May 16, 2005

If only the Liberals could keep Canadians from knowing the truth -- Whistleblowers and More

Note: I thought I had already posted these items, but apparently, I had not; at least, I couldn't find them, though some bits may have appeared a while ago.

Skim the titles to be reminded of the pattern of government repression of information and attempts to destoy whistleblowers.



If only the Liberals could keep Canadians from knowing the truth -- ADSCAM was diversion of Canadian taxpayers' money to Liberal friends.

Think about:

* Jon Grant: Canada Lands

* Francois Beaudoin: Business Development Bank


Accusations foretold sponsorship fiasco -- Same names pop up in complaints. Charges of political interference and cronyism dogged Liberal Party as early as 1998 Andy Riga, The Gazette, April 30, 2005

The allegations flew: lucrative federal jobs for Liberal friends for little or no work, sweet government deals for Liberal-connected Quebec firms, Ottawa funnelling funds to Jean Charest's Liberals, even bizarre boondoggles, including $170,000 spent on a plan to send 10 "mobile gazebos" across Canada.

The ensuing uproar got former Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano turfed from the federal cabinet in 2002.

[. . . . ] This is the story of the forgotten scandals, the ones that might have exposed the tip of the iceberg and could have been nipped in the bud as early as 1998, just as the sponsorship program was getting into gear.

[. . . . ] Grant was appointed Canada Lands Co. chairperson in 1995, after retiring from Quaker Oats Co. of Canada after 18 years as chief executive. In 2002, two months after his term at Canada Lands expired, he went public, accusing Gagliano and his staff of pressuring him to hire Gagliano's friends and trying to meddle in commercial dealings at the agency. Jean-Marc Bard, Gagliano's chief of staff at the time, insisted on playing a role in all Canada Lands transactions in Quebec, Grant said, adding Bard told him: "Canada is yours, Quebec is ours." Bard has denied making the statement. [. . . . ]


Search: Tony Mignacca , this was systemic , A 1998 internal Canada Lands memo , Michel Couillard , Emmanuel Triassi , Robert Charest - brother of Jean Charest , give $50,000 to the Charest Liberals , less than half its assessed value , "Rene Lepine, a longtime Liberal Party contributor" , Michele Tremblay , Canadian Mint , "Maurizio Creuso, who Gagliano had known since 1983" , Mr. Choo-Choo , "Six days after Grant's first media interview, Chretien "




The terrifying reign of 'da Boss' Lorrie Goldstein, April 10, 2005, Toronto Sun

[Francois Beaudoin] was smeared in the media. His cottage and home were raided, not by police, but by BDC lawyers and accountants. Incredibly, a judge had authorized the search. Meanwhile, Carle was on the phone to Chretien's office, co-ordinating statements in the media and the Commons. Judge Denis would later describe this as "incredible ... Carle was convinced the prime minister is the only shareholder of the BDC. They are no longer looking like a corporation should, to give the media just the facts ... but only to repeat the position of the Prime Minister's Office."

Vennat then wrote two letters to RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli asking the Mounties to investigate Beaudoin for "misappropriation" of bank property and as the source of a "forged" document related to Shawinigate that had been leaked.

Home raided

Six months later, the Mounties showed up at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, claiming there were investigating the membership of Beaudoin's wife. [. . . . ]


Search: "Beaudoin, was an honest public servant who had the courage to say "no" to Chretien" , Michel Vennat and Jean Carle


Think about:

* Allan Cutler: Public Works

* Cpl. Robert Read: RCMP

* Staff SGt Stenhouse: RCMP

* Selwyn Pieters: IRB

* Brian McAdam: Foreign Service

Do you see a pattern?
Our Liberal government has made the lives of decent people miserable, their careers and lives ruined, all to keep us from knowing the truth. We have been governed by thugs; we live in a thugocracy. The plan has been to keep Canadians blindfolded -- rather than to admit there are many problems and to fix them -- when they, themselves, are not part of them.

Do you really think Canadians need any more information? All they have to do is turn on the televison, listen to the radio and think for themselves.

