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www.themetropolitain.ca
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Quebec's narcissistic boycotters |
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BERYL P. WAJSMAN
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Some of the great "progressive" forces of Quebec Israel Quebec
To read the full text of this op-ed please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=464&z=22
CSN leader distances union from
Israel
By JANICE ARNOLD
Staff Reporter
February 8, 2006
The Montreal president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) is distancing the labour group from a boycott of Israeli products launched in December by some 20 Quebec Montreal
The CSN, however, remains a permanent member of the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine
The CSN leader reacted to the boycott call only after an article by Beryl Wajsman , president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal , that was critical of the action and the radicalism of Quebec unions appeared in the Jerusalem
To Rouse the World From Fear
www.theconservativevoice.com
NEWS & COMMENTARY
by Beryl Wajsman
The Legacy of JFK
November 26, 2006
“I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable -
and so was Bastogne , and so, in fact,
was Stalingrad . Any danger spot is tenable if men -
brave men - will make it so.”
~President John F. Kennedy
Wednesday, November 22nd, was the forty-third anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That tragedy haunts us still. In many ways and at all times. The writer Mary McGrory said on that day that we shall never smile again. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said no, we may smile again, but we’ll never be young again. For most it was the day hope died.
But hope, like courage, rests not on the shoulders of any one man but lives on from the words of that man in the hearts of all. All we need is the resolve to remember, and to carry on.
It is in that remembrance that we answer the question of many scholars as to what JFK’s legacy really was. His Presidency too short to see the fulfillment of many of his boldest initiatives, how is it that he captures our imaginations still? The answer rests in his words as much as his deeds. For those words, those ideas, still make us see possibilities in ourselves that we thought unimaginable.
For the full text of this article and the text of the "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" address
please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=504&z=8
Some of the great "progressive" forces of Quebec Israel Quebec
CSN leader distances union from
Israel
By JANICE ARNOLD
Staff Reporter
February 8, 2006
The Montreal president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) is distancing the labour group from a boycott of Israeli products launched in December by some 20 Quebec Montreal
The CSN, however, remains a permanent member of the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine
The CSN leader reacted to the boycott call only after an article by Beryl Wajsman , president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal , that was critical of the action and the radicalism of Quebec unions appeared in the Jerusalem
www.theconservativevoice.com
NEWS & COMMENTARY
by Beryl Wajsman
The Legacy of JFK
November 26, 2006
“I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable -
and so was
was
brave men - will make it so.”
~President John F. Kennedy
Wednesday, November 22nd, was the forty-third anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That tragedy haunts us still. In many ways and at all times. The writer Mary McGrory said on that day that we shall never smile again. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said no, we may smile again, but we’ll never be young again. For most it was the day hope died.
But hope, like courage, rests not on the shoulders of any one man but lives on from the words of that man in the hearts of all. All we need is the resolve to remember, and to carry on.
It is in that remembrance that we answer the question of many scholars as to what JFK’s legacy really was. His Presidency too short to see the fulfillment of many of his boldest initiatives, how is it that he captures our imaginations still? The answer rests in his words as much as his deeds. For those words, those ideas, still make us see possibilities in ourselves that we thought unimaginable.
For the full text of this article and the text of the "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" address
please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=504&z=8
Lest We Forget Canadians of Conscience
For the full text of this article please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=501&z=22
For the Devastated of
|
Solidarity with refugees of Religious communities urge government to use diplomatic force to help stop crisis |
|
KAZI STASTNA |
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The Gazette; AP contributed to this report
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The leaders of some of
"I found it tragic that Canada recently underwent a national election campaign and with all of the significant issues discussed, the No. 1 tragedy of the day, the leading humanitarian crisis of the moment, was completely ignored,"
Since the conflict between non-Arab rebel groups and the pro-government militia began, roughly one million civilians have been displaced, at least 10,000 people have been killed and 150,000 have fled to
BPW being interviewed by CJAD's Caroline Phaneuf
Please see "With One Voice: For the Devastated of
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=324&z=22
Seniors Rights Conference
State And Family Abuse Issues Dominate Conference
By
Staff Reporter
l-r: Katherine Frechette, Office of the Public Curator of Quebec; Me.Jean-Claude Paquet, Counsel to the Protecteur du Citoyen du Québec; Me.Julie Delaney, Menard-Martin Avocats; Me. Jean-Pierre Menard, Senior Partner, Menard-Martin, Quebec's leading victims rights attorney;
A doctor and a social worker from the Jewish
Dr. Henry Olders, a geriatric psychiatrist, and Sharon Freedman, a social worker for 28 years, also suggested at a public conference on the issue that the Office of the Public Curator (PC) is not as vigilant and accountable as it should be in the management of the affairs of people deemed incompetent. Moreover, there is no effective oversight of the PC’s operations, and legal recourse is complicated and takes too long, they said.
