Sometimes I think the Liberals forget that. For them, the Opposition is a nuisance, a relic of the Westminster system. That attitude is clear today:

Opposition parties made a last-ditch effort to pry the Gomery report on the sponsorship scandal from the government's hands on Monday, saying they had received word from the judge himself that he would consider their request for an early copy.

They are angry that Prime Minister Paul Martin will get the report before everyone else. Mr. Martin will be able to begin reading the report on Monday evening after it is delivered to Ottawa personally by Mr. Justice John Gomery, who presided over the sponsorship inquiry.

Mr. Martin said that precedent requires the government to receive a copy of such a significant report in advance of the public, the opposition parties or the media.

"The fact is, Mr. Speaker, the government's always received reports of this significance in advance because they are in the unique position of having to act."

But the government cannot act without reporting to Parliament, and those meddling Opposition parties with their questions and allegations and whatnot.

I think one of the problems here is that in our system, the boundary between the executive and legislative branches is blurred. Our executive branch (the PM and his Cabinet) is lifted out of the legislative branch from the ranks of the winning party, and then see themselves both as executive and legislative. So when the report is in Paul Martin's hands, in his mind, Parliament has the report.

In the American system, the executive and legislative branches are entirely separate. The President's cabinet is selected from wherever he can find qualified people. If such a person is sitting in the Congress, he'll resign the seat to join the executive.

So if the executive gets a report akin to Gomery, the legislative branch is under no illusion that it has received the report as well, nor for that matter is the President. Clearly Congress has not, and you can be sure that a bipartisan uproar would ensue. Why? Because the Americans spend a great deal of time worrying about separation of powers. That cuts across party lines, and any move to limit the power of Congress to keep an eye on the President would be fought tooth and nail by members of both parties.

In Canada though, the Liberal MPs would feel that since their fellow MPs, who happen to be Prime Minister and his cabinet, have the report, everything is fine.

To them, the "government" has the report and can act. But the legislative branch is not just the Liberals. It's the Conservatives, and the Bloc, and the NDP as well (and the independents). In a properly functioning system, the Liberal MPs would be joining their fellows on the other side of the floor demanding that the Parliament's role in this be respected, and that Parliament have ample time to study the report, in order to hold the Prime Minister to account.

But that's not the way things work around here. It's too bad. Sometimes I think that at least some of the problems we have in our Canadian system would go away if the people in it showed some loyalty to the system, and not just their parties.

But then with all the power to hand out patronage goodies concentrated in the Prime Minister's Office, and with Parliament powerless to do anything about it, loyalty to the system doesn't give you much, and so I doubt things will get any better soon.

Gomery

Posted by: Steve Janke at 04:12 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Frank Brazeau, cousin of Liberal MP David Smith, representing the riding of Pontiac, was a civil servant in the Consulting and Audit Canada branch of Public Works and Government Services Canada, until he was suspended without pay as a result of contracts that he managed that had been sole-sourced to a firm called Abotech.

Abotech is David Smith's company, now run by his wife. It is run out of the Smth family home in Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

Details are scarce. The government refuses to give any detailed answers during Question Period. Nor will the government release the KPMG audit that resulted in disciplinary action being taken against Frank Brazeau, and also resulted in more than one six-figure contract with Abotech to be terminated.

Here is the entry showing Frank Brazeau as the coordinator representing CAC to Indian and North Affairs Canada. You see, each major department that issues contracts has a coordinator assigned to report to INAC on compliance with PSAB, the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business. This program is designed to direct a certain percentage of contracts to aboriginal businesses. Abotech is such a business, and David Smith claims aboriginal status (see the index in the expanded entry of the post to find other articles discussing these issues).

Frank Brazeau, an aboriginal from the Kitigan Zibi reserve just outside of Maniwaki, Quebec, David Smith's home town, was in a position to help direct these CAC contracts to Abotech. He no longer appears on the current version of the coordinators list.

Makes sense, being suspended and all.

But then why does this entry appear in Government Electronic Directory Services, under PWGSC Project Management Services, created October 28, 2005?

It's the same Frank Brazeau -- compare the email addresses and phone numbers. I think that "creation" timestamp is misleading; lower down there is a "Last Updated" timestamp of July 15, 2005, which is earlier than the creation date. That tells me the creation time is some computer generated value refering to when the web page was created, and not the underlying database record.

How long does it take to update the directory? Or are they holding off from making the update for some reason?

Posted by: Steve Janke at 08:33 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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It's one thing for the government to fund an abortion group counselling women seeking abortions. But it's another to fund a group that sees its role to "fight" the Catholic Church? Does that cross the line to justify government funding? According to the Canadian government, that's not a problem and money keeps flowing.
more...

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We've all heard the horror stories of sewage being pumped as drinking water to the people on the Kashechewan reserve in northern Ontario.

The provincial government is moving people from the reserve -- their future is uncertain.

But now another claim is being made -- that the system is fine, but is being mismanaged:

Tap water at a remote native community on the shores of James Bay in the grips of an emergency evacuation is good enough to drink, according to the technician sent in to take over management of the Kashechewan treatment plant.

Chris LeBlanc, a process expert with Northern Waterworks Inc., said he showers and drinks the troubled community's water. He said the outcry over chlorination levels in the Kashechewan water system is misguided and potentially dangerous, but nevertheless one he hears frequently.

According to LeBlanc, the community demands that the chloriination be turned off:

"The community doesn't like the smell of chlorine in water," he said, which often results in them "pressuring [operators] to shut off the chlorine in the water. So they do."

The result, he said, is many native communities are like "Walkerton waiting to happen."

The unspoken implication is that a properly trained manager would find a way to address the people's concerns without compromising safety, but 61% of the water system managers on reserves are not certified.

So who to believe?

Well, in case it matters, the firm for which LeBlanc works, Northern Waterworks Inc, run by the LeBlanc family, donated $2000 to the Liberal Party in 2004. On the other hand, the LeBlancs seem like professionals dedicated to making sure that the people who run these water systems are trained professionals. They were hosting training course as far back as January of 2002:

January 14, 2002 marked a historic date for the evolution of training for Water Treatment Plant Operators in the north. Keewaytinook Okimakanak in conjunction with the Keewatin Patricia District School Board, Northern Waterworks Inc. and the Municipality of Red Lake played host to the first of a series of Water Plant Operator evaluations designed specifically to provide data that will ensure future training is specific to their needs. Keewaytinook Okimakanak is presently pursuing options for the establishment of a permanent training centre located in Red Lake that will be designed to provide the communities with an affordable and sustainable source for training services. The long term objective of this project is to ensure that all northern communities have a safe, reliable source for drinking water being operated and maintained by Provicially Certified Water Treatment Plant Operators.

They run the water systems at the following locations:

Red Lake WTP
Red Lake WPCP
Balmertown (Sandy Bay) WTP
Balmertown WPCP
Cochenour WTP
Cochenour WPCP
Madsen WTP
Madsen WPCP
Musselwhite Mine WTP
Attawapiskat First Nation WTP

We haven't heard of any problems from these locations. Let's hope Northern Waterworks Inc knows it's business.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:04 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Recall that post about David Smith and his time in Maniwaki? Thanks to the crack fact-checking abilities of the CBC, I need to make a major revision.

Grrrrrr!

Here's is the bio printed by the CBC about David Smith, Liberal MP from the riding of Pontiac. I've posted it in its entirety:

Party: Liberal Party of Canada
Age: 50

Education: Graduate in administration from Heritage College, Hull. Currently registered at graduate-level specialized public administration program at eNAP in Gatineau.
Career Background:
He has more than 15 of years experience in organizational management, human resources, property management, and management of multidisciplinary complex projects. He works as a business manager with Public Works and Government Services Canada. He was previously director of strategic development for Jaguar Solutions and executive director with AGM Informatique. He was also manager of Ameublement Branchard for six years.
Community Involvement:
He was a member of the CEMB, working on the school establishment council, and also served as a volunteer with the Quebec Ice Hockey Federation and the Canadian Cancer Society. Currently serves as a volunteer with the Saint-Pierre Chanel scout movement. He is also a member of the Quebec Aboriginal Alliance.

Political History
Party: He has been involved in political life for a number of years, particularly with the Liberal Party of Quebec.
Municipal: Currently, municipal councillor in Maniwaki. Defeated Liberal MP Robert Bertrand for the nomination.

First, David Smith was 40, not 50, at the time of the election.

Second, he worked for "ASM Informatique", not "AGM Informatique".

Third, I can't find a company called "Ameublement Branchard", but there is one called "Ameublement Branchaud" with stores in Maniwaki and in Gatineau.

And finally, and this is critical, according to research performed at the Maniwaki Town Hall, he was councillor from November 12, 1990 and resigned on July 20, 1992. Then he moved to Gatineau.

The Wikipedia entry on David Smith repeats the same mistake:

Smith served as a city councillor in Maniwaki, Quebec until 2004. At this point, he ran in the Canadian federal election, 2004 for the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Pontiac where he won.

Quoting the same bad source as the CBC, or just repeating the information run by the CBC?

This alternate bio contradicts the CBC bio:

At the time of his nomination, Mr Smith was a strategic planning officer for service integration at Public Works and Government Services Canada. Prior to that, he was a business manager for the same department. Mr Smith has more than 15 years experience as a businessman and former director for various businesses in the Outaouais.

Mr Smith was a municipal councillor for the town of Maniwaki. He was responsible for many committees such as public security and fire protection. He also served as a Board member for educational settings and was a member of the Quebec Liberal Party and also a member of their youth wing .

It doesn't provide the details, such as that David Smith counciller for just under two years over 12 years earlier.

