Jan. 27, 2007: #2

See Update Jan. 28, 2007.

There have been problems posting on Blogger lately. With any posts labelled Memory Lane, assume these are excerpts with [...] after any or all.


Immigration Refugees Criminal Gangs

Five Montreal men have been found guilty of gangsterism, in what is believed to be the first time a street gang has been recognized as a criminal organization under the law. , CTV.ca staff, With a report from CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux

news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/
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[....] Some of the guilty face deportation while others face a maximum of 14 years in prison.

"It may not be the end of their troubles, because a lot of these people -- although they've lived in Canada for most of their lives -- they're natives of Haiti and they don't necessarily have Canadian citizenship," Giroux said.

Search: Haiti , appeal

How many children and baby mommas do they have who would find it a hardship to do without the ... putative father? That has generally been enough to keep the scum of the world in Canada ... "hardship", along with "privacy" ... or they might face some violence ... Send them packing before they turn Canada into what they came from ... and before the "natural governing party" is returned to office and allows into Canada more of the same. Another gift that keeps on giving.

The following may have some relevance, along with articles by Martin Collicott who has commented on immigration into Canada. Search Google.

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 13 - 18, 2005

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"The findings surprised the study's author...a pro-immigration Democrat."

The Myth Of No-Cost Immigrants -- check the graph "On The Dole" investors.com , Nov. 14, 05

[. . . . ] Chief among the government services they were consuming were education and Medicaid.

Charest, Harper annoyed by French politician , Canadian Press, Jan. 22, 2007

www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/
story/CTVNews/20070122/
france_que_070122/20070122?hub=Canada

PARIS -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest have taken French presidential candidate Segolene Royal to task for saying she sympathizes with the idea of Quebec sovereignty.

The Socialist hopeful was asked about her thoughts on Quebec's national question after a short meeting with Parti Quebecois Leader Andre Boisclair in Paris on Monday.

Royal said Quebec and France have common values, including "sovereignty and Quebec's freedom.''

From the Prime Minister's website

“Experience teaches that it is highly inappropriate for a foreign leader to interfere in the democratic affairs of another country. We look forward to marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Canada at Quebec City with the next President of France.”

“We expect in turn that the next President will display an understanding of our shared history, and the respect for Canada and Canadians that such an important partnership requires.”

PM Harper expressed Canadians' displeasure. It might be productive to look at other incursions of France into Canada via those who would like Canada to be under the aegis of France again.


Canada's New Government recently introduced a bill in the House of Commons to establish a national process for consulting Canadians on their preferences for Senate appointments. Are you looking forward to choosing your preferred Senate candidates?

Yes: 64.39%
No: 19.70%
Undecided: 3.03%

Source: www.victoews.com


Memory Lane: Mosbacher Energy Co.

Frost Hits the Rhubarb July 16 - 22, 2006 -- July 20, 2006: Big oil ... targets Greenland

frosthitsthe
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2006_07_16_frosthitsthe
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July 20, 2006: Big oil ...

targets Greenland -- fields of 500M barrels: EnCana among 13 firms eyeing bid for offshore rights -- invited to Ilulissat , Jon Harding, Financial Post, July 19, 2006

www.canada.com/national
post/financialpost/story.html?id=
42dc30dc-b945-4a5d-9bcb-4de416388861&k=32396

CALGARY [....] Greenland is auctioning exploration rights to eight blocks covering 92,000 square kilometres in the Davis Strait between the huge island's west coast and Canada's Baffin Island.

Search: Richard Dingwall, an Arctic exploration expert and geologist with Mosbacher Energy Co.

Search Google also for: North Sea Lifting Ltd. , Richard Dingwall


Would this have anything to do with rushing agreements with natives in the North or Nunavut in the era of Paul Martin and Andy Scott, then-Minister for Indian Affairs?



Update Jan. 28, 2007

Natives

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 13 - 18, 2005

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[Paul Martin] PM & Team "Priorities"

Parties agree to give four bills priority , Alan Woods, CanWest, Nov. 15, 05

- Bill C-53 [. . . . organized criminals and property ]

- Bill C-54 -- an act to allow First Nations to manage and regulate oil and gas management currently being carried out on their behalf by the federal government. [....]

Search: Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine

[My comments] Why do I think Bill C-54 so important? Think about it. Aboriginals, mining, North, oil, gas? Water purification? Culture and language for northen natives? Is the following in any way related? ....

Related to a previous post this week in which I mentioned the Deh Cho:

Aug. 2, 2006: Cdn. wishful thinking, "neutrality", Deh Cho

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/08/
aug-2-2006-cdn-wishful-thinking.html

Deh Cho declines share of multi-billion dollar MacKenzie Valley Pipeline , Financial Post, August 02, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost
/story.html?id=b212f9f7-b43e-4bdc-acf3-947e3a47b647

[My Comments] What do the Deh Cho want? Just a thought ... Have they been encouraged to block the pipeline until the political party which buys their loyalty and their votes returns to its rightful position ... standing for nothing but being re-elected year after leftist year using taxpayer dollars? Is that too cynical. Well, gee ... why would I be cynical?"

Memory Lane: FINTRAC Money Laundering

Is this also related to IMET?

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 13 - 18, 2005

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2005_11_13_frosthitsthe
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Scroll down to:

Every day is laundry day & Related, Queen, Shovelgate, Discrimination, Kelowna-Drugs-Lax Courts, Energy, Fugere, Gagliano, Chretien &

The real issue is the illicit drug trade and the turf wars that go along with it. Organized crime in its many forms is at the centre of all of this and any attempt to deal with the gun violence in our cities needs to recognize this at the outset. And it is on the issue of organized crime that this government fails miserably.

Look at the report [link and excerpts ...] released by FINTRAC last week ....

FINTRAC Identifies Over $ 2 Billion in Suspected Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing
www.fintrac.gc.ca/intro_e.asp

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)

[....] Highlights of the 2004-2005 Annual Report

Consult the 2005 Annual Report [....]

And there is much more.



Media: CBC - Canadian Television Fund - CTF

Videotron becomes second cable company to withold CTF contribution -- over the CBC "tax" -- follows Shaw cable , CBC Watch, January 23, 2007

www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/2203

Coming a week after the Shaw Cable president, Jim Shaw, withdrew his company’s contribution to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), another cable company Videotron (owned by Quebecor) is following suit with a similar suspension.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Douglas Barrett, the fund's chairman, Quebecor CEO and president Pierre Karl Peladeau expressed "deep dissatisfaction with the fund's governance, performance and direction" and complained that "fund managers pay little heed to the main private-sector contributors to the fund and give little consideration to their point of view in decision-making.