Freedman and
The forum provided a rare open dialogue between health-care professionals and the community, and a representative of the PC, Katherine Frechette. Also on the panel were Constance Leduc of the
For a fuller understanding of the problems seniors face exercising and protecting their rights please read
"The Neglect of the Elderly: A Visible Minority Besieged" at the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=307&z=22
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carniol, Naomi (Mon-exchange)"
To: <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca>
Subject: lecture last night
Dear Mr. Wajsman,
I am writing in regards to a Conference on protecting seniors from fraud, which
you moderated last night. I am currently writing an article about how citizens can spot
fraud scams in order to protect themselves.
I was hoping to speak with you today about this.
Sincerely,
Naomi Carniol
The Gazette
For more on this please go to the following links:
http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=12162130591513451109181713036&ctid=
1000004&cnid=1007690
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=462&z=22
|
Finally someone other than Judge Andrée Ruffo has the gumption to speak out against a “system that does not work [and] is nothing less than complicit in perpetuating the injustices it supposedly seeks to cure,” (re: Supreme Court wrong to refuse Ruffo, May 24). Bravo Mr. Wajsman. Perhaps, however, the powers that be will come to realize that they have now proverbially opened Pandora’s box. Off the bench, Judge Ruffo will have fewer constraints on her freedom of speech and activism. $"> $">Linda Hammerschmid $">Westmount A Judge's Hanging The Lynching of Andrée Ruffo
You can read this article in full at: http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=12625127150991459710337502782&ctid =1000004&cnid=1006138 You can read the full paper at the following link on this site: http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=462&z=22
$"> |
Denouncing Unjust Punishment
Punishment denounced as 'scarlet lettering'
Vermont policy: Montrealer caught with pot told to write confession for local paper
Punishment denounced as 'scarlet lettering'
Vermont policy: Montrealer caught with pot told to write confession for local paper
Graeme Hamilton, National Post
Thursday, May 18, 2006
MONTREAL - Christopher Statham had worked late finishing a college assignment and was looking forward to a weekend snowboarding in Vermont when he and a friend rolled up to the border crossing one Friday night last February. In a flash, the weekend plans came crashing down, as the U.S. border agents decided to search the two teenagers and found about $25 worth of marijuana stashed in Mr. Statham's jacket. State police were called in and Mr. Statham, 19, was charged with possession.
Normally a misdemeanour arrest at the border would not make waves, but as part of Vermont's zero-tolerance drug policy, the young Montrealer was instructed to write a confessional article for his local newspaper. On Monday, under the headline "My stupid mistake," The Gazette published Mr. Statham's piece on its opinion page, next to a political analysis of Lucien Bouchard's enduring popularity in Quebec.
Beryl Wajsman, head of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, denounced what he called the "scarlet lettering" of Mr. Statham by U.S. authorities. " 'Zero tolerance' is a policy that has no substantive statistical support and is nothing more than cheap sloganeering pandering to the most retrograde elements within society," he wrote in a published commentary.
For the complete text of this story and the our full commentary on it please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=485&z=22
Stand Up In Solidarity
“Justice, justice shall you pursue!”