But this changes things. Here is a new timeline:

1990 Smith elected municipal councillor
1992 Smith resigns from municipal council; moves to Gatineau
1995 Trepanier/Godbout opens Inter-reseau in Maniwaki
2000 Trepanier/Godbout sells Inter-reseau in Maniwaki
2001 Trepanier/Godbout opens Jaguar Solutions in Gatineau
2002 Smith works for Jaguar
2002 Earliest online evidence of the existence of Abotech
2004 Smith is working for PWGSC as a strategic planner; don't know when he started
2004 Smith elected to Parliament; reins of Abotech given to Anne Ethier
2005 KPMG audit results in the suspension of Brazeau and of contracts with Abotech being terminated

So it looks like Smith was in Gatineau when Trepanier and Godbout were running Inter-reseau in Maniwaki. This suggests that they do not go as far back as I first thought. On the other hand, Smith did work for Jaguar, there is still the overlap on the fire management work, and there is still the problem of the shared fax number.

On the other hand, there is the problem of David Smith working for PWGSC while his firm is taking contracts from aboriginal set-asides.

When I can, I'll try to gather more details on the other players and get them into the timeline.

And from now on, the CBC goes on the same list as the National Enquirer as a source I use.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:15 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The President of Iran was remarkably candid recently:

Newspapers across the Middle East reported the statements by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a conference on Wednesday of conservative students. Ahmadinejad said, "There is no doubt that the new wave of [attacks] in Palestine will wipe off this stigma [Israel] from the face of the Islamic world."

More from the Times:

"Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury. Anybody who recognizes the Zionist regime is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," said Mr Ahmadinejad.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is Iran's recenlty elected president.

Arab nations were generally silent, of course. Most were probably more embarrassed than shocked or surprised. You have to wonder just how many agreed with the sentiment.

But other nations were quick to call Ahmadinejad out on what he said:

Israel on Thursday called for Iran to be expelled from the United Nations after Ahmadinejad told a conference called "The World Without Zionism" that he hoped Israel would be wiped "from the face of the Islamic world."

Countries around the world expressed their outrage, including Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain and France. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel would call for an emergency session of the UN to discuss the comments.

Ahmadinejad dismissed the criticism:

But after a walk through crowds of cheering supporters, Ahmadinejad said the reaction of Western nations carried no weight.

"Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid," he said.

"They become upset when they hear any voice of truth-seeking. They think they are the absolute rulers of the world."

And the Europeans thought they could talk to these people about giving up nuclear weapons?

Despite the looniness of the Iranian leadership, there are still some professionals left in the Iranian civil service, and they tried to repair the damage:

Iranian diplomats tried to downplay the comments.

"Mr. Ahmadinejad did not have any intention to speak up in such sharp terms and enter into a conflict," Iran's embassy in Moscow said in a statement.

Diplo-speak for "We diplomats had hoped no one would notice what Ahmadinejad had said."

It'll be interesting to see if the UN actually does anything:

Israel demanded a special UN session on Friday, two days after Ahmadinejad made his comments at a student rally in Teheran.

The UN has always been quick on the uptake when it comes to criticizing Israel.

By the way, it was cute of the CBC to recast the comments as having been made "at a student rally". Makes it sound like an off-the-cuff remark by one rogue politician caught up in the heat of the moment at some-run-of-the-mill student event at some single college somewhere. Recall that on October 27 and 28, the CBC reported that Ahmadinejad was speaking "at a conference...of conservative students" called "The World Without Zionism":

These programs are conducted in different forms including holding nationwide conferences on The World without Zionism inside and outside Iran, Qods vigil ceremony and carrying out special programs during rallies marking the World Qods Day; moreover the bells of schools across Iran will be rung as part of the Ring of the World without Zionism concurrent with the World Qods Day.

In addition to conducting these programs the Student Movement will hold workshops and question-and-answer meetings for students to better know Zionism. In this line, students from across the country will get together the night before the Qods day and pray to God for the liberation of the holy Qods and the oppressed Muslim Palestinians.

Moreover, the Student Movement with setting up special platforms at the World Qods day rallies will hold photo and caricature exhibitions as well as prepare places for the gathering of students.

This was an elaborate, nation-wide event, covering student university through to grade school, with well-heeled backers, not the least being the Iranian government.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 09:37 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I ask because the alternative is Prince Charles:

The Prince of Wales will try to persuade George W Bush and Americans of the merits of Islam this week because he thinks the United States has been too intolerant of the religion since September 11.

The Prince, who leaves on Tuesday for an eight-day tour of the US, has voiced private concerns over America's "confrontational" approach to Muslim countries and its failure to appreciate Islam's strengths.

Prince Charles, who is about to embark on his first official foreign tour since his marriage to the Duchess of Cornwall, wants Americans - including Mr Bush - to share his fondness for Islam.

Right. Tolerance. A concept that Islam can teach the rest of the world.

First, I'm not sure how you can be "fond" of a religion. It's not a hobby. Or a pet.

To give the His Royal Highness credit, he's been remarkably consistent on this position, criticizing the United States all the way back to November 2001, just two months after 9/11:

The Prince raised his concerns when he met senior Muslims in London in November 2001. The gathering took place just two months after the attacks on New York and Washington. "I find the language and rhetoric coming from America too confrontational," the Prince said, according to one leader at the meeting.

Those present at the meeting in 2001 included Sir Iqbal Sacrani, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, and Hashir Faruqi, the chief editor of Impact International, an Islamic affairs magazine.

The same Iqbal Sacrani who thought that a Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day should be scrapped because it was offensive to Muslims (he wanted the day to remember Palestinians in an equivalent way), the same Iqbal Sacrani who said "There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist", the same Iqbal Sacrani who refused to distance himself from an organization that called Christianity and Judaism "sick or deviant".

Seems like the Prince should be concerned about the intolerant and confrontational individuals in his own immediate area before flying across the Pond to lecture the Americans.

Back to Prince WIlliam, Prince Charles' eldest son and second in line to the throne. Nice guy, is he? Doesn't talk to plants or anything like that? Just wondering.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 08:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For institutions like our taxpayer-funded CBC who can't bring themselves to use the word "terrorist", the traditional label "ghazw" might suffice:

In its active participle form of gha-zi- ("one who takes part in a gha-ziya"), the word is technical term for a Muslim frontier/march warrior whose constant attacks against a neighboring infidel power open the way for the expansion of Islam. Thus as an institution the gha-ziya fits entirely within the conceptual framework of jihad:

For the gha-zi-s in the marches, it was a religious duty to ravage the countries of the infidels who resisted Islam, and to force them into subjection.
Cambridge History of Islam, p. 283

Gha-zi- warriors depended upon plunder for their livelihood, and were prone to brigandage and sedition in times of peace. The corporations into which they organized themselves attracted adventurers, zealots, and religious and political dissidents of all ethnicities.

When performed within the context of Islamic jihad warfare, the ghazw's function was to weaken the enemy's defenses in preparation for his eventual conquest and subjugation. Because the typical ghazw raiding party often did not have the size or strength to seize military or territorial objectives, this usually meant sudden attacks on weakly defended targets (e.g. villages) with the intent of terrorizing/demoralizing their inhabitants and destroying material which could support the enemy's military forces. Though rules of war in Islam's rules of warfare offered protection to non-combatants such as women, monastics, and peasants (in that, generally speaking, they could not be slain), their property could still be looted or destroyed, and they themselves could be abducted and enslaved.

But then the slavery market is a tough one to get into, and you have to keep your captives alive and such, so these ghazawat partaking in a ghaziya in Indonesia had little choice in preparing this land for the expansion of Islam:

Three teenage Christian girls were beheaded and a fourth was seriously wounded in a savage attack on Saturday by unidentified assailants in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi.

The girls were among a group of students from a private Christian high school who were ambushed while walking through a cocoa plantation in Poso Kota subdistrict on their way to class, police Major Riky Naldo said.

Naldo said the heads of the three dead victims were found several kilometres from their bodies.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but Central Sulawesi has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians. The province was the scene of a bloody religious war in 2001-2002 that killed around 1000 people from both communities.

A government-mediated truce succeeded in ending the conflict in early 2002, but there have since been a series of bomb attacks and assassinations of Christians.

Let's recall the CBC rules:

Distributed to staff at cbc.ca, after some poor worker bee made the egregious error of referring to the London transit bombings as "terror attacks" -- which the CBC later went in and retroactively changed to "attacks" in the best traditions of the Ministry of Truth in 1984 -- it reads in part:

"'Terrorist' and 'terrorism': use extreme caution before using either word ... Rather than calling assailants 'terrorists', we can refer to them as bombers, hijackers, gunmen (if we're sure no women were in the group (my italics)), militants, extremists, attackers or some other appropriate noun."

"Ghazw" is an excellent choice. For the CBC, it avoids using a word with a technically bad connotation. Indeed, the CBC could even argue that it is being culturally-sensitive.

On the other hand, once people understood was it means to be a ghazw, no one would be fooled by those apologists arguing that Muslim thugs grabbing defenseless schoolgirls and sawing off their heads has nothing to do with Islam. Of course it does, everyone knows it, and everyone would be waiting for the day the ghazw start to show up in major Canadian cities with their bomb belts and car bombs, preparing the ground for the expansion of Islam.

And when it happens, we can all say "Oh well, there ghazw the neighbourhood!"

[Michelle Malkin has more. Beware -- graphic!]

beheadings, terrorism, islam, Indonesia

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:38 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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From Yahoo:

Posters for "Get Rich or Die Tryin"' show the chart-topping gangsta rapper stripped to the waist in a crucifixion-like pose with his tattooed, bullet-scarred back to the camera and arms outstretched, holding a microphone in one hand and a gun in the other.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich sent a letter to distributor Paramount Pictures urging the billboards be yanked, starting with one outside a public school in Altadena, a suburb north of Los Angeles.

Here's a variation of that billboard for the same advertising campaign for rapper "50 Cent":

Officials were concerned that the image of the gun pointed straight at the camera glorified violence and would undermine efforts to combat the allure of gang membership.

