It would appear that, in Canada, a fellow of good character, White and of British or French racial background can get elected as the Prime Minister but after a few years in office, people are on to them and see their true colors and then they get rid of them. They vote them out! There is nothing better for a Canadian elector than to vote a Prime Minister out of office! Well other than seeing a good hockey game or drinking a few beer!

But now, a strange phenomenon has been occurring. The ex Prime Minister will lie low for a few years and then come back and attempt to rewrite history and show that he really was a fine fellow after all! That in fact he was not a rascally rodent but instead a prince of a man if only slightly misunderstood (usually due to the fault of others.)

I think its all bullshit. You might have guessed that. They forget that they cannot write history. That's the job for others - for historians!  I watched Brian Mulroney on the boob tube pushing his 1100 page book and listened to him as he talked about Pierre Trudeau. Obviously the two PMs hated each others guts. But I thought it was in bad taste to attack and mean mouth a dead person when they couldn't talk back. Its sort of cheating to try and get the last word in. Big mistake. Poor form. He even bad mouthed Joe Clark. 

In fact most people liked Joe! He was an honest guy and a straight shooter. We all trusted him and still do. Joe was a likeable sort. And still is! I think Brian was just jealous!

I also think that Prime Ministers should stick to politics and leave the history writing to historians.  In the case of Brian Mulroney his record and the citizens feelings toward him speak for itself. As far as Pierre Trudeau goes say what you like about him but the man put Canada on the map and he had charisma. Trudeau was a rock star. Oh yes he was an opinionated jerk too but he grabbed the imagination of Canadians and a lot of us including me loved him! I felt the high drama when he flew into a Liberal meeting at Eugene "Gene" Whelan's farm in Ontario. I was a university student at the time and a member of the young liberals. (I no longer support that party but that's another story) Three army helicopters (thats when we actually had helicopters) appeared over the trees and landed and suddenly Trudeau dressed in a fedora and long leather coat jumped out of one of them and strode over to the waiting crowd. Very exciting entry and I bet everyone there that day remembers it still (and Mr. Whelan's green Stetson.) On another occasion my parents were over in Europe on a vacation when PM Trudeau arrived and seeing the their Canadian lapel pins left his entourage and came over to say hello! Neat! Now that's a Prime Minister!

Sorry Brian. Leave the dead guy alone. You are toying with history and a lot of good memories. As far as your legacy goes -its not very good and will likely stay there and you have nobody to blame but your silly self. The ironic thing here is that your vitriolic attack on the deceased Mr. Trudeau is precisely the type of poor behaviour that people would suspect you capable of -based on your performance on the job!. And who writes an 1100 page book about themselves anyway? That's a lot of ... bullshit! 200 pages maybe. But 1100??

Update Nov 5/2007 Just watched the expose on Brian Mulroney on W5 which seems to prove that" lyin Brian" was lying re the air bus payments of $300,000 cash that he was paid. Lie after lie after lie apparently. This is going to get really messy. Poor Brian- have his lies have finally caught up with him and is his reputation ruined or perhaps uncovered is a more accurate representation. Is Brian a bullshit artist? 

Update Nov 14,2007

A quote from yesterday from Mr. Mulroney:

..."I want to tell you here tonight that I, Martin Brian Mulroney, 18th prime minister of Canada, will be there before the royal commission with bells on, because I've done nothing wrong and I have absolutely nothing to hide," he said at a Toronto fundraiser for his alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

He received a standing ovation. But for what? Did he get it for telling the truth? For spinning another whopper of a lie? For taking $300,000 in cash in three stuffed envelopes from a person dolling out bribe money for French Airbus aircraft purchases?  Take a deep breath in. Do you smell it? The Bullshit? Or is he telling the truth?

You see, there is bullshit here IF Brian is telling the truth OR if Brian is lyin. If he is telling the truth then the poor man is being treated in a most reprehensible and shoddy fashion and if he is lyin he is being treated like the scoundrel and villain that he most surely is.

