Christian Paradis is Having Hot Flashes. Maybe He Should Take Off His $5000.00 Coat

The renogate scandal is heating up and Christian Paradis is right in the thick of it.

The latest revelations are that after being a guest of honour at a Party fundraiser, hosted by those awarded government contracts, Paradis presented the money guys with a bill for $ 5,000.00, claiming to have left behind a cashmere coat.

That must have been some coat, obviously a collectors item, since he had only paid $ 800.00 for it in the first place.

This just keeps getting better.

Oh, Oh! Vic Toews Caught Cheating - Again!

And this time I'm not referring to his affair with a younger woman, though that one still represents hypocrisy at it's best.

... the 55-year-old Toews' public face of self-righteous morality is now clashing with his troubled private life. An MP dubbed the "minister of family values" by Liberals is embroiled in a messy divorce after fathering a child last fall with a much younger woman.

So much for family values.

This time Toews is being investigated for a conflict-of-interest:

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has not disclosed $18,000 in annual pension payments as required by law in a conflict-of-interest declaration for the public registry he personally signed. The Conflict of Interest Code for Members' of the House of Commons requires all MPs to disclose assets,liabilities and sources of income over $1,000 outside their MP salary. If they earn income over $10,000, that fact is to be made public in a disclosure summary posted on the ethics commissioner's website. There is no pension income listed in Toews' most recent summary that he signed on March 5, 2009.

In an affidavit filed in Manitoba court April 10, Toews acknowledges earning $18,267.84 a year from the Manitoba Civil Service Superannuation Board. Those pension payments began when he turned 55 in September 2007. Also included in court documents is an e-mail Toews wrote to his lawyer in May 2007. In that e-mail, Toews' indicates he had not disclosed to the ethics commissioner the pension he was about to start receiving or a condo his wife owned in Gatineau, Que.

More of those so-called "conservative values" we keep hearing about. And Vic is a card carrying member of the Religious Right. Wonder if he'll get kicked out of the club now?

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.

With Cost of Fake Lake Harper Better Hope he Really Can Walk on Water

The G8 and G20 summits could very well become Harper's Waterloo, based on more than just the "fake lake" fiasco.

At a time when this government is telling Canadians they need to tighten their belts and that they can no longer provide free health care (at least that's what they told the American Christian Coalition. They wouldn't dare tell us that), the decadence and extravagance of these events is showing their hypocrisy.

A new poll reveals that the majority of Canadians do not support this:

With world leaders ready to descend on Ontario for the G8 and G20 summits, Canadians from coast to coast believe "it's not worth it." Echoing the criticism from opposition MPs about the ballooning costs of hosting the summits, more than two-thirds of Canadians said playing host to world leaders is a waste of money, according to an Ipsos Reid online poll conducted for Canada.com. Last year's G20 summit in Pittsburgh reportedly cost $18 million, while security costs at the meeting in London totalled $30 million.

By contrast, it is costing us 19 million just for flowers and dancers, 1 million for posters and almost a billion for security. And the Reformers are supposed to be fiscally conservative? They've turned this into a boondoggle, and we've become the laughing stock of other nations who are reporting this nonsense.

They can hardly wait to see a fake lake in a country known for it's beautiful genuine lakes. Or have the multinationals that Harper sold our water rights to forbid him to showcase their lakes? Will we have to pay them for the water to fill our "fake lake"?

Vinay Menon says it best:

By Tuesday, the Tories sensed they were sinking in the deep end with no political lifeguard in sight. So they took a breather from spending money like the Hilton sisters at a Louis Vuitton boutique to dam surging criticism. First of all, they clarified, it’s not a “fake lake.” It’s a “water feature.” And this thing that’s not a fake lake certainly will not cost $1.9 million, as was initially reported. That’s the total amount for the entire International Media Centre.

... Why are people freaking out? Simple. The fake lake has become a symbol of wasteful spending, of poor planning, of bureaucratic folly, of Harper hubris. With rising interest rates, HST and a job market still in critical recovery, this shallow “water feature” has captured the depths of our exasperation with politicians who seem to be peering through wet goggles as they ask us to tighten our belts. On the upside, I suppose, if they don’t have enough money left to truck in water, the fake lake could be filled with the tears of taxpayers. Stephen Harper knows where to look.

And they want to host Armageddon. What's that going to cost us?

Harper Government Involved in E-Health Scandal. What Will Hudak do Now?

As part of the government's Self-promotion Economic inaction plan, they have allotted a half a billion dollars, to Canada Health Infoway Inc., to create electronic medical records.

Not sure how this was a priority during an economic crisis, though I'm sure when all of this is laid out, we will find a few cronies who were in need of a few bucks.

Through Canada's Economic Action Plan, he federal government plans to invest up to $500 million in Canada Health Infoway.

The funding would be used to support the goal of 50 percent of Canadians having an electronic health record by 2010, to speed up implementation of electronic medical record systems in physicians' offices, and to develop electronic systems that connect points of service (e.g., hospitals, pharmacies and community care Facilities). Their secure systems would enable authorized health professionals across the country to access patient records quickly and easily.

So for all of Tim Hudak's accusations against Dalton McGuinty and his involvement with this mess, looks like the federal Conservatives are not so squeaky clean either. What will Timmy's campaign slogan be now.

'Vote for us. We're not as crooked as the Harper government. Honest!'

Health Canada handed out millions of dollars to a national eHealth agency without properly accounting for how the money was spent, a new audit says. The finding raises doubts about Health Canada's own record of accountability even as it conducts due diligence before deciding whether to give Canada Health Infoway Inc. another half-billion dollars.

The internal audit examined a $400-million, five-year deal the department signed in 2007 with Infoway, created to ensure all Canadians have an electronic health record by 2016. Infoway received its first cheque, for $38.7-million, in October 2007.

This is John Baird and Enron all over again. So much for accountability.

But the auditors suggest the deal was so badly crafted that Infoway was not required to provide enough information to Health Canada to ensure the money would be well spent.

Sheila Fraser cited a raft of contracting and reporting problems at Infoway, including one contract that ballooned to $726,000 from $144,000 without competitive bids. Fraser also found 13 contracts in a sample of 35 that were
signed only after the work had begun.

IS THIS REALLY CONSERVATIVE? IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?

According to Conservative MP Jacques Gourde There is a Scandal at Public Works

Or is there? Is there really a Public Works? Is there such a person named Jacques Gourde?

It's all a mystery.

The strangest story is coming from the Public Works department, that began when the Globe and Mail learned that there was apparently a police investigation in progress. That was on Wednesday.

Officials silent on mystery investigation at Public Works

Investigators have been called in to Public Works Canada, but the government is refusing to release any information on the matter.

In fact, government officials are even refusing to say which law prevents them from speaking about the situation.

"I can't even confirm or deny that there is an investigation, or even discuss under what law I'm not allowed to talk," a government official said.

Reformer Christian Paradis stated on the Public Works website:

Gatineau, November 27, 2009 – There have been a number of media stories regarding a potential investigation or probe at Public Works and Government Services Canada. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

There is no investigation into the sale of federal government properties and no investigators have been called in to investigate this matter at Public Works and Government Services Canada.

