STEPHEN HARPER: DONE IN BY HIMSELF - WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS

Harper (above) seen here lying low during Prorogation

The fetching and kvetching Guergis (left) with her long-suffering Husband-of-the-Year Award winner Jaffer (on the right)

At the time of the spontaneous public outburst against Prime Minister Harper for proroguing parliament, I told anyone who would listen that he probably had only one more gaffe left before the people decided to give him the boot.

Since then, there have been four of them – his continued stonewalling of the detainee issue, his over-the-top pandering to the ladies by proposing to change the words of the National Anthem, the profane hissy fit of status of women minister Helena Guergis and his failure to do anything about it, and now the embarrassing kid gloves treatment given by a Tory appointed judge to the ideal husband of the fetching Ms. Guergis after he copped out to a careless driving charge.

Although Harper’s klutziness and ministerial incompetence is nothing new (See: STEPHEN HARPER AT THE G8: HOW TO MAKE A SOW'S EAR OUT OF A SILK PURSE; PRIME MINISTER HARPER: CANADA'S INSPECTOR CLOSEAU; KEVIN LYNCH RESIGNS AFTER A BELLY FULL OF CLOSEAU AND MAN SERVANT KATO), these events which follow so closely his sly and cowardly attempt to bury the detainee issue by proroguing parliament, will surely do him in.

On the detainee issue, his stonewalling shows that his education has been too directed towards the Milton Friedmans, William Kristols, and perhaps the collected works of Margaret Thatcher. He should have left some time for Woodward and Bernstein and Daniel Ellsberg. If he had he would have known that stonewalling and cover-ups are a mug’s game, something like paying off a blackmailer. The guy who covers up, just like the blackmailer’s victim who pays, almost always winds up on the short end of the stick. In politics, the cover-up usually leads to a leak, then another, and then another. With each leak the politician loses support and credibility – something like Chinese water torture does to one’s sanity. If the cover-up and leaks go on long enough, there is no support or credibility left. The detainee issue is starting to rain leaks and they are likely to continue given the popularity of Harper and his government within the Canadian bureaucracy. See: http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2010/02/big-leak-in-afghan-detainee-file.html

About the shortcomings of cover-ups Harper should have read a Nixon biography, or drew some lessons from Brian Mulroney’s excellent adventure with Karlheinz Schreiber. Alas, he didn’t. He was too busy studying his lecture notes from Tom Flanagan and Ted Morton and plotting how he was going to stab his former boss, ex-Tory MP Jim Hawkes, in the back.

The ‘O Canada’ lyric change proposal so that our Anthem would become gender neutral was Harper at his pandering worst. What made it so outrageous was that while he and most of his Conservative followers have always ranted against political correctness, here he was acting as a champion of the movement. Even his followers couldn’t swallow it, and forced him to quickly abandon his crazy idea to get the girls on side - after he had trashed their $ 5 billion child care program, closed a dozen status of women offices and reduced by half the number of women in cabinet.

The fetching and kvetching Ms. Guergis’ behaviour at the Charlottetown airport was not the fault of Harper. The former beauty queen was late for her flight and in a hurry to get home to her prize of a husband and former super-stud, Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer so they could celebrate their birthday together. Arriving late for her flight, Guergis gave the security and airline staff hell for being slow and even called the very charming Charlottetown “a shit hole.” When asked by security to remove her boots she said, “Happy fucking birthday to me. I guess I’m stuck in this hell hole.” She continued her class act by chewing out an Air Canada employee who was trying to explain to her the rules, saying, “I don’t need to be lectured about flight time by you. I’ve been down here working my ass off for you people.” See: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/775222--goar-no-medal-for-guergis-s-performance-at-un

Although Guergis apologized for the outburst, her temperamental display of arrogance, pique and entitlement screamed for further disciplinary action from her boss. Sadly, none was forthcoming from tough-guy Harper. That was a big mistake. This incident will linger over Harper’s political world like the smell of rotting, dead fish - which when you come to think about it, is altogether appropriate given that the dust-up took place in the Maritimes, which Harper has insulted before. See: Culture of Defeatism http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/05/29/harper_atlntc020529.html

The Guergis event and Harper’s failure to act as well as his past Maritime sins spell big trouble for Harper in Atlantic Canada in the next election.

And just yesterday Guergis’ dashing husband Rahim Jaffer had his day in court in respect to drunk driving, possession of cocaine and careless driving charges he faced as a result of an earlier encounter with the gendarmes in rural Ontario. A Tory appointed judge fined him a measly 500 bucks for a cop-out guilty plea on a careless driving charge. The ugly stuff had been withdrawn by the crown. Whether or not anything was untoward in the proceedings is unknown. What is known is the revealing statement of the judge when he said to Jaffer after he pronounced sentence, "I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one." Ouch!

Its not Harper’s fault that Jaffer retained good lawyers or that the prosecutors gave him a sweetheart deal, or that the judge was terribly indiscreet in his choice of words. But politics being what they are, Harper has already began to take shots from opposition politicians and the public at large who are up-in-arms over what they view as special treatment for a high profile ex-MP of the law and order party. See: http://www.calgaryherald.com/columnists/verdict+sweetheart+sentence/2664956/story.html



So from here on in, it will be all down hill for Steve Harper. And you can take that to the bank.

DON MARTIN: CONSERVATIVE SCRIBE IN LA-LA LAND

Columnist Don Martin (left) doing what he does best - schmoozing Conservatives (even the obscure ones)

Don Martin is not a bad columnist. He’s a lively writer, has some wit – unusual in the current CanWest Global organization - and, albeit rarely, takes a shot at the Prime Minister like maybe once a year.

He’s a conservative columnist to be sure. Federally, his political affections have drifted seamlessly from the old kinder and gentler PCs, to the hard-ass Reform, Alliance and now Conservative parties. He has hung out exclusively with conservative movers and shakers for at least a generation and then some, and has followed and supported their rightward twists and turns with the instinct of a loyal and faithful bloodhound following the scent of his master’s prey.

Martin swooned over Mulroney during his hey-day as Prime Minister, believed Ralph Klein was the funniest and smartest guy on the planet (he even guffawed at Klein’s dinosaur fart jokes) when he was Premier during Alberta’s dark ages, thought the rise of Preston Manning was akin to the second coming of Christ, viewed Stockwell Day’s charisma as right up there with Pierre Trudeau’s when Day was doing his thing in his wet suit,* and almost always speaks reverentially of Stephen Harper as being profound, deep, and a master strategist (tsk, tsk).

(*He did, I swear it! You can find it in one of his columns written when the hapless Day was coming to power as party leader)

Martin stays away from Grits and people of other political persuasions as though they carried some deadly communicable disease. In all my years of rubbing shoulders with Liberals in Alberta and elsewhere I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Martin in their company. He is comfy with conservatives, and so he sticks to them and with them.

Naturally even if one belongs to some religious order, living that kind of a cloistered life can have negative consequences. One can lose touch with society, lose sight of reality, ignore history, draw baseless conclusions, and even become delusional – traits that frequently show up in Martin’s columns published in the various broadsheets that are part of the recently and mercifully defunct Asper press.

I was reminded of all of this when I read his recent column of January 21st, Recalibration Lost. See: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/21/don-martin-recalibration-lost.aspx#ixzz0dUqxYCMW


The column deals with the recent tightening polls between the Conservatives and Liberals as well as the negative public reaction to Harper’s second controversial prorogation of parliament within one year. Martin calls prorogation ‘a sleepy issue,’ believing it is of such little importance it can be blown off the front pages by some timely Harper generosity to the beleagured Haitians. He just doesn’t get it that Canadians have serious and distressing problems of their own that they want their government to solve – problems such as joblessness, soaring deficits, the continued sacrifice of lives and treasure in Afghanistan, and the detainee cover up. Canadians view prorogation as the government’s unnecessary and prolonged vacation from dealing with those festering problems. As a result, Canadians are angry and prorogation is no ‘sleepy issue.’


Martin really goes off the deep end with his next assertion about why the neck-and-neck polls are really of no concern to the Conservatives.


He writes that Conservatives know that three weeks from now there is “a firm end date to any real or rogue slide in their political fortunes.” Just what is happening three weeks from now that will save the Harperites? Why, its the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This is how Harper sees the Conservative universe unfolding:

“At the star-filled Feb. 12 spectacle in Vancouver, featuring the giddy hoopla of singers, dancers and athlete parades, the Olympic flame will fire up the sky and the word ‘prorogation’ will return to its natural domain in the vocabulary of parliamentary geeks.”


