I knew the Finance Committee hearing into the so-called WEgate scandal was going to be a kangaroo court, or something even worse.
For the very simple reason, there is no scandal.
WE Charity co-founders Marc and Craig Kielburger emerged from a four-hour grilling by opposition MPs tonight saying they did not stand to gain financially from agreeing to run the Liberal government's $900 million student grant program — and insisting they did not exploit their ties with the Trudeau family to secure the deal.
Just two decent young Canadians trying to save their well loved children's charity, from dirty old men like these.
Old pols like Charlie Angus and Pierre Poilievre, who would destroy a kid's charity just to get at Justin Trudeau.
Or worse go after poor old Margaret Trudeau for the same reason.
Which made me really angry...
No decent person can deny that Angus and Poilievre behaved like fascist pigs. They treated the Kielberger brothers like criminals.They berated and insulted them, they interrupted their answers again and again.
Even the Chair couldn't control them.
And although I was happy to see that the brothers were able to handle themselves with class and dignity throughout their four hour ordeal.
What shocked me was how many Cons were cheering on the NDP, like they were now their farm team, or little orange brothers.
So much so that even the well known Con Stephen Taylor, once the master of the Blogging Tories, suggested that Charlie and Pierre should celebrate their appalling behaviour.
Or suggested that the boring Peter Julian is us ALL...
Instead of just another Con stooge who even after grilling the Kielburger brothers for more than four hours, declared that he STILL wasn't satisfied.
And yeah, that's it for me as far as the NDP is concerned.
I used to vote for them back in the days when they were idealists, and could legitimately claim to be progressive. And I'm still proud that Jack Layton was my friend.
But then came angry Tom Mulcair who took the party so far to the right, I didn't recognize it...
And was singularly obsessed with destroying Justin Trudeau. Just like the old and bitter DipperCons are today.
So now I'm done forever, or at least until the NDP becomes a nobler and more decent party again.
As for Justin Trudeau, tomorrow he will have to face the Angus-Poilievre committee, or the Canadian version of an ugly star chamber.
And like so many other Canadians I am hoping that Trudeau will prevail. For our country is in great danger.
The Cons and the NDP have sabotaged our ability to defeat the pandemic.
And as far as I can see only decency can save us now...
25 comments:
Con mentality dictates that the opposition has to be destroyed in order to win, its a war like mentality and collateral damage is irrelevant. In order to get Trudeau they have demonstrated they are willing to scuttle a globally recognized charity, students and those Canadians that would have benefited from their help. A smart political party would have seized on the potential Liberal conflict of interest and used it to create something better such as an oversight committee to ensure all of the funds were spent to benefit the students and community as effectively as possible.But no, its all about power at any cost and to hell with collateral destruction. The Trump playbook!
The NDP are even a bigger disappointment, they had opportunity to play the role of mediator in promoting an oversight group to "keep the Liberals honest" and distribute the support money as efficiently as possible. A win for the NDP, a win for the students, communities and charities, slightly negative for the Liberals and negative for the Cons. Instead they enabled the destruct commando party with absolutely nothing to show for it in the long run. Beyond STUPID!
RT
That is just it. The Conservatives and the NDP have not defeated the Federal government's efforts in managing Canada's reaction to the virus and the economic fallout from it.
Throughout all of this the Federal government has done a commendable job. They have not been perfect but, working with the Provinces, they managed to flatten the curve and bridge Canadians from the economic cliff the economy fell off of in March to the first fragile signs of a recovery that we have been seeing in the last couple of weeks.
That is what so galls the Conservatives and the NDP. The pace of change and the need to get help out the door quickly was a recipe for disaster. However, no real disaster occurred. There might have been some minor hiccups but otherwise the roll out of the programs to help Canadians went surprisingly smoothly.
It is not over yet and things could still go sideways but so far so good and the anger within the Conservatives and the NDP at that fact is palpable.
Their bullshit on social media is sickening. I wrote about the DipperBros' misogyny and how they're punching above their own weight compared with the Cons. Mike Gibbs posted a clip of Jason Lietaer calling on his own party to call off the Maggie-bashing. Too little too late. There's an absolute mob after her and the loudest volume isn't even coming from the Cons but the "conscience of parliament." Mike commented in his tweet that when a Con strategist makes more sense than the NDP, the NDP has a serious problem. Yes, they do. It's called pitchfork populism with PP problems.
Don't say I didn't forecast this by calling them out as Bernie Bros and getting trashed for it by Dipper diehards. Misogyny is rife within this party and it absolutely reeks.
