Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Derek Burney Voice of America


Derek Burney, the new right hand man to newly elected PM Stephen Harper is not only an old Mulroney hack but a serious Contientalist in his own right. In fact his policy comments were echoed by policy wonk Harper through out the election when it came to Conservative policy on International relations with the United States. Take Burney's speech to the Ranchmans Club in Calgary last November, one of three identical speeches he gave during the year

He told the well heeled corporate elite of Alberta the following;
We should take our head out of the sand and reconsider our position on missile defence and endeavour, more generally, to become more than a spectator in the defence of our own continent. Pride in what we once were is no substitute for the resources and resolve that would enable us to contribute more tangibly now to our own defence. If we want to be more relevant in Washington we need to give security a higher and clearer priority. We cannot afford a free ride on our own defence. Where’s the sovereignty in that?

The Energy sector – a Canadian strength – obviously merits smarter cooperation; a more certain policy climate in North America for efficient extraction, refining and transmission, along with stronger monitoring and some upgrades of our shared electricity grid? This should not be a game of competing subsidies, inducing an already robust industry, but rather the object of sensible commitments aimed at delivering mutual benefit.


There is also considerable scope for regulatory reform streamlining,
harmonizing or mutually recognizing one another’s standards. That would alleviate many unnecessary and costly ‘makework’ procedures that undermine small and mediumsized exporters in particular. To be meaningful, these require serious commitment and engagement by political leaders. Top down, not Low Common Denominator up!

Nonetheless, stakeholders, particularly those of you in the business community, should shake off your customary timidity and speak out. Business support – and that of key Premiers like Peter Lougheed was vital to success in earlier trade negotiations and could help restore a much needed jolt of common sense in the management of our most vital relationship today. If you do not, you may be sure that others with a very different agenda will happily fill the vacuum.


It should come as no surprise that Burney and the Conservative party plan is to revive Missle Defense, develop a contiental expansion of NAFTA and look at creating an economic union with the United States.

Burney's life after being a diplomat has been to become a mover and shaker of the Corporate elite in Canada within the corridors of power.

His recent appointment to TransCanada Pipeline last fall indicates that his pipeline to power within the Conservative Party is appreciated by the Oil Barons in Calgary.

Looking at his criticism of the Liberals International Relations policy is too look forward to the Harper Government introducing an integrationist approach to Canadian U.S. relations.


Real, effective leadership requires signalling top priority - confidently and clearly - to the manner in which we manage relations with the United States. Fundamentally, for Canada, it is a choice between engagement and irrelevance; between tackling hard issues vital to our well-being or dancing on the periphery, between leading and advancing our long-term interests or following the short-term whims of popular opinion

Canadian Institute of International Affairs - National Capital Branch Symposium

Derek Burney, former Canadian Ambassador to Washington and Chairman of the Board of Directors of New Brunswick Power
pdf - 130KB


A historical analysis reveals that Stephen Harper affirmed the January 2003, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) New Frontiers Project to develop a strategy for shaping Canada's future within North America and beyond. Composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian enterprises, the CCCE has been dedicated to building a stronger world influence for Canada, and believes that Canada's best path to growth is through openness to the world and deep integration with the United States. The CCCE together with the U.S. Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) has pioneered principles of security and prosperity that culminated in the drafting of the SPP.

Canadian Council of Chief Executives Establishes CEO Action Group to Drive North American Initiative


North American Security and Prosperity Initiative is now available at www.ceocouncil.ca. The initiative calls for action on five fronts:

  • Reinventing borders by eliminating as many as possible of the barriers to the movement of people and goods across the internal border and by shifting the emphasis to protection of the approaches to North America;

  • Maximizing economic efficiencies, primarily through harmonization or mutual recognition across a wide range of regulatory regimes;

  • Negotiation of a comprehensive resource security pact, covering agriculture and forest products as well as energy, metals and minerals, based on the two core principles of open markets and regulatory compatibility;

  • Sharing the burden of defence and security, so that each country is capable both of defending its own territory and of making a meaningful contribution to ensuring continental and global security; and

  • Creating a new institutional framework based not on the European model but on cooperation with mutual respect for sovereignty, perhaps using joint commission models to foster co-ordination and to prevent and resolve conflicts.

    The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian corporations, was known as the Business Council on National Issues until late 2001. Its members head companies that administer in excess of $2.1 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $500 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada's private sector investment, exports, training and research and development.



