1984 And Now Election 2011

Warren Kinsella who used to be a Liberal Party Insider, and of course therefore a HACK, now works for the right wing conservative mouthpiece; Quebecor/SUN media, so today he declares that the election campaign is over before it begins.

Nineteen Eighty-Four wasn’t just the title of a good book by George Orwell.

It’s also a useful reminder of what may be about to happen to the Liberals and NDP in the coming election campaign.

You remember: Sept. 4, 1984, and Brian Mulroney sweeps to a massive parliamentary majority. The once-great Liberal Party — the Natural Governing Party, no less — is reduced to a paltry 40 seats.

Conservatives, up to 43%. Liberals, down to 24%. NDP, unchanged at 16%.

And if you just look at voting preferences of those absolutely certain to trek to polling stations, according to Ipsos, the Cons go up to 45%, and the Grits slide to 23%.

To put it in context, that gap is perilously close (or identical) to the 22 points that separated Mulroney and John Turner in 1984’s Gritterdammerung. Result: Tories, 211 seats, NDP 30 seats, and Grits the aforementioned 40.

So, is Michael Ignatieff this generation’s John Turner?

Of course he is but the political differences of the times are also significant. And Kinsella's prognosis is also questionable.

First in 1984 there was a great debate, a big issue that the election was to be fought over; nothing less than Free Trade.

There is no big issue in this election.

Second there was the appointment of Liberal hacks to the Senate just before the election call, which gave Mulroney his chance to defeat Turner in the debates when he challenged him to simply not appoint the Liberal hacks to the senate. "You had a choice Mr. Turner'. It was the zinger in the Leaders debate.

The NDP, the CLC trade unions and the Left had made Free Trade the issue for the election and had for two years prior. The Liberals seeing an issue which carried votes, opportunistically decided to become Anti-Free Trade hoping to get votes from the Left as the only Natural Governing Party.

In the Leaders Debate the NDP Leader Ed Broadbent carried the day as statesman, while Mulroney and Turner went at it hammer and tong. It was Mulrony who got in the election zinger.

What Kinsella fails to aknowledge is that in 1984 the NDP got enough seats, in fact increased their seats to 30, that had there been a minority government it would behoove them to ask for their support.

And even more importantly in 1984 there was NO Bloc Quebecois. In fact the BQ would originate out of the Mulroney Conservative government, a fact the current Conservative Government would like you to forget, even as they carry on in Mulroney's footsteps when it comes to gaining support in Quebec.

The Conservatives and Liberals want to have two party politics, ala the Republicans and Democrats in the US ,Conservatives and Labour in the UK.

Unlike the 1984 election this election is not about three parties but four parties. Three in English Canada and an additional Quebec based Party. By having four parties, with Quebec solidaly BQ,

The Harper Conservatives have decided to focus on the rural township votes, as they have in Western Canada, that is where their base is.

The urban cities is where the fight goes three ways, if not four. The NDP is currently more popular in Quebec than the Liberals, a historic first.

This election is about Leadership, and that is the only thing it has in common with 1984, Turner was weak, Mulroney was brash and Broadbent was conciliatory.

With the BQ there will be no repeat of 1984, we will once again have a minority government. But will it be Conservative or Liberal? The NDP is then the best place to park your vote, since Layton shows he is PM material, even more that his opponents, and if Harper has any chance so does Layton, even if it is as Leader of the Opposition.

The Liberals under Ignatieff, as they were under Turner, are toast and on that Kinsella and I agree.

Michael Ignatieff was once hailed in Liberal circles as the second coming of Pierre Trudeau. Now his challenge is to shake off the perception he's an outsider interested only in adding another ornament to his well-adorned resume.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Ignatieff+lost+lustre/4504351/story.html#ixzz1HfM9fqGI

Too Little Too Late

Here is a lesson about the importance of dealing with climate change NOW. Under our so called Green PM; Brian Mulroney, a North American agreement on acid rain was signed. Unfortunately it now seems it was too little too late. As will be the reluctant changes capitalism will make in order to offset the current climate crisis.

