One Young Staffer is Not Enough

Conservative operative Michael Sona, is taking the fall for the voter suppression scandal and has resigned as a staffer.  What the conservatives would like us to believe is that he acted alone.  Give me a break.

Sona, in the background during Ezra Levant's sponsorship of Ann Coulter, is a product of the Manning Centre for Destroying Democracy, fashioned after Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute. 

Voter suppression is one of the courses taught.

Journalist Jeff Horwitz signed up for a weekend seminar and wrote an excellent article on the subject.

The students, strait-laced kids from good colleges, seem unconvinced. The lesson -- that with sufficient organization, the act of voting becomes less a basic right than a tactical maneuver -- doesn't sit easy with some students at first. Gourley, a charismatic senior from South Dakota and the treasurer of the College Republican National Committee, assures them: "This is not anti-democracy. This is not shady. Just put [the polling place] somewhere where you might have to put a little bit of effort into voting." The rest, Gourley explains, is just a matter of turnout.

Just a matter of turnout".

Sona was the young man who tried to steal the ballot box at the University of Guelph, forcing the rules to be changed, ending the practice of making it easier for students to vote.  Harper knew that he'd lost the youth vote, so had to make sure they didn't vote at all.

These are the kinds of things these young operatives are taught.  They don't dream them up on their own.

So how much is Sona's "resignation" going to cost the Canadian taxpayer?  Two decades ago, Ezra Levant and Jason Kenney claimed that $40,000 would buy a lot of silence, when they paid off Matthew Johnston.
 
In 2011, Christiane Ouimet, the Harper appointed ethics czar was given $500,000, when she promised to head to Florida so as not to explain why she ignored more than 50 ethics complaints against the government.
 
So what's the going rate for silence in 2012?  Enough for Sona to start his own firm, I'll wager.
 
Sigh!"

The Lost Boys of Neverland Have Been Discovered

In March of 2001, Rahim Jaffer, an Alliance MP, got into a bit of trouble when a hoax he had helped to perpetrate, blew up in his face.

Jaffer then owned a string of coffee shops in Edmonton, one of them set to open on the very day that he was supposed to do a radio interview with Peter Warren, on Corus Radio Network.

To solve the problem, Jaffer had his administrative assistant, Matthew Johnston, appear in his place.  However, when the show was aired, someone recognized Johnston's voice and called into the station to complain.

Peter Warren, the show's host, says the hoax was eventually revealed, but not before both Johnston and Jaffer tried to cover it up. Warren says his producer asked Jaffer directly if they had talked to him on the air.

"She reached him [Jaffer] at his cafe in Edmonton and said to him, 'Was that you on the interview with Peter Warren on the Corus Radio Network an hour ago?' and his answer was, 'Yes it was. I was happy to do the interview'."   Warren says they finally got an admission from Johnston and Jaffer when they asked them to put their version in writing.

Jaffer's friend, Ezra Levant, would later say that "Matthew had acted entirely on his own".

However, Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party that had morphed into Alliance, gives a slightly different version of the story, one far more believable.  (Think Big: My Adventures in Life and Politics, p. 379-80)

After realizing that he had set up the radio interview on the day that he would be opening his new coffee shop, Jaffer made arrangements himself with Matthew Johnston, to appear in his place. Since it was radio no one would see him, and the Edmonton-Strathcona MP drilled his replacement on potential answers to specific questions.

When the media got wind of the hoax, Jaffer and "his team" went into damage control.  According to Manning:

Chuck Strahl, the House leader, first learned of all this from Jason Kenney at a strategy meeting at Stornoway. Chuck told Jason that Rahim's account had better be the whole truth, because the media would be looking for contradictions, and if they found any Rahim would be in even greater trouble. Jason [Kenney] then said "I wouldn't worry about that. $40,000.00 buys a lot of silence."

Apparently that was the amount of taxpayer funded 'severance' given to Matthew Johnston for keeping quiet.

The reference to $ 40,000.00 was made without elaboration. The next day the same statement about $40,000.00 was repeated by Ezra Levant to both Chuck Cadman and Deborah Grey, who at his time demanded an explanation. Ezra then said that it meant nothing, that he was just shooting off his mouth and it was no big deal.

I would say that fraud is a pretty big deal. Matthew Johnston was later named senior vice-president of Levant's magazine, the Western Standard.

Jason Kenney, Rahim Jaffer and Ezra Levant were once known as the "Snack Pack".  All young Reformers, all single (Jaffer later married Helena Guergis) and all products of the Fraser Institute.