Apart from Martin’s staggeringly low and false opinion of the intelligence of the Canadian people and his failure to grasp their valid concerns or the dire straits many of them find themselves in, he has learned nothing from history during his professional lifetime as a Conservative scribe.

Twenty-two years ago next month Brian Mulroney had the chance to ride the coattails of Olympic ballyhoo into political popularity. The Calgary Olympics were held in February 1988 and the federal election followed November 21 later in the year. The result: Mulroney’s PCs lost 43 seats. Canada hosting the Olympics does not translate in support for the sitting government.

This is not the first time Martin has thrown logic and history to the winds in his exuberance while looking through rose colored glasses with his Conservative pals. He was so exhilarated by the last Harper victory at the polls that he was convinced Harper could get anything he wanted even though he had won only a minority of seats in parliament. With unrestrained confidence and joy at the Conservative victory he wrote on election night:

“The Conservatives have won a majority in political power if not in name” and that “. . . the Conservatives are now set to lead the an[sic] absolute-power minority, perhaps the strongest in history.”

Read: http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/10/harpers-minority-government-remember.html

Little more than two months later and about to be dethroned by a coalition as a result of his strategic excesses, Harper was on bended knee to the Governor General requesting a prorogation to save his skin.

ALBERTA TORIES: THE RODENTS BEGIN TO LEAVE

Not only are the Alberta Tory rodents scampering towards the nearest deck, today a couple of them even jumped over the side of the ship. Fish Creek MLA Heather Forsyth and Airdrie-Chestemere MLA Rob Anderson announced that they had finally given up on Special Ed and had become proud new members of the Wild Rose-Alliance caucus. With the defectors joining Calgary Glenmore MLA Paul Hinman, the new party now has three members in the legislature.

For Ed and the tired and bedraggled Tories the chickens are coming home to roost big time. Forsyth was one of the Calgary ministers Ed purged upon his takeover of the party. She had been both Solicitor General and Minister of Children’s Services in a high profile political career that began with her first electoral victory in 1993. The protection of children was a major interest for her and even Reader’s Digest recognized her contribution in the area by naming her a Canadian Hero in 2002. But it didn’t matter to Ed and the boys. Calgary had taken enough from the cookie jar. It was the yokels' turn.

Forsyth must have smarted from her fall from being a prominent and senior minister to being relegated to the chair of the moribund Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and positions on such lowly committees as Private Bills, Privileges and Elections, and Orders and Printing. How much lower can you get?

Anderson is a new kid on the block having been elected in the spring election of 2007. He is reported to be a very bright guy who worked as one of the suits for the same downtown Calgary blue-chip law firm that pays Ralph Klein a tidy sum to tell dinosaur fart jokes while yukking it up over scotch with their clients in oak-paneled board rooms.

Forsyth said that she became a turncoat because Alberta needs a stable economy and fiscal policies that will “bring back investors confidence, lower taxes, and once again the Alberta Advantage needs to be back on the agenda,” and that she had confidence that she and the Wild Rose Alliance “can work together to build the province that Albertans deserve.”

Anderson’s statement accused Stelmach and his pals of failing to address his constituents’ concerns and of muzzling him in speaking out about the issues. Thus, he said, he was going to speak more forcefully for the people who elected him and added, “I have no interest in investing any more of my life and taxpayer’s money defending poor public policy that has been developed by a small band of out-of-touch government appointees and insiders.” I presume he was talking about Special Ed and his band of yokels.

They are the first of what is likely to be a steady procession of Alberta Tories abandoning what was once the proud party of Peter Lougheed for more promising prospects. Conservatives, after all, have proven more than once that they believe that “if the guy that brung ya falters on the dance floor, well then, we’re outta here,” such as when Socreds bolted from the party of Harry Strom to the party of Peter Lougheed. The best recent example was the fate of the federal Progressive Conservative Party in the wake of the unpopularity of Brian Mulroney and the ineptitude of his successor Kim Campbell. In the West, PCs switched and voted en masse for Preston Manning and his Reform Party and the old federal PCs were kaput.

The Alberta PCs blew their only chance of survival by not having the courage to dump Stelmach at the leadership review convention in November. Now they are stuck with him until the next election. Is there a chance of Eddie leaving before then in favour of a new and more attractive leader? I don’t think so. There is no messiah on the horizon. And besides, he and his yokels still have the cookie jar, which was what it was all about in the first place.

See: http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/01/04/12341791.html

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JEAN CHRETIEN: ONE OF THE GREATEST CANADIANS OF ALL TIME

The Right Honourable Jean Chretien, P.C., O.M., C.C., Q.C.

During his long career, many of his political opponents from all parties – including his own - took every opportunity to vilify, defame and humiliate him. They made fun of the way he looked and talked, viewed him as an unintelligent proletarian rube, and accused him of having no class. Some even said he was thuggish.

His major opponents in his beloved Liberal Party knew that they spoke more elegantly than he, and took comfort in knowing that they - unlike him - had achieved a level of enriched refinement by having attended some of the nation’s best schools. In fact, his upbringing was strictly working class. Naturally, his competitors thought they were smarter than him. When he seemed to move forward in politics many attributed his success to good luck alone and recklessly convinced themselves that he was too much “Le petit gars”- the little guy - and not enough Plato.

Many in the press spent great slices of their professional careers parroting his political critics about his intellect and character, and worked overtime turning over every grimy moss covered rock they could lay their hands on to get something on him. Lofty elitists like Quebec notables and conservative English speaking Canadians, were embarrassed by his rough-hewn French and heavy accented, malapropism-laced English. For the 40 or so years he spent in Canadian public life, most of these detractors pooh-poohed his many accomplishments, and attributed whatever success he had merely to a fluke of political nature or being in the right place at the right time.

Boy, were they wrong! When the counting was done, the carcasses of his political opponents were strung out across the country from Bonavista to Vancouver Island, and from the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters. He left one of the big ones rotting in a Florida jail, and even demolished the reputation of an egotistical Judge who had the temerity to call some of his activities ‘small town cheap.’ In the end Le Petit Gars proved that not only was he a match for the Platonists - he was better than all of them. He whupped them all. The Right Honourable Jean Chretien – the little guy - prevailed.

Oh, he was a tough customer alright. In 1985 he wrote,

“The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face. It’s a survival game played under the glare of lights. If you don’t learn that you’re quickly finished. It’s damn tough and you can’t complain; you just have to take it and give it back. The press wants to get you. The opposition wants to get you. Even some of the bureaucrats want to get you. They all may have an interest in making you look bad and they all have ambitions of their own.”

In politics no truer words were ever written.

It does not take rocket science to figure out the reasons for the success of this great and unique Canadian. All it takes is an open mind. Throughout his public career he was first and foremost, a great communicator. Who cared about the accent, mangled English or bad French, when everyone understood perfectly well what he said in any of his official or unofficial languages? He made every Canadian - big, small, rich, poor, Eastern, Western, Northern, or of any race or culture – know where he stood better than any Canadian leader who ever passed before him or since. And he did it always with wit, simplicity and passion.

He also knew every nook and cranny of the country. No politician in Canada’s history spoke so many times, for so many years, in so many church basements and in so many cities and small towns strewn about the length and breadth of the whole country as Jean Chretien. He knew and understood every wrinkle of the Canadian people, their values and their aspirations. And they knew and understood him.

When he spoke, his central theme was always his love for Canada. It was always delivered with raw emotion and passion and his audiences always knew that it was visceral and real. His “I love Canada” speeches were legendary. The patriotism he expressed was infectious. At the end of his speeches his audiences – many with tears in their eyes - were on their feet, giving him a long and rousing standing ovation which they very often followed with a spontaneous, spirited rendition of ‘O Canada.’ His love of Canada was true and honest and everybody knew it, felt it and shared it with him.

To say that his record in government as a minister or Prime Minister was illustrious and as successful as any other Canadian, is almost to demean his accomplishments. Consider this - from the time of his entry into the House of Commons in 1963, he served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs, Secretary of State for External Affairs, and Minister in charge of Social Development. Oh yes, I almost forgot - he also served for ten happy years, as Canada’s 20th Prime Minister presiding over three consecutive majority governments during unprecedented, prosperous economic times.

As a member of the cabinets of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, Chretien was a major player in all of the initiatives of that era, including Medicare, and the Official Languages Act. He was the first francophone Minister of Finance and the point man for the federal government during the Referendum campaign of 1980. In 1982, while Justice Minister he was responsible for the appointment of Bertha Wilson to the Supreme Court of Canada, the first woman to serve on Canada’s highest court. As minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development during the years between 1968 and 1972, he and his department created 10 new Canadian national parks. This was a stunning achievement, particularly when considering that in the previous forty years only 4 national parks had been created. Chretien’s contribution to our national parks will forever stand as a huge landmark in our nation’s quest to conserve and protect Canada’s environment.