Funny thing is, in Canada, we had the same sort of advertising campaign during the last federal election, courtesy of the Liberal Party:

But in a strange reversal, this ad was acceptable, as the image of the gun pointed at the camera was designed not to glorify but to decry support of the Conservative Party.

A political party which seems to count as a gang and deserves no better treatment, according to the Liberals, the Canadian media and the chattering classes.

A strange attitude, given that it's the Liberals who always seem to be caught stealing money.

50 Cent

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:45 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 Huh?

Posted by: Peter D at October 29, 2005 12:15 PM (UDE86)

2 I think it's a pretty ironic comparison. I find the Liberal's gun even more disturbing since it's right up in your face. Yes, the Liberal's are officially more disturbing than gangsta rappers.

Posted by: Leslie at October 29, 2005 12:40 PM (8qdhf)

3 Ummm...me thinks that you need to look at the context of the posters. What were the Liberal ads actually about? I doubt they were about glorifying violence like 50 Cents were. But then again, you guys are so blinded by partisanship you can't think straight.

Posted by: Peter D at October 29, 2005 02:04 PM (UDE86)

4 Da Librano$ are divvying up the loot/stash. Location unknown; be sure, it's not the local Lions' Den. Check the sub-basement at Mama Teresa's Ristorante. Meanwhile, a Gag order/fatwa has been issued by Librano$ HQ; keep da mouse shut. Signed, ______ _______ >>>> Liberals plan Gomery defence OTTAWA (CP) - The Liberal party is preparing to return bags of cash purloined from the public purse. Prime Minister Paul Martin is preparing a late-night huddle with a small circle of advisers on Parliament Hill on Monday >>>>>>>>>

Posted by: maz2 at October 29, 2005 02:06 PM (cN5rv)

5 Peter D. Yes you are right, they are diametrical but for the same purpose. The Rappers want you to think they are scary. The Libs want you to think the CPC is scary. Both rely on the most base, gutteral, predatory instincts in people. Course, if I ran a party that has no policy other than to stay in power and was facing exposure of rampant corruption I might try to scare the hell out of the voting public as well. Problem for the Libs is that likely won't work next time around.

Posted by: Jeff at October 29, 2005 02:49 PM (AIsIg)

6 The CPC has a platform? I thought it was "look how corrupt the Liberals are. We won't be that bad." Other than that, I have no idea what they stand for. And I'm not a Liberal supporter.

Posted by: Peter D at October 29, 2005 03:36 PM (UDE86)

7 Yes, they do have a platform. Problem is, the liberal controlled media in Canada doesn't want you to know what it is, cuz it's a good one. It does take a bit of work to educate yourself of the CPC's platform, but, you guys are so blinded by partisanship, I wouldn't expect that. The CPC's policies are not designed to hang on to power at ANY price, I can assure you that. Happy hunting.

Posted by: Chazz at October 29, 2005 04:52 PM (MW3XN)

8 Chazz said: "The CPC's policies are not designed to hang on to power at ANY price, I can assure you that." That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Don't you think that every single political party that gains power has but one purpose: Retain Power. Your statement is naive at best.

Posted by: Patrick at October 29, 2005 05:50 PM (lPGPy)

9 Liberal controlled media? You do get CTV and Global right?

Posted by: Peter D at October 29, 2005 07:44 PM (UDE86)

10 Geez, anyone who thinks CTV is not part of the Liberal Cartel in the MSM, or that the National Post has also gone over to the Dark Side is just plain deluded. They're just not as ludicrous as the CBC, or the Toronto Star...

Posted by: Alienated at October 29, 2005 10:19 PM (URppA)

11 Or it could just be that the CPC has done such a horrific job of detailing their plan. In this day and age if you have to wade through a website to find it, you aren't doing your job.

Posted by: Peter D at October 30, 2005 10:10 AM (QXtWk)

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Bill Gates speaks:

Compact discs and DVDs are on the verge of extinction, Microsoft chief Bill Gates has claimed.

He warned film fans awaiting the arrival of high-definition discs that the format would soon be obsolete.

The Microsoft tycoon believes homes will soon have a single, remote device to control all their "digital lifestyle" and entertainment needs.

Films would be as easy to download from the Net as music is now, he told a technology conference.

Interesting, but the next bit is where the rubber hits the road for Canadians:

TV shows will also be broadcast online, giving viewers more choice and the ability to customise what they watch. For example, football fans who want to see match highlights but have only 12 minutes to do so will be able to get their chosen clips edited instantly into a 12-minute programme.

Canadians, of course, have little freedom as to what they watch on TV. Thanks to the CRTC and the arts lobby led by the likes of Margaret Atwood, the government not only manages the airwaves for frequency allocation, that is to say, to make sure that cell phones don't interfere with TV, and TV doesn't interfere with radio, and so on, but also content.

Rogers Cable, Shaw Cable, Cogeco cable, Look TV, Starchoice satelllite -- it doesn't matter. No matter what system you pick, the content is the same, dictated by the government to ensure that there is enough Canadian content. It doesn't matter that no one watches it because CRTC rules demand that these Canadian channels be packaged together, sometimes in obligatory packages that you must pay for as a viewer, sometimes with popular American channels with the expectation that many Canadians will pay for a few Canadian channels they don't watch in order to get an American channel that they do watch.

We pay for the channels filled with programs we don't watch, and a piece of that money goes back to the artists. Some of them probably think that it means they are successful.

Of course, the GST is applied to this fee.

It's not as bad as all that, of course. Many Canadian content channels are very good. Teletoon and the Comedy Network put out some really good stuff. But then there's the bloated CBC acting as the Liberal Party cheerleader, or high-brow channels like Bravo showing artsy Canadian movies no one would want to watch, even though we all paid for it with tax-funded arts grants.

But if Gates is right, and cable and satellite delivery of content, which is controlled by the CRTC, gives way to an internet-based scheme, what does that do to the Canadian system of controlling and manipulating what Canadians see on TV? The internet is the perfect marketplace, the not-so-invisible hand on the mouse clicking into and out of websites based on whatever decision the consumer makes concerning their likes and desires.

And the government's ability to control it is extremely limited.

Does that mean the CRTC, as a means of content control, is on its way out, like the CDs and DVDs?

Well, don't count the government out yet. There's nothing as dangerous as a cornered bureaucracy. Just as the government has mandated the inclusion of the V-chip to allow parents to block content from their children, will our paternalistic government take the same route by including a C-chip in every monitor and TV sold in this country?

Far-fetched, but imagine that the streaming video Gates says we'll be watching in lieu of traditional TV can be blocked by the C-chip. You want to unblock it? Two things you can do.

First, switch to a Canadian stream with CRTC-approved content. That stream carries the necessary descrambling codes required, purchased by the content provider from the government, and designed to expire after a set period, creating a revenue stream for the government.

Second, request that the C-chip be disabled for the duration of the unapproved webcast. Of course, that'll require a message to, and a reply from, a government server to approve the request, which consists of charging you, the viewer, a fee, which will need to be paid off on your monthly ISP bill.

Of course, GST will be applied to these fees.

Is it practical? Hard to say. But CanCon rules are so ingrained in this country, and so part of the way the Canadian government (Liberal or not) sees its role in our day-to-day lives, that I wouldn't put it past the CRTC to think about how to make something like this work.

[And yes, that would mean the C-chip could be used to monitor your viewing habits. I wouldn't expect our Supreme Court to be too bothered by that, though.]

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:14 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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[A major update based on new information that contradicts information provided by the CBC]

As you recall, my theory is that Abotech is a shell company created by faux-aboriginal David Smith, Liberal MP for the riding of Pontiac.  Abotech, with the help of now-suspended bureaucrat (and cousin of David Smith) Frank Brazeau, lands contracts from the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business program, run by the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, under the leadership of the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Metis and Non-Status Indians. The work is then handed off to one of David Smith's former firms to do the actual work, after David Smith takes his cut. Jaguar Solutions was one of those firms. It has done work for aboriginal contracts in the past.

Curiously, Abotech and Jaguar have the same fax number. A smoking gun?

When I called Jaguar Solutuions, "Christian" answered the phone, and after a moment on hold to confer with someone, he denied any connection between Jaguar Solutions and Abotech.

So is that it? A clerical mistake, explained away by the fact that David Smith briefly worked for Jaguar Solutions in 2002, according to "Christian".

Or is there more?

"Christian" was very careful not to give his last name. Well, that's not going to stop me. His full name is Christian Trepanier, as indicated by the domain registrar's entry for Jaguar Solutions:

When was David Smith elected to municipal council? The last regularly scheduled municipal election in Quebec was November 3, 2002. The next is coming up in two weeks, on November 6 (thanks to Chief Whiteduck for that tidbit).

Let's assume that he was elected on November 3, 2002.

That means that prior to becoming councillor, he was working for Jaguar Solutions:

He was previously director of strategic development for Jaguar Solutions...

Trepanier told me that Smith was at Jaguar for maybe a couple of months in 2002 and brought no business to the company.

Now I can't be certain when Jaguar Solutions was founded, but I can guess. You see, Yvan Godbout and Christian Trepanier had sold their previous business in 2000, to "reorientate" their careers:

"We decided to sell the company and to reorientate our careers", Mr Godbout declared while speaking to the shareholders. "Lino Solutions Internet of Telebec, a major partner of Crossnet for several years, seems to us ready to continue our work while respecting our vision and our development philosophy. Lino offers complete Internet services: access, solutions of businesses, multi-media contents, electronic trade...", concluded Mr Godbout.

What business was this?

An Intenet Service Provider called Inter-reseau, founded in 1995.

Where did they work? Maniwaki, Quebec:

In the presence of its employees, Mr Yvan Godbout, one of the shareholders of Crossnet, announced today in Maniwaki the sale of the company to Lino Solutions Internet of Telebec.

Founded in 1995, Inter-reseau ( www.ireseau.com ) is a supplier of Internet access and services for the area of Valley-of-the-Gatineau which serves customers located at Maniwaki, Mount-Bay-tree and the surroundings.