~Deuteronomy 16:20
The crimes of prejudice take many forms. Some are obvious. Others, while more subtle, are equally damaging to the commonweal. Each must be responded to with equal vigour. The Rev. Darryl Gray has been a beacon of hope and courage since coming to
Now it is time for us to help empower him. Rev. Gray is Minister at Union United, the oldest and largest black church in
We ask all of you who can, to attend services at Rev. Gray’s church this Sunday, June 12th, at 11.00 a.m. as a demonstration of solidarity with this great Montrealer. Union United is located at the corner of
To read the complete text of this appeal please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=436&z=22
and the Threats to Canadian Civil Liberties
http://www.iapm.ca/media/adler20061020.mp3
An Institute Intern Hits the Front Lines
Chantal Beaubien has been a valued and important member of the Institute team. Starting out as a volunteer and intern, she quickly proved her abilities in social activism and advocacy. Her background as a McGill Law graduate; legal aid staffer and experience with the Centre for Rights and Democracy stood her in good stead. Though she finished her studies at the Barreau du Québec this year, she has decided to postpone the practice of law and has been accepted as a children’s rights advocate in one of the most dangerous places on earth.
www.licadho.org
To find out more about her new challenges and how you can help go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=528&z=22
Barricades
Messages and Mediums
We are very proud that within days of publishing our new journal called "Barricades", La Presse asked permission to reprint one of the articles. Above is a picture of how it appeared in the op-ed page. It is from the noted jurist 
Marie-France Bazzo and Pierre Thibault did an excellent review of BARRICADES on Marie-France's "INDICATIF PRÉSENT" talk show on Radio-Canada Première Chaîne. You can hear the discussion at the link below.
http://www.iapm.ca/media/bazzobarricades.mp3
15 December 2005
Around Westmount
by
Marilyn Vanderstay
Barricades - A New Journal for Canadians
Beryl P. Wajsman, founder and president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, last week brought copies of the Institute’s latest journal, Barricades, to Wednesday Night, Westmount’s centre of intelligent debate hosted by invitation only each week at the home of David and Diana Nicholson.
Wajsman writes in his Statement of Purpose that the reason he started the journal is “to tell Canadians what they need to know, not just what they want to hear.” The Institute’s aim in publishing the journal is to meet the need for a journal of unconventional thought and opinion on national and international affairs.
Last week the conversation at Wednesday Night of course dealt with the timely issues of the Kyoto
For more information about Wednesday Night go to:
www.wednesday-night.com
Vol.1 No.2
On Terrorists, Canada and Montreal
avec Julie Couture de LCN
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lcn11072006.wmv
On Terrorists, Canada and Montreal
avec Julie Couture de LCN
http://www.iapm.ca/media/lcn11072006.wmv
The World Tonight
with Rob Breakenridge
Weeknights 7p
Monday July 10 2006
On Tonight's Show...
Al Qaeda and Islamists in Montreal
We'll talk to Beryl Wajsman , president of the
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
http://www.iapm.ca/media/chqr10072006.mp3
Canada and Quebec
with
Weeknights 7p
Institute for Public Affairs of
----- Original Message -----
From: Martin Pouliot
To: 'Institute for Public Affairs'
Beryl, Thank you for your presence on our show examing racism.
We really appreciated your strong and clear approach and for taking the time to participate.
Many thanks to you.
Martin Pouliot
Animateur - Pour ou Contre
CKAC Radiomédia
To hear part of this program please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/articlefiles/281-CHQR2.mp3
The Canadian Forces Public Affairs Office has offered the Institute an extraordinary opportunity for an executive briefing for our members from Lt.-Gen. J.C.M. Gauthier, Commander Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. In closed session he will be sharing compelling information about the current situation in
From: Maj. Johanne BOURNIVAL
Sent: November 23, 2006 3:27 PM
Subject: PRESENTATION DU LGEN J.C.M. GAUTHIER
SUR LA MISSION CANADIENNE EN AFGHANISTAN
A SPECIAL EXECUTIVE BRIEFING WITH
LT.-GEN. J.C.M. GAUTHIER ON
CANADA'S MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN
Importance: High
Le 23 novembre 2006
Madame, Monsieur,
Major Johanne Bournival
Directrice du Bureau des affaires publiques de
la Défense nationale
Région du Québec
Wanted: Someone to rally behind
Friday, December 30,
Beryl P. Wajsman, president
Institute for Public Affairs of
(BPW note: The National Post included my piece on leadership in a section called
“The stuff of leadership”. Due to space constraints it had to be edited.
I wanted to share the whole article with you here.)
