Last week, Amnesty International wrote
Jason Kenney and Vic Toews an open letter about their “suspected war criminal”
hunt, and listed a number of concerns about the process and the fact that if
these are actual war criminals, that simple deportations to places where they
won’t be brought to justice is problematic (in a constructive tone, one might
add). Jason Kenney responded with a letter of his own that ignored most of the
criticisms in favour of disdain and with populist noise like “I have listened
to your concerns, and, frankly, I prefer the common sense of the people and the
law.” Because childish tantrums in open forums are befitting of a minister of
the Crown.
Speaking of the “suspected war criminal”
hunt, Vic Toews thinks it’s working so well that he wants to expand it, privacy
laws be damned. Because informing on your neighbours is doubleplusgood!
Brazilian newspapers are detailing some of
the diplomatic faux pas that Harper and company are making. Harper’s people deny it, of course, no matter that their media-controlling ways or presidential
envy haven’t abated in the slightest on this trip.
As some of us have been aware for some
time, Conservative Cabinet Minister Denis Lebel used to hold a Bloc Quebecois
membership. Oh, no! But doesn’t that make him as much of a problem as Nycole
Turmel? Yes and no. Lebel changed parties full stop. Turmel was a long-time
activist with the NDP supposedly, but also simultaneously took out a membership
with the Bloc “to help a friend” in a manner that still doesn’t fit logic or
reason, and held these two allegiances simultaneously. Thus, the NDP narrative is both that she has always been a federalist, while simultaneously being that the NDP won her from the Separatist fold – never mind that the two cannot reasonably exist in the same space and time together. That is where the
problem lies ultimately, that isn’t being addressed by the partisan sniping
back and forth.
What’s that? The government’s new Shared
Services Canada doesn’t have a business plan as to how it’ll achieve its goals
of shared services and savings? You don’t say! Because it’s not like the
Canadian government doesn’t have a history of spectacular IT failures resulting
from improper planning or anything like that. Tony Clement begs to differ – but
it seems that his definition of having a “plan” is to have a “goal,” and
nothing about how to actually go about implementing it, which has worked out so well every other time.
Here’s a look at job cuts in the public
service so far – and these are from before the latest round of the Strategic
Review kick in.
A French ambassador says that Canada is too
small to develop the Northwest Passages for shipping, though others dispute
this is simply a question of political will in Canada.
Farmers in Western Canada are debating the
future of the Canadian Wheat Board, but agriculture minister Gerry Ritz says it
doesn’t matter because he’ll ignore them and abolish it anyway – never mind the
fact that it’s the law that such a move requires a plebiscite from farmers.
Also, discussions should also not include the blatant falsehood that Ritz is
peddling that the CWB can still operate without being a single-desk seller,
which it can’t.
And at least one of those Libyan diplomats
being expelled has applied for refugee protection, which may not be that much
of a surprise.
