border. Obviously not! The majority of nominated films, as usual were from the Province of Québec. This year, four of the five best-film nominees were produced or shot there. A province with only one fifth the population of Canada produces not only more films than the rest of Canada combined, by a wide margin, but critically acclaimed films that make people think, laugh and cry, and that make money. Denis Villeneuve, the director of Incendies which won best picture summed up his province's success this way: “[Québec is] not a U.S. territory like the rest of Canada.” Popcorn, Maple Syrup and the American Way may provide some insight into how, in English-Canada, visual arts and entertainment became U.S. territory. It was mainly our own doing. Immigration and First Nations Immigrant totals highest in 50 years, Skilled workers help meet labour needs. Ottawa Citizen, February 14, 2011 I doubt if the countries whose skilled labour Freddy the Freeloading Country continues to plunder because it is too cheap to develop its own think it's something to be proud of. 2010 Dec 16 - Who’s to blame? Asylum seekers perish as boat sinks off Australia Associated Press, Dec 15, 2010 Dec 6 - Is this the beginning of the end for RIM? Research In Motion Ltd. is a very smart company. That's why it has come to Ottawa. RIM, maker of the omnipresent BlackBerry, is constructing a five-storey, $6-million building in Kanata to house its 1,000 Ottawa employees in one spot. Ottawa Citizen, Dec 2, 2010 Where not to set up shop if you want to stay in business!
| Sep 10 - Lessons from the Blood Scandal “The ruling infuriated gay rights activists who have fought hard for the elimination of a screening question that obliges gays to specify whether they have engaged in sexual activity since 1977, an attempt to ease concerns about contamination with HIV or other pathogens.” Globe and Mail on a court ruling that Canadian Blood Services did not violate a gay man’s rights by asking questions designed to eliminate high risk individuals from donating blood. The Pamphlet and the deadly consequences of the Red Cross allowing politics and political correctness to influence the way it screened blood donors. Aug 11 - The Doomsday Book Imagine the distorted view we would have gotten of how people lived in 11th century England if the census that resulted in the Doomsday Book had been a voluntary one. Since that ground breaking census, citizens have come to appreciate the value of an accurate census, not only in charting their country’s progress towards, to use a Trudeau expression, “a just society” but also in preserving their history. ------------ The name Doomsday Book, it is a reference to the Day of Judgement when God will have irrefutable proof of your good and bad deeds. The name is a testament to the accuracy and completeness of the census commissioned by William the Conqueror; a census that has served as a model for the modern survey where accurate reporting on the state of the nation is paramount if “doomsday” is to be avoided. Aug 6 - To share or not to share, that is the question Conservatives to Spend $9 Billion For New Jails CityTV, August 5 John Kenneth Galbraith in The Culture of Contentment (Houghton Mifflin, 1992) explained that, when a segment of the population accumulates a disproportionate share of a country’s wealth, it faces a choice of either sharing that wealth with the less fortunate through taxes that support a variety of social programs, or build more prisons. July 22 - Diogenes has found his man Canada’s Chief Statistician Munir Sheikh has resigned over Prime Minister Harper's decision to sabotage the 2011 census. It’s nice to know that more than twenty five years after The Wrong Lesson Learned integrity still means something at Statistics Canada. June 23 - Fadden raises espionage alarm Foreign powers infiltrating government, CSIS director says. At least two provincial cabinet ministers and a number of other government officials and employees are under the control of foreign countries as part of espionage schemes, Canada’s top security official said Tuesday. In an exclusive interview on CBC’s The National, CSIS director Richard Fadden said foreign powers are infiltrating Canadian political circles and influencing public servants, fuelling a growing concern about economic espionage in Canada... He would not name the provinces the cabinet ministers are from. Globe and Mail Related: Dechert and the National Interest June 27 - The Toronto G20 April 29 - What values would those be? In an interim report to Parliament, Access to Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, singled out the Department of Foreign Affairs as the most serious choke point when it comes to Canadians getting information about what their government is up to. On its web site Foreign Affairs states that its number one priority is “ensuring that Canada's foreign policy reflects true Canadian values.” If information is the oxygen of democracy, and democracy is a Canadian value, either we don’t believe in democracy, or our diplomats are hypocrites. You can’t claim to believe in democracy while denying it the substance it needs to survive! ------------------- In