How the Globe and Mail Got Its Groove Back

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Media, Politics

In a recent Huffington Post blog, I was unduly critical of the Globe and Mail‘s lack of coverage of what I considered to be a far more serious and far-reaching investigative issue: the alleged criminal deletion of emails and destruction of documents of senior staffers in Premier McGuinty’s office, pertaining to the controversial cancellation of two Ontario gas plants.

Well, I am sorry. Mea culpa.

The Globe has picked itself up. The mighty has risen.

And the top notch Globe investigative reporters are doing what they do best, holding Ontario Liberal staffers and potentially senior provincial Liberal politicians to account, for their alleged wrongdoing, and potentially the alleged criminal acts of obstruction of justice, contrary to the Federal Criminal Code.

In a recent devastating article, entitled, “Premier’s staff purged records after power-plants probe began,” Karen Howlett of the Globe, reported that, “The e-mail records of a close adviser to Ontario’s former premier were purged five weeks after a legislative committee ordered the government to release all documents in connection with the controversial cancellation of two gas-fired power plants.”

The Globe‘s Howlett further reported that specifically, the email account of Chris Morley, former chief of staff of Premier McGuinty was permanently deleted shortly after he left Queen’s Park, together with the email accounts of Morley’s successor, David Livingston and the email accounts of Jamison Steeve, McGuinty’s former principal secretary and Sean Mullin, McGuinty’s former director of policy.

According to reporter Howlett — Morley, Livingston, Steeve and Mullin, were all part of a high-level initiative, to manage the fallout from the cancelled Oakville power plant.

I kid you not.

It appears touchy-feely Premier Dad’s office was a front for a highly secret clandestineoperation, codenamed, Project Vapour.

Suddenly, we are in John le Carre territory

And what a shadowy, secretive world, this is!

Are Morley, Livington, Steeve and Mullin, also codenamed “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”?

Howlett’s article raises another important question: Who ordered the deletion of these emails?

Howlett notes,

“It is not known who gave the order to erase e-mails that could have shed light on the cancelled projects. The documents submitted by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s office to an adjudication review officer, including affidavits on the deleted e-mails, are silent on the matter. Mr. McGuinty issued a statement Friday evening saying he neither condoned nor directed the deletion of e-mails, ‘which ought to have been preserved.'”

In addition to fingers being pointed at the former Premier McGuinty, the actions of Mr. Livingston, McGuinty’s former chief of staff and successor to Morley, are coming under further scrutiny.

In a report last week, Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian singled out Mr. Livingston for asking the head of the province’s civil service “how to wipe clean the hard drives in the Premier’s office” and ensure electronic records were deleted permanently.

In order for an action to be deemed criminal and contrary to the Criminal Code, there has to be a mental element to the act (the intent to obstruct justice) and the actual physical act (the deletion of emails to obstruct justice in order to avoid a judicial proceeding).

The issue then becomes, who ordered the destruction of the emails, who knew about the order to destroy the emails or who ought to have known about the order to destroy the emails?

The investigation of such questions not only involves former Premier McGuinty’s office, but may involve the current Premier’s office and the offices of her current Cabinet Ministers.

This story has great legs.

Kudos to the Globe for reopening this story, digging deep and persisting.

While the Toronto Star waits expectantly for the non-existent Ford video to emerge.

And the Star continues to go easy on Premier Wynne, and pretends that this devastating and potentially government-ending deletion of emails scandal, is a non-story.

Kathleen Wynne Should Wake Up and Smell the Gas Plants

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

Firstly, I would like to welcome back the crack investigative teams of the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail from their fruitless search of the elusive and now non-existent Ford “crack cocaine video.”

I know it must have been fun getting down and dirty with the US gossip webpage “Gawker” and being interviewed by American tabloids and American late night hosts.

And having your “15 minutes” of Hollywood fame on American TV.

But now it is time to get back to serious investigative journalism and the potential criminal actions of a slew of senior staffers from the offices of former Premier Dalton McGuinty and the former Minister of Energy.

As I reported in my previous Huffington Post article, “Ford Is Distracting the Press From This Story”, while the Star and Globe reporters were digging deep into the messy private lives of the Ford Family and their assistants, Keith Leslie, of the Canadian Press, without major fanfare, but very effectively and professionally, broke this devastating story over 7 days ago.

That is, Dalton McGuinty’s senior staffers allegedly deleted internal emails and destroyed documents pertaining to the controversial cancellation of the two gas plants.

The scandal threatens to bring to an end the Wynne Liberal Government and the political career of Premier Wynne.

When the Keith Leslie report was first published, the response by Liberal apologists was that the deletion of emails was at worst a breach of an obscure provincial act, “The Archives and Recordkeeping Act, in which according to the Liberal Attorney General Gerretson, there are no penalties for such breaches.

According to the same Huffington Post article, Attorney General Gerretson, stated,” “Maybe we should be taking a look at penalty provisions.” Attorney General John Gerretsen also admitted he wasn’t sure of the rules on keeping emails.

“I’m quite sure that a lot of us would not have been totally familiar with what you can or cannot delete, quite frankly, from emails,” said Gerretsen.

Apparently, to the Ontario Attorney General, this seems to be a mere question of unclear government policies relating to the minor matter of document retention.

