There is a need for serious political engagement on the Omar Khadr case by Canada with the Americans. There is also a serious political engagement emerging within Canada between Prime Minister Harper and Senator Romeo Dallaire.
Harper ‘s position is the Khadr case is an American justice issue and not a political concern about a Canadian citizen and child soldier. Given the political lens that Harper uses to see the world he comes off like an appeaser of the Bush White House. Our Prime Minister and the last two Liberal Prime Ministers all seem indifferent to the plight of tortured Canadian citizens like Arar and Khadr who are just so much collateral damage in keeping Bush and Cheney happy.
We are in a defining moment for Canada domestically and internationally because of how we engage politically protect and treat our citizens who get caught up in the consequences of new terrorist threats. In a fight for the moral and political high ground between Stephen Harper and Romeo Dallaire on these issues, my money is on Dallier.
He has “Shaken Hands with the Devil” in the Rwanda genocide. Now he must feel he is shaking his fist at a new devil in the Bush/Cheney GITMO now too.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Changing Democracy in Alberta is About Citizenship - Not Partisanship
I have been meaning to do a post on my impressions on last Monday evening's event on Renewing our Democracy ably organized by Liberal MLA David Swann. It was a trans-partisan event with lots of Liberals licking their wounds, lots of Greens with loads of organizational envy and a few Dippers and a handful of PCs… and some real citizens too.
I really enjoyed the conversation and the debate and just plain listening to folks. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and size of the crowd of about 165. Not bad for a warm summer evening. There is a obvious thirst for authentic meaning political conversation and I hope it can happen in a post-partisan atmosphere so we can change things intelligently and not belligerently.
The old style adversarial political model of perpetual spin and counter-spin with professional message massaging for the media is maladaptive and dangerous to enabling an informed citizenry and a participatory democracy. It is also ineffective in dealing with addressing the real issues and growing complexities of our networked world.
Jason Morris blogging as The Gauntlet was there and has done a very good live-to-disc blog post synopsis of the evening. He does a great job capturing the essence of the event and his blog is really worth a read. His comments confirm to me that we were at the same very interesting meeting.
I really enjoyed the conversation and the debate and just plain listening to folks. I was impressed by the enthusiasm and size of the crowd of about 165. Not bad for a warm summer evening. There is a obvious thirst for authentic meaning political conversation and I hope it can happen in a post-partisan atmosphere so we can change things intelligently and not belligerently.
The old style adversarial political model of perpetual spin and counter-spin with professional message massaging for the media is maladaptive and dangerous to enabling an informed citizenry and a participatory democracy. It is also ineffective in dealing with addressing the real issues and growing complexities of our networked world.
Jason Morris blogging as The Gauntlet was there and has done a very good live-to-disc blog post synopsis of the evening. He does a great job capturing the essence of the event and his blog is really worth a read. His comments confirm to me that we were at the same very interesting meeting.
Bring Omar Khadr Home Prime Minister Harper
The media has finally attended to the plight of Omar Khadr, the last western detainee in the American terrorist detention centre at Guantanamo Cuba. Looks like every other western country, except Canada, has repatriated their citizens from the American military justice system from the GITMO terrorist prison.
This travesty of politics over justice suffered by Omar Khadr ought to make every Canadian wonder if they have to fear their own government, not just the Bush-Cheney political regime. Makes you wonder if our government, and our political leaders, will be there to protect and assist us should we fall into such difficult circumstances in a foreign country.
That military justice system has been undermined by just about every civil court application made against it as of late, including many rejections by the US Supreme Court. Bush’s GITMO detention policy and approaches to justifying torture are not akin to the kind of the free, open and civil society we know American citizens continue aspire to.
Prime Minister Harper dodges and retreats on the Khadr crisis. He defaults yet again to his old saw that this is all the fault of the former Liberal government. This is typical of the half-truths of Mr. Harper’s form of leadership. He is right that the former Liberal government was equally as pandering to the US safety and security concerns post 9-11. But Harper has been in power for over two and a half years so blaming the Liberals for this continuing policy of pandering to the Bush White House is a little old – and dangerous.