Trudeau should just call a snap election and get rid of this useless minority parliament while he can still run against Scheer. Whatever he decides to do in the future considering all the vitriol and venom attacking his family, there's still a pandemic going on and Canada deserves better than this idiocy that amounts to a high-minded debate about angels dancing on the head of a pin. Cases are going up and people are dying. Who gives a fuck about WE?
The media and their horseshoe-politics enablers are desperate to maintain credibility because their Clinton Cash Canada conspiracy theory is falling apart. They're burying facts in favor of "strategy" and "optics" and a Benghazi star chamber. It's not news, it's propaganda. They've gone full Sinclair and I don't mean Maggie's side of the family. Call an election, cancel the bailout, pull the plug on Global and CTV, and defund the CBC.
@RT, the collateral damage goes two ways: Jesse Brown is already no fan of Trudeau's but his primary target is WE. He's fine with having the Liberals/Trudeau be collateral damage in his destructive commando operation against the Kielburgers, because they won a libel suit against his magazine (owned by Conrad Black, how about that) 20 years ago and he has never forgiven them since. Mark Bourrie at his website FairPress.ca has written extensively about Brown's obsession. He concurs with most rational people in the know that it's the height of journalistic irresponsibility for the "mainstream" news to all of a sudden give Brown any credibility after shunning him as a hack and a shakedown artist for years, simply because it benefits them to use his bullshit vendetta to whack at Trudeau and try to push him out.
Interestingly enough an article about the lawsuit has resurfaced: from the Globe, written by Heather Mallick in the year 2000. When she wrote her recent Star article on why WeGhazi was a fake scandal and deserves to be a nothing story amid a pandemic, she got piled on by the bros in media and even slagged as "Margaret Trudeau's gal pal." She was right about SNC being bullshit too and her Trudeau-bashing peers couldn't handle it.
There is no scandal here, no corruption except for the poison misogyny and bias of the media enabling this twisted custody battle between Jesse Brown and the Kielburgers that Trudeau accidentally found himself caught in the middle of, and now Margaret too. I wrote about the underlying story behind all that nobody seems to be aware of, except the real investigative journalists on social media.
Dippers and Brown himself have gone from horseshoe politics and pincer warfare to an Ouroboros eating its own ass. They are now retweeting Con papers, Con columnists, Con fake-news blogs like Post Millennial, and engaging in mutual Twitter masturbation with Con MPs. It's not only beyond stupid, it's beyond any semblance of reality. It's the equivalent of Bernie surrogates appearing on Fox to whack at Hillary and Biden, and what Angus is doing to Margaret is what got Trump impeached vis-a-vis Hunter Biden but in Canada it's called "holding the government accountable." We really are down the rabbit hole, and I just hope and pray there's a way out.
Part of me wishes that Trudeau would go in angry, to tell them exactly how awful they are and how poorly they are behaving.
But then I realize, that would be the wrong approach, for the country. Tomorrow, Trudeau has to demonstrate just how sad it is, for the students whose program has been truncated, and for the charity whose mission has been trashed, that the Cons and the NDP put their meanspirited gotcha politics ahead of any attempt to actually participate in making decisions about governance of the country.
I thought that the comment that Margaret Sophie was more than just the title 'somebody's mother and wife ' shone a disinfecting light on the reformatory misogyny of Pierre, Andrew and Cooper . Imagine my sur[rise to see , in the print press a woman who faulted the K Bros for being rube to the Neandertals in what was an important statement about people's fights and common decency.
The KBros were also criticized by pundits as ' smirking and smug " for answering questions openly and honestly and not lying to help the oposition tilt at that windmill.
The whole spectacle has got me thinking about the self-appointed charity watchdogs . They claim to be protecting us from scams but seem to be more interested in personal publicity and destroying charities if they don't show them the proper deference. Canadaland , of course, is fueled by jealousy only.
"The Monkey Court and the Day the NDP Died" Excellent graphics and a chilling prediction, Simon. I had no idea how caustic angry Tom's influence on the party was at the time but that's the thing with anger, its destructively addictive especially when channeled against people rather than situations. Your cartoons have a way of transcending the anger.
RT
Hi RT....I think the destruction of a successful children’s charity for crass political reasons is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. The WE group has done a great job teaching kids the value of being good citizens, and building stuff like schools in Africa. The kids are the ones who are going to be hurt by this fake scandal and that makes me furious. I don’t expect anything from the Con beasts, but the NDP has also disgraced itself, and that I will never forgive...
Hi Ottlib....Nobody can deny that Justin Trudeau has done a great job of leading us through the first wave of the pandemic, and with a second wave approaching the last thing we need is this political charade. But the biased media has done a great job of smearing him and polls now suggest he has been damaged. He still could win another minority, but I doubt we will have an election anytime soon. So this hideous opposition mob will keep impeding the government’s attempts to fight the pandemic, and we will get what we deserve....