March, a motion was tabled in Parliament asking the Speaker to find the Department of Foreign Affairs in contempt of Parliament for refusing to hand over information on Afghan detainees. The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs justified his Department's continued contempt of Parliament and democracy saying he was protecting Canadians who “put their lives on the line for things they believe in terms of the values”. The muddled statement “in terms of the values” is an accurate transcription of what the Minister said. April 26 - The Fractured Nation Interviews No, Peter Griffin's quip about “those freeloading Canadians” in The Son Also Draws episode of The Family Guy is not from Freddy the Freeloading Country, a make-believe children’s guide to economics. The first edition of Canada - The Fractured Nation Interviews was published in 2004, The Son Also Draws first aired in 1999. April 14 - Access to Information Canadian style Canadians' access to information at a crisis point! Commissioner blames government delay and obstruction. Globe and Mail April 14, 2010 One of the things that strikes a first time reader of Canada's Access to Information Act is how many times the words refuse to give access or refuse to disclose appear. So many exceptions to the rule is one reason why our Access to Information Act has morphed into an Orwellian instrument of deception, promising one thing and delivering another. April 10 - Vimy It is now a cliché in this country that this costly strategically dubious victory was Canada's baptism of fire; that the country came of age at Vimy. We should remember that Vimy’s immediate legacy was the massive senseless lost of Canadian lives at Passchendaele. If Canada had come of age at Vimy there would have been no Passchendaele! 2009 December 2 - A Question of Ethics and Morality Canadian Prime Ministers during official visits like the one Stephen Harper is conducting in China like to lecture their host on respect for human rights and the rule of law. Question: Would a Canadian citizen like the protagonist of Shooting the Messenger be justified in asking President Hu Jintao, for example, to bring his case to the attention of the Prime Minister when they meet? Answer: If impeachable breaches of ethics and morality are a function of the size or the extent of the ethical or moral transgression then the answer would have to be no. August 8 - A Culture Under Siege In the The Culture Paradox I wrote that Québec would survive because it valued its cultural distinctiveness. After reading about the state of affairs described in Teach Your Children Well you may not agree, and I don't blame you. July 12 - China's Choice If freedom of religion is a human right then so is freedom from religion; and if a country chooses to make freedom from religion paramount shouldn’t we respect that decision less we be accused of hypocrisy. China in the past has had to make difficult choices that only the leadership of a country with a billion plus souls can appreciate. The most difficult had to be its one child policy; another difficult decision had to be placing limits on freedom of religion. Knowing the barbarity that religious conflicts tend to sink into (witness the actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan) and that such conflicts will tear a country apart it really had no choice, to do otherwise would have been irresponsible. June ?? - Supreme Court and Common Sense In June 2009, in a speech delivered at the Canadian Bar Association conference in Ottawa marking her tenth year as Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin said that “When people look back, I hope they will see a court of integrity, independence and some modicum of common sense,” A “modicum of common sense” is about right, but even that small amount seems to have been lacking in the Court’s kirpan decision. In her address, her Excellency also celebrated group think, boasting about her Court's record of unanimity: “about three-quarters of Supreme Court rulings are unanimous”, she said, “compared to less than half in the U.S. Supreme Court.” How is that a good thing? June 12 - The Avro Syndrome “Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will abandon its role as the world's largest supplier of medical isotopes." Globe and Mail, June 11, 2009. It’s the Avro Arrow all over again! For why Canada stopping production of medical isotopes on which hospitals and medical labs around the world depend, and asking the world to supply Canadians with isotopes once production ends in 2016 is as significant a setback as the cancellation of the Arrow please read The Freeloader Economic Theory by Diane Francis Smith. June 4 –This is INSANE! On June 2, the Ottawa Citizen reported that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was taking “1,500 older-model tasers” of the type used in the electrocution death of Robert Dziekanski out of service. The reason given by William Elliott, the Commissioner of the RCMP and taser aficionado, was that these older tasers were “underperforming”, not producing “a powerful enough electrical charge.” May 7 - Liar! In refusing to allow Jim Balsillie to buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Canada, Gary Bettman, the short-sighted New York lawyer who runs the NHL and dreams of making hockey the national sport of Americans, says that the National Hockey League has a history of helping teams stay where they are and not moving them. Tell that to Winnipeg and Québec City, Commissioner! A Country In Name Only 2009 Edition April 17 - Judges The judge has rendered his decision, the prosecution is threatening to appeal and the insanity of allowing children to bring concealed weapons to schools spreads. Of Kirpans, Hairpins and Judges 2008 Advice from an unscrupulous politician May 19, 2008 - It is really too bad that Heather Reisman has banned Mein Kempf from Chapters-Indigo/Coles/SmithBooks stores. Yes that is more than a fair chunk of Canadian brick-and-mortar bookstores. … at a given sign [unleash] a veritable barrage of lies and slanders against whatever adversary seems most dangerous, until the nerve of the attacked person breaks down … This is a tactic based on precise calculation of all human weaknesses, and its result will lead to success with almost mathematical certainty. (Mein Kempf. pp. 43-44) Language and Racism March 17, 2008 - Language, much more than the colour of an other's skin, in my opinion, provokes apparent racist sentiments in normally sensible people. When you watch a program like Star Trek, for example, with a cast representative of every race, including races not yet discovered, you identify with the characters that best exemplifies your values whatever the colour of his or her skin. In fact, in your mind’s eye, there is only one race; skin colour being just another distinguishing feature of a member of the human race. What we often characterize as racism may actually be a form of paranoia, sometimes justified, that has nothing to do with race but is the expression of a visceral fear of those who want to express sentiments, even noble sentiments, in a language that is alien. A Lesson For Obama from a former Greek Prime Minister March 13, 2008 - Canadian Ambassador to Washington, Michael Wilson, has acknowledged that he leaked confidential information from Mr. Obama's campaign that the Senator did not intend to change NAFTA after campaigning that he would do just that if elected President. When Greek Prime Minister Papandreou needed to send a similar highly confidential message to President Regan, that he would not follow through on his election campaign promises, he chose a more secure, more direct if unconventional method... continue reading A Canadian Double Standard It’s in our country’s national interest to be a nation of tolerance and diversity. Les Brost, Calgary Herald. January 21, 2008 Yes, if multiculturalism and human rights tribunals had not made Canada into a country where intolerance is a sin for those whose value system include tolerance, and a virtue for those whose value system include intolerance. Justice Delayed, Justice Denied Court drops last charges against former Red Cross official. Globe and Mail January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 - For those who care to remember the victims: The Pamphlet I Admit It January 13, 2008 - I admit to having been a small cog at the Energy Supplies Allocation Board (read An Appalling Indiscretion) which sought, during the 1970s energy crisis, to maintain a made in Canada price for oil and gas. I admit it. I was proud when it was Ottawa—not OPEC, not New York, not Washington—which set the price of gas at the pump and the cost to heat my home. I admit to liking it when all Canadians benefited from Alberta’s oil wealth; when foreign petro-conglomerates and a few home-grown oil barons did not get a disproportionate share of the wealth. I admit to liking it when Canada was not a pariah where the health of the planet is concerned; when my country was not a leader in the production of greenhouse gases from the mining of oil after exporting, for a pittance, most of the stuff that gushes out of the ground and can be easily and cheaply processed without making a mess of the air we breath and the water we drink. I admit to being disappointed with Prime Minister Harper's hesitant approach to saving our home in space. He is the only friend the oil barons have left. He could easily temper their greed without much of a fight, instead he panders to them as they burn the planet for profit. 2007 Nov 15 - Expensive Decorations The United States is dispatching deputy secretary of state John Negroponte to Islamabad this week to help find a solution to the crisis facing that country. Why not the ambassador on the spot? Mr. Negroponte's mission is too important to leave to run-of-the-mill diplomats. In the age of jet travel when your best trouble-shooter/negotiator can be available anywhere in the world to deal with an emergency in a matter of hours many embassies have become expensive decorations, reminiscent of a bygone age where a sailing ship and a horse and buggy got you there in a less than timely manner. This is particularly true for countries like Canada who don’t need a large physical presence in a foreign country to shelter intelligence gathering operations or support a military