A decade later the two remaining members, Kenney and Levant, have become more like the Lost Boys of Neverland, from J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan.

They are boys who fall out of their prams when the nurse isn't looking and were lost by their nannies in places such as Kensington Gardens. Having gone unclaimed for seven days, they were whisked off to Neverland, where they live with Peter Pan. There are no "lost girls", because girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams and be lost in this manner.

A little tumble out of a pram does explain a lot, and when we hear of another hoax involving Jason Kenney and Ezra Levant, it becomes clear that this pair simply refuse to grow up.

Bureaucrats working in Jason Kenney’s department posed as immigrants to pull off an elaborate stunt for Sun TV News, according to documents obtained by CP’s Jennifer Ditchburn. (Wait. What? How is this real?)  According to Ditchburn, what happened was this: Sun TV was supposed to film a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony in their studios, but the department could only find three people willing to participate. Instead of cancelling the stunt, they had federal employees, presumably on the federal clock, stand in for the rest of the crowd.

And in typical fashion, Kenney is blaming someone else.

" I want always to be a boy, and have fun. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again " Peter Pan

Zombie Youth and the Canadian Property Rights Research Institute

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

In November of 2009, the Canadian Press learned that a government program designed to recruit the best and brightest from Canada's universities, had been politicized for partisan interests.

Before being granted an interview, those seeking to enter the Accelerated Economist Training Program, had to first write an essay on the Conservative ad campaign, labelled the Economic Action Plan.

"It smells a little bit," said Leslie Pal, professor of public policy at Ottawa's Carleton University. "It places an unfortunate implication of inviting people to write glowing things about the economic recovery plan."

Pal said he sees no rationale for asking people looking for a job with the government to comment on current government policy, especially when that policy is so contentious. "I think this is not a good idea."

A further indoctrination of Canada's youth into the neoconservative cult.

In his book Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy, Donald Gutstein writes of a program that the Fraser Institute runs to catch them when they're young.

The Fraser Institute launched a program in 1988 that would have far-reaching impact on advancing the corporate agenda. This program, aimed at students, is actually a half-dozen initiatives through which the institute "is cultivating a network of thousands of young people who are informed and passionate about free-market ideas and who are actively engaging in the country's policy debate"

Some of those involved in the program include Jason Kenney, Ezra Levant, Danielle Smith (possibly the next premier of Alberta), Rob Anders and a young man named Matthew Johnston.

Johnston came to the public's attention for his part in a radio hoax, on behalf of his boss Rahim Jaffer.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Jaffir had Johnston take his part in a radio interview. Jason Kenney and Ezra Levant paid the man off, suggesting that "$40,000 buys a lot of silence".

But Matthew Johnston was also behind the formation of a right-wing organization: Canadian Property Rights Research Institute. Other members included Danielle Smith, a former student of Calgary School's Tom Flanagan, and Rob Anders, both members of the Fraser's youth program.

Rahim Jaffer had taken CanPRRI's case to Parliament when Revenue Canada refused to grant them non-profit, tax-exempt status. It folded soon after.

However, a look at one of their publications, shows more than a connection to the Fraser and the Harper government. They are linked to a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, many created under the guidance of Milton Friedman, Friedrich Von Hayek and other Chicago school alumni.

With a Harper majority and accelerated attempts to put his stamp on every aspect of government, will only neoconservative youth be allowed access into the halls of political power?

Will there be more tests?

When Carolyn Bennett was in Kingston recently to discuss our crumbling democracy, she spoke of the different criteria for those entering political life.

At one time, they got into politics to make a difference, often in their chosen field. As a doctor she was concerned with health issues.

But now she says that many Conservative candidates are only interested in party politics. They have no interest whatsoever in the betterment of the country, only in furthering an agenda. This includes their staff.

Bob Rae refers to them as "25-year-old jihadis", who often make the decisions for the elected MPs.

I shudder to think what kind of country we will become as a result.

Paradis Scandal Back On ... I Think .... Maybe

Just before calling his two and half month Prorogue Vacation, Stephen Harper was trying to halt rumblings at Public Works, over a brewing scandal.

First there was a scandal, then there wasn't a scandal. it was all quite dizzying.

Auditors have been called, animal rights people have been called. It's a mess.

But try as he might, the darn thing just isn't going away and it looks like the ethics commissioner may be ready to blow the lid off the whole thing.

Parliament's ethics watchdog will examine a cabinet minister's dealings with Rahim Jaffer, despite the Conservative government's herculean efforts to distance itself from the former Tory MP.