This was a two-man operation. I know because I found this on a newsgroup dated October 21, 1995:

Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.networking.ras
From: Christian Trepanier
Date: 1995/10/21
Subject: Only one RAS connection at a time

I'm setting up a NT 3.51 server to act as an Internet service provider with a pool of 10 modems. Everything is fine with the hardware for RAS (Digiboard 16/e) as long as I have only one client at a time. On the second call, be it on the Digiboard or COM2, I get the following messages under the Port Status of the Remote Access Admin:

Modem Condition: Normal
Line Condition: Line non-operationnal

The hardware and cabling are not to blame as the various help files would suggest.

Anyone with suggestions...

The return email address used was the one for Inter-reseau. Trepanier is clearly a guy who gets his hands dirty.

Might explain why the "president" of Jaguar Solutions is answering the phone -- that always stuck me as odd. How many people work at Jaguar Solutions that the president has to pick up the phone?

By 2001, Trepanier and Godbout sell out to Telebec, and move to Gatineau to start Jaguar Solutions. In 2002, David Smith works for Jaguar Solutions for a short time as director of strategic marketing.

Did David Smith move to Gatineau when he was working for Jaguar, or was he working long-distance from Maniwaki to drum up business?

Maybe the latter. Why? First, there is the problem of David Smith moving from Maniwaki to Gatineau and back in such a short period of time.

But more than that, when elected in November of 2002 (if that's true), he went on to work on the municipal council specializing in fire protection issues:

Before entering federal politics, Mr Smith served as municipal councillor for the town of Maniwaki. He played a key role on various committees which tackled such issues as public security and fire protection.

Jaguar Solutions works on fire management systems.

Almost makes you think it was part of a plan. Then maybe he was just applying the skills he gained at Jaguar to help his community. Still, how much could he have learned in such a short stint with Jaguar as a sales person?

So Trepanier and Godbout were the "go to" guys for internet service in Maniwaki for almost six years. Maniwaki local, David Smith, is a businessman and computer consultant. In a small town like Maniwaki, I figure they all had to know each other. He knows them well enough that soon after they create a new firm, he gets a high-level position with them. Then, for some reason, he leaves that position soon after (according to Trepanier) and goes into politics, including making decisions on policy involving exactly what Jaguar Solutions specializes in.

Just how far back do David Smith and Trepanier and Godbout go?

Remember how I said that Trepanier was a hands-on guy. He registered domains, for example:

#N .branchaud.qc.ca
#S .CA Domain;
#O Ameublement Branchaud inc.
#C Christian Trepanier
#E ctrepanier@ireseau.com
#T +1 (819) 449 7171
#P Inter-reseau inc., 140 rue King, Maniwaki, Quebec, J9E 2L3
#R Automatically generated from a .CA domain registration form
#W registry@cs.toronto.edu (UUCP Liaison); Tue Aug 24 00:57:43 -0400 1999
#
# BRANCHAUD.QC.CA is a For-Profit Corporation, Provincially Incorporated
#
# Meuble detaillant
#
# received: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 19:00:00 -0500
# approved: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 19:00:00 -0500
# modified: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 20:00:00 -0400

Ameublement Branchaud? Ring a bell?

[David Smith] was also manager of Ameublement Branchard [sic] for six years.

"Branchard" is second typo in the CBC bio for David Smith. The first was when they misspelled ASM Informatique as "AGM".

Almost like whoever provided the information to the CBC didn't want to make it too easy to track down the links.

But then I'm just being paranoid.

Ameublement Branchaud had its domain registered in 1997. If David Smith was manager then, he would have known what was going on. But his bio says he was a manager for 6 years. In 1997 David Smith would have been 33. Since he would not have been a manager when he was working at Jaguar Solutions in 2002, we only have a window from about 1987 to 2001 for him to have been a manager.

Remember too that we have jam "executive director" at ASM Informatique in there somewhere. Still haven't figured out when exactly he worked with ASM.

Unless he was made a manager right out of Heritage College, I think it's fair to say that the six stint as manager probably overlapped Ameublement Branchaud's move to the web. Given that he is a computer consultant today, I'd guess he was very involved in that process in 1997, working with Christian Trepanier to establish a web-presence for the company, including designing and building the web pages.

(Of course, he didn't have to be a manager at Ameublement Branchaud to be doing this -- he could have been a non-manager given the project to work on, becoming manager later.)

I know that Trepanier was involved in more than just registering the domain name because when you go to the earliest versions of the Ameublement Branchaud web site available on the Wayback Machine, the pages are copyrighted by Inter-reseau.

So Christian Trepanier and Yvan Godbout of Jaguar Solutions and David Smith might go as far back as 8 years. Back to Maniwaki. Back to Ameublement Branchaud. Back to Inter-reseau. Back to early days at Jaguar Solutions.

We still don't know how close they are today. Except for the tantalizing hint of the shared fax number, which Christian Trepanier shrugged off.

Nothing incriminating in this post. Just very interesting.

David Smith, Abotech

Posted by: Steve Janke at 05:01 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
Post contains 1473 words, total size 11 kb.

1 Mental note to self... don't get on Angry's bad side... Wow. I thought I was good at pulling strings of info together. You should be submitting a resume to become the Tories version of Warren Kinsella. ;-) If you can do all this with publically known info, imagine what you could do from inside!

Posted by: Christian Conservative at October 27, 2005 07:05 PM (Gm8IK)

2 I was wondering why Angry hadn't posted anything today... I guess he was busy. You're right CC about what he could do from the inside. But imagine him with a budget to perform his investigations. That would put the fear of God into any Liberal/NDP/Bloc what-have-you. Except Robbie McLa-La-Land. Nothing scares him.

Posted by: Surecure at October 27, 2005 08:02 PM (aYppR)

3 Open Source Info? Secrets of Terror By Jamie Glazov FrontPageMagazine.com | October 20, 2005 http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=19899 >>>>>>>> Follow the money $$$$$$. Reads like a mystery story, no? More, please. It's a labyrinth; remember the way back out, however. (Greek myths) You may end up in the sub-basement of Mama Teresa's Ristorante, Ottawa. Put it in a book, Angry. Make $$$$$$$$. Do not apply for A CanCouncil grant, however.

Posted by: maz2 at October 27, 2005 08:46 PM (7PTrC)

4 Great work, Angry! After all your hard work at unearthing what is likely *another* liberal scandal, I just hope some of our coservative MofP are taking notice. I sure would hate this coming to naught.

Posted by: Alienated at October 27, 2005 08:48 PM (URppA)

5 You should be submitting a resume to become the Tories version of Warren Kinsella. But then he's got that cool punk rock thing going. I'm not nearly that well rounded. I don't think Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica count.

Posted by: Angry in T.O. at October 27, 2005 08:49 PM (DdJXC)

6 Awesome job Angry! We have all been riveted.

Posted by: slider at October 28, 2005 01:35 AM (dYdFg)

7 wow... I wish I could do all that... what great blogging it would make... *envious sigh* *tounge in cheek* maybe you should turn all your findings over to Palliser and let him run with it... I've seen things like this before... group of guys who make their living off convincing the government to give them money... It's alot more common than you think... I actually am helping support one but if he doesn't deliver on his promises then I have no qualms about cutting him loose and reporting it to the Auditor General... Speaking of which I have to go and meet with one of Sheila's flunkies about Kyoto implementation... that's going to be interesting.

Posted by: Sierra at October 28, 2005 09:48 AM (zgHSB)

8 Now ... I'm starting to get worried. Angry's checking out of David Smith can now be held up as a chilling example of how to research an individual on the Net, due to the amount of personal information out there. I think the Privacy Commission ought to see these posts. Not that it should do something, but just so they're aware just how much information is out there.

Posted by: PhantomObserver at October 28, 2005 10:18 AM (U8FJD)

9 While I am the last person to advocate infringement on the privacy of individuals, in this case it is a good thing. Maybe people would be less likely to commit fraud and theft if they knew that someone with the right motivation and skills could piece together most of facts of the crimes using information from the internet. On the other hand, if you were smart, you could cover your tracks. Apparently, David Smith and associates are not very smart.

Posted by: slider at October 28, 2005 11:19 AM (e46lM)

10 Oh.My.Goodness.Angry. So let’s sum up the strength of the evidence of this conspiracy, shall we briefly, just from this one post (the 24th, if I’m not mistaken, since October 19): “my theory is...” “I'm willing to bet...” “Let's assume...” “Now I can't be certain...” “...but I can guess.” “Maybe the latter.” “Almost like whoever provided the information to the CBC didn't want to make it too easy to track down the links.” “Still haven't figured out when...” “I think it's fair to say that...” “We still don't know how close they are today.” “...the tantalizing hint...” “Nothing incriminating in this post. Just very interesting.” So you’ve proven that a couple of entrepreneurs in a close-knit industry in a small town knew each other and that later they may have given each other some work. Maybe. Wow. Good work. The funny thing about conspiracy theories, or rather, the thing that is so funny about conspiracy theories is that you get so mired up in the nitty gritty detail of all of the supposed links and suppositions and guesses and negative assumptions about missing information you forget about taking a step back and looking at reality. When you string together a series of negative assumptions about facts and missing facts, and then continue on to your next "link" as though the assumptions were correct facts, you can prove just about anything. As somone over at Bound by Gravity commented: "If I recall correctly, Angry has some designs on gaining entry into journalism. Here's a hint: don't do your homework in public." And don't do an even worse job of reporting than your hated MSM. But I’ll leave off with the one fact from your post for which you can speak with genuine authority and which rings truest in all of this story: “But then I'm just being paranoid.” TB Cerberus

Posted by: TB at October 28, 2005 12:27 PM (9l8Vc)