This is going to cost the taxpayer millions. It will be a wonderful example of the bullshit in Canadian politics and how these rodents prefer to pontificate on foolishness rather than actually manage the country. Watching the purulent passion of these pontificating parliamentarians is like watching the evolution of bullshit to one of its lowest forms. So to speak. Not to put too fine a point on it -this is beginning to get funny.

update December 14/2007

Good grief I watched the entire ethics committee meeting with Brian Mulroney. Its time like this that I especially resent my type 2 diabetes and the decision to quite drinking any alcohol.  A six pack or two crispy crunch bars could have eased the pain. But alas. I had my share.

When you listen to a person talk you quickly come to a conclusion regarding his or her truthfulness. Its called the "ring of truth". Now people can be wrong but usually they are correct. Your brain listens to the statements and then links them together to see if they fit or make sense. When my brain was listening to Mr. Mulroney the statements he was making on his cash payments and specifically placing them into safety deposit boxes and safes instead of bank accounts and then not declaring the money in his tax returns till much later -simply didn't make any sense to me. I think he is fibbing. He also spent a great deal of his testimony in trying to destroy Karlheinze Schrieber. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that if the people believe Karlheinze then Brian and his fortune and reputation and all those jobs he holds as company Directors are all toast. Its just too obvious. We will need to wait for the public inquiry to determine innocence or guilt but at this point it looks very bad indeed for Mr. Mulroney. He is showing all the symptoms of a desperate man who will do anything to save his skin.  Something ironically he accused Karlheinze of. 

update January 25/08   A bit of interesting news came out today when Mr. Mulroney's lawyers issued a complaint that he was being treated unfairly by the Common's Ethics Committee. There was concern expressed that Mr. Mulroney was not being treated with the respect that he thought he should have as an ex Prime Minister and that certain members of the committee were unduly harsh on him. These are not exact words I am paraphrasing here. Now when a lawyer does something he or she does it for a reason that is to accomplish something. The question is what are they trying to accomplish. Are they trying to stop the Committee with proceeding or perhaps building a case to dispute a future unfavourable conclusion from the committee or is part of a larger plan and this is the first step. Lawyers are very smart people and they get paid lots of money to make things happen for the people that pay them. With a really good lawyer you don't know what they are trying to do until it is done. 

I think that Mr. Mulroney has a point here! He was treated like a crook by certain members of the committee. The problem is all that cash he took and didn't declare for years. It looks bad. It sorta looks like he is a crook. There is the problem. And it is difficult to show respect for a person who took the cash in hotel rooms then didn't deposit it in a bank and instead kept it in a safety deposit box and then didn't declare it for years on his taxes and then only because it looked like he would be caught. In fact its entirely possible that Mr. Mulroney is entirely innocent. Who knows -but isn't that what the Committee is trying to help find out? 

Update January 27th/08   Oh dear! I just read the Toronto Star the other day on the testimony that is headed towards the Ethic's Committee on Cash Payments made to Mr. Mulroney while he was Prime Minister and reports that staffers carried thick envelopes of cash from the Prime Minister's Office to Mrs. Mulroney at their official residence at 24 Sussex Drive. This is not good. Apparently the information is from more than one source.  Like most topics on the Canadianbullshit.com site I have tried to approach these subjects with a bit of a sense of humor the thinking being that as challenging as life is -there are still funny parts to it. The Mulroney story is beginning to get very unpleasant. I guess it always was. But stupid me - I am just starting to see some of it now as more and more facts come out about the man and his methods.  Time to re-think. I will shut up for a while and watch while the story unfolds. It's looking like a bit of an iceberg with most of it hidden from view. All those envelopes of cash really bother me. 

What you see is not what you get

Update Feb 1/2008   Two new very interesting developments. First of all Mr. Mulroney's lawyers have complained that their client is not being treated fairly or with the respect due his position and that as a result he may not appear again in front of the committee. This is exceptionally interesting as Mr. Mulroney originally had expressed a great relish to appear in front of the committee and he boasted that he would be there "with bells on!" Something has obviously changed. The "bells" have apparently been turned off!

