No wonder Gwyn Morgan hates big government

Gwyn had himself a snappy little paean to  Big Steve in yesterday's Globe and Mail, titled Some vital perspective on the economic record. Oddly enough, it appeared just as a recent research paper by economist Jim Stanford was getting some traction. Stanford's conclusion?

The Harper gang have been the worst stewards of Canada's economy in the post-war era.

Now if there's one thing Mr. Morgan hates almost as much as big government, it's lefty economists. Gywn comes to Harper's rescue by claiming that the hoo-ha over Harper's long-promised surplus having, at the eleventh hour, become a deficit, is taking a tiny tiny deficit and blowing it out of all perspective. "How significant is a $2.9 billion change in an $890 billion budget? The answer is that it amounts to less than a third of one percent," Gwyn dismissively informs us.

Except Gwyn has one little fact wrong; the federal budget is about $620 billion less than the imaginary number he made up for his article. So that $2.9 billion trifle is over one percent, not "less than one third of 1 per cent."

That's the problem with folks who see "big government" as a monster hiding under the bed; it gets so much bigger in the imagination than it actually is in reality. Or maybe there's some "unreported budget" coming from the same wizards who invented that Harperite stroke of genius, the increase in "unreported crime."

Be that as it may, Gwyn does bring us some perspective. He's obviously a big-picture guy who doesn't fuss too much about the accuracy of the details... maybe that explains how tens of millions in bribe money wafted out of the SNC-Lavalin accounts while he was chair of the board of directors.

Canada leads world in CSR

What the hell is CSR, you ask?

Why, that would be "corporate social responsibility,"

Yup, we're leaders all right. In fact, we pretty much invented the concept, just like we invented R2P and saving women and girls etc.

CSR has been splashed around the Dept. of Foreign Affairs website a fair bit.

I'm suspicious.

I'm suspicious for multiple reasons. First of all, I'm suspicious because Baird's bailiwick is famous for just making shit up. Oh ya, there's been another Russian invasion of Ukraine this week, and so on.

Secondly, I'm suspicious because sometimes Canada's "leadership" isn't what it seems. Take the much ballyhooed leadership in saving women and girls for example. You can find dozens upon dozens of press releases on the DFA website wherein Baird and Co. pat themselves on the back for... saving women and girls worldwide.

Dig into the back-stories a bit, and you'll find they're talking about some "aid" program co-sponsored by some franken-food conglomerate that is providing franken-seeds and the accoutrements of "modern agriculture" to some less developed nation. It's not as if they're lying; franken-foods are indeed edible, and women and girls have to eat, but the way we frame our "aid" tends to be somewhat misleading at times...

OK! Pretty much all the time!

Thirdly, I can't help but think of Gwyn Morgan when I think of CSR. Gwyn talked a lot about CSR while he was Chair of the Board of Directors at SNC Lavalin. Even as he was talking about corporate social responsibility, his company was being exposed as a serial practitioner of bribes and kick-backs world-wide.

Fourthly, when you take a serious look at it, Canada's world-leading extractive industry is a world leader in defiling local environments, abusing local populations, and leaving a mess for future generations to clean up. Mining Watch is a good source of information on how Canada leads the world in ethical extractive practices.

Finally, I'm suspicious because of the very nomenclature of this latest good cause.

CSR. Corporate social responsibility. Think about it; that's ultimately an oxy-moron, isn't it?

Pauline Marois quits Quebec election campaign, joins Ehud Olmert in creating new investment bank

M&O Investment Bank will specialize in negotiating contracts between infrastructure providers and governments throughout the Middle East and in Quebec.

Speaking to reporters in Quebec City this evening, Ms. Marois said " I've done all I can for the people of Quebec; it's time I did something for myself. I owe it to my children."

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv this evening, Mr. Olmert said "I've done everything I can for the people of Israel; it's time I did something for myself. I owe it to my children."

It is rumoured that Canadian Gwynn Morgan, former Chair of Canadian infrastructure big dog SNC-Lavalin and noted anti-corruption campaigner, will be CEO of the new investment bank.

