01.07.2013 07:05 AM

Oh, look

Now they are smearing her with financial audits they haven’t actually released. From the same fiscally-incompetent crew who shit the fiscal bed on the fighter jets. Amazing.

Anyway, this latest stunt fits the pattern. Therefore, tomorrow’s column isn’t about Chief Spence and the Cons – it’s about how the Cons’ pig-headedness has turned Chief Spence into a folk hero.

51 Comments

  1. JamesHalifax says:

    Warren,

    The Conservatives aren’t’ smearing anyone and you know it quite well. Any “smears” are the result of an audit by a very competent Accounting firm. The audit is simply showing how incompetent one small band of First Nations “leaders” can be.

    I’m sure you would be the first person demanding an answer to where the money went if this was not about Native Canadians.

    Warren, the people of Attawaspikat deserve better than to be robbed by their own leadership. That is what Harper and the Government are trying to stop, which is why they demanded accoutability for where tax money is going, because clearly, it is not going where it was intended, but is instead enriching corrupt indian politicians.

    • Warren says:

      Question, and I want a clear answer: have you, a regular Conservative commenter, received a copy of the audit? How do you know these things?

      • JamesHalifax says:

        Answer:

        No, Warren, I have not seen a copy of the audit, but I have heard about the leaks. If, the reporting on the audit is not factual, and show in fact that Chief spence handled the finances well, I will be the first one on this site to offer my retraction and apology.

        If on the other hand, the audit is as damning as the initial reports suggest, I expect you to be equally damning of the Chief as you would be of any other crook. Your co-worker EZRA was bang-on, and Kudos to SUNTV for being the ONLY media outlet with the balls to ask the tough questions that no one else will touch.

      • JamesHalifax says:

        By the way warren, I am a liberal in the true sense of the word, which is why I support the Conservative Party.

        I don’t get tied down by Party names, only their principles and policies. When the LIberal party returns to being a truly liberal party…then maybe I can be turned.

        • Robert Jago says:

          ‘Freedom, Family and Faith’ are not what classical liberalism is built on James. Freedom sure, family less so, but faith not at all. Those three-f’s are from Harper in 2009 when he told us libertarians to leave the party because we ‘didn’t believe in personal responsibility’. Harper is the one who blamed the failures of Wall Street on the free market – while at the same time cozying up to the real enemy, ‘crony capitalism’. There are no true liberals left in the Conservative Party, there are the blind, the ignorant, and the partisan. You call yourself a liberal – tell me, what true liberal principles are upheld by abandoning the Chinese people, by spending the money of future generations on handouts to the big car companies, and by attacking Libya?

    • GFMD says:

      Improper accounting procedures are a far cry from robbery. Certainly it’s not good, but it’s a symptom of the problem not what’s standing in the way of a solution.

  2. JamesHalifax says:

    Almost forgot.

    Warren, the Conservatives didn’t turn Spence into a hero….and based on the latest audit, nothing could.

    Just because the media and other assorted activists wish to see her that way has nothing to do with Harper. We’ll see how well your “hero” fares when the truth about how she and her minions have pissed away the funding meant for her people come out; though I’m sure, that the anti-Harper media will do their level best to push the story elsewhere and make it look like Harper is just evil for asking the question.

    • Michael says:

      Got to love the “anti-Harper” media complex you guys have.

      Sun Media, the National Post, and 90% of the newspapers in the country will be surpirsed to hear they are “anti-Harper”

  3. GPAlta says:

    If there are facts behind this supposed “new audit,” why did the facts not come out sometime over the last ten years when the federal government was directly co-managing the band’s finances?

    If there are facts behind this supposed “new audit,” why did they not come out in court last year:

    “The judgment said that at no time did officials from Duncan’s department raise any concerns about the community’s management, prior to Marion’s appointment, and no evidence was given to show mismanagement or improper spending.”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/08/01/pol-attawapiskat-court-ruling.html

    I would suggest that the weight of evidence will still be on the side of either no mismanagement, or mismanagement by the government not the band even after this single mysterious report comes out.

    Everyone should keep in mind that third party managers cost $1000 to $3000 per day, and that “The auditor general has also repeatedly criticized third-party management for not being properly monitored by the government.”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/08/attawapiskat-consultant-costs.html

    • Graham says:

      The audit allegedly (I say allegedly because it has not been publicly released) shows “no evidence of due diligence by the band council” while 81% of the spending had incomplete records and 60% had no record at all.

      I fail to see how that is the Conservatives fault.

      • GPAlta says:

        Because the government has been the “co-manager” of all the finances for 10 years. If the results are bad, I would say that both co-managers (the government and the band) would bear equal responsibility, that’s generally what “co-” implies.

