D. Coulter, Aurora, letter to the editor (The Era-Banner – Newmarket-Aurora)
Newmarket-Aurora MP Belinda Stronach has been trying to win quick political points recently by criticizing the Conservatives for not having enough women in the cabinet. Its cabinet is about 25 per cent female.
To see if Ms Stronach puts her money where her mouth is, I reviewed the family company, Magna, of which she is a former CEO. I checked its annual report to see how many women are on the board of directors and how many women occupy senior executive positions.
As of the most recent Magna annual report, of 12 board members, there are no women. And of 25 senior executives, there [are] zero women.
h/t to reader “JM”
Truly amazing and very conservative…Accuse somebody of something then turn around and do the very same thing yourself.
Have you not been reading all the posts regarding hypocrites?
Posted by: David Brown at October 24, 2006 02:50 PM
If being conservative means responding to your retorts, then yes I am.
It’d be great if you only wanted to engage in reasonable debate, but alas you’re the type that comes onto blogs like this and spews insults and tries to be confrontational to everyone who is conservative and just doesn’t say anything relevant.
I eagerly await your the linguistic gem you’re feverishly writing in response so I can ignore it.
Moe,
you mean this one
http://lyrics.rockmagic.net/lyrics/king_crimson/in_the_court_of_the_crimson_king_1969.html#03
Good tune, trippy late 60’s lyrics though. But lovely mellotron.
Gosh, if DB meant that reference I’ll have to raise my respect level a little….but there is a ceiling because of the Paul Martin reference, that was a shipwreck of a PM. How soon we forget just how confusing Dithers was.
Did anyone read Heather Mallick’s column on Belinda in the latest Chatelaine? Her take is basically that Canada is sexist and can’t handle a woman leader, so they hate Belinda.
I think it’s Mallick who is making the sexist comments here. Assuming that we hate her because she’s a woman insinuates that women can’t make real judgments. We don’t like her because she lies and she cheats and she throws aside principles for power. It’s quite simple. To try to boil all that down to gender is ridiculous, and shows how out of touch feminists are.
Comparing Belinda to Hillary is beyond the beyond and a gross insult to Hillary. There’s no comparison intellectually. Belinda is a “friend” of Hillary’s husband, Bill, though it’s probably just a mutual admiration due to similar interests and another chance to get noticed, knowing full well the media are hounds such crap.
Hillary has nothing to be ashamed of in any event.
Speaking of Belinda and knitting, my column, which is now in twelve papers in Canada, talked about this last week. For any who are interested, you can see it here. And yes, I am a knitter. And yes, I thought her “I don’t stay at home on Friday nights and knit” comment was stupid, though maybe not for the same reason all knitters did.
Stephen,
Looks like you’ll have to raise that respect level, but not too much.
moe,
Robert Fripp was truly a musical visionary with King Crimson. It was like you were listening to music that was yet to be written, 50 years ahead of its time.
Cheri:
Thankyou for the compliment to me & my family, My Mother is a Diehard Knitter, Croche, Nottingham lace .Etc….
She has led the pack for many years at local fall fair competetions, My Mother was diagnosed with breast cancer recently & is being operated on this coming thursday. She has lived for her craft & she will most likely not be able to do her craft for some time while she recovers.
I could not say on here her opinion of BS & iam truly sorry but i run an automotive aftermarket parts & accessories store so my time is filled between here & my brand new girlfriend.
But thanks anyways
And that is no BS
Bryanr: Best wishes to your mother for a speedy recovery so she can get back to her handicrafts.
I also knit, but just for relaxation, and stress relief. Someday I might even finish a project. The best knitter I know is a man. Makes beautiful afghans.
Women are more than capable executives but the auto parts industry is dominated by men.
Finally! So many people have a hard recognizing that there’s some areas that are best left to men, and some to women. I’m sure women can be capable execs in certain businesses. Look at how Martha Stewart built a great home/garden style business.
Let’s face it though. Auto parts are geared towards men. It’s no surprise that most of the execs are men. As well, being stockholders, most women would rather leave financial things like that to their husbands to handle, while they handle equally important, but different things.
Politics is another area where men seem better suited to it. While some women can & have done very well in politics, it’s mostly a male profession, particularly at the national level. There’s nothing wrong with the fact that most MP’s are men, it’s simply a reflection of the differences in gender.
Thank you David Brown for taking a refreshing stand on this topic!
Thanks MaryT Appr. your kind thoughts.
“…Magna, of which she is a former CEO”
While it is an excellent observation about the number of women on Magna’s board vis Belinda’s phony rhetoric … way too much is made (mostly by Belinda and her supporters) of her having been CEO. She was, but only in name. She was there by nepotism, a puppet CEO while other, qualified executives ran the company.
BryanR; I said that because common sense and decency are sorely lacking in this country. What B.S. did, has done and is doing is a problem of her own making. She is an empty headed, shallow, hypocrite with no values. To profess shock and dissapointment is pathetic. To expect to be taken seriously by anyone is incredulous.
