Bill Strong has stumbled upon a piece of political dynamite;
The registered owner of Sinclair Stevens’ new anti-Harper website bloc-harper.com is The Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation.
The website of The Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada, Toronto Branch lists the Hon. Sinclair M. Stevens, P.C., Q.C. as its Foundation Chairman. They also list the following:Patron in Canada: Her Excellency The Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson, C.C., C.M.M., C.D. Governor General of Canada Honorary Chairman: The Hon. James K. Bartleman, OOnt, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Given that the Governor-General and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario are Patron and Honourary Chair, you would think that the Society would wish to avoid purely political issues. Reading the Society’s constitution and values pages does not give any indication that the Society would be / should be involved in partisan politics, such as the bloc-harper.com website. In fact, their purpose is plainly stated on their main page.
Our purpose is to promote the increase and spread of knowledge respecting the peoples and countries of the Commonwealth. This is pursued by the formation of regional branches and through a variety of educational activities. RCS-Canada is affiliated with the RCS International headquarters in London, England.
Why then is the Royal Commonwealth Society getting actively involved in Canadian politics?
Screenshot:
UPDATE This morning, the record has been updated to show “Freedom International Ass’n” as the owner, but with the same address. Good thing I grabbed that screenshot.
Update – the only Freedom Interntional I can find in existance seems to be based in Australia. (I’ve written them for an explanation). Google provides no sign of such an organization in Canada, much less one listed at the address provided in Newmarket. Perhaps others with different tools can dig up more.
Updated June 2
And this surprises you because?
Look, I must admit, it’s nice to see so many folks up north who want their bureaucracy to be non-political, but forget it. If the capital has anything to do with their appointment, their political.
Further, not to throw cold water on everyone, but I’d steer clear of getting too outraged over patronage. You’ll fall right into their trap. Trust me, we went to “civil service” down here, and all it did was create a large, self-sustaining, and ever-growing constituency for more and bigger government. I would give my right arm to go back to the patronage days of old – at least then the elected government would eb able to implement its policies without endless resistance (which, of course, only shows up when right-wing governments are elected).
I’m not saying this to justify corruption. Adscam et al is still sickening, and worthy of giving the Grits the heave-ho. I’m just saying don’t be naive enough to think you want neutral civil servants, because “neutral” means non-partisan – but still wanting bigger and bigger government.
I know you folks have a saying up there: “There isn’t a Tory (or Grit) way to plow the snow.” That may be, but the alternative – believe me – is a snowplow for every house.
And no one needs that.
The Bloc-Harper website has a fringe/wacko look to it. No surprise there.
Soooooo, According to the Toronto Red Star the big three who want to “bloc” Harper are:
Sinclair Stevens: Pathetic attempt to stop CA/PCP merger in court.
David Asper: Pedigreed limousine Liberal.
David Orchard: Now theres a colossus in Canadian politics!
Not much to see here folks.
P.S. Anyone else wondering whether The Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation receives public (especially federal) funding?
This isn’t about patronage or David Orchard. The Governor General – who represents the Queen – is not to be involved in party politics.
Stevens is just another poster boy for the current oligarchy:
“…they resent the slightest application of control as intolerable tyranny, and in their resolve to have no master they end by disregarding even the law, written or unwritten.” — Plato
Kate, thanks for the link to my post. One of my readers, Canadi-anna, just pointed out that the Royal Commonwealth Society is a registered charity. She says:
Sinclair Stevens is listed as the chairman and it says his position is ‘arm’s length’.
Part of the form they filled out says:
C7 A charity may pursue political activities that are non-partisan, related to its charitable purposes, and limited in extent. During the fiscal period, did the charity carry out political activities or provide assistance to another organization to carry out political activities? No.
Very interesting. But what, exactly, can be done about it?
Hmmm. A registered charity running an anti-Harper website. Sounds like standard Stevens operating practice to me.
Sinc Stevens hands were completely sullied in 1986 when he had to resign from Muldoon’s cabinet. Former Tory MP Erik Nielsen had an entire chapter in his book “The House is Not a Home” called “The Sinc Stevens Affair”. It was the biggest conflict of interest scandal of Mulroney’s government.
I see that the pc-a.org web site
is hosted on the same server with the same registrant if that is significant.
See http://www.whois.sc/pc-a.org.
I suppose they could have the charity status revoked, if it seems that they are breaking some sort of a law re: engaging in political activities. If only someone would be willing to tip off the proper authorities…
The way its’ set up, it’s the Foundation who owns that domain name and website.
