"Tony Clement, who has virtually no international experience, having served as minister of health and president of the Treasury Board under Harper, will be the critic for foreign affairs."No international experience. Really, CBC?
Here's Tony a couple of weeks ago at the International Democrat Union Committee on Foreign Affairs meetup in Marrakesh. The IDU - an international alliance of some 80 centre-right and rightwing parties from around the world - has featured Tony as Deputy Chairman for a year now.
He's been Canada's representative as a vice chair at IDU, alongside now deceased Senator Doug Finley, Harper’s former bagman and in-and-out scheme campaign director, for years.
Founding members of the IDU included Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, then US Vice-President George Bush Sr, President of France Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Until quite recently their photos formed the IDU front page :
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was chair for 12 years.
This might explain how Harper came to recite verbatim a speech in support of George Bush's war on Iraq delivered just two days before by PM Howard, and why Harper's former chief of staff and election war room strategist Patrick Muttart travelled to Australia to learn and refine Howard's micro-targeting election techniques for use in four successful Conservative Canadian elections and later returned to Australia to work on their 2011 election campaign.
On March 28 to 30, 2012, the IDU Standing Committee on Elections and Campaigns was hosted by the Conservative Party in Ottawa - one of the IDU's regular election technology seminars.
In August 2014 Tony Clement hosted Pierre Poilievre's address on 'Democratic Reform' to a meeting of the IDU Executive held in Ottawa after the passage of the Fair Elections Act.
Last year NZ President John Key was asked to assume the IDU chairmanship by the prime ministers of Canada, Britain and Australia.
"Through the IDU, member Parties can exchange policy ideas, assist each other to win the political argument, and to win elections. The IDU plays an essential role in enabling like-minded, centre-right parties to share experiences in order to achieve electoral success.
A major event is also held every four years to coincide with the Republican Convention."
This might not be what you mean by "international experience", CBC, but it certainly is what the Cons and the IDU mean by it. And it wouldn't hurt you and other promedia, Linda Diebel excepted, to mention this international cross-fertilizing agency of rightwing electioneering at least once sometime in your news broadcasting lifetime.
Update on Con/IDU links : In 2013 the Harper government paid $8000 for former PM/IDU Chair John Howard to address the annual Manning Conference in Ottawa.
Update on Con/IDU links : In 2013 the Harper government paid $8000 for former PM/IDU Chair John Howard to address the annual Manning Conference in Ottawa.
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7 comments:
Thanks, Alison. It's good to know what the lizard people are calling themselves these days. /snark
Seriously, how is it that we've never heard of this gathering of wing... wise men?
https://www.google.ca/search?q=%22international+democrat+union%22&hl=en&gl=ca&authuser=0&biw=1920&bih=995&tbm=nws&ei=LBpSVq3mMIHXeNaQqfAM&start=0&sa=N&dpr=1
Well, damn! One Canadian mention, a Calgary Sun link on page 1, a link which actually has nothing to do with the IDU. One might almost think they don't want us to know.
.. Tony Clement - If I recall, his recollection of the 'ISIS inspired terrorist' who 'stormed' Canada's Parliament after murdering an unarmed sentry at the Cenotaph.. included describing how he and several others escaping via a back door of the Caucus Room ran into the hallway 'firefight' .. He mentioned nothing about his Leader disappearing into a broom closet or the non existent RCMP security detail.. zero mention of leaving behind a quadraplegic or other fellow MP's and aides.. just the escape with if I'm not mistaken, Ms Rempel among others .. and going on to hide or cower upstairs in an empty office..
Like most Canadians, I thrive on fact not fiction.. performance not talk talk .. Tony Clement appears to have been the key Harper Inc public servant obstructing access to financial & budget data during the Harper decade .. If he could clear up or validate any of his performance as public service, then perhaps he might be remotely believable as one with distinct Foreign Affairs credentials..
I hope you will continue blogging - its only way we will ever get information like this into the MSM ... eventually.
Holly Stick here
In other news, Harper made a bunch of future appointments:
http://ipolitics.ca/2015/11/23/doomed-harper-government-made-49-future-patronage-appointments/
I think the spreadsheet list has a glitch at Telefilm Canada and National Film Board
Is that Tony Clement checking how much cash is in his wallet or is that just me?
Anon@1:32 : First thing I thought too! That, or one of those plastic folders banks give out with chequebooks.
Holly : Thanks. The glitches corrected now I think. Notable more than half the appointments were made on one day in June - their internal polling must have been pretty bad that far back.
Anon@6:23 : Thank you. IDU parties are transnational actors and we need to start tracking how this works.
Salamander : Munir Sheikh and the census.
Chris : Thing is Tony is quite upfront about it - posting pix of exotic locales on twitter. It's just never broken promedia ice what the Pres. of the Treasury Board is doing in these exotic locales.
It might also be noted that all of these earlier than required appointments had to be approved by the current governor-general, who just happens to be a close, personal friend of sneaky Steve.
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