11 I have no idea whether David Smith is a status Indian or not. But, with respect to the idea that he isn't simply because some Band Chief and the band receptionist and his high school teacher, you seem to be missing an important (and controversial) distinction from being status Indian in Canada (determined by statute) and a band member (determined by the bands themselves). From another commenter over at Bound by Gravity, who knows a lot more about status Indians than I ever will (regardless of what you may think about her politics): "The only person in Canada, (aside from an Aboriginal person themself) who can verify that an Aboriginal has status or not, is the Registrar of Indians (in Ottawa), or the Band Membership Officer of an Indian Affairs. Angry does not seem to understand that people can have Indian Status without membership, and they can have Band Membership without Status. If somebody is indian, either 6.1 or 6.2 according to the Indian Act, and is not registered as member of an Indian Band, somewhere in Canada... there is no way to prove whether they are Indian with status or not, unless they have their Status card and registry number... Asking the registrar of Indians, will be met with a response that this is information protected under the Privacy Act... Oh.. and another bit of information.. when the Indian Act was ammended in the 1980's - to allow for Indian Bands to determine their own membership... anybody who was entitled to membership prior to that time could NEVER have their band membership stripped for ANY reason. Also... there are a lot of Indians in Canada who do have status, or achieved status on Bill C-31, however, because many bands do not, or did not recognize Bill C-31, those people who achieves status from their mothers... who had lost status for marrying a non-native, will never get band membership, unless another Indian Band in Canada allows them to join, according to their own band membership rules." TB Cerberus

Posted by: TB at October 28, 2005 12:57 PM (9l8Vc)

12 I'm British. No, wait, I'm German. No, wait, I'm Jamaican. Part of being a sovereign nation is the ability to manage citizenship. Certain norms apply concerning automatic citizenship based on parentage or place of birth, but by and large, the State decides who is a member, not the potential citizen. If the First Nations are truly a sovereign people living within Canadian boundaries, dealt with by the Canadian government on a nation-to-nation basis with treaties and such defining that relationship, then by what means can the Canadian government define citizenship within that other nation? Isn't that the job of the First Nation's leadership? Given where David Smith was born, the family history in that area, and the fact that he represents that area in Ottawa, it strikes me that Chief Whiteduck and the band should have the right to deny his claims of citizenship. Smith might not be claiming membership with the Kitigan Zibi, but then what other band would it be? The concept of Indian Status with band membership strikes me as nonsense -- among other things, it devalues the concept of the band. Chief Whiteduck made it clear to me that the concept is rejected by most of the aboriginal leadership. It seems to be a creation of the government, but I have to admit that I don't know the history of these concepts. I'm learning about this stuff as fast as I can. Bottom line, what else could David Smith be but a member of the Kitigan Zibi, and they do not recognize him as a member. If his ancestry (assuming that's the basis of his claim) shows a person from another band, then that band should study his claim and pass judgement. But not the government. No more than the Canadian government makes decisions on who is British or German or Jamaican. Seems to make sense to me.

Posted by: Angry in T.O. at October 28, 2005 01:27 PM (phwde)

13 TB, you seem to forget that when one is publicly formulating a theory regarding whether somebody did something criminal or not, it is always best not to make direct accusations unless they can be 100% backed up by fact. It's called avoiding-a-lawsuit speak. Hence the: “my theory is...” “I'm willing to bet...” “Let's assume...” “Now I can't be certain...” “...but I can guess.” “Maybe the latter.” Of course, that's only me stating the obvious. Funny how the obvious is the first thing overlooked when trying to stretch one's lip (or fingers in this case). And as for 'status' Indian, I've said it before but this is not a matter of simply somebody saying so. I know many people who could be considered 'status' Indian for one reason or another, but have never associated with 'status' Indians outside of their direct family, would never identify themselves as 'status' Indian when asked on the fly, have never proclaimed themselves as such in any way and don't spend time on reserves or taking part in any 'status' Indian assemblies or associations. The real question is, can and SHOULD anybody who is technically 'status' Indian siphon away business that was specifically targetted for the participation of TRUE and ACTIVE 'status' Indians? (especially when they are seemingly not even doing any work and may be skirting the rules) The answer is no. And you know it TB.

Posted by: Surecure at October 28, 2005 01:53 PM (oW84I)

14 Look, I don't care whether he is or isn't. Ethically, maybe he shouldn't claim to be. Ethically, maybe the government shouldn't be determining who is an Indian and who isn't. Ethically, maybe, as you are suggesting and as many band natives demand, all natives should be part of a band and live on a reserve in order to be considered an Indian? Ethically, maybe, as you are suggesting and as many band natives demand, all natives should be as pure bred as can be in order to be considered an Indian? But legally, that's just not the reality. Far be it from me to engage in the world of conspiracy theories since I'm not the paranoid type, but it does seem to me that (1) your issue of who gets to decide who is an Indian is besides the point in this latest corruption conspiracy theory - since that is the legal reality right now, go lobby the government for changes and (2) an entrepreneur is in the business of making money and if the government gives him or her a way to make some more, it's not surprising that they take advantage of the opporutinity - no conspiracy there. Or here. Have a nice weekend all. I don't know what I'm going to do to fill my time, but I have a feeling I know what you'll be busy doing. TB Cerberus

Posted by: TB at October 28, 2005 02:36 PM (9l8Vc)

15 TB: If no conspiracy, then how about a conflict of intrest?

Posted by: Ward at October 28, 2005 06:58 PM (FIjqN)

16 I know what I'm doing this weekend: not responding to people who simply don't get it.

Posted by: Surecure at October 28, 2005 11:22 PM (aYppR)

17 Post #24 on Abotech since October 19, 2005.

Posted by: Abotech Counter at October 30, 2005 11:09 PM (GsEpt)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

After reading up on Kashechewan, consider this from the Globe and Mail:

Meanwhile, about 50 other native communities in Ontario are operating under a boil-water advisory.

And then this (hat tip to slaidlaw):

[Dr. Murray Trussler] said that when he asked about protecting people from hepatitis A, Ontario offered to provide 100,000 doses of a vaccine against it, but the federal government turned it down, saying there was no hepatitis A problem in Northern Canada.

"This is absolute rubbish. There's 100 native communities in Canada currently under a boil-water advisory. Any time you are under a boil-water advisory, there's probability you are going to run into hepatitis A sooner or later," Dr. Trussler said.

For crying out loud. Fifty communities? A hundred? Vaccines turned away?

What are they doing at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development?

Incompetence and corruption. Shame on Canada. Shame on all of us.

Kashechewan

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:42 PM | Comments (33) | Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Caller on Lowell Green Show, CFRA 580 AM, Ottawa,(availabale on the Internet) this day: To paraphrase: The Liberals, Chretien/Martin & McGuinty, are telling these people to strain their raw sewerage through some paper tissue; boil the liquid which passes through; drink that. In so many words, drink yellow snow. The white man knows what is best for you. >>> What say you?

Posted by: maz2 at October 26, 2005 03:11 PM (9w6Sj)

2 There's 100 native communities in Canada currently under a boil-water advisory.

Posted by: steve at October 26, 2005 03:49 PM (KilnK)

3 Get up and build a personal sewage field (as I did at age 55). Get up again and get on a 'bus to join us in our daily sweat and tread: No more "First nation", or "last nation" or "17th. nation":like me again, I have abandoned all my "aboriginal" rights (choice building lots below Westminster/Metropolitan Opera/Vatican/Pyramids in favour of earning my daily bread. Close "Indian" Affairs tomorrow: we are all Canadians in this Great White North

Posted by: Arnold Guetta at October 26, 2005 03:52 PM (PMitN)

4 "Shame on all of us"? Blow it out your ass. All I ever did to the Indians was pay enough taxes to keep them all in luxury, and vote for people who were willing and able to do that. This ain't my fault, pal.

Posted by: ebt at October 26, 2005 06:01 PM (7y2db)

5 "What are they doing at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development?" Same thing they are doing at the gun registry and Public Works and Canadian Forces and pretty much everywhere in the government Angry. They are obviously disbursing public funds where they will get the most Liberal votes and ignoring the actual needs of the job at hand. 100 one cow towns up north? Who cares? No votes up north, all the votes are in Toronto. My question is where are the liberal media? They are the ones who profess to shed their heart's blood over every fallen sparrow. Here's a hundred towns full of sparrows and not a sound from the holier than thou Lefty media, nor the NDP, nor the civil rights whackos, nor the Indian "community leaders". Shame on me? Don't think so Angry. I voted Conservative. Shame on the addle pated Liberal voter maybe for getting rooked again.

Posted by: The Phantom at October 26, 2005 06:57 PM (nAMT1)

6 Why we expect the Native leaders to have any more ethics than our own is beyond me. Their leaders are just as corrupt as ours--they are a microcosm of our own governance. The people do without while the leaders get all the perks. And, as usual, some the money given to Native leaders probably finds its way back to the Liberal Party coffers. On Reserves, as in our world, it is who you know that gets you a palce at the trough. I have nothing but sympathy for the Native epople kept in servitude with the aid of this Liberal government. As usual, it is in the best interests of the Liberals to divide and conquer--and the bleedinghearts never look past their noses to se what is really happening. This situation is not unusual at all in Canada. The Native people are used and abused by their leaders and ours. If only the Native people and we could join forces--we might get some real action to change thei corrupt mentality.

Posted by: George at October 26, 2005 07:11 PM (O1+Sf)

7 Hear Andy Scott- Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs today, he said thay started doing something a year ago and are still studying the problem, but they're on it.

Posted by: Bruce Randall at October 26, 2005 07:20 PM (rwFoc)

8 I agree with Arnold Guetta. I am also of Indian heritage. I decided long ago that I wanted no part of Indian Affairs. I have never had any dealings with them and never will. I also built my own sewage field, right below the house I also built on the shores of a lake in central BC, where my family and I lived for fifteen years. I actually bought a lease on Indian land come to think of it. I'm hanging around so that one day I may live in a free Canada, a proud Canada, and a Canada with no gun law, no Department of Indian Affairs, and no Liberal cartel.