Mary Dawson, the ethics commissioner, will look into whether Christian Paradis improperly used his position as public works minister to help out Jaffer. Jaffer called Paradis on the minister's cellphone last August, asking him to go for beers and telling him about a project he was working on through his company, Green Power Generation, to install solar panels on federal buildings.

Paradis arranged for his parliamentary affairs director, Sebastien Togneri, to deal with Jaffer and set up meetings with bureaucrats. Documents tabled with a House of Commons committee show that civil servants were asked to speed the process of meeting with Jaffer and business partner Patrick Glemaud.

I'm glad they're going to build all those super prisons. They're going to need an entire wing for Harper's government.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Want to be a Lobbyist With Harper's Reformers

Duff Conacher from Democracy Watch sent me an excellent link yesterday outlining the many flaws in our system and how easy it is to exploit them. His organization has been trying to keep government clean for years, with the emphasis on trying.

The Helena Guergis/Rahim Jaffer drama that is unfolding is just the icing on the cake for the Reformers though, because the warning signs were always there.

For me the first sign was when Harper brought in the Mike Harris flunkies, John Baird, Jim Flaherty and Tony Clement. (Helena Guergis was an administrative assistant for the Harris government so she knows how the games are played) I remember thinking that maybe we should just give them all our money, and they'd go easy on us.

These guys were behind every shady deal in the book. In fact Mike Harris was forced to resign after being caught in the shade, in an out of the way restaurant, claiming that he just happened to be the neighbourhood.

Sign two was when Harper put John Baird in charge of drafting an Accountability Act and then sending Pierre Poilievre into the arms of Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, the man Rolling Stone Magazine dubbed one of the ten worst congressman:

Sensenbrenner, whose $10 million fortune stems from his great-grandfather's invention of the Kotex sanitary napkin, won $250,000 in the lottery in 1997. He also enjoys the perks of office: No congressman has racked up more frequent-flier miles on junkets sponsored by corporate lobbyists ....

He is also notorious for hiding things in bills, mostly involving the removal of human rights. He was behind the Patriot Act and when Congress refused to extend it because Americans wanted their civil liberties back, he stomped out in a huff. So I guess we know what they were hoping to learn from Jimmy boy.

So let's do a David Letterman top ten reasons why I want to be a lobbyist in the hallowed halls of Harper's government. Or actually the lobbies. Seeing thousands of snapshots of the big guy would freak me out. Far too Big Brotherish.

It used to have some paintings on the wall. Past prime ministers, certainly a formal portrait of the Queen. Landscapes. I know there was the occasional photo of current Prime Ministers, but when I walked in this time, I felt chilled to the bone. Every available wall space had a large colour photo of Stephen Harper. Stephen Harper at Alert. Stephen Harper in fire fighter gear. Stephen Harper at his desk. Stephen Harper meeting the Dalai Lama. Even the photo of the Queen showed her in the company of Stephen Harper. None were great photos. None were more than enlarged snapshots in colour. They didn’t feel like art.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Want to be a Lobbyist for Harper's Reformers

10. They are so easily bought. Host a fundraiser for Lisa Raitt and provide box seats at a Blue Jays game with all the perks for Rick Dykstra and you can write your own cheque.

9. And speaking of writing your own cheque, they cut out the middle man. Just ask Phizer. Instead of having to lobby they just make you an employee.

8. Need a lobbyist but too lazy to hire one? Not problem. Brian Jean can provide you with a member of his staff. Instant lobbyist, just add water .. or cash.

Breaking the rules of his own accountability act, he removes Erin Wall, assistant to Brian Jean, Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. (aka John Baird) and sends her to work for Global Public Affairs. Ms Wall is then registered as a lobbyist for the Houston based International Commodity Export Corporation, the largest beneficiary of government subsidies to the [Ridley] terminals. You will notice here that her appointment took place on June 19, 2009; just before the firing of Dan Veniez, and on the same day that ICEC underwent a name change to give it the appearance of a Canadian company.

7. And bored lobbyists can always get a job with the PMO where you can straddle the fence and hope you don't fall off. Just ask Kory Teneycke.

6. Obtaining military contracts is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Harper's first defense minister, Gordon O'Connor went right from being a lobbyist for military contracts to being the person awarding military contracts. But then that whole torture, lying thing got in the way of a perfectly good business. Not to worry though. I'm sure he passed off his Rolodex.

