(source unknown, sent by a reader)

(Click graphic for larger version)
A tip from a reader who reads Warren Kinsella (scroll down to his Sept.12 entry), who wonders;

I’m confused. I thought Gomery’s PR flak was leaking this morning that their scrupulously-balanced reports would be late. But this MERX posting (nice to see them have a competitive process about something, for once) says otherwise. Any theories, anyone?

I saved the code of the contract page (the tender closes the 19th) and you can read it here. (Note, this is just a straightforward html copy for the purposes of preserving the text, so the links won’t work for you.)
At time of writing, it’s still available on the MERX site. You can find the Gomery report tender by scrolling down to find Services, “Communications, Photographic, Mapping, Printing and Publication Services”.
To echo Kinsella – any theories, anyone?

The already tangled Katrina relief story takes another twist;

Senior officials in Louisiana’s emergency planning agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste, mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck. And federal auditors are still trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998.
In March, FEMA demanded that Louisiana repay $30.4 million to the federal government. The problems are particularly worrisome, federal officials said, because they involve the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the agency that will administer much of the billions in federal aid anticipated for victims of Katrina.

Another reminder that corruption in government is more than a mere political irritant for taxpayers. Whether funds are misappropriated through fraud, or misdirected for partisan political advantage, sometimes the consequences are deadly.
Carrying that thought a step further, Canadians might consider asking where the claimed $10 bilion in security spending by the “people who brought you Adscam” is going in this country – and who it is going to.

Good news – Debbye is back;

[S]candal seems to be becoming Canada’s chief industry, as Bill takes note of yet another Canadian boondoggle which is finally being subjected to scrutiny: Audit of $2.9 billion TPC program expands and (oh my aching head) Paul Martin’s mentor, Maurice Strong who was also implicated in OFF, is involved. Again.

Bill Strong’s post is here.

The Canadian Taxpayers Ass’n is talking about something that was pointed out months ago by blogger MK Braaten – that the Liberal Party of Canada “Adscam audit” wasn’t an audit at all.

The Liberal Party of Canada has failed to conduct a forensic audit of its financial records to determine whether any “dirty money” made its way into party coffers. Leading forensic auditor and fraud expert Dr. Al Rosen has assessed the Liberal Party’s alleged accounting review as misleading, inconclusive, and “half baked.” The Liberal Party of Canada should not be in receipt of any tax dollars – whether technically legal or not – from the Adscam scheme.

Go sign their petition.
Then, for good measure, call or email your local news outlet and ask why they’re coverng Britney Spears’ new brat instead of stories like this.

Paul Martin is currently holding a news conference in Regina… outside of denying that Herle stated in caucus that the Libs could win a majority “without Quebec”, much of it’s been in French, and the rest has been a whole lot of nothing. He intends to talk to George Bush about softwood lumber…. questions about Gomery and answers about how his members are going to “work twice as hard as everyone else”… “transparent as possible” … “we called the inquiry”.. usual meaningless crap.
To a question about Alberta’s evil gains on the energy front at the expense of the rest of Canada, he’s yacking on about alternate energy sources.
“This country wasn’t built on jealousy”
Oh, there’s a good question – “there’s a perception that Alberta is “raiding” other provinces for highly skilled workers… ”
“Let Alberta be a beacon for the best and brightest on the condition that the rest of Canada is as well”.
Now, there’s a quote for the ages.
Update – here’s another;

“Our goal was to take the pulse of Saskatchewan and the pulse of the prairies and we were successful at that.”

A 650 CKOM reporter was just interviewed by David Kirton on her experience at the news conference. It turns out she was the only reporter from Saskatchewan allowed to ask questions (she raised the softwood lumber issue) and at that, she wasn’t sure how she pulled it off, as she wasn’t on the approved list of names. She also noted that of the 6 or 7 he took in total, three were from “French reporters”.
This of course, was at Paul Martin’s Liberal caucus meeting in Regina, where over 100 Liberal MP’s have been gathering in hopes of following through on David Herle’s prediction of an additional 8 – 10 seats on the prairies.
Oh, and deal with that westernalienationthingmabob.

