ABSURDITY OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The good news is that the theatre of the absurd doesn't only infect the Canadian judicial system. The Waterloo Region Record back on July 30/12 had this story "Boat captain loses hand, faces gator feeding charge". My first , second and third impression was "Are they nuts?" . The guy's only got two hands. Is this charge a deterrent so that he doesn't risk his remaining hand? Then there is the matter of "feeding an alligator". Is he charged for dangling the fish over the side or is he charged for feeding the alligator his hand? Finally why is he charged with a second-degree misdemeanour for potentially giving the critter indigestion (his hand) but the wildlife officers who tracked and killed the alligator aren't penalized?

Here in Canada at least our judicial system attempt not to behave in a fashion that will bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Of course they fail all the time but at least they are aware that malicious or frivolous law enforcement will reflect very badly upon them. Apparently not so for our south of the border cousins.

FEDERAL CONSERVATIVES BEHAVED UNREASONABLY

According to the story in last Friday's (Aug.2/12) Waterloo Region Record "It was "unreasonable in all circumstances" for the federal government to appoint a third-party manager for the financially troubled First Nations community of Attawapiskat, the Federal Court ruled Wednesday." So far so good but then the Court decided to throw a bone to the government by suggesting that there was no political malice nor intent to embarassthe reserve or its members. Give me a break. If it was unreasonable based on all circumstances then clearly the reason was either gross incompetence and stupidity or it was for self serving reasons. That would be self serving political reasons. Keep in mind we are dealing with Conservatives here. Conservative as in anti union, anti welfare, anti gay, anti ...well you get the picture. Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet decided they could look good on a humanitarian basis while sending a clear message that the reserve were the authors of their own misfortune and they the party of business and industry would bail them out while carefully usurping full financial control of the reserve. That is just about as political as it gets.

Clearly the Court has refuted any suggestion that the band had been mismanaging funds. Furthermore the Court stated "The decision to appoint (Marion) did not respond in a reasonable way to the root of the problems at Attawapiskat nor to the remedies available". It seems obvious to me the federal Conservatives were more interested in the optics of the situation and in "managing" those optics then in solving the problem. This is Canadian politics at their worst.

CORRUPTION AND POLITICS

Politicians don't like it because it reflects badly on the incumbents. Opposition politicians however may see things a little differently. Last Saturday's Waterloo Region Record on page A3 has a story titled "Quebec corruption fighter may shake up election race". Unfortunately the Record don't appear to have this story on line for me to provide a link to.

Jacques Duchesneau is the former Montreal Police chief. He was hired by the Quebec Liberal government to produce a report on illegalities within the Quebec construction industry including illegal funding of political parties as well as bilking of the public purse. This Mr.Duchesneau did but apparently it was a little too sensitive or embarassing for the government who sat on it. Then it suddenly appeared in the hands of the media last fall. Now Premeier Charest has deemed it necessary to call a public inquiry. It turns out that it was the same Mr.Duchesneau who provided the report to a journalist. He claims that he was convinced that the Liberal government wouldn't do anything with it. Ouch!

At this point in time speculation is that Mr. Duchesneau will be running in the upcoming Quebec provincial election under the new Coalition Party. Mr. Duchesneau has two crime reports of which the one still has not seen the light of day. He ties in the construction industry with the Mafia and with illegal political funding. This could be a most interesting upcoming provincial election. Usually in politics bought and paid for consultants stay that way but every once in a while a refreshing surprise comes along.

ORNGE: SOMEBODY'S LYING - EVERYBODY'S LYING?

Rather disappointingly I can't bring up the Waterloo Region Record's story from two days ago (Wed. Aug 1/12) to provide a link to it for the benefit of the readers. The title of the story is "Ornge ex-CEO's defence "nonsense"". Well that's rather bluntly put by provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews. Further quoting the Health Minister "The problem was the leadership at Ornge was more interested in what Ornge could do for them than what they could do for the patients of this province.".

You know the older I get I begin to see a pattern. Governments are all about voter perception not about good governance. Governments are all about "managing" crises not about avoiding or solving them. I am also beginning to suspect that governments put their friends and supporters in these high paying positions hoping that they will be loyal first and foremost. These supporters and friends at the same time seem to have a sense of entitlement. They've been good, loyal friends of the government and now they are going to get a little sugar.

