Beijing, Making Friends and Influencing People

Chinese ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu. Justin Tang/CP

"...Of course we have to be careful about our external environment in the South China Sea. It is generally stable but the U.S. is trying to make trouble in the region."

"The U.S. is selling advanced weaponry [to Taiwan] and trying to undermine our national security. [China is only doing what] any responsible sovereign country is entitled to do] by placing its military on alert."

"If Canadians care about the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, including the 300,000 Canadian passport holders there, they should support efforts to fight violent crime to make sure the one country, two systems is constantly and comprehensively implemented in Hong Kong."

"I suggest people here take an objective and fair view of what is happening in Hong Kong, and make sure not to interfere in China's domestic affairs."

Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu

"Our communities are actually being actively harassed, bullied and intimidated on Canadian soil. They're worried about who to vote for ... they're worried that their MLAs aren't aware of CCP influence on Canadian soil."

"This isn't a special interest thing for us, our communities are very motivated to campaign and speak up for politicians that are standing up against CCP [Chinese Communist Party] influence, for our own safety."

Jody Chan, volunteer: Canada Tibet Committee, Canada Frends of Hong Kong, Alliance Canada Hong Kong

"The Chinese Communist Party is not just a threat to people within China. The Chinese government looks at municipal and provincial governments as a way of spreading its influence [in Canada]."

"The public want to know which of their candidates [in upcoming British Columbia election] in this election stand for Canadian values and stand for B.C. interests as opposed to those of a hostile foreign power."

"This is an issue that British Columbians especially care about since we are on the Pacific Rim and this is an issue that's not going to fly under the radar anymore."

Lee Haber, Volunteer: No BC for Xi, Alliance Canada Hong Kong

Hong Kong protests, police firing tear gas.  USAToday.com

"If you look at it [sale of TMAC gold mine to Shandong Chinese interests] from a security and military point of view, the concerns would be they have physical assets on the ground in the Arctic."

Pierre Leblanc, private consultant, military Arctic experience

A national security review is being undertaken of a state-owned Chinese company's proposed buy-out of Canada's TMAC Resources Inc., operating a struggling gold mine in Nunavut. China-based Shandong Gold Mining Co.Ltd. is interested in obtaining the mine that comes complete with infrastructure including a port, an airstrip and a processing plant ... reflective of China's increasing presence in the Canadian Arctic. With that infrastructure China would have the potential to service its ships in Arctic waters.

The port itself could be purposed to bring in large equipment, serving as a place to monitor conversations or Canada's early warning radar system based in the Arctic. "We expected that there probably would be a national security review", ceded Jason Neal, chief executive of TMAC, the mine owner which estimates its operations would need $700 million in investments, and is willing to sell their gold mine to Shandong for $215 million. China's concentration on exploitation of assets and raw materials worldwide is never-ending.

But that these activities interfere in the sovereignty of the countries it courts is, of course, simply wrong, for China never surreptitiously acts to gain influence and territorial advantage wherever it can in its march of conquest. In Canada, Chinese-Canadian communities have been monitored by China, harassed and threatened, and this too is entirely within China's legitimate purview of its rights according to Beijing and the various ambassadors that have been posted to Canada who love to teach Canada about what's good for it through Beijing's benevolent interest.

China has for quite a few years both openly and subtly exerted its influence within Canadian institutions, from its political contacts, friendship societies and investments in Canadian universities with The Confucius Institute. It has persuaded schools in Canada to place on their curriculum Chinese language and cultural programs so that Canadians can better know and appreciate China, its history and its culture. Not, under any other circumstances, a bad thing, but in this instance, reflecting a bid by China for greater influence in the West.

At a recent news conference when Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu was asked for an explanation about comments made by President Xi Jinping that national troops prepare for war, it was viewed with alarm outside China, but according to the ambassador, merely his country like any other, looking to its interests. Peaceful development is what motivates China, nothing more, nothing less, and all within international law. The video conference was meant to celebrate 50 years of Canada-China relations.

Not much to celebrate, lately, with the death penalty meted out to four Chinese Canadians ostensibly on drug-trafficking charges. And certainly not taking into account the imprisonment of two Canadian businessmen, charged with espionage and held incommunicado for over two years, in obvious retaliation for Canada holding Meng Wanzhou of Huawei on an extradition warrant by the United States. Beijing has vigorously denied, through its series of ambassadors, that the Michaels, Kovrig and Spavor, are hostages for the release of Meng.

Yet Ambassador Cong stated that Canada and China can "work to strive to open more bright prospects", once the Meng "grave political incident" is resolved. He iterated that Canada is behaving as "an accomplice" to the U.S. in detaining Meng since the Americans are engaging in "power politics and unilateralism" for the purpose of destroying Huawei. China, on the other hand, is a "builder of world peace", an "upholder of the international order". As for Kovrig and Spavor, rest assured: "The judicial process ... will unfold in due course".