presence. Oct 28 - The Senate and Suicide Prevention Dear Les, Thank you for sharing your column of October 15 in the Calgary Herald: Shining a light into dark corners about the Senate report Out Of The Shadows At Last: Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada. The mutually exclusive role that the Senate and the House of Commons are called upon to play has served Canada well for almost one-hundred and fifty years. We tinker with that time-tested arrangement at our peril. Bernard Feb 6 - The Danger In Not Panicking Hundreds of people died in the collapse of the World Trade Center because they did not panic. They patiently waited at their desk after the first plane hit, and even after the second for orders to evacuate. My mind wants to agree with the Prime Minister’s go slow approach to solving the problems of global warming but my gut tells me that this is the wrong approach. My gut tells me that global warming is a clear and present danger and something drastic must be done. Instead, the government continues to spend billions of dollars in surplus cash on reducing our relatively small and manageable deficit, on tax cuts and continuing the massive subsidies to oil companies to mine for oil (the number one source of greenhouse gases) instead of drastically increasing funding for the development of renewable and non-polluting energy sources. Mr. Harper, I think a little panic is in order before we are all toast. 2006 Sep 26 - The Undiscovered Country René is a riveting six-hours mini-series on the life and times of René Lévesque. When it was first broadcast on both the French and English networks of the CBC, less than two-hundred-thousand Canadians outside Quebec tuned in. In René, the CBC, unlike in a previous production featuring a Canadian hero, appears to have been faithful to history and given an accurate portrayal of the central character in this quintessential Canadian drama (one Québec television critic did complain that the series spent to much time on René’s love interests). If more English-Canadians had watched René, many more prejudices might have been dispelled as the viewers got to know, perhaps to belatedly fall in love with an honest, simple man, a patriot in the best sense of the word. He not only loved Québec but he also loved Canada. In a way, it is perhaps unfortunate that Quebecquers did not vote for independence when he was in charge, for he was a reasonable, thoughtful man who, even when he was promoting the interest of French-Canadians, fought to protect the rights of English-speaking Quebecquers. Aug 30 - Making Canadians better at what cost? Provincial Governments should stop recruiting foreign doctors to resolve the short-ages in their health care systems, suggest a new study released yesterday by a conservative think-tank. “It is irresponsible for a wealthy nation with a highly educated population like Canada to rely on foreign-trained doctors to deliver health-care to the population,” said Nadeem Esmail, the director of health systems at the Fraser Institute …(Ottawa Citizen, August 29, 2006) Jul 12 - Alberta, The Tar Sands and Olga Friesen The Premier of Alberta would probably find more support for his plans to fry the planet if he was willing to share the wealth and allow fellow Canadians to bask in oil-wealth-luxuries while waiting to follow the dinosaurs into oblivion. Chapters was created in 1994 with the merger of Coles and SmithBooks, Canada's two largest book chains at the time. SmithBooks has been gradually rebranded as Coles stores in recent years. In 2001, Chapters was acquired by Indigo Books and Music thereby consolidating its position as the Goliath of the book retailing industry in Canada. It is a fact of life in Canada that if Chapters-Indigo/Coles won’t stock it, writing it may be a waste of your time (Chapters and Shooting the Messenger). Jan 6 - On Literacy Of the sixty or so social programs the Harper government eliminated or reduced funding for, the money for the promotion of literacy may be the most sorely missed. Literacy is more than just learning the alphabet so that you can understand simple government regulations – more or less the official definition of functionally literate. Literacy is not so much about reading as it is about writing. It is about learning to use words to work out your personal problems whether these problems are the result of mental illness, drunkenness or uncharacteristic criminal behaviour. It is learning to use words, not violence, to express your anger at a society that won’t listen; it is learning to use words to try to figure out why you behave the way you do; it is about replacing a self-destructive addiction with a benign addiction to words. It was a love of words that allowed Sohrab ,with the help of the literacy program at the John Howard Society to find his way back as it has helped so many others. Giving Away The Country For Votes Sep 28 - Dubious Honours People are surprised that two senior RCMP officers involved in the Arar affair were honoured with the Order of Merit of the Police Forces. D'oh! Governor General awards for screwing-up royally is not new.
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