He also had a strong hand in the strategy and negotiations that gave rise to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Patriation of the Constitution of 1982. He was a sturdy and brave opponent of the Mulroney mish-mash called the Meech Lake Accord. As Prime Minister his government slashed the deficit, paid down a lot of debt, and cut taxes by $100 billion. Although the Referendum vote in 1995 was a squeaker, he had the courage to have his government pass the Clarity Act, finally setting some clear rules for any declaration of independence. His four trade missions to China led to a new era of good relations and vastly increased trade between the two countries. His efforts alone kept us out of the Iraq War, but we did gave our help and money in the following reconstruction effort, and at the same time kept our focus and contribution of arms and manpower on the real problem – Bin Laden and his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan.

Oh, he had his detractors. There are plenty of mizzling Canadians who whine about the controversies that he brushed up against, assuming the worst of course, even though no one has proved one iota of wrongdoing on his part. But for every mizzler there were hundreds of Canadians who recognized and appreciated a great Canadian when they saw one and who knew that brushing up against controversies in a long public career was an occupational hazard that few long-serving politicians are immune from.

Among the universities that honoured him with Honorary degrees are:

Wilfrid Laurier University (1981), Laurentian University (1982), York University (1987), University of Alberta (1988), Lakehead University, University of Ottawa (1994), University of Moncton (1994), Meiji University (Tokyo) (1996), Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) (1999), Michigan State University (1999), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2000), Memorial University of Newfoundland (2000), Queen’s University (Kingston) (2004), McMaster University (2005), University of Western Ontario (2008), University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres (2008).

He is also an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and a Companion of the Order of Canada. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Chr%C3%A9tien

On June 29, 2009 the Queen recognized this great Canadian with his appointment to the very exclusive and prestigious Order of Merit. He is one of only twenty four other living persons who hold the honour, among whom presently are Baroness Margaret Thatcher, The Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Edinburgh. Some of the 150 or so recipients of the Order who have passed on are Sir Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, and Florence Nightingale, Bertrand Russell, Lester Pearson, Mackenzie King, and Wilder Penfield. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Merit

This was a worthy honour awarded to a great Canadian. His contribution to the well-being of our country is unequalled. All Canadians should be rightfully proud of his achievement.

BILL CLINTON: TIME TO GIVE IT A REST

The Incredible Shrinking ex-President

The Clinton-Bush Toronto snore fest of a few days ago was as revealing as it was reported to be dull. For one thing, the event proved that Calgary isn’t the only Canadian community to be so crass and insensitive that it would welcome a putative war criminal to speak to its citizens for hundreds of dollars a pop each. Nor was it the only city to reward him with guffaws at his ghost written jokes and a standing ovation after listening to his nonsense.

Predictably, Calgary has been joined by its big bucks, greed is good, sister Canadian community – namely, Bay Street. Hell, the Bay Street pin-striped brigade turned out a crowd of 6000 to hear these two clowns. Calgary couldn’t hold a candle to that. However, the cowtown is still well up there in the crass department. By my last count, it has welcomed no less than three of the Bush outlaws to regale its corporate citizens about shock and awe, the war against terror, and other shibboleths of that sorry administration. Karl Rove, then Bush, and more recently Condi Rice have graced Dallas North – at prices ranging from $400 bucks a head (Bush and Rove) to Condi (the most expensive at $500). Hogtown – a label better applied to Bay Street than the rest of the great city of Toronto – have only had two – Rove and Bush, with Rove generating $700 a head. Bush and Clinton in TO again made Calgary look like pikers, getting up to $2500 a ticket.

Read: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1644965

As might be expected for a man whose classy speeches were a staple of derision on the David Letterman show over the past year, Bush’s repertoire of jokes at the affair included two that dealt with animal fecal matter, and another apparently cribbed from the tired joke file of the disgraced Brian Mulroney. Nonetheless, the crowd chuckled and guffawed and at the end of the day, the two sorry comedians left the city like a couple of absconding pool sharks, a few hundred grand to the good.

Apart from the corporate big wigs and their minions shelling out the big bucks to hear Bush and groveling to him with chuckles and ovations, the big story of the day was that neither Clinton nor Bush knew anything about the new U.S. requirement of Passports for all Canadians going into the States. Well, we shouldn’t be surprised. Bush appointed an Ambassador to Canada whose previous Canadian experience was limited to one previous trip to Niagara Falls and who knew sweet tweet about the country. Clinton’s wife thought that some of the 9/11 terrorists had made their way into the United States from Canada, as did Janet Napolitano, Obama’s new Homeland Security Czar. By the way, Napolitano’s only venture into Canada until now was to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. And people like Jack Granatstein believe that we are anti-American when we get fed up with some of this stuff!

All of which is interesting in a sick sort of way. But what really sticks out in my mind is how far Bill Clinton has fallen. I liked Bill Clinton from the moment he arrived on the political scene. He was thoughtful, smart, and could give a speech like no President before him in my memory. I thought his dalliances were reckless but certainly not impeachable, and the resulting attacks on him were launched largely by right wing Republicans most of which lived in glass houses. I thought he was a good President and was saddened when he stepped down from the Presidency. I even paid to hear him speak once.

But what the hell is he doing traipsing around the world at events such as this where he shares the spotlight with such a twit? With a man who sanctioned torture, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, lied to and divided the American people, pushed the United States into becoming a pariah state, let New Orleans flow into the Gulf of Mexico, did nothing while the economy went to hell, and rewarded greed like no President before him? I guess he does it for the money. And in the process he diminishes himself daily. Indeed, the Toronto Star thought Bush was the more entertaining of the two. See: http://www.thestar.com/news/columnist/article/642978

I think its time Bill Clinton gave it a rest. He had his turn at the plate. If he wants to make some big bread by giving speeches, he hardly needs to do it with riff-raff like George W. Bush at his side. And there is certainly no reason why he should be interested in salvaging Bush’s legacy or reputation. Better he give more help to Barack Obama who is saddled with the responsibility of cleaning up Bush’s mess.
See also:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/29/clinton-bush-conversation-toronto.html

THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT STRIKES AGAIN

TWO LEADING MEMBERS OF THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

The gang that couldn’t shoot straight rides again. No matter that their sleazeball tactics secured only a minority win in what should have been a romp in the last election. No matter that strategies such as infantile and tasteless ads featuring defecating puffins and talking oil drips miserably failed to do the job even when its opponents were still on the canvas at the count of nine. No matter. Like Stephen Harper’s commitment to the preachings of Bushism, the Fraser Institute, the National Citizen’s Coalition, and other loony-bin nonsense still offered up by the now discredited neocon movement of the University of Calgary Economics and Political Science departments, he and his band of merry brownshirts continue to stick to sleaze and dirty tricks – this time to attempt to get Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and a prominent and promising colleague, Ruby Dhalla.

Only the naïve and stupid would deny that the Dhalla affair is a Conservative operation all the way. Anybody who believes the testimony of those two pathetic nannies who gave testimony against Ruby Dhalla earlier in the week would probably swallow Brian Mulroney’s evidence given at the Oliphant inquiry, or indeed believe that his tears were real. The two ladies, who were hired by Dhalla’s brother, worked in the Dhalla household for a very short time – one for three months and the other only for days. Furthermore, it took them more than fifteen months to make their vapid allegations public. And when they were made public, who was around for the soundbite? You guessed it - that champion of new Canadians who would have them all learn English before they set foot on Canadian soil, Harper’s full-bodied hatchet man, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Kenney, by the way, relates to new Canadians about as well as Maxime Bernier relates to diplomacy.

Reliable sources say that Kenney is a pal of one Parm Gill. Gill, like Dhalla, is from the Sikh community in the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale, for which Dhalla is the sitting Liberal MP. Gill gave her the run of her life in the last election, with Dhalla winning by only a few hundred votes. Kenney has been described as being very tight with Gill. They travel to Conservative snorefests together in and around Toronto, and Gill has even accompanied Kenney on a trip to India. Read this interesting piece on their interesting connections: http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2009/05/jason-kenney-and-private-investigator.html

Also, a must-read is:http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/05/ubiquitous-jason-kenney.html

Thanks to Kenney and his pal Parm, Nanniegate does not even come close to passing the Conservative aroma test. So look to Dhalla keeping her seat with a handsome majority.