  • Derek H. Burney Corporate Biography

    Derek H. Burney: The CAE's Not-So-Secret Weapon (PDF)

    When Burney left the Canadian embassy in 1993, he became the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bell Canada International, a job he held until 1999. Although he had no apparent scientific or technical knowledge of any relevance to CAE Inc.’s simulation busi- ness, Burney became the company’s top executive in Octo- ber 1999. Presumably his many powerful contacts within the Canadian and U.S. governments were his top assets. During his tenure at CAE, Burney also demonstrated a profound commitment to promoting Canada’s role as a major contributor to the U.S. military-industrial complex. He used his posi- tion to deliver speeches to large, influential Canadian busi- ness associations, warning them about the urgent need for government to spend billions more on Canada’s military. He was particularly keen on the military’s acquisition of high- tech equipment and increasing Canada’s role in U.S. weap- ons-development programs, like so-called “missile defense.” Burney retained his position as CAE president and CEO until August 2004. As revealed by the CAE’s “Notice of Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders,” Burney, who in 2003 held 160,220 common shares in CAE, was paid very handsomely for his services. His salary and bonuses between 2001-2003 were over US$4.75 million. Burney has taken to his role as a top executive and works closely with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), which was formerly known as the Business Council on National Issues. The CCCE, Canada’s most powerful big- business lobby group, “represents the CEOs of 150 leading Canadian corporations…that administer in excess of $2.1 tril- lion in assets.” Besides being vice chairmen of the CCCE’s Executive Committee, he is also the co-chair of its “North American Policy Committee” and a key member of its “CEO Action Group on North American Security and Prosperity.” Burney is also associated with another right-wing interest group, namely the Canadian Defence and Foreign
    Affairs Institute (CDFAI),
    which describes itself as being “dedicated to enhancing Canada’s role in the world by helping to stimulate awareness and debate amongst Ca- nadians about their nation’s defence and foreign policies and the instruments that serve them.” The CDFAI brings together well-heeled Canadians from military, corporate, media and academic backgrounds to promote pro-business foreign policies. Another of its “fel- lows,” Dr. Jim Fergussen, is Canada’s leading academic cheer- leader for the “missile defense” weapons program. He is a University of Manitoba Political Studies professor and the deputy director of that university’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies, which receives generous government fund- ing through the Department of National Defence.

    Burney keeps busy these days as:
    a business advisor to IDELIX, a Vancouver-based “digital imaging, computer aided design, modeling and simu- lation” company with military contracts.

    IDELIX Board of Advisors

    Business Advisors

    Bill Owens President & CEO (Retired), Nortel Networks
    Derek H. Burney President and CEO (Retired), CAE Inc.
    James H. Frey President (Retired), Northrop Grumman TASC
    Christopher P. Haakon CEO and General Manager (Retired), Boeing Autometric
    Darryl N. Garrett Defense and Intelligence Industry Consultant
    Dr. Dwight Porter President, Applied Decision Resources
    Mark Sochan CEO, Nuvonix

    Technical Advisors

    Bill Buxton Principal & Founder, Buxton Design
    Dr. Sheelagh Carpendale Professor, University of Calgary
    Dr. David Cowperthwaite Software Engineer, Intel


    He is the Lead Director at Shell Canada Ltd. and a Director of CanWest Global Communications Corp. and TransCanada Pipelines Limited.

    He is also Chairman of the Board of NB Power Corp.

    He is Chairman of the Confederation College Foundation and a Fellow at the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute.

    He is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Trade Policy and Law and Adjunct Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.
    Nor should it be a surprise that Burney the war monger, whose corporate connections are in the Canadian Military Industrial Complex was a strong supporter and advocate of Canadian involvement in the war in Iraq.



    Executives call for Canadian involvement in Iraq

    A day earlier, CAE Inc. president Derek Burney said he would have preferred to see Canada join the United States in taking on Saddam Hussein.

    "Canada's relationship with the U.S. is too important for vacillation and too vital for detachment," Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, told a Montreal Board of Trade meeting.

    "I would have preferred, frankly to see Canada among the coalition of the willing standing with the U.S. the U.K. and Australia," Burney said

    Burney said war will hurt his company's business in the short term. But he said growth at his company, which makes flight simulators for the military and civilian markets, would resume once the Iraq conflict is out of the way.

