Liberal "Smear and Fear" campaign continues (en francais)

After Stephen Harper acted decisively on the Zeisman issue, the Liberal Party thought about it for 7 hours or so, and then amended their website with this insightful little piece and then just to make sure, they re-issued the same piece, with a different title along with posting it on the front page.

I went through the Navy's Damage Control School in Halifax several times in the eighties so I know what's it's like when you're running around plugging leaks and shoring up crumbling bulkheads. Just in case they missed it amongst all the din and confusion going on in the Liberal war room:

Stephen Harper on Zeisman along with the accompanying story.

I know it's hard to believe a leader could actually be decisive, and they're certainly not used to it, but flogging a dead horse at this point just makes them look silly.

Next, just when you think they couldn't possibly sink any lower, they serve up another smear, insinuating that Stephen Harper and the CPC are racist. A little research reveals some other aspects to the story the Liberals would rather not include in their version.

Ever since Liberal blogger Jason Cherniak first posted this smear on his CTV Election blog I've been digging around. Seems there are a few details Jason left out of his posting, and the Liberal Party seems to have omitted them as well in the article posted on their website:

* CASJAVA is a group of new Canadians who advocate their concerns democratically. A variety of prominent political and social figures from across the political spectrum have attended their activities, including Liberals and New Democrats. For instance:

· Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh spoke to a CASJAVA conference when he was BC Attorney General (Vancouver Sun, January 26, 1999)

· CASJAVA has endorsed Liberal MP Joe Commuzzi.

· CASJAVA endorsed former Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido, who also attended a CASJAVA rally (CP, The Daily News (Kamloops), Monday, August 18, 2003)

· Prominent Vancouver municipal politicians regularly attend CASJAVA events, including current Mayor Sam Sullivan, who attended the group’s October, 2005 banquet.

· CASJAVA has worked with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver, the Catholic Civil Rights League, and other church, civic, and ethnic organizations.

· Are the Liberals saying that Ujjal Dosanjh, Sam Sullivan, and the Archbishop of Vancouver are responsible for all of CASJAVA’s publications or statements?

This phrase takes on a whole new meaning when looked at through the words of several prominent Liberals - "new Canadians who advocate their concerns democratically"

ORAL QUESTION PERIOD

[English]

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Mr. Stockwell Day (Leader of the Opposition, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, we have just learned through access to information that on May 4 our Canadian high commissioner in Sri Lanka sent a classified message to Ottawa warning that a minister of the crown was about to attend a dinner for a Tamil terrorist front organization.

The commissioner wrote “In view of the timing and sponsorship, consideration must be given to the perception of attendance of a minister of the Canadian government”. Why did the finance minister ignore this warning and attend the meeting anyway?

Hon. Paul Martin (Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, this was a meeting of Tamils who had gathered together to celebrate the Tamil new year.

These are Canadian citizens who were gathered to celebrate their feast. I am pleased that I attended a meeting of Canadian Tamils celebrating their feast.

Mr. Stockwell Day (Leader of the Opposition, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, CSIS clearly lists the Tamil tigers as one of the many groups with terrorist links that are active in Canada. The United States state department lists FACT, which was the sponsor of the dinner that the minister attended, as a front organization for the Tamil tigers.

These facts were included in the warning that was sent from our officials. Yet both the Minister for International Cooperation and the Minister of Finance have claimed that FACT is an innocent cultural organization. Why did two ministers of the crown ignore the warnings of our own Canadian diplomats?

Hon. Paul Martin (Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, this was not a meeting of Tamil tigers. This was a meeting of Tamil Canadians.

At the particular meeting a young woman stood up who had recently graduated from high school and talked about what she wanted to do in Canada, what she was going to do in university, how she wanted to be a success, how important Canada was to her, and how this was her country.

She said that she could not believe that people would condemn her because of her Tamil race, because of something that was happening somewhere else. It is too bad that the Leader of the Opposition does not see that.

Mr. Stockwell Day (Leader of the Opposition, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, the high commissioner in Sri Lanka expressed concern about the possible security threat that the minister's attendance would have on Canadian mission staff and their families.

Foreign Affairs recognized the threat. They wrote back saying “Thank you for keeping us up to date on the threats on personal security of Canadian mission staff and dependants”. They should not try and hide behind these threats that we are just zeroing in on a certain individual. We applaud this young woman who spoke but we do not applaud the denial that the finance minister is making. Why does the Prime Minister allow these—

The Speaker: The Right Hon. Prime Minister.

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Right Hon. Jean Chrétien (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, there was a celebration of Canadian citizens. There were representatives of the federal government and provincial governments present. There were editors of newspapers present.

When people come to Canada from anywhere else in the world we want them to be equal. What the Leader of the Opposition is saying tells us a lot about his thinking—
The Speaker: The hon. member for Calgary Southeast.

Mr. Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, it is CSIS, our security force, not the official opposition, which has said that the Federal Association of Canadian Tamils, FACT, has connections to the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam.

I am holding in my hand an e-mail from the high commission in Sri Lanka dated May 26, indicating that after the finance minister had this dinner there was a front page picture in the Sri Lanka newspaper saying “Canadian finance minister at the Tamil tiger fundraiser held by the Federal Association of Canadian Tamils”.

Despite warnings from our own officials, why did the finance minister allow our officials to be put in danger—

The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Finance.

Hon. Paul Martin (Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, in addition to the young woman at this dinner there were doctors, there were lawyers, there were business people, there were teachers, and there were educators who had come together to celebrate their new year.

All of us on this side of the House have attended group festivities and celebrations of people from other parts of the world where there are also problems, but never once has it occurred to any Canadian to simply make the allegation that because in somebody's country there is a problem these people are not Canadians but these people are terrorists.

Mr. Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Canadian Alliance): Mr. Speaker, if there is any shame then it is in this place in that a minister of the crown ignored warnings from one of our foreign embassies indicating, and I quote from a Sri Lankan newspaper, his “Liberation Tiger sympathies” and his presence at a “Liberation Tiger fundraiser” threatened the safety of Canadian embassy employees”.

Why does he continue to ignore the fact people in Sri Lanka read in a newspaper that he attended a Tamil tiger fundraiser and that he has Tamil tiger sympathies? Is he not at all concerned about the warnings that this would be a security threat to Canadian embassy employees?

Hon. Paul Martin (Minister of Finance, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, what I am concerned about is the sense of values that is being demonstrated by the official opposition.

Let us make it very clear, and I do not believe I am only speaking for the government but I am speaking for all Canadians, that there are not two kinds of citizenship in this country. When people land upon our shores they are entitled to celebrate their heritage and they are equal Canadians with all of us.

One set of rules for Liberals and a different standard for everyone else.

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