Perhaps the Attorney General should have read my above-noted article a little more carefully, posted over a week ago, when I strongly suggested that the deletion of emails and the destruction of documents in the face of an ongoing Ontario quasi-judicial legislative committee investigation of the cancellation of the gas plants, could be deemed criminal acts contrary to the Criminal Code.

Let us recap a little history.

Over a year ago, after Dalton McGuinty was returned as premier in a minority government, a Tory/NDP quasi-judicial legislative committee was set up to investigate the cancellation of the famous gas plants in Mississauga and Oakville.

For over a year, this same legislative committee has been demanding the disclosure of the relevant documents pertaining to this scandal.

Which included the internal emails and documents in the offices of the Premier and the Ministry of Energy pertaining to the gas plant cancellations and the negotiations with the plant owners and operators and other parties to these matters!

The McGuinty government, of which Kathleen Wynne was a senior Cabinet Minister has resisted every effort. The McGuinty government circled the wagons and (to mix a metaphor), stonewalled the opposition.

And the McGuinty government only grudgingly disclosed some relevant documents, but certainly not all the relevant information.

Notwithstanding the efforts of this legislative committee and the numerous Freedom of Information requests launched at the McGuinty government.

To the point that the opposition parties brought a rare motion of contempt ofParliament against former Liberal Minister Bentley and basically ground legislative business to a halt.

In order to avoid further politically embarrassing disclosures, Premier McGuintyprorogued the legislature and then he stepped down as Premier.

Then by magic, some more relevant documents were discovered and released to the said legislative committee, but still no internal emails and documents of the senior staffers in the offices of the Premier and Minister of Energy.

In this context, the Attorney General of Ontario should have considered that the destruction of such emails and documents which have been sought by the relevant Ontario legislative committee could be construed as criminal obstruction of justice in order to cover up the government policies of his own government.

Because lo and behold, contrary to the Liberals’ wishful thinking, the OPP has launched a criminal investigation into all those senior Liberal staffers involved with the deletion of the emails and destruction of the documents.

As I suggested in my original Huff Post article, the opposition Tories and NDP should be demanding that the investigation of those senior staffers should be conducted by an impartial, outside of Ontario and independent special prosecutor, together with investigative forces outside of Ontario, namely the RCMP or other provincial investigators, so as to avoid any appearance of conflict or bias.

As to Premier Kathleen Wynne, she cannot distance herself from this scandal.

As a senior Cabinet Minister in the McGuinty Government she knew about the opposition demands for the said internal emails and documents. She knew or ought to have known these relevant emails and documents were not available, as they had been deleted and destroyed.

So the classic Watergate question.

What did Kathleen Wynne as Senior Cabinet Minister in the McGuinty government know about the internal emails and documents? What was her involvement with the alleged cover up of these emails and documents and the alleged deletion and destruction of these documents?

Premier Wynne can no longer claim ignorance and fall back on the classic SargeantShultz defence of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame, “I see Nothing. I know Nothing.”

Saying sorry will no longer cut it any more.

Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal Government is at serious risk and her political career is on the line.

How Justin Trudeau Boosted Rob Ford’s Chances of Re-Election

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics, Rob Ford

In the past, I have not written positive things in the Huffington Post about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. But I must publicly commend Trudeau for his proposal to bring greater transparency and accountability to the Canadian taxpayers and voters.

According to Althia Raj, senior Ottawa reporter for the Huffington Post, “Justin Trudeau has pledged to post online the travel and hospitality expenses of all his Liberal MPs, Senators and staff starting this fall as part of a four part plan to increase transparency in the Senate and in the House of Commons. ”

“As first reported in the Huffington Post Canada, Trudeau’s four point plan will give the public access to the expense claims filed by members of his caucus.”

Raj goes on: “Expenses and entitlements have been a hot topic in Ottawa following the Senate expense scandal that has rocked the upper chamber and landed four senators — Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb — in hot water after they allegedly expensed thousands of dollars in ineligible living and travel expenses.”

I must doff my frayed chapeau, to the young Trudeau. He is definitely on to something here.

All Canadians are mighty angry about how our politicians — be they federal, provincial, or municipal — are spending, and in some cases, abusing our hard-earned taxpayer dollars, perhaps improperly claiming expenses incurred for running their respective Parliamentary offices and local constituency offices.

I think Justin Trudeau should go several steps further. Every Federal MP in the House of Commons should post on a quarterly basis, the following: his/her salary; employees’ salaries and service contracts; travel; hospitality and events; advertising; printing; and costs of the offices. And as suggested by Greg Thomas, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation, the federal MPs should post all receipts and supporting documentation.

This calls to mind Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Although Ford has been the subject of much criticism, one area where it has been difficult to fault him is his tight office budget. For the past three years, it has been around $1.9-million. In fact, his 2013 office budget has been approved by Toronto city council for the sum of $1.9 million, allowing for 19 staff. The 2010 city office budget of Toronto mayor David Miller in his last year was $2.6 million, with the use of 23 staff. Since Ford only seems to be using about 12 staff members, his actual 2013 office budget costs may be considerably lower than $1.9-million.

Please note that Mayor Ford is the mayor of the city of Toronto, which has a current population of about 2.615 million people, spread over 630 square km. In fact, it could be argued that Ford is too stingy with his budget and should be spending more on staff and support in his office. But interestingly, as I noted in a previous article on Rob Ford, when it comes to the mayor, voters in Toronto if given the choice between a person who breaks the law and a person who wastes taxpayers’ money would prefer the former to the latter.