Maria Babbage of Canadian Press reports: [.... details ....]

If CBC wants to pretend that it doesn’t benefit financially in a significant way from CTF revenue streams then give up the envelope and let people have the shows, like Rick Mercer, aired commercial free.

Granted, CBC may not make back 100% of the CTF contribution earmarked for CBC productions, thanks in large measure to low audience numbers (a factor of the inherently unappealing nature of the fare). CBC does however collect a significant percentage of that CTF contribution back in advertising revenue and foreign sales.

End of Update



A disturbing, but excellent, program

See if it will be re-run. Worth watching -- polygamy

In God's Country

www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/
show/CTVShows/20070108/
default_in_gods_country_20070108/20070108/

A Mormon woman fights to protect her children from their dominating religion and its determined and vengeful Bishop.

This was shown Tuesday Jan. 23 at 9pm ET.


Liberals - Media

I learned of this story on Punted Posters and last night I read that Stephane Dion may be re-thinking this, given the bad optics of allowing back into the Liberal Party those who were involved in corruption (Gomery Inquiry). What is significant is what was missing in one of these stories.

CTV.ca -- Mr. Cote's first name was missing -- How strange; maybe it has been inserted since. Liberals may allow disgraced organizer back in -- [? Cote] , 24/01/2007

news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/
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During the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship scandal, Cote testified that he received $120,000 in $100 bills from the executive director of the party's Quebec wing. He distributed that money to 12 Liberal candidates in the 1997 federal election.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is facing questions about whether he supports welcoming back in to the party one of the key figures from the sponsorship scandal.

Cote, a former party organizer in Quebec, was one of 10 members banned for life from the party by former prime minister Paul Martin in the wake of the sponsorship scandal.

Search: [Liberal] MP Marlene Jennings



CNEWS.ca: Dion could welcome back some sponsorship organizers , By Joan Bryden, Jan. 24, 2007

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/
2007/01/24/3438868.html

QUEBEC (CP) — The sponsorship scandal came back to haunt Liberals Wednesday after newly minted Leader Stephane Dion suggested at least one of the organizers disgraced by the affair should be welcomed back into the party.

Dion told a Quebec newspaper that he has no objections to Marc-Yvan Cote, a former key party organizer in eastern Quebec, being allowed to resume his Liberal membership. [....]

Cote testified that he received $120,000 in $100 bills from the executive director of the party’s Quebec wing. He distributed that money to 12 Liberal candidates in the 1997 federal election.

Search: Montreal MP Denis Coderre , [Liberal MP] Marlene Jennings , Jean Pelletier , Alfonso Gagliano , paying millions in kickbacks to the Quebec wing , Jean Pelletier, former prime minister Jean Chretien’s chief of staff


Memory Lane May 27, 2005: Corriveau makes second appearance before Gomery inquiry

www.cbc.ca/canada/story/
2005/05/27/gomery050527.html

The balance was delivered to another organizer, Marc-Yvan Cote, he surmised. ...

Crime , Youth - Without Conscience

Shocking phone call
B.C. man tells court of conversation with one of teen's accused killers , Tony Blais, Jan. 24, 2007, Sun Media

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/
2007/01/24/3438645-sun.html

[....] Laboucan, 21, and Michael Briscoe, 36, of Edmonton, are on trial on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping in the April 3, 2005, slaying of Nina Courtepatte, 13, on a golf course near Stony Plain.

Two female youths are also charged ....

A 19-year-old man, who was 17 at the time of the slaying, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Stony Plain provincial court on Dec. 18.

According to a court document made an exhibit during the guilty plea, Courtepatte was raped and fatally beaten after being chosen at random at West Edmonton Mall.

According to the document, Courtepatte was raped twice, beaten with a wrench and a sledge hammer, stabbed with a pair of throwing knives and choked with a wrench.

Memory Lane: Bombardier

Search: Oct. 24, 2006: Bombardier and Related

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/10/
oct-24-2006-bombardier-and-related.html


Memory Lane: Banking , UNSCAM , PetroKazakhstan , Oil , Sinochem


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 13 - 18, 2005

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More international banking info here: Inquiry names major firms in Iraq bribe scandal -- US report reveals 2,253 firms gave Saddam's regime kickbacks on humanitarian-related goods shipped to Iraq. , Oct. 28, 05, Middle East Online

The French bank BNP Paribas, which was supervised the escrow account for the program on behalf of the United Nations, came in for detailed criticism.

BNP faced a clear conflict of interest [. . . . ]

Search: Siemens, Texaco, Volvo Group , Chinese state company, Sinochem

Is/was that Chinese company involved in Canada? Kazakhstan? Bernard Isaultier sold his company in October to a Chinese company? With state control, how much separation, if any, is there between CNPC and Sinochem?

PetroKazakhstan shareholders OK CNPC bid
Reuters, Updated: 2005-10-19 08:43

Jan. 27, 2007: #1

There have been problems posting on Blogger lately. With any posts labelled Memory Lane, assume these are excerpts with [...] after any or all.



Two more grow op kids found , Rob Lamberti, TorSun, Jan. 26, 2007

www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/
2007/01/25/3445173-sun.html

[....] Many children are exposed to mould and airborne pesticides used to battle bugs. Pesticides and fertilizers are also forced through the house when the furnace turns the blower on to distribute heat or air, he said. People in grow houses also face oxygen depletion, carbon monoxide poisoning and the danger of electrical fires.

Last year, the drug unit raided 93 grow-ops and rescued 27 children. In 2005, he said the unit raided 101 operations and found 32 children in need of CAS protection while in 2004, 38 children were found living in 132 grow-ops the unit dismantled.

So far this year, the drugs and vice unit has raided 10 grow-ops. [....]

Jihadization of youth a ‘rapid process’: CSIS
Study of extremism , Stewart Bell, National Post, January 26, 2007

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=73104191-8e1f-4a8e-b4ba-f3c1b8f1b861

[....] Many Canadians were shocked when the RCMP announced last June 3 it had arrested a groupof adults andjuveniles for allegedly planning truck bombings in Toronto. The group had also allegedly stockpiled firearms and intended to take hostages at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa and behead them unless Canada pulled its troops out of Afghanistan.