Simon, that new Abacus poll out this morning looks ugly. The outrage machine is working, and even some Liberals are getting shaky confidence in PMJT. Morneau seems to fare worse, but all I'm really concerned about is PMJT protecting himself and his family from any further abuse. At the same time I don't want him to go out under a cloud of disdain. He didn't deserve this, any of it. It's Hillary's emails all over again.
I sent him an email telling him that for one, he has my full faith and support whatever decision he makes about his future, and two, I recommended that he should file lawsuits against Jesse Brown, against the news media, against the Cons and especially against the NDP (Charlie in particular), for reputational damage and the pain and suffering inflicted upon Margaret. If he sues the NDP, they will be destroyed because they're already bankrupt.
I hope the K-bros sue as well and I bet they will, but I really hope Justin Trudeau does the same. Crawford Kilian, Tyee writer, said on Twitter last night in response to a fight between Neil Waytowich and a really nasty NDP guy treating Margaret like shit, that PMJT's heart doesn't seem to be "in it" anymore, ever since Sophie tested positive for Covid and now with Margaret becoming part of the political fray again. Looking at the disgusting spectacle of this past month, who could blame him?
Hi Jackie....Thank you for that excellent information in that old Mallick article, and in the article you wrote. I have never had much time for Jesse Brown, and know that I know that he apparently has a chip on his shoulder about the WE organization, I have even less. The way the Cons and the NDP have treated that children’s charity sickens me. This is not the country I love, and I am determined to fight as hard as I can before I give up on it....
Hi Cathie....I feel just like you do. I would love Justin Trudeau to come out fighting but as you say that would probably not be the best strategy. He has to show he is better than the Cons and their ghastly NDP stooges, which won’t be too hard, but he must keep his cool. He should instead point out that leading a country during a pandemic is made even harder when all the Con NDP scum want to do is play gotcha politics. And yes, since the media has totally ignored all the children who got shafted by those chap politics, I hope Trudeau can remind Canadians what the WE project was all about....
Hi Rumleyfips....I was also shocked by our corrupt Con media describing the Kielberger brothers as “smirking and smug” when I watched most of their testimony and found them to be extremely polite, especially considering the foul way they were treated by Angus, Poilievre, and Cooper. The media somehow managed to avoid commenting on that rudeness which is so un-Canadian. And I must admit this whole affair has made me wonder where this country is going. I’ve seen what the right-wing press has done to the UK, and I’m afraid we’re seeing the same thing happening here...
Hi RT....I must make it clear that I once thought Mulcair was great. I enjoyed the way he annoyed Harper in the Commons. But after his loss to Trudeau in 2015 he became so angry and bitter I could no longer admire him. Now that bitterness has contaminated the whole of the NDP and it’s not a pretty spectacle. In my view the NDP exists to keep the Liberals honest and hopefully encourage them to move further left. But the NDP is now just an anti-Trudeau party and in that regard I have no respect left for them...
OT but I took some Gravol and broke down to watch some of the Finance Committee meeting. It is what I expected except that it would appear that at times PM Trudeau seems to be enjoying himself.
We are learning some other details how the lead up to the agreement with WE to deliver the program and they are very interesting, they completely contradict the current narrative and judging by how red Mr. Polievre's face is getting could quite literally lead to Conservative heads exploding.
So an update: Justin did well, apparently. I couldn't watch. I only caught a few clips on Twitter. I love to hear him speak and see him focus those baby-blues into the camera 💕 but I wasn't about to bother seeing Skippy and Chuckles' ugly mugs.
I hope that his testimony today starts to put an end to it being in the news for the most part, and that if an election is held in the far-off future, that he is able to get that majority back. If he wants to, at least. Otherwise if he steps aside early because of the harrowing ordeal on his family, then I hope he's able to go out on a high note.
I always knew he was innocent. Sometimes makes human mistakes but there's no way he's malicious or corrupt. What shameful bullshit from the DipperCons and the media. Defund them all.
I did not see it but I heard, JT made PP look like a penis that walks.
Hey what about this here:
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/report-german-nazis-are-buying-up-land-in-cape-breton/
Not worth a story?
It's causing quite a stir in Germany...
Apparently it's not newsworthy, JSB. Neither was the attempted assassination on the prime minister's life. That would require the right-wing media and its white male bro club to own their complicity in such developments, the same way our U.S. media allowed Trump Nazis to flourish while obsessively fixating upon Hillary's supposed "corruption". Emails, speaking fees, and alleged fraud involving a charity foundation. How familiar. All of which were more important than encroaching fascism, at least according to CNN and the NY Times.