Scientists say they have found lakes in Canada that are losing some of the calcium dissolved in their waters, a condition they're likening to an aquatic version of osteoporosis.
The drop in calcium levels is being attributed to the effects of acid rain and logging, which together have depleted the element in the soil around lakes, reducing the amount that is in runoff and available for aquatic life.
Under previously implemented pollution-control plans, emissions of sulphur dioxide in Eastern Canada fell by 63 per cent from 1980 to 2001, according to Environment Canada figures. As a consequence, acidity in many lakes has dropped to more normal readings, but the new findings suggests that even this massive emissions cut hasn't been enough to fully mitigate the damage from acid rain. The researchers believe the sharp drop in calcium has been under way for decades, and began in some areas as early as the 1970s.
When acid rain falls on soil, it quickly leaches out the calcium, and eventually exhausts the dirt's stores of the element, leaving little available to be washed into lakes. In the initial period of acid rain deposition, this effect temporarily increases the amount of calcium entering the lakes, but once the stores of the element are depleted, levels plunge.
Logging is also a problem because trees contain calcium they draw from the soil. When trees are cut and removed, their calcium is taken from the ecosystem. The calcium in uncut forests is returned to the soil when trees fall and decay.

Mulroney's regime demonstrated environmental rhetoric but with questionable consequences and little follow-up actions.In 1988, the Mulroney government was involved in the "Changing Atmosphere Conference" in Toronto, where government, industry, academics and NGOs exclaimed the following:"Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequence could be second only to a global nuclear war. The Earth's atmosphere is being changed at an unprecedented rate by pollutants resulting from depositions of hazardous, toxic and atomic wastes and from wasteful fossil fuel use ... These changes represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe.... it is imperative to act now, (Climate Change in the Conference statement, Changing Atmosphere Conference in 1988).Even after this deep concern was expressed, Mulroney did not begin to act.In June 1992, Mulroney signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change Convention, ratified the Convention in December 1992, and then proceeded to ignore the obligations incurred under the Convention and to never enact the necessary legislation to ensure compliance.The Mulroney government incurred obligations, not only under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but also under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

SEE:
The Tories Acid Rain Solution
Industrial Ecology
Capitalism Is Not Sustainable
The Carbon Market Myth
Saving Capitalism From Itself
Groupthink
Green Capitalism
Climate Catastrophe In Ten Years

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada,Green PM, Environment, acid rain,climate change, environment, global warming,Kyoto, Great Lakes, pollution, Brian Mulroney

Same Old Conservatives

They may have dropped the Progressive from their name but the Harper Conservative Government suddenly looks just like the old Brian Mulroney Conservative party. Coincidence? I think not.

Conservatives ensuring federal cash spent in Quebec, big time

Ministers Prentice and Fortier announced Boeing money being spread to Quebec today: Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) says it has awarded contracts worth more than $420 million to companies in Quebec, linked to the Canadian government's 2007 order for four C-17 Globemaster 3 aircraft.The first two long-distance transport planes are already in service with Canadian Forces, having been used to support the military in Afghanistan.As part of the original order, Boeing agreed to match the price of the four aircraft with dollar-for-dollar investments in Canada through a program co-ordinated by Industry Canada....Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin also announced Monday it is providing Quebec companies with contracts worth a total of $240 million.Federal Public Works Minister Michael Fortier and Industry Minister Jim Prentice made the announcement at a news conference in nearby Laval.

Junior MacKay: "we're going to be getting our share"

The bounty spreads as we get word of a Tuesday announcement of more federal spending, following up on Monday's Quebec spending with respect to those military contracts for new transport aircraft. The Conservatives look to shore up Nova Scotia with some good old fashioned sprinkling of federal funds: Atlantic Canadian aerospace companies will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in defence contracts as the result of a move to replace the military's Hercules transport aircraft, two federal cabinet ministers are expected to announce Tuesday.The announcement of funding to aerospace companies in Nova Scotia will be made by Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

And remember this.....

Reports of Quebec getting Boeing spinoffs premature: Toews

Last Updated: Thursday, January 25, 2007

Treasury Board president Vic Toews denied reports that Ottawa may give Quebec a bigger share of a $3.5-billion federal contract for military aircraft — a bigger share that Manitoba worries might come at its own industry's expense.

The federal government is discussing a deal with Boeing Corp. to buy four new C-17 cargo planes.

While the Boeing airplanes would be built in the U.S., the federal deal hinges on Boeing pledging to spend an amount equal to the purchase price on projects in Canada.

About 20 per cent of the benefits could go to Western Canada. But earlier this week, federal Public Works Minister Michel Fortier said in published reports that he would not sign the contracts unless Quebec receives the biggest share.

Toews, the Conservative MP for Provencher in Manitoba, said Thursday that the reports are premature and "are completely without foundation.

The Conservatives remain the party of the Big Lie and Big Liars.


SEE

Stephen Mulroney

Stephen Mulroney Brian Harper

Canada's Real Prime Minister

Not Your Daddies Conservative Party, well...