Prosecutors allege the suspected terrorists were encouraged partly by an extremist leader who has claimed that Canadian troops are only deployed to Afghanistan to rape Muslim women.

The report notes that younger jihadists are now often getting their inspiration online from spiritual leaders who are “available 24/7.” [....]

Worth reading. How much do Canadian taxpayers contribute to the communications network that allow this spread of jihadi imam lies? Check further.


Maher Arar

Canadian taxpayers paid $12-Million to Maher Arar in compensation for what the Syrians did to him. What, exactly, will the Syrian government that actually tortured him pay? Why were CSIS/RCMP watching him in Canada, in the first place?


Al-Qa'ida in 'threat' to blow up paper , Rebecca Weisser, The Australian, Jan. 24, 2007, via starboardside at puntedposters

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
printpage/0,5942,21108536,00.html

A MAN claiming to represent al-Qa'ida in Australia has left a telephone message at an Arabic Australian newspaper threatening to kill its editor-in-chief and destroy its offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

[....] The threats, made on Sunday, January 14, were left on the answering machine in the newspaper's Fairfield office. They appeared to have been written down and then read over the phone in Arabic.

"Judging by the voice, I think it was a young man and from the way he spoke Arabic, his vocabulary and his accent, I think he might have been born here but of Yemeni or Syrian origin," Mr Khoshnow said.

The caller appeared to assume, incorrectly, that Mr Khoshnow was a Shi'ite and said: "You Shi'ites are dogs. You are scum, to be trodden underfoot. From Moqtada al-Sadr to Hassan Nasrallah, all your leaders are dogs and scum. Do not think that the death of Saddam will save you. We will deter you with terrorism here inside Australia. [....]

Search: calling himself Assad Abougila , Libya , al-Qa'ida in Africa , On August 21, 2005 , notification to al-Furat newspaper , editor-in-chief, Mr Hussein Khoshnow


The gift that keeps on giving ... (Liberal) immigration ... You may vote for more of the same in future.

Gang of thieves moving east, police warn -- Group that struck B.C. May be same one that hit liquor store in Calgary last week -- possibly Romanian gypsies , Chris Wattie, National Post, January 26, 2007

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=5aa88952-6493-45fe-8ff3-b188eb2c6b79

Vancouver Police are warning Canadian store owners about a travelling gang of thieves who are believed to be heading east, "swarming" small stores with elaborate deceptions and sophisticated distraction techniques, then slipping away with thousands of dollars in cash or merchandise.

Constable Howard Chow of Vancouver Police said the gang of about 15 men and women, described as gypsies, arrived in Western Canada in late November and quickly went to work on Vancouver jewellers and other small merchants.

[....] The thieves will drift into the store one or two at a time, until there are more than a dozen .... female gang members used their scarves to screen a male member's entry into the back of the store, where he found and emptied a cash box.

[....] run a distraction on them.

[....] Valentin Dumitru, 48, as "a person of interest" ... a silver Chevrolet van with Illinois plates ....

Worth checking this thread: Two Nurses Said ... On health care dollars Vulgar Bulgar on puntedposters


Memory Lane: from Frost Hits the Rhubarb Sept. 4 - 10, 2005

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2005_09_04_frosthitsthe
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Search:

frosthitsthe
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protectionism-pm-china-hu-jintao.html

Protectionism, PM, China, Hu Jintao -&- Protest

Bike Protectionism [....]

'Creepy' surveillance legislation proposed -- "OTTAWA - Police and security agencies would be able to surreptitiously track unwitting Canadians via their cellphones, BlackBerrys and laptop computers..."

www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/
news/archives/story.html?id=
6dd604ed-5efa-4219-9682-584b8e86824b

Memory Lane: Terrorist Tradecraft Manual, RCMP Staffing & Organized Crime , Sept. 8, 2005

frosthitsthe
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dvd-formats-counterfeiting-organized.html

"Perhaps if [the public] had a look at the terrorist tradecraft manual, people would be a little more supportive of the guys who are trying to keep things from blowing up or our leaders from being shot."

Val Sears: Terrorism war is fought by the book

quotations from the Koran

RCMP Staffing and Organized Crime

Mountie staffing to rise in rural Alberta -- Province's top cop vows hiring in 2006 -- "Some experts have blamed the two-year spike on an increase in organized crime activity in rural communities, but one leading criminologist said it's too soon to draw any conclusions"

Under a cost-sharing agreement that expires in 2012, the province pays Ottawa to hire the RCMP as Alberta's provincial police force. [....]

DVD Formats, Counterfeiting, Organized Crime Connection

[....] new DVD formats, whether Blu-ray or HD DVD

[....] Apparently, there is regional coding which is a copyright protection; the new technology is continent specific. In other words, the thing won't work if someone tries to copy a DVD on another continent. I think it even reports back any hacking to break this; for the exact details, see the Financial Post, "Both sides in the DVD format war are deadlocked", Sept. 6, 05, FP5.

Example of the problem: Counterfeiting DVD's [....]

Counterfeiting was in the news lately in Montreal.


Memory Lane: Multiculturalism

Diversity "Success": Home Buyers and Businessmen , Sept. 6, 2005

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/09/
diversity-success-home-buyers-and.html

You want to read of some immigration and diversity "successes"? Read on. and do look at the rest of the information on this web page on the diversity in the businesses.

Many ... criminal organizations are known for their propensity for extreme violence, especially among their own community. Competition between those groups is often fierce, which leads to major crimes such as home invasions, assaults, and homicides.

Memory Lane: RED CHINESE CAPITALIST BANKERS "Wall Street bankers need to be led, these Chinese-born bankers say, by someone who can earn the trust and respect of Chinese officials and executives but also know how to marshal the resources of a Western investment bank." , September 8, 2005

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Memory Lane: Environment , Kyoto , greenhouse gases

frosthitsthe
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un-katrina-rescue-blame-wynton.html

China won't agree to target for cutting greenhouse emissions, says Dion -- "not even in the post-2012 phase of the Kyoto climate pact."

www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=
c1b408d4-e20e-4e6c-9bd7-4647a8250eb8

"The best technology in the world, at this moment, is at Calgary. If we can help China to burn coal cleanly we will aid the Chinese, we will aid Canada, and we will aid the planet, and we will make megatonnes of money. [Who is the WE?]