        Also, if things are that bad, why did the government not say so in court just a few months ago?

  4. Anne Peterson says:

    How typically Harper conservative/reform. Instead of dealing with the real issue which is the arbitrary changing of the rules regarding reserve lands in order to get better access for pipelines and such, they spend time demonizing folks. The issues are completely unrelated as well as unproven. Did the same thing to the rest of us. When we questioned environmental hearings they called us radical activists. They are working up to calling everyone who doesn’t agree with them activists and terrorists. Well if I’m a left wing nut job, lib loving, lieberal, lunatic lefty, uneducated marxist eco terrorist radical activist biased pedophile loving sort in their eyes, so be it, I guess. I will wear it proudly.

  5. GPAlta says:

    Also, let’s remember that this is the same Harper “government” that is going to court to fight against the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s request to see how much federal departments are actually spending.

    Accountability and Integrity is not Harper’s strong suit. Remember Christiane Ouimet? Bruce Carson? The Canada EI Financing Board? the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat? If people start accusing the band of overpaying leaders for insufficient work, I think we would be right to remind Harper of his own record of doing the same thing shamelessly.

    • Graham says:

      Is Page not demanding to see what the Conservatives are CUTTING?

      I was under the impression he wants to know about future spending CUTS which falls outside his jurisdiction and thats why they are going to court.

      • GPAlta says:

        He wants to know how they will be spending funds that they are NOT CUTTING, which happens to be the same thing as knowing what they are cutting. I know that Conservatives are not so good with math, but this talking point that there is a difference between 4 – 2 = 2 and 2 = 4 – 2
        is utterly ridiculous.

        His job is to tell parliament whether the budget is reasonable and whether it will be adhered to. He has already said that the budget numbers are unlikely sufficient to deliver the programs that the “government” has said will not be affected, and so he wants to see how the remaining programs will be funded. If that means that the deficit reduction targets in the budget are all impossible lies, it is his job to tell parliament that.

        How does the fact that the budget is full of lies fall outside of his mandate? That seems like exactly what he should be there to determine.

        Let’s also remember who between Page and Harper was completely right about the F-35 costs and who was lying about those costs with full knowledge that they were lying. Let’s remember that Harper used the exact same strategy against Page on the F-35 costs as he is now using against our First Peoples, and let’s remember that Harper was not just wrong against page, he was willfully and knowingly lying to the people of Canada, and that he was trying to smear the Page personally at the same time while all along knowing that Page was in the right.

      • po'd says:

        “Parliamentary Budget Officer”

        hmmm, budget…things that go in, and things that go out. If you plan cuts to your budget, that’s part of formulating the budget.

  6. OdysseusCA says:

    The leaks of the contents of the audit by this Government just reeks. It fits hand in glove with the attacks by Sun News Network & their top hatchet man Ezra Levant. It also leads one to wonder if that execrable shrill gnome had advance access to the Deloitte audit for the “questions” he’s been asking of late over the last week.

    This “Harper Government”™ pointing fingers for financial incompetence to a small First Nations band of limited resources when three different Ministries full of highly competent staff couldn’t get a jet fighter procurement right though is a bit rich. Canada may be looking at the tip of an iceberg of corruption that has metasticised throughout all levels of governance. Forget about China or India, we got massive corruption right here in our home & native land.

    • Graham says:

      How did the government leak it?

      Are you seriously suggesting the Conservatives and their enemies at the CBC are working together all of a sudden?

      • Nic coivert says:

        Oh please, ‘how did the government leak it’ — well, they leaked it.

        The opposition didnt leak it, Spence didnt leak it; who had it leaked it.

        The one full of piss leaked it.

        This is the PMO’s MO.

      • po'd says:

        When does the CBC’s next budget process come due? They took quite a hit the last time.

  7. po'd says:

    In other news, CPC testing new version of Scrubby Bubbles. Initial tests show it works well on election spending files

    “Letters shedding light on the election spending and deal-wrangling by a cabinet minister’s top campaign official have been removed from a public Elections Canada file.”

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/04/pol-letters-removed-from-peter-penashue-file.html

    Also of interest,

    “On Oct. 17, the MP for St. John’s East, NDP member Jack Harris, stood in the House of Commons and criticized Reg Bowers, appointed to the board in December 2011.

    “He proved unable to competently run a local election campaign within the rules, but Reg Bowers was still so well regarded by the prime minister that he was awarded with a plum appointment to the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board,” Harris said.

    http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/2012-11-16/article-3121711/CNLOPB-appointments-not-without-controversy/1

    We promise to do better next time was the Tony and John Gazebo defence as I recall. Goose, sauce? Bah humbug, I’m sick of them all.

