There’d be winning conditions for a new referendum, this suggests:
If this wasn’t also happening:
More here. Harper, I have long felt, is the best argument for the Part Quebecois’ never-ending drive for separation. Fortunately, Marois has been a useful counter-argument.
For now, that is. She has been adept and adroit in Lac-Megantic. It’ll be interesting to see how Quebecois see her in the coming months.
Here are quotes from statements that Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s “Information and Privacy Commissioner,” made on June 5:
And:
And:
In sum, she (a) accused people of engaging in a criminal cover-up; (b) she suggested that the criminality was part of “a culture;” and – assigning herself the role of political analyst – she (c) urges voters to vote the way she, you know, wants them to. Immediately thereafter, Opposition politicians also started braying and screeching that laws had been broken, and the OPP decided to investigate Cavoukian’s claims.
Even before yesterday’s revelations, all of that stuff was bad enough. But Cavoukian – who usually devotes herself more religiously to international junkets paid for by the taxpayer, but has not once come into Minister’s offices to educate staff about the rules, in the way that the Ontario Integrity Commissioner regularly does – wasn’t done. No, sir. She loved the attention that her statements, and her over-the-top report, received. Her taxpayer-funded profile, as one former cabinet minister told me last week, suggests that she is quite fond of herself. So she kept at it, and dialled up the rhetoric and the hysterical tone.
On June 25, then, she was back before the klieg lights, saying:
And, about Chris Morley, Dalton McGuinty’s former Chief of Staff:
There she goes again: a conspiracy existed to “shield activities” from public view. Political staff were all a bunch of fibbers. And Chris Morley – who she did not interview or communicate, not once, before defaming him on an occasion where she knew she couldn’t be sued – was a liar. (When pressed, however, she admitted that Morley’s testimony had been “technically true,” quote unquote. Not many media reported that little factoid.)
Her turn before the committee and the Queen’s Park media done, Cavoukian then went on a media tour, appearing on as many TV and radio programs as she possibly could, and thereby wringing out of Maclean’s that she was “a rock star,” quote unquote.
She’s not a rock star. She’s (best case) incompetent or (worst case) a phoney, fabricating fabulist.
Yesterday’s news shows why. On June 5, she stated as a fact that emails had been “deleted,” and thereafter launched a campaign of defamation against people who mostly were in no position to defend themselves. On July 10, she revealed that, well, um, er, the emails hadn’t been “deleted” after all.
That’s a pretty big mistake, considering what her mistake led to – headlines, subpoenas and a police investigation. Her excuse is that some unidentified functionary in government told her the emails had been deleted, and it was that person who got it wrong, not her. But that’s not good enough, for five reasons.
By her conduct, and by her words, Ann Cavoukian has diminished herself, her office, and an important issue. She has acted recklessly, without regard to the facts, and without regard for the reputations of innocent people. And – most seriously – she is the person most responsible for the launching of an actual police investigation that, we now learn, is based on her own factual error.
The emails weren’t deleted. What deserves deletion, instead, is Ann Cavoukian.
Resign, now.
The entire premise of her previous hyperventilation and hysteria – that emails had been “deleted” – was false.
She, and the Opposition parties, got it wrong. They hadn’t been deleted, at all.
Cavoukian and the PCs and NDP owe McGuinty et al. an apology. Personally, if I were them, I’d sue for every statement that Cavoukian and her winged monkeys made on a non-privileged occasion.
Oh, and that OPP investigation that Cavoukian’s half-cocked claims kick-started? I guess that’ll be wrapping up, now.
In the meantime, the OPP should charge Cavoukian et al. with mischief. And/or wasting taxpayer dollars.
My former partner and colleague at McBinch, who is far more judicious in his language than I would have been, assesses the latest legal twist in the Wong saga. He’s nicer to her than I have been.
Worth a read, right here. A fine lawyer from a fine firm.
How do I know Howard’s fun? Last time I saw him, he was at an SFH show, selling our merch at the Bovine Sex Club, and grinning from ear to ear.
No snob is Levitt. Only advice I’d give him? Get a Jeep like me. I hit that huge flood on Bayview, water was way up the side, and I cruised right through it.
Better than one of those sissy sport cars!
I tried to be nice. I tried to be polite. Now, they get Mean Angry Warren.
UPDATE: Aaaaand the social media team is heard from. They should be so timely before things go to DefCon One. Might remove the need for a social media team.
…so says Hydro and others. So, then, why are shops like Mac in Yorkville keeping the doors to their air conditioned premises open in this way?
Send along pix of more such firms. This is totally outrageous.
We’re pals, full disclosure, so I am happy to see Adam running. And I meant what I told Global’s Jackson Proskow: the only people who care about most of these so-called scandals, anymore, are the politicos and the media. Real folks just don’t.
Adam is a smart guy and a hard worker; I think he gives the Libs and the PCs a real problem in that by-election. As in, he could win.