Canada ignores Saudi executions in favor of $15 billion military contract

Although Canada has strongly condemned the mass execution of 47 people by Saudi Arabia, the Liberal government has no intention of canceling a $15 billion contract to supply armored fighting vehicles to the kingdom.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion issued a statement condemning the mass execution on January 2nd and urged the Saudis to respect peaceful dissent and human rights. A prominent Shi'ite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was one of those executed. His execution sparked protests in many places and the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked and burned causing the Saudis to break off relations with Iran.

The contract for the armored vehicles is expected to create about 3,000 jobs for up to 14 years. Adam Barratt, director of communications for Dion said: "A private company is delivering the goods according to a signed contract with the government of Saudi Arabia. The government of Canada has no intention of cancelling that contract."Given the unwillingness of the Liberal government to cancel the sale of the vehicles to Saudi Arabia, Cesar Jaramillo of Project Ploughshares, an anti-war group that keeps track of arms sales, said:"Canada's condemnation of the most recent gross human-rights violations by the Saudi regime rings somewhat hollow against the backdrop of the $15-billion worth of Canadian military exports that this very regime is set to receive with Ottawa’s blessing."

Dion said in a statement on the official government website::“Canada opposes the death penalty and decries the execution of 47 individuals in Saudi Arabia on January 2, 2016...In the wake of these executions, we reiterate our call to the Government of Saudi Arabia to protect human rights, respect peaceful expressions of dissent and ensure fairness in judicial proceedings. Canada is particularly concerned that the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could further inflame sectarian tensions in the region. We urge Saudi Arabian authorities and local and regional leaders, including those in Iran, to work with all communities to defuse these tensions and promote reconciliation.”

Conservative MP Tony Clement, claimed the Harper government had conducted a review to ensure that the vehicles were being used to "fight the bad guys, fight terrorism or aggressive nations that Saudi Arabia was facing in the Middle East. It was specifically designed to make sure they weren’t using the equipment against their own people." An article in the Globe and Mail claims that Liberal policy in Saudi Arabia is the same as that of the Conservatives and the first rule of chess to protect the king —in this case, the Saudi king and his royal family.

The article points out that the armoured vehicles (LAVs) are not intended to be used by the regular Saudi armed forces but for the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), which is tasked with internal security as well as protecting the royal family. The SANG already has LAVs they bought in the 1990s. Jacqueline Lapour, a research assistant at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, noted that these vehicles have been deployed in Shia areas to intimidate Shia protesters. In 2011 they were deployed during Shia protests in Bahrain.

While not disturbing the Harper government contract with the Saudis, the Liberals are making plans to expand their diplomatic relations with Iran. This could include reopening the Canadian embassy.Tony Clement, who is foreign affairs critics for the Conservatives called on the Liberals not to establish further relations with Iran saying: "Iran continues to be a dangerous state sponsor of terrorist groups around the world. When Iran moves away from its terrorist activities, Canada should then act to restore relations."

PBO head Kevin Page at loggerheads with Harper government

Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Conservative government of Stephen Harper face a showdown. Page gave officials in 56 departments until this Wednesday to provide him with information about cuts and savings in the budget.

In March of 2008 Page was appointed Parliamentary Budget Officer. In 2006 the Conservative leader, Stephen Harper, ran on an accountability theme. For the most part, the Conservative government has failed to be accountable whenever possible. However, Harper did create the PBO or Parliamentary Budget Office as part of his promise to make government more accountable, even though he gave the office less power and independence than many advocates of the office wanted.

Kevin Page was regarded as a safe choice for head of the PBO when he was appointed in March of 2006. Page had spent 27 years as a behind-the-scenes-economist in the government. Top-level Conservatives found him acceptable. Page had even worked closely with Harper as a key economic policy assistant in 20006 and 20007. When Page started to take a combative position in opposition to the Conservative government, many were taken by surprise. Now Page has become a constant thorn in the side of the government. He takes accountability seriously!