5. For a little bit of infused patriotism with a group called Canadians for Afghanistan, you can be sure those military contracts never end:

The Canadians For Afghanistan website lists its main contact as Josh McJannett, a former Conservative staffer who worked for government whip Jay Hill until September. He had previously worked as an aide to Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer. After leaving the Hill, Mr. McJannett* became a lobbyist with Summa Strategies, an Ottawa government-relations firm that counts some defence contractors, including U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing, among its clients. Canadians for Afghanistan was formed a few months later.

4. You get to arrange YouTube "live" videos of Stephen Harper with a little Google-a-go-go

Meaghan Rusnell: Legislative assistant to MP Rick Dykstra .. left the Hill in 2008 and began lobbying with Playbook Communications, a Toronto-based firm with Tory ties. She listed as clients Google Inc. and the Economic Club of Canada

3. If you're a poor corporation down on your luck at a time when Canadians are out of work and down on theirs, you can be sure that your 25 million dollar revenue is safe with these guys:

What we do know, when we see it, is big time corporate subsidy seeking, backroom politics, scheming lobbyists and cabinet ministers throwing their weight around to satisfy the big time corporate interests. In this case, the corporate interests include the B. C. and Alberta coal industries, whose coal production flows through Ridley Terminals. The political players include two Conservative cabinet ministers, House Leader Jay Hill and Transport Minister Rob Merrifield.

2. Lobbying for a private school was never easier with Diamond Jim Flaherty. If Sensenbrenner taught these guys anything it was how to hide stuff in bills.

1. And my number one reason for wanting to be a lobbyist for Harper's Reformers. You get to play revolving door until you're dizzy. It's better than Prozac. But if you need a little Prozac, have I got a lobbyist for you.

* Josh McJannet has indicated to me that he is no longer with Canadians for Afghanistan.

So We're Expecting John Baird to Make Sense Now?

As much as it annoys the hell out me every time I hear someone in the media talking about
Harper's Reformers being secretive after promising transparency, I must admit that their expecting John Baird to make sense, gave me a chuckle.

And then it annoyed the hell out of me.

They should realize by now that there never was an accountability act and there was never any intention of producing an accountability act. Sure there were a few words on paper, but they were mostly just four letter words. Lots of them. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah ....

My first clue, besides the Republican Pollster Frank Lutz's advice to Harper on how to get a majority: preach accountability, flap about lowering taxes and tap into national symbols like hockey; was the fact that little PP got instructions for this so called accountability act from Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner.

Yikes. What Bernard Madoff wasn't available?

The Conservatives are considering an American-style law that would pay a bounty to a whistleblower who sues a company that defrauds the federal government or wastes taxpayers' money. Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who is overseeing the Harper government's whistleblower reforms, is meeting with U.S. legislators in Washington over the next several days to see if the U.S. False Claims Act can be adapted to Canada as part of the much-touted Federal Accountablity Act.

In Washington, Mr. Poilievre is meeting with Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, who chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary, as well as officials from the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, to explore whether employees in security agencies should be excluded from whistleblower laws. He will also be briefed on the Bush administration's Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Act -- known as the No Fear Act -- which came into force in 2003 to make departments more accountable for violations of anti-discrimination and whistleblower protection laws.

A monetary reward for whistleblowers is one of the six reforms Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised during the electin campaign to beef up the Liberals' whistleblower bill.

So who's Jim Sensenbrenner?

On April 26, 2005, it was widely reported that Sensenbrenner has had lobbyists pay for his transportation, a violation of congressional rules. His total travel expenses are higher than any other congressman

Although the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina and the inadequate government response to the disaster is expected to cause further economic misery for the poor residents of New Orleans and other affected areas, Congressman Sensenbrenner has refused to allow victims of the hurricane to enjoy any exception to the recent Bankruptcy Reform, a recent bill passed with widespread support of the banking industry that aims to make it more difficult for consumers to declare bankruptcy. "If someone in Katrina is down and out, and has no possibility of being able to repay 40 percent or more of their debts, then the new bankruptcy law doesn't apply," Sensenbrenner said.

Sensenbrenner held an important role in the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, acting as one of the House managers.

Sensenbrenner believes in criminal prosecution of broadcasters and cable operators who violate decency standards as opposed to the current Federal Communications Commission regulatory methods.

His revolving door lobby

He won "jerk of the week" honours for denying global warming

And remember NAFTAgate when Stephen Harper tried to derail Obama's campaign? It was Sensenbrenner's son Frank who was behind it.

