{"id":14756,"date":"2022-09-04T13:27:36","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T17:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=14756"},"modified":"2023-07-24T20:39:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T00:39:17","slug":"the-last-of-the-summer-snippets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=14756","title":{"rendered":"The last of the summer snippets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Niagara Independent, September 2, 2022 \u2013<\/em> Unfortunately, every summer must come to an end. Labour Day Weekend marks the beginning of a transition when we all must begin to focus again on reality. Therefore, the last of the \u2018summertime snippets\u2019 provides final news and commentary on the current state of affairs in the Nation\u2019s Capital \u2013 to help us brace for the eventualities of fall on Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n

There are endless signs of incompetence. <\/b>The last few weeks of national news were littered with stories of government incompetence and ministers routinely sidestepping all responsibility. Apparently, there is no accountability to be found in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Hussen<\/b>, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, is publicly stating that \u201csomeone else\u201d let the government contract a hateful antisemite, Laith Marouf. Marouf led a government anti-racism program, though he himself authored such tweets as: \u201cloud mouthed bags of human feces aka the Jewish White Supremacists,\u201d they deserve \u201ca bullet to the head.\u201d He called former justice minister Irwin Cotler the \u201cGrand Wizard of Zionism\u201d and former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell a \u201cJamaican house-slave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather revealed that he had warned Hussen about the bigot Marouf. Apparently though, Marouf was fine to continue with his contract, that is until media exposed him to the public (full credit to Sun Media<\/i> columnist Brian Lilley who was relentless in reporting on this story). Only then did the minister get around to cancelling the contract. (One has to ask, if there were no negative headlines would Marouf still be leading the government\u2019s anti-racism program?)<\/p>\n

Chris Bittle, <\/b>St. Catharines MP, added another embarrassing twist to this story last week when he attacked University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist for criticizing the government\u2019s contract with Marouf. Bittle said the professor himself was racist, suggesting he criticized Hussen because of his skin colour. The baseless, partisan attack prompted Brian Lilley to respond with, \u201cBittle isn\u2019t worthy of the office he holds, he\u2019s an embarrassment to his riding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Fraser<\/b>, Minister of Immigration, appeared in the news again when it was revealed that international students are now at risk of missing the start of their school year because of visa delays. Immigration officials reported that the department was overwhelmed because there is an unprecedented number of foreign students applying to come to Canada. This notion of Ottawa being \u201coverwhelmed\u201d has become Ottawa\u2019s default response to all issues. In July, the department reported an immigration backlog of 2.7 million people. The backlog has been cited by immigration officials as the reason why Canada was challenged to rescue Afghanis and provide refuge for Ukrainians. So, who is accountable for this impossible situation, or is it so commonplace that now it is acceptable to regurgitate tired excuses to explain away the country\u2019s immigration department failings?<\/p>\n

Omar Alghabra<\/b>, Minister of Transport, audaciously told MPs in a special summer committee hearing on the chaos at Canadian airports that there were no problems with the government\u2019s ArriveCAN app, and that it was \u201chelping reduce congestion.\u201d Seriously, can we believe this given all the facts reported out by airport officials and travelers? This is the same minister who this spring blamed airport delays on Canadians who were too eager to travel and unaccustomed to airport protocol after not travelling during the pandemic restrictions. Alghabra basically told Canadians, \u201cIt is your fault.\u201d However, now it has been uncovered that Alghabra had private department reports of a 25 per cent understaffing of airport security personnel. Obviously, this minister is adept at political doubletalk, inexcusably obscuring facts to evade his responsibility.<\/p>\n

Marco Mendicino<\/b>, Minister of Public Safety, has been caught up in a number of \u201cmis-communications\u201d defending RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, who claims she is being caught up in a scandal that is nothing more than \u201cmis-communication.\u201d But, Mendicino has a remedy for this lack of clarity: the group overseeing the activities of the police force, the RCMP\u2019s Management Advisory Board (a creation of the Trudeau government) will report directly to his office. (MPs believe the board needs to report to Parliament but, obviously, this would cause too much information dragged out into the public.) The minister\u2019s solution would allow Mendicino to build Canadians\u2019 trust and confidence in the RCMP. Imagine the end results. Had this reporting structure been in place this past year, there may not have been the unnecessary probing into RCMP conduct with the N.S. mass murder investigation. Mendicino would have taken care of it.<\/p>\n

On a separate note, about this trusting minister, he appeared before a special committee this month that was looking into the RCMPs\u2019 spyware technology. It has been exposed that RCMP used surveillance spyware on Canadian citizens and have also done so on opposition MPs. At the committee, Mendicino offered very few details \u2013 only the reassurance that he is managing it.<\/p>\n

Melanie Joly<\/b>, Minister of Foreign Affairs, takes the prize as the most incompetent of the Trudeau cabinet lot. Consider this minister\u2019s actions \u2013 and Canada\u2019s shame:<\/p>\n