The Post is to be commended for printing
Leadership, and power, is always something you grab. It is not given like candy to well-behaved children. In our history great leaders have gone after power because of great vision. And great anger. It was not always clean or politically correct. And they were almost universally vilified in their own time. But our greatest leaders always had one set of principles in common. They saw suffering and tried to heal it. They saw injustice and tried to stop it. They saw inequity and tried to right it.
To read this article in full please go the the following link to the Commentary section of this website:
BPW on Liberalism and Statism
The feet and legs of six of the 10 Liberal candidates at a
question-and-answer session in Vancouver on Aug. 22.
Photograph by : Andy Clark, Reuters
The problem with liberalism
Beryl P. Wajsman, President
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
To read the complete article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=498&z=22
Back Page
Leadership at Last
By John Crosbie
For the better part of the past 13 years, Canada
As Beryl Wajsman of the Montreal Institute of Public Affairs wrote: "A remarkable thing happened on the last day of the 'La Francophonie' summit in Bucharest. After years of hearing government after government lie to us that our middle power status afforded us no other role than nuanced and balanced positions in foreign affairs, Stephen Harper showed we can play with the big boys and stood up to France, Egypt and a host of others and proved that principle beats pandering." As Wajsman put it: "For perhaps the first time in a generation there is a political will breathing life into those words in our national anthem that we are 'the true north strong and free'."
For the full text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=540&z=13
Leadership at Last
By John Crosbie
For the full text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
|
Barbara Yaffe |
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Few would have predicted a year ago that the boldest aspect of Stephen Harper's leadership would be foreign policy. Yet the Conservative prime minister -- by his own admission, one of the least-travelled PMs in recent Canadian history -- during his first months in office has directed his government's most forceful action on this front.
Recently in Bucharest
Recently in
That intervention prompted Beryl Wajsman, president of the Montreal-based Institute for Public Affairs, to issue florid praise: "Stephen Harper is raising a bright, new dawn for this nation. It is to be hoped that the brilliant rays of its light will burn off the stagnating smog that has been a protective cloak over the bodyguard of lies under which Canadians have lived far too long."
To read the complete article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=517&z=13
Harper's Triumph at the Summit
Principle Trumps Pandering
Harper at the Summit :
Principle trumps pandering
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Sunday, October 1, 2006
"Stephen Harper is raising a bright, new dawn for this nation. And it is to be hoped that the brilliant rays of its light will burn off the stagnating smog that has been a protective cloak over the bodyguard of lies under which Canadians have lived far too long. Let us not forget that power is never preceded by conditional adjectives. Power is not a toy for children. It is a force a people take and use as a shield for the innocent and a staff for the just. It is not dependant on numbers. It is dependant only on energy and daring. The message of the past few weeks is clear. We Canadians --who in two World Wars over the past century sacrificed more sons and daughters than even America
To read the full text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=529&z=8
The United Nations
www.theconservativevoice.com
by Beryl Wajsman
The U.N.:30 Years of “Brutal Buffoonery”
September 25, 2006
"Every day at the U.N., on every side, we are assailed because we are a democracy. In the U.N. today there are in the range of several dozen democracies left; totalitarian regimes and assorted ancient and modern despotisms make up all the rest. Nothing so unites these nations as the conviction that their success ultimately depends on our failure. Most of the new states have ended up as enemies of freedom."
~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan, September 1976
I want to take you, dear readers, on a trip back in time. A more innocent time perhaps when mankind’s yearnings for redemptive change seemed possible. In the heart of New York a Palace for Peace was built that still stands today. Its main tower is narrow and lean seemingly stretching with almost sinewy might as if soaring to the heavens for inspiration. The curves and planes of it’s smaller sister building’s design seek to reflect the transcendental unity of our common humanity. On a wall at the entrance to this Palace are engraved the immortal words of the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah that “…swords shall be turned into plowshares, and nation shall not make war against nation anymore.”