Frank Sensenbrenner, the one-time Young Republican fundraiser now at the epicentre of a scandal over a leaked Canadian memo which wounded Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama, was always a poor fit at the Canadian embassy. The ambassador, Michael Wilson, didn't want him there.

The diplomatic corps on Pennsylvania Ave. didn't want him there and ultimately were so distrustful of the son of a right-wing Republican congressman, they muttered that they wanted his door left open so they could hear who he was talking to.

But officials in Stephen Harper's office wanted him there and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day particularly wanted him there, based on Sensenbrenner's long links, dating back to school days, with the former Reform party, the precursor of today's government in Ottawa

The Republicans aren't out of office, they're just now in Stephen Harper's office, teaching 'accountability' ... to John Baird and little PP. Crafting clever lobbying loopholes so convoluted we may never know where our money is. While Alykhan Velshi is telling Canadians who and who can't come to this country and talk.

Anyway, the net result of this relatively little-known loophole is this: Even if a minister "quietly designates" his parliamentary secretary as "the government's exclusive gatekeeper" for a particular grant or contribution program -- which, according to the Hill Times, was what Transport Minister John Baird did by "tasking" Brian Jean with "identifying potential projects ... and candidates ... to be considered for the Green Infrastructure Fund ... and forwarding them to the department for evaluation" -- there is currently no way to find out which companies, or consultant lobbyists, may have come knocking on that gatekeeper's office door.

Which, I have to say, doesn't seem quite as transparent a system as one would, perhaps, expect to see in what Pierre Poilievre is so fond of reminding us was supposed to be the "toughest anti-corruption law in Canadian history." What, for instance, is to stop a minister from designating his or her parliamentary secretary as the contact point for all lobbyists, which would allow any subsequent discussions to flourish unfettered by any obligation to report all registrable interactions? Pretty much nothing, as far as I can tell, although as the aforementioned staffer pointed out, it's their job to enforce the law as it stands.

Maybe Mark Foley could get Jason Kenney a date:

Rahim Jaffer and Helena Guergis May go Down Together But They Won't be Alone

I posted a rather lengthy piece on Rahim Jaffer and Helena Guergis, just to show how close he was to so many members of our current government. The relationship goes back a long way, and the dirty dealing just as long.

I also privately wondered how many more MPs besides his wife, will end up getting tangled up in this.

When you buy someone off for $ 40,000.00 and get away with it, I guess you believe you can get away with anything.

Jaffer's contact with government touched six departments

OTTAWA - Conservative government officials dealt with calls and emails from Rahim Jaffer as a priority and sometimes pushed federal bureaucrats to speed up their response to his queries.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the former Tory MP sometimes used the parliamentary email address assigned to the office of his wife, Helena Guergis, the former minister of state for the status of women. The more than 50 pages show that Jaffer contacted at least six ministerial offices over the past year.

Jaffer emailed Industry staff from Guergis account

Jaffer sent an email to an Industry Ministry official from an account registered to MP Helena Guergis, who at the time was the minister for the status of women. The message inquired about Canada's plans for installing new space satellites and about national ownership rules in that sector.

The information was requested "on behalf of some constituents who are friends of Helena and I," Jaffer wrote in the message. Jaffer hasn't been an MP since he lost his Edmonton-Strathcona seat in the October 2008 election.

In the email, he asks whether the federal government is interested in technology that allows satellites to track ocean vessels. If so, he says, it "would be positive for commercial development and MDA." MDA refers to MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, a B.C.-based aerospace firm that has built several government satellites. David Pierce, the Industry official in question, who knew Jaffer personally, replied the next day, saying he would call the former MP.

GuergisJafferWatch: It's a mini-document dump

Not that we're complaining, mind you. CBC News has obtained the 60-page package of Jaffer-related correspondence delivered to the Government Operations committee earlier today, and -- well, here it is! (I'll add my thoughts when I've had time to go through it in detail)

I'll bet there's not a lot of sleeping going on these days.

Reformers, Snack Packers and the Price of Silence

"... the notion that some Reform members may have strong Anglo-Saxon nativist inclinations is supported by more than merely the background profiles of its leaders, members and supporters. It is supported also by the words of many of its ideological mentors who depict Canada as not only historically an Anglo-Saxon country but also part of a wider Anglo-Saxon culture that is in need of recognizing and re-establishing its heritage." (Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada. Author: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, Pg. 170)

From it's inception the Reform Party was seen as an all white, Christian fundamentalist party. (Or what the Toronto Sun referred to as "a ribald collection of dung-kicking rednecks.") Their anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism platform certainly appealed to anyone supporting a white Canada.