[Scroll down the page:] China, India in innovative power play , Financial Post, Sept. 10, 05 [....]

include the three Chinese monopolies -- Sinopec Corp., China National Petroleum Corp. and CNOOC -- and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp., its foreign subsidiary ONCG Videsh, Oil India Ltd., Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. ....

Most of the Indian corporations are privately held unlike the Chinese ones, which are partially privatized but controlled by Beijing.

[. . . . ] (Talisman made a huge profit on the sale but it underscored the fact that state-owned oil entities have huge competitive advantages over private-sector ones because they enjoy sovereign immunity from pesky U.S. courts and other lawsuits as well as subsidies in order to overpay if necessary for assets.) [. . . . ]

Memory Lane: Editorial: Shhhh! Don’t speak about Chinese spies , May 10 2006. [You may have to link to PrimeTimeCrime to get this.]

www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/ff8080810afb0f7
1010b1b6c2aaf012f_Editorial_Chinese_spies.do.html

Worth reading to the end. Is Liberal MP Raymond Chan working for, Canada or China?


Memory Lane: coal, water, oilsands: Frost Hits the Rhubarb June 3, 2005
Compilation 3: Roaming Around

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/06/
compilation-3-roaming-around.html

Check: Sinopec Group , Synenco Energy Inc.

[Note this paragraph:] engineers have developed ways of liquefying the deposits with injections of hot water and other means. Already, about 8 percent of Canada's oil production comes from tar sands.

What is happening with this, if anything?

Jan. 22, 2007: #3 Another wrinkle ... in education

The Globe and Mail, Jan. 22, 2007, A6 -- Did I read that Power Corp had acquired part of it? Check further.

Half-page Advertisement: Worth looking at the line-up. Is this politicized and Liberal-connected? Decide for yourself.

York University Announces the Glendon School of Public Affairs Advisory Committee
International Masters Degree in International and Public Affairs
Bilingual

With photos for all:

Alexander Himmelfarb, formerly and until the last election, Clerk of the Privy Council Office under the Liberal administration, and now Ambassador to Italy since. [That no Liberal will ever go unemployed is understood. There will be something created or held open for just such emergencies.]

Rosalie Abella, justice appointed by Paul Martin to the Supreme Court of Canada [She must have time on her hands.]

Rita Burak, Chair, Hydro One Inc., formerly Ontario Hydro, who has followed in the footsteps of Eleanor Clitheroe who left under a cloud of excess spending and perquisites, I believe, and Maurice Strong appointed by Pierre Trudeau, and found to have acquired a million dollars ... somehow ... something having to do with Iraq and UN Oil for Food Scandal. Ms. Burak follows some stellar examples ... of doing well ... out of Liberal connections.]

Kim Campbell, ex-Progressive Conservative PM, that party being defunct, was appointed to a cushy position in New York as Canada's trade representative by Jean Chretien [who must have hoped by example to ensure all turfed PM's would be employed. What is JC doing these days?]

Mel Cappe, Pres. Institute for Research on Public Policy [I suspect we could assume it is another organization set up by Liberals to carry on their political beneficence on the backs of the Canadian taxpayers, but do check further.]

David Collenette, formerly Liberal Minister of Defence [His wife, Penny Collenette, worked in the Liberal Prime Minister's Office, and then moved seamlessly into some lecturing position. Was it lecturing on whistleblowing and at the University of Ottawa? Check.]

Jean-Louis Roy, Pres. of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development

Jodi White, Pres., Public Policy Forum

Paul Wells, Sr. Columnist, Macleans

Chantal Hebert, Columnist, National Affairs, Toronto Star

Michael I. M. MacMillan, Exec. Chair, Alliance Atlantis Communications

Jacques Menard, Chair, Nesbitt Burns, and BMO Financial Group, Quebec

Graham Fraser, Official Languages Commissioner, appointed by PM Harper but who will do as Languages Tsars have always done, expand his own department and promote French across the country, thereby ensuring positions for some and jobs for those who hue to the linguistic party line. [The unilingual Anglos may remain unemployed or shovelling hamburgers and chips ... or manning the lower level jobs. The more things change... ]

In similar vein, the advertisement continues, each additional committee member L/liberally connected politically or linguistically, connected to strong Liberal areas such as BC or Ontario, connected to business, banking, pension plan, capital, law, or the media. There is usually mention of some soothing word like "Forum", "Institute", "Democratic", or "Public", as though the public had anything to do with anything ... but paying.

This is a politicized committee to keep the Liberal brand alive and to promote the only language that counts in Canada, French. Perhaps there is even hope of bringing back the Progressive Conservative Party and burying the CPC. I am seeing hints of this even now. Language demands and reach have passed far beyond service ... to promotion across the country, whether necessary or not, and you'd better toe the line or that linguistic group won't vote for you. Do I make myself clear? Right!

The most obvious result I am hearing is a negativity of sentiment about the language and the pushy promoters from people who were positive, or at least neutral, years ago. They have had enough of this never satisfied minority. Throwing more taxpayer money--check, it is sure to be there somewhere in some grant or other--is only exacerbating the negative attitude. Canada will eventually split, which may have been the intention, if not to completely run everything. The above advertisement is simply more of the same pushing further and farther. Meanwhile, a Canadian and a Quebecker I know cannot get the health care she needs. There is always money for languages, meaning French expansion, whatever else goes under-serviced.

Check for the results for children's tests in core French in NB, posted within the last few days. Dismal. More funding will be provided, Canadians may be certain. The classic Liberal strategy will be employed ... throwing more money and power at the problem. It never goes away.

Jan. 22, 2007: #2 More Memories

Re: Taxpayer Funding Foundations Crown Corporations Agencies

More selflessly doing good ... on taxpayers' money ... supporting the needy victims of Canadian laws ... and marching in support of illegal aliens while representing Canadians as MP's


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 3 - 8, 2007


Background and Related: to other posts, two of which, from July 5, 2006, had disappeared, and which I re-posted here: Jan. 16, 2007: Into a black hole

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2007/01/
jan-16-2007-into-black-hole_16.html

The Right Connections & Memory Lane

Those interested in oil, gas, banking, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhastan, China may be interested in Alexandre "Sasha" Trudeau's series of articles

Alexandre "Sasha" Trudeau: Rubles to burn -- Moscow's New Russians have gotten rich and they're happy to flaunt it , November 15, 2004

Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau: The Burden of the Past -- Moscow's legacy weighs heavily here , October 25, 2004

I had posted this: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 3 - 9, 2006

frosthitsthe
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2006_12_03_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Dec. 4, 2006: #2

CTV interrupts [Liberal] convention coverage to interview Alexandre Trudeau in Havana, where he is attending the birthday of family friend Fidel Castro

Dec. 5, 2006: Ring around the rosie ... the Pierre Trudeau Foundation, initially taxpayer-funded with $125-Million, the directorships, and grants ... and where further investigation leads ...