I predict that if required, Mayor Ford would be more than happy, for the sake of transparency and public accountability, as Justin Trudeau has recommended, to post online his office budget and break it down with particulars supported by documents and receipts. In fact, I believe that it should be a precondition for any serious challenger to Rob Ford to post his/her office expenses, travel expenses, constituency expenses, housing expenses and other expenses with supporting documents and receipts.

Take for example, the NDP Federal Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Trinity Spadina, Olivia Chow. Ms. Chow’s name has been bandied about as a possible challenger to Mayor Ford in the 2014 mayoral election. Ms. Chow is very well-known and would be a formidable opponent to Mayor Ford. She represents a federal riding with about 115,000 voters spread over about 25 square kms.

Ms. Chow is also a very principled and thoughtful politician. In view of Justin Trudeau’s policy of greater transparency and accountability, it would behoove Ms. Chow to also post her office budget, employees’ salaries, travel expenses, and constituency expenses for the last three years, together with supporting documents and receipts. Given that she is a person of integrity and principle, with a sincere concern for the plight of her hard-working constituents, I am sure she could account for all the expenses listed above.

Ms. Chow’s total expenses as an MP for April 2011- March 2012, paid for by the Canadian taxpayers, were approximately $428,753. This amount consisted of the following major items: $227,289 for employees’ salaries and service contracts; $54,245 for travel for Ms. Chow, designated traveller and dependents; $11,843 for travel for employees; $19,462 for Ms. Chow’s accommodation and per diem expenses; $43,306 for Ms. Chow’s constituency office, including lease and utilities; and $24,906 for printed householders.

It should be noted that although Mayor Ford represents about 23 times the voters (2.615 million vs. 115,000 voters) spread over 25 times the area as Ms Chow, Mayor Ford’s budget is only 4.43 times greater than Ms. Chow’s total expenses. Granted, Ms. Chow has to drive 4 hours from Ottawa to her Toronto home while Ford just has to drive 45 minutes. And Ms. Chow has the additional cost of a constituency office in her home riding. But still, Ms. Chow’s total costs paid for by the taxpayers seem relatively much larger than Mr. Ford’s.

I am sure Ms. Chow will have reasonable explanations for her use of all these taxpayers’ money.
But superficially, Ford seems to get more bang for the buck for each Toronto voter he represents.

One of the unintended consequences of Justin Trudeau’s push for greater transparency and accountability pertaining to politicians’ expenses just might be that Mayor Ford will rise in voters’ estimation when compared to other political opponents.

Kathleen Wynne For the Lose

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

Premier Wynne was hoping to score some political points with Toronto voters by exploiting the controversy surrounding Mayor Ford.

As reported in a recent Globe and Mailarticle, “Premier Wynne warned that she is prepared to intervene in the city’s affairs, if necessary.”

The Globe article further stated that Premier Wynne is monitoring the situation in Toronto City Hall and as appropriate, the Premier and her government would be involved.

Apparently, according to the said article, lawyers for the Wynne government are reviewing the applicable legislation governing municipalities, so as to provide Wynne with advice, if she should decide to act.

Liberal insiders suggested that Wynne may act to remove Mayor Ford if a majority of the Toronto councillors passed a resolution requesting the Wynne government to force Mayor Ford to step down.

You know the Premier crossed the line, when NDP Adam Giambrone, leftist Mayor Miller’s right-hand man and former TTC Chairman, in a CBC Radio panel, publicly questioned Premier Wynne for even contemplating intervening in clearly a municipal matter.

Sue-Ann Levy, one of my favorite Toronto Sun columnists, and slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, echoed Giambrone’s comments on the same CBC Radio panel.

Sue-Ann mercilessly lambasted Premier Wynne for showing unmitigated gall.

Sue-Ann Levy, went on to characterize Premier Wynne’s attack as a cheap political shot, done in an effort to deflect the public away from the troubles of her own government.”

It seemed that Premier Wynne may have, in turn, shot herself in the foot with this political gaffe.

No sooner had Premier Wynne given this interview to the Globe, it was widelyreported that Premier Wynne was trying to beat a hasty retreat.

John Parker, a Toronto councillor and former Conservative MPP, curtly suggested to Premier Wynne, ” thanks, but no thanks. ” And that Parker thought that Wynne had enough to concern her at Queen’s Park and we don’t need to trouble her with our situation here. ”

In other words, back off. Please stay out of our house. And by the way, you should fix up your own house first.

On CBC Radio, Friday evening, I specifically heard CBC reporter Jamie Strashin report that a majority of the Toronto councillors were very lukewarm to Premier Wynne getting involved with the Mayor Ford affair.

This view is in direct conflict with the above Globe and Mail article, which implied, from Liberal sources, that a majority of the Toronto councillors would welcome Premier Wynne’s intervention to remove Mayor Ford from office.

Even the normally supportive Toronto Star has questioned whether Premier Wynne has a democratic and political mandate to intervene and try to remove Mayor Ford from his office.

