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Pardon me, but is the head of CSIS insane?

Here’s what Richard Fadden told CBC TV in an on-the-record, on-the-air interview:

“There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government.”

I see.

A number of countries are involved, he said, but then went on to identify China as the prime culprit.  As Chinese President Hu Jintao is about to make an important visit to Canada, this does not seem like the most adroit of foreign policy moves.

But that’s not all, of course.  What about the “several municipal politicians in British Columbia” whom Fadden has now identified as spies, or traitors, or some combination of both?  Would not one or some of them now want to sue, to have their names cleared?  The effect of Fadden’s words have been to smear all Chinese-Canadian municipal politicians in B.C.   There is now a cloud over the reputations of all of them – until such time as we know who Fadden was talking about, and who he wasn’t, all are suspect.

This is a pretty extraordinary mistake for our supposed top spy to make. He should be dismissed.

UPDATE: The reaction begins:

Harper had ‘no knowledge’ of claim politicians under foreign influence (CSIS-Politicians-Recr)

OTTAWA – A spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office says Stephen Harper was caught unaware by stunning allegations that several Canadian politicians are under the control of foreign governments.

The revelations from Richard Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, point to foreign infiltration of municipal and provincial political ranks, including cabinet-level politicians.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas says the PMO has “no knowledge of these matters” and is directing all inquiries to CSIS.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the spy agency owes Canadians more information.

McGuinty says Fadden promised to alert the federal government so it could tell the relevant provincial governments about ministers being controlled by foreign governments.

Fadden declined to name the two cabinet ministers or their provinces, but he said a number of public servants in British Columbia are also under suspicion.

McGuinty says the province hasn’t been contacted so, from Ontario’s perspective, “no news is good news.”

He says the CSIS chief needs to elaborate and provide more details so any concerns can be addressed.

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But one adviser within the Smitherman camp, and several political observers without, say Smitherman’s lack of resonance with voters is real trouble that, left uncorrected, will doom his dream of succeeding Mayor David Miller.

“Of course you want to stay the front-runner,” said the adviser, speaking on background.

“It’s not ‘The sky is falling,’ but when you look at where (Smitherman) started and where is now, he’s bled a s—load of votes. It’s got to get fixed, and get fixed smartly. Should we all be slitting our wrists? No. Should we all be saying, ‘Why isn’t our message getting out?’ Yes.”

And:

“How much do I want it? I want it enough that I gave up one of the most powerful perches in the whole friggin’ country to take it on,” [Smitherman] says. “I want it enough that I’ve sacrificed . . . a $170,000 a year job. I want it so bad because I’m so motivated to end the mediocrity which has become the entrenched culture at the city of Toronto.

“I’m working my ass off here.”

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International symbol of the proletariat and the oppressed. Ca-caw, ca-caw.

Meet Roger.

Roger is a fake crow I bought at a dollar store in Maine last Summer.  I put him on the dashboard of my car.  The kids thought it was funny.

So, there we were on Sunday night – me, my daughter and Roger the Crow.  We were driving West on Lakeshore Drive to get near the Much Music Video Awards ceremony, so my daughter could take pictures of a clothed Miley Cyrus.  She was excited.

We stopped for a red light, tunes cranked on the radio. A shiny new van pulled up beside us.  Inside it, five uniformed cops were sitting.  They turned and regarded us.  We smiled; they didn’t smile back.  The cop behind the wheel signalled for me to turn down the music.  I did.

He pointed at Roger.

“What is that for?” he said, unsmiling.

“I beg your pardon?” said I.

“That,” he said, pointing at Roger, as the other unsmiling cops watched.  “What is the meaning of that?”

“Um,” said I. “That’s Roger, a toy crow.  He’s our mascot. My kids think he’s funny.”

The cop nodded and continue to look at us.  He didn’t seem to think Roger was funny.

The light turned green.  We gave the cops a friendly wave, and drove on.  My daughter looked uncertain.  “What was that all about?” she asked.

“You got me,” said I, heading toward Much Music.  “Maybe they thought Roger was a terrorist symbol or something.”

“That’s stupid,” said my daughter, who is fourteen.