As the appended video shows, Page does not shrink from saying exactly and succinctly what he thinks When he is asked whether he thinks that the government was trying to mislead the public about the costs of the F35 jets Canada is planning to purchase, Page simply replies: "Yes". Ordinarily, reporters would be treated to a long song and dance that evades answering the question.

Page is now threatening to take the government to court if he does not receive the information he has requested from departments by Wednesday. The Treasury Board President, Tony Clement, claims that Page is operating outside his mandate. He even says that he is quite ready to make this argument before a court. This certainly shows that the Conservative government is trying its very best to narrow the range of its accountability as much as possible. According to Clement, Page's job is restricted to looking at what the government actually spends money on, not what it doesn't.

Page, on the other hand, points out that often what money is not being spent on, is as important as what it is being spent on. The recent food beef recall associated with cuts to the Canada Food Inspection Agency's budget is a good example of Page's point. The information that Page is requesting on budget cuts is another prime example. We will see on Wednesday whether Page gets his way or if the government challenges him.

Budget to cut public service jobs

In keeping with the ideology of the Conservative government the Treasury Board president Tony Clement said that the coming budget will represent a culture shift from "spending enablers" to "cost containers," .

Clement has the task of cutting from 4 to 8 billion from the budget. This is all part of the plan to reduce the deficit and balance the budget. Clement was speaking a Conservative gathering in Ottawa.

Clement said that the government plans will face opposition from public sector union bosses along with the New Democratic Party opposition. Of the NDP he said their only solution is to hire more, tax more, and spend more.

The NDP responded that the Conservatives were out to cut services and reduce the capacity of government to help people. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty maintained that the budget would not contain any draconian measures. This is probably true in that the Conservatives do not want create too much of a voter backlash through their cuts.

In fact some critics complain that the Conservatives are actually buying off the civil servants whose jobs are being cut by providing generous severance provisions. The Canadian Tax Federation a right wing group that used to be headed by the prime minister complains that the severance provisions are far too costly and generous and may almost balance out the savings. See this article.

A report to the government reads:"We are conscious that the Public Service is on the verge of significant changes, driven in part by the immediate requirements of deficit reduction, but also by a more fundamental need to renew public institutions for the future," . As is happening in many countries government services are to be cut and jobs lost. The report notes specifically:"One of the major tasks that senior leaders will face is the deliberate downsizing of the Public Service," For much more see the entire CBC article..

Tony Clement Embracing Big Oil and Big Brother

Nero fiddled while Rome burned but Clement meets with Big Oil and enjoys being "at the center of the political universe" while the tainted meat issue continues to spread. Whats a few poisoned Canadians compared to dining with those at the centre of the political universe? The Conservatives could care less about Canada until it is reconstructed along the lines of our neighbour to the South. Listen to our Great Helmsman Harper:

"Your country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.
"A culture of defeat..."- Stephen Harper, negatively describing Canada's Atlantic provinces! May 2001."Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States."- Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.
(quotes courtesy of Buckdog's blog)
Canada's interest for the Conservatives is the U.S. interest. We are to be elevated to the position of chief secure energy supplier for the U.S. even though we might be able to get better deals elsewhere. NAFTA ensures that we supply the U.S. Of course Obama in a bit of populist crapola talks about re-opening NAFTA. That is a non-starter and the Conservatives needn't worry about that even though it would be a good idea from Canada's viewpoint. We could demand a better deal or deal elsewhere. It is not as if there are surpluses of oil and natural gas for the forseeable future!
The Canadian media are joining in the bread and circuses of U.S. Conventions and the election campaign. A waste of air time and a diversion from more important issues. Both Obama and McCain are representatives of the status quo. Anyone ever notice that coverage of anyone such as Nader or the Libertarian candidate for president is nil. Everything is framed within the Tweedle-Dee , Tweedle Dum straightjacket. What one can be sure of is that there will be no basic change that even remotely challenges the rule of capital. This is from the National Post.


Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Clement defends being away during food crisis
Minister representing Canada's interests at Democratic convention
Mike Blanchfield , Canwest News Service Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
DENVER -- Dismissing criticism of being AWOL during Canada's food recall crisis, Health Minister Tony Clement said Tuesday his trip to the Democratic National Convention was part of a robust new effort to inject Canadian interests into U.S. politics.
"We believe and the prime minister believes that we have to be more aggressive in representing Canadian values and interests in the American political scene," Mr. Clement told Canwest News Service from the convention on Tuesday.
Mr. Clement arrived Monday at what he called "the centre of the political universe for the next week" with Transport Minister Lawrence Canon and Government House Leader Peter Van Loan.
At least two more cabinet colleagues, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Immigration Minister Diane Finley, are bound for next week's Republican National Convention in Minnesota.
"Having three cabinet ministers here, having cabinet ministers at the Republican national convention, shows a new style, that we're going to take it to the Americans and not sit back and wait for history to happen," Mr. Clement said. "We want to be part of that history."
As chair of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet committee on the environment and energy security, Mr. Clement said it was crucial that he engage his Democratic party counterparts on battling climate change and the search for safe, secure oil and gas supplies -- the latter which has emerged as a key theme in the U.S. race for the White House.
And Mr. Clement said the time to engage the next president is before he is elected.
Mr. Clement's arrival in Denver on Monday drew fire from the Liberals.
"While Mr. Clement is enjoying himself at cocktail receptions at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, people back home are dying," said Liberal Health critic Carolyn Bennett.
Mr. Clement fired back, saying that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was the lead minister on the massive food recall that followed the listeriosis outbreak.
"He is doing a great job and he continues to lead on that. I did a press conference in Ottawa Sunday night. I return tomorrow, as scheduled, to participate in a cabinet meeting. So I'm doing my job," Mr. Clement said.
"This blackberry is on 24/7. I've already had discussions with my officials this morning. I can do that as easily in Denver as last week when I was in Saskatchewan."
Mr. Clement dined Monday night with Gordon Giffen, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada during the Bill Clinton administration, and was to meet with former president Jimmy Carter later Tuesday.
But his key meeting was to come before his departure Wednesday, when he chairs a closed-door discussion on energy security with American oil and gas company executives in Denver.
"We're one of the greatest energy producers in the world, as the prime minister said we're an energy superpower. We should be here," Mr. Clement said.
Mr. Clement played down two key concerns to Canada about an Obama presidency: That he might want to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement ushering in a new era of protectionism; and that his administration views the Alberta oil sands as a dirty energy source.
Mr. Obama lost the crucial Ohio primary after a Canadian official leaked information on his stance on NAFTA, suggesting that his public declarations on renegotiating the pact were only public posturing for votes.
"Presidential candidates utter millions upon millions of words during this campaign that never ends," said Mr. Clement.
"When it comes to the trade file, we have some common interests. There's no question that keeping the border open as possible helps Canada, it helps the United States. That's going to be our message to the incoming president."
In June, Obama's energy adviser Jason Grumet said it was an "open question" whether Canada's oil sands were part of the world's "dirty, dwindling and dangerously expensive" oil supply from which the United States needed to break its addiction.
"We've got to get our message out better about the value of the oil sands. For the first time in history it's the Stephen Harper government that is putting mandatory caps with a trading system for emissions from the oil sands," said Mr. Clement.
"We've got something that we can market to the Americans, saying hey, we're doing our job with the oil sands and other emissions, and we want to work with you to curb emission too."
Ottawa Citizen
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Critics blast Clement's absence.

This is from the Globe and Mail.
I find it a bit odd that there should be three Conservative ministers at the Denver Democratic Convention. Unlike George Bush, Harper cannot even find time to go to the opening of the Beijing Olympics. I guess if you are going to be a junior partner in U.S. imperialism you have to get your priorities straight. What's a few dead Canadians as a result of meat contamination. Its not as if they were troops serving in Afghanistan! They are just collateral damage to a system that hasn't enough meat inspectors and a government that apparently was planning to turn the whole inspection process over to the industry itself.