Martin Cohn, of the Toronto Star, recently stated in his column, “Ford swept to power with a robust democratic mandate, winning more than 350,000 votes in the 2010 municipal election. Wynne owes the premier’s job to a mere 1,150 delegates who annointed her at a Liberal convention last January, and has yet to face voters in a general election. While Ford has lost his moral authority as mayor, Wynne’s own democratic legitimacy could become flashpoint, if she made a move to oust him. ”

In short, the usually sure-footed Premier has apparently made a serious political misstep. Which could come back to haunt her, especially in a provincial general election, in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough provincial ridings, where support for Mayor Ford is strongest, unwavering, and very deep. And such loyal supporters of Ford will neither forgive nor forget the Premier’s political attack on their beloved Mayor.

The Toronto Star: Mayor Rob Ford Will Be a Very Strong Candidate in 2014 Mayoral Election

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics, Rob Ford

As reported on Sunday, in the Toronto Star, Mayor Rob Ford will be a formidable candidate for re-election in the 2014 Toronto Mayoral election.

It is interesting to note that the original headline of this online article which appeared on Saturday was, “Rob Ford video scandal: Don’t count the Mayor out yet. Political Strategists say”

The Star headline that appeared in print in the Sunday print edition of this very same article, was amended to read ” Mayor expected to be “very strong” in election. ”

How very curious.

Clearly, even the Toronto Star is having second thoughts on the imminent demise of the mayoralty of Mayor Rob Ford.

To the extent, the Toronto Star completely amended the focus of the headline.

This Toronto Star article also stated that according to a recent Ipsos Reid survey released this past Saturday, “34% of Torontonians said they’d vote to re-elect Ford if an election were held tomorrow.

This is an amazing result.

Recall at the peak of Ford’s popularity, and before he was supposedly rocked by various scandals, these last two years, 43% of Torontonians said that they had voted for him in the last election.

Now, notwithstanding the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail and other media, reporting for two weeks, almost 24/7 on Mayor Ford’s alleged participation in an alleged video, and other unsubstantiated revelations about the Ford family members, Mayor Ford is still viewed as the candidate to beat in the next mayoral election.

In this same article, it is also interesting to note that Bruce Davis, the former campaign manager of George Smitherman’s failed mayoral campaign against Rob Ford, stated that,

“People who think that Rob Ford’s political career will take a hit following allegations of crack cocaine use are delusional. His support is rock solid. He’ll be very strong going into the next election… The people who hated him before still hate him. I haven’t met a single person who has changed their mind (because of the latest controversy). ”

Davis went on to explain the reasons for the rock solid support for Ford. Apparently, notwithstanding Ford’s many controversies and political gaffes, when given the choice, many voters would choose a person who allegedly breaks the law, over a person who wastes taxpayers’ money.

Nick Kouvalis, Ford’s former campaign manager in 2010, also implied that that the potential mayoral candidacy of MP Olivia Chow in 2014, will be no walk in High Park for Ms. Chow.

Kouvalis stated that, “Olivia Chow is an MP — and bless her heart — but she has never gone through a tough campaign before and she has a lot of skeletons in her closet that she will have to face. ”

What Kouvalis is suggesting is that the upcoming mayoral campaign will be really a down and dirty campaign where the dirty linen of all serious candidates and their families will be exposed.

Mayor Ford is very tough and he is now very angry. He strongly believes that he has been unfairly treated by the liberal press of Toronto and his many critics in Toronto.

To date he has apparently survived the intense scrutiny leveled upon him and his family.

Many Ford supporters in Toronto and in the social media, are extremely upset at the way the media have gone after Rob Ford and his family.

I expect that any serious challenger to Rob Ford should expect the same scrutiny and investigations into his/her private life and the lives of his/her family members by Ford supporters and by Ford supporters in the media.

Accordingly, I predict that neither Olivia Chow or Karen Stintz, will challenge Mayor Rob Ford in the next 2014 mayoral election.

Ford Is Distracting The Press From This Story

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Media, Politics, Rob Ford

Kudos to Keith Leslie of the Canadian Press. Now there is a true journalist!

Meanwhile, the crack Globe and Mail team are poring over divorce documents of a “no-name” Rob Ford aide.

And the dynamic duo at the Star of Donovan and Doolittle are waiting like expectant schoolgirls by the phone for the alleged crack cocaine video to magically appear.

Keith Leslie has instead exposed a real major scandal that has very serious legal and criminal implications for former McGuinty staffers.

In his recent article, published in the Toronto Sun, Leslie has reported that Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner is prepared to go public in her upcoming June report and reveal that senior officials in former Ontario Premier McGuinty’s Office have destroyed and deleted many crucial internal emails relating to the cancellation of the Mississauga and Oakville gas plants.

Cavoukian scathingly castigated officials in McGuinty’s office, when she publicly stated on Tuesday: “Someone…said it strained credulity that no one thought they should maybe retain some of the emails…There are retention obligations.Suffice it to say, I was not pleased, putting it mildly and you will see that reflected in the report that comes out.”

According to Keith Leslie, the NDP requested Cavoukian to investigate the actions of the former senior staff in McGuinty’s office, when former principal secretary Jamison Steeve and former deputy policy director Sean Mullin, testified in the legislative hearings on the gas plant cancellations that they had in fact deleted their email accounts.

Cavoukian also shockingly found that there were no emails from McGuinty’s former chief of staff Chris Morley who has not yet testified at the justice hearings of the gas plant cancellations which cost the Ontario taxpayers $585 million and still counting.