It is time to protect the rights and rescue a Canadian citizen who we know has been tortured while detained and who was a child soldier at the time of arrest. He may have enough evidence to justify standing trial but as a Canadian and under our laws and not the Bush-Cheney version of “justice.”
Khadr was a 15 year old child soldier as the time of the alleged “terrorist” activity he is charged with. He has been tortured and left without some the most fundamental of legal protections as a Canadian citizen and that is reprehensible. If fact our intelligence and security agencies have been compliant in the mistreating of Mr. Khadr, a Canadian citizen and a minor, who is still in detention. He deserves a fair and speedy trial regardless of the odious opinions and utterances of his family and the terrorist fears of Bush and his boys.
When our government and its political leadership fails, refuses or neglects to protect the rights of Canadian citizens in foreign jurisdictions, it is time to refuse them our consent to continue to govern us. I believe that was true of the Chretien and Martin Liberals of their day. With the new evidence the Canadian courts have forced the authorities to release we now know about the abuse of Mr. Khadr’s fundamental human rights, mistreatment and torture at the hands of the American military “justice” system.
Bring this abused and tortured Canadian citizen home to face a fair trial in our justice system that still respects the rule of law Prime Minister Harper. To continue to allow Khadr to be subject to a discredited military tribunal process that has been found to be illegal even by American courts puts power and politics above the protection of Canadian citizens. Time to put away your posturing politics and pandering to the Bush government and do the right thing a citizen of Canada Mr. Harper.
This travesty of politics over justice suffered by Omar Khadr ought to make every Canadian wonder if they have to fear their own government, not just the Bush-Cheney political regime. Makes you wonder if our government, and our political leaders, will be there to protect and assist us should we fall into such difficult circumstances in a foreign country.
That military justice system has been undermined by just about every civil court application made against it as of late, including many rejections by the US Supreme Court. Bush’s GITMO detention policy and approaches to justifying torture are not akin to the kind of the free, open and civil society we know American citizens continue aspire to.
Prime Minister Harper dodges and retreats on the Khadr crisis. He defaults yet again to his old saw that this is all the fault of the former Liberal government. This is typical of the half-truths of Mr. Harper’s form of leadership. He is right that the former Liberal government was equally as pandering to the US safety and security concerns post 9-11. But Harper has been in power for over two and a half years so blaming the Liberals for this continuing policy of pandering to the Bush White House is a little old – and dangerous.
It is time to protect the rights and rescue a Canadian citizen who we know has been tortured while detained and who was a child soldier at the time of arrest. He may have enough evidence to justify standing trial but as a Canadian and under our laws and not the Bush-Cheney version of “justice.”
Khadr was a 15 year old child soldier as the time of the alleged “terrorist” activity he is charged with. He has been tortured and left without some the most fundamental of legal protections as a Canadian citizen and that is reprehensible. If fact our intelligence and security agencies have been compliant in the mistreating of Mr. Khadr, a Canadian citizen and a minor, who is still in detention. He deserves a fair and speedy trial regardless of the odious opinions and utterances of his family and the terrorist fears of Bush and his boys.
When our government and its political leadership fails, refuses or neglects to protect the rights of Canadian citizens in foreign jurisdictions, it is time to refuse them our consent to continue to govern us. I believe that was true of the Chretien and Martin Liberals of their day. With the new evidence the Canadian courts have forced the authorities to release we now know about the abuse of Mr. Khadr’s fundamental human rights, mistreatment and torture at the hands of the American military “justice” system.
Bring this abused and tortured Canadian citizen home to face a fair trial in our justice system that still respects the rule of law Prime Minister Harper. To continue to allow Khadr to be subject to a discredited military tribunal process that has been found to be illegal even by American courts puts power and politics above the protection of Canadian citizens. Time to put away your posturing politics and pandering to the Bush government and do the right thing a citizen of Canada Mr. Harper.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Facts Behind Harper's Libel Action Get Murkier
The Cadman Affair is getting murkier as Prime Minister Harper puts more pressure behind his libel action against the Liberal Party of Canada. The latest audio expert from an FBI expert who dealt with the Nixon Watergate tapes and the Linda Tripp tapes around Clinton and Lewinsky. He can’t say if the tape recording of the Prime Minister was doctored.