And yet according to Reform Conservative MP Jacques Gourde, there is indeed an investigation taking place, though he refused to give further details. I doubt an MP would rat out his own party if there was nothing to rat out.

Conservatives finally confirm Public Works probe
Daniel Leblanc
Ottawa — Globe and Mail
November 27, 2009

Conservative MP Jacques Gourde apparently broke the law today as he finally confirmed that investigators are at work at Public Works Canada.

Federal officials had insisted all week that an unspecified law prevented them from either confirming or denying the existence of the investigation, first revealed in The Globe and Mail.

In answer to a question from Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay today, Mr. Gourde ignored the directive and finally shone a bit of light on the matter.

“As it stands, Public Works and Government Services Canada is aware of these investigations, but I cannot provide further comment,” Mr. Gourde said.

While Mr. Gourde did not provide details on the target of the investigation, his answer went further than previous comments from government officials.

“I can't even confirm or deny that there is an investigation, or even discuss under what law I'm not allowed to talk,” a government official told The Globe earlier this week.

During Question Period, Ms. Hall Findlay decried the mystery surrounding the investigation, which she said “relates to suspected irregularities in the government's selloff of federal properties.”

Back to: The Jacques Gourde Story: He Does Better at Pantomime

Brian Mulroney Must Feel Pretty Good with the Reform Conservative Scandal Boiling Over Stimulus

I read a little blurb the other day about Jim Flaherty and his projected financial update for January. He will be proposing some cuts, wrapped into a confidence motion. The suggestion of course is that no one will want to bring down the Ref-Con government just before the Olympics.

But what if they want someone to bring them down?

Their good polling numbers right now might be their best chance, though with the current scandal over possible war crimes, that could be fleeting.

I can almost guarantee that one of the things Flaherty will hide in this budget, will be an end to voter subsidies. Steven Fletcher has been working on this behind the scenes.

If he is able to get this through it could be devastating to the NDP, Bloc and Green Parties, who rely on those subsidies to keep going. And of course we always tell people that even if they feel their vote won't get their candidate elected, at least it will help to finance future campaigns.

The Reformers count on keeping people home on voting night, and this will be one more reason for them to do so.

However, James Travers thinks there may be another reason. With a major scandal brewing over the stimulus money, and public servants saying that they won't take the fall, everyone is going into damage control. Maybe they'll want to get an election over with before the you know what hits the fan.

Travers: Bracing for a stimulus scandal

OTTAWA—Public scrutiny of billions in stimulus spending and a private struggle over where the buck stops are putting a best-before-date on Stephen Harper's government. Auditor General Sheila Fraser's winter look at the Economic Action Plan, along with the refusal of top civil servants to be blamed for politically tainted projects, means voters will almost certainly go to the polls before she reports late next fall.

Controversy over giant cheques, flattering signs and lavish advertising are only a taste of what Conservatives can expect if, as is widely anticipated here, abuses are found in the way the ruling party is distributing more than $35 billion. Fearing what's ahead, deputy ministers are protecting themselves by taking advantage of
stronger accountability safeguards put into place after Justice John Gomery's inquiry into the Quebec sponsorship scandal ....

Stephen Harper's Ship is Sinking With Ref-Con Backdraft

Harper's piano playing and singing a Beatles song off-key, gave him a rise in the polls, but unfortunately, he can't sing his way out of the controversies that are hitting him from all sides.

Are Canadians waking up? We can only hope.

A recent article for the Toronto Star by columnist James Travers, shows that the winds may finally be blowing in the right direction.

Travers: Ill winds blowing for PM's ship of state

Ottawa - Not much is more certain to blow a government off course than events. First observed by former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, that old axiom is Stephen Harper's new reality. Days ago, Conservatives had a breeze at their back. Now they're twisting in winds they can't control.

First, there were those big, blue, bogus stimulus cheques and then came the swine flu with its viral mix of fear, confusion and queue-jumping. Now, watchdogs are barking at a too-sunny economic forecast and who-cares crisis readiness. Each alone would be a problem for any government. Together they threaten the trend Conservatives count on to transform their minority into a future majority.

The Dean Del Mastro Story: Tax Payer Abuse, Corruption & Scandal

If Dean Del Mastro had a sense of humour he could play the Grinch, without makeup. With the exception of photos he poses for, he always looks like he wants to hit someone.

However, this past summer he created a crisis in Peterborough, his home riding; by using tax payer money to lobby for a private developer, then run a less than reputable mini referendum that included ballots by dead people. A perfect Reform Conservative, but a lousy Canadian, and one more reason why these guys have got to go.

Meet the wonderful pro-active Peterborough citizen from the video. We need more Canadians like this.

So Why is Deal Del Mastro Taking Surveys on Behalf of Private Developers?

From the sounds of things, the Conservative MP from Peterborough may be hurting his re-election prospects and that would be hunky dory around here. Not a fan. There was a public meeting in Peterborough last night over an area known as Little Lake.

Apparently there is a city process that has been underway to review its development, in whatever form that may take. It sounds like there is a strong disposition toward maintaining green space and public use. But along comes Del Mastro who appears to be assisting a private developer, to the extent that the developer's proposal is being referred to as "Del Mastro's plan" and "Del Mastro's idea." In doing so, he seems to have galvanized the community against the development proposal:

MP Dean Del Mastro’s idea to build a resort and condominium complex on Parks Canada land next to Little Lake threatened to hijack a city planning process last night.
...
Several in the audience carried their ballot and information pamphlet that Del Mastro mailed to Peterborough-riding residents last week.He has asked residents to vote on the idea of allowing a private developer to build on the Trent-Severn Waterway headquarters property that’s owned by the federal government.
...
Del Mastro’s plan has brought people together to defend the green space, said Mary-Anne Johnston, a Lakefield resident.“His plan has totally galvanized people against it,” she said.

Dean, Dean, Dean. Is he using public resources with his little survey and with his time to help out this private developer? Seems inappropriate and it sounds like many of his fellow citizens agree.

The Peterborough Examiner
Ballots mailed to the dead
Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY

Melanie Ready's mother lived in London, Ont. until she died on Nov. 26, 2005.
On Monday, her mother got a ballot in the mail for the proposed Little Lake resort and condominium project.

Along with her mother's ballot, Ready got two ballots addressed to her -one in her maiden name and another in her married name, which she has used since July 2007.

"I started to think it's kind of funny, but really it's not," Ready said yesterday. "Actually, I found it a little scary because it made me think that I'm probably not the only person to get three and you're counting on the integrity of the person that they're not going to use all three ballots.
"If I did fill them out... there would be no way for them to know that I'm filling out three ballots.... It made me think the system was a little suspect."

Ready said her husband received one ballot and her 20-year-old son hasn't got a ballot yet.

Other Peterborough riding residents have had similar experiences since Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro mailed 98,608 ballots to eligible voters in the riding on Thursday.

He said last week that he used an Elections Canada list to send a personally addressed pamphlet and ballot to eligible voters in the riding.

Del Mastro couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

Del Mastro has said he's using the poll to gauge public interest in a proposal to build a resort and condominium complex on the Trent-Severn Waterway headquarters property next to Little Lake.

