Attawapiskat: National Shame

The Red Cross is a great organization. Wherever disaster hits -- whether natural or government man-made -- it's on the case.

Oh. Look where it's going now. Attawapiskat, Ontario.

The Canadian Red Cross is mobilizing to help meet immediate needs in the community of Attawapiskat. The Red Cross continues to work closely with public authorities and the community to identify and address urgent, short-term needs. At the request of the community the Red Cross will also take on a donation management role to support these needs as identified.

"We have been working closely with public officials and Chief Theresa Spence to assess needs, determine the best course of action and how the Red Cross may be able to provide support," says John Saunders, provincial director of disaster management for the Canadian Red Cross in Ontario.

According to Saunders, some of the needs currently identified include generators, heaters, insulated sleeping mats, blankets and winter clothing.

"Chief Spence has asked that the Red Cross provide support with donation management as the community has been inundated with offers of assistance," says Saunders. "We are continuing to work closely with Chief Spence to identify what is needed immediately and make arrangements to get supplies into the community as soon as possible."

Financial donations may be made online at www.redcross.ca, by calling 1-800-418-1111 or through your local Canadian Red Cross office. Cheques should be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked "Attawapiskat" and can also be mailed to the Canadian Red Cross, Ontario Zone, 5700 Cancross Court, Mississauga, ON, L5R 3E9.

So what is the Contempt Party of Canada–led government doing? Studyin' on it for a while yet.

Gee, wouldn't it be great if there were funds sloshing around to at least help with the dire sanitation problem? Like some money for toilets?

A January draft report says some of the G8 infrastructure projects included $274,000 on public toilets and $100,000 on a gazebo.

My humble suggestion to the people of Attawapiskat: Invite the Muskoka mayors to visit and advise them on how they got such nice shitters on the public dime. Er, 2.74 million dimes.

And I have a humble question: if Canadians personally donate to the Red Cross fund for Attawapiskat, will the Contempt Party government match our generosity, as it did for Haiti and other humanitarian catastrophes?

Image source, from 2008!

'Farcically Ill-Equipped'

'Farcical' is right.

Stephen Maher in The Vancouver Sun yet takes Tony Slush apart. Title: 'Up Muskoka River without a paddle'.

So Clement's defence is that the mayors made the recommendations, which they didn't, and that Baird made the decision, which he didn't.

We need to know why there was no paperwork for the auditor general, because we are up Muskoka River without a paddle if politicians are able to hide their files from the auditor general, the only official with the power to pierce the veil of secrecy in Ottawa.

Clement's explanations are gibberish, and he does not appear to have the judgment necessary for his current job as president of Treasury Board, the minister in charge of enforcing spending rules.

Whether it's gazebos, the long-form census or the InSite file, Cashmere Tony is an embarrassment.

To everyone but PM SHithead himself, of course.

Prime ministers need loyal servants, so even though Clement's G8 shenanigans show that he is farcically ill-equipped to carry out his job, Harper is unlikely to move him or to force him to fully account for the rule-breaking porkfest in Muskoka.

But good on the MSM for staying on this.

Shame

So. How did a guy who won his House of Commons seat by a measly 28 votes in 2006 wallop his competition by nearly 11,000 votes two years later?

Simple corruption.

The NDP is accusing federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement of using a controversial, $50-million G8 legacy fund to buy re-election, prompting a heated denial from the government.

Municipal documents obtained by the New Democrats show Clement met with local mayors and councillors in the midst of the 2008 election campaign. They discussed how to identify projects that could be eligible for the legacy funding.

Twelve days after that meeting, a local news outlet reported that Clement had posted video endorsements from "local townspeople, mayors and council members" on his campaign website.

Somebody needs to investigate. In particular, this bit:

The auditor general has also criticized the government for shutting bureaucrats out of the process and for maintaining no paper trail to explain how or why the projects were selected.

However, hundreds of pages of municipal documents obtained by the NDP through provincial freedom of information legislation, show that federal bureaucrats did in fact participate in local meetings about the legacy fund -- including the one held during the 2008 campaign.

The documents also show that municipal officials were told to direct all questions and send funding applications to Clement's constituency office, not the government.

Shame on the people of Muskoka who sold their vote for a bunch of crappers. But the bureaucrats who sold their integrity should be fired and prosecuted.

As for Tony Slush, I'll keep my opinions on his just punishment to myself.

For now.

Image source. The blogger said presciently back in April this year:

Sweet for Tony Clement and the Conservative Party. They’ll probably get re-elected in Clement’s riding given all the tax money which has been spent there.

ADDED: Alison does the math.