To view the complete article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=497&z=8
or to
http://theconservativevoice.com/article/18759.html
Of Memory and Witness
Harper's Triumph at the Summit
Principle Trumps Pandering
Principle Trumps Pandering
Harper at the Summit :
Principle trumps pandering
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Sunday, October 1, 2006
"Stephen Harper is raising a bright, new dawn for this nation. And it is to be hoped that the brilliant rays of its light will burn off the stagnating smog that has been a protective cloak over the bodyguard of lies under which Canadians have lived far too long. Let us not forget that power is never preceded by conditional adjectives. Power is not a toy for children. It is a force a people take and use as a shield for the innocent and a staff for the just. It is not dependant on numbers. It is dependant only on energy and daring. The message of the past few weeks is clear. We Canadians --who in two World Wars over the past century sacrificed more sons and daughters than even America
To read the full text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=529&z=8
The United Nations
www.theconservativevoice.com
by Beryl Wajsman
The U.N.:30 Years of “Brutal Buffoonery”
September 25, 2006
"Every day at the U.N., on every side, we are assailed because we are a democracy. In the U.N. today there are in the range of several dozen democracies left; totalitarian regimes and assorted ancient and modern despotisms make up all the rest. Nothing so unites these nations as the conviction that their success ultimately depends on our failure. Most of the new states have ended up as enemies of freedom."
~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan, September 1976
I want to take you, dear readers, on a trip back in time. A more innocent time perhaps when mankind’s yearnings for redemptive change seemed possible. In the heart of New York a Palace for Peace was built that still stands today. Its main tower is narrow and lean seemingly stretching with almost sinewy might as if soaring to the heavens for inspiration. The curves and planes of it’s smaller sister building’s design seek to reflect the transcendental unity of our common humanity. On a wall at the entrance to this Palace are engraved the immortal words of the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah that “…swords shall be turned into plowshares, and nation shall not make war against nation anymore.”
To view the complete article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=497&z=8
or to
http://theconservativevoice.com/article/18759.html
On common ground
What's in a Name? For students of Italian and Jewish
backgrounds, the renaming of a school is a chance
to share part of their heritage
ALISON LAMPERT
The Gazette
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
(excerpt)
with Gen. Lewis MacKenzie
The students at yesterday's event were from
Students from both schools learned about Palatucci, who died in 1945 at the
Yesterday's ceremony featured speeches by Italian and Jewish community leaders, including
BPW speaking to students
MAJOR GENERAL LEWIS MACKENZIE TO
SPEAK AT OFFICIAL RENAMING CEREMONY
OF
MONTREAL, MAY 12, 2006 Retired Canadian Major General Lewis MacKenzie, who has commanded ground troops in some of the world’s most dangerous places, will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday, May 16 ( 10 a.m.) at the ceremony to rename the former Wagar High School building in Côte Saint-Luc (5785 Parkhaven) after Italian Holocaust hero Giovanni Palatucci. Major General MacKenzie’s appearance was made possible by the Institute for Public Affairs of
For a complete overview of this event please see
"Memory and Witness: The EMSB, the Institute and the Palatucci Facility" at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=486&z=22
The Vital Imperative of
Individual Responsibility
Individual Responsibility
The Palatucci Facility
BPW presenting EMSB Regional Director Mario Tirelli
with the first cheque for the Giovanni Palatucci Facility
We were gratified to have been able to answer the call of the English Montreal School Board for material, as well as moral help in its project to re-dedicate Wagar High School Bialik High School
Speaking with students from Laurier-MacDonald and Bialik
High Schools
Speaking with students from Laurier-MacDonald and
Original Message
From: Cohen, Michael
Sent: April 11, 2006 2:50 PM
To: Wajsman, Beryl
Thanks again for today. It was amazing to see you in action. You were outstanding. The students and staff from BOTH schools were impressed. I think we may have found an entire new mission for the Institute.
Michael J. Cohen
Communications and Marketing Specialist
English Montreal School Board
Bialik, EMSB students learn about each other’s heritage
by
Janice Arnold
Staff Reporter
May 4, 2006
(excerpt)
The message is the same: all were caught up in events beyond their control and worked hard to build a better life here, overcoming obstacles thanks to a determined spirit. It was a message the Bialik students could relate to. The students then broke up into groups of 10 with an adult facilitator and assigned to tables named for humanitarians as diverse as Oskar Schindler, Simon Wiesenthal, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela.