The property is on Ashburnham Dr. between Johnston Park and Lock 20.

Dean Del Mastro Calls Little Lake Poll "A Victory for Democracy": Peterborough Citizens Are Reminded of Orwell's Classic Political Satire 1984
July 2, 2009

There's democracy - and then there's Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro's idea of what constitutes democracy.

The Peterborough Examiner quotes Del Mastro as describing the results of the poll as "a victory for democracy."

Others, including Peterborough Federal Liberal Riding Association President John Nichols, heartily disagree. “He expended all kinds of taxpayers’ money to disseminate 98,000 ballots.

Dean should be spending his time dealing with federal issues for which he was elected. He should not be acting as a lobbyist for a private developer, nor should he be trying to encroach on municipal jurisdiction to self-promote himself.”

Del Mastro's idea of what constitutes a victory for democracy is the stuff of which great Orwellian novels are made. (Think 1984 being played out in Peterborough in 2009.)

Here are a few examples of the very un-democratic ways in which this whole fiasco has played out so far.

- The list of people who received mail-in ballots was never enumerated. This resulted in a huge number of errors on the so-called voters list. Ballots were received by dead people. People received multiple ballots. People who haven't lived in the riding for years were eligible to vote.
- The ballot-counting process was conducted in-house by our MP (someone with a vested interest in the outcome) without any external scrutineers or auditors overseeing the process.
- Voters were required to include their names, addresses, and telephone numbers on their ballots. How can our MP be bragging about how democratic the process was when the sacred democratic principle of the secret ballot was sacrificed?
- Personal privacy was sacrificed. Our MP has drawn some conclusions based on his analysis of the information voters were required to provide: he has stated that voting occurred along partisan lines. I did not provide my name, address, and phone number so that my MP could attempt to link my name with political party records or use my data for partisan purposes. Perhaps this explains why the votes on the No side were not greater. (Anyone who monitored public opinion on this issue had the sense that public opinion was about 90% opposed to the process and the project.) It's possible that a lot of No voters boycotted the referendum because it was so flawed - and because, in the end, it had no legal standing. Why sacrifice your privacy for the sake of a ridiculous exercise in pre-election data-mining orchestrated by your MP?
- 4.5% of the ballots were declared spoiled - some because they contained an obscenity. Citizens were invited to provide comments, but they were not provided with any comments about whether the content of those comments might result in a ballot being declared invalid.
- The referendum was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Elections Act. The Act states that referenda must be conducted in conjunction with a municipal election.

Clauses 8, 9, and 10 of this document remind citizens of the high standard of conduct that is set for MPs. It is our duty as citizens to ensure that the people that we elect are seen to be following these guidelines.

Is the issue dead now that the poll results are in? Only in Dean Del Mastro's dreams. As Jeannine Taylor, an organizer of the Little Lake Protection Group, told the Peterborough Examiner, “I don’t think it’s a dead issue and it’s still really of concern. We’re going to keep plugging away at it … We can’t let this happen again.”

Anyone who truly cares about democracy recognizes that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to ensure that this kind of breakdown of democracy is never allowed to happen again in our riding.

Our MP either fails to recognize the implications of his actions - or he doesn't care. Either possibility is mind-boggling - and should serve as a wake-up call for citizens of this riding.

Conservative Senator Leo Housakos Blames His Own Caucus for Scandal

As news broke this week involving another backroom deal and the funnelling of stimulus money, the Conservative senator, Leo Housakos, who was involved in the scandal; blames a member of his own caucus. No name yet, but could it be our favourite little spin-meister Dimitri Soudas?

Certainly not the first time he's been the subject of an ethics investigation, as NDP Pat Martin suggests in the video. And we thought Brian Mulroney was the king of backroom deals. He's certainly been vindicated with the Reform-Conservatives, as they've raised the bar for political corruption.

Not only did Mr. Housakos funnel money to a company he worked for, but he also organized a fundraiser for Stephen Harper and soon after, several supporters at the event, were given high ranking government jobs. Probably a coincidence right?

Senator blames furor on Tory colleague
Jennifer Ditchburn
Ottawa — The Canadian Press
October 21, 2009

Tory Senator Leo Housakos, embroiled in an ethics controversy over a stimulus contract, is accusing one of his own Conservative caucus members of trying to trip him up.

Mr. Housakos blamed his troubles on “somebody in my own caucus,” and said, “I'm going to take care of him soon,” La Presse reported Wednesday. (Take care of him soon. Yikes!)

The Senate Ethics Officer, at Mr. Housakos's own request, is looking into the matter of a Montreal engineering firm for which the senator worked winning a $1.4-million stimulus contract. BPR and a consortium will be studying possible repairs or reconstruction of the aging Champlain Bridge.

Mr. Housakos's accusations about his own party were greeted with some amusement by other members, who said privately he is wasting time looking for enemies in his own fold.

A source said he told his colleagues at a Quebec caucus meeting Wednesday he had pre-cleared his business arrangements with the ethics officer in the past and that he wasn't even working for BPR when the company won the contract.

BPR and the BCDE consortium won the contract on Sept. 21. Mr. Housakos's declaration to the ethics officer said he left the company Oct. 1.

Mr. Housakos and BPR said he had nothing to do with the contract, and worked for BPR's wholly owned subsidiary TerrEau, which had no contact with the federal government.

The 41-year-old senator wields important power in the party as one its key organizers in Quebec, skills he honed when he worked with Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and as head of the Action Democratique du Quebec's fundraising arm.

On May 20, Mr. Housakos organized a major Conservative fundraiser in Montreal featuring Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for which he was roundly congratulated.

Some of the figures on the guest list that night would go on to be placed in high-profile government posts within a matter of weeks or months.

Among them:

Jean-Martin Masse: The lawyer and Montreal businessman was appointed to Via Rail's board of directors on June 19, 2009. He and Mr. Housakos were members of the Progressive Conservative party's youth wing and worked together within the ADQ. Mr. Masse was an executive at an advertising firm that provided technical assistance to Mr. Housakos to do business under the firm's name in Greece.

Nick Katalifos: a long-time Montreal school prinicipal was appointed to the Employment Insurance Board of Referees on Sept. 9, 2009. He and Mr. Housakos co-founded a small international consulting firm called Quadvision International.

Claude Carignan: the mayor of Saint-Eustache was appointed to the Senate on Aug. 27, 2009. He and Mr. Housakos worked together at the highest levels of the ADQ, where Mr. Carignan was a party co-founder.

Mr. Masse, the son of former Tory cabinet minister Marcel Masse, said he did attend the fundraiser in May, and that Mr. Housakos did do business with his former employer Zoom Media while he was there as vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs.

Mr. Katalifos did not return a call by The Canadian Press. But Mike Cohen, a spokesman for the English Montreal School Board, described him as one of the best-known and devoted of the board's principals.

Mr. Housakos is a close friend of Mr. Harper's senior aide Dimitri Soudas, and both previous worked together at Montreal City Hall. In 2007, he was appointed to Via Rail's board of directors. By December 2008, he had moved on to the Senate.

