By Pepper Parr
May 31st, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Earlier today Karina Gould, Burlington MP and member of the Trudeau Cabinet where she serves as Minister of International Development, sent out her May Newsletter in which she said:
MP Karina Gould talking to a citizen after one of the last public debates that took place during the last federal election.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for all of us, it has highlighted barriers that many individuals and sectors face disproportionately.
“This month, I hosted roundtables to discuss issues facing seniors and individuals living with disabilities.
“I heard from service providers and community advocates on how to continue building a community that is inclusive by design and that enables an environment of belonging for all Canadians. It was important to hear their perspectives as we work with the provinces and territories on improving supports for Canadians living with disabilities, create dignified employment opportunities, and support accessible spaces here in Burlington and across the country.’
First let us applaud the Member of Parliament for holding the RoundTables. These are important – the elected need to hear from the electors.
There is however a larger audience that hasn’t a clue what the various advocates think is important and how the MP responds to them.
These RoundTables, as important as they are, should be open to media. Not to participate but to observe and report and then to follow up with the voice of different community groups and the MP as well.
It’s known as transparency – a word used by the elected when it suits their purpose.
While Barker seeks to excuse the WE Scandal, attached is a synopsis of what is wrong with the very close relationship between WE and Justin Trudeau, including several members of HIS family. As Brian Lilley correctly concludes, “The more we find out about these connections, the more this story stinks to high heaven.” Here is the link: https://www.torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-we-spent-big-to-fly-sophie-to-u-k-for-gig
“Lilley is a conservative commentator through his writings and television appearances. He has discussed topics such as the perceived shortcomings of elected governments, social conservatism, government spending and use of tax revenue, and the culture of political correctness.” – Wikipedia.
Lilley is a bit like Hannity on Fox in the USA – “a conservative commentator”. We all know what that means.
Read this article about Lilley, which illustrates his double standards
means.really https://www.canadaland.com/brian-lilley-ivana-yelich-doug-ford/
Edited: You are getting tiresome Mr. Barker
Editor. Will you publicly express that same sentiment to Wooster?
No – Wooster I can live with.
Nothing a Liberal does is transparent . Nice try Karina
Wooster
You read only what you want to see. Raybold held 2 post. Justice Minister and AG. Thec2 posts put her in a conflicted position. As Justice Minister she had a duty of cabinet solidarity to support the cabinet’s decision to push for DPA. As AG she had no such duty. However, as AG there was nothing to stop her taking the DPA course. She decided to be stubborn for the sake of being stubborn. A DPA would have obtained the exact same result as far as accountability of those at SNC that made the decisions. The difference being a DPA would not have any potential to adversely affect SNC’s shareholders, employees, suppliers etc – all innocent parties.
Does it matter who appointed the ethics commissioner? Are you implying bias? i hope not
“Anyone reading Dion’s judgment would reasonably conclude that had the conflict law contained a provision for censuring politicians who place themselves in an apparent conflict of interest, he would have found Trudeau guilty.” Are you really serious? Guilty because you perceive a conflict – not because there was a conflict. That is very Trumpian. No actual proof but you would just like it to be that way. Scary !
Remember at the time of the Chinese screwing Canada over the vaccine, there was no actual vaccine anywhere. Also Canada placed its orders with the manufacturers in advance of a vaccine being created and in advance of many other countries like thev37 nation EU. The delays to our supplies have been due to the manufactures production issues and to a small extent to thecEU trying to strong arm manufacturers into supplying them before us and others in the queue. I’m sure if the Chinese had not screwed Canada and it had worked out you bluecsuits would have found another reason to complain.
You are incorrect birders are not the sole responsibility of the federal government. International borders certainly federal jurisdiction only. Inter-provincial birders are the jurisdiction of the Provinces. Like the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario could have shut its inter-provincial borders to form its own bubble. As said, you only read what you want to see.and what fits your perspective.