As NDP Peter Tabuns noted, “An awful lot of records seem to have been destroyed contrary to the law. Clearly, if people are destroying records, there needs to be a penalty for that.”

Right on, Peter.

The potential crime is “Obstruction of Justice”, assuming the Ontario legislative committees that have been investigating the gas plant cancellations and hearing witness testimony are deemed to be engaged in a judicial proceeding. In this case, under Section 139 of the Canadian Criminal Code, the penalty for obstructing justice is at minimum two years in prison.

Note when the senior staff in the office of BC Premier Liberal Gordon Campbell were caught deleting e-mails, during a government corruption lawsuit, the BC NDP called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the actions of the Liberal staffers.

Wouldn’t that be fascinating if history repeats itself and the Ontario NDP call for a special prosecutor to investigate the actions of the senior staff of Liberal Premier McGuinty for deleting their emails.

Query, do Provincial Liberals throughout Canada have a special secret handbook on how to delete emails when the going gets tough?

The other fascinating aspect of this email destruction scandal, is that the crack investigative teams from the Globe and the Star have been strangely missing in action on this file.

Both the Star and The Globe seem more interested in the more sensational and salacious Rob Ford alleged crack cocaine video, than in the more politically significant nearly $600 million gas plant cancellation scandal and now the intentional destruction of email evidence.

Both The Globe and The Star have forgotten the golden rule of investigative journalism: “Follow the Money.”

Instead, both these newspapers prefer immersing themselves figuratively and literally in the “schmutz” and dirt of the Ford brothers and in the messy private lives of their family members who are neither public officials or major public figures. Certainly, these family members and Ford associates are too insignificant to be worthy of our consideration.

When Rob Ford ran for Mayor, the people of Toronto, knew precisely what they were getting. Rob Ford never promoted himself as being a paragon of virtue. He was and still is, “Everyman”, warts and all, with a side of greasy KFC.

Premier McGuinty, on the other hand, packaged himself as Premier Dad, “Father Premier Knows Best”, a paragon of virtue.

So the fact that he surrounded himself with senior staffers who may have engaged in illegal acts, is truly a great story. An epic morality tale of arrogance and hypocrisy.

Worthy of the attention of both the Star and the Globe.

The fact that both papers are MIA on this McGuinty document destruction story, demonstrates that these once great newspapers, prefer shallow, superficial sensational tabloid journalism, to real, hard and serious investigative journalism.

How the mighty have fallen!!!

Meanwhile, Rob Ford Is Doing His Job

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics, Rob Ford

Strangely, Mayor Ford is carrying on as Mayor of Toronto; it really is “business as usual.”

While the rest of the members of Toronto City Council seem consumed with the alleged crack cocaine video, Mayor Ford is apparently performing their duties for which he was elected.

According to recent Toronto Star report, Mayor Ford, on his recent birthday, chaired an executive committee meeting for most of the day.

During this meeting, the executives heard a long discussion about Middle East politics in the context of whether Toronto City Council can do anything to prevent the participation of the activist group Queers Against Israel Apartheid in the annualToronto Pride Parade.

Note that the annual anti-Israeli Israel Apartheid Week has been criticized by all political parties in the Ontario Provincial Legislature.

The executive committee voted, with the Mayor’s support, that the City grant to Pride be only directed to the Pride Festival and not to the actual Pride Parade. Score one for the Mayor.

The executive committee also discussed Mayor Ford’s proposal to reduce the number of Toronto councilors from the current 44 members to a more cost-effective 25 members and recommended a consultant further look into this matter as an option to be considered by the full City Council.

And while it is unlikely that the full Toronto City Council will vote to terminate some of their own jobs, but the option of comparing the pros and cons of a smaller Toronto council is nonetheless worth pursuing. Score two for the Mayor.

The Star also reported that the Mayor met with schoolchildren and then predictably publicly denounced the Metrolinx proposal for more taxes to fund Metrolinx transit proposals.

Interestingly, the Mayor’s views were echoed by NDP leader Andrea Horwath, who like Ford, is against any new taxes levied against the people for the expanded transit proposals.

Wow, Ford and NDP Horwath singing from the same hymn book: score three for the Mayor.

I agree with the Toronto Star, that that day was not “business as usual” for Mayor Ford.

In fact, it was better than business as usual.

You will recall in the past, the Mayor sometimes missed such executive meetings, in favour of taking off in the afternoon, to coach his beloved Don Bosco Eagles.

But on that day, he appeared to work much more than usual on city business.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s foes and friends on City Council — instead of working for their constituents and the people of Toronto — appear to spend most of their time lining up for media interviews and speculating on whether such a crack cocaine video exists and if it does exist, is it fake or not.

Both Doug Holyday and Gary Crawford have opined that they believe that such a video may exist, but they also question its authenticity. Then again, they also believe that Mayor Ford is telling the truth — that he does think that there is such a video.

I am glad that those views clarify matters.

On CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, Councilman Josh Colle called the allegations “obviously shocking and kind of salacious stuff” that the mayor must address as soon as possible, lest it further distract from matters at city hall.

“There have been so many distractions, and it kind of seems to be ongoing,” Colle said.

Councilman Adam Vaughan, referring to the alleged video, opined, “that there have been distractions since Ford was elected.

“He’s a bad mayor because he makes bad decisions … he doesn’t have a coherent set of policies,” said Vaughan.

