Bev Oda a Mere Puppet for the Dictator

Does anyone really believe that that Bev Oda acted alone in changing the document? If you do then have I got a deal for you. Magic beans that will make you live until you're 200. Buy now at the low low price of six million and I'll throw in a trip to Disneyland.

Harper's cabinet ministers have no say. And with Oda so long as she can live the life of luxury, she couldn't give a damn.

But what happened to the multi-faithed KAIROS should be a wake up call to all of us. As Murray Dobbin says: Harper government treatment of KAIROS is worthy of a dictatorship

The day that Mubarak finally resigned to the deafening cheers of a million people in Tahrir (Liberation) Square was also the day that another repugnant example of the Harper government's casual abuse of power was highlighted. This time it was a scathing ruling against the government from the Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken, related to Harper's decision to eliminate funding to the ecumenical development group, KAIROS. It was a fitting coincidence: KAIROS's funding was cut due to is alleged anti-Israel bias. Harper's barely disguised opposition to the revolution in Egypt is linked to his blind support of Israel and the recognition that democracy in Egypt is seen as a threat in the Jewish state.

The issue ruled on by the Speaker involved a document prepared by the senior staff of CIDA recommending that the government provide KAIROS -- which has been providing development aid to the third world since the 1970s -- with a $7 million grant over four years. At issue was the fact that someone had inserted the word "NOT" into the final line of the CIDA report ...

I can't even imagine the nerve of Stephen Harper defending her (his?) actions. But he does. Just not very well, as you could see how rattled he was yesterday. This is part of a very disturbing pattern, where the rule of law becomes the rule of one.

According to the Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken:

But new documents that emerged last December show that CIDA’s top officials signed a memorandum recommending new funding for Kairos before someone – the government won’t say who – inserted the word “not,” overruling the recommendation. “The full body of material gives rise to very troubling questions. Any reasonable person confronted with what appears to have transpired would necessarily be extremely concerned, if not shocked, and might well begin to doubt the integrity of certain decision-making processes,” Mr. Milliken said in his decision on a Liberal MP’s complaint.

“In particular, the senior CIDA officials concerned must be deeply disturbed by the doctored document they have been made to appear to have signed.”

They just do what they want.