 

Michael Kovrig (left) and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians detained in China, are shown in these 2018 images taken from video. Photo by File photo /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

One reporter had the gross temerity to enquire of the confidently loquacious ambassador if his intention in raising the fate of the quarter-million Canadian-Chinese passport-holders in Hong Kong as a possible threat, to which he responded "That is your interpretation", a follow up which would certainly be, then why mention them in that particular context? 

Canada: Indigenous Residents and 'Settler Population'

"[This blockade and encampment represents a protest] to protect and save the land for our future generations who will have nowhere to live and prosper if the settler population continues to unlawfully encroach upon our lands."                   "The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council is opposed to this development and as the holder of collective rights for the Haudenosaunee people has not granted any type of consent which would allow this development to proceed."         "The Council holds rights collectively on behalf of the Haudenosaunee." Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council

"We are exposed to acts of domestic terrorism at least twice a year. Does anyone outside our rural county care?"                                                                         "Where else in Ontario do citizens endure almost constant blockades of their roads and the railways, and have tire fires lit across their main thoroughfare as well as the bypass to the town?"                                                                               Resident, Caledonia housing development, Ontario

"[I] encourage all sides and each and every person involved to carefully consider the actions they take and the impacts those actions will have on the situation." Mark Hill, elected chief, Six Nations

OPP closed the road as a group of protesters lit tires on Highway 6 near Argyle Street in Caledonia, Ont. Lisa Polewski / 900 CHML

"The OPP took a measured, professional and safe approach while assisting with enforcement of the court injunction."                                                                      "As a result of demonstrators that then went onto Argyle Street North in Caledonia, OPP have closed Argyle Street North between Highway 6 and Braemar Avenue for public safety and to assist in maintaining traffic flow in the area. The Highway 6 by-pass between Argyle Street North and Greens Road is also closed."                     OPP Constable Rodney LeClair

Caledonia, about 10 km distant from Hamilton, Ontario, is once again in the news. An old standoff that took place earlier when a land dispute between Indigenous people in southwestern Ontario and a land developer, led to blockades, encampments, and violent protests, finally settled when the province bought out the developer and handed the land in question to the tribal authorities. Bad feelings tend not to evaporate when people living in a suburban development are threatened, face violence and intimidation as was the case with the original Caledonia protest.

Caledonia is now on repeat. A new encampment named 1492 Land Back Lane in place since mid-July, established on McKenzie Meadows -- a site where a developer has plans to build 218 homes on 25 acres, where home buyers had expectations of moving into their new homes come the fall, is the focus of the occupation of parcels of land on the acreage, leading to a halt in construction, despite a court-ordered injunction that construction could proceed.

The 2006 standoff between earlier developers and the Six Nations of the Grand River ignited protests, saw tire-burning and residents forced to run a daily blockade to leave and get back to their homes. There were incidents of violence resulting to injuries. Indigenous 'warriors' were adamant they had no intention of leaving, and the 'settlers' had better get used to it. Neither the government of the day nor the Ontario Provincial Police had any wish to apply the law, remove the threats along with the warriors and rescue residents from the dilemma they were facing.

Until the province agreed to abort the subdivision project, leaving the disputed land in the hands of the Indigenous community. A new developer, Foxgate Developments more latterly purchased a new tract of land at McKenzie Meadows through consultations with the Six Nations elected council. The elected leadership of Six Nations had agreed to support the development project according to documents filed in court. The issue now is that elected chiefs are in full agreement of the land being developed for residential purposes, while the hereditary chiefs oppose it leaving the developer to struggle between both.

Foxgate Developments' entirely legal purchase of the land in question from the democratically elected chiefs acting on behalf of the people they represent is now in limbo; a replay of the earlier drama that had degenerated into intimidation, threats and violence, where the province refused to step in and authorize the OPP to protect the lawful activity of a developer and those who had purchased homes and had every expectation of living in them without constant harassment.

Rocks could be heard hitting police vehicles as Ontario Provincial Police officers are slowly pushed back by a large group of indigenous protesters gather in Caledonia over the noon hour on Wednesday August 5, 2020. Earlier in the morning, a large contingent of police removed protesters occupying a nearby residential construction site, prompting supporters from the nearby Six Nations of the Grand River Territory to arrive. (Brian Thompson/Postmedia Network)

Earlier in the month the blockade had been cleared, arrests taking place when Ontario Provincial Police took steps to enforce a court-ordered injunction at the site permitting development of areas of the site to continue and the locked roads to be cleared. The parcels of land that had been illegally occupied were cleared to enable development to proceed. Locals had been frustrated by the lack of action by the OPP, and even at the present time, portions of area highways have been closed.

Over the summer, the cleared camp has been gradually re-occupied; the OPP dismantling overturned. These recurring, dangerous face-offs lead back to various levels of government not having concluded good-faith bargaining with the Indigenous populations, finally settling grievances and land rights after hundreds of years. The site, part of the Haldimand Tract, was given to members of the Haudenosaunee nation in 1784 in acknowledgement of their having fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War.

The courts are still struggling with details of land ownership in that tract, remaining under dispute reflecting 29 separate claims focusing on land loss and assets over the years. Little wonder Indigenous peoples are frustrated and angry, when it's long past time that any questions revolving around land claims should have reached an agreeable compromise between governments and the Indian nations.