Mulroney's Ghost

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, government, Conservatives, Stephen Harper, Brian Mulroney,
Quebec, government, Quebeckers, Quebecois,

The Week That Was

I took some time off this week. I could say I was being productive, well sort of. I read, I shopped for Xmas. and I got caught up in playing an online multiplayer role playing game; Fallen Sword.

In other words besides being busy at work I goofed off instead of blogging. Mind you that does not mean I did not pay attention to the wonderful world of politics this week. And so I will do a little update here of the week that was. Or at least my interpretation of it.

LIARS CLUB

Well after hearing Karlheinz Schrieber tell his side of the cash for Thiesen weapons systems story, apparently paying off Brian Mulroney after he left office but making the deal while he was in office. It got all very complicated. Before the Star Chamber of the Ethics Committee of Parliament Schrieber insisted that the Liberals had been wrong all along. As had Stevie Cameron. It had nothing to do with Air Bus. Nope it was all about Thiesen and their Light Armoured Vehicles that they wanted to manufacture in the Maritimes. It was about weapons. And Mulroney took cold hard cash to promote weapons. A weapons system that he himself kaboshed when it turned out that it would cost taxpayers a 100 million dollars.

So this week BM showed up before the Star Chamber and contradicted Schrieber. He didn't get $300,000 in thousand dollar bills, he got $225,000. And he kept $75,000, the initial retainer, in a safety deposit box. But he did eventually declare and pay taxes on $300,000. He did meet Schrieber twice while in office, once for coffee at 24 Sussex Drive and once at his PM get away cabin. But shucks that was just a social call, anyone of us could have visited him.

The whole thing showed that both these characters are liars and scoundrels. It just so happens that one of them was once the PM. The other a gun runner.

Now anywhere else in the world a gun runner putting a PM of a country on a retainer to sell weapons would raise an eyebrow or two.

But not in Canada. And it wasn't about Airbus. At least they both agreed on that. Nope it was about Theisen and promoting LAV's. And the deal was cooked up while Mulroney was still in office but concluded once he left. And with cold hard cash there is no paper trail.

Now lets not forget that this was the same Brian Mulroney who got appointed a director of Archer Daniel Midlands, and that company was plagued with a price fixing scandal at the time. And low and behold if ADM didn't buy out Robin Hood Mills of Canada, thanks to Mulroney's FTA with Reagan.

Thats the kind of guy Mulroney is and was. So we should be shocked that he would be a gunzel for a gunrunner?

CTV YOUR BIAS IS SHOWING

For weeks prior to and finally the week of the Star Chamber revelations of Karl and Brian, Craig Oliver of CTV Question Period and Mike Duffy sounded like Conservative hacks. First they complained this was all old news. Then as revelations were made by Karl, Mike dismissed them. Both of them characterized the hearings as a clown show. In fact they insisted, despite facts proving it was anything but, on reporting it as such. Now what got their knickers in a twist?

Surprising and shocking revelations that came from Karl as reported on all the other channels became irrelevant ramblings according Mike. He spent more time dismissing Karl than the Conservatives did.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Wednesday the Taser report on the RCMP was released but it was lost in all the news coverage of the 'Waiting For Brian' Story. On Thursday as the Mulroney Royal Entourage came before the Star Chamber, the Conservatives finally released their Pavier Report on Polling.

Remember that. Well this could be why they delayed the report and then released it on the day Brian was testifying. Tories spend more on polling now than Liberals did
Meanwhile Stockwell Day was nowhere to be found on Parliament Hill. Neither Wednesday when the damning Taser Report came out, calling it a lethal weapon.

RCMP watchdog demands tougher rules on Tasers
Canadians 10 times more likely to be Tasered to Death by Police then Americans

Nor was he around on Friday when the RCMP Investigation Report came out.

Task force says RCMP should be 'separate entity'


RCMP JUST ANOTHER PUBLIC SERVICE

The Task Force revealed that the RCMP is just another group of public sector workers. Yes there was the usual media and pundit comments about the iconic nature of the RCMP, blah, blah. But when you look closely at the report you see that the RCMP is no different than any other public sector workers. They are over worked, putting in unpaid overtime. The force has allocated for increased staffing but never hired personnel. RCMP officers are doing data entry that should have been done by data entry clerks, but of curse those positions were never filled. Working Alone is dangerous for most workers, and many provinces have Working Alone legislation. Of course the RCMP deaths recently in the North shows that these workers share something in common with their civilian counterparts. Due to cost savings, the bottom line, they are put in the way of danger that has ended up with fatalities. Cost cutting, cutbacks, unfilled positions are all the legacy of the neo-con attack on the public sector in the nineties. And the RCMP are public sector workers just like their civilian counterparts. The report talks about the need for civilian oversight, for making the RCMP autonomous and giving them access to the the oversight commission for complaints. What it failed to recommend was a real grievance procedure and an authentic new form of staff relations, that is they failed to recommend unionization of the RCMP.

