From a Toronto Sun editorial on line dated 1 April, 2023 and is definitely not an April Fools joke, tackles the tacky question of conflict of interest now so rampant in the Federal Liberal Government these days:
“Trudeau has broken it twice — in the Aga Khan affair and SNC-Lavalin scandal…
Dominic LeBlanc, then Liberal fisheries minister, now intergovernmental affairs minister, violated the act in 2018 when he awarded a lucrative fishing licence to a company linked to his wife’s cousin…
The federal government itself says “an apparent conflict of interest exists when there is a reasonable apprehension, which reasonably well-informed persons could properly have, that a conflict of interest exists.”
The hills of Gatineau seem to be alive with these kinds of appointments. Now I am not from the green hills of West Virginia, nor am I married to my cousin (I think), but, the hills around Ottawa these days seem to resonate with Hillbilly politics.
In Canadian politics it seems everyone is related to, or knows, everyone who is in any position of authority or power. If the above doesn’t look too bad, what about the appointment of David Johnston as this rapper, or sorry, rapporteur looking into the election influencing problem in order to save face for the Liberal Party.
He not only stays in Trudeau’s bunkie during the summer he is also on the board of directors of old man Trudeau’s foundation. No conflict here folks. Now Johnston is a reasonable man of integrity, but, C’mon, man, the optics are terrible!
While we are at it, how about the Mass Casualty Commission report chaired by Mr. Michael MacDonald. This was the “let’s not look at the facts, just blame the gun owner’s, commission report” from what I have read about it. Talk about an appointment to further an agenda. This report clearly identifies Brenda Lucki’s role as RCMP Commissioner in this sad, tragic debacle.
So, will the government contemplate getting rid of or re-organizing the RCMP? Don’t hold your breath even though that outfit was outdated back at the beginning of the twentieth century. Remember, they didn’t get rid of the horses until the mid-1960’s and if you ever tried to drive a car wearing spurs, good luck!
Time to re-design the RCMP and have them work on nothing but Federal Statute issues and change the uniforms to business suits and Ray Ban sun glasses and have them all wear those ear pieces with the curly wire running down their backs under their anything but scarlet jackets so we will all know who they are.
Remember, the RCMP has been reorganized once already. They had to create CSIS from the old Security Services Branch of the Force following the McDonald Commission back in the late 1970’s because they screwed it up so much, so perhaps it is time to put real policing in the hands of the Provinces.
Now the Government may go after legitimate gun owners, yet again, just on the word of St. Wendy Cukier and her evidence denying coalition who are supported by, you guessed it, the Liberals. Apparently they are the only ones the Mass Casualty Commission seems to have planned to listen to all along.
Talk about conflict of interest.