The Ornge air ambulance scandal may yet be the downfall of this Liberal government. It's one thing to throw all the blame on the executives and Board of directors as Deb Matthews has done but who the heck appointed them in the first place? It sure wasn't me and I doubt it was you. It was the McGuinty government. Keep on castigating Chris Mazza and the Board; the least that will happen is that Premier McGuinty will throw Health Minister Matthews out of Cabinet. the worst that will happen is they won't get their majority government and not too far down the line the voters will have had enough.

POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

Both yesterday's and today's Waterloo Region Record carry stories about the latest lawsuits filed against the Toronto police involving their G20 behaviour. Yesterday's is titled "Police face new G20 lawsuit over "hairy legs" profiling". Today's is titled "$1.4M lawsuit against G20 police alleges sexual discrimination". These are totally different allegations as they concern arrests made the day after the vandalism occurred in downtown toronto. Clearly the Toronto police were still on a rampage of retaliation as they swooped down on a group of people leaving a Yongue St. restaurant. The profiling as per the notebook of one of the police officers had to do with "all parties appear to be protesters; back packs; clothing and females all have hairy legs.". Keep in mind this is the day after the vandalism and detruction. That quote describes the sole "evidence" and reason for arresting, detaining, locking up, searching and depriving Canadian citizens of their liberty.

Rank and file Toronto police were given carte blanche by their superiors to violate the civil rights of citizens in retaliation for the embarassment the police sufferred with police cruisers being torched the day before. This cannot be "fixed" by money. The responsible senior officers and politicians need to have their liberty infringed upon albeit via open courts. Police and politicains across Canada need to know that there are real consequences to unlawful arrest and detention. Real consequences does not mean taxpayers money buying the cops out of trouble. If this is all that happens then I'm sorry but Canada is done as a democracy.

CRIMINAL OFFENCE AND NO JAIL TIME

This is a very scary case. Last Saturday's (July 28/12) Waterloo Region Record has this story "Former RCMP officer gets no jail time for obstruction". What concerns me above and beyond the appropriate obstruction of justice conviction is everything else that is left unsaid. This officer, namely Cpl. Benjamin Robinson, killed a young motorcyclist with his car. Who was at fault for the accident? That Cpl. Robinson had been drinking was not in dispute but does not necessarily prove his fault for the fatal accident. Unfortunately the vast majority of vehicle fatalities occur with stone sober drivers. HUA was and is the biggest cause of car accidents (HUA- head up ass). The criminal conviction relates to this experienced officer leaving the scene of the accident, ostensibly to take his children home. While at home and prior to returning to the scene he downed a couple more alcoholic beverages. In effect these post accident drinks made it impossible to prove if he was impaired before the accident as any experienced police officer would know.

I said this was a scary case. It gets more so. Cpl Robinson is still before the courts on another totally unrelated charge. Sort of. He is charged with perjury in connection with his testimony at the public inquiry concerning the Polish immigrant's (Mr. Dziekanski) death at the Vancouver airport in 2007. Yup Mr. Robinson was there and indeed was one of the FOUR RCMP officers who took turns tasering Mr. Dziekanski. The one small relief is that Mr. Robinson is no longer a RCMP officer. My question is will he or should he be in jail for either or both of these tragedies? The public deserve to know ALL the facts not half of them.

MOUNTIES DON'T "GET" WOMEN

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record informs us that despite their other known faults, senior management of the RCMP are also liars. The title is "RCMP sex harassment suit draws hundreds of complaints". Oh now wait a minute . I may be assuming that just because hundreds of women (to date) are claiming sex harassment, that a mere handful of senior male Mounties are lying. Shame on me. Maybe the men are honest and all these women are lying. On the other hand here's a novel idea. Maybe the issue isn't sex harassment. Maybe the issue is why are the male dominated staff at the senior levels not focusing and concentrating on, lets see now, crime, security, citizen protection and old fashioned police work? Have we all heard the old adage that idle hands are the devil's workshop? Could it be that as senior management lose focus on their mandate to the public that inappropriate concerns, biases and directions have been subtly shifted down the chain of command? How else can you explain the apparent focus on making women officers miserable from within the department? This is not an isolated occurrence. It almost sounds like an orchestrated plan to get rid of women officers. Again is the sex harassment merely gender bias run amok or is it a symptom of a much deeper rot permeating the entire institution? Clearly the men are far too focused on "cleansing" their colleagues and restoring the overwhelming maleness necessary for their peace of minds. Internal RCMP problems of this magnitude have been condoned if not tacitly supported at the highest levels. These highest levels also include the political structure behind the Mounties. A house cleaning of both senior management AND of the politicians responsible for overseeing the Mounties is long overdue.