As a mother I feel sorry for her kids. As a wife she is someone I despise. As a politician she is someone who gives others a bad name. As a Canadian I think she is a traitor. She’s more like a cat in that she is loyal to no-one but moi. If she had any self respect she would apologize to the Nation, her family, friends, constituents and keep her lip and pants zipped. AND do not EVER run for public office again.
Best wishes to you and your family. Attitude is a big part of success and I can tell you all have great ones. I’ll wear pink for your Mom on Thursday. Red on Fri.
Another knitter checking in. I knit almost every night, most mornings and a few afternoons, depending on deadlines.
BS’s comment on knitting was stupid, but unsurprising – whatever BS says, the chances of it being stupid are about 99:1.
The woman is a nothing; take away her daddy’s money and name and she’d be on welfare. Why are we paying so much attention to her?
Knitters provide something very useful to society. I recall my grandfather telling me if he hadn’t received knitted socks from the Salvation Army during the Great War, he would probably have been footless. These socks were knitted by women on the Home Front in support of the men serving overseas on the battlefield.
I cannot think of a more noble thing to do than what they did do to help and assist the men in battle.
Belinda Stronach is an asshole. She does not, and never will be, the woman that those women were.
Just a thought about BS.She loves the photo-ops with Clinton.How could such a savior of womens rights associate with a man who,while married,had sex with with a young intern in the White House.Is that not a lack of respect to Hilary,Monica and the institution of the White House.
And yes Bill a bj does count as sex,not to mention the creative thing with the cigar.
I’m sure woman do own Magna stock but prefer their husbands or proxies to sit in on boring stuffy meetings rather than waste their own time.
Women are more than capable executives but the auto parts industry is dominated by men.
Hats off to David Brown for providing one the most remarkable self-cancelling disconnects. How “capable” is an executive that can’t sit through “boring stuffy” meetings? That kind of meetings pretty much go with the landscape of executive duties. Women not making the executive grade by virtue of ADD or frivolity, David? Women are underrepresented in auto parts!!!!
WHOO HOO!!!
David, in case you were trying to make a point about gender bias in the auto parts business, as a female with grown daughters and acquaintances, trust me on this, never was there a day in my life that I can remember any musings about wanting into the auto parts business by any female I’ve ever known. But, then, my husband, definitely a troglodyte by metrosexual standards, never tried to make his mark in the cake decorating or interior decorating business for which the family is, and the world should be, eternally grateful.
Carry on, David, in the spacing of three posts after mine, you can flit to your next vacuous utterance.
How many caught the cbc montage of sexist remarks made in the past, from Crosby’s “baby” to Deb Gray being called a slap of bacon, and even fuddle duddle was mentioned. One thing I noticed is Sheila has certainly put on weight since that baby remark. Is that sexist, sorry, but it is true. How did the libs treat her, that certainly showed respect for women in politics. Lihs eat their own. Notice the media spinning how a defeat in a strong liberal and bloc riding will be a setback for Harper. What if he wins one. Would martin/chretain called these in the same circumstances. Will Kennedy run in London. Who will resign if he or Rae win. Then it could be 180 days before Harper calls an election. Funny, but when our local social credit MP crossed the floor to sit as a liberal and got the agricultural ministership, he was voted out next election, and appointed to the senate. Traitors don’t do well in Alberta.
Liz J,
I wasnt comparing BS and HC intellectually. Hillary is a smart woman, no question, BS is….ulm….not as smart as Hillary, to be polite.
THe comparison was on the effect they have on their conservative opponents.
You can guarantee a good series of responses to anything the former minister of complex files is involved in. And Hilary, well put her face on an ad in certain conservative areas and you can guarantee to raise 50% more money.
Thats about the only comparison to be made, oh and that they both probably know what BC looks like in his underwear.
BS rumours circulating that She is not running, but walking to the nearest Exit.
BS will soon be bs? …-
national newswatch
Runny brown stuff’s wife is off slaying dragons, and he’s alone all day. And at SDA he gets the attention he craves, people even seem to take him
semi-seriously. I suspect this is a welcome change for him.
My advice to my daughter: don’t emulate this vapid, self-absorbed skank – she sets a bad example for young women. My 11 year old gets it.
End of discussion.
Little know fact the lie-beral that mentioned Mr. Peter Mckay’s dog, he was the one calling belinda a dog.
Bahaha Bahaha
Didn’t pick up on that?
Mr. Brown,
Magna has a dual-class common shareholding structure whereby the Stronach family owns 100% of the class of shares with voting control and the public owns the other class of shares (i.e., non-voting). The importance of this being that the Board is chosen exclusively at the discretion of the Stronach family (it has also been widely criticized by corporate governance advocates). So, unfortunately the argument that females are not on the Board because they don’t own shares is assine. The board is selected by Frank (and surely with input from duh, err, Belinda I mean). That’s why there are so many Liberals on the board and executive.
The liberal asking about the dog was Daltons brother.