Barker, “you read only what you want to see”–the pot calling the kettle black. I can’t believe the contortions that indoctrinated Liberals go through to excuse the actions of the most corrupt and incompetent Prime Minister in Canada’s history.
You continue to spin the fiction that Trudeau negotiated all the vaccine contracts, including Sinovax, at the same time. He didn’t. So when Sinovax screwed him over, he was three months late scrambling in desperation to sign all the contracts with other suppliers, desperately hoping that some would come through. That three months has cost Canadians dearly–our rate of full vaccination stands at less than 6%.
The latest wave was VOC driven–how did these variants get here? Did they crawl over the Manitoba and Quebec borders? And how is that relevant to the VOC’s driving the third wave in the rest of Canada? No, Barker, the fault is solely that of your virtue-signalling hero who refused and continues to refuse to provide adequate security at Canada’s borders. Are you aware that fully 1/3 of all international travellers to Canada are exempt from Trudeau’s mythically “tough restrictions”.
Trudeau has failed and Burlington’s MP, one of Trudeau’s key sycophants, shares the blame in his incompetence.
I think you mean to say that’s the pot calling the kettle a kettle of colour. LOL
For the record (again) I do not excuse the Prime Minister or this government for the many mistakes it has made. I question the label you apply to the Prime Minister. I again direct you to the many resources that detail the corruption and false steps of the Harper government. Both have fallen well short of what is required. In my view Trudeau has been naive. Harper was just corrupt and nasty. He takes the title as most corrupt.
https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/federal-election/2015/08/14/a-conservative-collection-of-harper-government-scandals.html
I do not believe I have at any time said the venture with the Chinese was simultaneous with the negotiations with the western potential vaccine manufacturers. Maybe you would like to correct me if I am wrong, and I will certainly apologize. Notwithstabding the delay caused by being duped by the Chinese, Canada was still way ahead of many, many other countries in placing its vaccine orders, including the almost 500 million population 27 nations in the EU. You and I have no idea if being side tracked by the Chinese caused any actual delay in the supply of vaccines as at that time and for some time later there were no vaccines available as none had yet been created. The delay in supplies of vaccines when vaccines became available can be readily traced to the disruptions and problems with the vaccine manufacturers’ production lines.
How do you know that the more virulent strains did not enter Ontario via land or air travel from other Provinces, like BC, where they were first discovered in Canada. You have no facts to back up your statement. For the record I am not saying thisecstrains did not enter Ontario directly from abroad. I am simply saying open inter provincial borders has made no sense.
The federal government has surely made mistakesin its management of the pandemic. So has each and every provincial government. So too has pretty much every government of every country in the world. Why is that? Because none was prepared, none had any experience in dealing with an international, global pandemic.
O’Toole, Scheer, Harper, Mulroney, Chretien etc., even the Woosterman himself would all have been learning as things went along and would have made mistakes.
Strange that you find the Red Star a reputable source but decry the Toronto Sun. Perspective is everything.
I did not say I find either reputable. That’s you again taking implications that are not there. When I read both pieces I can tell each has been written with extreme bias and not even handedly.
As I tried to comment earlier on this string, but suffered censorship, you cannot believe everything you read in the media.
Editor’s note: Wooster and Barker. Time out – go to your corner and sit it out for a few days. Communicate to one another for the next while.
Publisher
Hopefully we will not have to endure onservatives in power again.. With this party.the values for a progressive society are totally lacking: big business support to the detriment of health and safety, no belief in environmental issues, no support for women’s reproductive rights, no policy for much needed immigration , no concern for inequality etc.
We could not be more fortunate to be in the hands of a caring, inclusive and hard working MP like Karina Gould.
Do you propose all media outlets be invited? Or selected media outlets invited, to the upset of those not? Or maybe just one outlet invited, such as the Canadian Press, which distributes to other media outlets?
Karina always does the right thing …she is a credit to the Liberal Party and to Burlington as our M.P….