Mr. Soudas underlined in an interview that all the appointments were made by their respective government bodies, and only qualified individuals are selected. Mr. Soudas said in the case of Mr. Masse at Via Rail, his appointment was recommended by the transport minister. In the case of Mr. Katalifos, his appointment was overseen by the human resources minister.

Still, Mr. Soudas acknowledged that the government “indicated its preference” when the Port of Montreal, another federal arm's length agency, was trying to choose a new president in 2008.

Opposition parties are demanding questions about that stimulus money, after The Canadian Press reported that Mr. Housakos worked for BPR when they won the contract. The MPs are also asking about the appropriateness of two members of Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridge Inc. (JCCBI) also attending the fundraiser. The Federal Bridge Corp. Ltd. and JCCBI are looking into the matter internally.

Back to - The Dimitri Soudas Story: And We Pay This Man a Salary, Why?

While Scandals Mount Public Outcry Becomes Deafening

I don't know how much longer the Reform-Conservatives can continue to sweep their scandals under the rug, and how much more spin the media can put on them until they get dizzy and fall on their faces; but the Social Media has got to pick up the slack in informing the Canadian public.

The Ref-Cons can't hide behind the 'sponsorship scandal' forever. That's done. It's been investigated and the guilty parties paid. Move on. Besides, as I've mentioned before, the infrastructure for Adscam was created by Brian Mulroney, not Michael Ignatieff.

But even Mulroney has been vindicated, because the Harper government is now officially the MOST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT IN CANADIAN HISTORY AND IT ONLY TOOK THEM FOUR YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mentioned in a posting a while back that there was trouble brewing over more than $ 500,000.00 that went to a small private school in Collingwood, Ontario; to build an indoor soccer field. Naturally, residents are furious because their claim for upgrades to a hockey rink were turned down, despite the fact that theirs benefit the entire town, while the private school has a mere 156 students.

Well, it kind of reached a breaking point this past weekend, and has polarized a community.

Pretty River debate turns ugly

The debate over a government grant to build an indoor soccer field at Collingwood's Pretty River Academy (PRA) has turned ugly. Dueling on-line petitions, protests and countless letters to the editor have laid bare the issue of public money funding a private school and the apparent inability of Collingwood council to get its own recreation infrastructure projects approved.

With construction of the Pretty River Academy's soccer facility slated to start in two weeks, the debate shows no signs of dying down. The facility, which will feature artificial field turf and will be covered with a dome, will be open to the entire community, according to Abbey Stec, PRA's Administrator of Development ....

You Can't Blame Michael Ignatieff For the Sponsorship Scandal so Give it a Rest

I am getting so tired of the Reform-Conservatives falling back on the Sponsorship Scandal every time they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

First off, Michael Ignatieff was out of the country, as you so like to remind us. Secondly, Adscam involved no elected politicians, unlike EVERY SINGLE REFORM CONSERVATIVE SCANDAL!

And furthermore, when it was revealed, Paul Martin himself ordered an investigation.

However, there is something that a lot of people don't know and that is that the stage was set for this scandal by Brian Mulroney. You will find it all in a book On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years, by Stevie Cameron.

All of those agencies were hired by him in some of the most underhanded, under the table, backroom deals ever.

The Reform-Conservatives had better start dealing with their own scandals, because unlike Paul Martin, Harper abuses his authority, hoping they will just get swept under the rug.

He has still not explained why he thought it was OK to forge receipts in the 'In and Out' to claim credits his party wasn't entitled to. Instead he shut down the ethics committee and called a 300 million dollar election. Taxpayers have so far racked up more than $500,000.00 in legal bills because he claims that he's being picked on so is suing us (again). Apparently if you are a Reform-Conservative criminal laws don't apply.

If he gets off this, lets try fabricating a few receipts on our next income tax return and see how far we get.

And how about the Cadman Affair? Patronage Appointments? Nepotism? 56 Million dollars in partisan television ads. 9 million in ten per centers to tell us that Michael Ignatieff may have once called himself a Samurai Warrior. Charging us For Your Fundraisers. Adoption scandal. Jim Flaherty (deserves his own category), John Baird (ditto), Lisa Raitt, Gary Lunn, etc., etc., etc.

So let's drop the old Adscam nonsense and get on with the business of running this country. You cannot explain away your corruption by suggesting that 'well they did it too'. That line is getting old and weak and I'm sick of hearing it.

YOU ARE STEALING FROM US AND IT HAS TO STOP NOW!!!!!!!

On the take: crime, corruption and greed in the Mulroney years
Stevie Cameron
Chapter Nineteen: It Pays To Advertise

André Verret couldn’t believe his eyes. A friend told him that if he sat in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel’s Café de Paris at breakfast any weekday morning, he could watch hotel manager Fernand Roberge hold court at a corner table for a stream of interesting individuals. "Out of pure curiosity," said Verret, a senior public servant who had moved from Ottawa in 1984 to work in the public affairs office at VIA Rail, "I went to have a look. Every morning around 7 or 7:30 people would spend about fifteen minutes with Mr. Roberge, well-known people, lawyers and the like."

Sometimes a dozen people in all would meet with Roberge over coffee, each person or group of two or three taking no more than twenty minutes. "It was really like his office," said Verret, adding that Roberge’s visitors would leave the table "with beautiful; smiles on their faces."Like pilgrims searching for the Holy Grail, hungry contract seekers had a number of choices during the Mulroney years. As we’ve seen, some were comfortable cutting their deals with Roch LaSalle over a power breakfast at Nate’s in Ottawa.

Many Atlantic Canada businessmen found their way up the back staircase above the New Glasgow pizza parlour to try to humour Big Daddy. A few of the more sophisticated would book a table at Le Mas des Oliviers in Montreal to lobby Guy Charbonneau. And some, as André Verret discovered, preferred the Ritz-Carlton Hotel’s Café de Paris. Advising on federal advertising contracts in Quebec was among Roberge’s pleasant duties, according to half a dozen well-connected advertising executives based in Montreal and Toronto.

At least one senior official in the federal government’s Advertising Management Group, the agency set up to handle the government’s advertising, routinely received calls from Roberge—who was at this time a private citizen with no official authority of any kind. (He was later made a senator by Mulroney)During the Mulroney years, Montreal’s advertising and public relations community made the Ritz coffee shop something of a hangout in the mornings. Perhaps they were hoping for the chance of a word with Mulroney, who always stayed at the hotel when he was in town, or maybe they were just making sure they had regular contact with Roberge. "There was a real clique there," said one of the advertising executives.

One of the members was Marcel Côté, a partner in Sécor, who later worked in Mulroney’s office as his communication’s advisor.One morning in March 1985 Verret was just finishing his breakfast when he saw an acquaintance, then a senior manager at a Montreal advertising firm called Publicité Martin, run by Montreal adman Yvon Martin, in an intense conversation with Roberge. A few minutes later the man rose to his feet, shook Roberge’s hand, and left, grinning broadly.