And so we now turn to the latest negative ads. Don Martin, one of the Calgary Herald’s few remaining good writers, used to be one of the big cheerleaders of the old kinder and gentler PCs for which he was always a good and loyal soldier. I mean, he was such a pal he even laughed at Ralph Klein’s jokes about dinosaur farts and chuckled when Klein bailed out of a Premiers meeting on health care to play the slot machines at a casino.

But the excesses of the Harperites are even too much for Martin. His column today describes the tasteless ads and gives his readers the address of the Conservative website on which the ads can be found. The domain name is registered in the Balkans – Montenegro, to be exact, which as an aside he tells us is governed by a coalition. The web administrator is based in Arizona. The Conservatives have taken as much trouble to obscure the particulars of the website as Mulroney did to hide the cash he got from Schreiber. In addition Martin tells us that websurfers have told him that the domain is used frequently to exhibit pornography! For more on Martin’s piece you must read: http://www.calgaryherald.com/mikeholmes/Martin+Real+issues+begging+nastiness+takes+hold/1595681/story.html
All of which means that Harper has learned nothing in the more than three years he has been Prime Minister. He is sinking and sinking fast. Look to his early departure, and a Liberal majority in the next federal election. Prime Minister Ignatieff. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

RANDOM HOUSE ANNOUNCES NEWMAN'S NEW BOOK ON IGNATIEFF

See. What did I tell you three days ago? You can say you read it here first.


"Peter C. Newman to write Michael Ignatieff biography"

TORONTO, May 6 /CNW/ - Random House Canada is proud to announce that it has signed veteran journalist and author Peter C. Newman to write the firstfull-length biography of Liberal leader, prime ministerial contender and public intellectual Michael Ignatieff.

Newman, with more than fifty years of thinking and writing about Canada's business and political leaders behind him, is delighted with the opportunity the new book will give him to stop and think about what the torrent of news and views breaking around Ignatieff really means, what all the tumult and promise of his life and times adds up to, and how to place him in the Canadian political landscape. "I want to write about Ignatieff because he's the most interesting political figure in Canada today, and while he has written many books himself, including a family memoir and autobiographical novels, nobody has written a full biography of him," Newman says. "We haven't had a political leader whose intellect is his defining characteristic since Trudeau, and it's fascinating to watch the ways in which a man like Ignatieff reaches out to rebuild theparty and create relationships with voters. He has a real shot at becoming ournext prime minister. If he makes it, he'll be in a position to affect this country's destiny, and I feel it's important to have a creative look at him."

Anne Collins, Newman's Editor and the Publisher of Random House Canada, is delighted at the pairing of author and subject. "As June Callwood once pointed out, Peter C. Newman invented 'realism in political writing in Canada' with his book Renegade in Power. Almost five decades on from that ground-breaking book on Diefenbaker, he's about to apply the full Newman treatment to a man with one of the most unusual trajectories in Canadian politics, a true public intellectual suddenly vying in that most brutal courtof public opinion - electoral and party politics - and vying well. I can't wait to see what Newman makes of Ignatieff. I can guarantee it will be an account that will surprise and captivate us all."

Peter C. Newman has been writing about Canadian politics for nearly a half a century, including books on Prime Ministers John Diefenbaker, Lester B.Pearson, Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Brian Mulroney. The author of twenty-four books that have sold more than two million copies, Newman has won a half-dozenof the country's most illustrious literary awards. In addition, he has received two Orders of Canada and has been promoted to Companion from Officer. A former editor-in-chief of the Toronto Star and Maclean's, Newman has been honoured with a National Newspaper Award and has been elected to the News Hall of Fame.

Peter C. Newman's biography of Michael Ignatieff, as yet untitled, will be published in Fall 2010.

PRIME MINISTER HARPER: CANADA'S INSPECTOR CLOSEAU

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

When you add up all of his screw ups, backtracking, gaffes, stupid moves, ignorance, stupidly blind ideology, excesses, self destructive meanness, vulgarity – and this is by no means a comprehensive list – it is hard to believe he was ever elected, let alone be the Prime Minister of Canada for more than three years. His record is atrocious. His incompetence alone is staggering.

Foreign policy wise, his administration has seen only failure. Consider this:

- On Afghanistan, it took him years to figure out that our sacrifices of blood and money were for naught. He had read no history on the region and blindly followed a course dictated to him by his arch-rightist American friends. With no more weaponry than jingoism and bravado – that is almost literally true – he led the Canadian people into the hopeless quicksand of one of the most inhospitable regions on earth where failure was inevitable. Only recently did he get it through his head the futility of it all - after 117 and counting deaths of young Canadians, and costs to the Canadian taxpayer of 15 billion – and counting.

- On China, he makes nice with the Dalai Lama, insults or ignores the leadership of one of the most economically dynamic countries on earth, and harps (excuse the pun) at them on human rights for most of his three years in office. In addition, he fails to see or learn that if there is one thing that unites most Chinese people it is that Tibet is part of China and none of anybody else’s business. Finally, it dawns on him – hey, my China policy may not be wise - perhaps it would be better to cozy up to one of the strongest economies in the world. And so he sends – don’t laugh – one of his best and brightest to make amends - the redoubtable creationist and jet ski operator, Stockwell Day.

- Within the last week or so, he stumbled into the bad blood of the almost 100 year-old Turkish - Armenian nastiness. Turkey and Armenia are still at odds over the nature of that dispute and their borders are closed. No doubt there will be a reconciliation of a kind in the years ahead, but such is not yet the case. Harper decided to get into the fray by terming Turkey’s actions against the Armenians as genocide, which prompted Turkey to immediately recall its Ambassador to Canada. Turkey is one of the two or three most important Islamic nations in the world and has been friendly to the West. It is also pivotal in the search for international security and has a population of seventy-one million people. Yet, Harper pissed Turkey off!

As to the treatment of newcomers to Canada, Harper and his ideological soul-mate and spear carrier Jason Kenney continue to tell new Canadians that the Conservatives welcome them to join their party and that they understand them and want them to feel at home in the party and the country. They say this at the same time as beating the drum for Citizenship Act changes requiring new Canadians to be knowledgable in English or French before they acquire citizenship. They also throw every conceivable roadblock in front of an innocent Sudanese Canadian who has spent the better part of a decade being jailed and tortured in his former homeland and who wishes to return to his daughters in Montreal. This is not the treatment that new Canadians have in mind from a party that expects to recruit them.

As to the human rights that for years he seems to have cherished only when within earshot of the Chinese, Harper’s government has been notorious for having a deaf ear when it comes to Canadian citizens incarcerated in foreign jurisdictions. At the moment, the most notorious case is that of Omar Khadr, who has spent the last several years in Bush’s concentration camp in Guantanamo. Soon to be 23, Khadr was captured by the Americans in Afghanistan at the age of 15. Charges against him have been dropped three times and currently are suspended. Khadr is the only western citizen still incarcerated in that hellhole. The Federal Court recently ruled that international law required the Canadian government to demand Khadr’s return to Canada. Harper wants to appeal.

Also in the area of human rights, there is the case of former Red Deer, Alberta resident and Canadian citizen, 51 year-old Ronald Smith. Granted, Smith is no prize. He has been on death row in Montana since 1983 for shooting two young men to death in cold blood. But Canada does not have the death penalty and the tradition – indeed the legal duty - has been that the Canadian government make representations to the foreign authority to help its citizen avoid the death penalty. Harper abandoned that practice. The Federal Court has told Harper to do his job and help save Smith from execution. So far, Harper says no dice. So much for Harper and human rights.

On the economy, during the election campaign when all hell was breaking loose, Harper was encouraging Canadians to buy stocks. In December when he made his economic statement, he did not see the need for stimulus spending because everything was hunky-dory. His view changed drastically in a few days time. Who did he take his economics courses from? Herbert Hoover? R. B. Bennett? Jim Cramer?

Politically, Harper’s judgment may be charitably described to be dismally and obviously, hopeless. Consider this:

- Harper had a speechwriter in his employ who plagiarized one of the most important speeches he ever gave in his career. It was the speech Harper gave to Parliament when he argued for Canada to join the United States in the invasion of Iraq, no less! Smart dude! as his pal Bush would say.

- He and his jolly band of neocons organized attack ads on Stephane Dion that probably gave the Liberals a couple of points in the last election – particularly the one that had the puffin defecating on Dion’s shoulder. Real Classy!

- Fighting for some seats in Quebec, he forgot or, more likely didn’t know the importance of culture to Quebecers and took a shot at the province’s struggling artists during the election campaign. He thereby destroyed any chance of a breakthrough for his party in La Belle Province and succeeded in sealing his political coffin there for all time. Brilliant!