Surely you jest! Was throwing Philpott and Wilson-Raybould under the bus the right thing? Supporting the payments to WE? Supporting the many lies on the campaign trail (deficit control, open and accountable government, election reform, no increase in the carbon tax) was the right thing? The botched vaccine procurement and porous border controls which have worsened the pandemic was the right thing? Please, take the red sunglasses off.
These are the questions she will be asked in the next election debate. Her lack of moral judgement and the sub-servient genuflecting of this cabinet member (as well as others) to JT’s wishing is reprehensible. I expected more of role-model and was sadly mistaken.
Mr. Wooster. There you go looking at things through your own very blue lensed glasses. We’ve been through this all before. Facts have not changed.
Philpott and Raybould were not thrown under the bus. Raybould resigned from cabinet of her own accord because in her Justice Minister role she would not follow the cabinet desire to a DPA with SNC. Philpott chose to resign in solidarity with Raybould. Those two jumped under the bus of their own accord
As to We, Trudeau was found to have had no conflict of interest; received no payments.
I agree the borders situation has been handled badly, both federally and provincial. Internal and external borders should have been shut much tighter.
“The botched vaccine procurement”. You have pushed this line before. Please provide your wisdom of what more or else the federal government could have done to gain a better, faster, more reliable vaccine supply, bearing in mind the hand it was dealt – no home manufacturing, no leverage over the foreign manufacturers. So please do explain just what the federal government could have, should have done. I do not expect you to answer these questions, because like others here you avoid answering questions asked of you.
David, still wearing those Liberal blinders. You conveniently omit key facts to suit your pro-Liberal narrative.
Wilson-Raybould is a lawyer who served as the Attorney-General. As such her LEGAL duty is to uphold the rule of law and when Trudeau chose to obstruct justice, she cannot violate her legal oath which is first and foremost to the law. (And please don’t bore me with Liberal fiction, David, that Trudeau didn’t obstruct justice–six, that’s 6, times he shut down or blocked investigation into the SNC Scandal. No-one, even Trudeau, does that unless he is hiding some very serious). Jane Philpott did the ethical thing and resigned. Karina Gould did the politically expedient thing and voted to expel the two former cabinet ministers from cabinet. There is no doubt which of these cabinet ministers had integrity and which one did not!
Dion, the Liberal-appointed ethics commisioner found no conflict of interest based on a narrow interpretation of the conflict of interest law, but his findings hardly exonerated Trudeau. “he equally emphasized there was “a strong appearance of conflict between the Trudeau family’s relationship with WE and Mr. Trudeau’s duty to make decisions that best serve the public interest.” Anyone reading Dion’s judgment would reasonably conclude that had the conflict law contained a provision for censuring politicians who place themselves in an apparent conflict of interest, he would have found Trudeau guilty.
David, a quick review of jurisdictional law. Only the federal government has control over the borders–not the provinces as you seek to deflect federal responsibility.
And on vaccine procurement, you continue to conveniently forget that much of the delay was caused when Trudeau put all his eggs in the Sinovax basket resulting in a three-month delay in negotiating with other suppliers. This put Canada further down the line in procuring these vaccines and the delay contributed to the third wave.
Mea culpa. In paragraph two, that should read”voted to expel the two former cabinet ministers from caucus.”
Correct me if I am wrong but did not the Ethic’s committee find Trudeau to have violated the ethics code in regards to the SNC-Lavalin affair???!!!
But, it is all Raybould’s fault that as Canada’s AG she put the Letter of the Law over the wishes of Trudeau. I will take that individual any day of the week over a cabinet that bows to the Empire’s new clothes.
As for Dr. Philpott, Queen’s University saw in her a role-model for their Medical School. An individual that has empathy, ethics and the ability to also do the right thing though its consequence derailed her political career. She is now The Dean of Medicine at Queen’s University and that is a higher honour than being a political follower of a Black faced debutante.