When he saw Verret, he came over. He spoke enthusiastically about landing the VIA Rail advertising account. Verret, who had been at VIA Rail since June 1984, was skeptical. "In that kind of contract there is always a call for a public tender," explained Verret, and as far as he knew when the Martin official spoke to him, that process was still under way. "Six or seven or eight firms were invited to tender, and we always tried in the past to be as fair as possible."

Back at VIA, several other people were just as incredulous as Verret. To begin with, although the company had been in business for fifteen years, Publicité Martin had not made the original list of potential agencies drawn up by VIA’s advertising department because the firm was not considered to be equipped to handle large national accounts, certainly not one as significant as VIA’s. But Mulroney had just fired the old VIA Rail board and appointed a new one packed with cronies and party bagmen. It was a crew that was feeling its oats, and one of the recently arrived board members saw to it that Martin’s firm was added to the short list.

The final forming bidding process began in March 1985, just before Verret encountered his friend at the Ritz. About nine firms were invited to present their pitches over a two-day period to a committee of three new VIA board members, Gary Brazell (sic) from Winnipeg, Paul Norris from Edmonton, and Marc LeFrançois from Quebec City, and five executives from VIA’s advertising and marketing departments, vice-president Michael Kieran, Jim Warrington, Christina Sirsley, Preston Beaumont, and Nicole Alyot.

By the end, three firms had been dropped from the roster, and two of the nine firms needn’t have bothered to show up. One was MacLaren Advertising, the firm that had enjoyed a near-monopoly on advertising under the Liberals; a second was McKim, which was known to have backed Joe Clark’s failed bid to hang onto the Tory leadership the year before. "They were treated like shit by the board members," said a witness to the proceedings. "It was very embarrassing."After the first day of proceedings, the VIA board members and staff went off to dinner at Montreal’s Atlantic Pavilion, courtesy of VIA, and feasted on seafood, everyone trying to guess what was in the minds of their companions concerning the day’s events.

Some members continued the evening’s festivities at the Ritz-Carlton’s bar where they quaffed champagne, again at VIA’s expense, until the small hours of morning. Others retired to their hotel rooms to prepare for day two of the presentations. This would be the day on which Martin would make his presentation, and Paul Norris and Gary Brazell (sic) had already made it clear they were strong supporters of the firm.When Martin’s firm formally made its pitch, it seemed to overwhelm the board members and underwhelm the VIA staffers. "At best it was mediocre," said one staff person who was there. Another former VIA official agreed.

"The pitch was not very good, it was not strong," the official said. "If they had been innovative and understood the problems of VIA they would have done a better job, but they did not do their homework and gave a presentation that was somewhat silly, that was not up to the task. They did not understand what trains are about in Canada, they did not do the research to understand it.

"The next day, a Saturday morning, the eight committee members met at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel for a final review. The board members stated their admiration for Martin’s presentation but agreed that the one done by Cosette Communication-Marketing Publicité had also been excellent. The VIA staffers were of a different view. Kieran vehemently opposed Martin and said so, while his colleagues mouthed perfunctory platitudes about Martin’s pitch and then stated their preferences for some of the other agencies that had competed. After hearing their remarks, Paul Norris looked surprised. "I don’t think we were all at the same party," he commented. Kieran did not give up without a fight.

He was relentless and persisted against the obvious will of the board members. "It was extraordinary that the board would involve itself with such matters," says Kieran today. "It was not illegal, mind you, but it was extraordinary."About two weeks later the official decision was made at VIA’s head office and the committee members were duly notified. There were two winners, Martin and Cossette. Cossette had been high on everyone’s list and it won 50 per cent of the total contract, or $4.5 million.

Known to spend lavish sums on its creative talent, Cossette was to handle VIA’s national advertising—everything outside the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. Now an industry giant, in 1985 Cossette was still a small regional advertising agency, explained one advertising executive, "but it was known to be extremely tight with Roberge." Martin, an outfit that was reputed to place a higher value on its accounting department, was given the corridor and $4.5 million to do the job. Yvon Martin was disappointed with the results; he had hoped to land the entire package. But he didn’t need to worry, especially after the firm went on to win other excellent contracts. To celebrate his good fortune, Martin, who had started the company in his own home and was still the sole owner, bought himself a new $70,000 Jaguar.

Another former VIA employee, a senior manager who was familiar with the contracts, agreed with Verret’s version of events and remembers what happened after the first ad campaign ran. "We did reviews of his [Martin’s] firm: how successful they were with our campaigns. The presentation the agency made to us was the pits. They really ignored VIA. They took the contract for granted. They never assigned the right account executive to it and their ads were shitty." The executive would complain to the VIA manager who deal with Martin and the manager agreed but could say only, "I can’t do anything.

My hands are tied." Martin still has the VIA Rail account, and he has it all: Cossette no longer has half.Footnote 1Cossette was also supposed to get the Air Canada advertising contract, then split evenly between an English firm and a Quebec firm. "My marching orders are that it’s to go to Cossette," said one senior Tory on the board of the PC Canada Fund to a friend. Only the intervention of Air Canada’s president, Claude Taylor, prevented the move. Cameron, pp. 316-320 ( Toronto: McFarlane Walter and Ross, 1994 WPL 971.064)

So Maybe Jack Layton Can Tell us Where the Money Went

I like to razz Jack now for his hypocrisy, but I'm not really that upset with what he did. The only person who wants to strangle him would be Stephen Harper, because he's enjoying a climb in the polls, and really wanted an election.

However, since he's painted Michael Ignatieff as the villain for presenting a non-confidence motion, which could have meant we'd have one, he can't very well dissolve Parliament now. It's kind of funny, don't you think?

What the motion did successfully, was shift the dynamics on Parliament Hill. The Liberals can now do what we pay them to do - oppose; while Layton was left with egg on his face. He's been campaigning on the notion that the Liberals have backed 79 Reform-Conservative motions, while he has turned them all down. This was supposed to make him a hero.

The timing was right for the Liberals to announce to Canadians that they no longer have confidence in this government. Next month the 'In and Out' Scandal will hit the courts, and cries are getting louder over the way the Reform-Conservatives have been doling out the infrastructure money. No one can find it, despite the fact that Harper announced that 90% of it was out the door. What door?

Do I detect another episode of Unsolved Mysteries in the making?

Stimulus trail hard to follow — or even find
By HEATHER SCOFFIELD
The Canadian Press
October 5, 2009

OTTAWA — Canada’s stimulus-spending detectives say the federal government is being so miserly with basic information, they’re forced to take extraordinary measures to track just how billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Elaine McCoy, a 63-year-old Alberta senator who used to consort with the likes of former premiers Don Getty and Ralph Klein, is a case in point.

She recently teamed up with a group of 20-something volunteer computer geeks to try to follow the money.

Together, they’re combing the Internet and swapping information with everyone they can find, in the hope of putting together a detailed picture of what the federal government is doing with its billions in stimulus funds.

Inspired by American websites such as www.stimuluswatch.org, McCoy hoped to compile government information on stimulus, slice and dice it, and allow Canadians to figure out how government money is working.

Her dream was to give Canadians easy access to the details of the stimulus funds and solicit their feedback on how well the package was working.

But the dream has hit a serious obstacle: McCoy can’t get hold of the facts.