Secondly, and even more interesting is that Mr. Mulroney's lawyers have contacted Norman Spector his ex Chief of Staff and requested details of the statements he will make to the Committee AND copies of any documentation that he will present to them. This is almost unbelievable. They are asking Mr. Spector to effectively drop any protection he may have while answering questions while at the committee and open himself to possible legal action by disclosing his testimony to the Mulroney lawyers. I don't think so. I sense desperation on the part of Mr. Mulroney's lawyers and why is that?

And why is Mr. Mulroney lawyering up? This must be costing the man a huge amount of money. What is he trying to hide or protect? Doesn't look very good to me! The most worrisome is the report of envelopes stuffed with cash coming from the Prime Ministers Office and delivered to Mrs. Mulroney. If that is in fact true then who gave Mr. Mulroney the money and WHY?

If in fact when the dust settles Mr. Mulroney is proven innocent of all wrongdoing then a great disservice has been done the poor man and his long suffering family. If however he was trading favours for cash then this is the worst case of its type in the history of Canada and this is possibly the only time in history that a Canadian PM could serve time in the big house.  Interesting how these two opposite positions can exist at least temporarily in time and space.  Perhaps it is a tad unfair to quote Mr. Mulroney but he did say the following to his one time friend Peter C. Newman:

"Nobody has achievements like this, Peter. I can say that to you objectively. You cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none."

Update Feb 7,2008  Just a quick one to comment on Norman Spector's visit to the Ethic's Committee on Tuesday. Yikes! Mr. Spector is a no bullshit sort of fellow who quickly put certain committee members in their places by reminding them that it was them who invited him to the committee. Point well taken. I think his best point was the advice to concentrate on finding out where the ten million went not to waste time on the little items -which makes sense. Norman gave more information about the reality of the Mulroney's lifestyle and how it was funded by the Conservative Party fund and how he courted the rich and powerful in Canadian society and how the Bear Head project seemed to keep on popping back up even after is was supposedly killed.  Some good strong insight there and Mr. Spector is a very well spoken, intelligent man with the ring of truth to him.

One point that I was thinking about was that while possibly no money was given directly to Mr. Mulroney by the rich and powerful (perhaps) it would have been possible and perhaps even likely that they gave money to the Conservative Party fund which then  was given to Mr. Mulroney. It almost smacks of money laundering and I am still a little confused why the payments were transferred back into cash before being given to the Mulroney's. When you think about it getting $5000 in cash every month is a bit of a problem -its difficult to pay bills with cash. You don't stuff a bunch of cash into an envelope and mail it to a supplier. You need to somehow get it back into the form of a cheque or credit card or debit card balance to actually use the cash. Its very odd. And why did Mr. Mulroney act like his cash payment from Mr. Schrieber was something odd or unusual if in fact he was getting constant streams of cash from the PC fund every month? It just gets more and more odd. Did he pay taxes on this money? Is that why he kept it in cash?   Later today the Ethics Committee fires up again. BUT there is also a movement afoot to possibly go into an election. Would this stop all Ethic's committee movement? I think it might.  Very suspicious eh!  Later. 

Update Feb 7th/08 20:20hrs   I watched the entire thing again ie the Ethics committee. Again it was really interesting. But possibly not for the same reasons that others commented on. Mr. Mulroney's communications person Luc Lavoie spoke. Now here is a man that knows how to do his job. You can tell this after the job is done. And after that it was observed that he said nothing that would have harmed his man. Why he didn't even know about the Schreiber payments and actually didn't seem to know anything that would have made his man look bad.  Which is what he was paid and or wished to do. The only thing that I found interesting was when the sharp stick on the Committee the NDP's Mr. Pat Martin pointed out he had earned nearly $600,000 out of that 2 million dollar settlement Mr. Mulroney had been paid for costs. I agree with Mr. Martin's assessment that was a lot of money. The main conclusion here was that Luc Lavoie is very good at his job because he did it at the committee. 

