What’s notable about Conservative Sen. Patrick Brazeau is that he isn’t all that notable.

In fact, he’s just one of a long line of senators who have been associated with wrongdoing, scandal and even crime.

Over the years, there have been plenty of senators who have got in trouble with the law. Brazeau is just the latest.

There have been senators charged and convicted for the usual political scandal trifecta — fraud, theft and breach of trust. There have been senators accused of obstruction of justice.

There have been senators charged with elections offences — even though they don’t really run in elections. There have been prosecutions for influence peddling. There have been investigations for spending taxpayer dollars improperly (two such investigations are underway right now, in fact).

But those sorts of things happen over on the House of Commons side of Parliament quite often, too.

Ministerial resignations, firings, MPs kicked out of caucus. It all happens, and it all happens way too often.

Corruption and law breaking — and now alleged assaults and sexual assaults — are not uniquely the purview of senators.

Members of Parliament break the law, too.

Yet, in the wake of “Senator” Patrick Brazeau’s assault and sexual assault charges, there has been a growing angry chorus demanding the Senate’s abolition.

To many, the latest raft of senatorial scandals is sufficient justification for the closure of the red chamber. The anger is understandable, but the calls for abolition are not.

If crimes, and alleged crimes, are justification for eliminating the Upper Chamber, then we should eliminate the House of Commons, too. MPs break the law more than senators do, after all

No, the Senate should be ended for another reason entirely.

It should be killed off because, in the sort of modern state we profess to be, it is an abomination. It is more than a disgrace — it is a stain on our democracy. It is toxic.

When I worked on Parliament Hill, I knew plenty of senators, of all stripes. Most of them were hard-working, decent people, who desperately wanted to serve the people. In Canada, however, nobody paid them much heed off Parliament Hill.

When some of them travelled to the United States or other countries, however, they would be treated like royalty. That’s because, when our senators are outside Canada, few non-Canadians are aware that they aren’t elected.

When you tell an American that, they are shocked. An appointed legislature? With actual power?

Any dictionary defines “democracy” in the same way. It is a system of government in which the people elect representatives to govern.

Nowhere is it defined as system where a prime minister creates a dumping ground for party hacks and bagmen. Nowhere is it defined as a system where a few get to wield power because they have cronies in power.

You know why people, in increasing numbers, don’t vote? Because they think the political system takes care of only itself. It doesn’t take care of the people.

That’s why fewer and fewer citizens vote.

And, when you look at the Senate of Canada, it’s pretty hard to blame them.

The solution, then, is simple enough.

ABOLISH IT.

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Early reports suggest she lives in Ontario. Exclusive footage at eleven!

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I’m still a bit stunned by this.  A Pope resigning?  Apparently that hasn’t happened in 500 years.

I am a hopeful (and church-going) Irish Catholic. As such, I am hopeful that the next leader of my church:

• Finally ordains women as priests, and permits marriage of priests.
• Finally agrees that gays can enter the sacrament of marriage, and the priesthood, too.
• Finally accepts that abortion should be legal, safe and rare.

Will any of these things happen?  I dunno.  But, a decade ago, if you had suggested a black man could become President of the United States, you would have been laughed at.

So, we continue to pray.

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I was a bit surprised by this part of Harper’s column:

“To Ottawa-based journalists, Duffy betrayed the tribe, insulting those of us who believe our job is to try to hold our elected representatives to account, not to turn on a dime once a patronage plum is dangled.”

Hmm. Except that Ottawa is overflowing with former journalists who have taken positions within government, no? They’re everywhere – as directors of communication and press secretaries and whatnot. Off the top of the head, in fact, I can recall at least two former Star guys (Graham Fraser and Bill Fox) who took a big government appointment. There may be more.

I think the reason why so many journalists target Mike Duffy is because he became such an enthusiastic advocate for a government which openly dislikes journalists. It’s not that he crossed over to the Dark Side – it’s that he crossed over with such glee.

Anyway. The public see politicians and media as all part of the same problem. They don’t see a distinction. They’re all on the Dark Side.

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Star:

Kathleen Wynne picked Charles Sousa as finance minister after leadership runner-up Sandra Pupatello spurned overtures to return to politics, the Star has learned.

And:

The rookie leader was forced to resort to a backup plan Sunday following an unsuccessful four-day effort to recruit Pupatello to run in Windsor—Tecumseh, vacated by Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, who is retiring.