About 10 tents dotted the site on August 12, along with the frame of a structure demonstrators have said will be used as a kitchen. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

Trying to be Prime Ministerially Relevant

"Whether it's pulling back of his engagement in the Donbass or leaving Crimea, whether it's taking responsibility for ... the important questions that the U.K. has asked after the terrible poisoning incident a few weeks ago in Salisbury, whether it's questions around NATO, questions around Syria, questions around the Arctic [Russia and Vladimir Putin in specific is due to show some positive behaviour on the world stage]."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the media at Sussex Regional High School in Sussex, N.B. on Thursday, March 22, 2018. The Russian Embassy is firing back at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for criticizing President Vladimir Putin at a press conference this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

"We regret PM Trudeau's confrontational rhetoric at yesterday's Toronto press conference prompted by U.K. slanderous Russophobic hysteria."
"This language of ultimatums is totally unacceptable & counterproductive, especially for bilateral dialogue on important issues, like the Arctic."
Russian attache, Russian Embassy, Ottawa, Canada

Russia in Canada ✔ @RussianEmbassyC

We regret PM Trudeau’s confrontational rhetoric at yesterday’s Toronto press-conference prompted by UK slanderous Russophobic hysteria. This language of ultimatums is totally unacceptable & counterproductive, especially for bilateral dialogue on important issues, like the Arctic.

12:59 PM - Mar 22, 2018

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"The prime minister made a tiny mistake and a junior diplomat picked up on it. End of story."
"The Arctic is one of just a couple of places where Russian-Western co-operation remains good."
"[The Twitter account rebutting the prime minister's statement is run by a press secretary] who is a very active tweeter -- you might even call him a troll."
"Yes, he is an employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but he is a long way from the centre."
Michael Byers, Arctic expert, Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law, University of British Columbia

There's Justin Trudeau, exchanging his clown's cap and internationally exchangeable costume wardrobes in cultural appropriation passing as 'respect', for the veneer of an intellectual and sturdy upholder of international stabilization between the governments of world powers, yearning to reverse the damage he willfully brought in government-to-government relations between Canada and India. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the courage of his convictions preferring to deliver a more apt and particular message personally, face to face.

It was beneath Stephen Harper's dignity as the prime minister of Canada to masquerade himself as a Bollywood actor on his visit to India, which was a state and stately affair not a sham trade event of great moment staged by Trudeau that made a mockery of Canada as a nation whose governance was one to be reckoned with. Trudeau chose not only to embarrass Canada by his mawkish stage-managing to appeal to a voting bloc in Canada, but when his stupidity in parading his good relations with a convicted attempted assassin of an Indian Minister made inconvenient headlines, blaming India for engineering it.

Now, while the Parliamentarian opposition is heating up his seat to burn his backside over that crassly notorious bungle, Trudeau has hoisted his trousers to confront -- at a safe distance -- another government. Not that that other government's actions on a multitude of fronts doesn't call out for confrontation, simply that Trudeau isn't the one to do it. He has little credibility either at home or at large in the international community which hasn't yet stopped laughing uproariously at the colourfully silk-clad Trudeau family disporting themselves at the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

Slapping together a sanctimonious accusation bundling Ukraine, election interference in the United States, and the use of a chemical poisoning agent in Salisbury against a former Russian intelligence agent who acted for MI6, and sticking Arctic sovereignty into the grievance-and-accusation list simply represents yet another demonstration of his lack of knowledge, of intelligence, and of maturity. That Parliament adopted a motion holding Russia to account for the nerve gas attack against Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia should have sufficed.

Trudeau himself feeling that he can add weight to the solemn rejection of thuggery on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin simply portrays himself as an adolescent me-too aspirant to influence on the world stage. He should stick to what he knows and does best; thrilling young girls with his august presence as the world's premier "feminist" with his endless agenda of advancing women's rights and social engineering in every single aspect of governmental and business processes throughout the world community.

Yawn.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau watches children working on small robotics in Toronto on Wednesday, March 21, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Chasing a Ghost

"We can't figure out ... whether there was a smaller oxygen content than we needed or a carbon monoxide event or poison in the gas [or] something that came off of a bearing so you're breathing toxic air."
"[The intractable problem in the oxygen system of the Boeing Super Hornets is like] chasing a ghost."
Rear-Admiral Michael Manazir

Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet / Ralph Duenas, Jetwash Images

The problems with the Super Hornet are so grave, so dangerous to the pilots flying them, one might think the new government of Canada under the Liberals would take heed and turn away from their plan to bypass the superior fighter jet produced by Lockheed Martin, to ensure that the country has a reliable and technologically updated machine for its air force.

Simply put, the onboard oxygen system of the Super Hornets doesn't pass the vital test of providing a pilot-safe fighter jet, a situation that the U.S. is struggling with in view of the number of American pilots reporting serious oxygen problems while flying those planes. These are the fighter jets the Liberal government is inclined to commit to, bypassing the CF-35 advanced fighter jet that most other NATO countries have chosen.