"We started reaching out for data and it wasn’t there," McCoy, a Progressive Conservative senator, said in an interview.

"The news releases? That’s not data. That’s spin."

With the help of her volunteer team of web-savvy youngsters that has grown through word-of-mouth, she set up www.stimuluswatch.ca. They set up a platform, and figured out everything they needed to sort out and streamline huge amounts of information.

But the page meant to provide the basic data is blank.

"In order to set up the actual spreadsheet in a user-friendly format, it’s just not possible," McCoy said.

She’s frustrated. Not only are Canadians getting a foggy and incomplete picture of how the stimulus package is helping them, they are also turned off politics by the government’s reliance on advertising and ribbon-cutting to communicate policy, she said.

Young Canadians, in particular, are cynical. "That’s why they don’t go out and vote. Spin-doctoring is so old-school," she said. "They say ‘If you’re not going to give me the facts, I’m not going to play.’ "

The government counters that all the details of the stimulus package are in the public domain.

"For the senator and all Canadians, information on every announcement and every project we do is on the website," said Chris Day, spokesman for Transport Minister John Baird.

Some of the information can be sorted by city and province. It’s also plotted on a map of Canada that shows every project approved, he said.

But others have run into the same problem as McCoy.

The parliamentary budget officer, the government watchdog on fiscal affairs, is supposed to be tracking the stimulus spending and evaluating how it is affecting Canada’s recovery.

But he, too, is stumbling over a lack of information and now has his hopes pinned on the government fulfilling his request to hand over its entire stimulus database.

The Liberal party, meanwhile, is developing a database of its own. It has taken months and the work of at least 23 volunteers to map out what has happened to the $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

They’re producing a riding-by-riding analysis. They say their research suggests a strong political pattern to the distribution of funds.

"The numbers say, if you’re a Conservative, you stand a better chance of getting this money," said MP Gerard Kennedy, who has led the effort.

Even so, the Conservatives charge that it’s too incomplete to be reliable — a charge that the Liberals have a hard time countering because only the government has complete information.
"You can say anything you like, and there’s no way to verify it," said McCoy.

Individual MPs have great difficulty in sorting out what has happened in their own ridings. Liberal MP Wayne Easter compiled a list of 18 projects announced for his Malpeque riding in Prince Edward Island.

But on closer inspection, only five projects totalling $1.66-million were really new, he said. The other 13 projects would have happened with or without the stimulus funding.

Easter boiled over when he drove past a building in Charlottetown that had a large sign in front of it trumpeting Canada’s Action Plan — the government’s name for its stimulus package announced in last January’s budget.

Easter said he cut the ribbon for that building when he was in government in 2003.

For McCoy, the experience has pushed her in new directions. She has discovered the Open Government movement, and become a strong proponent of its goal of pushing for more accountable policy-making and more publicly available information.

She’s convinced her campaign will catch on, not just with young people, but with their parents and civil servants who are disturbed by the lack of public information.

Daniel Petit is Dishonest, Racist AND Arrogant. Be Still My Heart!

Daniel Petit, the Conservative MP for Charlebourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, Quebec; was one of the candidates allegedly involved in money laundering during the 2005/2006 election campaign. (nothing has been proven in court and won't be until this matter is allowed to be heard in court. The Conservatives still declare they did nothing wrong)

He's a despicable man, who's not only apparently dishonest, but racist, and recently added arrogant to his resume, when he called the people of Quebec illiterate. He just doesn't know when to stop.

Tory MP under fire for language comments about Quebecers
Mike De Souza,

Canwest News Service

March 15, 2009

OTTAWA -- A backbench Tory MP from Quebec City has landed himself in hot water after describing Quebecers as a bunch of "illiterates" when it comes to the English language.

Speaking about education at a parliamentary hearing, Daniel Petit, the Conservative MP for Charlebourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, said that his assessment was based on a comparison with the Alberta school system where he lived in the past. He explained that his four children studied both in Quebec and Alberta, but that the latter province invested more in its education system.
"Whether in elementary or secondary (school), English is practically swept under the rug (in Quebec)," Petit, 60, said last week at the House of Commons official languages committee. "At the university level, it's even worse. We have illiterates of the second language."

But Petit's remarks contradict recent statistics which revealed that French-speaking Quebecers were more likely to be bilingual than their English-speaking counterparts in the rest of Canada. A new research analysis by the Association for Canadian Studies concluded that many francophones are getting enough exposure to their second language in school to propel them to excel in bilingualism in their mid-teen years and after they hit the workforce.

"Whatever (francophones) have learned, however uneven or insufficient their learning is, it seems be enough to push them into a very significant degree of bilingualism, once they've finished school," said Jack Jedwab, executive director of the association, in an interview. "Anglophones in the rest of the country, don't seem to have the opportunity or excitement . . . about learning the other language."

Critics quickly pounced on the gaffe from the Tory MP who has developed a reputation for stirring up controversy.

"It's insulting and offensive toward Quebecers," said Michel Guimond, the parliamentary whip for the Bloc Quebecois. "Once a person calls Quebecers illiterate, regardless of which area (or language), it's totally unacceptable and showing contempt."

Guimond said the remarks also demonstrate the weakness and lack of credibility of the Conservative party in Quebec.

Petit, who is the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, has previously faced calls for his resignation and was forced to apologize in 2006 for drawing links between school shootings in Montreal and the integration of immigrants in Quebec. He was also chastised by the Bloc last fall for suggesting that the opposition party played a role in recent riots in a suburban neighbourhood of Montreal.

"How do you spell pathetic?" asked Liberal MP Denis Coderre. "Frankly, there have been so many times where that guy showed a lack of judgment and nonsense (that) I don't know what he's doing there (as an MP). People from (his riding) must be ashamed to have an MP like that."

An aide in Petit's Ottawa office said that the MP was very busy, and would not likely have time for an interview to explain his comments.

But when asked if the remarks represented the views of the Harper government, Heritage Minister James Moore said the government was committed to investing money across the country in support of the official languages.

"For us, there are two official languages in our country, and we are protecting them," Moore said in the Commons on Wednesday.

Coderre said the government should force Petit to apologize and straighten him up to demonstrate that it doesn't endorse what he is saying.

Back to - The Daniel Petit Story: When Ignorance is Bliss

Daniel Petit New Conservative But Old Reformer Racist

When Conservative MP Lee Richardson blamed immigrants for the rise in the crime rate, many people were surprised ("Talk to the police. Look at who's committing these crimes. They’re not the kid that grew up next door.”).

He wasn't even an a former Reform Party member, who were notorious for making racist remarks. Richardson had been a Progressive Conservative.

Well Daniel Petit, Conservative MP for Charlebourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, Quebec, wasn't a Reform Party MP either, but actually ran for the PC Party back in the 1980's, and was a party organizer.

He certainly shared their views on multiculturalism, which is basically 'not in my neighbourhood'.

Mind you, I don't expect much from Mr. Petit. As one of the Conservatives who agreed to launder money during the 2005/2006 election campaign, he arrived with little integrity, and went downhill from there.

But if you thought being seen on national television giving the finger, was horrendous, that may have actually be his high point.