My guess is that the Conservatives and Bloc might lay a complaint at the door of the Canada Revenue Agency.
Anybody notice that the registered address of The Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation is smack in the middle of Newmarket, Belinda’s riding?
LOL…
Anon, that would be excellent if it was her, but do you think MSM would do anything with it?
Address resolves to Stevens and Stevens
Strange that the phone resolves to Georgian Bancorp Inc
Checking…..
On The Take : by everyones friend ,at least at the G&M,Stevie Cameron , of course has lots of dirt/conflict of interest on Stevens.
According to her, Stevens being a lawyer knows the rules but never played by them.
I forget what section in the book store I found Stevies book, fiction/nonfiction.
Isn’t this interesting; seems ol Sinc Stevens and Turncoat Barbie go waaaaayyyyy back. I guess it’s now payback time for these pathetic back-stabbers.
________________________________________________
Sinclair Stevens and Magna Inc.
A few days ago, I posted about Sinclair Stevens and his new anti-Harper website bloc-harper.com. In that post I said:
Stevens is a former cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, and was highly critical of the merger of the old Alliance and PC parties into the new Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). So critical in fact that he challenged the merger in court, but lost.
There’s more. A public inquiry in 1987 found that Stevens was in a conflict of interest over some personal business dealings while cabinet minister. That decision was overturned by Federal Court Justice John O’Keefe late last year. See this article from the CBC which gives details of the decision and the original conflict of interest charges.
Parker’s 1987 report said Stevens was in “a real conflict of interest” in at least six situations while serving as a cabinet minister, and had benefited personally from his federal connections.
Principally, Parker said Stevens had gotten involved in approving federal funds for auto parts maker Magna International Inc. The company had provided a $2.6-million loan to a company owned by Stevens’s family.
My emphasis above on Magna International Inc., the company owned by the Stronach family, Frank and his daughter Belinda, Canada’s newest cabinet minister.
So Sinclair Stevens, who has a longstanding connection to the Stronachs, launches an anti-Harper website at about the same time that Belinda betrays Harper and crosses over to the dark side. Is this just a coincidence? or is there more than meets the eye?
Posted by Allison at May 23, 2005 06:05 PM
http://angrygwn.mu.nu/
Georgian Bancorp Inc is Sinclair’s company, and seem to be in trouble in 2000 with the Ontario Securities Commision. Me wonders if Belinderala might have some enlightenment on a possible recovery.
Does Monte read this blog? Failing that, I could mention it to the Queen. She’ll be in Calgary for tea tomorrow. (Anyway, I’m sure it’s nothing more than a simple ‘oversight’ on Steven’s part….)
(I was referring to the GG being involved in a partisan political organization – which I believe the Queen really would do something about if she was made aware of it.
Send a letter to the Governor-General’s office and your local paper.
I am astonished aat how quickly the Monarchist League reacted to it.
How sinclair stevens can assist the people who put him through hell is a mystery to me. Clearly a case of stockholm syndrome.
Sinc is a crank fughting old battles. Orchard….come on what else do I need to say, he was a rasputin like figure and properly belongs in the NDP, but they wont have him, what does that tell you.
Asper…I’d be careful. I wouldnt assume he is working hard to get rid of Harper and certainly not in conjunction with those other two cranks.
He made his opinions known, dont assume a conspiracy because a torstar reporter included him in there….if you want to get to conspiracies, you dont think the star wouldnt like to hurt the post’s subscriber base by making them think they are reading an “enemy paper”….i dint belive that one any more than asper is working with orchard or stevens.
However, great find. Check to AC’s list of organizations receiving funds from the federal government. But MOST importantly you have two reps of the queen on the board. They either resign and sinc be fired for being such a bad administrator (this is a major mistake) or the resign their positions as reps of the queen. SO INCREDIBLY important that the crown be neutral…but then again that would presuppose they give a flying F about constitutional convention. The press certainly should
Reading the comments, it’s amazing how few people understand the real significance of this. The significance does not lie in the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto being a charitable organization. The significance is that the Patron and Honorary Chair are both representatives for Her Majesty, the Queen. One is the national representative, and the other is the Ontario provincial rep. What is so hard to grasp about that? How can we trust in Clarkson to be that final check and balance to protect us from a treacherous government when this organization of which she is patron is actively engaged against the two major opposition parties?? I don’t know, is it just me? Am I looking at this wrong?