The point is that Canada too chose the CF-35 as the superior model whose technology addressed the needs of modern warfare. The sticking point was price, but as more countries came on board ordering their own numbers as needed, prices declined to the point where they are now comparable with the much inferior Super Hornet. But it is because the former Conservative-led government chose the CF-35 that the Liberals balk now at completing the deal.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo courtesy Lockheed Martin photographer Andy Wolfe

This is what is called 'cutting off your nose to spite your face', and it exemplifies the overall attitude of the Justin Trudeau government in its juvenile rejection of anything initiated by the Conservatives. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed the CF-35 "does not work"; choosing instead to bypass a competition for new jets and go with the Super Hornets.

This is the plane whose dysfunction led a U.S. congressional subcommittee to raise the issue of dozens of "physiological episodes", with the occurrence rate of those episodes on the increase. The U.S. Navy's Super Hornets and older F-18 Hornets, similar to Canada's ageing CF-18s, have been afflicted with oxygen loss and depressurization, a dysfunction whose source and solution has eluded investigators.

Loss of oxygen (hypoxia) is a gradual process in pilots; instead of quickly passing out, pilots will feel confusion or vertigo as though they're drunk, before loss of consciousness occurs. This process has raised alarms, that pilots would not recognize symptoms of hypoxia until it's too late to react and take measures to save themselves and the aircraft. No fatality has yet occurred stemming from these "physiological effects" since 2011.

An article published recently in the Navy Times, however, reports on the U.S. Navy, stating that military personnel are concerned with the growing number of incidents. At least 14 deaths in the past twenty years attributed to oxygen loss and decompression sickness is the issue at hand. A Boeing spokesperson confirmed the oxygen problem, that it was a "complex issue" that Boeing is working on with the U.S. Navy.

And this is the plane that the Liberal government in Canada is claiming will fit the bill in replacing Canada's ageing jet fighters.

A Cypriot Marriage of Egyptian Hell

"Most of the media painted a picture of romance in which a man was trying to reach out to his estranged wife. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. They would have a different opinion if they knew what he was really like."
"It was a marriage of hell with threats, beatings, torture and fear. He was a man who knew how to inflict fear and to create misery around him. He was unbalanced and a scary person."
"This man never cared for his children for one minute, either when he lived here or when he went away. He only offered pain, misery and terror. And even now when he’s in police custody, my children and I are afraid."
Marina Paraschou, Cyprus

EgyptAir plane hijacking suspect Seif Eddin Mustafa, second left, is escorted by
Cyprus police officers as he leaves a court after a remand hearing as authorities
investigate him on charges including hijacking, illegal possession of explosives
and abduction in the Cypriot coastal town of Larnaca Wednesday, March 30, 2016
(AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Authorities in Cyprus are still attempting to determine how it was that Egyptian Seif Mustafa was able to pass the fake explosives belt he wore through airport security in Egypt. They have asked the assistance of Interpol. Egyptian authorities would prefer this matter to be ignored altogether. The question of security at Egyptian airports has its uncomfortable reference in the passenger jet that exploded en route from the Egyptian Sinai to St.Petersburg with all lives on board lost.

It seems that the man arrested for hijacking an EgyptAir plane heading to Cyprus is not the mentally addled innocent he has been made out to be by Cypriot authorities who jokingly referred to him as a love-lost man missing his wife and setting out to be reunited with her. Whatever his true intentions were it was not to be reunited with a woman who loathed and feared him and whom he himself had little interest in, as a husband and the father of their children.

He was, according to his ex-wife, an abusive drug addict who gloatingly helped to carry out a death trap for three Israeli soldiers as a member of a Palestinian terrorist group. After Seif Eldin Mustafa, 59, made his demands of Cypriot authorities, he was taken into custody once the passengers of the plane were released after a long standoff with police led to his surrender. Which was when he was being portrayed as a love-lost naif.


Marina Paraschou described her ex-husband as a "fanatical" supporter of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization, who had bragged that he had taken part in the killing of three Israeli soldiers and later spent four years in a Syrian prison. They were married in 1985 when she was 20, and divorced five years later. Contact had been made since then once only when she called to let him know that their teenage daughter of the four children they had together had been killed in a car accident.

Ms. Paraschou recalled bitterly what his response had been: "What do I care? It doesn’t matter she was 
killed", he had said. They had lived together in her parents' home, she said. Her ex-husband had never
worked and when he was unable to support his drug habit, he beat their children. The marriage, she
said, was "the darkest period in my life".

An EgyptAir Airbus A-320 sits on the tarmac of Larnaca airport after it was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus on March 29, 2016 (AFP/BEHROUZ MEHRI)

After their divorce he went to live in Egypt and four years later was imprisoned for forgery and fraud. He broke out of prison during the 2011 Egyptian revolution that had brought former President Hosni Mubarak into prison. And while Cypriot officials described the man as "psychologically unstable", a man who had demanded the release of 63 female dissidents from Egyptian imprisonment, the ordeal ended finally with the man's arrest and passengers and crew safely released.