CSIS BEAT THEM TO IT

The revelation that the CIA destroyed waterboarding torture tapes reminded me that CSIS did the same thing with its wire tapping of the Air India conspirators twenty years ago. Nice to know Canada leads the way. Of course the CIA says it did it to protect the identities of its agents. Did CSIS do it for the same reason?

HYUK, HYUK, IT'S HUCKABEE

As your faithful wag predicted here Huckabee has come from the second tier to be a real threat to the leading Republican Presidential Candidates. That's because they believed their own press. While Huckabee appeals directly to the base of the party. He is one of them. And while he is he is also a Red Tory. A socially liberal politician in right wing garb. The Republican establishment hates him and have begun attacking him, as have media pundits like MSNBC Chris Matthews, that reminds us Huckabee endorses the Second Amendment because folks need guns to protect themselves from the Government. Watch for more smears as Huckabee support rallies in Iowa.

On the Sunday Talk Shows south of the Border the has been McCain who polls below Paul sometimes and is neck and neck with Thompson for falling out of the top tier, is being lauded as the guy who will win New Hampshire. Don't count on it. I predict given New Hampshire's libertarian bent that Paul will surprise folks more than any McCain comeback. After all he raised $3 million dollars online, in one day. A record for any politician. And that money makes him richer than McCain. As for Thompson, glad he didn't give up his acting career.

As for Democrats, Iowa will go to the guy who looks like JFK and talks like RFK. No not Obama, John Edwards. He has the machine in the state, and is everyone's number two choice. In Iowa being number two makes you number one in the caucus's and he has the organization to pull it off. Look for an upset.

PATRIARCHY KILLS

The death of teenage girl in Toronto made headlines. Her father allegedly killed her for being, well a Canadian teenager. You see she rejected her 'religious' faith. Or at least the symbol of womens oppression in that faith.The headscarf. No she wasn't Amish. She was a Muslim. Heck she could have been Christian or Jewish, or a Hindu. It matters not. These are all patriarchal religions who believe in the Father God, and God is the Father. Hence women and children and animals remain chattel to the husband. Secular, pluralist society is being besieged by the identity politics of the oppressors. Thousands of years of religious oppression led to the enlightenment and the revolutionary modernism. Today the forces of humanism face a determined opposition from those who would proclaim their backwards anti-human morality as justified in the name of cultural understanding and inclusiveness. Religion is Political, and always has been, and the battle for freedom is about freedom from religion, not just freedom for religion. Those who would claim that it is only Islam that is intolerant should look to their own holy books, to the divisions between men and women in their synagogues, temples, and churches that exist today. This could have happened to any teenage girl in Canada whose parents are religious zealots. In fact it is the reason we also have young girls and women having babies while denying they are pregnant, which has often ended in tragedy.


There we go a week of rants in one day.




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, government, Conservatives, Stephen Harper, Brian Mulroney,
Harper, Airbus Affair, Karlheinz Schreiber, Stevie Cameron, William Kaplan, CTV, GlobeandMail,
Canada, anti-terrorism act, Government, Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, War Measures Act, 1970, Arar, terrorism, crime, liberalism, state, statism, libertarian, civil liberties
Air, India,, John, Marshall,, RCMP,, CSIS,, Sikh,
Giuliano Zaccardelli, Zaccardelli, , RCMP, Resigns, Arar, Commisioner, Harper, Government, lawandorder, Conservatives, Parliament, MPs, Liberals,
Religion, babuskhka, Headscarves, Veils, Hajib, Patriarchy, Women, Church, Muslim, Catholic, Islam, burqa,
black bloc, Muslim, voting, Quebec, elections canada, Burka, Bikini, Damascus, Syria, feminism, Islam, women, liberation, empowerment
Religion, babuskhka,Headscarves, Veils, Hajib, Patriarchy, Women, Muslim, Islam,

From Lyin Brian To Litigious Brian

Pundits are asking why the old Mulroney Schreiber Airbus scandal is making news now.This is what happens when you publish your memoirs and start making front page news with your attacks on other party leaders. The press has a long memory.

Especially when you conveniently forget to mention you took a $300,000 kick back in cash that you failed to pay taxes on until much later. Even though this was 'news' back in 2003.