I have no idea as to what Justin Trudeau will do after this blows over, but honestly, if I were him I'd want to get the hell out of Dodge sooner rather than later. Just like the queen of the Netherlands fled to Canada during WW2, the Trudeau family might need to find their way out of Weimar Canada at some point. Come to the Cabaret, my friend, come to the Cabaret!
I, unlike Pierre Pecherhead, just read the conflict of interest act. Family is defined as spouse and children. As Sophie's activities were approved by the conflict of interest commissioner, Trudeau is in complete compliance with the act.
Steve:
Do you mean a penis that squawks ?
Here's a question Petey and Angy neglected to ask. When Trudeau consulted the Ethics commissioner re;Sophie/WE , did either of them speak about mothers and brother ?
WE events are prominent public events, the Ethics should have known and should have spoken .
The CBC, which has covered this nothingburger 24/7, is pretending to be puzzled by Trudeau's drop in the polls. Their narrative seems to be shifting from "Trudeau is Probably a Crook" to "Who Cares if He Technically Played by the Rules? The Optics are Terrible!"
I'm confidant that the CBC and other media, which studiously neglected Harper's gazillion ethical lapses (and worse), will keep beating the proverbial dead horse on this non-issue.
It's depressing to see that the WE/Trudeau story is being picked up by international media (including Al Jazeera!). Their coverage is sketchy at best, but the effect will be to further blacken his name on the global stage.
Hi Janice
CBC and the poll tracker are themselves sketchy at best, but while Lean Tossup was being hysterical themselves the other day joining the chorus of calls for Trudeau to resign, they've reported a mild bounce for Trudeau per some misreported Nanos regionals that don't match up with Nik's CTV punditry. Take it for what you will; Trudeau is well down from the pandemic highs, but those were probably unsustainable anyway.
https://leantossup.ca/canada-esoteric-thoughts/
Notable among the Abacus numbers (which are always tighter than most other firms) is that the Liberals still lead with the 18-34 set. I guess the Tik Toks aren't having their desired effect.
Now it's too early to be sure, but it's possible -- in theory -- that Frank Graves may have picked up on a trend of an outrage punch against the Liberals that the other pollsters are lagging on, and may start to heal as the summer doldrums come to an end. At least I hope so. Nevertheless, the Kevin McCarthy inquisition tactic does have a corrosive effect. Which is why I'm not the only one who's been calling this WeGhazi. The CoNDP and their pliant media have learned the worst lessons from the USA.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/mccarthy-links-benghazi-panel-clintons-sinking-poll-numbers-n436151
Now speaking of the USA, as for Trudeau's reputation abroad, sure, it took a hit with the SNC, India, and blackface business too, but I can assure you that he'd light up any room he walked into south of 49. America's reputation is far, far worse and will be for some time even if Trump gets thrown out. After what we've been through, Trudeau would be welcomed as a liberator here and probably worshipped as a god.
And should he ever write his own version of "What Happened," I'm sure he'll eventually make the US talk show circuit to talk about Clinton Cash Canada and the smear campaigns he got subjected to, which are so familiar to us Yanks because they're literally identical to Hillary derangement syndrome. I don't want to see him leave (or get turfed) yet, but whenever he does say enough is enough, I look forward to seeing him on the post-pandemic couch in New York with Stephen Colbert. But I digress.
As for the news media in Canada, they pulled the same relentless Hillary's Emails crap with SNC, and it only started to die once the backstabbing weird sisters got their well-deserved boot in the ass. The hacks committing journalistic malpractice are fanfic dramatists who demand a climax and a body because there's nothing interesting on TV. Their casting of Chuckles and Skippy as bad cop/worse cop fell flat.
But what this means is Trudeau unfortunately may not be able to ignore the thumping drum calling for Morneau's head on a platter if he wants to save his own skin. As Chantal Hébert said last night on At Issue, and Althia Raj concurred with in her latest piece for HuffPo, that's a big shake-up for any government, let alone in the midst of a crisis. But that's what's being demanded of him nonetheless. He wouldn't take the bait from Barrett but nobody really knows what's being talked about behind the scenes.
I am telling you that they won't let up until they see Trudeau being "decisive" and "cleaning house" to their satisfaction. He's not going to fire Ng, Chagger, or Wernick, because "optics," which means Morneau's WE days are numbered. For Trudeau the jury is still out.
Hi Jackie,
If Trudeau fires Morneau, I seriously doubt that the CoNDP and media will stop there. They'll see blood in the water and demand other firings or resignations (e.g., Telford and Trudeau himself). They will never be satisfied.
Firing the finance minister in the midst of a pandemic because of a faux scandal makes no sense at all. The Libs should at least wait until the various investigations are completed before taking such drastic action. By that time, Morneau may have had enough of the bullshit and resign on his own steam.
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