Two earlier experts say it was edited. Another American expert concluded "with scientific certainty that this tape has been edited and doctored to misrepresent the event as it actually occurred.” Pretty bold statement and a very dramatic conclusion I’d say.
Tom Zytaruk, the author of a book on the Cadman Affair, and the person who recorded the interview with Prime Minister Harper has provided a plausible explanation. He said the tape was not edited but the recording was turned off when he believed the Harper interview was over. According to media reports the Prime Minister then continued to comment and the tape recording was started again by Zytaruk. Hardly and editing and doctoring designed “…to misrepresent the event as it actually occurred.”
Other contradictory allegations of fact are coming from Mr. Zytaruk and Mr. Cadman’s wife. What is adding to the murkiness of the facts is Mrs. Cadman apparently wants to run as a Conservative candidate in the next election for Mr. Harper. Will that have any impact on the weight a court will give to her version of the facts?
The libel action is also interesting because it is possibly a pure political and tactic device. Could this legal action be just another media strategy in the perpetual election campaign the Harper minority government has been conducting in the two and a half years since first elected? The Harper libel action against the Liberal Party is also easy MSM news fodder. It takes the media and public attention away from the more serious, significant and complex issue surrounding the Cadman Affair. It has the potential to push out media coverage on the Bernier-Coulliard Affair, the Mulroney-Schreiber Affair, the Conservative’s In-Out Campaign Advertising Affair, the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation process, and ongoing concerns over the Air India Inquiry, the Maher Arar Affair and the Omar Khadr Affair, just to name a few.
I believe Canadians want to know what, if anything was offered to Mr. Cadman by the Prime Minister’s emissaries and what the Prime Minister actually knew about any such offer. What are the legal implications of such an offer, if it was made? What if the courts found there were such an offer and that it determined to be an attempt to “buy” Mr. Cadman’s critical vote. If this actually happened, is it influence peddling or vote buying? Where does this all this fit in relation to the provisions of the Criminal Code about such matters? Will the civil libel action get any answers to these questions?
CORRECTION: A READER (see comment by paulstuff) NOTED THE ORIGINAL POST WAS IN ERROR. I WAS CLAIMING THAT THE HARPER GOVERNMENT WAS ASKING MR. CADMAN TO VOTE TO BRING DOWN THE HARPER GOVERNMENT. THAT IS WRONG. THE REQUEST WAS ALLEGEDLY MADE TO MR. CADMAN TO SEEK HIS SUPPORT TO DEFEAT THE MARTIN BUDGET OF MAY 2005. MR. CADMAN SUPPORTED THE MARTIN BUDGET AND PASSED AWAY IN JULY 2005. MR. HARPER'S MINORITY GOVERNMENT WAS NOT ELECTED UNTIL JANUARY 2006. A GREAT SUMMARY OF MR. CADMAN'S LIFE IS ON WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Cadman
This libel action could go right to the personal integrity of the current Prime Minister and the integrity of the Office of the Prime Minister too. I think this all needs to be clarified for the sake of the Prime Minister’s reputation, and for the good of the country. Do we need to restore or retain the public’s confidence in the Office of the Prime Minister? Will this lawsuit afford Mr. Harper the opportunity to reassure the country of his continuing suitability to serve as our Prime Minister? I hope so.
Given the importance of these stakes to our democracy and our pubic confidence in our highest governing institutions, I welcome Mr. Harper’s libel action. I believe this libel action needs to go to court so we can determine the facts from testimony taken under oath and for a Judge to then weigh the veracity of the various parties involved. We need this libel action to be decided based on the rule of law not on the rule of raw politics or trial by media, as is currently the case.