Next came the Chef who worked at 24 Sussex Drive for the Mulroney's. At first glance it appeared that he had nothing to say and in fact refuted some of the things that had been reported that he had said that in fact resulted in him being called to the Committee. But then he let the bomb drop which because nothing was illegal seemed to fly over everyone's head. He said that he was disgusted by the extravagant live style that the Mulroney's were living. That's why he quit and went and did something else. He was one of eight in his family and lived a much less extravagant life style. This really annoys me!. 

You see while you and I and our parents and colleagues were out in the work force working hard to pay the bills and buy groceries for the family the Mulroney's were living like royalty in the taxpayers' house. That chokes me. Only the best for them I guess. While single mom's were wondering how to make a school lunch with no bread and a few leftovers in the fridge our Prime Minister was living like a king.  The thing is -our present PM is not like that. And other PM's were not like that. That's not what we elected these rascals for -to live like kings. To the point where the Chef is so disgusted by it that he quits. 

In the Navy as a Ship's Officer - I worked with Cooks. We all knew that the Cook was a key person onboard. The entire crew was happy with a good one. Some were legendary! So when this Chef spoke I listened to him. He was not an unimportant person in the scheme of things. In just a couple of words he exposed more of the reality of the situation than others who spoke volumes. Well done Chef! 

And why would a four foot high safe be installed in the Chef's office when the Chef didn't have the combination. Odd isn't it. 

Up til now I have tried my best to be fair and reasonable with Mr. Mulroney. We all know him as the man we love to hate.   I am beginning to see why. But lets try and keep an open mind as this event grinds forward!

 

 

Update Feb 14th 2008

On Tuesday I watched three people be interviewed by the Ethics committee and here are my comments: 

• Greg Alford- seemed like he was hiding something. Seemed he knew very little or nothing about Mr. Mulroney's activities regarding Bear Head. I was left with the impression that there would be more here if the committee dug deeper. Often replied with one word answers and this leads me to believe he is trying to give only minimum information so as not to reveal anything that could come back to bite him.
• Marc Lalonde - Lawyer to KarlHeinze. Seemed honest. Stood up for the character of Karlheinze. Pretty impressive person.
• Fred Doucet - Sorry I just didn't trust him. Seemed to have a convenient memory problem where he didn't recollect items. Decided he was a rascal. I concluded he was singing from a song sheet. 

The weakness of the Ethics Committee is showing. Its too partisan. They don't have the resources or horsepower to do the job. There is no real opportunity to grill these characters or obtain supporting evidence. At best the committee can only showcase the players and get a sense of what might be not what is and they are doing a good job at that. I think after one more go around with the two key players it might be time for a public inquiry to start to sort it all out. 

Update Feb 14, 2008

Watched the ethics committee today. One point mentioned was Brian Mulroney's media website so I googled that and here it is.

http://mulroneymediaroom.com 

It was registered January 25th 2008. The contact person is 

Joseph Lavoie
(416) 642-4044
jlavoie@navltd.com

so I looked up the .com part of his email and discovered that he works for a firm called Navigator Limited located in Toronto. 

"Navigator is a research-based strategy firm that works with companies, organizations and governments to solve corporate and public affairs challenges through strategic counsel and communications campaigns."

So it would appear that Mr. Mulroney has a "public affairs challenge" to deal with. 

So armed with this information I looked over the website. Its absolutely disgusting. My opinion. My conclusion was that Mr. Mulroney is guilty and is now trying to spend his way out of a big pickle. But to be fair lets wait til all the evidence is in. Possibly he just looks guilty. Lyin Brian -or Cryin Brian when he gets the bill for all this. Maybe he will sue the taxpayers again. 

I thought the Stevie Cameron interview gave the appearance of a professional reporter and had the ring of truth to it. The slander on the Mulroney website was in comparison something you might expect on a washroom wall. Low brow stuff. 

The interview with Mr. Pelosi was interesting in that apparently the plan was to give Mr. Mulroney a share of the Air Bus bribes. 