According to the Egyptian minister of the interior the man had a long criminal record stretching back to 1988. And in Cyprus he had been convicted on six counts of passport forgery, handed a suspended sentence and deported to Egypt on the basis of domestic violence charges brought by his ex-wife. Using an assume Qatari identity he re-entered Cyprus, and was then once again deported back to Egypt in 1990. It seems neither Cyprus nor his ex-wife can rid themselves of this human pestilence.

Little wonder, given his track record as a miserable, violent and wretched human being that Ms. Paraschou and her children are fearful of this man, so much so that even his temporary return to prison is no reassurance to them that they can be shut of his sociopathic attentions.

Money Roars!

"I think the important thing in something like this is that we live in a democracy. People are entitled to pursue whatever political visions that they have, but once they make that decision they have to sever totally their relationship with any public corporation. Mr. Peladeau understood that, he submitted his resignation from all of his involvement in Quebecor and we accepted his resignation."
former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney

Quebecor Inc. president and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau, right, talks with former prime minister Brian Mulroney during the company's annual general meeting in Montreal Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

"The whole scheme is predicated on (Peladeau) being able to take a leave of absence as it were, without losing value. Mr. Mulroney's value is to maintain the value of that company so that at some point Peladeau or his heirs can benefit."
"Given the fact that he's been associated with that company for many years he probably knows the company very well. ... Mr. Peladeau would feel a degree of reassurance that it won't all go down the tubes. If all of that is correct, objectively, that puts Brian Mulroney in the position of enabling, facilitating, assisting Peladeau's current activities."
"I find it a bit strange when we're talking about the future of Canada, and we're talking about a former prime minister of Canada, and we're talking about a former prime minister of Canada who went to great efforts on the national unity front."
Norman Spector, former Mulroney chief of staff  1990 - 1992

Nothing makes stranger bedfellows than money, if money is to be attained. Say, for example, a prime minister playing familiar with a well-known shady character who acts as a lobbyist for a foreign arms manufacturer with plenty of persuasive-money to lavish on those who can advance his agenda. Imagine, if you can, a prime minister of impeccable tradition, trading in honour for several hundred thousand dollars of unexplained provenance courtesy of that same gamey lobbyist.

That's the same man who befriended and brought into his cabinet while in office, a man who would be so disillusioned by the failure of Meach Lake, a Brian Mulroney solution to Quebec's disaffection with Canada, that he would give birth to a federal separatist party which the Canadian taxpayer would be destined to pay for while Lucien Bouchard busied himself channeling his energies into partnering with the Parti Quebecois to achieve secession from Canada.

His choice of friends more or less define the man, perhaps. Take, for example his friendship with Quebecor's founder, Pierre Peladeau, a friendship that goes way, way back, despite the knowledge that this man was a committed sovereigntist, a confidant of Rene Levesque. This man dedicated to the separation of Quebec from Confederation dined at 24 Sussex Drive as befits the courtesy bestowed on those with money and influence.

Brian Mulroney as a purported mentor to Pierre Karl Peladeau recently confessing to a passion for sovereignty and offering himself as a power-candidate for the Parti Quebecois for the upcoming election for the very purpose of fomenting for separation, did not do a very good job of mentoring the  younger Peladeau. Perhaps he failed to make a persuasive enough argument for Canadian unity.

Mr. Mulroney, as a high-priced corporate lawyer with a prestigious law firm in Quebec, likes the power, influence and money he garners through his close connections of a secessionist kind. Although one should hesitate to describe him as a sanctimonious hypocrite, journalists claim him to be 'upset' and 'disappointed' with Peladeau's sovereigntist disclosure and decision to join the separatist party, transforming himself from a media baron to a political figure.

Despite which, however, he plans to avoid any further political comment. He plans to stay on in his involvement with Quebecor. For it is to this patriotic Canadian's monetary advantage. There is no motive like the Profit Motive to persuade people who value it of the choices they must make. Mulroney is the vice-chairman of Quebecor's board of directors. He earns an undisclosed sum in legal fees, acting on the company's behalf in legal matters, as well as earning $244,520 in direct board compensation.

As a partner at Norton Rose he is "principal legal counsel to the corporation", where Quebecor represents Mulroney's biggest client at the law firm. Stock options owned by Mr. Mulroney in Quebecor are adjudged to the value of $1,115,669. Imperil all that just to stand up for Canadian unity?

Perish the very thought. Are you completely mad?

The Inconvenience of Political Life

"This government, and unfortunately this House of Commons, tends to be focused on attacks and insults much more than on the service that Canadians are expecting of the parliamentarians and their representatives."
"People are struggling. And they want people who are listening to them, who are proposing solutions."
"But at the same time, you don't have to step too far away from the bubble of Ottawa to realize that Canadians aren't particularly focused on what happens here. They're focused on what's going on in their lives."
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau needs to discipline himself, to focus on what's going on in his professional life. In that way, he could learn something from the people with whom he communicates while out stumping, whom he perceives as being focused on "what's going on in their lives". To serve them better, he should be appearing more often in Parliament to serve in the role he was popularly voted into.