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12/
dec-5-2006-ring-around-rosie.html

Table of Contents

* Background: Sacha Trudeau - Fidel Castro - Jonathan Kay - Human Rights Watch -
Update post added, Dec. 8, 06 - Barbara Amiel

The last days of the patriarch - A Sacha Trudeau quote: "Pierre Trudeau had a friendship with Fidel Castro that went beyond politics. It was a mutual admiration between two men who put their unmatched intellects at the service of their country. .... Fidel is the last of the global patriarchs. Reason, revolution and virtue ..."

Sacha's love letter: His father gave us the Charter of Rights. So what is Sacha Trudeau doing writing obsequious agitprop for a communist thug?

"The legacy of Castro is well-summarized in a recent report by Human Rights Watch: "Cuba remains a Latin American anomaly: an undemocratic government that represses nearly all forms of political dissent. President Fidel Castro, now in his 47th year in power ... continues to enforce political conformity using criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions [and] mob harassment ... The end result is that Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to free expression, association, assembly, privacy, movement, and due process of law."
Weird bedfellow Sacha Trudeau and me

Hard cases make weird bedfellows. Consider Sacha Trudeau, Diana Ralph and the imprisoned Hassan Almrei

When Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau went to a maximum security remand centre to visit Mr. Hassan Almrei ....

Almrei ... from Saudi Arabia on a forged United Arab Emirates passport, ... forged Syrian passport. .... Afghanistan and Tajikistan ... Wahhabist brand of Islam ...
... made a name in the tenderloin of Canadian life as a man who could procure false documents, which he did for ....

* The Pierre Trudeau Foundation - Scholar in Mining Engineering Grant - Global Citizenship - Canadian Taxpayers' Contribution

Sacha Trudeau on Global Citizenship

research experiences in Northern Canadian and Latin American communities impacted by harmful mining practices. [....]

More here: Influencing a New Generation of Global Citizens

* A "Private" Foundation for "advanced research in the humanities and the human sciences"

Not exactly how it all began, my son, but moving in that direction , a bit of Memory Lane from Industry Canada, 2002.

* Allan Rock Announces Advanced Fellowship Program in Honour of Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Industry Minister Rock gives an endowment of $125 million fund from the taxpayers of Canada - research - travel - mentoring

The work undertaken by fellowship and mid-career award winners will be expected to cover specific themes reflective of Pierre Elliott Trudeau's personal interests, including: human rights and social justice, federalism, responsible citizenship, Canada and the world, and humans and their natural environment. [....]

“These fellowships will encourage the exchange of knowledge by these leading scholars using modern technology network.

an independent, non-profit corporation which will be administered by distinguished Canadians

The work ....Canadian Studies, History, International Relations, Journalism, Law, Peace and Conflict Studies, Philosophy, Political Economy, Political Science, Sociology and Urban and Community Studies.

Up to 25 fellowships each year ... $50,000 per year for up to four years, and ... a stipend of $35,000 and an allowance of $15,000 for tuition, fees, and travel expenses. [ That could be $100,000 a year. ]

participation in an annual conference to be organized as part of the fellowship program. [up to $75,000 per year]

15 mentors .... [up to $35,000 for mentoring and travelling - (Comment Jan. 22, 2007: How many academics who don't go along with all this thrive? This is the kind of thing that brings academics on-side. When you've got them by the *****, their hearts and minds will follow ... politically.) ]

... 75 per cent ... to Canadian citizens ... [ i.e. 25% will go to non-Canadians and you and your children have helped to pay for it ... whether you can afford university for your children or not. ]

Fellowship recipients will work with experts .... international students will be encouraged to study in fields relevant to the future of Canada.

The Foundation will deliver an annual report to the Minister of Industry, which will detail, for example, its investment activities

* Directors of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation

They administer the $125-million endowment from taxpayers - e.g. Chaviva Hosek ... CIAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research which is connected with / links to CITA) - e.g. Paule Leduc ... (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, director of the Canada Council for the Arts) - e.g. Dr. Sean Riley ... (Millennium Scholarship Foundation) - e.g. Milton K. Wong ... (BC Cancer Foundation Millennium Campaign. Mr. Wong is founder and chair of the Laurier Institution, an independent non-profit institution ) - e.g. Dr. Marc Renaud (... President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ... on the boards of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, the steering committee of the Networks of Centres of Excellence, and the executive committee of the Interim Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. ... chairs the Steering Committee for the Canada Research Chairs Program. ...) - e.g. Dr. Alexander Himelfarb

... (Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage ...Head of the Unified Family Court Project at the Department of Justice, Executive Interchange ... PCO?)

* Sacha Trudeau - Security Certificates - No One Is Illegal - Adil Charkaoui - Hasan Almrei

Trudeau takes up cause of hunger strikers held on security certificates -- Adil Charkaoui, the Moroccan accused by CSIS of being an al-Qaeda sleeper agent, and Hassan Almrei. That is no longer available but it is mentioned here, No One Is Illegal -- Their campaigns also support Mohamed Cherfi, noii-van.resist.ca - with screen capture -- More here: ( Updated May 31, 2006: #4 No one is illegal! Screen captures

These screen captures go with the post entitled May 31, 2006: #3 No one is illegal! Anti-Capitalism Convergence

http://
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/05/
may-31-2006-3-no-one-is-illegal-anti.html

Related -- native activism: a post on the Inuit Circumpolar network, Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier and her lawsuit against the US and the network supporting these activities -- May 29, 06 #1: Propaganda, Kyoto, Activists, NRTEE, Global Justice ) No one is illegal! -- and here: May 31, 2006: #3 No one is illegal! Anti-Capitalism Convergence "Why were Members of the Parliament of Canada, MP Olivia Chow (NDP) and MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal) participating in supporting illegal aliens in Canada? (Toronto) They have sworn to uphold the laws of Canada and these people are illegals. Did they check out the connections to a group in Montreal called Anti-Capitalist Convergence? Its international network?"