Critics blast Clement's absence
BILL CURRY
August 26, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canada's Health Minister Tony Clement is in Denver this week to take in Barack Obama's coronation at the Democratic National Convention, leaving his officials in Ottawa to manage one of the largest food recalls in Canadian history.
Mr. Clement made his first public comments Sunday on the growing outbreak of listeriosis, but by yesterday Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was back as the lead point man for the Conservative government.
Further, Mr. Clement's office told The Globe and Mail yesterday that the Health Minister was not notified about the listeriosis outbreak until Aug. 19 - three days after Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials recommended to Health Canada officials that a recall take place.
It was on Aug. 19 that Mr. Clement's political staff sent him an e-mail notifying him that his department had been dealing with a listeriosis outbreak and that he should be briefed.
The e-mail was sent the day before Maple Leaf foods recalled more than 20 meat products and shut down its Toronto plant. The day after the recall, Mr. Clement discussed the outbreak face to face with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa.
While Mr. Ritz, who is responsible for the CFIA, came to Ottawa immediately from his Saskatchewan riding to manage the growing crisis, Mr. Clement carried on with his regular schedule, including stops in Saskatchewan and his Parry Sound-Muskoka riding in Ontario.
"I continue to be available all hours of the day and night," said Mr. Clement in a phone call from Denver, where he is one of three Conservative ministers at the event, along with government House Leader Peter Van Loan and Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon. "This is a very important convention where there is a chance that the next president of the United States will be nominated."
But the opposition said the Health Minister should be visible and on the scene.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has already pointed out that Mr. Clement was in the Ontario government that was partly blamed for the tainted-water deaths in Walkerton, Ont. Mr. Dion accused the federal Tories of wanting to take the same deregulation approach to food.
"His absence is yet another example of a Harper minister missing in action at the height of a national medical crisis," Mr. Dion's spokesman, Mark Dunn, said in an e-mail.
NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis said Mr. Clement should have given the convention a pass.
"To not be on the file and to not be visible and ever-present throughout this whole crisis is dereliction of duty," she said. "I just find this totally reprehensible and unacceptable. It's an abysmal lack of leadership."
Mr. Clement said he has made sure his staff notified him about the outbreak at the proper time. While his office said Mr. Clement and Mr. Ritz have joint responsibility for managing the outbreak, the Prime Minister's director of communications, Kory Teneycke, said Mr. Ritz has the lead and Mr. Clement should not be criticized for being in Denver.

Clement questions MDs who favour safe injection sites.

The point is surely that the drugs of unknown potency or purity etc. will be administered in any event. If the administration is done at injection sites there is better control and harm reduction. It seems that the Harper government is ideologically against the safe injection sites and bound and determined to close them down eventually.