If I was Adam Vaughan, a potential mayoral candidate to replace Ford, I would not be measuring the Mayor’s office just yet in order to store Vaughan’s favourite anti-car, anti-casino, anti-corporate-profits posters.

According to noted CBC commentator and municipal law expert John Mascarin, who is a partner in the law firm of Aird and Berlis — where, incidentally, the former Toronto Mayor David Miller also hangs his hat, as counsel (small world, eh?) — the law is very clear.

There is no legal authority in the applicable laws that gives the province, the city of Toronto or Toronto City Council, the ability to remove Mayor Ford from office through recall or impeachment before the end of his term.

And according to a recent CBC radio interview, Mascarin further opined that even if Mayor Ford was actually present in the actual alleged video, his alleged smoking of crack cocaine on the video in and of itself would not constitute an act or crime that would legally justify his removal. According to Mascarin, even if Ford was charged with a criminal offence and convicted, Ford could remain in office as Mayor as long as he was not imprisoned.

So even if the infamous video emerges, and it is proven to be accurate, Mayor Ford will still ride out the term of his office.

And he will run again in the next election, against all challengers — even the mighty Olivia Chow.

Ironically, the pressure is more on The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (not The Fords) to come up with more damning evidence against Rob Ford or Doug Ford. In other words, The Globe will have to do much better than unearthing unnamed sources from 30 ago about Doug Ford’s alleged drug dealing.

Because if the Globe and Star cannot deliver more damning revelations, Rob Ford and Doug Ford will get stronger with time.

They love playing in the mud, down and dirty, like fall football on a cold and rainy October.

I am not sure that The Globe and the Star have the cojones to get their white shoes dirty and muddy.

I doubt they have the stomach or willingness to get down and dirty with The Fords in the muck and mire. For an extended period of time.

Let the games begin.

Harper’s International Victory

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics, Stephen Harper

As reported in the Huffington Post, the oil-rich country of Qatar has recently withdrawn its bid to move the UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (“ICAO”) from its headquarters in Montreal, to Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Apparently, Qatar had been lobbying hard and quietly for many months, (if not years) dozens of UN nations, in expectation of a vote on this matter, to be held in September of this year. Qatar needed the votes of 60 per cent (115 member states) of the 191 UN members to effect the move of the ICAO headquarters from Montreal to Qatar.

Qatar would not have instituted this very public and ballsy diplomatic challenge to Canada if Qatar did not believe that it had already the required UN votes “in the bag.”

There was no public explanation from the Qatar sheikdom as to why it had withdrawn its offer to relocate the ICAO headquarters and all its staff.

Probably because Qatar had grossly underestimated the tenacity, determination and fight of the Canadian side led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister Baird, Quebec Separatist Premier Pauline Marois, and her lieutenant, International Relations Minister Jean-Francois Lisee and Mayor Applebaum of Montreal.

The insular oil potentates of Qatar also probably grossly underestimated how well Canada and the tough Harper Administration are regarded internationally.

We know that if the feckless Justin Trudeau were Prime Minister, upon learning of Qatar’s attack on Montreal’s ICAO headquarter, he would have spent the summer navel gazing, shaking his manly hair, at potential voters and blaming the Harper Administration for not playing nice with Arab dictators. And then searching for the “root causes” why Qatar, other Arab nations and the UN do not like Canada any more. Basically, all hot air. Content-free policies. No concrete strategy or action. Much like his leadership campaign.

Instead of navel gazing, Team Montreal, led by the very effective tag team of Harper and Baird, immediately secured the support of the Separatist Marois government and the support of Mayor Applebaum of Montreal. Baird then reached out to the Obama Administration and very quickly obtained its support and especially the vocal and public support of US Ambassador to Canada Jacobson.

Then according to the above Huffington Post article, Baird and his people together with the Quebec contingent contacted and lobbied hard over one hundred UN nations and secured widespread international support from countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.

Foreign Afairs Minister Baird admitted that he personally contacted 60 foreign ministers to seek their support and many such foreign ministers appeared to be persuaded by Baird and his people. According to Baird, Canada received great support, not unanimous support, but great support nonetheless.

Even such long-time Harper critics as the Marois Pequistes believed that the federal government’s efforts were very impressive and decisive.

The above-noted Lisee, a separatist minister, referring to the successful partnership between Baird and Lisee, praised each other’s commitments and ability to leave politics aside to work for a common purpose.

Lisee also praised the ability of Canada and Quebec to work together in jointly lobbying France on this matter. Specifically, Lisée noted that a good example of the unity they showed was in Paris, where Canadian Ambassador Lawrence Cannon and Quebec’s delegate general, Michel Robitaille, went together to the Quai d’Orsay — France’s foreign office — to press their case for Montreal.

As I wrote in my Huffington Postblogon this matter, the loss of the ICAO headquarters in Montreal would have been a huge financial and political blow for Canada, Montreal and Quebec.

Montreal is the centre of Canada’s aviation industry, and its international reputation as a major player is partly based on ICAO’s longtime residency and the fact that the third largest airplane manufacturer in the world is Quebec-based Bombardier.

The organization also feeds the city’s economy; it employs 534 staff and it generates some $119 million annually and 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.