William Kaplan, A SECRET TRIAL, Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron, and the Public Trust, McGill-Queen’s, 2004

A SECRET TRIAL, wasn’t, I believe, written because Kaplan suffered a change of conviction about Brian Mulroney’s present status as an innocent in the Airbus Affair. It is a book of greater seriousness than that. Kaplan is a sophisticated lawyer, author, labour mediator, and a serious thinker about the viability of Canadian democracy.

Three matters, especially, conspired to re-focus Kaplan’s interest on the Mulroney record and the role played in it by Stevie Cameron. First he discovered that Brian Mulroney had not been candid with him, had perhaps deceived him, and perhaps deliberately. Kaplan had “unprecedented and unlimited access to Mulroney’s files” (p. viii), and to his person, during the research and writing of his defense of Mulroney book entitled Presumed Guilty, Brian Mulroney, the Airbus Affair, and the Government of Canada (1998). Kaplan recorded some of his conversations with Mulroney and quotes these to make his point in A SECRET TRIAL.

Kaplan concludes about the Mulroney/Karlheinz Schreiber relation: “I had been duped. Schreiber had been part of the Mulroney circle even before he [Mulroney] entered public life. In fact, he played an important behind-the-scenes role in Mulroney’s road to power.” (p. 13)

Kaplan was duped, the Liberal Government of the day was duped and so were the people of Canada. And so Schreiber languished in jail awaiting extradition to Germany out of sight out of mind. Then he start making noise. And the $300,000 cash payment made the news, again.

The CBC Fifth Estate digs it up again and reminds the public that Mulroney sued the Government of the Day, and the taxpayers forked over several million dollars for his retirement fund and oh yes he forgot to mention that little cash payment at that time.

The launch of Brian Mulroney's volume of memoirs was the publishing event of this year. But, in more than 1,000 comprehensive pages of anecdote and information there is one notable name missing--Karlheinz Schreiber--the German dealmaker at the centre of the darkest chapter of Mr. Mulroney's life. Linden MacIntyre and a fifth estate team report new revelations about the relationship between the two men as well as details about the attempt to cover the trail of the $300,000 cash the former Prime Minister received from Schreiber.

Mulroney review will consider bid to recoup cash from ex-PM

And when you value your personal reputation more than the political impact it will have you go from being Lyin' Brian to Litigious Brian.

Mulroney calls for public inquiry

No apology from Liberal MP sued by Mulroney

Mulroney's suit seeks $2 million in damages and punitive damages. Should he win the case, Mulroney wants the money to go to health care facilities in Ontario.

In the 1990s, Mulroney won a $2.1 million settlement from the government after police documents alleged he took kickbacks for the sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada in the 1980s.

Why is the Harper Government implicated? Simple when Harper created his transition team in the early days of February 2006 it was staffed by old Mulroney cronies. In particular Derek Burney who is now on the Harper Panel on Afghanistan. The apple does not fall from the tree.

This reminds us once again of why Brian Mulroney ended his term as PM being the most hated Canadian and leaving his party decimated. He also alienated his right wing base which gave rise to the Reform Party of Preston Manning and Stephen Harper. He made politics all about him. And he is doing it again. And he will take the New Conservative Party and its not so New Government down with him.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, government, Conservatives, Stephen Harper, Brian Mulroney,
Harper, Airbus Affair, Karlheinz Schreiber, Stevie Cameron, William Kaplan,

Rogues Gallery

Canadian Ambassadors to the U.S. to decide Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley will head the group, which includes:

• Derek Burney, Canada's former ambassador to Washington and former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney
• Respected broadcaster Pamela Wallin, who was Canadian consul general in New York
• Former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Jake Epp
• Paul Tellier, former Clerk of the Privy Council and former president and CEO of Canadian National Railway and Bombardier

• 
  

Talk about an old boys club. Shades of the old Mulroney government.

Manley is a hawk as is Burney, who was brought in by Harper to be his transition guy in the first six months of his government.

Epp was seen as a potential Evangelical Christian candidate for Alliance/Conservative Party leadership!

Jake Epp's distinguished white-haired image flashes onto the evangelical political radar screen. At 61 (the same age as your humble scribe) he is seen as a bridge between the past and present, the Alliance and the Conservatives, the evangelical world and the rest of the body politic.

Epp and Manley are political pals.