Lance Levsen on the technical aspects of disturbing draft legislation to monitor internet activity.

The proposed legislation allows the law enforcement (RCMP, CSIS, CISC, etc) to intercept and monitor all Internet traffic without a court order. Currently, all previous forms of covert surveillance (mail, telephone and search without seizure) require lawenforcement to convince a judge for the purposes of obtaining a warrant.

Additionally, the proposed legislation requires ISP’s to monitor all of their clients Internet activities so that they can provide (given 30 minutes warning) reports and data on the target. This includes password protected web sites.

I suppose one can draw some reassurance in the fact that the same government that’s proposing it is giving the job to agencies so chronically understaffed that they are weeks behind in entering stolen passports and Interpol alerts to their own databases.

And then, of course, with legislation like this on the books, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you want to transmit sensitive information you should probably take steps to conceal it.
(To demonstrate just how easy that is – there are two such messages in this post. Neither are hard to find, but you first have to know they’re here.)
h/t Darcey

Pierre Poilievre’s website www.fightingforyou.ca is up- “inviting Canadians to email the Queen with concerns about a newly released videotape that shows Governor-General Designate, Micha�lle Jean, toasting independence with an FLQ member, and newly discovered comments quoted in a separatist book that Mr. Lafond wrote in 1993.”
(Is this Pierre kid finished high school yet? Damn, those Conservatives are starting them young…..)

If Michaelle Jean’s appointment as Governor General is as “non-partisan” as Paul Martin would have us believe, then why is her statement on the Liberal Party webpage?
Plus.. Angry notices something about the French version.
update… it’s been yanked.
More, from Andrew Coyne.
Update II Conservative Hipster has a Screenshot. Nicely done.

From the government that ordered the Sidewinder report on Chinese espionage in Canada destroyed;

“A federal government plan to permanently muzzle current and former employees of 14 entities with access to national security information is an affront to press freedom, the Canadian Newspaper Association warns.”

Press freedom is the least of our concerns. Via Frost Hits The Rhubarb who comments;

Then there is the whistleblower legislation designed to protect government, not whistleblowers. Search this site for articles on “whistleblower legislation” — there are good excerpts from Hansard with evidence from whistleblowers. Note that the RCMP will not be covered by this legislation so when they know something explosive, well, guess what? Find out what agencies are NOT allowed to whistleblow. Then you’ll know where to check for more evidence of the kind of thing found in the Gomery Inquiry.

Overview on Sidewinder here.

Commentary from Newbeat 1

There was a disaster management conference about a month ago but it’s been 4 years since 9/11 -and they were shocked that fed-provincial disaster management officials hadn’t met in 10 years.You can only get away with this when the media is asleep.There is a lot of CYA buck passing going on because it doesn’t look like they are ready for anything.
Exactly what has been done to protect canadians since 9/11?- only 200 out of 6000 first responders had advanced disaster training according to the AG’s report-how many major disaster simulations have been done in 4 years? How many CSIS agents are we short? -at least 700.Exactly what are they prepared for- since it doesn’t look like they are prepared for terrorists at airports, ports, transportation systems, emergency rooms.

To assist Canadians who want to know more about this former NDP premier Bob Rae, who is being touted as the successor to Paul Martin for Liberal party leadership, we are happy to provide this helpful chart.

Graphic courtesy Western Standard magazine.
Adam Daifallah notes the media campaign has begun.

A graphic, sent along by a regular reader.

Click to open – it’s very wide and a relatively large file (600k) so you’ll need to scroll sideways to read it all at full size.
update – this site has listed his assets, in English.

Guardian (PEI);

“What’s the one entity that hasn’t been investigated by our national police force? The recipient of the money, and the party that’s in power, that controlled the purse strings, that funneled the money back to themselves. Isn’t that a bit odd?” asked MacKay, the party’s critic for public safety and emergency preparedness.
“I find it very curious as a former Crown prosecutor when there’s overwhelming evidence that the responsible body, that was both the perpetrator and the recipient of the money, isn’t under investigation.”