Over a 20-year period, the term of the lease now being renewed by ICAO and Quebec/Canada, ICAO will generate several billion dollars of revenue for the city of Montreal.

This is not chump change. These are very real and substantial funds that would have been lost for good.

Also Canada would have lost enormous international prestige if Harper and Baird had not stood up and effectively fought back against Qatar’s ongoing attempts at buying international recognition (note Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Soccer Cup) for itself by deploying its vast natural gas and oil riches.

This is a fight that Harper had to win. And he, Baird and the whole Team Montreal, won decisively. A huge international victory.

Harper not only won the vigorous support of the US, Britain and France, it won the majority support of the 27 European nations and many nations in South America, Africa and Asia. Even the powerful China, backed Canada.

Harper’s international support was so widespread and strong, that Qatar had no choice but to beat a hasty retreat to its oil-rich sheikdom, with its “pathetic tail between its legs.” Utterly and decisively humiliated.

The other big loser in this affair is of course the trust fund dilettante from Outremont, Justin Trudeau. Recall Trudeau took a typical partisan cheap shot at Harper and his government when the Qatar bid for the ICAO headquarters was made public.

Speaking to reporters after question period in early May, regarding the Qatar bid,Trudeau superficially pontificated, “I am concerned about the level of disengagement from multilateral organizations that this government is pushing forward,” Trudeau said, noting Canada’s “traditionally and historically” strong international role. “There is something going very wrong with this government’s approach to international affairs,” he said. “That’s why the move by Qatar to steal or to woo away the important UN regulatory body that’s established in Montreal on aviation is for me another example of the fact that this government is not serious about leadership in the world, which is something that is very important to many Canadians.”

Au contraire, you little pompous pontificator.

The deep and widespread international support for Canada, over the ICAO affair, indicates that Canada’s international standing and influence internationally, when it really counts, have never been stronger.

Andrea Horwath’s Fall From Grace

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

Mea Culpa. I apologize. I bet you don’t hear apologies that often from my side of the political fence.

During a recent series of Huffington Postarticles, I extolled the virtues of Andrea Horwath, “current” leader of the Ontario NDP. At least for now.

I thought Andrea Horwath had the political smarts, toughness and experience to lead her party, the NDP, to its first victory since Bob Rae, the then leader of the Ontario NDP, was surprisingly catapulted into the Premier’s office in the mid 1990s.

I am terribly sorry. I was wrong.

I totally overestimated Horwath. I thought she possessed the steel cojones of her fabled Hamilton Tiger Cats. I thought she had the strength to rise above being a mere handmaiden to union bosses, like Sid Ryan. I was wrong.

Last year Horwath was novel. A ballsy, earthy authentic female leader.

Last year I thought Horwath adroitly played the unobtainable maiden as the then Premier Dalton McGuinty ardently tried to woo Horwath with all kinds of political goodies and bonbons. In order to get her on board and support Dalton’s budget. Or at least not oppose it and bring down the McGuinty government.

Last year Horwath’s negotiating tactics and public actions worked. Last year, her shtick rocked.

This time around. Not so much.

I thought last year, Horwath would use the past 12 months, to build up the NDP political organization, both administratively and on the ground. In order to get ready for a possible election this year.

I thought she would use the time to improve NDP party fundraising, reduce party debt and build up a war chest.

It seems that Horwath has failed in all these objectives.

My NDP sources and friends advise the following. The NDP is far from campaign ready. Its head office and administration are weak. Its political ground game, save for an unhealthy over reliance on union members, is non existent. The NDP finances are weak. Again, the NDP is too dependent upon its narrow base of union supporters. Horwath has failed to reach out to other progressive/ leftist organizations and Ontario voters, in general, who may share the NDP’s views and policies.

By the way. What are the NDP policies?

Horwath still wants to go after those evil corporations and make them pay more taxes.

Wow! How original! We have been hearing that same NDP mantra, “Make the Corporations Pay” since the founding of the NDP.

The only other visible NDP policy is Andrea Horwath.

Unfortunately, her brand and the NDP, which is intertwined with the massive ego that is, Andrea, both have been severely tarnished.

Horwath has been masterfully outplayed by Premier Kathleen Wynne.

This time around Horwath was so predictable. Horwath threatened to force an election, unless her demands were met. But her demands were very inconsequential.

A 15 per cent reduction in car premiums. More borrowed funds by the Ontario government for unemployed youth. More borrowed funds or hard-earned taxpayers’ money for seniors and home care.

Are these meager requests all the NDP brain trust could come up with? Is this meaningless grab for more taxpayers’ money, the raison d’etre of the Ontario NDP?

Where’s the beef, Andrea?

This time Premier Wynne and the Liberals were ready for Horwath’s predictable maneuverings. They knew she would not settle if her first demands were met. So Wynne brilliantly doubled down, and offered to Horwath, more than what Horwath originally demanded. Knowing Horwath, would want to drag this negotiation on further and continue to try to hog the political spotlight for herself.

Predictably, Horwath was not satisfied, at first. So she asked for more. For more government accountability. For another auditor or ombudsman. The more Horwath dragged out these negotiations. The more she and her party lost credibility. And the more the NDP dropped in the polls.

The more Horwath negotiated, the more it became clear, that Horwath and the NDP were so weak, and so disorganized, that it was highly unlikely Horwath would ever force an election. And the more ridiculous, Horwath and the NDP appeared to the public.