Posted by: John Crittenden at October 26, 2005 07:33 PM (q3a5q)

9 "Shame on all of us"? Blow it out your ass. All I ever did to the Indians was pay enough taxes to keep them all in luxury, and vote for people who were willing and able to do that. This ain't my fault, pal. So you voted for the Liberals ebt? Then it IS your fault. Shame on Canada that the Liberals are not at zero percent in the polls. Shame on Canada that the whole bunch of criminals in government and the federal civil service are not in prison. Shame on you ebt for voting for the people who are destroying the country.

Posted by: Ed Minchau at October 26, 2005 08:15 PM (pPVQ0)

10 We give EIGHTY BILLION DOLLARS a year. Each and every year to Ottawa Indian Affairs to take care of problems such as this. Where the hell do they spend that money????

Posted by: Liz at October 26, 2005 09:14 PM (8UaO7)

11 Liz - Umm... it's actually about 1/10th the annual figure you stated above, for Indian Affairs. Regardless, it's a sound question: what ARE the aboriginal people of Canada getting for this kind of money?

Posted by: SJD at October 27, 2005 12:48 AM (2/Us5)

12 we know the money earmarked for "the natives" never gets to the people ever. period. full stop. brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood LPC

Posted by: kelly at October 27, 2005 01:04 AM (/IrGj)

13 Newfoundland and Labrador currently has 200 communities with a boil order. Some like Howley for as long as two 2 years!

Posted by: NL Expatriate at October 27, 2005 09:02 AM (z7JgX)

14 Indian Affairs, what a joke! I am a non native living on the Westbank Indian Reserve. The Federal Government with all its powers gave this bank Self government a year ago. If it was not for a few brave people standing up to the government the Bill would have passed through the government without any opposition. You may find it interesting that someone in their powers in the federal government removed testamony from four lone voices speaking in opposition from the standing senate committee report online. I can tell the native people do not see the money that the federal government doles this way. Another fact the present chief and past chief are now both millionaire's. The money does not get to the people that need it, they have been keep quite for so long that the powerful chiefs have all the control. When do we the tax payers stop paying for past misinjustices? The provincial governments use this term as well when they hand out money. If the country is upset about adscam, David Dingwall and Kashechewan, just wait until the people of Canada find out how much money is given out without any accountability. Why, in this day and age is the government still promoting the reserve system? Indian Affairs is the biggest ripoff in this country. We should be taking on this problem and solving it, end the reserve system, period. The native people deserve to allowed to be Canadian's period. They should not be under the control of any chief's. The only ones that are profitting from this system is the native chiefs. There seems to be too many sets of rules in this country. One for politicians, one for Indian's, one for immigrants and then the rest of us fall in. What happened to everyone in this country having equal rights. Shame on Indian Affairs. Shame on this country for allowing this corupt system to continue. Shame on the Liberals and Andy Scott, once again they have dithered away time instead of fixing the damm problem! Sorry for venting but...

Posted by: Mary at October 27, 2005 09:39 AM (/fb+d)

15 "Shame on all of us"? Blow it out your ass. All I ever did to the Indians was pay enough taxes to keep them all in luxury, and vote for people who were willing and able to do that. This ain't my fault, pal. -ebt ebt you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground, luxury?! Are you kidding?! This country was designed, from the start, to defeat the Indians and their political system, good job Canada mission acomplished! How about a department of white mans affairs for us to control you?! The South African aparthied system was designed after close consultation with Canada because Canada had so effectively taken care of it's "Indian problem". Aparthied has come and gone but we still have the Indian Act. It wasn't designed for the benefit of Indians, it was designed for the benefit of the white people of this countr! so pardon me for existing, go somewhere else, die! SA

Posted by: SA at October 27, 2005 10:15 AM (H0nBO)

16 SJD nails it. Assume ~$8B annually spent through DINA. Add in another few billion for other federal departmental spending and the provinces' spending on natives (justice, health, culture, etc.) Approximately 1 one million Canadians are native. So, annually, the Canadian taxpayer spends ~$10,000.00 per native. Here's the solution: Disband DINA. Repeal the Indian Act. Repeal native sentencing and all other special preferences under the CCC. And give every registered native a one-time, tax-free payment of, say, $25,000.00 (children's shares to be held in trust until the child turns 25). That is, cut off the welfare-dependent, entitlement culture cold turkey. I was not at all surprised that the first words out of the deputy-band chief's mouth in Kashechewan were, "the government has to help us". Because that's the way that it's been for generations- self-reliance has been lost due to the fed's patriarchal approach to "the native industry". Then, use the $10B annual savings to pay down the national debt, thereby strengthening Canada for the betterment of all Canadians. It's long past time when native Canadians should be treated solely as "Canadians". Period.

Posted by: Reg at October 27, 2005 10:17 AM (CJtcv)

17 Reg, while I appreciate that sentiment, and without desiring to sound racist, it is a VERY BAD IDEA (tm). Half of that kind of payout would end up being smoked up in meth or drunk in alcohol. I live in a town with the highest native/non-native ratio in the country. A full 35% of the population is aboriginal, and that doesn't count the adjoining reserve. There are lots of people on reserve and off who are responsible, have jobs, and work to improve their lives. The band, to their credit, has also enjoyed economic development, and has been very good attracting economic growth (so not every band is corrupt, just many). There are also a lot of people on reserve and off who are totally irresponsible, addicted to percocet or meth. My neighbour across the street is a foster mom. She always gets native kids. Most of them are good enough kids, hut the situations they were in are absolutely horrid. In one case the child welfare agents kicked in the door with the police's help, found an ongoing party that according to the kids had been going on for 3 days, the place was covered in meth, all three kids were completely naked, as were a dozen of the participants, and the kids had all kinds of 'tells' of child sexual abuse. Mom was nowhere to be found, the kids hadn't seen her in 6 days (and the kids were left alone the oldest was . The baby, only 8 months old, was born addicted to percocet. She had the kids for over a month before mom even smartened up enough to realize they were gone. This is a situation which repeats itself hundreds of times a day here.

Posted by: paulm at October 27, 2005 11:38 AM (9phBR)

18 Is Canada out of chlorine? I remember, 70 years ago, the daily cup of clorox down the well. A properly maintained outhouse can be as safe as a septic system.

Posted by: Walter E. Wallis at October 27, 2005 12:11 PM (wDJE+)

19 Welfare culture always breeds dependency, erodes social confidence and in the longer run will make the Residential School issue look like amateur hour. Socialism, isn't it grand, especially when it lovingly and with the best intentions, eradicates a race of people. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was done with guns, in the 20th and 21st centuries, its done with misguided social policy. Only aboriginals themselves can help themselves. The addiction to welfare and the idea that government is responsible for their welfare needs to be changed from within.

Posted by: Fred at October 27, 2005 12:44 PM (tzGmh)

20 Check out the great Mark Steyn piece on the state of Canadian aboriginals & the Dept of Indian Affairs, specifically the state of things at the Davis Inlet relocation. The situation at Kashechewan, while different equivalent to the Davis Inlet tragedy (ie, not native-induced gasoline sniffing), similarly owes its inception to the same root cause: Canada's disgusting aboriginal system and DINA. At the heart of things is the curse of earnest liberal Canadian "caring", which is nothing more than a throwaway sop to left-wing consciences and ideology. MONEY QUOTE: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "When you isolate people from the system that's created the most prosperous, healthiest and longest-living communities in human history... the result is the government-funded human landfill that is Indian Affairs... "How many more generations of the most lavishly endowed underclass on the planet have to be destroyed in the name of Canadian "caring"? We need to blow up Indian Affairs and end the compassionate apartheid that segregates natives from Canadians". >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Western Standard link is free but requires registration: http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=296 The repost at Freerepublic.com & is free (scroll down about a dozen posts for the full article): http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1257406/posts

Posted by: SJD at October 27, 2005 01:13 PM (rVPY9)

21 Trojan...public service mention: [Canadians who sign on for Afghanistan soldiers of fortune army.] Hey, Drug addicts will sign up. There they can walk about in Heroin Heaven, carrying a lethal weapon and wearing Canadian government permission. Poppyfield nirvanna. Oh deliver me please.. eh? Webroot just proved itself this morning. It caught 11 reporter cookies and one Back-door Trojan. Not a bad find, when you consider Bill Gates scans for stuff here every am around 2. Google Webroot. It's just a few bucks or they may still have a free version. I thought someone was poking about in my Compaqy1. Zapped him now! Posted the Webroot screen [ small thumbnail] on http://My.Opera.com/T-G/

Posted by: TonyGuitar at October 27, 2005 02:12 PM (rmMzv)

22 Never voted Liberal in my life, ed. Learn to read. I vote for people willing and able, not for people who can't and don't. Oh, and SA, I don't take lectures from dirty little jigs. Go home and wallow in shit, why don't you.

Posted by: ebt at October 27, 2005 03:29 PM (7y2db)

23 Thanks for proving my point ebt!

Posted by: SA at October 27, 2005 04:03 PM (H0nBO)

24 "Shame on Canada. Shame on all of us." Hey, natural selection is never pretty (nature abhors a welfare suck-tit).

Posted by: Sean at October 27, 2005 04:13 PM (Rww+E)

25 Best Conservative quote of 2005: "I don't take lectures from dirty little jigs" If only the rest of you were as honest as ebt (and, of course, Dick "Rosa Parks was fraudulent" Evans).

Posted by: Dr.Dawg at October 27, 2005 04:29 PM (o++QM)

26 Dr.Dawg, tell me you're making that last line up. PLEASE! ebt: You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It's comments like that that ensure we'll be stuck in Liberal hell forever. For everyone who says the gov't shouldn't do anything or has done enough or spent enough, were you one of the Calgarians that got flooded this year? Do you b*tch when your water smells of chemicals in the spring? You are OK with 3rd world squalor in this country? Where is your compassion? Ditto what I said to ebt.