Liberals want Tory MP expelled over comments on shooting
September 22, 2006
CBC News

Liberal MPs are demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper expel a Tory MP who suggested school shootings could be curbed in Quebec if more money were given to immigration programs.

Although Quebec City-area MP Daniel Petit has since apologized and retracted his comments, Liberal MP Ralph Goodale still demanded Petit be removed from the Conservative caucus.

"This situation does not need pontification," Goodale said in the House of Commons during question period. "It needs rectification."

When asked about Montreal's Dawson College rampage last week, Petit drew attention to the fact that none of the three gunmen who blasted their way onto Montreal campuses since 1989 was an old-stock francophone.

He suggested a solution to curbing school shootings would be scrapping the gun registry and using the savings to help immigrants integrate better in Quebec.

"So I think the $1 billion that we spent on the [gun] registry should have been spent on the education and integration of immigrants in Montreal."

On his website, Liberal MP Denis Coderre also called for Petit to be ejected from caucus and the Commons standing committee on justice and human rights.

"It's scandalous that a member of Parliament would make comments like that," Coderre said. "Mr. Petit demonstrated shocking hypocrisy after voting in favour of a motion I moved on Wednesday evening rebuking a Globe and Mail journalist who made similar comments. Does the prime minister condone the absurd and irresponsible things his MP said? Does Mr. Petit have the support of the other members of the Quebec Conservative caucus?"

Article raises controversy

Earlier this week, Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest rebuked Globe and Mail writer Jan Wong, who wrote a recent article that suggested Quebec's francophone culture may have contributed to the Dawson College shootings.

Harper's office reportedly reacted angrily when Petit's comments were made public Thursday and contacted the MP, who issued an apology almost immediately.

"I made inappropriate remarks," Petit said in a statement. "I withdraw them entirely because you cannot draw any link between the integration of immigrants in Quebec and the terrible tragedy at Dawson College."

Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, said Petit's retraction is good enough.

"The member for Charlesbourg has recognized that those comments were inappropriate, which is precisely why he has retracted the comments unequivocally and apologized," Kenney told the House of Commons. (Kenney? That's rich. He has even less integrity than Daniel Petit.)

Back to - The Daniel Petit Story: When Ignorance is Bliss

The Tangled Accounting Mess of the Goodyears and the Adoption Agency

This adoption agency story just keeps getting deeper, and I'm sure as accountants sort through the tangle, they'll find many questionable transactions.

A great number of questions still remain about how deep the Goodyears were with this supposed non-profit Christian group.

We know that his company Constant Energy Inc. is named as one of the creditors, and we know that Valerie Goodyear was one of the original employees of the agency, and was still employed by them at the time of the bankruptcy.

In his disclosure to the ethics Commissioner we find the following information:

Assets:• Co-owner with my spouse of Constant Energy Inc., a private real estate holding company.

Liabilities:• Mortgage, jointly with spouse, with the Royal Bank of Canada;• Guarantor, jointly with spouse, on a mortgage with Merix Financial – Paradigm Quest Inc.;• Guarantor, jointly with spouse, on a line of credit with Royal Bank of Canada.

Spouse’s source of income in the last 12 months:• Employment income from Imagine Adoptions

Spouse’s/ activities:• President, officer and member of the board of directors of Constant Energy Inc.
Signature Date: 2009/02/25
Name: Gary Goodyear

You can see that he lists his wife's income source as Imagine Adoption and apparently she had worked with them for several years.

Another aside from this terrible story is that nine of the children scheduled to be adopted to families in Canada, were actually taken from their own families illegally, so had to be returned.

MP's firm linked to adoption group
Bankrupt agency rented office space from company owned by Goodyear and wife
Toronto Star
Jul 18, 2009
Brian Caldwell
WATERLOO REGION RECORD

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – A company owned by federal cabinet minister Gary Goodyear and his wife rented office space to an adoption agency that collapsed this week amid concerns about suspect expenses. Valerie Goodyear, co-owner with her husband of Constant Energy Inc., also worked for the agency – Kids Link International Adoption Agency – for several years before it went bankrupt.

The failure of the Cambridge-based organization, which operated under the name Imagine Adoption, shocked up to 450 Canadian families trying to adopt children from overseas. Their hopes and investments – $20,000 or more in some cases – are in jeopardy as ankruptcy trustees and government officials scramble to sort out the situation ....

Goodyear and Friends Live High Off the Hog While Families Grieve

As the story unfolds about the adoption agency, and it's ties to a company co-owned by Gary Goodyear and his wife, it's bankruptcy and questionable financial practices; many families are grieving over children they never met, but were promised.

This is more than just another Conservative scandal, because this one involves heart wrenching stories of couples who just wanted a child, and paid out thousands of dollars to the Goodyear agency, expecting that their dream would be fulfilled.

However, the directors of the agency, had other dreams. ... money. Apparently the buying and selling of children is pretty lucrative, but while the Goodyears and pals tugged at the heartstrings over the plight of these poor Ethiopian children, the only thing that got tugged was the victims' wallets.

Initailly the MP from Cambridge said that he wasn't involved in the agency's finances, but douments show that he is trying to collect back rent for three properties supposedly leased by the agency, despite the fact that they only occupied one of his spaces. His wife is an employee.

Bankrupt adoption agency lists Lexus among its assets
CBC News
Friday, July 17, 2009

An Ontario company specializing in international adoptions that went into receivership this week lists two luxury vehicles, including a $50,000 Lexus, as assets along with $500,000 in the bank, according to bankruptcy documents.

Kids Link International Adoption Agency, which runs Imagine Adoption, based in Cambridge, Ont., posted a bankruptcy notice on its website Monday. For the last two years, it had helped Canadians adopt children from Ethiopia, Ghana and Ecuador. As many as 400 Canadian families who are waiting anxiously to find out when they will be united with their adopted children are listed as unsecured creditors in the documents, posted online through the appointed bankruptcy trustee, BDO Dunwoody.

The documents show the non-profit organization leased the Lexus from a Cambridge dealership and a Nissan Pathfinder worth $30,000 from a Toronto dealer. The documents list $800,000 in fees collected from families — some of
whom say they paid as much as $20,000 for an adoption.

Adoption agency's bankruptcy devastates families
HAYLEY MICK
Globe and Mail
July 15, 2009

An agency that helps Canadians adopt children from Africa has filed for bankruptcy, creating an uncertain future for scores of children and financial and emotional hardship for their prospective new parents. Kids Link International Adoption Agency made the announcement yesterday, shocking an estimated 200 families who are in the process of adopting children from Ethiopia and Ghana.

"I can't even tell you how devastated we are," said a woman who asked not to be identified. She and her husband have given the agency almost $20,000 and expected to meet their adopted Ethiopian child within months. "We're done. We have no money left. We can't do this again." Kids Link, which operates out of Cambridge, Ont., under the name Imagine Adoption, posted a notice on its website yesterday saying the agency's board of directors met on July 10 and decided to pull the plug.

"It was clear that the funds in the bank accounts are not sufficient to service the families in the Kids Link Program," said the letter written by Susan E. Taves of the financial recovery services company BDO Dunwoody Ltd.