    "Politics and defence contracts are never too far apart," Burney said. "All I can say right now is I hope that's not the case. Our two major customers right now are the U.S. and U.K.," he said


    Defence industries worry about impact of Canada's non-participation in Iraq war


    Burneys biography Getting it Done was published last year. It is his tale of his years as a quizzling diplomat for Mulroney, and his role in getting NAFTA negotiated. In the crunch of the free trade talks: inside the making of a historic deal

    Free-trade talks with United States had amusing and sinister sides: book
    DAN DUGAS

    OTTAWA (CP) - A former Canadian ambassador to Washington has revealed the dark - and amusing - sides of free-trade negotiations with the United States in
    the 1980s.

    Derek Burney, who will be a key player in a transfer of power to Stephen Harper should the Conservative leader win the next election, recently published
    his memoirs.

    Brian Mulroney's former chief of staff and ambassador to Washington writes about crude remarks made by James Baker, who was U.S. President Ronald Reagan's
    treasury secretary.

    "We saw flashes of anger from Baker, directed crudely and personally at (then finance minister) Mike Wilson over financial services," Burney writes in
    Getting it Done: A Memoir.

    Burney says he gave as good as the Canadians got as heated negotiations boiled over into personal attacks.

    The book also tells of an odd question from Mulroney that stumped Burney after he had called the prime minister from Washington to tell him a deal was in
    the making.

    "So Derek, how will it play in Drumheller," referring to the southern Alberta community.

    "For a minute, I couldn't respond. Finally I said 'Well, it is very good for Canada on energy and red meat, so I assume it will go down well in
    Drumheller,' but I really didn't have a clue," Burney writes.

    "That's great," Burney quotes Mulroney as saying.


    Derek H. should not be confused with his son,Derek J. who is President of Corel Canada.

    Update; StageLeft reveals Burney as a Hatchet Man for reducing the Civil Service.
    And
    No BMD, Eh is getting flack from one Blogging Tory who is defending the indefensible by claiming that Harper does not support Ballistic Missle Defense. And of course denies that there is anything sinister about Mr. Burney.

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    The Longest Undefended Border in the World

    No wait a minute thats not right is it? Yep sure is. That's what I remember being taught in school. And yesterday it became true. Well almost.

    Our understaffed and unarmed border guards hightailed it out of their little border pill boxes when warned armed American crazies were going to try and shoot it out through the border into Canada.

    Now under the Canada Labour Act these unionized workers, and heck any worker, has the right to say Whoa that's a Health and Safety violation, I am in immanent danger. Which is what our border guys and gals did. Smart move too.

    The yanks were armed with machine guns. Our border guards do not have flack vests or kevlar bullet proof armour. And they only got issued Pepper spray last year. Yep pepper spray against machine gun toting crazy Yanks.

    Nope I am outta here.

    U.S. murder suspects arrested in shootout at B.C. border

    CBC News has learned that when unarmed Canadian border guards found out the murder suspects were coming their way, they left their posts at two crossings along the B.C. border: the Peace Arch crossing at Douglas, which was closed for a while, and the Pacific Highway Truck Crossing, to which traffic from Douglas was diverted.

    Supervisors were left at each crossing to protect the Canadian side.

    A spokeswoman with Canada Border Services says the guards have the legal right to refuse to work if they believe they are in imminent danger.


    This became an issue during the election. As I wrote;

    The NDP would increase border guards and arm them something their union has been asking for and the Liberals denied them.


    The Liberals for over a year have claimed there was no problem at the border, despite the Border Guards union saying the contrary. The most the Liberals did was to promise more RCMP patrols. Which does little to help the border guards many of whom patrol on their own, with no back up.


    Now perhaps with a new government in Ottawa one which admited that illegal guns flooding into Canada was the problem, contrary to what gun nutz in the U.S. say, the border guards will finally be listened to.

    Yep it appears that the Conservatives will.


    Conservatives to arm Canada's border guards

    The newly-elected Conservatives say they will make good as soon as possible on their leader's pledge to arm Canadian border guards, following a shootout on the Canada-U.S. border on Tuesday night.




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    Beauty and the Beast

    Beauty is the beast on the left


    Brigitte Bardot asks Stephen Harper to stop the Canadian Seal Hunt.

    Being a fellow right winger, she believes he and his government can finally stop the genocide of these cute cuddly creatures. Of course as a far right supporter of Le Pens fascist party in France she condones the genocide of humans. And like many in the Conservative party she is a flaming anti-homosexual.