Posted by: Candace at October 27, 2005 06:12 PM (gVXV7)

27 "Calgarians that got flooded this year? Do you b*tch when your water smells of chemicals in the spring? You are OK with 3rd world squalor in this country?" I'm generally sympathetic to the downtrodden, but much less so for wounds that are self-inflicted.

Posted by: Sean at October 27, 2005 06:16 PM (Rww+E)

28 But only Americans act like racists, n'est-ce pas?

Posted by: Alan at October 27, 2005 06:41 PM (lIxbv)

29 It is a disgrace that the Feds have let this situation come to this pass--and many other reserves are in similar, if not quite as terrible, shape. But even if Kashechewan is moved and rebuilt, better, elsewhere what will the people do to earn a living? That is the question about many remote reserves that is not being addressed. And saying, as I heard an Ontario First Nations' leader say on the radio today, that the answer was sharing resource revenues is no answer. That is not earning. Just receiving more money. And who will control and distribute it? Mark Ottawa

Posted by: Mark Collins at October 27, 2005 08:03 PM (t+agg)

30 Candace: Nope. Not making anything up. http://www.haloscan.com/comments/safework/113024311109747076/#64842 In fact, Dick thinks that being a Nazi is "understandable." They're just pushing back against liberalism: http://nomoresoc*alism.blogspot.com/2005/10/why-outrage.html

Posted by: Dr.Dawg at October 27, 2005 09:04 PM (xAxYn)

31 Angry you managed to allow a venue for how hateful and insensitive some people really are. Good for you for not removing the harder to stomach comments. It seems Wolfgang Droege's words in a Toronto Life article years ago about those who want to "save the white race" are in the Liberal government - perhaps they're concentrated in Indian Affairs? It's common knowledge that many Chiefs are pocketing money but those that have tried making a claim to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, many of them women, have been told by them they can't because they "don't have jurisdiction" due to the Indian Act. As for the comment about "luxury", you've got to be kidding. I find it thoroughly nefarious to blame the victims or to minimize the harm and medical concerns by comparing it to non-natives in rural communities, for example. The facts are, natives are and have been treated as if they are less human because they've been subjugated systemically for a hundred years to the point it has depleted their spirit and now they are being blamed for their psychological descent into "immorality" Reserves were a way to preserve the land natives lived on during colonial times. It was also a way to preserve the native culture. Native Affairs have been told that many Chiefs on many reserves were pocketing the money but they didn't care, so they allowed the communities to deteriorate to what is amounting to crimes against humanity if oppresive attitudes constrain action.

Posted by: habamusrodentum at October 27, 2005 11:52 PM (H8KhQ)

32 Mark: "But even if Kashechewan is moved and rebuilt, better, elsewhere what will the people do to earn a living?" This way: ...The Kashechewan First Nation governs Kashechewan. The First Nation members elect a Chief and Council every three years. The Chief and Council include one Chief and one Deputy Chief and 11 Councillors. The First Nation is funded through the Indian and Northern Affairs of Canada. The First Nation does pass its own by-laws and local regulations. The local economy is primarily based upon government services (First Nation) and to a lesser extent small business. Like many other First Nations in the area, there is still some dependence on the land. Some families go out spring and fall camping for a month. Before the winter Some elders go fur trapping, and they come back when it is safe to go on the river. During the spring some people smoke geese and fish, and sometimes moose meat or caribou. When they come back from camp they sell their meat. Sometimes they sell their crafts, like beadwork, slippers, moccasins, and carvings..." Some will do a little bit of this, and some will do a little bit of that, and then some will work for the government who will be busy handing out those welfare cheques to some others. And you thought your taxes weren't being well spent? Meanwhile I think I heard a rumour somewhere that Volpe is boosting immigration.

Posted by: JM at October 28, 2005 07:43 AM (LUq0u)

33 No need to move Kashechewan after all. The water treatment system was fine, just badly managed by the native operators (cf. Walkerton). And millions of dollars to be spent as knee-jerk crisis reaction. Also as the Globe editorial points out today, "Moving Kashechewan", the unemployment rate on the reserve is 87%. How can there ever be a future for such isolated reserves when the simply is no real economy to support them? "Expert tests water on reserve It's safe to drink: Officials link scare to poor management, lack of training", Ottawa Citizen, Oct.29 http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=92418f3b-a4b7-428b-bf0a-5111ab965802 Excerpts: 'Tap water at a remote Northern Ontario native community in the grips of an emergency evacuation is good enough to drink, according to the technician sent in to take over management of the Kashe-chewan water treatment plant. Chris LeBlanc, a process expert with Northern Waterworks Inc., said he is drinking and showering in the troubled community's water. Mr. LeBlanc also disputed native leaders' claims that the tap water was brown as recently as Thursday... Mr. LeBlanc's comments suggest the tainted water crisis in Kashechewan is a man-made problem created by poor management and training. That claim is supported by government officials, who yesterday said the people running the Kashechewan water treatment plant were not certified to do so until the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs flew in trained personnel this week... Fully 61 per cent of people running water treatment facilities on native reserves are not certified, according to the federal government... The situation in Kashechewan "is identical to Walkerton, a malfunction in the chlorination system ... and the back-up system didn't work because it had never been hooked up," Mr. LeBlanc said in a previous report... In a letter written to the CBC the last week, Mr. LeBlanc expressed his frustration with media reporting on the issue. "If you want to tie scabies and impetigo to environmental conditions, concentrate on crowded living environments (which promotes person-to-person transmission) and an elevated rate of diabetes (which increases risk of infection). Please do not tie these diseases to chlorine levels and the community's drinking water supply. "My concern is that you are scaring individuals in other First Nation communities about the harmful effects of chlorine. These individuals may then put pressure on local operators to reduce chlorine levels in the community's water supply." If that happens, he says, there will be outbreaks of water-borne disease...' Mark Ottawa

Posted by: Mark Collins at October 29, 2005 11:35 AM (3cOHA)

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A major news story revolves around the horrific situation on the Kashechewan Reserve near Timmins, Ontario:

The Ontario government declared a state of emergency last night at a remote native reserve plagued with contaminated drinking water, paving the way for the removal of as many as 1,100 residents.

The government will charter planes to airlift residents of the Kashechewan Reserve in need of medical attention to Timmins, Cochrane and other neighbouring communities. Kashechewan is a fly-in community about 450 kilometres north of Timmins, on the coast of James Bay.

I guess "near" is a relative term when it comes to Northern Ontario.

Something like 60% of the Cree residents need medical attention.

The problem? They're being forced to drink sewage:

The community's dirty water problem is blamed on the location of the treatment plant's intake pipe, which is 135 metres downstream from a sewage lagoon. As a result, sewage goes directly into the water-filtration system.

The water is brown, the school has been closed, and now, they've discovered E Coli in the water.

Turns out this is not the first time Kashechewan has been plagued with environmental problems created by inept engineering:

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) pleaded guilty on November 14, 2000 in the Superior Court of Justice, Sudbury, Ontario to charges under Section 36(3) of the federal Fisheries Act.

The story began in the summer of 1990 when DIAND, on behalf of the Kashechewan First Nation, contracted for the services of R.M. Belanger Construction Ltd. This contract was to replace an old fuel system which had been constructed in the 1970’s and had been leaking oil for some time. The mechanical piping joints used in the 1990 construction (victaulic joints) were not rated for use in conditions where temperatures go below -29° Celcius or where frost heaves occur. Furthermore, the piping was buried only 60 to 90 centimeters below the surface, which is an insufficient depth to counter the effects of frost.

Incredible. It's Northern Ontario! It gets cold. Really cold!

So what happened? Delays and disaster:

In 1992 DIAND contracted engineering consultants J.L. Richards and Associates Ltd. to clean up the historically contaminated soil which originated with the old fuel system in place prior to the Belanger installation. Upon completion of this project, J.L. Richards recommended that the victaulic joints and piping installed by Belanger should be replaced because the joints were prone to loosen and allow leakage. J.L. Richards also identified further areas of contamination.

DIAND planned to remediate the remaining contamination in spring 1993 and at the same time, have the Belanger system replaced. However, this project was not completed that year as planned.

On March 3, 1994 120,000 litres of diesel fuel escaped the Belanger fuel distribution system at the community school and ended up in the soil and on the ice and in the water of the Albany River. Charges were laid under the Fisheries Act on July 4, 1996 following an investigation by Environment Canada.

Well, as a result of the charges, hefty fines were levied:

Belanger: $1
DIAND: $1

To be fair, Belanger also paid $40,000 into a fund for pollution prevention. DIAND kicked in $200,000 for Kashechewan and six related communities.

Nevertheless, when firms know that the punishment for a major polluting mistake affecting the health and livelihood of hundreds of people is less than what it costs to buy an extra large coffee at Tim Horton's, these firms will not take their responsibilities seriously. Sure there was the $40,000 "donation", but that can be written off for tax purposes, and written up in the company prospectus as a pro-environmental initiative. You can't hide the bad publicity of a major fine from either the public or the shareholders, and that's why the fines have to be meaningful.

The same goes for fines levied against the government. I don't like to see tax money being spent that way, but it's sure cheaper than treating and moving an entire community of a thousand ill people in a remote part of the province.

In any case, I guess that fund ran out when the sewage plant was designed. Maybe the money was gone by 1995. Why 1995? Because according to this resume, that's when J. L. Richards and Associates worked on the sewage plant.

Yes, the same J. L. Richards and Associates that worked on the Belanger fuel clean up:

J.L. Richards and Associates
Lady Ellen Place, Ottawa, Ontario
1994 - 1995

Senior Technician involved in the preparation of drawings using AutoCAD Release 12. Extensive use of features such as X- referencing, paper space and block data extraction. Familiar with the AutoPROF profile generation program for sewer design, downloading survey data for SoftDesk software and rastor-to-vector mapping work.