The election of the Ontario Liberal Party in 2003 delayed action on the Epp report. The government of Dalton McGuinty appointed Epp to the Ontario Power Generation Review headed by John Manley to examine the future role of Ontario Power Generation (OPG)

As are Wallin and Manley;

In 2001, Wallin, along with then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley, was one of the organizers of the "Canada Loves New York" rally for Canadians to show their support after the September 11, 2001 attacks (Manley ran in the New York City Marathon in 2001, a contributing factor to organize the rally). In 2003, Wallin and Senator Jerry Grafstein were honored by the Canadian Society of New York for their ongoing commitment to strengthening the ties between Canada and the United States.

Chain Saw Tellier was responsible for gutting jobs at CN and Bombadier, and in leading the privatization of CN when he was appointed by Mulroney.

And while there are token Liberals on this committee lets not forget the NDP adage; Liberal Tory Same Old Story.

There is a Conservative specter haunting Canada and it is the ghost of Brian Mulroney.

We will now take wagers, will they recommend we stay till 2011, 2014, 2020, or 2050?

Manley remains tight lipped!

Who are the panel members and what have they said about Afghanistan?

John Manley

Lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault firm in Toronto. MP for Ottawa South 1988-2004. Cabinet minister 1993-2003 (Industry, Foreign Affairs, deputy prime minister with special responsibility for national security, then Finance). Ran for Liberal leadership in 2003, but withdrew and endorsed Paul Martin.

"Whenever we asked Afghans what they thought ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] or Canada should do, they did not hesitate to say we must stay. Without the presence of the international forces, chaos would surely ensue. ... We often seek to define Canada's role in the world. Well, for whatever reason, we have one in Afghanistan. Let's not abandon it too easily. But let's use our hard-earned influence to make sure the job is done."

- October, 2007, issue of Policy Options.

Derek Burney

Chairman of Global CanWest Communications. Former diplomat (ambassador to Korea, Japan and the United States). Chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney 1987-93. Headed Mr. Harper's transition team in 2006.

"Until very recently, Canadians were essentially unaware of the reasons for our involvement in Afghanistan. The initial decision was taken in the immediate wake of 9/11, ostensibly as a commitment against global terrorism. But, when Canada accepted, almost by stealth, a much larger, more risky role more than a year ago to take charge of the multinational force in the volatile Kandahar region, there was little explanation, debate, or leadership at the time. Some suspected that it was meant primarily to help temper U.S. criticism of our decision not to engage in Iraq. Whatever the rationale, a leadership gap became more apparent. Not surprisingly, polls confirmed some confusion and growing apprehension about what we are doing in Afghanistan and why. Canadians may be proud of the role we used to play as blue-bereted peacekeepers but they seemed less certain and less proud of the more dangerous role we are taking on as peacemakers and nation builders."

- April 11, 2006, Arthur Kroeger College Awards Dinner, Ottawa.

Paul Tellier

Director of Alcan Inc. and BCE Inc. Trained as a lawyer. Joined federal civil service in the 1970s and rose to become Clerk of the Privy Council, the country's top civil servant, 1985-1991 under Mr. Mulroney. He left in 1992 when Mr. Mulroney appointed him president and CEO of CN Rail. In 2003, he took a three-year posting as president and CEO of Bombardier.

"Many Americans don't know that Canadian soldiers are fighting the war in Afghanistan, and are paying a dear price, some with their lives. Americans have a lot to learn about Canada, but the reverse is true as well."

- Sept. 28, 2006, keynote address at the second Annual CN Forum on Canada-U.S. Relations, Michigan State University.

Jake Epp

Chairman of the board of Ontario Power Generation and chairman of Health Partners International, a non-profit group providing medical aid in Afghanistan. The former school history teacher from Steinbach, Man., was a Conservative MP from 1972-1993. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the short-lived Joe Clark government in 1979 and Health and Energy Minister under Mr. Mulroney.

"Most Afghan doctors don't have medicine at all and when they do, it is often low quality and perhaps not what the bottle indicates. When an Afghan hospital received an impressive shipment of assorted medicines from HPIC, a doctor commented to our staff that now he had medicine that actually works."

- Nov. 14, 2006, at Beyond Our Borders signing ceremony in Toronto.

Pamela Wallin

Chancellor of the University of Guelph. Former TV journalist (co-host of Canada AM, CTV Ottawa bureau chief, co-host of CBC Prime Time News, host of Pamela Wallin Live). Consul-General in New York 2002-2006.

"From the U.S. perspective, the inability of the UN to act left the U.S. with no option but to protect itself from the future possibilities of another terrorist attack, aided and abetted by a rogue government in Iraq. And agree or not, for Americans the reality is that this war began on September 11. It's part of a continuum that runs through to the routing of the Taliban from Afghanistan, and moves forward to the war in Iraq - just another step along the path to remove terrorist threats around the globe."

