Respecting Whistleblowers

I respect most people that I meet. The ones I do not respect get the message quickly. One group that I have a lot of respect for is Whistleblowers, whether they be in public or private service. I've gotten to know a bunch of these people through a group called the Canadians for Accountability . These people have more sense of ethics and fairness that any other group of people I have ever met. They protect you and I through their willingness to suffer great personal consequence when they expose waste, corruption or downright illegal behaviour.

Take their president for example. Allan Cutler is not a household name but the corruption that he exposed is part of Canada's recent history. His revelations saw people go to jail, a government fall and an obscure judge rise to national prominence. Any one remember Ad scam or the Sponsorship Scandal?

In 2007, the federal government enacted the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. The intent of this act was to protect most of the federal public service from reprisals for reporting wrongdoing. However, this Act has been extensively criticized as setting too many conditions on whistleblowers and for protecting wrongdoers.

One of Canada's most prominent whistleblowers was not even Canadian. Look up Igor Gouzenko to know the story.

Whistleblowing in Canada goes back to confederation. We do not know the name of the person who exposed the scandal over railway contracts that almost destroyed the career of our first PM, John Eh? MacDonald.

Whistleblowers come in all shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common; a high level of personal integrity and, of course, my respect.

Remember these words on election day.

“There will be some mistakes made. But it's worth that risk to help the majority of Canadians during what is a serious recession.”

These are the words of Hon James Flaherty, Minister of managing our money.  He said this in an interview on Feb 24, 2009.  This is Jim's way of saying that he and his fellow Cons are no better money managers that anyone else and if there is a Stimulus-gate scandal that it is not his fault.

A brilliant preemptive strike against his critics.

Cons forever. With them in power we will never have another Royal Commission of Judicial Inquiry. The Cons will warn us in advance and then say, "See! I told you so!"

The right need their shots

First it was Rush Limbaugh who declared that he hopes that Obama fails as President in the US.  Now Dick Morris, a conservative mouthpiece with less brain than hair, has declared that democrats are trying to steal the last election and that the Republican National Lawyers Association needs money to fight the ungodly.  With Fox News seeking sleaze in what ever form they can dig up and, in Canada, right wing loonies fabricating allegations if none can be substantiated, it is time for the rabid right to take a pill.

Obama is the anti-Christ, says one loonie.  Ignatieff is really a foreigner in disguise states another.

Let's get some facts straight, shall we?

First, the past 10 years has shown us the the Liberal Party is the party of restraint and fiscal responsibility.  The Cons/Reformers/CA are the party of spend and spend some more.  The best thing that happened to Harper and Flaherty was this recession.  It hides the fact that Canada would have had a $17 billion deficit in January due to the Cons fiscal mismanagement.

While we are at it let's talk about John Tory, the Con leader in Ontario, who is finally getting a crack at being elected to the provincial parliament.  Between he and Howie Hampton, the also ran from the Ont NDP, it is politics as usual.  If McGuinty says good morning at 9AM, Tory responds with," Wrong.  It's afternoon."  Tory defines what Charlie Farquarson used to call the "Opposite Position"!

Canada for Canadians

The National Battlefields folks are planning to cancel a re-enactment of the Plains of Abraham battle, a seminal event that announced the birth of Canada as we know it today. The re-enactment has been done many times in the past including in 2004. What's with the cancellation? The separatists in Quebec consider it an insult. Tough crap!

Over the past 100 years years, and especially since 1968, the St Jean Baptiste celebrations in Quebec have grown extremely political and now are considered an insult to Canadians and non-separatist-Quebecers.

The government of Quebec should cancel at STB celebrations and turn the day into a time of reflection on how stupid things are getting in Quebec - and how stupid Canada has allowed things to get in Quebec.

STB day is a hang over from the days of New France. It was a French celebration brought over. If the separatists want to celebrate STB let them go to France.

Brought to you by: The Committee to Bring a Little Respect Back to Canada - the CBLRBC.

I want to help!!!

Got another one of those email messages today.  I get two to five thousand of them every GD week!

Amhed Nazir is from Abijan.  His mom died when he was four and he was raised by his dad who, for some odd reasons, was raised out of poverty to become a "highly respectable cocoa merchant".

Amhed's dad was murdered recently by persons unknown and left behind a secret bank account containing $10.5 million US and Amhed needs help to get the cash out of the country.  He is willing to give me a cool two million dollars to help.

Now Abijan is the capital of Cote d"Ivoire in western Africa.  The population of the country is about 3.2 million and the average income is $710 per year.  That makes Amhed's stash equivalent to 4500 times the average income.

I know that this and the other 500 billion emails from other Amhed's are scams but every so often I feel like going to Zaire or South Africa or wherever these scams originate and smacking the Amhed's of the world up side the head and scream, "Piss off".

I feel better now.

Take dat Marlene and Gilles

Seems that the French President decided that brains were more important than ego.  Nick Sarkosy made the Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, a Commander of the Legion of Honour, France's highest honour given to people they need something from.

The leaders of the PQ and the BQ, back in Canada took great offence with something that Sarkozy had to say to the press at the solemn event.  He was asked about Quebec separation and rather than respond with Vive la Quebec Libre, he answered: "Do you believe the world as it faces an unprecedented crisis needs more divisions?"

Well poor old Gilles blew a hairnet over that.  He and Marlene got together around the old MacIntosh (French programs only, please) and fired off a missive worthy of their station.  "No head of state has ever used such contemptuous epithets as yours to describe Quebec's independence movement."

A little fly on the wall told me that when Sarkosy read the letter he responded with, "Tough noogies and I never liked poutine anyways."

Maybe it's time for Quebec to stay and Gilles and Marlene to go?