  8. tfalcone86 says:

    Nice imagery WK.

  9. dave says:

    This looks like a tactic I have seen before. It usually works. The way it seems ot work is that a piece of research (in this case, an audit) that should have been made public some time ago, is kept secret. But bits of info from the research,usually out of context, are leaked to friendly rumour mongers and media. The aim is to discredit a supposed opponent (in this case, fellow Canadians). A part of the tactic is to leak at a particular time(in this case, just before the politburo’s meeting with the Aboriginal reps) so as to tilt public opinion in favour of the bigshots.

    Later, when the full report is released (or, in a couple of incidents like this that I experienced, never released because never existed), the big meeting is over, the public impression is set, and the bigshots have reduced the political fall out.

    Last week on P&P Flanagan said the government is to lay low and let rifts happen in the Idle No More movement. What he, and many others knew, was that the government was not laying low. It was actively carrying out covert tactics of various kinds to discredit the whole protest. Appealing to racism (Aboriginals contribute nothing, but receive everything) is an important part of the subversion.

    • frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

      I do believe you are spot on, Dave……

      • Michael Bussiere says:

        Flanagan: “European civilization was several thousand years more advanced than the aboriginal cultures of North America,” He further argues that colonization was therefore “inevitable” and “justifiable.”

        This from a man who had to locate Calgary on a map in order to consider a job interview with the U of C.

        • frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

          The only advantages European conquerers had were guns, germs, and steel……had the aboriginal populations had either the guns or the steel and greater resistance to germs…..the stories of N. America and S. America might have been a lot different…..

          I hold Mr. Flanagan more responsible for anyone for the advent of “Dear Leader”…..He promoted Harper continually……and the man had the nerve to complain a few years back about the centralization of power within the PMO……hey, Tom, you helped put him there….

    • po'd says:

      Wouldn’t it be great if a main stream Journalist were to write an in depth article on how much hate, bigotry and racism toward Natives the media has allowed in comments on their sites? Then perhaps point to some other groups of people living in Canada and compare the level of tolerance for those things.

      It would also be great if some elected Liberal guy with a high profile were to speak out about it too.

      I wonder sometimes why the Natives don’t fight back on that front? Lot’s and lot’s of fodder for them. Leaves me to consider they are so used to it, so beaten down by it, that it either hasn’t occured to them to do so or they don’t know how to go about it.

  10. Merrill Smith says:

    “Deloitte said there was no evidence of due diligence and it could not conclude the payments made by the band council were in accordance with its funding agreements with Ottawa.”

    Did they find any evidence the funds were mis-used? Did they find any evidence of fraud or other crimes? Funny how the government doesn’t want to release the report because it’s bad, but they’re quite happy to release some details that indicate how bad it supposedly is.

  11. Graham says:

    Updated information

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stor…it-monday.html

    Comments from Spences spokesman:

    – The audit is absolutely wrong, but refused to comment on contents
    – Just a smear attempt
    – We (the natives) should be UNDERMINING HARPER AND THE INDIAN AFFAIRS MINISTER.

    And my personal favorite:

    – The media are not allowed to talk to her right now because “she is focused on her hunger strike” and then turns on the media accusing them of “not taking honest information back to Canadians”.

    You’ve just bit the hand that feeds you Spence. Now, ALL the media will be digging into your actions, not just Sun News.

    You’re TOAST.

  12. Attack! says:

    Thing is, as they just explained on CBC NN, all the audit showed was that there was little or no documentation detailing how the money was spent. But: that doesn’t mean the money was MIS-spent. At least, that’s what Tony Clement swore up and down last year when the Auditor General revealed there was little or no documentation on how he decided to and spent nearly $50M on gazebos & other ornamental projects in (little real) connection with the G8/G20.

    • GPAlta says:

      It is possible that she is a bad leader- Harper is also a bad leader as are most elected leaders of small municipalities in the country. Flaherty has for example never made an accurate economic forecast in his whole career. But that doesn’t change the fact that this band has been under co-management for 10 years, so the ongoing problems belong to both the community and to the federal government.

      No one can deny however that she is a brilliant spokesperson for Canada’s most important issues (First Nations healing and poverty), and that she has finally brought Canada’s longest standing disgrace some significant degree of public attention. That is a fantastic politician if you ask me.

      Kay uses the concern that she might be a bad leader as a reason for us to cancel all the treaties and abandon all remote settlements. I think that there might be a better solution…

  13. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    If this is the Canadian way, please book me on the next rocket to Mars.