- And then there is his on-again, off-again relationship with former Prime Minister Mulroney. Mulroney as we all know is going through his winter of discontent. At the moment, he is under a cloud and how long that lasts is anybody’s guess. But he did win two successive majorities for the Tories, and rewarded countless of their numbers. Does he really deserve to be a pariah amongst the Conservatives? Does Harper’s PMO really have to provide snippets of information to the press that makes the life of Brian even more miserable than need be? Even when the actions have the inevitable result of starting a war within the Conservative Party and the caucus itself? Harper and his minions must think so. Good move!

- And then there is the coalition. There was only one thing that Harper could have done to unite the opposition enough to threaten his position and destroy his equilibrium. And he did it. In the tradition of the giants of totalitarians he tried to get rid of – literally – the parliamentary opposition parties by depriving them of money. They fought back and bloody near threw him out. This near-death experience for both the opposition and Harper as it turned out, changed the dynamics and led to a quick leadership change in the Liberal Party. It also united the Grits for the first time in almost a generation. All of this makes Harper’s life miserable until he either leaves or is defeated, one of which will be sure to happen within the next 6 or so months. Clever indeed!

Does it get worse? Indeed it is. Harper’s favorite media instrument for communicating to the public is Fox News.

THE CALGARY HERALD'S DISRESPECT FOR THE HISTORICAL RECORD

For those of you who read my musings, Rick Bell has appeared in my pages more than once. These days he is temporarily out of my doghouse. The quality of his work has risen perceptibly since he was recently awarded SunMedia's prestigious J. Douglas Creighton Award. The Award is named after a much loved colorful co-founder and one of the publishers of the Sun organization. It was bestowed upon Bell for his undeniable excellent writing skills that has graced the Sun pages over many years.

Yesterday morning at the Calgary Zoo, I ran into the seasoned old pro Bell. He was there covering the speech of Stephane Dion at the annual Grit Stampede Breakfast. After exchanging the usual pleasanteries interspersed with a few loud guffaws, he introduced me to reporter Jason Fekete of the Calgary Herald who was standing nearby. I had never met Fekete before. He seemed like an earnest young man and was friendly enough. However, the introduction was perfunctory and fleeting. Hardly an opportunity to size up the personality and skill set of the young scribe.

Dion went on to wow the crowd of 500 or so party faithful with a forty minute exposition of his 'Green Shift' policy, delivered articulately and passionately without a note. The crowd gave him many warm and long bursts of applause throughout the speech, ending with a heartfelt standing ovation. It seems that there are a lot of 'Green Shift' sympathizers in cowtown. I have heard Dion speak many times in the past, but this was his very best outing and his listeners rewarded him accordingly.

After the festivities had concluded, I returned home and picked up my morning edition of the Calgary Herald which I had yet to read. I was disappointed but not surprised to see that the second most prominent story on the front page was - as you might expect from an organization that is in the throes of a steamy love affair with Bush's pal Steve Harper - a negative story about the Liberals. It was written by Fekete who I had just met. The headline read "Grit's blog slurs Alberta." The piece was about the incendiary musings of maverick Ontario Liberal MP and former Tory, Garth Turner. Turner has mused like this before. He's a loose cannon. All parties have had loose cannons. I would question whether Turner's musings - like pitbull stories - are the right stuff for front page treatment. For that I don't blame Fekete. It was probably the work of one of his rag's many Conservative cheerleader editors. So be it.

But as I read further into the story, I did find something in Fekete's story that, well, . . really pissed me off. It was the invoking of the mother of all of our fears - Alberta's potato famine, its holocaust. Yes, the Ace up every RAT (ReformAllianceTory)'s sleeve, and the rabbit in every RAT's hat - the National Energy Program! The evil and dreaded NEP!

Now, being a Grit in Alberta, I need not dwell on the fact that I do not like the mention of the NEP. Of course, I don't. After all, our opponents have been flogging us about the NEP for - believe it or not - more than twenty-eight years! But what I really dislike is when it is made to look a lot worse than it was. When history is cast aside in the interests of advertising revenues or pamphleteering, or pandering to an important well-heeled segment of the Herald's dwindling readership. That is when it really gets to me.

The offending paragraph of Fekete's article reads: "The NEP - which set domestic oil prices lower than the world price and steered energy exploration out of Alberta - crippled the province's economy for a decade, but it was compounded by a collapse in world oil markets."
A fair interpretation of Fekete's words is that it was the NEP that caused our economic woes for ten years, and the collapse of world oil markets did not make things any easier. This is nonsense!
These are the facts:

1. The NEP was introduced in October, 1980.
2. Brian Mulroney and the Tories were elected in September, 1984.
3. Mulroney's Western Accord ended the NEP in March of 1985.

So, Fekete's history lesson so far is that the life of the NEP was four and one-half years - not a decade.

But here's more history - economic history, in this case - for Mr. Fekete:

• Between October 1980 and December 1980 when the slowdown began to take hold in the oil and gas industry, as well as other parts of the economy, interests rates - led by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States - rose from 13.5% to 20.50%.

In other words, NEP came into force and interest rates shot to the moon, just like that. There was no lag in time between the NEP and spiralling interest rates. Think of it - homeowners facing twenty percent mortgage rates. Investment loan interest in the same levels of the stratosphere. Business in times like that has only one way to go - down! It went down. And it got worse:

• By September 1981 - one year after the introduction of the NEP - interest rates were still hovering at 20%.
• Through 1980, the average price of a barrel of oil was $37.42 US (inflation adjusted to 2007 $97.68 US).
• Through 1984, the average price of a barrel of oil was $28.75 US (inflation adjusted to 2007 $59.47 US).
• Through 1986, a mere 6 years after the NEP and almost 2 years after the Western Accord that trashed the NEP, the average price of a barrel of oil was $14.44 US (inflation adjusted to 2007 $28.29 US - about 29% of the real value of a barrel of oil in 1980 when the NEP was initiated).
• Between 1987 and 1990 the average price per barrel ranged from $17.75 US to $23.19 US (inflation adjusted to 2007 $33.56 US to $38.02 - 35% to 38% of the real value of a barrel of oil in 1980 when the NEP was initiated).

And so, there was little lag in time between the NEP coming into force and collapsing oil prices. What this history tells us is that the NEP was literally the least of our problems.

See, Historical Oil Prices http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/Historical_Oil_Prices_Table.asp

See, Historical Interest Rates http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/PRIME.txt

See also, http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2007/10/gwyn-morgan-pinnochio-failing-memory-or.html

So the NEP - as bad as it was, and it was not good policy admittedly - was only a factor that lasted not more than four and a half years. A long way from a decade. Far more trouble came to the oil and gas sector because of high interest rates and plunging oil prices (caused in part at least by high interest rates), all of which started at about the same time the NEP came into force. The NEP did not set interest rates or oil prices. It was those high interest rates and low oil prices that caused far more economic havoc for Albertans and lasted a helluva lot longer than the NEP.

Politics being what it is, I can understand why politicians sometimes misrepresent facts or skew them a certain way so as to reap some political gain. That's politics, and if one is involved in politics, it goes with the territory. But why should a newspaper do the same? What about the old newspaper value of informing the public - informing the public of the facts, not myths, so the public can make intelligent choices. That's what newpapers used to stand for, and what too often these days, they do not stand for.

Back a long while ago, when the Calgary Herald was a venerable newspaper of record, it would have accurately reported all of the economic facts about the NEP. Those days are clearly over now that it has become merely a cheap Conservative/Fraser Institute pamphlet.

JUDGE TEITELBAUM: GOMERY WAS BIASED

Judge Max Teitelbaum was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division on October 29, 1985.
http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/fc_cf_en/Teitelbaum

It can be assumed that the Prime Minister of the day, one Brian Mulroney, had the last word in the approval of the appointment. See http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/06/oliphant-should-get-out-while-going-is.html After a long judicial career, Teitelbaum retired on January 2007. Two days later, he was appointed as Deputy Judge of the Federal Court. It can be assumed that the Prime Minister of that day, one Stephen Harper, had the last word in the approval of that appointment.

It was Judge Teitelbaum, a Judge appointed by a Progressive Conservative and Conservative government, who heard an application by ex-prime Minister Jean Chretien. Chretien had applied to have the Court review the Gomery Commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a 'reasonable apprehension of bias' and that some conclusions made by Gomery, did not have an 'evidentiary' basis. Chretien was particularly interested in having the Gomery finding set aside that stated that he and Jean Pelletier had erred in the oversight of the sponsorship program.