Justin Trudeau feels called to present himself as an approachable, public celebrity. He enjoys attention, he feels entitled to meet and greet and listen sympathetically to peoples' complaints. Not that Canadians have all that much to complain about in a country with a sound economic foundation and where employment is available for the most part, and we enjoy peace and security and abundance.

They may not, in their aggregate, be focused on what happens in Parliament, but they most certainly expect their elected lawmakers to be focused on what they were sent to Ottawa for, to take their MPs'
undivided attention. Mr. Trudeau may call what he's doing, circulating his presence in the public arena rather than the House of Commons as useful, but useful to what end other than electioneering?

He is simply far more suited, given his outgoing personality and people-skills to be sociable, rather than cooping himself in the House for Question Period, a big bore. He hasn't had the good fortune to be able to project in the House of Commons. His presentations are pallid and unconvincing,k quite unlike the probing questions and jibes the government suffers under the leader of the official opposition.

Who, quite unlike Justin Trudeau, is not as photogenic, but certainly quotable. Mr. Trudeau speaks of proposing solutions to the struggles of ordinary people, but the problem here also is that solutions have been scant, hardly pouring out of the mouth of Mr. Trudeau. He excels in criticizing, in actual fact, while failing to present possible solutions to what he's critical of.

He seems to forget quite conveniently that he was elected as a parliamentarian. To sit in the House of Commons as an elected member of Parliament . To do the work delegated to lawmakers. To make his presence known, to demonstrate that he takes his position seriously enough to actually, you know, show up for work, on time and prepared to slug it out.

Since October 16 there have been 34 question periods in the House of Commons following the throne speech. Much has been discussed, including free trade with the European Union, aboriginal affairs, railroad transportation safety and the Senate expense scandal. In almost two months' time Mr. Trudeau was present for no more than two question periods in a week. He managed to be absent for 22 of those events; two in every three question periods.

Prime Minister Harper, despite his heavy work schedule, his national and international obligations, trips abroad and countless meetings, was absent for fewer question periods, 19 in all, while NDP Leader Tom Mulcair who has managed to distinguish himself by his piercingly aggressive questions during Question Period has been absent for 14 sessions.

Mr. Trudeau hammers on about the plight of the middle class, along with other 'issues of note' to ordinary Canadians. He has managed to be present for most of the votes in the House of Commons, missing a mere 4 of 41. But allocating his time abstemiously to the House of Commons while using the lion's share of his time to get out and stump for the next election is a little premature.

The late Jack Layton, when he was leader of the NDP spoke directly to the problem when he chastised then-Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff for his poor attendance record by stating during a debate: "If you want to be prime minister, you'd better learn to be a member of Parliament first. You know, if most Canadians, if they don't show up for work, they don't get a promotion."

Jack, you up there...? Hear, hear!

Accountability?

"It's ridiculous, OK. I'm just going to say it's ridiculous. It is the kind of entitlement that is unacceptable.
"The rules that were put in place allowed this kind of entitlement. It's unacceptable, and those are the wrong rules; they shouldn't be there.
"It's absolutely appropriate for people to be outraged by that kind of decision. Should people be expensing tea and coffee? No, they should not, and the rules will change."
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

VINCE TALOTTA / TORONTO STAR    Ontario 's incoming premier, Kathleen Wynne, says she hopes to avoid "rancour" that stalled the Liberal government under Dalton McGuinty. 

"Premier, you said that you would not follow the same pattern of behaviour or the culture of entitlement of the Dalton McGuinty Liberals. When I think about that kind of gross waste and arrogance, it makes me wonder what is different about Kathleen Wynne. It sounds like the same tune the Liberals have been playing for ten years."
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak

"We've seen the same kind of scandals with eHealth, the exact same kind of scandal with the Ornge air ambulance, where these folks at the very top are expensing not only things like coffee and tea and muffins, but trips all over the world."
Ontario New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horvath

This, in reference to the 2015 Pan Am Games organizing committee expense claims. Billing for expensive hotel rooms and dinners on their travels to Guadalajara, London, Glasgow, Miami, Jamaica and St. Kits. Oh, and the committee's CEO Ian Troop, whose salary comes in at $477,000 annually, billing for a $.91 parking ticket. And its senior vice president, Allan Vansen, billing over $27,000 to move from Vancouver to Toronto; $110 for flying a pet.

PC Leader Tim Hudak thinks these expenses are "outrageous". Now that they've been drawn, publicly, to the attention of the premier, she agrees. And she insists her government plans to do something about it. So quickly it will take place the day before yesterday. Officials have been ordered, she says, ordered, to tighten the rules, make them clear enough so that no one, no one at all, might possibly misinterpret, misunderstand, misplace their knowledge of their clear direction.

The NDP, however, fret that the ruling Liberals have simply learned nothing whatever from past scandals which saw $1-billion wasted on an computerized eHealth scheme that floundered while exorbitantly paid health care consultants put muffins and coffees on their expense claims. The PCs are demanding an auditor general's investigation.