Clement questions MDs who favour safe injection sites
Last Updated: Monday, August 18, 2008 8:34 PM ET
CBC News
Federal Health Minister Tony Clement says ethical concerns raised by supervised injection sites for drug addicts are "profoundly disturbing," and he questions doctors who support the practice.
"Is it ethical for health-care professionals to support the administration of drugs that are of unknown substance, or purity or potency — drugs that cannot otherwise be legally prescribed?" Clement said Monday in a speech at the Canadian Medical Association's annual meeting in Montreal.
In any other medical setting, supervised overdoses would be considered "highly unprofessional," he said.
"In this way, supervised injection sites undercut the ethics of medical practice, and set a debilitating example for all physicians and nurses, both present and future in Canada, who might begin to question whether it's OK to let someone overdose in their care."
Vancouver's Insite safe-injection centre has not noticeably reduced drug overdose deaths, because narcotics use in "back alleys and seedy motels" is still high, he said.
Clement also questioned the validity of calling supervised injection sites palliative care for addiction, a concept put forward by the B.C. medical association in the late 1990s.
"Imagine for a moment a doctor that has a patient with a serious but treatable case of cancer. Would it be ethical for that doctor to automatically give that woman morphine and otherwise make her comfortable until she died of her disease, rather than offering the patient an attempt at treatment, and a chance at recovery?
"Why do we limit ourselves to palliative care?" he continued. "There is a better alternative for injection drug users, and that is treatment. Even if they fail treatment the first time, we can help them to get up and try again."
CMA president Brian Day has said nearly 80 per cent of association members support harm reduction through supervised injection sites.
The sites — which allow addicts to inject their own narcotics under the supervision of medical staff — have successfully curbed illegal drug use.
"The minister was off base in calling into question the ethics of physicians involved in harm reduction," Day told reporters.
"It's clear that this was being used as a political issue."
Robert Ouellet, a radiologist in Montreal, said safe injection sites are an important point of entry for addicts into the health care system. He said the goal is harm reduction — by lowering the risk of disease transmission through dirty needles — as well as by providing education about drug addiction.
"We doctors think that we need to take care of patients and this is quite different. He's doing politics, we're doing health care," he said.
Insite has operated in Vancouver since 2003, under an exemption from federal drug laws.
The federal government is appealing a B.C. Supreme Court decision that struck down sections of Canada's drug laws as unconstitutional, because they prevent Insite from operating.With files from the Canadian Press

Clement: Massive dysfunctionality led to isotope crisis.

Dysfunctionality is actually a euphemism for incompetence. No mention of MDS Nordion or its suit against AECL for deciding not to go ahead with the Maple reactors. No mention of the contract between Nordion and the AECL either. AECL's incompetence and shutting down of reactors will cost the taxpayer millions. Instead of cleaning house and hiring competent people the government will probably try to privatise AECL but with the mess AECL is in and its existing contractual obligations no private company will probably buy it even at fire sale prices. The government will probably invest more money to make it saleable and then when it looks profitable will sell it off at firesale prices so that the private sector not the taxpayer will profit from the further investment.


'Massive dysfunctionality' led to isotope crisis: Clement
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 8:47 AM ET CBC News
A "massive dysfunctionality" of communication between parties contributed to the shortage of medical isotopes in the wake of last year's shutdown of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor in Chalk River, Ont., federal Health Minister Tony Clement said.
Clement said he’s not surprised by the findings of an independent consultant, who urged better communications between the government, the federal regulator and AECL, the Crown corporation in charge of the reactor that provides two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes.
"This crisis couldn’t reach this point unless there was a massive dysfunctionality going on somewhere along the line and clearly, what this report does is illustrate that all along the line there were missed opportunities and miscommunication," Clement told CBC News following the release of the report on Monday.
While it was shut down in November 2007 for required maintenance, the Chalk River reactor essentially stopped supplying the nuclear material essential for medical imaging and diagnostic scans for fractures, cancers and heart conditions. It was restarted on Dec. 16 after Parliament passed a bill ordering it to resume operations.
The report says that during the isotope shortage, there was no communication between AECL, which produces the raw materials of most tests performed in nuclear medicine imaging facilities, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal safety commission that oversees it and the federal government.
"The most disconcerting issue of all for all concerned was the fact that the nuclear medicine community could not properly plan an appropriate response to the crisis," reads the report.
Nuclear community 'teetering on the brink of disaster'
Clement said the government has already taken action to address some of the recommendations, including developing a new communication protocol to ensure information about future shutdowns of the reactor would be shared faster between the respective parties involved.
A separate, but related report into the crisis by an ad hoc group of health experts that was also released on Monday found that Canada's nuclear medicine community was "teetering on the brink of disaster" in the wake of the reactor's shutdown.
The panel also suggests a reserve of raw materials should be created to deal with any future shortage and calls for more reactors to be opened to create isotopes.With files from the Canadian Press