Judge Teitelbaum, a Judge appointed by Chretien's political foes, today came down with his decision. The decision was extraordinary in his condemnation of Gomery's inappropriate statements, behaviour, partiality, and preoccupation with the media. He struck down Gomery's finding of Chretien and Pelletier's oversight errors. See http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/26/gomery-chretien.html?ref=rss.


Chretien and Pelletier are very happy men today.

Gomery, who can't seem to pass an open mike without saying a few words, has of course, already said a few words, some among them being, "It is particularly disappointing that I am held to be, appear to be, a biased judge." Amen to that. And shameful too.

Our hats go off to Teitelbaum for his courageous and correct decision.

Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, who is to preside over the Mulroney-Schreiber catfight, should consider
this case and Teitelbaum's role therein very carefully. Teitelbaum owed nothing to Chretien and Pelletier. He owed nothing to Gomery. But had the decision gone the other way, there would have been many who would conclude that he had struck a blow for the Conservative Party who appointed him.

In Oliphant's case, many would reasonably believe that he owed Mulroney for his appointment. Mulroney is one of the main players whose actions are to be judged by Oliphant. Oliphant is in a far more sensitive position in the proceedings before him than Teitelbaum was in the Gomery proceedings. If his decision favours Mulroney, it will be a black mark on his career. Justice Oliphant, recuse yourself. If not for others, for yourself!

JUSTICE JEFFREY OLIPHANT: RECUSE YOURSELF!

In brief, the process of appointing Judges to provincial superior courts such as the Court of Queen's Bench goes like this. Following a vetting process within the province in respect of which the appointment is to be made, recommendations go to the Federal Minister of Justice. The Minister of Justice then presents the Cabinet with his recommendation of the appointee. Cabinet then approves the appointment (only in remote instances do they not approve), and that decision is sent to the Governor General for her formal approval. The big sticks involved in appointing a Judge at this level, make no mistake, are the Minister of Justice and the most important member of the cabinet - the big enchilada - the Prime Minister of Canada. That is the process now, and that was the process in 1985.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_appointments_in_Canada

Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, presently the Associate Chief Justice of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench was appointed in 1985. The Prime Minister at the time was the Right Honorable Brian Mulroney. Prime Minister Mulroney was still in power when Oliphant received a promotion from the federal cabinet in 1990 to become the Associate Chief Justice.

By all reports Justice Oliphant has been a good judge.

Being a judge is also a good job. The pay is in the 250,000 range. Pensions are generous and indexed. While at work, all of your needs are taken care of by orderlies, drivers, and other minions. There is plenty of time off. The public caters to you as do, of course, lawyers. Its nice to be a judge.

One would expect that Justice Oliphant would be grateful to the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, for having been a major influence in his judicial appointment. Normal people would be very grateful indeed in those circumstances.

The current Prime Minister Stephen Harper has seen fit to appoint Justice Oliphant to the role of Commissioner in the forthcoming public inquiry respecting the dealings between Karl-Heinz Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney. The subject matter of the inquiry includes allegations of nefarious business dealings between the two. Those dealings at this stage appear to border on criminality or at least impropriety on the part of the principal players and perhaps others. It is already a national scandal. Oliphant will be called upon to report his findings to Parliament. Legal repurcussions from such findings are very likely to ensue.

Justice Oliphant is in a conflict of interest. At the very least he is in a perceived conflict of interest. He is called upon to make findings in respect to the actions of a man he owes - perhaps not in a legal sense, but certainly in a human sense - much. The inclination to white-wash, at least Mulroney's role in the affair, may be present.

Harper, again being too politically cute by half, should never have approved the appointment. Oliphant should never have accepted it. Oliphant should recuse himself. Harper should appoint someone who is untainted by any previous relationship to one of the principal parties.

This is not to disparage Justice Oliphant. It is to do the right thing.

REFLECTIONS ON LORD BLACK, 'LYIN' BRIAN, AND O.J.

What can one say about Lord Black of Crossharbours? Is he sane? Is he a martyr? Is he a fool? An idiot? A shyster? A crook?

Lord Black

And what about the boy from Baie Comeau who, in the mean streets of his hometown used to charm and sing songs for Colonel McCormick, the wealthy owner of the Chicago Tribune? The one who became Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney? Is he sane? Is he a bit slow? Is he an idiot, shyster or crook?

Brian Mulroney (on the right) with former friend

For certain they are both narcissists. They love the limelight. They love attention. They think primarily of themselves. They love mellifluous language, particularly when it is spoken by themselves. When each speaks, they themselves are their favorite subject.

Fundamentally, they are both snobs. Ordinary people, unless they are people whose favour they may require to curry in the short term, are the flotsam and jetsam of life. Both love to consort with the rich, powerful and famous. Each loves the camaraderie found in the oak panelled board rooms, in the company of men of substance, captains of industry, and conservative movers and shakers.

Corporate governance, to both, is clearly a nuisance. In Black's words it is "rubbish," and its spokespeople, fanatics. Mulroney, who has yet to be quoted on the subject, has displayed his disdain for the post-Enron movement by not stepping down from even one of his many lucrative Board appointments despite the disquieting, and now quite substantiated facts about his 'dealings' with a shadowy businessman who sought the favour of the Canadian government.

Black (on right) with friend

Both then are narcissists. Indeed, even to the untrained eye and ear, it is evident that both probably suffer from a clinical 'narcissistic' personality disorder. In their own minds they can do whatever they wish. Because, as each might say, "Its all about me!"

Watching Lord Black commit his very public hara-kiri, and Brian Mulroney blarney his way through the reasons for his inexcusable behaviour, brings to mind another celebrity who continues to be forever etched in our minds, whether we like it or not. None other than the notorious Orenthal J. Simpson, formerly of football fame, but now, the quite infamous "O.J." as the North American pop world refers to him.

O.J.

Just as Mr. Simpson continues to effortlessly stumble or propel himself by design into public spectacles, so does Lord Black and Brian Mulroney. Most recently, Simpson allowed himself to be once again the subject of lurid headlines as part of a strong arm operation gone bad to retrieve what he says are his own personal items. The result is criminal charges of armed robbery, protestations of innocence and no doubt, another spectacular trial. This time he may be carried off in an orange jumpsuit for some time. But what the hell, as O. J. no doubt believes, "Its all about me."


And what about Lord Black? He tweaks his tormentors, goads them, berates them, attacks them, libels them. Indeed he does all of this and more. Nonstop. Facing six and a half or so years in the slammer, he continues to needle the prosecution, the now-revered culture of corporate governance, and his unhappy shareholders who brought him down.

Even his old pals, like William F. Buckley and Henry Kissinger - both fellow narcissists in their own right - do not escape his vitriol. Witness Black's column in today's National Post that trashed them both because of their incredibly luke-warm endorsements of his character in the sentencing process.

So whatever else Conrad Black may be - anti-social, psychopathic, arrogant bully (and he is that for sure), crook - he is a narcissist. They say there's a bit of the narcissist in all of us and that sometimes it is good. That may well be true. But there is a whole lot of it in Conrad Black, and - particularly now - it is not so good for him.

Beyond that, as many have suspected, suspicions which have now been confirmed by the Trial Judge and Jury, he is also - - how can I put this - alas, a felon.

One hopes he will see a shrink as well as the warden in the years ahead.

And now for Muldoon (as that splendid muckraking rag 'Frank Magazine' calls him). The fact that he is a narcissistic and grovelling personality is beyond debate. Of course he is. The preening, the primping, the pandering to power, the public crooning of Irish ballads to the President of the United States, the indefatigable bowing and scraping and kow-towing to the likes George H. W. Bush, the society weddings, the corporate board appointments, yada, yada, yada. Yes, we know him well. And in the words of that great Canadian chronicler of the national condition, Peter C. Newman, "He bugs us still."

But what of an ex-Prime Minister who, while still in office befriends and consorts with a sleazy and corrupt businessman who makes a living through bribing government officials? An ex-Prime Minister who agrees to take cash to lobby for this gentleman shortly after leaving office? An ex-Prime Minister who, shortly after leaving office, is paid $100,000 cash payments from the same sleaze bag on three different occasions in three different hotels? An ex-Prime Minister who takes that money and puts it in a safety deposit box, who spends at least part of the money, and only years later - only when things get hot - pays tax on the money? An ex-Prime Minister who does not appear to have rendered any service for that money and to this day has not rendered an account for any service, and who misled lawyers while under oath in a law suit by denying he ever dealt with the low-life when in fact he did? What about that?