“There’s a lot of stupidity going on for this G20 thing,” I said. “I don’t see a whole lot of good coming out of it. I mean, they’ve already written their dumb communique in advance. Why are they even meeting here? Why didn’t they hold their meeting on an island up in the Arctic Circle?”

Roger, doubtlessly agreeing, said nothing.

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The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey indicates the Tories emerged from the session with 34 per cent support — a solid seven-point lead over the Liberals.

The NDP were at 17 per cent nationally and the Greens at 10 per cent…

As the session sputtered to a close last week, the Tories were leading in every region of the country, except Quebec where the Bloc Quebecois strengthened its grip on the province, the poll indicates.

And they had opened up a double-digit lead over the Liberals among male voters (38 to 25 per cent) and even pulled slightly ahead among women (29 to 28 per cent)…

The poll suggests the Conservatives enjoy a comfortable lead throughout most of English Canada:

— In Ontario, the Conservatives were at 40 per cent, the Liberals at 32, NDP at 15 and the Greens at 11.

— In the key 905 area code ridings around Toronto, Tories were at 43 per cent to the Liberals’ 32, the NDP’s eight and the Greens’ 15.

— In British Columbia, the Tories were at 33 per cent, virtually tied with the NDP at 32, while the Liberals lagged with 19 per cent and the Greens with 14.

— In Manitoba-Saskatchewan, the Tories were at 39 per cent, the Liberals at 23, the NDP at 23 and the Greens at nine.

— In Alberta, the Tories were at 55 per cent, the Liberals at 22, the NDP and Greens at 10 each.

— In Atlantic Canada, the Tories were at 38 per cent, the Liberals at 36, the NDP at 17 and the Greens at seven.

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Loyola.

“In a decision that sets back Quebec’s efforts to strip religion from the province’s institutions, a judge has ruled that the government showed Inquisition-like intolerance in the way it imposed a secular ethics course on a private Roman Catholic school.

The ironic reference to religious zealotry in the pursuit of secularism came in a ruling that handed a victory to Montreal’s Loyola High School. The Jesuit boy’s school went to court for the right to keep teaching its ethics course from a Roman Catholic perspective.

In a decision handed down Friday, Superior Court Judge Gérard Dugré said that not only did Quebec violate Loyola’s religious freedoms by insisting it teach the secular course, but also it went about it in a “totalitarian” manner.

“In this age of the respect of fundamental rights, of tolerance, reasonable accommodation and multiculturalism, the attitude adopted by the [education] minister is surprising,” Judge Dugré wrote.

“The obligation imposed on Loyola to teach the ethics and religious culture course in a lay fashion assumes a totalitarian character essentially equivalent to Galileo’s being ordered by the Inquisition to deny the Copernican universe.”

I have a personal interest in this important decision. My father graduated from Loyola High School, and supported it for his entire adult life. I went there, too, for two wonderful years, with boys who came from all faiths. A Jesuitical education – as brief as it was in my case – deeply shaped my later views on politics, trade unionism, social justice and plenty of other subjects. For us, the Jesuits were the greatest teachers one could have.

Here, I suspect the unpopular Charest government’s target wasn’t actually the Jesuits, it was something else – a grubby, cynical manoeuvre to capture some xenophobic/Islamophobic votes. (The manoeuvre is not without its enthusiasts, unfortunately.)

In taking on the Jesuits in a “totalitarian” manner, however, the Quebec Premier has made a big mistake. The order has been around for centuries, and has seen many governments come and go. It won’t simply abide a ruling that requires it to denude itself, and its teachings, of any meaning.

I fundamentally believe in the separation of church and state, as regular readers will know. Most of the time, the threat to civil society involves religious figures attempting to impose the tenets of their faith on government. But, sometimes, it also involves government bureaucrats attempting to impose their misanthropy on religion. Neither should be allowed to stand.

What’s your view? Comments are open, as always. Keep it civil, please.

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Davies’ own statement was wildly offensive and wrong.  The tweet by the CIC – which has seemingly become a de facto arm of the Conservative Party of Canada – is also offensive and wrong, and homophobic, to boot.  (They apologized, after getting caught by LGBT community.)

I suppose I shouldn’t be disappointed.

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My God Almighty, this guy is a great communicator.

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Not super-duper sure it’ll work, though!

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This and this.

Discuss.

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