Evidence of ex-RCMP Corporal Robert Read before a Parliamentary Committee

[RCMP] Corporal Robert Read (As Individual): Good day, sir. Thank you for inviting me here.

My name is Robert Read. I'm now retired, but I was a corporal in the RCMP. In 1996 I was assigned to Mr. McAdam's case and appointed to meet with him, listen to his complaint, and try to find what was actually happening with his complaint, what were the facts of the matter. Many parts of Mr. McAdam's complaint are detailed, and many were found to be true. I worked on Mr. McAdam's case until 1996, when I was ordered to desist, in September, I guess it was, 1997.

What I discovered was that when Mr. McAdam made his complaint in 1991 and it was investigated by the RCMP in 1992, the RCMP discovered that the computer in Hong Kong was entirely vulnerable, that the safeguards were not put into effect. Anyone and everyone who had access to the system could issue visas in Hong Kong, that is, anyone in the high commission in Hong Kong who had access to the computer, with a little bit of knowledge, could issue visas. It appeared that this had been happening for years, probably from 1986 until 1991. I compare Mr. McAdam to the sheriff in town, because various people in the high commission brought their suspicious pieces of evidence to him, and he gathered them and presented them to the RCMP when the RCMP arrived in 1992.

So after listening to various pieces of the story, I went to the RCMP central file room, got the 1992 files, and sat down and started to read them. After I had been reading them for several weeks, I came across a report called the Balser report, which, in obtuse language, said the computer is vulnerable and showed how it was possible to misuse it.

The thing to understand is that Mr. McAdam in 1992 was on station in Hong Kong. Mr. McAdam is a very frank person. He was kept out of the informed circle. The RCMP and his superiors told him everything was under control and in good hands. It was in their hands, but what they were in fact doing was covering up the facts from Mr. McAdam, because he had been in the service for 29 years and was not one to mince words. So through bureaucratic manoeuvring, they got Mr. McAdam back to Ottawa and isolated him. Finally, he took his retirement, because he was so entirely frustrated by his superiors' apparent lack of interest in the details of his findings.

The thing was that they knew before he did; they knew that the RCMP had found this. Their own technician, Mr. Balser, had found this and had told them they had a disaster here. It was a disaster beyond bureaucratic scope. It was actually a political silver bullet, which it would have been a disaster to report honestly. So they kept this from Mr. McAdam, because he was not someone who could be told to keep it under his hat.

(1605)

It was just the fact that he came back to Ottawa and periodically came to the RCMP and demanded answers and demanded inquiry. My boss, of course, did not know of this cover-up that had been perpetrated in 1992—we were now in 1996—so he assigned me to delve into the case and I looked into it. It was only by an examination of these files from 1992 that I discovered the cover-up.

I also was not one to mince my words. I said to my boss, “This is what's happened”. My boss is a very nice gentleman, but he just wasn't responding to what I was telling him. As the months went on, it occurred to me that the RCMP were going to continue this cover-up, which I believed at that time was perpetrated by Immigration and Foreign Affairs.

Finally, I made a complaint against my boss for obstruction of justice. That was in 1997. I then went on sick leave when I perceived that, yes, this was really going ahead and the cover-up would continue no matter what I did. So I was off on stress leave, sick leave, for six months, during which time I reformulated my complaint, now against four superior officers who had direct knowledge, who I had evidence were part of the cover-up.

A few months later I went back to work. The RCMP gave me a job essentially shuffling paper—making photocopies, you might say—for a while. Finally, six months later they sent me to the personnel office to work as a personnel clerk.

What happened after that was that they cornered me in a bureaucratic way. It appeared that I was going to be stabbed in the back, so what I did was go public. This was now in September 1999, and I went public in a newspaper. I didn't really understand this at the time, but I believe now that this was in fact done expressly, that my bosses in fact had made a decision and put this pinch on me and made me go public.

I did go public and made allegations in 1999 that there was a cover-up, that there was loss of control of the computer. I was subsequently suspended with pay, was charged with divulging confidential information, was put on trial, and was convicted of doing that, in fact, in 1992. It was at my trial in 1992, through listening to the testimony of various people who were called to my trial, that I realized the RCMP had to have been in the know from 1992, from the original investigation. I had suspected the original investigator from the RCMP was in fact on the take or corrupt or something else. From my trial, however, I can see that he was following orders when he covered up the whole affair in his files.