[See also: "Jan. 20, 2007: #2 Kyoto, The Science and the Scientists, Native Input, Funding, Special Arrangements and More" and "Jan. 18, 2007: Environment
Global Warming, Kyoto, Environment and Politicized Science and Propaganda"]

* Illegals - Security Certificates - a Russian spy - Arar - RCMP

The Russian spy ... gets "privacy".

Alleged spy to be deported .... The Russian was carrying a fraudulent Ontario birth certificate, a Canadian passport and the equivalent of $7,800 in five different currencies when he was arrested at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Terrorism, Security Certificates, Harkat & Sacha Trudeau

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/09/
terrorism-security-certificates-harkat.html

Jan. 22, 2007: #1 Memory Lane

Re: Taxpayer Funding Foundations Crown Corporations Agencies


Selflessly doing good ... on taxpayers' money ...


Frost Hits the Rhubarb June 18 - 22, 2006

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/
2006_06_18_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Auditor General: Billions of tax dollars held by foundations out of public scrutiny Annual Report 2003-2004 .pdf -- primetimecrime.com, Feb. 28, 05. Assume [....] after each.

www.primetime
crime.com/Recent/
Investigative/20050228foundations.htm

[....] The lack of oversight means it's possible foundation money could be misused in the same way tax dollars were wasted in the sponsorship scandal, [....]

What I have noticed about the (usually Liberal) appointees and network members mentioned below is that they effortlessly move from appointment to appointment, invariably to organizations funded by taxpayer money (the details are never clear), perhaps with a bit of private money involved, but who would know? Louise Frechette /Fréchette, having left the United Nations under a cloud then moved into a position with CIGI which was/is associated with CIDAwhich is located at Sir Wilfred Laurier University. CIDA administers taxpayer funding for the EDC / Export Development Canada, of which I have written over the last month or so.

Update Jan. 2007: Note that the UN's Benon Sevan has been charged. Yet, have the media mentioned the Canadian connection? Maybe the Friends of Cdn. Broadcasting/CBC could suggest a little investigative probing?

[Please note: That last sentence and much more had been changed as I worked and posted. Someone changed the font size so that it would be too small to see. I have fixed it but it is an example of the difficulty of posting in Canada, at least in certain parts of Canada. ]


Also, some topics below are mentioned more than once on a webpage, so search further. Assume [....] after most of these excerpts.


UN -- Nair, Sevan, Frechette and Related [Louise Frechette / Louise Fréchette]


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Mar. 27, 05 to Apr. 2, 05

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_03_27_frosthitsthe
rhubarb_archive.html

Search header: [...] UN - Frechette, ...

Update: UN -- Nair, Sevan, Frechette [Fréchette]

Dileep Nair, Inspector General for U.N. cites how oil probe blocked

UN scandal inquiry has Frechette questions [ Frechette / Fréchette], March 31, 2005, Greg Weston, Sun Ottawa Bureau

Update -- UN Conference at U of Waterloo

Scroll down or search this page for "UN Conference at U of Waterloo" and Frechette.

Perimeter Institute ...
Research in Motion's founder

March 31, 2005
Daniel Pipes' Speech at U of T, Science for Peace, UN Conference at U of Waterloo, UN Oil for Food Scandal

UN Conference at U of Waterloo, UN Oil for Food Scandal and Links:

[...several items here ...]

* China Urges Support for Kofi Annan
* Kojo's Iraq Connections -- The former business partner of Kofi Annan's son speaks out. -- Mr. Mouselli
* Annan Says He Won't Resign [Jan. 22, 07: Annan is gone.]
* Former U.N. Official's Shredding Probed -- Iqbal Riza -- link for .pdf report
* Canadian Coalition for Democracies -- UN Oil for Food Scandal -- link

[....]

Science for Peace is a charitable Canadian-based organizationof natural scientists, engineers, social scientists, scholars in the humanities and lay people throughout the world. It brings together professors, graduate students and first degree students who are concerned about peace, justice and making an environmentally sustainable future. SfP has NGO status at the United Nations -- text version [www.un.org/english/engtxt.shtml]

The first thing that I noted was that this group has NGO status, which may mean Canadian taxpayers' dollars fund them, either in whole or in part. Who do they speak for? How did they achieve NGO status? Who appointed them to speak for whoever they speak for at the UN? Do they purport to speak for all Canadians and did citizens have any say in it? FHTR


Check out Canada and Ballistic Missile Defence : The Facts

Center for Peace Studies, McMaster University [Is that not the university with a nuclear reactor where materials went missing? I forget the details. ]

Very interesting links: Centres and Organizations & NGOs and Other Resources , one of which led to Pugwash.


Pugwash, how it began -- "In their Private Capacity"

Cyrus Eaton, who hosted the meeting. [I believe Eaton maintained ties with the USSR during the Cold War ... ]

UN conference in Waterloo

Paul Heinbecker, organized the event. Among the invited guests are Louise Frechette, the U-N's deputy secretary general and Canada's U-N Ambassador Allan Rock. [Note alternate spelling: Fréchette]

Scroll down Frost Hits the Rhubarb, Feb. 27, 05, for "Kofi Annan’s #2 is Canada's Louise Fréchette. Louise Fréchette served under Prime Minister Paul Martin when he held the title of Canada's Minister of Finance."

Mr. Jean Ping of the UN, one by H.E. Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser representing G-77 and China

[Note: Canadian taxpayer funded - Are these considered to be foundations? Agencies? Or mainly Liberal groups which is reason enough to warrant taxpayers' money?]

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) and Wilfrid Laurier University are co-sponsoring the conference entitled "The UN: Adapting to the 21st Century". [. . . . ]

"History leaves no doubt that the secretary general's report will not just sell itself," says Paul Heinbecker, senior distinguished fellow at CIGI and director of Laurier Centre for Global Relations

Laurier Centre for Global Relations -- with Canada's former ambassador to the U-N, Paul Heinbecker, senior distinguished fellow at CIGI and director.

CIGI, which is supported by the Government of Canada as well as the private sector, is an independent centre for scholarly research and policy advocacy established in July 2002, to support improvements in multilateral governance, in particular international economic and financial governance. CIGI has formed linkages with a number of prominent organizations, including the World Economic Forum.