    Brigitte Bardot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    She is also one of the most celebrated supporters of Jean-Marie Le Pen of the right-wing Front National political party, with which her husband is associated. With the publication of her 2003 book, A Scream in the Silence, the reclusive Bardot has come under considerable fire for racist, anti-Muslim, and anti-gay comments. In May 2003, The MRAP ("Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples" - Movement against racism and for the friendship among peoples) announced that it would sue Bardot for her published views. Another organization, The "Ligue des Droits de l'Homme" (League of Human Rights), announced that it was considering similar legal proceedings.

    Bardot, in a letter to a French gay magazine, wrote in her defense, "Apart from my husband—who maybe will cross over one day as well—I am entirely surrounded by homos. For years they have been my support, my friends, my adopted children, my confidants."

    On June 10, 2004 Bardot was convicted by a French court of "inciting racial hatred." She was fined 5,000 € and it is the fourth such conviction/fine she has faced from French courts. These recent fines pertain to her aforementioned book. In particular the courts cited passages where Bardot referred to the "Islamization of France" and the "underground and dangerous infiltration of Islam." (France's 5-million member Muslim community is the largest in Europe.) In the book she also referred to homosexuals as "fairground freaks," and she condemns the presence of women in government. Bardot's previous comments that led to convictions included ones encouraging civilian massacres in Algeria.

    Also See

    Green Opportunism: The Anti-Sealing Lobby


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    Christian Hunters

    I knew Jesus was a fisherman and a fisher of men, of course that's what it says in the Bible. But did you know he was a deer hunter too? A tip o the blog to Wood Lot for this. Well he was according to this group of American gun nuts for God. This gives new meaning to Jesus saying 'suffer not the little children to come unto me' unless they carry a big rifle. These same nuts probably support eight year olds getting hunting licenses.


    Welcome to the Christian Deer Hunters Association ®

    A primary objective of the Christian Deer Hunters Association is to reveal and encourage a Biblical World View approach to deer hunting. Some of the things that a Biblical World View will help to stimulate or encourage include:
    An awareness that deer hunting can be an excellent opportunity for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with other hunters (Mk. 16:15-16).
    The proper view towards those who are in authority, such as DNR officials (Rms. 13:1-7).
    Proper treatment of game after it has been harvested (Prov. 12:27).
    The importance of faithful church attendance and involvement during the hunting season (Heb. 10:25).
    A wiser use of time spent while actually in the field hunting (e.g. Scripture reading, memorization, prayer, witnessing).
    The Christian's Guide to Small Arms


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    Hey Canada is Hot

    Well yes we have had an unusually mild winter in the land of snow and cold. But we are actually a Hot Topic tag at technocrati.

    Hot Tags

    1. Canada

    Happy Rabbie Burns Day


    This blog is now a year old. I know it says it was done in December but actually many of those articles were back posted.

    My first blog article was on Robbie Burns, so Happy Robbie Burns day.



    Radical Robbie Burns, Peoples Poet
    1. Radical Robbie Burns, Peoples Poet A'hae toast ya laddie with a wee dram. It is Robbie Burns Day around the world. A day to celebrate the common man, the common poet, of the common people; Robbie Burns ... to that countries greatest lover, poet and radical. Around the world there are Robbie Burns dinners,





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    2005 Record Heat Wave

    Looking forward to the dweebs at Junk Science Inc. and Faux News to say this ain't so. Opps I spoke too soon here is a really dumb article saying exactly that.

    NASA calls 2005 the warmest year in a century
    CBC Nova Scotia - 17 hours ago
    The year 2005 may be the warmest in a century, say NASA scientists who studied surface temperatures around the world. The previous record holder was 1998, when a strong El Niño in the eastern Pacific Ocean warmed global temperatures. ...
    Greenhouse gases blamed for making 2005 hottest year to date Scotsman
    Also See: Climate Change


    Arctic
    Melt Down


    Weather
    Report


    Arctic
    on the Rocks


    Global
    Warming
    :

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    American Gun Nuts Happy With Conservative Victory


    So the David Frum canard about Canada having more crime than the U.S. is now making the rounds amongst the right wing commentators in the U.S.

    Again they note that we have more 'reported' crime in Canada. That's cause we keep better statistics than the U.S. and have a higher rate of reporting.

    The fact that is overlooked is the drop in the crime rate including violent crime in Canada. But hey never let the facts get in the way of ideology.