The legitimacy of McKay’s concerns are enhanced when one learns that the RCMP ignored warnings within the department about their involvement with Adscam, long before it was blown open by the Auditor General.

“Fraser also reported the federal government paid three Quebec advertising agencies $244,380 in commissions to simply transfer $1.7 million from the Public Works sponsorship branch to the RCMP.
The RCMP’s commanding officer in Quebec questioned the large commissions paid to the advertising firms years before it became an explosive issue in Parliament.
Odilon Emond, an assistant RCMP commissioner and commanding officer of the RCMP’s C-division in Quebec, raised the concerns in 1998 but the RCMP did nothing after he questioned the deals.”

Via Newsbeat1 – a good site to bookmark for news gathering on Canadian security issues.

Paul Martin is very, very concerned about Information Commissioner John Reid’s attempts to get his hands on Jean Chretien’s agenda books and he’s determined to work very, very hard to ensure it doesn’t happen.
Via BendGovt;

According to media reports, Information Commissioner John Reid has launched the latest round in his lawsuit to try and force the Prime Minister’s Office to release Jean Chretien’s agenda books, accusing the Liberal government of refusing to comply with Canada’s information law, with Paul Martin named as a party in the suit (Ottawa Citizen, July 19, 2005). Reid continues his efforts to try and force the Liberal government to comply with the Access to Information Act.
Perhaps this explains why Paul Martin and the Liberals have decided to ignore Parliament and refused to extend Reid’s appointment for a year. Perhaps Martin and the Liberals are hoping to get rid of Reid and appoint a new Information Commissioner who won’t be so keen to enforce Canadians’ right to information, and who may be willing to abandon this lawsuit.
Points to consider:
* On June 15, 2005, the House of Commons voted 277 to 2, to concur in a report of its Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics that, “The appointment of John Reid, the Information Commissioner of Canada be extended by an additional term of one year, effective July 1, 2005. This recommendation would not preclude Parliament from further extending the appointment after the one year extension.” Martin choose to ignore Parliament and provided only a three month extension for Reid.
* All ministers present (33) voted for the motion to extend Mr. Reid’s term not by three months, but for a year. The ministers voting to extend Reid’s term by a year included Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, Reg Alcock, Mauril Belanger, Carolyn Bennett, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Claudette Bradshaw, Scott Brison, Aileen Carroll, Raymond Chan, Joe Comuzzi (since left cabinet), Irwin Cotler, Stephane Dion, Ujjal Dosanjh, Ken Dryden, John Efford, David Emerson, Joe Fontana, Liza Frulla, John Godfrey, Ralph Goodale, Bill Graham, Albina Guarnieri, Jean Lapierre, John McCallum, Joe McGuire, Andy Mitchell, Stephen Owen, Pierre Pettigrew, Geoff Regan, Lucienne Robillard, Belinda Stronach, Tony Valeri and Joe Volpe
* This is just the latest example of Martin ignoring the will of Parliament
* Three months means that Reid may not be around to oversee the planned overhaul of the Access to Information Act. Nor will he be able to pursue this case

(Previous post on John Reid “While The Media Directs Our Attention To Harper’s “BBQ Circuit”)

Paul Martin’s pattern of behavior continues. What can’t be achieved through democratic means….

Official Opposition Senior Environment Critic Bob Mills stated today that he is critical of the Liberal government’s plan to introduce a tax on carbon emissions. The scheme was initially designed to be part of the budget implementation bill but was removed by all Opposition Members of Parliament at the Finance Committee. This notice of intent to list CO2 in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) was quietly slipped into the Canada Gazette over the weekend.
“This is a phony government that knows no shame whatsoever. After the Liberals announced their plan to list CO2 in CEPA as a toxic substance in April, MP’s from all parties demanded the provision be removed. All Opposition MP’s at Finance Committee voted to remove the provisions. Undaunted by widespread opposition in the House, the Liberals have now decided to implement their carbon tax through order-in-Council. This is unacceptable, undemocratic and clearly against the wishes of the Commons Environment Committee…”

Readers commenting on this post, “Letter To Terry Milewski” have raised some very good questions about the Imperial Plumbing cheque allegedly cashed by Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal.