- April 28, 2003, to a joint meeting of The Empire Club of Canada and The Canadian Club of Toronto.

See:

Dog Bites Man

No Time Lines For Afghanistan Exit

Harper On Executive Power

Stephen Mulroney

Stephen Mulroney Brian Harper

Canada's Real Prime Minister

Not Your Daddies Conservative Party, well...

Mulroney's Ghost

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, government, Conservatives, Harper, Mulroney, Prime Minister
Jake Epp, Pamela Wallin, John Manley, Paul Tellier, Derek Burney, Afghanistan

Mulroney Blew It

Mulroney's attack on Trudeau, who cannot defend himself from the grave, has insulted even Blogging Tories.

Mulroney shouldn't have slagged Trudeau in the press as a way to promote his book. It's in poor taste and does nothing to rehabilitate his own popularity, which was finally beginning to recover, albeit slowly.

Amen.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Quebec, government, draft dodger, Liberals, Conservatives, Mulroney Memoirs,
conscription, WWII, Trudeau, Mulroney,

Draft Dodger PM

Which Liberal Prime Minister was a Draft Dodger? Not who you think.

" As a child, I remember three main villains in Canada: one was Hitler, who was going to start a war - it was as inevitable as the sunrise; the second villain (not necessarily in this order) was the Treasury Board, which was depriving Canada of enough resources to get equipment for the military, to fight the threat of Hitler; and the third great villain was Mackenzie King, who was prime minister, and was not only a draft dodger in World War I, but had no sympathy and no understanding of, and no interest in, the military and as a consequence damaged Canada's future."

Peter Worthington

Of course considering the source this comment has as much validity as those of Brian Mulroney. It only goes to show that war mongering Conservatives hold grudges and never forget those who oppose them. Even if it means tarring them with the brush of appeasement and cowardice.

William Lyon Mackenzie King returned to Canada to run in the 1917 election, which focused almost entirely on the conscription issue, and lost again, due to his opposition to conscription, which was supported by the majority of English Canadians.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Liberal, Mackenzie King, draft dodger, Liberals, Conservatives, Peter Worthington, Prime Minister,
conscription, WWI, Trudeau, Mulroney,

Sore Loser

Brian Mulroney. Who else fills a section of one's autobiographical memoirs with excerpts of others works, retelling the Trudeau the Draft Dodger story, that has been a favorite of the right since it was revealed by the rabid anti-Trudeau neo-fascist Ron Gostick.

Within a few years, it became obvious that Ron Gostick’s warnings were more than valid. Not until the early ‘70s did a few right of centre journalists like Lubor Zink and Peter Worthington dare to say what Ron Gostick had said in 1968.

The extreme right was appalled at Trudeau's liberalism, and linked his past to his decision to support allowing draft dodgers into Canada during the Viet-Nam war.


Of course Mulroney is jealous because he took over Trudeau's mantle of most hated Canadian PM and despite all his recent PR, including a Blogging Tory spam assault on an online poll of worst Canadians, that is a title he is saddled with.

And all that vitriolic spittle and invective published in his Memoirs will not change that for Mssr. Mulroney. In his Memoir we again see the man revealed by Peter Newman.




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Quebec, government, draft dodger, Liberals, Conservatives, Ron Gostick, Mulroney Memoirs,
conscription, WWII, Trudeau, Mulroney, separatists,

Same Old Conservatives

Trudeau speaking about Mulroney, but it could equally apply to Harper.

With his sudden conversion to supporting "Quebec is a Nation,......within a united Canada"

That is why they are once again making common cause with the nationalists to demand special status for Quebec. That bunch of snivellers should simply have been sent packing and been told to stop having tantrums like spoiled adolescents. But our current political leaders lack courage. By rushing to the rescue of the unhappy losers, they hope to gain votes in Quebec; in reality, they are only flaunting their political stupidity and their ignorance of the demographic data regarding nationalism. It would be difficult to imagine a more total bungle.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, Quebec, government, Meech LakeLiberals, Conservatives, Quebeckers, Quebecois,
Quebec Nationalism, Pure Liane, Trudeau, Mulroney, separatists,

No Justice In Canada

There is no justice in Canada when it comes to war crimes or white collar crimes.