  14. Terry Maloney says:

    Interesting how “Bill” apparently foresaw this leak yesterday …

    “illegal……if Spence wants to gather more taxpayer money she will need to accept 3rd party management. I think this will be come clear in the very near future. […] ”

    http://warrenkinsella.com/2013/01/in-sundays-sun-i-detest-this-government/#comment-100778

  15. Anne Peterson says:

    Deloitte? Deloitte? Ah, yes, I remember Deloitte. They are the ones the conservative government contracted, at $90,000 per day, to advise them on how to make government cuts. And they are also a global corporation which advises the petroleum industry on how to develop the oil sands and make it popular. You know, the oil sands firms, those people who want to build pipelines across aboriginal lands.

  16. Joe says:

    “…..Interesting how “Bill” apparently foresaw this leak yesterday …

    Seriously, you would have to be a complete idiot not to have seen this coming a long time ago.

  17. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Few observations…

    a) Let’s take a problem that’s been around since just about forever and hang it ALL on THIS government for not solving it.

    b) I remember the Chretien government, wasn’t it, that proposed an overhaul of the Indian Act, and so much shinola hit the fan, they shelved it.

    c) It’s a free country, and people can live wherever they want. That said, I have a big problem with the concept that taxpayers are some obligated to subsidize anyone’s right to live where they want. Were this about any other non-native communities in Canada, this would be an absolute non-starter.

    d) This government amended regulations regarding First Nations ability to lease their land for commercial purposes…at their request! Nobody is legalizing the sale of their land! This line of protest is garbage.

    e) This government is enacting financial accountability legislation for First Nations that every other form of government in Canada has to abide by. It’s about bloody well time! And again, in large part due to requests by First Nations peoples themselves, whom are rightfully fed up with the status quo.

  18. JB Blauq says:

    Warren: Some points –

    This is not news to many of us, many chiefs & councils have been doing this for many years, with no accountability or consequences.

    Many of this know this is a distraction ploy, and by that I mean the “hunger strike” and not the “leak”

    A large number of us support many things in C45, such as more freedom to lease land etc. Admittedly there are area’s of it that need discussion, and it was implemented poorly.

    Those that that support Chief Spence are a vocal minority, very vocal, but still a minority. Those of us that think like Chief Louie are large in number, but we are mostly quiet (busy working) and we are growing in numbers.

    No I am not a conservative, and yes I am First Nations.

    JB

    • smelter rat says:

      Do you differentiate between Spence’s supporters and idlenomore supporters?

    • que sera sera says:

      Right. And you & everyone else, including the Federal Government, who want to append themselves to Chief Louie’s coattails, and “that think like Chief Louie” might ask yourselves: why exactly is Chief Louie’s incredibly articulate voice silent at this particular moment in time? Surely not just to allow you to put words in his mouth.

      Interesting these days how many people have suddenly discovered Kinsella’s website.

      • JB Blauq says:

        Smelter – not at this time, for the majority of them anyway. Any legitimate arguments they may have had have been hijacked by others that really have no idea what they really want, other than to protest loudly.

        Que sera – I have no idea what Chief Louie thinks or why he has been silent on this. How do you know he has been? Chief Louie is well known for his hard work instead of sympathy approach, getting things done, and he doesn’t have any time for those that prefer to piss and moan about their plight instead of doing something about it. There are a lot of us that think the same way, he is a well known example I use – where do you get that I am trying to “append” myself to him?

        It seems to me that your very dismissive of anyone FN that does not fit the narrative you have defined for them

        How “colonial” of you..

  19. JB Blauq says:

    Pardon my spelling/grammar, point #2 should start “Many of us” – usually I proof read better.

    But while I’m posting again, if you took a photo of a reserve I recently visited, you would think it was in a 3rd world country by the conditions of many of the homes. This same reserve had a Chief who found many reasons to attend events in Vegas, often chartering direct flights, and if you stood around for a couple of hours and observed, you would see many vehicles in the “Escalade” price range driving around. Yes they belong to band members, whose homes are also quite nice.

    Coincidentally they are also the same people in the Chiefs family, or who are otherwise “connected”.

    You see, we are not that different than the rest of you..

    JB

  20. Niall says:

    Some times, when the news is bad (and frankly, indefensible, and utterly predictable), it’s better to say nothing, no?
    But I’m no communications genius.

    And that said, some-times (ie: V. Toews & and “pornographers”) it’s even better NOT to defend the speaker, &/or attack those who are critical of said comments.

    I believe it unnecessarily damages your credibility.

    Niall from Winnipeg

  21. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    That meeting…on Friday. I expect it will be a lot more like the 4th of July — than representative of the spirit of the Yuletide season. A truly sad day for Canada awaits. (We Shall Overcome Some Day.)

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