I read this in todays Post Letters:
The Liberals cheered when the Liberal defence minister Doug Young- on the record- called the exceptional female parliamentarian Deb Grey “more than a slab of bacon.” Ms. Grey, a hard working MP with an indomitable spirt and natural class, was truely a worthy role model for all Canadian women. Belinda Stronach’s depiction as an attention-seeking bimbo has been a retrograde step for the status of all thinking Canadian women. However, the Liberals’ reaction to Deb Gray, contrasted by their rush to protect Ms. Stronach, shows their preference for “helpless” females and their fear of real women.
Damn!! I love it when conservatives lay the smackdown on lefties using nothing but facts, and logical thinking. Way to go Bruce, and DCoulter and others.
belinda skank ceo
Magna is also known in the European Union for it’s decidedly backward labour practices, especially in its plants in Austria, Frank’s homeland.
These facts about Magna should indeed be publicized, for they point up the tendency of arrogant Liberals towards studied hypocrisy.
hah! got a great email today concerning a brand new “leaf blower” and low and behold there’s a pic of belinda and tie..wish I knew how to share it
sign me not a nerdish type
Excuse me folks, but as the notice above reminds you, this is not a forum for personal banter.
Do wish people,mainly the socialist activists of the Left would get real. Time to stop the male/female war.
When it comes to jobs, hire the best PERSON for the position. There are strengths and weaknesses in both genders,oops, including the gender non-specifics and bisexuals and whatever.
The Stronach’s can hire who/whatever they like, it’s their business.
As a politician, Belinda has no real reason to criticize the Conservatives, it’s just part of the latest bandwagon the Liberals are getting onto, their cause du jour.
The stupid piffle between egg-head McGuinty and McKay in the house lit the fire and they’re trying to fan it. Ignore it.It’s desperation to deflect from the latest stupidity in their leadership race a circus at best.
David Brown says you can’t compare an auto parts manufacturer to a political party. David, the issue flew very high over your head. The comparison is not what you say it is. The comparison is between a board of a large publically traded company and the Federal cabinet. Follow me on this one. Belinda gets to pick from a huge pool of people when it comes to filling positions on her board. She has the luxury of filling every one of those chairs with women.
Stephen Harper, on the other hand, has only those in his caucus to choose from. Look at Parliament in general. How many women are there in those three hundred and some odd seats? Now look at the Conservative caucus. How many in there? Now, do you see the huge contradiction on Belinda’s part?
maz2: Thanks for the tip on BS not running again. That woman, and I use that term “loosely” does not represent the best interests of Canadians, period. The sooner that she is not tarnishing the House of Commons the better.
Belinda’s dad Frank Stronach pays no Canadian income tax on his 40-50 million dollar a year salary because he has a castle registered in Switzerland.Imagine all the things SOW and CCP could do with those lost Canadian taxes.
Many of the big hitters in the Liberal Party (female or not) escape paying billions in taxes (Paul Martin, Stronach, etc). Yet the scary ‘hidden agenda’ of the honest, tax paying, non-multibillionaire Stephen Harper is all we hear about in the media.
I’ll tell you what’s scary. Even though it’s widely know that these Liberals avoid paying millions in taxes, people continue to vote them in.
By the way, I’ll buy a round for everyone that has commented here if BS does not run again. She is a joke.
For a fun read on the media and politicians, go read Lorie Goldstein in the Calgary Sun today, comparing all this ado about nothing to a @#$%^soap opera. As for bs not running again, as she wants to travel with slick willie for aids etc, she forgets that come next spring, hillory will be starting her campaign for President. Willy will have to be a *faithful, caring and devoted* husband for at least 5 yrs if she wins. Can’t have him off galivanting with bs. She will not break up that marriage, like tie’s.
After setting up an imaginary world and commenting on it as though it were fact, David Brown disappears again after having his ass handed to him. But like a dog to it’s own vomit, he’ll be back.
Did somebody say masochist?
Re Sheila G’s post Oct 24 03:32…
That’s why I stopped subscribing to Chatelaine years ago. Their liberal leftiness was making me queasy. They don’t deserve any of my money.
Irwin,
Guess Who? I’m back.
Evenings and weekends are devoted to family time and leisure persuits.
I only post Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM when I can time allowing between business management meetings.
Did you catch all those liberal women marching to the mic today to defend an adulteress. Doesn’t say much for their morals and values. Maybe they are jealous of BSs conquests or hoping their indescretions with other politicians don’t see the light of day. Reminded me of Madeline Albright and all the cabinet marching to the mics at the White House saying they believed Clinton whan he said he did not have sex with that woman.
No wonder so few women run for office, they have real values and morals. No great roll models to look up to. Iggy really has his work cut out for him to find, fund, and train women candidates. Even if he does, there is no guarantee we women will vote for them.
Mary T and Liz J; I will address my comments to you because this post has become ‘all about women’. I agree with what you two have said here. Women are people, we are not a lump.
The bottom line: Some women are people; some women are Liberano$.
Sort of like the line from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly “As you go through life – says Clint Eastwood – you will find that there are two kinds of people; those with guns and those who dig”.