And despite the outrageous behaviour of Preston Manning's MPs, neither he nor his lieutenant, Stephen Harper, did much to stop them. At their opening assembly one of the motions presented was to round up all the immigrants and send them back where they came from. I guess that kind of set the tone.

That's not to say that they didn't have the odd enlightened member, including the very popular Jan Brown, who was becoming increasingly upset with having to constantly apologize for the actions of her colleagues. For example, Reform MP Dave Chatters suggested that schools should be allowed to fire gay teachers, MP Art Hangar planned a trip to Singapore to investigate 'caning' as a form of youth punishment, and MP Myron Thompson wanted to throw ten-year-olds in jail.

But things came to a head when MP Rob Ringma suggested that business owners should be allowed to demand that gays and ethnics move to the back of the store, if it meant that they could lose business otherwise. Brown had had enough and spoke out publicly against the rampant racism of what she referred to as the 'God squad' and the fact that Preston Manning refused to put an end to it.

During the next caucus meeting, Ringma got a standing ovation and Brown was given a suspension, but instead simply quit and sat as an independent. The next election she ran for the PCs, but was defeated.

That election took place in 1997, and to replace Jan Brown, the Reform Party plucked a young man from the Fraser Institute, by the name of Jason Kenney. Meanwhile, Stephen Harper had resigned his seat to head up the right-wing National Citizens Coalition, and another Fraser alumni, Rob Anders stepped in to replace him.

However, Manning knew that if he really wanted to gain support in the rest of Canada he was going to have to at least give the appearance of representing all Canadians, so they brought in their first non-white candidate, a young man from Uganda, Rahim Jaffer.

The small talk was telling among the young Reformers milling about prior to Jaffer's arrival. People complained, with a neo-con bravado that matched everyone's cowboy comportment, about how squishy some of their contemporaries were on issues. There was also a heavy-duty spew of racist humour and invective, something you'd never hear from most real-life cowboys. With the tacit approval of the others, two young Reformers held court with depraved jokes about all-white neighbour­hoods, the Ku Klux Klan and the appropriate usages of pit bulls.

That is, of course, until Rahim Jaffer showed up. Then the conver­sation changed, from whites-only humour to election strategy in a split second. Everyone acted cordial and laid back, as though someone's mom had arrived in the middle of a stag party. "I want to be judged for what I do and say, not what I look like," Jaffer said while campaigning in 1997. "I'm a real Reformer, not a token."

"Look at the demographics here," said Manning's legislative assistant, Ezra Levant, at a "Team Rahim" campaign event. "Have you ever seen so many interesting-looking people voting Reform?" (Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pg. 103)

Bingo. They were no longer racist. However, maybe they should have been looking for more than just skin colour, but they had their priorities in order.

From then on, Jason Kenney, Rob Anders and Rahim Jaffer became known as the Snack Packers. (Globe and Mail, September 22, 1997) Something to do with their ages, I think. Ezra Levant rounded out the little group.

The First Sign of Trouble

In March of 2001, Jaffer agreed to a radio interview but then realized that he would be opening one of his coffee shops on the same day, so he convinced his aide to take his place. All was revealed when someone recognized the aide's voice.

Peter Warren, the show's host, says the hoax was eventually revealed, but not before both Johnston and Jaffer tried to cover it up. Warren says his producer asked Jaffer directly if they had talked to him on the air."She reached him at his cafe in Edmonton and said to him, 'Was that you on the interview with Peter Warren on the Corus Radio Network an hour ago?' and his answer was, 'Yes it was. I was happy to do the interview'. "Warren says they finally got an admission from Johnston and Jaffer when they asked them to put their version in writing.

But what didn't make the papers was how the whole thing came about. From Preston Manning.

"The story as told by Rahim in Ottawa, with the help of his friend Ezra [Levant], was that Matthew had acted entirely on his own."

Chuck Strahl, the House leader, first learned of all this from Jason Kenney at a strategy meeting at Stornoway. Chuck told Jason that Rahim's account had better be the whole truth, because the media would be looking for contradictions, and if they found any Rahim would be in even greater trouble. Jason [Kenney] then said "I wouldn't worry about that. $40,000.00 buys lot of silence." (Think Big: My Adventures in Life and Politics, By: Preston Manning, pg 379-80)

Not Jason Kenney. Say it ain't so. The $ 40,000 was apparently the amount of 'severance' given to Matthew Johnston for keeping quiet. (Deb Grey also mentions this in her book )

Stephen Harper also looking for optics, added a few women to his roster in 2003, including Helena Guergis, a former administrative assistant in the Mike Harris government. Naturally he plunked her where she was visible, giving him the appearance of an enlightened male. (stop laughing, I said 'the appearance')

A Classic Love Story

So Helena and Rahim met in caucus, caused a fracas, but then ran out of luckus. Boy when they fell, they fell hard, didn't they? And Don Martin thought that Helena's only problem was that she was completely clueless.