We beg to differ on Trudeau’s WE’s involvement though the same Ethic’s commissioner who found him guilt twice found him innocent on this occasion. Turns out there is no clause for nepotism within the government’s jurisdiction and that is how Trudeau did not get his hat-trick for ethics violation. Hopefully this rule will be amended in the future.
“The botched vaccine procurement”. I have pushed this line before also. I have given numerous articles about the issues with the vaccine role-out, the Covid initial response, international quarantine, domestic production and the expiration of PPE (perhaps we should just have moved/changed the expiratory date………kinda like Astrazeneca vaccine). I won’t waste my time repeating all of this.
I understand why the Liberal gov’t did what it did and truthfully, any gov’t would have done the same thing in regards to single dosing and not adhering to the manufacture’s interval recommendations. But now, we have a mismatch of way too many new vaccine protocols without any long term data. Will this change the efficacy of the vaccine? Will we produce ‘Memory’ cells that recognize future Covid antigens?? Is a booster shot more likely because of these changes???
Yes, Karina stays in the lane and keeps her head down. She does what she is told to do even if it is too look the other way. This happens in totalitarian governments like China………crap I forgot JT said; “There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime.
Cheers and here’s hoping for better not wanting to settle for herd mentality.
Mr Fraser. Like Wooster you read only what you want to he there. You forget that Raybold held 2 positions. Justice Minister and AG. She was therefore conflicted in her duties and loyalties. As explained (yet again) to Wooster as Justice Minister she had a duty and loyalty to the PM and cabinet. As AG her duty and loyalty was to the law and not to be influenced by others. Having said that there was nothing to stop her chosing a DPA which would have resulted in those individuals at SNC
.who broke the law being held to account.
Like Wooster you to wish Trudeau to be judged guilty of conflict because his family members had a relationship with WE. He was found to have no conflict and the government’s decisions not to have been implied by those family members positions. Yes, like the blue hero, Harper, he has been found in conflict violations on other occasions. Just because you wish it so does not make it so. He did not in this instance break the rules. Rules that were OK for the PC when it was in power.
Mr. Barker,
Again, objective we see things differently. You can’t convince me that Raybold was wrong for placing the ‘Letter of the Law’ above the wishes of her party. She took an oath as a prior Judge and Lawyer to up hold the Law!! This oath supersedes Trudeau’s misogynistic pressure to control his Cabinet. Again, JT was found guilt of Ethics violation!!
I stated that JT was NOT found guilty of Ethics violation when it came to the ‘WE’ scandal as there was no gov’t bylaw that prohibits family members from profiting. Mr. Trudeau’s involvement in awarding the contract to WE Charity gave “rise to a strong appearance of conflict between the Trudeau and his family’s relationship with WE, the appearance of conflict is insufficient and did not breach the Conflict Of Interest Act” wrote Dion.
Just an FYI, though there was insufficient evidence, Trudeau personally appeared at six We Charity events. His mother, wife and brother accepted a total $481,751 in benefits from We Charity including talent fees, gifts and expense-paid trips to London and New York. Hopefully, an Ethic’s policy amendment will be drafted that stops this sort of Nepotism based on this embarrassment.
I’m not been hypocritical by stating the above. I accept Mr. Dion’s findings on all three Ethic cases involving PM Trudeau. My hope is that these loop holes will be filled by some gov’t who possess common sense and the fortitude to adhere to the moral character and Laws of this country. Currently, that appears not to be this Federal gov’t.
PS: I don’t much like O’toole or the control the PC radical right has on the party. Jafmeet Singh at least has scruples and moral character.
Phillip, to assume that an individual MP below senior cabinet level can speak out on every issue is naive in the extreme. Individual voices may well speak up in caucus, but modern politics is to stay in your own lane and do your assigned job. Our MP appears to have been doing that well, and is a good advocate for our riding to the extent permitted. The messes you cite are mainly the work of the smart boys in short pants that run the show behind the scenes. They exist in all governments at all levels in all parties.
You .are ignoring evidenced facts Carol which shows very poor judgment.
In your opinion, AnneAndDave. In your opinion.