Category Archives: democracy and good government

Secret Meetings and Democracy Don’t Mix

canadian sovereignty, conservative party, democracy and good government

If there had been a high-level meeting two weeks ago, in Canada, between government and business leaders from our country, the U.S., and Mexico, you’d think you’d have heard about it.

Of course, you’d think that our government would have let the media know about such a meeting. Failing that, you’d think that they’d at least acknowledge that there was such a meeting when asked, and give us some idea of what was discussed.

You’d think that, because you’re a reasonable person. And maybe because you have some distant memory of a new government promising to be transparent and accountable.

Well, unfortunately, said meeting did take place, under the banner of the North American Forum. “But Chris,” you’d say, “surely this wasn’t really a high-level meeting.”

Not sure how to break this to you, but according to a list obtained by Mel Hurtig with the Council of Canadians, the attendees included:

From Canada

  • Hon. Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, Government of Canada
  • Mr. Bill Elliott, Associate Deputy Minister, Public Safety
  • Hon. Gordon O’Connor, Minister of Defense, Government of Canada
  • Mr. Ward Elcock, Deputy Minister of National Defence
  • Mr. Peter M. Boehm, Assistant Deputy Minister, North America, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
  • Mr. V. Peter Harder, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Hon. Greg Melchin, Minister of Energy, Government of Alberta
  • General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff
  • Col. Peter Atkinson, Special Advisor to Chief of Defence Staff
  • Rear Adm Roger Girouard, Commander Joint Task Force Pacific, Cdn Forces
  • Hon. Anne McLellan, Senior Counsel, Bennett Jones
  • Hon. Perrin Beatty, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
  • Mr. Thomas d’Aquino, Canadian Council of Chief Executives
  • Mr. Richard L. George, Suncor Energy Inc.
  • Dr. Roger Gibbins, Canada West Foundation
  • Mr. James K. Gray, Canada West Foundation
  • Ms.Sharon Murphy, Chevron Canada

From the United States

  • Sec. Donald R. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, US Department of Defense
  • Sec. Ryan Henry, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
  • Lt. Gen. Gene Renuart, USAF Senior Military Assist. to Sec. Rumsfeld
  • Mr. Eric Ruff, , Department of Defense Press Secretary
  • Dr. James Schlesinger, Former Sec. Of Energy & Defense
  • Sec. Clay Sell, Deputy Secretary of Energy, US Dept. of Energy
  • Dr. Thomas A. Shannon, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
  • Maj. Gen. Mark A Volcheff, Director, Plans, Policy & Strategy, NORAD-NORTHCOM
  • Ms. Deborah Bolton, Political Advisor to Commander, US Northcom
  • Admiral Tim Keating, Commander, US Northern Command
  • Mr. George Nethercutt, Chairman, US Section of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, US – Canada (Security)
  • Mr. Ron T. Covais, President, The Americas, Lockheed Martin Corporation
  • Mr. Bill Irwin , Manager – International Government Affairs; Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Corporation
  • Mr. R. James Woolsey, Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton

From Mexico

  • Silvia Hernández , Former Senator and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on North America
  • Fernando Chico Pardo , CEO, Promecap
  • Juan Gallardo , , CEO, Grupo GEUSA
  • Gerónimo Gutiérrez , Deputy Foreign Minister for North America
  • Luis de la Calle , Consultant. Former Deputy Minister of Economy
  • Eduardo Medina Mora , Secretary of Public Security
  • Carlos Heredia , State Government of Michoacán
  • Manuel Arango , CEO, Grupo Concord
  • Juan Camilo Mouriño, General Coordinator of President Elect’s transition team
  • Ernesto Cordero, Coordinator for Public Policy Issues Ambassadors/Consul General
  • Mr. Carlos de Icaza, , Ambassador of Mexico to the United States
  • Ms. Maria Teresa Garcia Segovia de Madero, Ambassador of Mexico to Canada

This was a secret, high-level meeting. The agenda had the heading “Continental Prosperity in the New Security Environment.” The purpose of the meeting was to further the deep integration of our country with the United States.

I’ve previously suggested that this Conservative government doesn’t seem to know what the word transparency means. I’m becoming increasingly concerned they may also need a crash course in democracy.