No charges to be laid in friendly-fire death of Canadian soldier

Bre-X case an "embarrassment" for Canadian law, says expert

Judge sets aside Mulroney ruling on $470000

Also See:

Friendly Fire

Scandal in the Alberta Stock Exchange

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Stock-Eschanges, Canda, economy, capitalism, Flaherty, Conservatives, Regulation, Stock-Regulation, SEC, TSX, Cornfeld, Bre-X, Skalbania, Lord-Black, crime, corporate-crime, corporation,
NDP, liberals, Afghanistan, PB, BT, Canada, Progressivebloggers, bloggingtories, blogs, blogging, bringthetroopshome, Layton,NDP, Layton, TroopsOut, Afghanistan, War, Harper, Conservatives, Liberals, Canada, politics, military, NATO, peacekeeping, Karzai, NDP, liberals, Afghanistan, PB, BT, Canada, Progressivebloggers, bloggingtories, blogs, blogging, bringthetroopshome, Layton,NDP, Layton, TroopsOut, Afghanistan, War, Harper, Conservatives, Liberals, Canada, politics, military, NATO, peacekeeping, Karzai, Liberals, Canada, Soldiers, Death, Injury, Afghanistan, Government, Politics, values,

Mulroney The Worst Canadian PM

Blogging Tories admit they rigged the Worst Canadian Poll at the Beaver Magazine; making sure that PET was named the Worst Canadian.

Of course they did since everyone knows the worst PM in Canadian history was Brian Mulroney.

Mulroney was selected as the worst prime minister for 21 per cent of respondents, followed by Chrétien with 17 per cent, Harper and Trudeau with 14 per cent each, Campbell and Martin with eight per cent each, Clark with four per cent, and John Turner with two per cent.

The Greatest Canadian of course was Tommy Douglas.

And my choice for Worst Canadian(s) did not win.

Nor did the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for the Beaver on-line poll especially since the magazine was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company, now a wholly owned American subsidiary.

The magazine is the voice of 'Canadian establishment' historians. Duh' Oh.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Beaver Magazine, Brian Mulroney, , Trudeau, Canada, Canadian History, Worst Canadian, online polling,

Blackstone Hi-jinx

Having appointed former PM the RH Brian Mulroney to the board, Blackstone the private equity hedge fund went public with an IPO. In the two weeks it has made no money on its posting in the stock market, but had paid off its CEO handsomely. This week it offered to buy out Hilton Hotels, with a bid that led to cries of insider trading. If any fallout occurs then Blackstone can always call on Mulroney to bail them out as he did with ADM.

Since the close on its first full day of trading on June 22nd, Blackstone Group (BX) has not finished a single session in positive territory.

Blackstone, whose founder Stephen Schwarzman pocketed $677 million from his IPO's proceeds.

Shares of Hilton Hotels Corp. rose 6.44% to close at $36.05 Tuesday -- ahead of the announcement of the company's sale to the Blackstone Group for approximately $20 billion in cash. After the close, Blackstone said it would pay $47.50 per share for Hilton, a 32% premium. The pre-news rise -- the shares' strongest surge since 2005 -- has prompted calls of insider trading.

Although much of the attention on Blackstone has centered on CEO and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman, it is Hamilton "Tony" James who runs the firm, his hand on everything from private equity deals to real estate transactions to advisory work.

As Blackstone's No. 2, the pressure is on James to lead the firm through its new chapter as a public company and steer the massive money machine through the rough waters facing private equity firms.

With the private equity industry booming, James earned more than the CEOs of Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) combined last year and his stake in the firm is currently worth $1.55 billion after its June IPO -- a huge amount considering his riches have come neither as a chief executive nor a company founder.

The billions Blackstone's top executives raked in through the $4 billion IPO however, attracted the scrutiny of lawmakers, who proposed legislation to jack up the firm's tax bill.

"I'm worried about the fact that private equity has grown so quickly and so fast that it's made itself a natural target for speculation and resentment," James said at the Reuters Investment Banking Summit in November. "It has made a lot of money."

Also worrying are investor doubts about Blackstone's high valuation and a pullback in the credit markets, factors that have sent shares of the company lower since their debut.

See:

The Ethanol Scam: ADM and Brian Mulroney

Criminal Capitalism Business As Usual

Gambling On Your Future

Criminal Capitalism Redux

Golden Parachutes

Rich Getting Richer

CEO Cream Sour Milk for Workers

Criminal Capitalism The Story of 2006

White Collar Crime Reporter 1

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
criminology, corporate-crime, white-collar-crime, sociology, fraud, ADM, Blackstone, Mulroney, scandal, criminal-capitalism, workers, employees, theft, crime,
Hilton, IPO, Canada,
CEO, pay, goldenparachutes, Corporations, fatcats, rich, superrich,