Sunday 26 May 2013

Culture of Corruption



The shocking and extraordinary corruption being unearthed in major Quebec cities has been made possible through the valiant efforts of whistle-blowers and concerned citizens. 
You know who they are! 
They are the people that the evil-doers like to call names like trouble makers, nut-jobs, screw-balls, etc., and all in a concerted effort to throw the general public off any scent of scandal.
Whistle-blowers and concerned citizens have led to the arrest of hundreds of villains including Gilles Vaillancourt, the former mayor of suburban Laval, Que.
They face dozens of charges including gangsterism, which would make it the largest alleged criminal organization ever run out of a City Hall in Canada.
Gerald Tremblay quit as mayor of Montreal after a campaign financing scandal and corrupt city engineers eroded his support.
Now, some may say that corruption is common in the province of Quebec, intimating that that sordid thing doesn’t happen here.
Really! 
Then why the name calling against our Niagara whistle-blowers and concerned citizens when they dare to speak out and stand up against our civic leaders?
Perhaps the name-callers are correct about the character of Niagara whistle-blowers and concerned citizens given that we not only have name calling but it has escalated into threats of legal action and even threats of physical harm, including death threats against themselves and against their families. They have had their properties vandalized and for what? 
Prompts the question; do we actually have evil-doers with something to hide? Where do our councilors stand on these situations? Are they as silent as were the councilors in Quebec?
 These antics would make it appear so.
Examples of some disturbing incidents indicating possibilities of problems right here in Niagara

When confronted by citizens, over what appeared to be a serious toxic dump, the Niagara Regional Government immediately went into a defensive posture. Obviously the mistake was assuming that the Regional Government would be equally concerned about a toxic dump as their citizens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The very experienced Chairman Gary Buroughs of Niagara Regional Government did nothing to protect one of his councilors from a scurrilous political attack by someone hiding behind an email pseudonym.  http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-tim-lewis-story.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Former RCMP chief superintendent Ben Soave told a French national television network that organized crime has infiltrated Ontario at least as much as it has in Quebec, if not more. 
 According to Supt. Kevin Harrison we have; “corruption, scope, violence, infiltration, sophistication, expertise, subversion, strategy, discipline, insulation, multiple enterprises, group cohesiveness, (and) monopoly.” and then it is Former Premier of Ontario that is asking for proof of corruption!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Meet Heather Brooke and her battle to expose government corruption.
Our leaders need to be held accountable, says journalist Heather Brooke. And she should know: Brooke uncovered the British Parliamentary financial expenses that led to a major political scandal in 2009. She urges us to ask our leaders questions through platforms like Freedom of Information requests -- and to finally get some answers.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday 23 May 2013

Protection from Government



Under our system of government we are told that we get to ‘vote in’ a political party and for that winning political party to run things and make decisions on our behalf according to how that political party sees fit.

However, often we are voting for liars, deceivers and cheats or anyone with the best ability to deceive. Sadly there is no accountability or recourse once we fall for the liars, deceivers and cheats.

 We are told that if we don’t like the way the party in power is governing we have the opportunity to vote them out and vote in another political party!  But, it takes a full four years just to start understanding the nature of those we have put in power and even then the evidence is that the worst of these have the ability to hide their predilections through more lies and deceit.

Why do we need protection from government? Because we are facing a growing culture of corruption that is rapidly turning our blessed parliamentary democracy into a form of democratic tyranny that is now threatening our Canadian way of life. Many have already accepted much of the corruption as inevitable.

Recent examples of widespread corruption in our political system clearly indicates that things are not working well (assuming they ever where) for the Canadian Citizen. Perhaps there was a time when the system struggled through under a semblance civility and respect.  

Our current system of governance will not improve as long as there is a dearth of intelligent laws to protect the country and its citizens from its government.

There is no accountability as long as there is no consequence



7 Suggestions:
                                        Recall mechanism to guard against ‘Political’ Duds
                                        ‘TERM LIMITS’
                                        Immediate dismissal for ‘Electoral Deception’
Incarceration for ‘Political Corruption’
Penalties doubled for ‘Breach of Trust’
Pass ‘Sunshine Laws’ to defeat unwarranted SECRECY
Create forensic audit teams for unannounced inspections



It is one thing for a party leader to talk of penalties ‘after the fact’ but what about discussing meaningful recourse for the protection of the country and the Citizen.

We must NOT support any party that refuses to bring in the very necessary protections needed to clean up what has become a sleazy political mess.