Two earlier experts say it was edited. Another American expert concluded "with scientific certainty that this tape has been edited and doctored to misrepresent the event as it actually occurred.” Pretty bold statement and a very dramatic conclusion I’d say.
Tom Zytaruk, the author of a book on the Cadman Affair, and the person who recorded the interview with Prime Minister Harper has provided a plausible explanation. He said the tape was not edited but the recording was turned off when he believed the Harper interview was over. According to media reports the Prime Minister then continued to comment and the tape recording was started again by Zytaruk. Hardly and editing and doctoring designed “…to misrepresent the event as it actually occurred.”
Other contradictory allegations of fact are coming from Mr. Zytaruk and Mr. Cadman’s wife. What is adding to the murkiness of the facts is Mrs. Cadman apparently wants to run as a Conservative candidate in the next election for Mr. Harper. Will that have any impact on the weight a court will give to her version of the facts?
The libel action is also interesting because it is possibly a pure political and tactic device. Could this legal action be just another media strategy in the perpetual election campaign the Harper minority government has been conducting in the two and a half years since first elected? The Harper libel action against the Liberal Party is also easy MSM news fodder. It takes the media and public attention away from the more serious, significant and complex issue surrounding the Cadman Affair. It has the potential to push out media coverage on the Bernier-Coulliard Affair, the Mulroney-Schreiber Affair, the Conservative’s In-Out Campaign Advertising Affair, the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation process, and ongoing concerns over the Air India Inquiry, the Maher Arar Affair and the Omar Khadr Affair, just to name a few.
I believe Canadians want to know what, if anything was offered to Mr. Cadman by the Prime Minister’s emissaries and what the Prime Minister actually knew about any such offer. What are the legal implications of such an offer, if it was made? What if the courts found there were such an offer and that it determined to be an attempt to “buy” Mr. Cadman’s critical vote. If this actually happened, is it influence peddling or vote buying? Where does this all this fit in relation to the provisions of the Criminal Code about such matters? Will the civil libel action get any answers to these questions?
CORRECTION: A READER (see comment by paulstuff) NOTED THE ORIGINAL POST WAS IN ERROR. I WAS CLAIMING THAT THE HARPER GOVERNMENT WAS ASKING MR. CADMAN TO VOTE TO BRING DOWN THE HARPER GOVERNMENT. THAT IS WRONG. THE REQUEST WAS ALLEGEDLY MADE TO MR. CADMAN TO SEEK HIS SUPPORT TO DEFEAT THE MARTIN BUDGET OF MAY 2005. MR. CADMAN SUPPORTED THE MARTIN BUDGET AND PASSED AWAY IN JULY 2005. MR. HARPER'S MINORITY GOVERNMENT WAS NOT ELECTED UNTIL JANUARY 2006. A GREAT SUMMARY OF MR. CADMAN'S LIFE IS ON WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Cadman
This libel action could go right to the personal integrity of the current Prime Minister and the integrity of the Office of the Prime Minister too. I think this all needs to be clarified for the sake of the Prime Minister’s reputation, and for the good of the country. Do we need to restore or retain the public’s confidence in the Office of the Prime Minister? Will this lawsuit afford Mr. Harper the opportunity to reassure the country of his continuing suitability to serve as our Prime Minister? I hope so.
Given the importance of these stakes to our democracy and our pubic confidence in our highest governing institutions, I welcome Mr. Harper’s libel action. I believe this libel action needs to go to court so we can determine the facts from testimony taken under oath and for a Judge to then weigh the veracity of the various parties involved. We need this libel action to be decided based on the rule of law not on the rule of raw politics or trial by media, as is currently the case.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Stelmach Goes Green - Big Time With Big Money.
I have not had a chance to digest the $4B scope and scale of the climate change policy announcement made by Premier Stelmach on July 8. Today I took some time and I have to say I am impressed on the Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and the significant public transit investment. The news release, backgrounder and video of the announcement are worth reading and watching.