When asked about the meeting, Day’s office has been “telling journalists that it cannot comment on the minister’s private meeting and that journalists should understand this.” Those silly journalists. (Of course, Day’s been pretty immature this week. )

To understand more about the details of this meeting and its serious implications, I highly recommend Maude Barlow’s piece in the Toronto Star, as well as this report from WorldNetDaily. Unfortunately, with some small exceptions, the meeting remains largely unreported by the media to this day.

Priorities and Leadership

conservative party, democracy and good government, economy, foreign affairs, health, social justice

I saw Stephen Lewis speak last night, and was not disappointed. One of the things that really impressed me was his ability to juggle despair with hope, death with life, dire statistics with practical solutions.

Stephen was of course speaking on the topic of HIV/AIDS, along with Mary Ash, filmmaker Norman Jewison, and others at an event organized by ICA Canada.

I won’t attempt to summarize the content of the evening. For one, as Stephen said, the issue is so huge and complex that it’s impossible to hold in your mind all at once, let alone to hold in a blog post. For another, the statistics are difficult to understand in any real way. I have a hard time imagining what it would be like if one in three Torontonians had AIDS, as is the case in too many parts of Africa.

In his closing remarks, Norman Jewison called AIDS the greatest crisis facing humanity, with the possible exception of (or second only to?) nuclear warfare. I would have said global warming in place of nuclear warfare, but either way his comment got me thinking about priorities. Specifically, those of Stephen Harper, who reiterated today that AIDS is not a priority for him.

Instead, his top five priorities upon getting elected were:

  1. An accountability act that does little for accountability.
  2. A GST cut (along with an income tax raise) that most economists think is a bad idea.
  3. “Cracking down” on crime. (Definition of “cracking down” is pending.)
  4. A child care plan that doesn’t create child care.
  5. A health plan that wont keep Canadians healthy.

Notably absent are the three crises above, at least one of which (the climate crisis) is being increasingly cited as a top concern of Canadians. To say nothing of democratic reform, water security, food security, or the inequality of Canada’s aboriginal population (which, by the way, has a higher rate of HIV/AIDS than the rest of Canada), to name but a few. But hey, at least now a can of Coke costs one cent less. (Oh wait, Coke still costs the same. How’d they get away with that?)

When Harper announced his list back in January, he said that “you can’t lead if you can’t focus and determine what really matters.”

I’ll give him that.

Hey. Play Nice.

democracy and good government, liberal party, polls

Liberal MP Maria Minna (what a name, that) and Liberal leadership contestant Hedy Fry are upset that Harper has asked Liberal MP Wajid Khan to be his special adviser on the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Said Maria, “This is, pure and simple, a partisan effort aimed at halting the Conservatives’ slide in the polls. We should not be aiding and abetting their efforts in that regard.” Added Hedy, this is “a clear conflict of interest and of trust.”

Wow. And I was worried I was getting too cynical.

Listen folks, we need more cross-party cooperation and dialogue, not less — especially in a minority government situation. Harper could make a monkey his special adviser on banana affairs for all I care, so long as said monkey was qualified for the job.

I’m with Bill on this one. Give Wajid a chance.

Centralized Power and the Conductor

conservative party, democracy and good government, foreign affairs, trade

Yesterday the Globe and Mail revealed that the Conservatives have “used an extraordinary ‘national security’ clause to take control of $8-billion in recently announced military spending,” contravening the 1994 Agreement on Internal Trade with the provinces. I was going to make one of my famous “so much for real transparency and accountability” and “do these guys even know what these words mean?” and “didn’t Harper used to oppose the centralization of power?” posts, but last night I instead went to see the National Youth Orchestra of Canada perform at Roy Thompson Hall and I ran out of time.

I’m sort of glad I did, because now I can instead report that today the Globe’s editorial staff were much more scathing than I was going to be. Instead of “national security,” they’ve called this “national pork-barrelling…the most startling example of Tory beneficence lately…wrongheaded…How the righteous have fallen…the Tories are making themselves at home in the coffers…part of a widening pork-barrel pattern…and the pattern is called hypocrisy.”

So I think I’ll just back away slowly and let them have the last word on that one.

Oh, the National Youth Orchestra was great by the way. Apparently alumni from the NYOC make up a full third of all orchestras in Canada. It’s a great opportunity for young artists and it deserves our support.

One thing nagged at me though, and you may have noticed this as well. As I watched and listened to the orchestra play, I couldn’t help but think, “you know, if the conductor were to suddenly take a seat, I’m pretty sure the music would go on…”