Once the students overcame their initial shyness, the conversations veered off in many directions. At the table led by Beryl Wajsman, director of the Public Affairs Institute of Montreal, one of the sponsors of the exchange program, students ended up deciding to start a petition against child labour in the Third World. Wajsman warned the kids against “getting stuck in their own little parochial ghettoes,” and urged them to open their eyes to injustice of all kinds.
John Crosbie on BPW and Mulroney
John Crosbie
The Final Say
The Secret Mulroney Tapes
A quick job for a quick buck
The most accurate commentary about this sordid exploitative episode that I've seen was written by Beryl Wajsman of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal Canada
Wajsman argues "the fault in this episode lies not with Mulroney but with Newman," whose work he describes as "night crawler reportage."
He quotes Teddy Roosevelt: "It is not the critic who counts but the man who is actually in the arena." I congratulate and support Mulroney, who was actually in the arena, who strove valiantly; who erred and came up short at times, but who spent himself for a worthy cause and can know today the triumph of high achievement. Where he failed, at least he failed daring greatly.
Yes, Brian could make mistakes -- as he did in trusting Peter Newman. Yes, he is a man prone sometimes to puffery and invective, which is no surprise to most. What is more troubling are the questions that now arise about the ethics of the journalistic craft as illustrated not only by Newman but the Globe.
To read the complete article please go to the following link to the Commentary scetion on this website:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=477&z=13
Building Civil Society
An Historic Alliance
The Institute has mounted many successful initiatives on hunger, homelessness, health care, community relations, empowerment, seniors’ rights, ethical governance and democratic development. It has shown what broad citizen coalitions can deliver. But it has never faced demands as daunting as those that followed in the wake of the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina. The full report is available on Canada Free Press at the following link: http://canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman090505.htm
Today, we are proud to report that the Institute has agreed to an aid program that is singularly unique not only in terms of the assistance to be provided, but also in the nature of the NGO and corporate partnerships that have been established. The Institute, in conjunction with Montreal’s Team EMS, has organized one of the largest contingents of Emergency Medical Specialists ever assembled in Canada to support the work of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Delta Relief Project in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. SCLC President Charles Steele, Jr. personally welcomed a partnership with the Institute. Institute Advisory Council member the Rev. Darryl G. Gray, a former SCLC staffer who himself was in the hurricane- ravaged area, was instrumental in helping conclude this historic accord. The SCLC’s Delta Relief Project is one of the most critical frontline providers of aid to the victims of Katrina.
Confronting New Orleans
A Human Triumph of the Power of One
We spent Labor Day Weekend lending support to the heroic efforts of Institute Council member Hal Newman and his Team EMS . Hal helped build Cote St. Luc EMS into one of the finest in the country. He and his colleagues assembled hundreds of EMS specialists from across the country who are ready to go to New Orleans Washington
For a fuller report on this developing story please read "New Orleans
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=447&z=22
Guest Column
Confronting New Orleans
A human triumph of the power of one
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Monday, September 5, 2005
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from thousands of different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of suffering and oppression."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
It's the banality of the answers to the "whys" that stagger the imagination in the wake of the New Orleans U.S.
Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days for federal troops to be mobilized and enter the city? Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days, according to former Louisiana Senator John Breaux, for one of America's largest hospital ships - the USS Comfort - to leave its home port of Baltimore for New Orleans while the city went begging for cruise ships? Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days for New Orleans International Airport
You can read the rest of this story at the following link:
http://canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman090505.htm
September 7, 2005
Canada responds to SOS
Katrina aftermath
By Jason Magder, The Suburban
It’s a long way from Katrina’s ground zero, but Pointe Claire Gulf Coast Vancouver has saved 30 people in a suburb east of New Orleans
“One particular group in Colorado had ambulance cot gurneys, canvas flats litters and folding aluminum and wooden backboards to ship to [New Orleans Colorado
“We urgently need funds for those medics who can’t pay for their flights. But we also need contributions of medical equipment, transport and food. If you know anyone in these industries please call them for donations in kind. And we need the help of the media to spread the message of this endeavour.” Wajsman said the Institute is approaching individuals and corporations.
