OTTAWA – Liberal forecast here in the Nation’s Capital: rain, hail and locusts. With a possibility of sunshine, chirping birds, and limitless blue skies.

That, at least, was the Grit forecast at the 90th birthday party of the Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien in Ottawa Thursday night. Lovely and clear, but incoming clouds spelling total disaster. Uncertain, you might say.

This writer was there solely to toast Chretien, so the phone was off. Not notes were taken. But many, many conversations were had, with veteran Liberals from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island. It was revealing. But it wasn’t unanimous.

In attendance was the sitting Liberal Prime Minister, who was quite genteel, and kept his focus on the birthday boy. Also there: many of his cabinet ministers, particularly the ones with leadership ambitions. (You could tell they were ambitious, because they were offering to take selfies of people.)

And, of course, there were scores of Chretien-era former ministers, MPs, Senators and staffers. Tons of them.  All there to celebrate Chretien, and recall some of his many achievements – among them, winning three back-to-back Parliamentary majorities. A feat that has only been achieved by Sir Wilfred Laurier, more than a Century ago.

The attendees were from all over, but quite a few had stuck around the Nation’s Capital after Chretien resigned in 2003. Some did lobby work, some gave advice here and there, and some abandoned political life and got a job in the public service.

But all seemed to have kept their eyes fastened on Ottawa, and the political comings and goings during the ten-year reign of Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau.

What they had to say is significant, because the 350 people in attendance know how to win. They won more majorities than anyone since, and most anyone before. They know their stuff.

There were three camps. The pessimistic, the optimistic, and the undecided. Here’s the political weather forecast from each camp.

The pessimistic: This group -chiefly represented by those whose livelihood no longer depends on Liberal beneficence – foresee unmitigated disaster for the Liberal brand. This group speculated that a decade in the political wilderness was not just possible, it was inevitable.

The main reason, for the pessimists, wasn’t entirely Justin Trudeau’s fault. The country is in a foul mood, they intoned, and he isn’t the kind of guy you keep around when everyone is miserable.

Besides: Justin had overstayed his welcome, said the pessimists. Nearly a decade in power is plenty – as good as it gets. Time to change the channel.

If there was one criticism the pessimists had, however, it was this: Trudeau-era Liberals weren’t real Liberals. They had moved the party too far to the Left, and had become indistinguishable from the socialists. The woke stuff, in particular, had left the pessimists out in the cold.

The optimists: this group believes – and some cases, are convinced – that they can win again, with Justin. No, they did not attend the party wearing straight jackets.

On the morning of the big party, Abacus released a stunner of a poll, showing the Trudeau Grits a whopping 17 points back of Pierre Poilievre’s Tories. Seventeen points!

Pressed for the reasons for their sunny ways outlook, then, the optimists took out their crystal balls. As it were.

The Spring will see interest rate drops, they insisted – something with which most economists agree. The economic fundamentals – debt-to-GDP and the like – are better than any other G7 country. Also true.

Trudeau may not be a Chretien-style PM, they acknowledged. But he is a Chretien-style campaigner, they noted, and he too has won three back-to-back elections. (Although only one of them resulted in a majority.) Also true.

And, the optimists concluded, Poilievre is rage farmer. He doesn’t have any hope stuff on offer – it’s all anger and fear, 24/7. He thinks the country is broken, and the only people who believe that are the ones who wouldn’t vote Liberal if you put an unregistered long gun to their head.

You can’t sustain anger forever, the optimists said. Sooner or later, voters get exhausted by it. And that’s when Poilievre will run out of gas, say the optimists.

I repeat: they were not wearing straight jackets.

The undecided: This group tended to be mostly found in the private sector. They’d done their political bit, and they had moved on to pastures untainted by governmental overreach and bureaucratic machinations. They looked blessedly serene.

And, mostly, they didn’t know what was going to happen. They agreed that it was foolish to underestimate Trudeau, as three successive Conservative leaders had done (one of those leaders, by the by, sang a birthday ditty to Chretien in a video greeting, and he – Stephen Harper – brought the house down).

By the same token, said the undecided, it was foolish to dismiss a 17-point gap, too. With mere months to go before an election happens, they opined, double-digit deficits should not be sniffed at. They’ve been going on for months, and they’re real.

So, there you have it. The winningest faction within the winningest political party in Western democracy – and they’re all split on what the future holds, too. They, like everyone else, are peering at the skies and wondering. Do we go golfing, or do we head to the root cellar and batten any relevant hatches?

Chretien, meanwhile, saying nothin’. He wasn’t revealing which camp he belonged to. He told jokes, he brought us to tears, he was terrific.

If he ran again, he’d win another majority.

On that forecast, all present would agree.

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Follow the money.

In any scandal, that’s the rule: follow the money. When you see who is paying, and who is benefiting, you learn plenty.

Yesterday, this newspaper followed the money, and broke some news: anti-Israel protestors are getting paid to protest.

After the horrors of October 7 – and after the pro-Hamas crowd started showing up in big numbers, with professional-looking organizers and signage – suspicion grew. In the past, anti-Israel protests were rag-tag efforts, and few and far between.

The post-October 7 protests were anything but. They were big, they were noisy, and they were causing chaos from the island of Manhattan to the island of Vancouver. They looked like the sort of rallies that professional
political parties put together.

Did that many people really hate the Jewish state?

No. Because if you’re getting paid to be there – effectively just an actor – then you’re just playing a role. Which suggests that the anti-Israel protests are as phony as a three-dollar bill.