And add to all of that the fact that the three payments of one hundred grand each came from a Swiss bank account controlled by the (tsk tsk) gentleman which contained commissions he earned from Airbus industries for sales of airplanes to Air Canada he helped arrange through his political influence! Oh yes, and remember the lawsuit wherein Muldoon took the Government of Canada for 2.1 million big ones for a defamation, that may not have been a defamation at all.

We know Mulroney is a narcissistic blowhard. But what else is he? The facts thusfar tell us that he may be a whole lot more than that. And that is something the people of Canada have a right to know. In other words, just who was their Prime Minister Brian Mulroney?

The Commons Ethics Committee hearings continue. Surprisingly, there are many talking heads that are saying that we have learned enough. They say, let's get on with it - governing the nation, rising to new challenges, etc. After all, they say, both of them are liars - Schreiber and Mulroney - so what is to be gained by going further in the investigation?

The Canadian people have a right to know about their Prime Ministers and if it takes a public inquiry into highly suspicious facts and circumstances, so be it. Equally, those who aspire to high public office in this country had better learn their limits - and their ethics.

Bring on the public inquiry!

HERR SCHREIBER'S EVIDENCE: DECEMBER 11, 2007

Herr Schreiber (on the left) at a meeting at 24 Sussex Drive March 1993:
"Britan, I wish to speak about the Bear Head Project."

Britan (on the right): "Herr Schreiber, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

HERR SCHREIBER: AN ENEMY OF THE STATE

Karlheinz Schreiber is not a sympathetic character. At least, not naturally.

We suspect that at least, he is a rogue and charlatan from what we have read and heard in several books and countless newspaper and media reports. He has the appearance of a - well - a gorgoyle.

Schreiber

But as Herr Schreiber says about himself, although he was born ugly, he is not stupid.

At the moment, as we all know, Schreiber has become the chief tormentor of another gorgoyle-like figure, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Mulroney

Whether or not Mr. Mulroney is ugly is not for me to judge. However, at the very least, he does seem to have had moments of stupidity.

For example, he has admitted to receiving from Herr Schreiber shortly after leaving office as Prime Minister of Canada, three cash payments of $100,000 each in 3 different hotel rooms in murky circumstances that Parliament, and soon a public inquiry will attempt to uncover.

Schreiber is facing very serious charges - in Germany - the land of his birth where he had some very serious pals, including an ex-Chancellor of Germany and conservative politician in the Reagan-Thatcher mould, Helmut Kohl, who presided in that post for 16 years.

It is to face those charges that he has been ordered extradited to Germany. If he faces justice in the fatherland, chances are he will languish in jail there for many years to come. And so, at 73, he would just as soon stay in his beloved adopted homeland, Canada.

Herr Schreiber has been a Canadian citizen for several years, and while here has had many friends in high places as well as a colourful career. One of his first political adventures in Canada was to help dislodge Joe Clark from the leadership of the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party. This led the way to his former pal Mulroney ascending to power in 1984.

Another adventure was Schreiber's engineering a sweetheart deal - for him and his pals - wherein Air Canada bought a number of passenger jets from Airbus Industries for whom Schreiber was shilling back in the good old days when Tory Frank Moores was on the Air Canada Board and 'Britan' Mulroney was Prime Minister.

So no wonder Schreiber has a soft spot in his heart for his adopted homeland. Apart from it being a safe haven, it has been full of adventure and considerable profit.

Enter the Prime Minister, Bush's pal Steve Harper.

Although relations were icy at first between Harper and Mulroney, over the past year or so there has been a definite thaw. In his perpetual quest for acceptance and rehabilitation, Mulroney said some good things about Harper. Harper, looking to soften his image as the hard-right neocon we all know he is, found it convenient to embrace Mulroney and to intimate to the public that he and Mulroney are so palsy-walsy that he is even receiving counsel from Mulroney from time to time.

For Herr Schreiber, this was good news. His old friend Mulroney, could perhaps use a little of his vaunted Irish charm and blarney on the stern and driven ideologue and perhaps head off the unwanted trip back to Deutscheland.

Alas, it was not to be. In the minds of both Mulroney and Stevie, Schreiber - a Canadian citizen - was not only expendable. They wanted him out. And they were prepared to go to any length to get him out. Without Schreiber, there would be no meaningful Parliamentary or public inquiry into the 300 grand, or any other nefarious dealings between Schreiber and his Conservative friends in high places.

How far would they go? Well, as the greatest Prime Minister of Canada of all-time once said, "Just watch me."

Well, watch this:

Karlheinz Schreiber, a Canadian citizen, with no criminal record in Canada or elsewhere, who has paid his income taxes in Canada for several years, who wants to stay in this country as opposed to returning to Germany, who has fought extradition for several years, who has never run away from Canadian justice, who with his wife makes his home in Canada, is transported to Ottawa in leg-irons, handcuffed, in an orange prison jump-suit, and deprived of his belt such that his pants fall down while television cameras record his total humiliation for millions to see, all of which is brought to you by the good offices of the Harper government.

This is what happens to enemies of the state in Harper's Canada. Karlheinz Schreiber has become an enemy of the state in Canada. His former conservative friends in high places fear he knows too much.

GWYN MORGAN: PINOCCHIO, A FAILING MEMORY, OR POLITICAL HACK?

Gwyn Morgan, in case you missed it, is a far right-wing conservative oil man. He loves Ralph Klein and is a Trustee of the Fraser Institute and a Director of the Manning Center for Building Democracy.

The record of Ralph Klein speaks for itself.

The Fraser Institute's Mission Statement states, "Our vision is a free and prosperous world where individuals benefit from greater choice, competitive markets and personal responsibility." Among its board members is Peter Pocklington.

The Manning Center is headed by its CEO, Preston Manning, former leader of the Reform Party and son of Ernest, longtime Social Credit Premier of Alberta and convert to conservatism following the Leduc oil discovery. Part of the Mission of the Manning Center states that it "is commited to achieving a democratic society guided by conservative principles." Its literature also states that it "is commited to the support of issue campaigns that will increase public interest in and support for conservative-oriented ideas and policy proposals."

So Gwyn Morgan is a conservative.

He is so conservative that like many of his colleagues and fellow travelers, his memory often fails him. An example appeared in a Globe and Mail column on October 29, Populism tramples Principle in Alberta, in which he gave Premier Stelmach a good thrashing for increasing royalties to be paid by the oil and gas industry.

In referring to Klein near the beginning of his piece, Morgan wrote that when Ralph became Premier, "Alberta was suffering the after effects of Trudeau's national energy program followed by a prolonged slump in energy prices." A mere half of that statement is correct - the part about the slump in energy prices. The rest is hogwash. Some might even say it was pure bullshit.

First of all, the National Energy Program was introduced in October, 1980. Secondly, Morgan's pal Brian Mulroney became Prime Minister in the fall of 1984. Thirdly, Mulroney and the signing of the Western Accord trashed the last remnants of the NEP at the end of March 1985. Fourthly, Morgan's pal and idol Klein did not become Premier until December 14, 1992 - a full 12 years after the National Energy Program and more than 7 years after its demise.

And fifthly - in every other jurisdiction of this whole wide world, credible business leaders remember the havoc brought down on world economies by high interest rate policies led by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States in the early 1980's. Morgan and his fellow conservative travelers never remember this when discussing the difficult times during the eighties. They remember only the NEP. But here are the facts:

- - in October 1980 - the same month of the introduction of the NEP, the prime rate of the Federal Reserve Board of the United States rose from 13.5% to 14.5%
- - in November 1980, the prime rate of the Federal Reserve Board rose from 15.50% to 17.75%.
- - in December by Christmas of 1980 the rate was 20.50%
- - in September 1981, the rate was 20%, after which it began a slow and tortuous slide downwards.

The results of those punitive interest rates was a prolonged spate of foreclosures across North America which lasted for years, the like of which had not been witnessed since the Great Depression.

So, what are we to make of the oft-feted Morgan? Is he Pinocchio? Does he have failing memory because of age (he is only in his early sixties and works out religiously, apparently)? Or is he a conservative political hack?

It's your pick.

MULRONEY MEMOIRS: A BASKET CASE TRIES TO SETTLE OLD SCORES

I had been suffering from writer's block for several days. Feeling guilty. About disappointing my legions of readers. Hemingway used to call it 'black ass.' I was suffering from 'black ass.'

What to write about? Stelmach? Harper? Borrrrrrrrring! Afghanistan? Not boring, but God, if people don't get it about Afghanistan by now, they probably never will. What to write about?

Muldoon to the rescue! I might have continued staring at my computer screen in a state of suspended animation indefinitely were it not for Muldoon (as Canada's 18th Prime Minister is referred to by that splendid rag 'Frank Magazine').