I can see that some will get hooked on these proceedings and others will resent the complexity and work required to understand what is going on and will ignore them. From my perspective there is a huge story here and history is being peeled back for a second look. The inner workings of government and politics are being displayed for all to see. Normally this stuff would NEVER get out in the media. This is high drama. Or for those that don't care its -nothing. 

Update Feb 23/2008   I once sat as a Juror in a Attempted Murder trial. The Judge explained our duties to us. He told us he was there to interpret the law and the Lawyers were there to present the case for and against and we were there to determine the Truth. He advised us to use our judgment based on what we heard and the demeanour of the those testifying and our life knowledge. Those are not the precise words he used but that is the gist. While this is not a trial, I have been watching the testimony and actions of those involved for months now. The latest antics of the Mulroney legal and communications team have me convinced that Mr. Mulroney is guilty of something and that he is attempting to hide facts from disclosure. Mr. Mulroney just does not seem to be acting like an honest man. He has lawyered up, hired a consulting firm to protect his image, has placed cash in safety deposit boxes instead of bank accounts, has taken years to declare income and then only when caught, has possibly been the planned recipient of airbus bribe money, has had a major falling out with a previous employer for apparently not performing his duties and has said that "I will be there with bells on..and have noting to hide..." and now apparently wants to take the bells off and hide from the Ethics Committee.

 Mr. Mulroney is now spending a lot of money on this project. He apparently wants to know what sort of questions they will be asking him -likely so he can craft an answer, he wants to limit the questions to areas he feels are important -likely those areas which are safe for him, he is in summary acting like one might expect a guilty party to act. But one must be fair. The game is apparently not over yet. There is more information to sift through. So I suggest we attempt to keep an open mind despite the urge to come to a decision as evidence and actions pile up. As difficult as that may be. If in fact Mr. Mulroney is innocent then this episode will go down as one of the worst debacles in the political history of Canada. If he is guilty it will be the end of life as he knows it because all honours and vestiges of human dignity will be stripped from him. Sort of like a Shakespearian play eh? Or maybe more like the Simpson's. duohhhhh! Public Opinion can be like a crocodile sometimes...

Update Feb 27/2008 This is unbelievable and an indication the case may be breaking. Apparently Mr. Mulroney has just announced, the day before he is scheduled to testify before the House of Commons Ethics Committee that he is refusing to go. The only reason that anyone would show contempt for the taxpayers of Canada and their elected representatives by refusing to attend when requested to do so is that simply he has more to loose than to gain. He has a considerable amount to loose by not attending including breaking his own promise about wanting to testify "with bells on", leading viewers to suspect he is guilty, raising questions on his truthfulness, and loosing the support and respect of people who once believed in him. But apparently this situation would still be better than the situation had he presented himself to the committee and this raises all sorts of questions. Mr. Mulroney is certainly acting like a guilty man. But guilty of what? To quote Mr. Mulroney "...You cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none." I agree- no Canadian Prime Minister has ever done anything like this Mr. Mulroney. This entire situation is becoming very tragic.

Update March 29/08 Like other topics on this website I see now that there are various levels here. There is the legal component. That's for lawyers and a court of law to determine. There is the historical component - what really occurred here? There is the political component- how will this effect Canadian politics? There is the personal component -how is this effecting individuals and families? There is the humorous component -certainly parts of this story are strangely funny. There is the media component. How is the story being told in the media? There is the manipulator's component -what do very highly paid communications people want us to think? And why?? Oh and the financial component - where did all the money go? We are not talking about minimum wages here we are talking about millions and millions of dollars most of them related to public funds expenditures.

There is high drama, money, power, position, treachery and more- what more could you want in a story? One thing is for sure. Any man that can write an 1100 page book about himself is a man that is full of......drum  roll please.....bullshit.  But what does all of this all mean? It is possible after all to be a bullshitter and not be guilty of anything illegal. Lots of those around. Its also possible to have an ego the size of some small countries and still be legal. So what's the bottom line here?

Don't look at me! I don't know!

Our associated page on Mr. Schreiber is here

Are we in the clear yet? Anybody seen that big croc? Like it would get me eh! I outsmarted that sucker!  Ha! 

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