BPW Interview with Corus Radio's Dave Sturgeon on
Institute/Team EMS efforts on New Orleans Aid Work
http://www.iapm.ca/media/bpwonneworleans.mp3
From: Johnson, Geralyn (HHS/OS)
Sent: September 5, 2005 20:51
To: bpwajsman@iapm.ca hnewman@tems.ca
Subject: Offer to help
Thank you so much for your interest and offer. It is comforting to know that our northern friends are willing to help during this time of great need. We are in the process of assessing the needs in the disaster area. The states have rallied an incredible response but we anticipate that they will need a high level of support in the upcoming weeks and months. We are not turning down any offers.
CAPT Geralyn Johnson, DDS, MPH
US Public Health Service
A Visit of Particular Poignancy
At the request of Jack Dym , our Vice-Chairman and President of the Montreal Holocaust Museum (at r.), we arranged this visit to the Museum by one of Canada's true heros, Lt.-Gen.(ret.)Roméo Dallaire (2nd from left), former Commander of the U.N.'s Peacekeeping Forces in Rwanda and the author of "Shake Hands With the Devil". Museum Executive Director Ann Ungar stands between Gen. Dallaire and Mr. Dym.
The visit was personal, but underlined the universality of the lessons of the Holocaust in today's world where we still witness genocidal slaughter, as was the case in Rwanda
Freedom of Speech
Security Exec Offers Barak Protection
Concordia won't allow ex-Israeli PM to speak. It would take about 10 guards
to ensure safety at campus event, university alumnus contends
Jeff Heinrich
The Gazette
Beryl Wajsman and Terry Corcoran with Suburban editor Jim Duff
A former grand marshal of Montreal 's St. Patrick's parade who owns a security firm has waded into the controversy over Ehud Barak at Concordia University
Corcoran is upset that Concordia, his alma mater, is getting a bad rap by denying Barak to speak. He says he also wants to give back to Jewish patrons of his company, National Criminal Investigation Service Inc. His firm has protected movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, the children of foreign diplomats visiting Montreal , and officials who attended the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City
Now it wants a crack at Barak. "We're willing to help out," Corcoran told The Gazette. "If there is an open mind at Concordia, we'll sit down and discuss and provide additional security for the event." When Barak was at a Cote St. Luc synagogue three years ago, Corcoran said, "they had 10 or 15 security guards" - not Corcoran's - "with about four RCMP officers protecting him, and nothing went wrong. ... I was there, and there was no problem."
Corcoran's offer is being backed by Montreal community activist Beryl Wajsman , President of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Barak was to have been invited by Hillel, a Jewish students' group at Concordia, to talk Oct. 19 at the university's Loyola campus, in Montreal
Late yesterday afternoon, Wajsman wrote to Concordia's administration, detailing Corcoran's offer. A spokesperson declined comment. "The discipline and integrity of students' intellectual rigour at a university should never be held hostage to the threats of thugs," Wajsman said. "There can be no cause for self-satisfaction when the violent terrorize and the peaceful are traumatized."
jheinrich@thegazette.canwest.com
Please read "Concordia's Capitulation: The Paralysis of Reason" at
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=396&z=22
A Day Aboard Canada's Pride
Capt .Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs(3rd from rt.), Nino Colavecchio, President of the Canadian Italian Congress (2nd from rt.), Capt .
HMCS Montreal
I was privileged to be invited on board the HMCS Montreal for a day sail in the company of Environment Minister Stephane Dion and Sen. Colin Kenny as the frigate made its way down the St. Lawrence to its name port. Institute board members Patrick Gagnon of the Parliamentary Group and Nino Colavecchio, President of the National Congress of Italo-Canadians joined me for the day.
When reflecting upon the quality of the men and women we met the term the “…best and the brightest…” comes quickly to mind. Not in any pejorative sense. But in the truest sense. These are Canada’s elite because they have committed themselves to the twin principles of service to, and sacrifice for, our country. Our responsibility is to make sure that our political leadership gives them the tools to do the job. Not just to show our flag, but to carry our share of responsibility in this global village.
Our servicemen and women have been beacons of freedom for people struggling against oppression from Haiti to Afghanistan. All those many lands from where Canada, as an industrialized nation, derives so much benefit in everything from cheap labour to cheap resources. Is it not simple decency to at least bring hope to their peoples in time of peril?