Horwath and the NDP are in a free fall.

No one in Ontario will credit Horwath and the NDP for having Wynne accept her inconsequential policy demands.

But now, by propping up Wynne and the Liberals, the NDP have become complicit in the Liberals’ many scandals: OLG, eHealth, Ornge, OLG again. The NDP have become accessories after the fact and the crimes. But accessories, nonetheless.

No wonder Wynne has such a winning smile. Underneath Wynne’s calm, flexible, touchy-feely façade, lies one tough, decisive, determined and disciplined political leader. She has completely outplayed Horwath, And she taken back the “soft” left who had drifted to Horwath and the NDP.

I doff my chapeau to you, Premier.

For someone who hates casinos, you gambled with Horwath, bet your political future, and you masterfully stripped Horwath of her mortgage money, her lunch money and her political dignity and credibility.

Pelosi Has Her Pipeline Facts All Wrong

by Mitch Wolfe, posted in Politics

Democratic House leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently tried to meet with Canadian New Democrat Party (“NDP”) Leader Thomas Mulcair, in Washington, under the radar.

They failed miserably.

The politically sensitive Keystone pipeline issue was discussed in secret. Confidential agreements were signed. Fingers crossed. And hope to die.

Advisers to these two loose cannon leftists held their breath. Praying these two leaders could walk through this political minefield, unscathed. Even the White House was hoping Pelosi would keep her famous bouche ferme.

Everyone’s fears were justified.

We had not seen the non-camera shy Pelosi since 2010, when she led the House Democrats to a crushing defeat.

Pelosi emerged from sipping Zinfandel with Mulcair. And dropped her first grenade on US/Canada relations, when she declared, “It is just amazing to me that Keystone advocates claim the project would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The oil is for export and the jobs are nowhere near that.”

Pelosi dropped another verbal grenade when she added irrelevantly, “Canadians don’t want the pipeline in their own country.”

Fact check time, Ms. Pelosi. With due respect.

Canada is presently governed by the Conservative party, led by Prime Minister Harper, which has a majority in the Canadian Parliament. These Conservatives are in favour of the Keystone pipeline and a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands, west to British Columbia. Similarly, the Federal Liberal party, led currently by Bob Rae, andenjoying about a 30 per cent approval rating in Canada, also supports Keystone and a pipeline to BC .

Even publicly, Tom Mulcair of the NDP, the official opposition party, supports an east/west Canadian pipeline.

Ms. Pelosi, I am sure that there are some Canadians who do not want a Canadian pipeline transporting Alberta oil in Canada. Just as there are many San Franciscans in your tony hood who are in favor of bicycles and streetcars and don’t want cars in your fair city.

But upon such limited appeal and flimsy strands of logic, national policies are not made. At least not in Canada.

Also, Ms. Pelosi, we get that you are a strong environmentalist against fossil fuel development.

And as I have warned in two previous HuffPost pieces, the most recent US State Department report cut the legs out of the environment opposition to the Keystone pipeline.

The Keystone pipeline will have a negligible effect on the environment. Without that argument, the environment movement is forced to argue on national security grounds and economic grounds. Both areas in which the anti-Keystone movement is woefully weak.

And Ms. Pelosi, thank you, for proving my point.

Notwithstanding Ms. Pelosi crapping all over Canada and the Canadian Conservative government, Canada still remains the United States’ strongest and most trusted ally.

Don’t believe me, Ms. Pelosi. Call up your Hollywood buddy, Ben Affleck, and privately screen his award-winning film, “Argo”, once more. How easy you ungrateful Americans forget.

Oil coming from Alberta is still more secure and more reliable than oil from the anti-American, anti-capitalist Venezuela. Or from such unstable, authoritarian, homophobic, misogynistic, Mideast countries like Saudi Arabia or Al Gore’s favorite,Qatar.

The US has the option, once this oil is refined in American Gulf refineries, to use it internally for its own purposes, or to export it. Reduction in dependence from non-North American oil. Pretty clear.

However, when Ms. Pelosi tried to undermine Keystone by questioning the number of jobs actually created. That is when her true colors were revealed.

Blue. As in blue blood. Elitist. The notorious One per cent. Welcome to Romney Country, Ms. Pelosi.

The US State Department has estimated that Keystone will create over 42,000 jobs. Either directly involved in the construction of the pipeline or in related service jobs, which will assist the construction workers. The Keystone pipeline may also lead to additional jobs related to the American Gulf refineries refining this Albertan oil.

So the Keystone project can employ over 42,000 currently unemployed Americans.

Note that these jobs will be funded by the private sector, as a result of demand from the private sector.

And as opposed to the US government borrowing more money from China to pay for “make work jobs” of
little economic value.

But Democrats like Pelosi, multi-millionaires, (family net worth about $12 million) from wealthy districts like San Francisco, are in reality, indifferent to the plight of your average lower/middle income Americans. Who need basic jobs to pay the mortgage, buy food for the family and provide an education for their children.

These fancy electric car-driving Liberals prefer putting their own esoteric environment/ideological interests over the day to day mundane interests of hard-working Americans, who desperately need the jobs that Keystone will provide.

As a result, leading Democrats like Ms. Pelosi, are driving working class Americans in America’s heartland, into the arms of the pro Keystone Republicans. And the Democrats have only themselves to blame.