| "The more things change the more they remain the same" Alphonse Karr (1808-90) "I fight hard for what I believe in. I'll be fighting hard for things like freedom, things like democracy, things like human rights, the rule of law." John Baird after swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall. Somehow, I was expecting more from the Honourable John Baird, if not from his officials. Pity! Bernard Payeur
Letter to the Honourable John Baird ... Ottawa, Ontario ... May 18, 2011 The Honourable John Baird Minister of Foreign Affairs 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, ON, K1A 0G2 Dear Mr. Baird, Congratulations on your appointment. When I decided to write Shooting the Messenger as a belated attempt to get justice, I worried about harming good people by imputing to the current generation of diplomats the sins of the former. Margaret Wente, writing in the Globe and Mail, said that former ambassador Chris Alexander, and now a caucus colleague, was naïve to call “Afghan President Hamid Karzai – an incompetent ruler who tolerates corruption on a vast scale – a ‘visionary’.” Was it naiveté or simply that nothing has changed, and the Canadian Foreign Service is what it is, and remains what it was, morally ambivalent where corruption of government officials is concerned? You don’t name a naive person to such an important post as Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan, therefore, it has to be the latter and I need not have been worried. But still, I am concerned about the reputation of the Canadian Foreign Service and I hope you will be too after reading my whistleblower’s tale, a true story of corruption and an egregious breach of the Public Trust at the Department you now head. Sincerely Yours
________________________ Bernard Payeur Cc: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper Enclosed: Shooting the Messenger Attached: So What! The closing chapter!
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