If one looks at the area under the signature, what do you see?
That’s right. Nothing.
Now, contrast this with the portion of the cheque (issued from a different bank) for $1,600.00 from Mr. Mann to Nina Grewal, and deposited to the riding association;

The numbers stamped indicate the amount the cheque was made out for, certifying that funds were moved. “A Ziggen” pointed this out in the comments, and writes privately;

Individual branches do not typically clear their own cheques. In a transaction where a cheque was presented to a teller the teller would stamp the cheque as recieved and then put it in with the rest of the cheques destined for the Automated Clearing Settlement System (“ACSS”). The ACSS system (11 members in Canada mostly in the major institutions) allows for cheques to be cleared among various financial institutions. Typically the ACSS would review the cheque to ensure that a “stop payment” order had not been recieved and that there were sufficient funds to honor the cheque. If the “ACSS clearing house” had no problems with the cheque it would be processed and returend to the “client institution” to then be returned to the customer. In the event that the clearing instition had problems with the cheque it would be returned to the home bank for further info.
In other words the returned cheque should have the magnetic coding done by the bank that details the cheque amount in the lower right hand corner.
The only contingency that we could imagine where this might not happen is when a branch clears it’s own cheques in the instance where the client of the bank (i.e. Superior Plumbing”) writes a cheques that is settled in the same branch. In order to exclude this possibilty I suggest that you ask for member of the Khalsa Credit Union to look at their cheques that were written from the the Khalsa Credit Union to see whether this coding was done.

The Khalsa Credit Union has been in the news. (h/t to commentor Rob) Vancouver Sun Friday, October 01, 2004

THE PROVINCE – The eldest son of Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik has resigned as a director of the Khalsa Credit Union after government regulators alleged he had been in a conflict of interest and lied under oath.

And from Flight182.com (coverage of Air India trial);

Also arrested recently businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik who founded the Khalsa Credit Union and the Khalsa School in the Vancouver area. Malik faces charges of conspiracy and is to be tried along with Bagri and Reyat.

Profile of Ripudaman Singh Malik (apparently from 2001)

Malik is currently the President of a 16,000-member Vancouver based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU) that reportedly has assets worth $110 million. Canadian authorities have indicated that Malik manages two Khalsa educational institutions that receives financial assistance from the government of British Columbia. These educational institutions and the KCU have on many occasions been controversial due to the monetary assistance they have reportedly provided to the widow of Talvinder Singh Parmar.
News sources in Canada have reported that Malik has contributed financially to the Federal Liberal Party and has also attended fundraising functions for the Canadian Premier Jean Chretien. It is alleged that Malik has contacts with Ujjal Dosanjh, the Indo-Canadian Premier of British Columbia who was also the Attorney-General in British Columbia during the RCMP investigations. Sources in Canada have said that the RCMP conducted extensive raids in 1999 on KCU to scrutinize the activities of the International Sikh Youth Federation who held their meetings at the KCU- affiliated Khalsa school. Malik alongwith Ajaib Singh Bagri belong to the fundamentalist wing of the Sikh community in Canada and are reported to have waged a often violent clash with the more moderate functions for the control of lucrative gurudwaras.

In Canada, it seems everybody knows everybody.

July 16 Update – More Questions about this cheque

Continue reading →

Celebrating diversity on the west coast….

“The International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) was founded in 1984 in the United Kingdom as an international branch of the All India Sikh Students’ Federation (AISSF) with centers in several countries, including Canada. The ISYF is a Sikh organization whose aim is to promote Sikh philosophy and the establishment of an independent Sikh nation called Khalistan. In the pursuit of their goal, the ISYF does not hesitate to resort to violence. Since 1984, its members have been engaged in terrorist attacks, assassinations and bombings mostly against Indian political figures, but also against moderate members of the Sikh community opposed to their extremist ways. The ISYF collaborates and/or associates with a number of Sikh terrorist organizations, notably Babbar Khalsa (BK), the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF).”

All that, and the company of Liberal Party candidates, too!