Looks like you’ve got it right to me Andrew…
“The Governor General – who represents the Queen – is not to be involved in party politics.” – Kate
“How can we trust in Clarkson to be that final check and balance to protect us from a treacherous government when this organization of which she is patron is actively engaged against the two major opposition parties??” – Andrew
For all of those lefties who cruise this blog and insist our fair host is a closet American, this should put that to rest. I AM an American, and my first response to Kate’s comment was – hey, I don’t care who she is, she’s a Grit appointee; if you want this to stop, make Canada into a republic.
I’ve never met Kate (or Andrew) for that matter, but I’m all but certain that the above sentence just made them both nauseous. THAT’S what makes them Canadian, and if I may say so, it’s a far better reason than a health system that kills people.
Slim, re: Sinclair Stevens and Magna Inc.
That original post is here (someone copied it to Angry’s site): http://strongworld.blogspot.com/2005/05/sinclair-stevens-and-magna-inc.html
also related is this one: http://strongworld.blogspot.com/2005/05/sinc-stevens-and-bloc-harpercom.html
More about Sinc stevens and bloc-harper.com Update
Update- I have just done a whois search on this domain name again this moring and it would seem that Sinc has moved the registration from the Royal Commonwelth Society to Freedom International and have informed Mr. Churchill of this development.
Hat…
To Quote Ned Franks, professor emeritus at Queens University.
“This is where the flying excrement intersects with a rotating propeller.”
The registration info has been changed. It now says that the domain belongs to the “Freedom International Association,” but still lists the same address.
If there was nothing to hide, why the need to change the registration information now?
The Liberals have corrupted every supposedly non-partisan institution in the country. Forget writing to the GG’s office. The Queen does need to know about this directly: while she is still in Canada, my understanding is that the Governor-General’s powers lapse in her favor. Clarkson should be sacked immediately.
So our old queen is now against a fair democracy in our country.
Didn’t we have her sign off a while back with Truedope to keep her royal hands out of our politics.
Seems her rep Her Most Noble Eminence of Excellentness missed the memo that said we Canadians are ALLOWED to have an opposition.
These lefty freeks are so pathetic , is there a rule or a law they won’t break ?
Lets hold the queen here in protest untill we get that weasel Sinclair Stevens to personally explain why the the queen is against a political party.
Just in case you were wondering who Freedom International is.
http://www.freedomint.org/freedomint/
Royal More on the Commonwealth Society of Toronto
May24 – If you read Bill Strong’s post on the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto yesterday you might want to make a return visit. Looks as though whoever is behind bloc-Harper.com might be trying to cover some tracks … lucky…
Sinclair Stevens Screws-Up “Royally”
Animosity on the part of the “Old Guard” PC Tories toward the new CPC blatantly shows itself this week via one Sinclair Stevens.
Freedom International is fighting for the right to have gay sex in public places (probably good for the children to see) and promotes beastiality as long as it doesn’t harm animals.
But now they have to put an end to Steven Harper just like those who support the monarchy in Toronto used to.
I’m starting to feel like Hunter Thompson
It just keeps on getting weirder and weirder.
Keeping secrets.
Kate at small dead animals noticed yesterday that the Canadian anti-Conservative Party site, bloc-harper.com, seemed to be owned by The Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation, as seen in this screenshot: Oddly, that information is different t…
Well somewhere between you and Bill Strong Sinc got the message.
You may want to check your logs to see who was snooping around.
It must be nice to know you have an effect.
Irony of Ironoes when I was a tiny tory in the early 80’s I remeber sinc was considered a very BLUE tory and was very anti clark.
dont know what has happened to sinc other than he apparently hasnt been the same since his fall from grace
I looked up Freedom International on google and found a company that was absobed into a Company called eSpeed. ESpeed has now set up a marketing exchange for the buying and selling of Carbon Credits! Kyoto rears it’s ugly head everywhere! Bill Strong has the links but I will repost them here too:http://www.espeed.com/articles/article01312001.htm and later,http://www.climateark.org/articles/2000/4th/co2ecomc.htm
There are some very familiar names here
Sinclair Stevens is at it again
Former Conservative Cabinet Minister in bungled black-op A bunch of my fellow bloggers are abuzz about new shenanigans from former Mulroney-era Cabinet Minister Sinclair Stevens. Mr. Stevens detested the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance, waged a …
I sent an email to the directors of the Royal Commonwealth Society about this issue, and cc’d Mr Stevens. He called me back and we had a > 30 minute chat this morning. He says the people who registered the domain made a mistake of some kind, and is blaming this on a technical glitch.
He is a very charming gentleman, btw.
Mr. Stevens was on the radio today in Calgary. He blamed the Conservitives for fooling the registry into saying that the web site was owned
by the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto Foundation.
Dang those CPC hackers!!