...a second-term Tory over her head as a Cabinet member in the government's most sensitive portfolio. After double-checking with female parliamentarians and journalists to make sure this wasn't just a pale male pile-on, the verdict is clear: This 39-year-old Ontario MP should be removed before her amateur antics and strange behaviour trigger an international incident.

Of course, it was brilliant moving her to the Status of Women, where Harper can now claim that there is a reason why women have no status in his Canada. Two words: Helena Guergis.

And who'd have thought it would take a drunk driving, drug arrest to topple the Kingdom of Tokens? I mean Jaffer campaigned by suggesting that the NDP were soft on drugs. And Helena campaigned on ... I don't know .. I don't listen to her. I swear she'll suck the brain cells right out of you.

Helena Guergis: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

And we thought her airport melt down and cocaine in her car, would have been enough for Harper to finally dump her.

But a much more serious scandal, is raising some very serious questions. Helena Guergis's husband, Rahim Jaffer; a long time friend of Jason Kenney and Stockwell Day, has been up to some funny business.

So much for a party pretending to take the moral high ground.

I knew what this little group was about when they first bought the silence of an aide for $ 40,000.00.

Guergis is now sitting as an independent, but that doesn't excuse our government. How did she get away with this and was she acting alone?

Helena Guergis touted a green technology company to Simcoe County officials while her husband Rahim Jaffer and businessman Nazim Gillani were involved in a plan to take the firm public in a $1 billion deal.

Cabinet ministers and MPs are forbidden from using their position to influence a person or organization to benefit their interest or that of relatives or friends, according to the federal Conflict of Interest Act.

And:

NDP MP Libby Davies sent a letter to Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson on Friday formally asking her to investigate Guergis's conduct, saying media reports about Guergis's endorsement of Wright Tech Systems Inc. may have violated the Conflict of Interest Act "and perhaps other applicable statutes."

Shortly after Davies's letter was released, Liberal MP Mark Holland filed a formal request with the lobbying commissioner to back up a complaint filed by his colleague Marlene Jennings earlier this week, based on "additional information that would seem to be relevant" that has since "come to light" about Jaffer's company, Green Power Generation Corp.

Oh, oh! I'll bet there are more than a few Conservatives sweating bullets right now.

Helena Guergis Hurting Conservative Fundraising?

Apparently it would seem that members of the Reform-Conservative Party are calling on Stephen Harper to throw Helena Guergis out. They claim that she is hurting their fundraising efforts.

Oh really?

Just because she throws shoes in an airport and her husband got off a drunk driving/cocaine possession charge? I would have thought they'd have thrown her out when she claimed that young girls are responsible for their own rape, but what do I know?

Or could it be that their fundraising is drying up because of their arrogance at shutting down Parliament for three months while they blatantly show up at the Olympics?

Oh and by the way, I drink Tim Hortons and so do most of my friends, and we'd never vote for Stephen Harper. Are Timmies trying to tell us that they don't want our business unless we agree to a dictatorship? What a stupid comment.

Trying to attract the Tim Hortons crowd? I swear our media gets stupider by the minute.

Another video making the rounds is from 2000, when, according to Wikipedia:

The Canadian television program The Fifth Estate profiled Sylvia Stark in January 2000, and included interviews with Guergis and other former contestants. Stark alleged that Guergis made death threats against her, and added that she had lost a child from the resulting stress and was unable to conceive again. Guergis responded by questioning the state of Stark's mental health.

Did a Little Hanky Panky Keep Jaffer Out of the Tanky

Rahim Jaffer is a former Reform/Alliance MP and long time associate of Jason Kenney. He is also married to Helena Guergis, the woman who can barely tie her own shoes, blamed girls for their own rape and recently had a complete melt down on Prince Edward Island.

Yesterday Jaffer went to court to face charges of drunk driving and possession of cocaine.

To anyone else this might be a serious offense but the man got a slap on the wrist.

Jaffer court case sparks outrage across Canada

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer's guilty verdict in an Ontario courtroom has ignited an outrage across Canada. Many are now questioning why the charges of cocaine possession and drunk driving were dropped in the case. Jaffer pleaded guilty to careless driving and received a $500 fine, and no criminal record.