And a huffing good time was being had by all, exercising the passion of their politics. That wasn't a low-grade earthquake hitting the province, just a collective, exasperated, helpless sigh from a hapless electorate.

Regrets, There Are Some....

"It came as a thunderclap, especially to me. Although I was the party's deputy leader, I had been excluded from the secret negotiations with the other parties. What I saw was a desperate leader clinging to power by any means, resorting to a coup de theatre to survive.
"The problem was not a coalition itself. You can make coalitions among winners.
"In our case, it was a coalition of losers. The government had just increased its seats in the House of Commons, while we had lost seats. How were we to explain to the people that we were throwing out a government duly elected two months before?"
"There were times when I felt I was shaping and moulding events, other times when I watched helplessly as events slipped out of my control.
"I knew moments of exaltation when I thought I might be able to do great things for the people, and now I live with the regret that I will never be able to do anything at all. In short, I lived the life. I paid for what I learned. I pursued the flame of power and saw hope dwindle to ashes."
Michael Ignatieff, Journalist, Academic, Politician, Academic

Michael Ignatieff and wife Zsuzsanna Zsohar

Exaltation? Which was it, the achievement of rank, power, character? All? Plus extreme happiness. Sounds like something beyond responding to an appeal for public service. Sounds downright and profoundly egotistic. Poetically histrionic prose. A messiah come to rescue Canadians from their forty years of drifting. Not 40 years? However long it is that Mr. Ignatieff felt that much had to be changed to alter the course of the country we call Canada -- and for him to achieve his manifest destiny.

He's written another book. Fire and Ashes, detailing his five years in purgatory imposed upon his innocence when he felt justified in leaving Harvard believing he was headed toward heaven. His sainted father would be proud. Looking back, he deplored the opportunistic fumbling of the Liberal Party's then-leader, Stephane Dion, when the party foolishly chose him instead of Mr. Ignatieff. The desperation to remove the just-elected Conservatives back to another minority government.

And to do it with the combined strength of the opposition; Liberals, NDP ... and er, the separatist Quebec-centric Bloc Quebecois. Bad enough Canadian taxpayers were paying the salaries of sovereigntist MPs agitating for the sundering of the country as it was; hinge the removal of a democratically elected government on their wild disaffection for Canada? The former Harvard professor may not have been political material, but he did have a profound sense of democracy.

Coming head to head with Prime Minister Stephen Harper who he belatedly saw as a disciplined and ruthless politician harbouring "no fixed compass other than the pursuit of power", he guilelessly describes the prime minister as such, apparently not recognizing himself in the description. As for Bob Rae, old university chum and long-time stalwart, that relationship "exploded" into nothingness on the revelation that Ignatieff now hungered for the same position Rae felt entitled to, himself.

"He was an able politician, a lifer longing for redemption. As far as he was concerned, he had earned his chance and I hadn't earned mine. Seen from his point of view, he'd been the premier of a province. He'd been in federal politics for years. He'd been in politics for years and he thought, 'Who the hell is this guy? Who does he think he is?' I understand that humanly. But in an honest account of what politics is like, you have to tell stories like that because you want to tell it like it was."

Much appreciated, and thank you. Whose tone is the petulant one here? And, by and large, who was correct in his assumption and who was not? Perspective aids perception. As for the Conservative attack ads portraying Mr. Ignatieff as a privileged intellectual prevailed upon to "visit" Canada to try his hand at governance, that portrayal initiative was apt enough.

Another contender who weighed in was also found wanting. Stephane Dion who had "burst" the coalition plan to the Liberal caucus, failing to impress Canadians sufficiently to award the medal of survivor to Mr. Dion. "Here was a principled political leader with a fine reputation for standing up to separatist rhetoric in Quebec, now making a secret deal with the leader of a separatist party", wrote Mr. Ignatieff. One can only disparage in despair.

Yes, yes, yes most certainly; quite disgraceful. But who co-signed that document in support of the proposed coalition? Yes, most certainly; Mr. Ignatieff. With caveats, yes, we know; you were honourable, they were somewhat lacking, alas. Michael Ignatieff, the great scholar who might have done so much for the country, foiled by mean spirits, ranging from those in the Liberal party who failed to elevate him until others had failed, to the Prime Minister who "...attacked my right to say anything at all...".

Life, sigh, is just so unfair. Especially when the candidate went to such lengths to prepare himself, to shed himself of unacceptable baggage; becoming humble and common, to suit the electorate as one of them. "I had to unlearn being clever, being rhetorical, being fluent, and start appreciating how much depends on making a connection, any connection, with the people listening to you."

Not his fault; they just weren't listening closely enough.

Peter McCabe/Postmedia News     Yes. St. Viateur's bagels ARE that good

Simply Seeking Justice

"He was highly aggressive. He would charge at our lines, come within inches of my officers. It was lawlessness. It was very evident this was a violent protest, with people bent on property damage and causing injuries to my officers. ...taunting officers, using profanities. He was very aggressive. He was trying to incite the crowd to attack the police."
Sgt. Jeff Alderice, Squad Leader, Public Order Unit, Toronto Police Services

The man in question, being described by this veteran police officer, is Adam Nobody. Quaint, is that not so? Adam Nobody. Who in real life works as a stage hand. A tall, athletic man, hefty. And obviously someone who is inordinately suspicious of police, holding them in contempt. To him they are not representatives of law and order but rather repression and violence. And he obviously felt it was quite in line for him to foment violence against the police, to urge others equally distrustful and lacking in respect for a difficult profession, to become as involved as he himself was.