A recap of yesterday’s Toronto Sun scoop:

• a Victoria BC group called the Plenty Collective has been distributing thousands of dollars to individuals and groups to show up at anti-Israel rallies
• the Collective was dispersing as much as $20,000 a month, going back months
• the Plenty Collective gave priority to indigenous people and people of color – to project the false media notion that Israel was all-white, and opposed by a diverse group
• there managers would show up at anti-Israel rallies with vans stocked with professionally-rendered signs, banners and flags – and the organizers would wear uniforms and provide food and drink to the people they hired to be there

The scam wasn’t just happening in far away Victoria, BC. It’s been happening across the continent, too.

In December, Montreal pro-Israel activist Beryl Wajsman told this newspaper that police sources firmly believed that protestors in that city were also being paid. Organizers had divided the city up into sections, he said, with paid ward “captains” able to quickly put together noisy anti-Israel street demonstrations.

In the US, it has been confirmed that protestors are getting paid, as well. Millionaire tech mogul Neville Roy Singham has bankrolled multiple pro-Palestinian protests since last year.

His “People’s Forum” has organized multiple anti-Israel protests since Oct. 7 — and, prior to that, has helped spread propaganda favoring China’s communist regime. A massive 2023 New York Times investigation revealed Singham funded a group called Code Pink – which in turn has funded anti-Israel protests, along with allying with Hamas and Holocaust deniers.

Victoria-area Councillor Ian Ward, who has led an effort to expose the anti-Israel efforts of the Plenty Collective and its fellow travelers, says it’s critical that people know the truth about the ostensibly pro-Palestine protests.

“These organizations are paying people to be the face of their movement,” Ward says. “And it’s all organized by a lot of the same individuals and groups who have been arrested at past protests. They’re linked. And we know they are getting money from outside.”

Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the like have funded Hamas, Ward notes. It’s not a stretch to suggest they are funding protests in North America and Europe as well, he says. It’s not difficult to find proof of the linkages: a group calling itself the “Anarchist Movement of Vancouver Island,” for example, has been openly fundraising for pro-Hamas activities, using untraceable Bitcoin as its currency.

It isn’t easy to find evidence that anti-Israel protestors are just actors, and getting paid to show up. But it is critical that media and government pull back the mask, and expose who is really paying for the performance.

And, with anti-Semitism surging everywhere, it’s critical we do that now.

Follow the money.

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They’re being paid to protest.

What many have suspected has now been confirmed by this newspaper and a few courageous Canadians: pro-Palestine – and, increasingly, pro-Hamas – protestors are being paid to protest. To block highways and roads. To intimidate and threaten Jews and non-Jews. To cause chaos.

They’re being paid.

In years past, anti-Israel protests were typically small, disorganized and ineffective. Not many people came out. Since October 7, when 1,200 Israeli men, women, children and babies were slaughtered, and hundreds taken hostage, the protests have been dramatically different.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, participate. They’ve got professionally-rendered signs and banners. They’ve got transportation, and food and drink. And they’ve got organizers who wear uniforms and control the crowds.

And who distribute the cash.

This week, this newspaper was alerted to the fact that a Victoria, B.C. organization was distributing thousands of dollars to anti-Israel protestors. The Plenty Collective, as it calls itself, created what it called a “Solidarity Fund” for Victoria-area “folks or groups” to pay for “costs related to supporting or organizing actions in solidarity with Palestine and Palestinian people.”

Said the Plenty Collective: “This fund is to help cover costs incurred when organizing or participating in local actions. This can include, but is not limited to, the costs of lost wages, supplies, items for fundraising, paying speakers, etc.”

Priority was given to Palestinian, black or Indigenous people. And thousands have been paid out for weeks now – typically close to $20,000 every month. The Plenty Collective did not respond to multiple attempts to seek comment.

Ian Ward is a municipal councillor for Colwood on Vancouver Island. He, along with local activist Charles Bodi, discovered the pay-a-protestor payment scheme. And he’s seen the effectiveness of the paid-protests up close. Says he: “They are highly organized. I’ve watched them. A van pulls up, and they’ve got flags, signs, and they’ve got organizers from the Plenty Collective wearing orange vests controlling the crowds.”

“And they have control because they are holding the cash for the protestors.”

Much of the money is being generated locally, says Ward, who was the first to break the news that Victoria city councillor Susan Kim – along with Ontario MPP Sarah Jama – had signed on to a pro-Hamas letter that denied Israeli women and girls were sexually assaulted on October 7. But some of the money, he says, seems to be coming from elsewhere: “We don’t see them being this organized, and this well-funded, without offshore money.”

It’s not just happening in Victoria, B.C. In the U.S., there is now confirmation that anti-Israel – and often anti-Semitic and violent – protestors are getting paid to protest. A multimillionaire tech mogul, Neville Roy Singham, has – along with his wife Jodie Evans – have been bankrolling pro-Palestinian protests since last year. Their “People’s Forum” has organized multiple anti-Israel protests since October 7 – including a number of efforts designed to “shut down” public and private sector offices. On November 24, they posted on X: “Are you ready to disrupt business as usual? No celebrating in peace while genocide takes place!”

Some of the anti-Israel funding has seemingly been right out in the open. On Craigslist, a now-deleted November ad read: “We are looking for 5-7 actors or activists to hold panels and distribute flyers in front of a venue as a peaceful, legal protest. Needed for November 24th, evening, 2-3 hours, paying $30/hour.”

November 24 was the same day, of course, as the pro-Palestine “shut down” protests, where 34 were arrested trying to disrupt the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and Black Friday sales.

“They’re paying for protestors to try and lend credibility to their movement,” says Ian Ward. “October 7 was just stage one. These carefully-crafted and controlled protests are a public relations campaign, and I think are the real objective.

“They are really an attack on Western democracy and Western values. Our way of life is literally being challenged here. And we are in danger.”

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