    Except for an increase in 2003, the crime rate has generally been falling since 1991 when it peaked. Police reported about 2.6 million offences in 2004, resulting in a crime rate that was 12% lower than a decade ago.

    right click the chart to save it.

    Violent crime down but homicide rate up

    In total, about 300,000 violent crimes were reported to police in 2004, the majority of which were common assault. The violent crime rate fell 2%, continuing a general decline since 1992. The violent crime rate was 10% lower than a decade earlier, but 35% higher than 20 years ago.

    Canada's homicide rate rose 12% in 2004 after hitting a 36-year low the year before. Police reported 622 victims of homicide, 73 more than last year. Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec accounted for most of this increase. The rate of 1.9 homicides for every 100,000 population was 5% lower than it was 10 years earlier


    And we don't have eight year olds bringing guns to day care, or licensed to hunt.
    Which must gets poor Mr. Gottlieb really upset. He got all verklempt over the Wisconsin decision by the Govenor to veto allowing eight year olds hunting licenses.

    Damn Canadian Gun Control freeks. Of course he denies that Canada's current gun problem is one of illegal importation of guns from the U.S. So where did they come from? Who knows. Maybe out of thin air.

    Recently, Canada has blamed the United States for its dramatic increase in violent crime; but the problem isn't Americans illegally running guns to Canada, but Canadian criminals illegally importing guns from wherever they can get them, says Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.

    And of course during this election the Conservatives used skewed crime rates to create a hysteria that we had an increasing crime rate rather than the historically factual decline in crime. Not unlike the Canadian pro gun lobby which likes to use selective statistics to prove Canada is prone to violent crime, but not gun crime. Which is because we have gun control. And while the gun registry has been a billion dollar boondoogle and an afront to registered gun owners it is not the reason for increased gun crimes in Canada. Nope. It's all those mysterious guns arriving in Canada from who knows where.

    Canada's Crime Rate 50 % Higher than U.S.

    "Blaming the United States for Canadian crime is an argument that does not pass the smell test,” Gottlieb wrote. "Canada's experience has simply demonstrated that no matter what kind of gun control law a government passes, that law is doomed to failure because instead of keeping guns out of the wrong hands, the law disarms the wrong people. Canada's gun control scheme has not just failed - it has failed disastrously. Clear evidence of that can be found in a comparison of the crime rates for Canada and America.”

    Gottlieb cites an article by Canada's National Post columnist David Frum where he revealed that "Canada's overall crime rate is now 50 percent higher than the crime rate in the United States.” Moreover, "Since the early 1990s, crime rates have dropped in 48 of the 50 states and 80 percent of American cities. Over that same period, crime rates have risen in six of the 10 Canadian provinces and in seven of Canada’s 10 biggest cities.”

    Gun Rights Group Praises Canadian Gun Owners for Conservative Victory

    "Liberal Democrats now need to take a lesson from Canada's election," Gottlieb stated, "because the whole world is watching. It's clear there is a movement growing around the globe. Brazilian citizens last year rejected a national gun ban, and now, Canadian gun owners have spoken. Americans have been telling liberal Democrats for more than a decade that gun control is a losing proposition, and the elections in Brazil and Canada prove that."

    "Gun owners around the world can't make it any more plain," Gottlieb concluded. "We're telling politicians to keep their hands off our guns, because firearm ownership is more than a recreational pastime, it is a symbol of liberty. There's a line in the sand stretching from Houston to Hudson's Bay. Cross it at your own peril."

    CCRKBA Applauds Canada Gun Owners For Kicking Out Liberal Extremists


    Also see:
    Canadian Crime Statistics
    Explaining the American and Canadian Crime Drop in the 1990’s.
    Firearm Crimes, Canada Vs. US

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    Canada's First Family


    Here they are. After years of old white guys running the country, as Conservative feminista Rona Ambrose MP refered to the Liberals during the day care debate, we now have a First Family in Canada. Note to Rona, gee they look awfully white.




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    Rona Ambrose Parachute Candidate

    I was working as a scrutineer on election night in Edmonton Strathcona and who should show up to vote none other than Rona Ambrose, Conservative MP for Spruce Grove.

    Now last time I checked Spruce Grove a small urban suburb outside of Edmonton was closer to West Edmonton Mall than Edmonton Strathcona.

    And following in the footsteps of Edmonton Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer she too missed election forums.
    Ambrose denies missing meetings

    But unlike Jaffer she will probably be in cabinet.

    Still funny that she lives in Edmonton Strathcona but represents Spruce Grove.

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