The top GOA priority is to “Ensure Alberta’s energy resources are developed in an environmentally sustainable way.” The mandate bullets in that priority include to “Implement carbon capture and storage research and demonstration projects (and to) Implement the climate strategy, including conservation, energy efficiency and adaptation initiatives.”
This announcement not only aligns with and delivers on these priorities; it surpasses some of them by not merely doing research on CCS, it is getting right into the action and investing serious sums in projects. The value-add of enhanced oil recovery (EOR)from injecting CO2 into conventional wells is estimated to recover up to 2B barrels of oil without further drilling or fragmentation of the land with roads and seismic lines. I hope they only allow EOR for those producers that are the best stewards in the oil patch and who have the best records for reclamation of abandoned well site and roads as preconditions to playing in the EOR opportunities.
Some will be critical and others will be cynical but at least they are contributing to the conversation about conservation and mitigation of our carbon footprint in Alberta. I am a partisan and support the PC Party, most of the time, but not all of the time. On this one initiative I whole-heartedly applaud the effort.
I think this policy pronouncement will add to transferable technological innovations and new adaptations in energy production as well as addressing emissions issues. I heard Environment Minister Rob Renner say in the announcement video that Alberta will move beyond intensity emissions and “reduce real emissions by 2020.” That is the kind of serious and significant commitment we need to have our government take. He has said all along that intensity measures of GHG emissions were interim measures only and we would get to absolutes emission reductions. He has set the date to get that done and while it is 12 year out that is pretty impressive given the size, scope and scale of development going on in Alberta these days.
The public transit aspects are equally as exciting as they encourage creativity and adaptability in how we respond to the growing economic and population needs in our cities, large and small. Again we see a serious effort to shrink the carbon footprint of the province.
Dirty oil and dead ducks in toxic tailing ponds and a sense that Albertans are greedy and indifferent to the environment is the growing sentiment in many parts of the world. This announcement, if executed rightly and rapidly will not change that image by itself, but it will be a profound and resonant rebuttal of the damaging presumption about Albertans that exists in too many minds of too many people in the world today.
The top GOA priority is to “Ensure Alberta’s energy resources are developed in an environmentally sustainable way.” The mandate bullets in that priority include to “Implement carbon capture and storage research and demonstration projects (and to) Implement the climate strategy, including conservation, energy efficiency and adaptation initiatives.”
This announcement not only aligns with and delivers on these priorities; it surpasses some of them by not merely doing research on CCS, it is getting right into the action and investing serious sums in projects. The value-add of enhanced oil recovery (EOR)from injecting CO2 into conventional wells is estimated to recover up to 2B barrels of oil without further drilling or fragmentation of the land with roads and seismic lines. I hope they only allow EOR for those producers that are the best stewards in the oil patch and who have the best records for reclamation of abandoned well site and roads as preconditions to playing in the EOR opportunities.
Some will be critical and others will be cynical but at least they are contributing to the conversation about conservation and mitigation of our carbon footprint in Alberta. I am a partisan and support the PC Party, most of the time, but not all of the time. On this one initiative I whole-heartedly applaud the effort.
I think this policy pronouncement will add to transferable technological innovations and new adaptations in energy production as well as addressing emissions issues. I heard Environment Minister Rob Renner say in the announcement video that Alberta will move beyond intensity emissions and “reduce real emissions by 2020.” That is the kind of serious and significant commitment we need to have our government take. He has said all along that intensity measures of GHG emissions were interim measures only and we would get to absolutes emission reductions. He has set the date to get that done and while it is 12 year out that is pretty impressive given the size, scope and scale of development going on in Alberta these days.
The public transit aspects are equally as exciting as they encourage creativity and adaptability in how we respond to the growing economic and population needs in our cities, large and small. Again we see a serious effort to shrink the carbon footprint of the province.
Dirty oil and dead ducks in toxic tailing ponds and a sense that Albertans are greedy and indifferent to the environment is the growing sentiment in many parts of the world. This announcement, if executed rightly and rapidly will not change that image by itself, but it will be a profound and resonant rebuttal of the damaging presumption about Albertans that exists in too many minds of too many people in the world today.
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