“They staked so much on Pupatello coming into the finance ministry that they had to resort to Plan B when that collapsed,” a senior Liberal insider confided Sunday night.

 

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Wow. This will tend to be the big news of the day, I think.

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Driving to do a TV hit. Listening to Jian on CBC. This amazing, incredible tune comes on. Band are perfect. Tweet Jian. “Who the HELL was that?”

Him: “Palma Violets.” Song: ‘Best Of Friends.’

Just when I thought music was sucking again, along comes this. Thank you, Lord.

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The Queen is no joke. The Diamond Jubilee medals minted to commemorate her 60th year on the throne, however, are.

They’re more than that, in fact: They are a disgrace. And the manner in which they have been handed out is a bona fide scandal, and one deserving of further investigation. Some background, first.

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, as it is officially known, was “a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.”

Note the phrase, “significant contributions and achievements.” Nearly 60,000 Canadians would receive the shiny silver medals, the governor general said last year. To do so, one needed to be Canadian, have a pulse, and have made — again, that key requirement — “significant contributions and achievements.”

The distribution of the medals was ultimately determined by the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They won’t say much about what they did to tarnish what should have been a wonderful idea. But tarnish it they did.

For example: A short while ago, the prime minister made certain to give a Diamond Jubilee medal to Jenni Byrne, his party’s campaign manager. (She was in the news again this week, when a Conservative MP stated the buck stopped with Byrne for what he called “deceptive” robocalls recently made in Saskatchewan). What were Byrne’s “significant contributions and achievements,” apart from helping to elect her boss? Hard to say say. No one’s talking.

There’s more. A box of the medals were given to REAL Women of Canada to hand out, like concession stand tokens. Among other things, REAL Women is a group that calls the “homosexual lobby” a “threat” to Canada, and which formerly had a director named Rita Anne Hartmann. As revealed in the Toronto Sun many years ago, Hartmann’s family had extensive involvement with both the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi Heritage Front. REAL Women, meanwhile, has never disavowed their association with Hartmann. Why did they get medals? Again, who knows.

Gary McHale got one, too, in a ceremony earlier this month in Toronto. McHale is an Ontario anti-Native, anti-police activist who has spent time in jail for his misadventures. What’s his “significant contribution” to Canada? No one knows. No one will say.

Out west, a Conservative MP gave medals to a couple of convicted criminals. Out of the 30 medals MP Maurice Vellacott received, one was received by an anti-abortion fanatic, Mary Wagner, who happened to be in jail at the time. Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson, who theoretically oversees the legal system that put Wagner in jail, was asked how such a thing could happen. Ask Vellacott, he said. No one seems to know much, or care.

In London, as the Free Press revealed, a former municipal politician who has been convicted of municipal corruption got a medal, as well. George Avola was honoured this week by Mayor Joe Fontana — who himself is awaiting trial on charges of fraud, uttering forged documents and breach of trust by a public official. How could such a thing happen? Again: No one knows.

It goes on. Separatists. Bankers. Right-wing lobbyists. Murky religious groups aligned with the ruling Conservatives. All have received medals, for no apparent reason. If all of this enrages you, as it does me, take heart. Canada still has leaders like Raye-Anne Briscoe, mayor of Admaston/Bromley, in Renfrew County near Ottawa. A few days ago, Briscoe got a Diamond Jubilee medal from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. She sent it back.

“I am returning this medal,” Briscoe wrote to the federation, “as I am utterly shocked, taken aback and insulted that (you) would make a ‘blanket’ distribution of this honour with a letter that would lead one to believe that they had actually been individually selected.”

It was a “sad and disappointing decision,” Briscoe said. And it was a decision that had “devalued the coinage of the realm.”

Canada needs more Raye-Anne Briscoes.

It doesn’t need the damned Diamond Jubilee medals, however.

UPDATE: on reflection, I have deleted some angry comments I made about Gary McHale which contained cursing. I sincerely apologize to McHale. (I’m going curseless for Lent.) The curse-free question I asked of him I still have, however: why did he not bar the National Alliance and the likes of Paul Fromm from attending his “Freedom” marches? Why won’t he condemn them? He says he is no extremist – and I take him at his word. So why did he not bar extremists when they appeared at his event?

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Free that book being held hostage! Busby’s on the case.

Boy, I sure wish I could get Roy McGregor to ghostwrite – er, I mean, act as an “editorial consultant” – on my books!

Guess I just have to keep writin’ ’em myself. At a rate of about one every two years or so.

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Story here.

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