We found out this morning that - oh, hell, let's call him by his real name -Mulroney mustered up the courage to really let the seven year deceased Trudeau have it. According to Mulroney, Trudeau wasn't morally fit to lead because he failed to support the war against Hitler and that he [Trudeau] opposed the draft during the war.

Mulroney was obviously smarting from Trudeau having called those who supported Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accord names. For those who must be reminded or who have forgotten about what Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accord were, these were basically constitutional bribes of power advanced by Mulroney and his Federal government to the Quebec separatist government to sign the constitution. Trudeau had called Mulroney and his ilk 'weaklings,' 'cowards,' 'snivellers,' and 'eunuchs.' Trudeau had said this in the inimitable understated way he said such things when he became pissed at weaklings, cowards, snivellers and eunuchs, who for their own aggrandizement, personal and otherwise, tried to turn Quebec into a province quite unlike the others.

As always, whenever Muldoon speaks, two things happen. First, you remember what a basket case he was and is, and secondly, you learn something new.

As to the basket case Mulroney, his outburst reminded us of his penchant for self-destructive over statement and exaggeration, his unrelenting passion for a glowing place in history that he believes is owed to him, and his holding his bete noir Trudeau responsible for the death of his pet constitutional proposals which, in his mind, would have stopped the separatists in their tracks and led him to time immemorial fame and glory.

The facts are these.

Mulroney's big mouth - his penchant for self-destructive over statement and exaggeration - consistently got him into trouble while he was in office (recall him telling the reporter that a good politician had to know when to 'roll the dice,' to win, and he had won Meech Lake by 'rolling the dice' at the right time - saying this, when he hadn't yet won Meech Lake, which he went on to lose).

Mulroney's unrelenting passion for a glowing place in history led to his constant preening and mugging before the cameras, and more blarney than the Canadian people could ultimately stomach, all of which was instrumental in the destruction of the Progressive Conservative Party.

And finally, there is no doubt that Trudeau fought effectively against Meech Lake and the Charlottetown Accords. But to credit Trudeau alone for their defeat - when they were rejected by every region of the country, is to give the great man far too much political credit. In fact, the Canadian people had figured out for themselves that Meech and Charlottetown were power bribes to Quebec that would make that province different and more powerful than the others. And so Canadians rejected them. By the way, Stephen Harper seems to have learned something from the Mulroney experience with Quebec. He is not bribing Quebec with power. He's doing it in the old-fashioned way - with money - as witness his last Budget.

So much for the basket case. Now what have we learned? We learned or at least were reminded that Mulroney still believes - and probably others of the now-defunct Progressive Conservatives - that Trudeau brought down Meech and Charlottetown.

If this is so, then by implication Trudeau's attack also led to the Tories defeat at the polls in 1993, because clearly, the nation's revulsion at Meech and Charlottetown was a major reason for the Tory debacle. And it was this debacle - the grotesque Tory defeat in 1993 that left them with two seats - that destroyed the Tory Party. And so it follows, if it was Trudeau who defeated Meech and Charlottetown, then it was he who destroyed the Tory party. Thus, according to this school of thought, Pierre Trudeau's effectiveness as a national leader did not end in 1984 when he left office. No, it carried on through 1993 and therefore, not only were Stanfield and Clark his victims. So were Mulroney and Kim Campbell.

Like Samson, Trudeau slew them all. If I may carry the biblical analogy a bit further, it can be fairly said that he slew Mulroney and Campbell with the jaw bone of an ass!

Wow! What a career! Of biblical proportions! 25 years of beating up and finally destroying the Tories! Longer than Mackenzie King!

One final comment. Mulroney says that Trudeau wasn't morally fit to lead, because as a young man in his very early twenties he did not support the war against Hitler nor the draft. Well, what about the moral fitness of a leader who accepts $300,000 is cash delivered to him in 3 instalments in quiet hotel rooms by an unsavoury businessman who for years has been fawning over him in order to get contracts for his clients?

MULRONEY AND SCHREIBER AND THE AIRPLANES THAT JUST WON'T FLY AWAY

Former PM Muldoon (as the very respectable muckraking journal Frank Magazine refers to him) is once again in the news. Not in respect to any of his multitude of directorships which he has eagerly amassed over the course of his 14 year retirement. Nor is it because of his inordinate kow-towing to conservative men of wealth and power. Neither is he in the news for rendering advice to Bush's pal Steve Harper, who has become his disciple. No, he is not in the news for any of those normal activities for an ex-PM. He is back amidst the sleaze of the Airbus Affair and that annoying and aggravating boil on his backside, one Karlheinz Schreiber.

Schreiber, you will recall, was the arms dealer, bagman and political gad-fly who, unable to work his way into the affections of Peter Lougheed's Alberta Tory government, found the Muldoon Federal Tories not quite so high-minded. Realizing this, he rightfully concluded that the Federal Tories were rich fodder for a lobbyist who represented European manufacturers of arms and aircraft. And so he set about the task of enriching himself and others as well as European arms and aircraft manufacturers by arranging purchase deals with the Canadian government. (For an excellent review of these activities read Stevie Cameron and Harvey Cashore's fine book The Last Amigo, MacFarlane, Walter and Ross 2001).

It should be noted that Lougheed's nose for potential scandal was indeed so sensitive, that neither he nor any member of his government were touched by even a hint of one in more than 14 years in office. Bravo!

Not so with Muldoon's crew however (for a further excellent review of the excesses of his administration, read Cameron's On the Take, MacFarlane, Walter and Ross 1994).

It is trite to say at this stage that the most intriguing scandal of those years was the famous Airbus affair in which the ubiquitous Schreiber played a central role. You will recall that the Airbus affair happened during the Muldoon Administration and involved the sale of 34 European manufactured Airbus aircraft to Air Canada, which at the time was a Canadian crown corporation. Schreiber played a middle-man role in getting the parties together and made gazillions on the deal.


After Muldoon's departure from office, unhappy differences arose within Schreiber's business organization. As a result, serious accusations were made of kick-backs by Schreiber to Tories in high places. One of which was the late Frank Moores, former Newfie Premier, indefatigable lobbyist and Tory shill, who at the time was a Director of Air Canada. Another high profile accused recipient of Schreiber's largesse on the deal was Muldoon himself.

Things really heated up in late 1995 when the Canadian Keystone Kops - the RCMP - notified Swiss authorities in writing that they wanted access to Schreiber's bank accounts as part of its investigation of a crime in which Muldoon took kickbacks. The letter to the Swiss was publicly revealed and Muldoon sued the Canadian Feds for libel. After pre-trial depositions, the case was settled in 1997 with the Canadian government paying the ex-Prime Minister $2.1 million of your money.

But the matter didn't end there. In his lawsuit against the Feds, Muldoon denied under oath that he had any business relationship with Schreiber. However, 6 years after the settlement- in 2003 - it was revealed that Schreiber had given the ex-PM $300,000 in cash at 3 different meetings in New York and Montreal shortly after Muldoon left office in 1993.

Life has not been easy for Schreiber. For years he has been fighting off extradition attempts by German authorities to haul him back to his native Germany to face fraud and corruption charges. According to all reports, he has almost exhausted all of his legal challenges and will have to face the music soon.


In the meantime, whatever relationship existed between Muldoon and Schreiber seems to have turned poisonous. The Schreiber/Muldoon/Airbus affair, which has arisen and gone back into dormancy several times over the years, has now returned - carrying with it the usual pungent hydrogen sulphide smell of sleaze. Schreiber sued Muldoon in March demanding the $300 grand together with interest be returned, alleging that his ex-pal didn't deliver on promises to help a Schreiber client locate an armored vehicle manufacturing factory in Canada. Neither, says Schreiber, did Muldoon promote, as promised, Schreiber's pasta business.

And this week, after much stalling and bickering between the counsel, Schreiber's lawyers entered a default judgment in the Ontario Courts, without the knowledge of Muldoon's lawyers. Of course, the Muldoon lawyers are mad as hell. They've applied to set aside the default judgment. The Judge has let it be known he is not happy with this 'silly war' as he calls it. He's told both sides to shape up as he ponders whether or not to set the judgment aside.

All of which should give Bush's pal Steve Harper pause about embracing Muldoon as a trusted advisor. It has been reported that the ex-PM's counsel has been sought by Harper from time to time. And just last week, Muldoon praised Harper as having done 'exceptionally well.' Warming to the subject in his inimitable way that's got him into so much hot water over the years, Muldoon raptured, "In fact, I would say that his government is probably off to the best start of any government that I can remember in my lifetime."

Advice to Bush's pal Steve Harper: keep him at the laundry.