However, David Akin thinks he may know why Mr. Jaffer got such a sweet deal.

Jaffer's former caucus colleagues immediately tried to distance themselves from the decision and the case. The line from all Conservative MPs, when asked, was that it was a provincial matter, that the prosecutor in the case was a provincial appointee. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews even went far enough to point out that it was a Liberal administration in Ontario responsible for the case.

Well, turns out the judge in the case, Doug Maund is a long-time Tory: When Brian Mulroney was prime minister, Maund was the chief of staff to Mulroney's health minister Perrin Beatty. He backed Kim Campbell in the leadership race to succeed Mulroney He was appointed to the Ontario bench in October, 2000 by the Ontario attorney general of the day, none other than current federal finance minister Jim Flaherty.

Nice to have friends in low places.

But before you think I'm blaming the judge, the deal was worked out with the Crown attorney, and the judge himself raised eyebrows, despite his links to Flaherty. However, the optics of this is not good.

Of course, the irony is that when Jaffer was running in Edmonton, he accused Jack Layton of being soft on drug crime. Some things never change.

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?

Jason Kenney Says $ 40,000.00 Buys a Lot of Silence

It never surprises me when I learn that Jason Kenney is behind a nefarious act, because the man obviously has no conscience.

But perhaps one of the most blatant was when he and Ezra Levant paid off an aide to keep quiet about a hoax, engineered by former MP Rahim Jaffer.

Jaffer demoted for hoax
CBC News
March 19, 2001

Canadian Alliance MP Rahim Jaffer has been demoted by the party after his executive assistant impersonated him on a national radio show.

Matthew Johnston appeared on a nationally-syndicated phone-in show on Saturday and impersonated the Edmonton-Strathcona MP.

Peter Warren, the show's host, says the hoax was eventually revealed, but not before both Johnston and Jaffer tried to cover it up. Warren says his producer asked Jaffer directly if they had talked to him on the air."She reached him at his cafe in Edmonton and said to him, 'Was that you on the interview with Peter Warren on the Corus Radio Network an hour ago?' and his answer was, 'Yes it was. I was happy to do the interview'.

"Warren says they finally got an admission from Johnston and Jaffer when they asked them to put their version in writing.

John Reynolds, the Alliance whip, says Jaffer has been suspended from his duties as chair of the party's small-business advisory committee."I talked to my leaders and house leaders, and I'm the one that's responsible for discipline as the whip, and I suggested we suspend Mr. Jaffer and we have done that," he says.

Reynolds says the disciplinary measure means Jaffer has been relegated to the back benches. He says Johnston apologized and has since resigned from his position.

All wrapped up in a tidy little bow, but Preston Manning discusses the incident in his book "Think Big. My Adventures in Life and Politics" (Chapter 14, The Downward Spiral, pg 379-80), and presents a slightly different version.

Apparently after realizing that he had set up the radio interview on the day that he would be opening a new coffee shop, Jaffer made arrangements with his aid, Matthew Johnston, to appear in his place. Since it was radio no one would see him, and the Edmonton-Strathcona MP drilled his replacement on potential answers to specific questions.

But while the interview was being aired, a listener recognized Johnston's voice and complained to the station that this was some kind of hoax. "The story as told by Rahim in Ottawa, with the help of his friend Ezra (Levant), was that Matthew had acted entirely on his own."

Preston Manning continues: Chuck Strahl, the House leader, first learned of all this from Jason Kenney at a strategy meeting at Stornoway. Chuck told Jason that Rahim's account had better be the whole truth, because the media would be looking for contradictions, and if they found any Rahim would be in even greater trouble. Jason (Kenney) then said "I wouldn't worry about that. $40,000.00 buys a lot of silence." (Apparently that was the amount of 'severance' given to Matthew Johnston for keeping quiet.)

The reference to $ 40,000.00 was made without elaboration. The next day the same statement about $40,000.00 was repeated by Ezra Levant to both Chuck Cadman and Deborah Grey (who also makes note of it in her book), who at this time demanded an explanation. Ezra then said that it meant nothing, that he was just shooting off his mouth and it was no big deal.

The ease with which they not only bribed Matthew Johnston to lie, but actually bragged about, makes the Cadman affair even more credible.

Recently, Jaffer wanted to return to federal politics, and his wife Helena Guergis began using taxpayer money to promote his bid for re-election. The party didn't want him back though, so her deceit was for nothing.