Sgt. Alderice watched as the man busied himself grooming a restless crowd to confront police at the G-20 summit that was taking place in Toronto in 2010. Problems were expected. Police were called to duty in Toronto from surrounding jurisdictions to ensure that enough control could be exerted on crowds hosting some pretty questionable elements like the Black Bloc who smashed store-front windows and torched police cars. Police had their hands full.

Sgt. Alderice explained to the Toronto court where Toronto Police Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani has pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon (a nightstick) during the violent arrest of Adam Nobody, that it was clear he was deliberately confrontational, eager to convince others to attack police. And that he had himself sent arrest teams into the crowd to pull Adam Nobody out to apprehend him and put a stop to his obvious attempts at incitement to violence.

Both times he eluded them. And once, he dropped a bottle he had been holding and attempted to retrieve. That bottle came into possession of police who suspected it might contain some volatile substance to constitute the makings of a Molotov cocktail. An on-site sniff test confirmed just that, and later laboratory tests identified the contents of the bottle which Adam Nobody admitted was his, to include alcohol, water and toluene, a flammable substance. Potable spirits, claimed Adam Nobody.

Eventually Adam Nobody was tackled by police who finally arrested him. He was injured in the melee, sustaining a broken nose and shattered cheekbone. He was violently resisting arrest and it took a team of police to restrain him. These were police who experienced what it felt like to by struck by bricks, golf balls, liquid-filled bottles. Adam Nobody insists he was simply viewing what was happening, not in any manner involved in anything untoward.

And he has lodged a $14.2-million civil lawsuit against the police. Any misadventure that occurred during the three-day Toronto summit had nothing whatever to do with him, an innocent bystander who had been roughed up by police, necessitating a three-day hospital stay.

Life is just so complicated, and unjust. And Adam Nobody isn't going to take that kind of abuse without doing something about it. $14.2-million-worth of something.

Twit: Unavailable for Further Comment

"While voters can tell members that my five-year-old son came to many doorsteps, he also had to eat, play and go to sleep at a reasonable hour. I had to keep campaigning."
"Elections Canada has very clear-cut rules and definitions of what can and cannot constitute a personal campaign expense. All campaigns, including my campaign, need to follow those definitions."
Eve Adams, MP for Mississauga-Brampton South

There we go; she knows the rules. She is a public figure but she knows what constitutes private expenses. There are clear-cut rules that define how to identify personal expenses during an election campaign. And she is aware of them. And presumably respects them, at least in theory. During the last federal campaign that took place in 2011 there were eight visits to the Davinci Salon and Spa and New Nails and Spa by this fastidious appearance-savvy MP.

Electioneering is not all knocking at doors and introducing oneself. One must also be presentable when so doing. And to ensure that this is the case, constant visits to hair salons are advised to ensure maximum presentability.  It's all every well and good to support a social agenda, to promise prospective voters that their very own best interests are at the heart of a candidate's wish to become embroiled in public service. But an attractive package is immensely persuasive.

Evidently Eve Adams's biggest selling feature is her physical appearance. Young, attractive, a mother of a young boy, and a duly elected Member of Parliament. My goodness gracious. With that parliamentary title should come some measure of respect. Her name alone should raise a certain level of respect, reflecting the original names of the two people who started the whole journey of humankind, according to the Old Testament.

But there's nothing particularly old-fashioned or antique about this modern-day aspirant to public office. She appeals to followers through Twitter. Some of her expense claims were related to the well-being of her campaign staff, and that should be recognized. "Toothpaste and mouth-wash are for the dozens of volunteers who literally (live) in campaign office", she tweeted. "(We) even bought soap for campaign office bathroom for people to wash their hands after 16+ hour days. Go figure!"

Yes, go figure. Pencil and eraser in hand put together the figures. $1,857 for childcare. Check. $491 from Brampton-area beauty salons. Check. $260 for makeup from Shoppers Drug Mart. Cheque? Well, it's not a whole lot of money; rather it's in the realm of niggling expenses, not amounting to all that much. Eligible for a 60% tax-funded reimbursement through Elections Canada.

Under the rules, which MP Eve Adams indicates she is aware and respectful of, MPs may claim special childcare expenses, incurred during an election campaign, and miscellaneous personal expenses to a limit of $200 which also are held to be incurred because of an election campaign. There was an additional election expense of $201 representing a victory party several weeks following the election. It was withdrawn, along with over $6,000 in claims this particular campaign had second thoughts about claiming.

Asked via her Twitter account about items such as facial toner, designer shampoo and mascara billed to the campaign, MP Adams deigned not to respond. One can imagine why; life is so unfair, people draw such incorrect conclusions, go figure.