Speaking to reporters in Canada, Morgan said "I've done enough for these sanctimonious assholes; it's time I did something for myself. I owe it to my grandchildren."

Canada's top spy unmasked as fraud artist

Here's a story that is getting virtually no traction in the Canadian media.

Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto, seen maybe smoking crack with black youths on a video that may or may not exist?

Tons of traction!

Some fat fuck in the Senate playing fast and loose with the spending guidelines?

Tons of traction!

But the top civilian overseer of Canada's spy agency, personally appointed to the position by Big Steve, fingered for major fraud... right next to nothing!

Arthur Porter was Harper's hand-picked top dog at CSIS. Privy to every national secret, and every NATO secret.

If the allegations are true, Mr. Porter connived with the good folks at Canada's premier engineering firm SNC Lavalin to defraud the Canadian taxpayer of tens of millions of dollars.

Said connivance took place under the watchful eye of SNC Lavalin Chair, anti-corruption crusader and occasional Globe and Mail columnist Gwyn Morgan.

That would seem to be a far bigger story than "Toronto Mayor smokes crack" or "Mike Duffy fudges expense account."

So where is the story?

Canada agog at crotch shot of under-age skater

To be perfectly honest, I scanned the front page of the Globe and Mail this morning and didn't even notice that I should take offence.

I was far more interested in the latest twist on the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal written up right next to the under-age thighs of the teen figure skater. And what exactly does "under-age" mean in this context?

Is she not old enough to skate?

Kaetlyn Osmond was not offended by the photo. And why should she be? Presumably she knows what she wears when she skates. She was just thrilled to be on the front page of the national newspaper of record in spite of her eighth place finish at the World Figure Skating Championships.

So I think it's a tempest in a tea-pot, and if it doesn't bother Kaetlyn then I think we can safely ignore the half dozen or so senior editors at the Globe who are threatening to fall on their swords over this imaginary faux-pas.

You go girl!

SNC-Lavalin made million $$ illegal political contributions

That's today's scoop from the anti-corruption inquiry in Quebec.

After eight months of interrogating Italian guys who keep money in their socks, the Charbonneau Commission is finally getting serious. SNC-Lavalin is a great Canadian success story. They've been brought low lately by allegations of running wild with the schmier-geld on their overseas contracts in places like Libya and Bangladesh.

And Quebec from the sounds of things.

Ironically, the guy overseeing this cesspool of corruption is one Gwyn Morgan, Chair of the Board of Directors.  Morgan made his hundreds of millions perfecting fracking practices when he was CEO of Encana. Upon retirement he took the SNC-Lavalin gig, which leaves him lots of time to pen his Globe and Mail column, in which he likes to pontificate on, among other things, corporate ethics!

Attaboy Gwyn!

Looking forward to your next column!

Surprise! Quebec Corruption Inquiry "needs more time"

And why wouldn't they! After all, the commissioners have got themselves a pretty sweet gig, investigating dirty deeds in the Quebec construction industry.

It could take a while longer to get to the bottom of that; at least 18 more months according to the commissioners.

The commission has held hearings since last May and is burning through tax-payer dollars at better than a million a month. So far they have been focusing almost exclusively on guys with Italian names who carry money in their socks.

When you watch a bit of their schtick on TV it's pretty obvious that all concerned have watched multiple reruns of The Godfather.

The highlight of the hearings thus far has been the appearance of "Donnie Brasco," aka Joe Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated a New York City crime family over thirty years ago.

How would that qualify him to testify before a commission on corruption in Quebec thirty years later? Beats me, but I suspect the common thread may be those Italian names.

Meanwhile, there's non-Italian corruption showing up in la belle Provence too. Former Stephen Harper pal Arthur Porter is suspected of having skimmed tens of millions from a contract to build Montreal's new "superhospital" in collusion with the Francophone execs of Quebec's biggest infrastructure contractor, SNC-Lavalin.

Tens of millions?

How'd he even get those kind of sums into his socks?