Kojo's Iraq Connections -- The former business partner of Kofi Annan's son speaks out....

www.opinion
journal.com/
editorial/feature.html?id=110006485

Mr. Mouselli, a French national

Iqbal Riza (search), the former chief of staff, shredded thousands of documents that might have shed light on Annan's involvement in the Oil-for-Food


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Sept. 4 - 10, 2005

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_09_04_frosthits
therhubarb_archive.html


In a scathing report released Wednesday, the IIC, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker (search), found that the United Nations was guilty of "illicit, unethical and corrupt" behavior. -- "U.N. Deputy Gets Fair Share of Blame in Oil-for-Food Report" ...

It was Frechette's job to keep Annan in the loop about what Sevan was doing and to approve regular reports required as part of the program's management. But the report found that she saw no reason to get involved if it was thought the program was being "well run." [if it was thought -- By whom? Note the passive tense -- no names.]

Frechette tried to deny any responsibility for oversight or that there were problems, [. . . ]

"The deputy secretary-general knew about — but did not act upon — many reports of major program violations," the Volcker report states. "In the final analysis, Mr. Sevan ran a $100 billion program with very little oversight from the supervisory authority that created his position." [....]

[Other names mentioned on that webpage: Li Kashing , CSL & Cordex -- Denver-based? or Alberta-based? , [Maurice] Strong admitted that Tongsun Park , Paul Martin ]

Is Maurice Strong still a member of Canada's Privy Council Office?

Strong took tainted cheque, inquiry finds -- No 'direct evidence' prominent Canadian businessman knew money came from Iraq , Shawn McCarthy with Alan Freeman in Washington, Globe and Mail, Sept. 8, 05 via Newsbeat1

[. . . . ] Ms. Frechette, a former senior bureaucrat in Ottawa, "did not carry out the responsibilities of her office," Mr. Volcker said. He offered the same criticism of her boss, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. [....]

UNSCAM -- Louise Frechette's "decision to intervene"

Volcker Panel to Correct Frechette Omission , March 10, 2005, Fox News -- or here

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149813,00.html

NEW YORK — The committee probing the Oil-for-Food (search) scandal says it will correct omitting the name of a U.N. official involved in the international controversy who has a close relationship with the executive director of the panel.

It's well known that the Volcker commission's executive director, Reid Morden (search), and Louise Frechette (search) have had a "longstanding professional relationship" [....]

Morden was Canada's deputy minister of foreign affairs in the 1990s. Frechette is U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's No. 2 at the international organization.

[....] Committee officials admit that Morden discussed working on the U.N.-commissioned investigation with Frechette before he took the job with Volcker but they insist the friendship has not influenced Volcker's work at all and that the investigation is being conducted in a thorough and impartial manner.

But in the interim report released by the Volcker commission last month, which highlighted abuses and mismanagement of the Oil-for-Food program, Frechette is treated discreetly. Her name is nowhere to be found — the report mentions only her job title — even when declaring that she stopped U.N. auditors from telling the U.N. Security Council about Oil-for-Food irregularities. That detail can be found on page 186 of the 219-page interim report. She later claimed she was just following U.N. rules.

[....] "The fact that in this report, they didn't even refer to her by name or by title, and it seems to be that there is some attempt here to hide that there is any link or relationship there, I think only heightens or magnifies the concerns here that there's a potential for a conflict of interest." [....]

Frechette's decision to intervene also may place responsibility in the secretary-general’s office for obscuring mismanagement of the program from the Security Council. [....]

Not only was there little, if any Canadian media investigation, Ms. Frechette moved seamlessly from potential disgrace (hidden) at the UN to another cushy position in a government funded CIDA connected group, CIGI.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting might like to push Canadian media to investigate who paid for this workshop. I wouldn't be afraid to bet it was taxpayers.

Compare: "Pulp MIll Workers Urged to Build Arts Industry" & UNB: World Bank, Industry, Educ. Ambassadorial Reps "Working with Africa Workshop"

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_03_06_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Just a few items mentioned -- there is much more:

SNC Lavalin [This company's Canatom NPM nuclear receives much funding through the EDC about which I have written in the last three weeks -- lack of accountability and transparency in the EDC funding]

Canadian Council on Africa (CCAfrica)

Trade Commissioner and Liaison Officer with the African Development Bank, Canadian Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia The Role of the ADB in African Development

Marketing, French and Portuguese Speaking Africa, SNC-Lavalin

* Ambassadors from Africa

* High Commissioner for the Republic of Kenya
* Ambassador for the Republic of Guinea
* Ambassador for the Republic of Mali [Canada's GG visited within the year]
* Ambassador for the Federal Republic of Ethiopia
* Ambassador for the Republic of Cameroon
* Ambassador for the Republic of Burkina Faso

There is much more, should the Friends be interested in pushing for more light to be shone on where Canadians' money goes. Try the EDC / CIDA, of course. Then there is where Canadian aid money administered by CIDA in Afghanistan has gone. What, actually, has been funded? I wrote on this one also.

See:
Jan. 16, 2006: Update
Update-additions: Jan. 13, 2007: Financing Disaster #2 Introduction
and posts before that

Jan. 22, 2007: Bud Talkinghorn

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting's Ian Morrison took issue because Bud labelled his lobby group the Friends of the CBC (Jan. 20, 2007: Bud Talkinghorn - comment). Bud has responded:

I am sorry if I mislabelled your organization. Perhaps it is because almost all prime time broadcasting, excepting CBC's, gives us American fare. Still, your Friends of Canadian Broadcasting must be appalled at this CBC effort at comedy, "The Little Mosque on the Prairie". If you had read my blog on the first episode, you would understand the absurdity of its vicious stereotyping of rural westerners. Everybody except the minister was only a step away from donning their KKK outfits. All the program did was re-enforce the growing paranoia in the Muslim audience, while offending nearly every other Canadian, although some on the fringes of the left probably felt it vindicated their twisted anti-western, anti-democratic viewpoints. As for the Muslim audience, you are dealing with a religious group where, after it was a proven fact who committed 9/11, the majority of Canadian imams still refused to believe Islam was involved. Conspiracy theories about Mossad committing it, or Bush/Cheney involvement continued to circulate. All the "Little Mosque" says to them is "see we are hated and under attack."

I notice there was no rebuttal to the critique about the NB local CBC six o'clock "news". That news is reportedly inept and patronizing--"School Zone" hogging perhaps several of the twenty-two minutes. As for The National, it is blatantly anti-conservative / anti-Conservative federal government, anti-PM Harper and anti-American. Even Carol MacNeil understands that bias, and once said to Even Solomon on "CBC Sunday Morning" that those complaints should be examined by them in a future program. Solomon gave her a look that could turn her to stone. He didn't even respond. No siree, CBC is not opening that can of worms.