Selected projects:

• Palladium, site utilities, grading and road services


• Village of Rockcliffe, sewer and watermain upgrade


• City of Hawkesbury, water main


• Kashechewan First Nation Indian Reserve, sanitary sewer upgrade

I don't think anyone in Kashechewan is laughing about the phrase "sanitary sewer".

You think there are problems in Hawkesbury or Rockcliffe? I doubt it.

Few details have been revealed about the history of the sewage and water treatment systems in Kashechewan. It might be that J.L. Richards inherited a mess and did the best they could, or that they didn't work anywhere near where the problem lies. I can't find any evidence of a tendered contract for work on water systems in Kashechewan (just stuff for the airport and on telecommunications). Hopefully someone will get to the bottom of what happened, and hopefully the fines will be somewhat more than a loonie.

Kashechewan

Posted by: Steve Janke at 02:22 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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I just got off the phone with "Christian" at Jaguar Solutions in Gatineau, Quebec. As you recall, David Smith, Liberal MP for the riding of Pontiac, was once "director of strategic development" at Jaguar Solutions.

In addition, Abotech, the firm David Smith founded, and now the subject of a government audit, shares a fax number with Jaguar.

I asked Christian about this and about David Smith and Abotech:

• David Smith worked at Jaguar Solutions for only a couple of months in 2002


• David Smith did not bring any work in during his work there


• Christian has heard of Abotech, but nothing recently, except for seeing it mentioned in the news


• He does not know why Abotech would list the fax number for Jaguar Solutions


• Jaguar Solutions does not get faxes for Abotech


• Jaguar Solutions does not work with Abotech


• Christian has not seen David Smith in years

David Smith, Abotech

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:14 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Recall that in my conversation with Chief Jean-Guy Whiteduck, a major question was how a person can be recognized as an aboriginal without the consent of a band.

He pointed out that there are organizations like the Native Alliance of Quebec that have had a questionable history of providing such recognition without the cooperation of any legally recognized band. One such band is the Kitigan Zibi band, lead by Chief Whiteduck, located near in Maniwaki, Quebec, the home town of David Smith, member of Parliamant for the riding of Pontiac.

That triggered a memory and I went back to David Smith's biography published for the June 2004 election:

He is also a member of the Quebec Aboriginal Alliance.

That is the same organization -- the person writing the biography translated the French title of the group, Alliance Autochtone du Quebec, instead of using the official English name.

So now we can be sure that David Smith's aboriginal credentials are not coming from any recognized band, but rather from this organization that provides recognition independent of the tribal leadership, recognition that, at least in the opinion of Chief Whiteduck, is no recognition at all.

David Smith, Abotech

Posted by: Steve Janke at 10:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sometimes the most obvious things are just under your nose.

But a reader spotted this based on the links I've been providing, and I'll share it with you.

As you recall, my theory is that Abotech is a shell company created by faux-aboriginal David Smith, Liberal MP for the riding of Pontiac. Abotech, with the help of now-suspended bureaucrat (and cousin of David Smith) Frank Brazeau, lands contracts from the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business program, run by the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, under the leadership of the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. The work is then handed off to one of David Smith's former firms to do the actual work, after David Smith takes his cut. Jaguar Solutions was one of those firms. It has done work for aboriginal contracts in the past.

Does Frank Brazeau get a piece of the action? We don't know...yet. He might just be a patsy, taking the fall for someone else at INAC.

One of the problems with the theory was that I had no specific evidence linking Abotech and Jaguar other than David Smith worked at Jaguar in the past, and was president of Abotech.

Now we have a link, and it's been there all the time.

Here is the contact information for Abotech:

Here is the contact information for Jaguar Solutions:

Abotech and Jaguar Solutions share the same fax number!

As you recall, Jaguar Solutions is only 1.4 miles from the corporate offices of Abotech, which happens to be the Smith family home.

So now when the government needs to fax information to Abotech concerning a contract Abotech is working on, the information pops up in the Jaguar Solutions office.

Why? Unless all the work done by Abotech was simply handed off the Jaguar Solutions. Recall that Jaguar Solutions is not an aboriginal company according to the government's Aboriginal Business Directory, and to qualify for PSAB contracts, one-third of the work has to be done by an aboriginal business.

Maybe it became a nuisance to get papers at Abotech, and then hoof it up the road to Jaguar Solutions to drop them off. It wasn't like the staff at Abotech needed to actually see the papers faxed over -- it was really Jaguar's problem. And if there was something that David Smith, or the new president, wife Anne Ethier, needed to see, well, it doesn't take long to drive just over a mile to go to Jaguar.

David Smith, Abotech

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All posts that appear on Angry in the Great White North are covered by the "Creative Commons: Common Deed", the text of which appears below.

Attribution:

• For print: name of blog, that it is a "blog", and URL to blog or to specific post;
• For online: URL to blog or to specific post

I can be contacted by email with questions or requests for waivers.

I'm bringing this to everyone's attention for two reasons:

1. The license has recently upgraded from 1.0 to 2.5
2. To educate those not familiar with blogging rules that copying information from most blogs without some form of attribution is illegal (unless permission is sought from the blog author first)

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:52 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Report of RCMP action with regards to the Abotech affair.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 11:20 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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From my post on David Smith, the Liberal MP for the riding of Pontiac, and his questionable aboriginal status:

One more thing. According to Chief Whiteduck, the family name of Brazeau is common enough in Maniwaki. I haven't figured out if Frank Brazeau, who seems to play a major part as the "inside man", came from this branch of the family. If he did, one wonders just how far back Smith and Brazeau go.

The answer: two generations.

From a source on the reserve who would prefer to remain unnamed:

Brazeau is from our reserve and is an aboriginal...Smith is from Maniwaki but is not an aboriginal. Funny coincidence, but Smith and Brazeau are related on their MOTHER's side both of whom are french quebecers. Smith's mother ... Suzanne Clement Smith and Brazeau's grandmother ... Thelorèse Clement Fournier are sisters. That means Brazeau's mother and Smith are direct cousins.

Wow! This means that Frank Brazeau, the bureaucrat suspended without pay over the bad contracts, and Liberal MP David Smith, former owner of the company Abotech that profited from those same contracts, are related!

A "funny coincidence"? Or evidence of a conspiracy between cousins who grew up close to each other, one a Liberal member of parliament, and the other a bureaucrat in the department in charge of allocating contracts to aboriginal firms, and also the former secretary of the Liberal Party riding association for that very same Liberal MP? Remember that Brazeau became the secretary for the Liberal association right after the 2004 election, the same election that saw David Smith first elected for that riding.

If this information is good, this is amazing!

I wonder if the RCMP is reading this.

David Smith, Abotech

more...

Posted by: Steve Janke at 07:03 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Let's revisit the Strategis entry for Abotech. We know the kids aren't running the company. We know David Smith, Liberal Party MP for the riding of Pontiac, formerly the president of Abotech, claims not to have anything to do with the company since he was elected. We know that wife Anne Ethier, who is supposed to be in charge, is formally trained as a nurse.

So what services does Abotech claim to provide?

IPS Steam consultants in: Project Executive IT, Senior Project Manager IT,Project Manager IT, Project Administrator, Technology Architect, Senior Platform Analyst, Platform Analyst, Senior Network Analyst Network Analysts, IT Security Consultant, Applications Architect, Applications Architect Product Specialist, Senior Applications Analyst, Senior Application Analysts, Product Specialist Applications Analyst, Applications Analyst Product, Specialist Applications Programmer/Analyst, Applications Programmer/Analyst Product Specialist, Database Administrator, Database Administrator Product Specialist, Database Analyst, Database Analyst Product Specialist, Senior Web Developer, Senior Web Developer Product Specialist, Web Developer, Web Developer Product Specialist, Systems Auditor, Quality Assurance Consultant, Senior Tester, Tester, Senior Technical Writer, Writer.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

All out of his house.

I'm an engineer with 15 years experience. I know lots of engineers in computers and software. I don't know any one engineer who can claim all those skills.

This is a description of a firm with at least 15 employees, all senior consultants and all highly paid.

Do they hang out in the kitchen? Obviously not. Clearly Abotech subcontracts the work.

And finally this:

We are an Aboriginal IT consultant Firm.

Well, the problem is this. To maintain that "aboriginal business" status, you have to be careful not to subcontract too much of the work away to non-aboriginals:

In respect of a contract, (goods, service or construction), on which a bidder is making a proposal which involves subcontracting, the bidder must certify in its bid that at least thirty-three percent of the value of the work performed under the contract will be performed by an Aboriginal business. Value of the work performed is considered to be the total value of the contract less any materials directly purchased by the contractor for the performance of the contract. Therefore, the bidder must notify and, where applicable, bind the subcontractor in writing with respect to the requirements that the Aboriginal Set-Aside Program (the Program) may impose on the subcontractor or subcontractors.

So even if Abotech subcontracts, the firm taking the work has to be aboriginal. Then what exactly does Abotech bring into the mix?

And if the subcontracting firm is not aboriginal, then Abotech has to retain enough of the work, one third or more, to qualify under these rules. Since David Smith is not leading the company, and no one has ever claimed that Anne Ethier is aboriginal, that leaves it to Cynthia, 14, and Sebastien, 16, to take on the work of IT Security Consultant and Specialist Applications Programmer/Analyst, respectively.

The government should have caught this:

The bidder's contract with a subcontractor must also, where applicable, include a provision in which the subcontractor agrees to provide the bidder with information, substantiating its compliance with the Program, and authorize the bidder to have an audit performed by Canada to examine the subcontractor's records to verify the information provided. Failure by the bidder to exact or enforce such a provision will be deemed to be a breach of contract and subject to the civil consequences referred to in this document.

Well, maybe they're catching it now, but I'd be interested to know exactly how long this has been going on.

[Hat tip to sslider for starting me on this track]

David Smith, Abotech

more...

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