(1610)

The reason the RCMP would do this, I think, was for fear of national security. This problem was big enough that it could be a real arrow through the heart of the government. To admit that our way of life is now so complex that we cannot control our own computers in the federal government is a very serious matter. It's a political problem as well as a bureaucratic problem. So this is my opinion of why it happened. It was a question of national security taking precedence over a criminal investigation. I believe this is why Mr. McAdam was frustrated for so long and that, in fact, the national security question was being addressed.





Whistleblower -- Culture of Corruption --- more taxpayer money down a black hole

Senator Kinsella: "I think one gains respect not by showmanship, but by the quality and content of our gross national product and the efficiency of our labour"

Whistleblower: New embassy massively over budget Kathy Tomlinson, CTV News

[. . . . ] Today, the historic site has been transformed into an architecturally-stunning 10 story complex with a price tag of $180 million. The cost is higher than the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC -- which is regarded as Canada's pre-eminent showcase abroad.

The Berlin embassy was built in a private-public partnership between the Canadian government and a German company: the Hannover Leasing Group.

By the time it opened on Friday -- 4 years after its initial completion date -- Canada's contribution was $102 million, with Hanover picking up the rest. The original cost to the Canadian taxpayer was estimated at $39 million.

The over-runs have gone largely unnoticed, according to one Conservative Senator. [Kinsella . . . . ]





Waiting for justice after the Gomery Report?

[. . . . ] white collar crimes in Canada are treated with a slap on the wrist. They usually end up with a year or two of jail time in a minimum security facility. It is better to get justice by throwing the Libs out than "waiting for the gomery report- as martin keeps saying, since he knows not much is going to happen to them anyway.Amogst other things , there is no truth in sentencing in Canada either. [. . . . ]




Lawyer gets three-year sentence for money laundering Paul waldie, Mar. 31, 05

Toronto lawyer Simon Rosenfeld received a three-year prison sentence for money laundering yesterday, less than half what Crown prosecutors were seeking.

"I leave it up to you to determine what message that sends," Crown attorney Rosemary Warren said briskly after the sentence was handed down by Madam Justice Tamarin Dunnet of the Ontario Superior Court. [. . . . ]




Liberal Culture of corruption

PM has screwed up Peter Worthington, Apr. 29, 05

Let's cut to the chase. Paul Martin's "deal" with Jack Layton was motivated by one thing -- his fear of becoming a footnote to history like other short-lived PMs: Joe Clark, John Turner, Kim Campbell.

That boils down to desperation and ego -- always a volatile combination that provokes odd behaviour [. . . . ]





A piece of the puzzle May 5, 05

We're wondering what Chuck Guite could possibly have to gain by fibbing to Justice John Gomery about the role prominent Liberal cabinet ministers played in deciding which Quebec advertising firms received federal contracts.

[. . . . ] Martin spokesman Scott Reid was quick to dismiss Guite's testimony. [. . . . ]

A similar denial came from Manley. [. . . . ]

It's a strategy that we have seen all too often from the federal Liberals. When there's any suggestion of wrongdoing, start with a firm denial and stick to that story until the facts prove otherwise.

Obviously Guite's allegations have yet to be proven. Yet his testimony adds one more element to a fresco being painted by witnesses at the Gomery inquiry. [. . . . ]





No Class!

Gritically injured Link Byfield, April 29, 2005, Calgary Sun

Martin was an earnest boy-wonder with his sleeves rolled up for action, a sharp political genius surrounded by sharp younger political geniuses, who would re-energize the Liberal party and remake Canada.

That was the hype.

The media repeated it, and the public believed it.

Now, look at them, trailing in the polls for the first time in two decades, ridiculed by the media, issuing contradictory policy statements every 20 minutes, and desperately clinging to office by auctioning off public expenditures and private patronage.

If Martin had any real class, self-respect or smarts, he would not have gone on television . . . begging the nation for a few more months.

He would have gone to the governor general and asked for an election. [. . . . ]



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