In closing, I must admit that occasionally CBC does it right. The programming for the kids and country folk is admirable. The original "DaVinci's Inquest" was well done drama. "This is Wonderland" showed great promise in its first year, fell back on the "crazies" in the second, and was slowly getting back in form by the third year. Then CBC cancelled it. Presently, "Intelligence" is intriguing. However "The Little Mosque on the Prairie" has hit a new low. Even John Doyle of The Globe and Mail could only (and this in the spirit of multiculturalism) muster, "It was sweetly hokey". Fort Dork, as Doyle is wont to call CBC, had better get with a more balanced picture, if it wants tax dollar support.

© Bud Talkinghorn



And from the distaff side:

Mr. Morrison, whatever the exact name of your group of supporters for CBC / Canadian Broadcasting ... if they are not the same, perhaps you could look further into this. Canadian broadcasting's general lack of investigative reporting and balanced analyses is doing Canadians a disservice. What follows is one small example of how media hide or de-emphasize news which might reflect negatively on any Liberal government, while going on ad infinitum about any negative they may find, or manufacture, concerning the present government. A goodly number of Canadians want freedom from government-funded and government-controlled media. First, if you want to contribute to Canada, help to get rid of the CRTC and its regulations which simply advance the interests of a pool of the acceptable business(es) and language group(s) Canadians are forced to support with tax dollars.

This is just one story where the Canadian mainstream media have been remiss.

Memory Lane: Re: Jean Chretien's government , Paul Cochrane , Natives , Sakeeg First Nations, Robert Nault , Andy Scott , Corruption

Frost Hits the Rhubarb, Mar. 6 - 12, 2005

frosthitsthe
rhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_03_06_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Search: Mar. 12, 2005

The Shotgun: Kevin Steele-Former Health Canada Asst. Deputy Minister Paul Cochrane Pleading Guilty-Huge Scandal-Millions-Native Treatment Centre

The mainstream media have been 'conveniently' remiss, I think, in order to maintain the status quo; thus they downplay news like this to protect those who don't want this information to roam too far into the minds of the electorate -- who might demand more transparency and accountability -- the kind of thing ex-Liberal Minister Robert Nault wanted to bring about. For his troubles, where is he today? Did he get a patronage position?

Once he leaves government, will the minister in charge of native affaurs and reserves, the [then] Minister, Andy Scott, get a patronage position for failing to insist on further investigation of the information about drugs coming into the Labrador Innu communities -- the communities that already have alcoholism and glue sniffing, along with other problems. He did manage to get a treaty agreement with at least one Innu chief who had previously been unhappy with the government. How was that accomplished in one publicized meeting?

The Shotgun: Kevin Steele Mar. 11, 05 -- Conspiracy of delusion ...

I'm having a little trouble finding a link to a Winnipeg Free Press story this morning about former Health Canada assistant deputy minister Paul Cochrane pleading guilty in a huge scandal--millions of dollars in funds--involving a Native treatment centre on the Sagkeeng First Nation. You would think a story about a scandal this size might make it onto our country's newswire service...

[....] And here is the story about Cochrane in full: [....]

A major story ... and how was it handled by your "Canadian Broadcasting" ... or was it dropped like a hot potato? How are drugs, along with copious amounts of booze, making their way into northern reserves? Who benefit? Why would then Min. Scott make a deal with at least one group of natives--with the chief, actually--outside parliamentary scrutiny ... by regulation? Not worth investigating by your precious Canadian media? What is the purpose of the Friends? To keep media jobs for members of the media group? To support what has been, not to improve it?

You might consider asking why there the other investigative pieces which have not been done on Canadian taxpayer-supported Foundations, after the Auditor General reported that money was hidden and its disbursement was not transparent, nor were foundations accountable to those whose money they were using. What investigation has your Canadian media done to find out where the money went? The same investigative reporting could be used on other taxpayer-funded agencies, NGO's, councils, etc. or is your group simply a lobbying group to keep the same sham news organization(s) in place? We want better. FHTR



The Canadian Skating Championship coverage--Popping their jumps

The television coverage of this championship is becoming unbearable. Don Black and Tracy Wilson carry on their gab fests throughout the performers' routines. They mute it only for the top two point-holders. Comic irony comes to the fore everytime Wilson sums up the performance with, "They didn't seem to co-ordinate with their music." Really, Tracy? How would we know, as you and Black blabbered all the way through it. The musical component was entirely destroyed for the viewer. Even more irritating was when they stopped talking for a few seconds, and we did catch the music. We wanted to hear the rest. Well, forget that nonsense, because Wilson feels obliged to mention that the couple overcame many hurdles to get here. Can't they keep this "backgrounder" until afterward?

There are other problems in this telecast. No matter how fabulous the performance of a fifth place or above contestant is, Wilson always mentions that "they have potential". Damned by faint praise division. While I can't blame the commentators for the perceived judging favouritism to certain skaters, e.g. Emmanual Sandhu, true announcers should state that fact. This point-stacking for favourites was the bane of the old system, but I feel that it is still working. Maybe Lauzon and Dubreuil should have won the dance; however, not with that large a score. Their skill and creativity is superb, but they didn't do that much better than Moir and Virtue. That being said, the naked frauds of the past, where every judge appeared to be marking by some secret system of their own, is thankfully long gone. [One of the male skaters, Scott Hamilton I think, said it is now just hidden so people cannot know which judges are colluding or being crooked playing favourites in their marking. FHTR]

Finally, grant the viewers some intelligence. We can see the obvious falls and twisted-up twizzles. The commentators must think they are narrating for the blind. I realize that there is an audience out there who demand constant noise, and would get fidgety if forced to watch and listen to a full three minutes of uninterrupted movement/musical fusion. They are the same people who demand that movies now all have muffling music soundtracks behind the actors' dialogue -- or have a 50 minute TV drama with five subplots for that matter. What is happening is a dumbing down of sport's programming. We used to shout at Dick Buttons and his inane moutermouthing through skating performances; now we have our own Canadian counterparts at whom we may shout "Quiet, Tracy".

© Bud Talkinghorn--The place for component critiquing is in the clips after the performance is over, or to fill space before the commercials.

Jan. 22, 2007: Made in ...

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY?

Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he couldn't find a good paying job in AMERICA.....

Thanks to a friend for that.