Gary Goodyear and Wife Involved in Adoption Scandal

So Mr. 'I'm better than you because the Religious Right got me this job' Goodyear, has fallen from grace, as he and his wife Valerie, are now implicated in an adoption scandal.

It doesn't get much lower than this; exploiting poor children from Ethiopia for monetary gain.

And as the story unfolds it gets even uglier. The agency was paying rent to Goodyear for offices they never occupied, while everyone was living high off the hog, with money unsuspecting couples doled out for children they never saw.

Gary Goodyear could very well make Maxime Bernier look like a saint.

Imagine Adoption: Gary Goodyear’s wife on the payroll – and the company they co-own is on the creditor list.
MacLeans
by Kady O'Malley
July 16, 2009

The Kitchener-Waterloo Record reports on the link between Valerie Goodyear and the ongoing Imagine Adoption/Kids Link International bankruptcy meltdown:

The 16 employees of the bankrupt agency included Valerie Goodyear, wife of federal cabinet minister and Cambridge MP Gary Goodyear. In a written statement yesterday, Gary Goodyear said his wife helped place children with families and wasn’t involved with the agency’s finances. He also said he has never been involved with its operations. [...]

In an agency newsletter last year, Valerie Goodyear was described as co-ordinator of its African adoption programs. A profile said she had been to Ethiopia three times and was one of the agency’s first employees.

In the same newsletter, photographs showed Gary Goodyear and other local politicians alongside Susan Hayhow at a ribbon-cutting to mark the agency’s move to new offices.

He is also quoted in a story accompanying the photos. “This is a wonderful group of people,” Gary Goodyear reportedly said. “I want to congratulate Sue (Hayhow) and her team on the most excellent work and incredible progress.“

The agency newsletter can be found on the Imagine Adoption website.

The Record reports that bankruptcy officials are “trying to determine why the agency was renting three properties in Cambridge with payment obligations of $13,000 a month,” and notes that only one of the three — “the location at 780 King Street East … was used for agency offices.”

ITQ checked the public registry for MPs, and found a disclosure summary for Gary Goodyear, filed earlier this year. In it, he states that he and his wife are co-owners of Constant Energy Ltd. — the same “private real estate holding firm” listed as the landlord of one of those three properties.

According to the Statement of Affairs released earlier this week by BDO Dunwoody, the agency was paying $3,000 a month to Constant Energy for property at 382 Queen Street West in Cambridge. BDO lists Constant Energy’s total outstanding claim at $96,000, which works out to 32 months rent, and it is the first entry on the list of “preferred creditors for wages/rent/etc.” The Queen St. W property is currently occupied by the Hespeler Community Chiropractic Centre. (Goodyear is a Chiropractor)

BDO estimates that the total claims held by unsecured creditors — the 400 families who have “active files” with the agency — to be at least $800,000, but warns that that number is a “conservative” estimate, since it’s still not clear how much is owed to each family. The first meeting of creditors is scheduled for the end of the month.

The affects of this scandal were also felt in Alberta where the provincial government is going to step in. In the Calgary Herald story (printed in the Vancouver Sun) though, they conveniently left out Gary Goodyear's involvement, so I posted this comment at the end of the story.

I notice that you didn't mention that federal science minister Gary Goodyear is a co-owner and his wife an employee. They are also on the creditor's list for back rent. Apparently they were leasing three properties to the agency, though they only occupied two. The Prime Minister will have to fire him because this is going to get uglier as the story unfolds and places Gary Goodyear and his wife right in the thick of it.

Alberta adoption hopefuls in limbo after Ont. firm falters
Province to aid broke agency's applicants
By Robin Summerfield,
Calgary Herald
July 16, 2009

CALGARY - The Alberta government has promised to step up and help victims of a faltering adoption agency, which was taken over by bankruptcy trustees this week.

On Monday, business was halted at Cambridge. Ont.-based Kids Link International, leaving about 400 Canadian families and their adoptions in limbo.

Bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody has been assigned to go through the agency's accounts and will update the families Friday.

Alberta Children & Youth Services, the ministry responsible for overseeing international adoptions in the province, was also blindsided by the agency's financial troubles and learned through local adoption agencies Monday that something was amiss.

The province has since e-mailed all of the Alberta families affiliated with the agency, promising to help facilitate their adoptions and track down more information. "I really feel like we're making progress," said Cathy Ducharme, spokeswoman for Alberta Children and Youth Services.

In Alberta, there are six families using the agency who have been matched with Ethiopian children but have not yet legally adopted the youngsters, Ducharme said.

About three or four additional families in the province have legally adopted their children via Kid's Link and its affiliate Imagine Adoption but were waiting for the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi to issue travel visas or passports, she said.

To that end, the province has asked that office to expedite the documents, Ducharme said. "What we're really hoping is that families don't give up and they don't panic," she said.

Countless other families, who would have already invested thousands of dollars in deposits, legal fees and home studies, are in the queue waiting to be matched with children from Ethiopia.

The future of those adoptions, which cost on average between $15,000 and $25,000, are also up in the air.

On Wednesday, a grassroots campaign to raise money for the caregivers and children at Imagine Adoption's orphanage in Addis Ababa was launched by one adoptive couple (ourfourmiracles. blogspot.com).Other families are vowing not to give up the fight to adopt.

"We're not just disappointed, we're devastated," said Shawn Bertin, an Imagine Adoptions client in Calgary.

Between failed fertility treatments and now international adoption fees, the 37-year-old and his wife Delores have spent between $35,000 and $40,000 trying to make a family. They had not yet been matched with an Ethiopian child.

Like other families, the couple wants answers from the agency owners, who arrived in Africa on Monday just as news of the bankruptcy was breaking. "We trusted them with our lives, with our family, with our hearts and this is how they treat us, this is how they treat other families and this is how they treat the children they are supposed to be helping?" said Delores.

The Bertins don't care about the money, they just want a child to adopt, Shawn said.

According to legal documents posted on the website, the agency has $1,086,004 in liabilities and $723,004 in assets, leaving a $363,000 deficit. An additional claim of $800,000 has also been put forward by the bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody for the families.

"This really is a wake-up call, if you will--that these kinds of things can occur and families need to understand that no one is immune. You have to be really cautious and careful," said Roberta Galbraith, a co-founder of the Canadian Advocates for the Adoption of Children, the Manitoba-based agency that also handles international adoptions.

Galbraith said her agency, which has been doing international adoptions for more than 20 years, would not be able to take on Imagine's clients and would be waiting for direction from the Ontario ministry and the Ethiopian government before offering to help.

But Galbraith assured adoptive parents that the kids at Imagine Adoption's transition home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, would still be cared for by that country's Women's Affairs Ministry, which regulates international adoption.

Meanwhile, another adoption agency owner said the incident tarnishes all Canadian adoption agencies.

"Who's going to trust a Canadian now. Our reputation is harmed," said Wendy Robinson, director of Christian Adoption Services in Calgary. "I feel terrible because I've been recommending them, but nobody saw this coming."

There are about 200 international adoptions in various states of progress in Alberta.