And as we sailed into port and saw the many people waving and cheering; as we watched some of the faces of more than 5,000 visitors to the ship over the following two days in port ; as we recalled Sen. Kenny's words that this had been a "once in a lifetime" experience, we were struck by the thought that perhaps, in this evermore dangerous world, that hope could be a source for the redemption of our national political purpose and the spark for the restoration of our nation’s pride.
For a full report on the visit please see "A Reminder of Our Nation's Pride and Purpose"
at the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=352&z=22
Helping Sick Kids
Avis aux médias
La crise des enfants malades
Les citoyens répondent
"...il a vu la souffrance et a tenté de la guérir..."
~ Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, aux funérailles de son frère Sen. Robert F. Kennedy
Montréal, le 15 décembre 2004
Un article paru dans le journal The Gazette de Montréal la semaine dernière faisait état d'une situation alarmante. En effet, plus de 5,500 enfants sont sur des listes d'attente dans les hôpitaux de Montréal, dans quelques cas depuis un an, pour des interventions chirurgicales afin de remédier a des problèmes auditifs et visuels. Ces délais dans le traitement de personnes si vulnérables sont tout simplement inacceptables. Le fait que notre province ne dispose que d'un minimum d'anesthésistes et de personnel infirmier ne devrait, en aucun cas, compromettre la santé de nos enfants.
Ce n'est pas le moment approprié d'engager un débat sur les soins de santé à deux vitesses au Québec. Nous sommes en situation de crise et ces enfants malades requièrent une intervention immédiate. L'unique priorité est de mettre fin à leur souffrance.
L'Institut des affaires publiques de Montréal, en collaboration avec MedExtra Healthcare Plan, IUPAT, et Teamsters Canada , offre un programme permettant aux familles éprouvées d’avoir accès à des services de spécialistes qui permettront d'identifier les institutions de soins de santé et de leur en faciliter l'accès.
Cette initiative des citoyens aura, nous l'espérons, un effet d'entraînement auprès des autorités gouvernementales concernées. Ces autorités devraient utiliser leurs marge de manoeuvre regulatoire pour aider ces enfants et leurs familles à défrayer les coûts appropriés pour leurs soins. Il est temps de cesser les discussions et de passer à l'action, immédiatement!
Pour plus de renseignements lisez: "Voir la souffrance et tenter de la guérir" à:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=376&z=22
An Interesting Note Following Team Florida Meetings
Les Orphelins Duplessis
We marched with Sen. Jacques Hébert, we demonstrated with him
and we are pleased that he and his Committee negotiatated
a $35 million settlement for the Duplessis Orphans
with the Québec government.
For a fuller report on this developing story please read "
A human triumph of the power of one
Monday, September 5, 2005
~ Robert F. Kennedy
Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days for federal troops to be mobilized and enter the city? Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days, according to former Louisiana Senator John Breaux, for one of America's largest hospital ships - the USS Comfort - to leave its home port of Baltimore for New Orleans while the city went begging for cruise ships? Answer...nobody asked, nobody ordered. Why did it take five days for
|
By Jason Magder, The Suburban It’s a long way from Katrina’s ground zero, but “We urgently need funds for those medics who can’t pay for their flights. But we also need contributions of medical equipment, transport and food. If you know anyone in these industries please call them for donations in kind. And we need the help of the media to spread the message of this endeavour.” Wajsman said the Institute is approaching individuals and corporations.
BPW Interview with Corus Radio's Dave Sturgeon on
http://www.iapm.ca/media/bpwonneworleans.mp3
From: Johnson, Geralyn (HHS/OS) To: bpwajsman@iapm.ca hnewman@tems.ca Subject: Offer to help CAPT Geralyn Johnson, DDS, MPH US Public Health Service
A Visit of Particular Poignancy At the request of The visit was personal, but underlined the universality of the lessons of the Holocaust in today's world where we still witness genocidal slaughter, as was the case in Freedom of Speech
Security Exec Offers Barak Protection Concordia won't allow ex-Israeli PM to speak. It would take about 10 guards Jeff Heinrich The Gazette
A former grand marshal of Corcoran is upset that Concordia, his alma mater, is getting a bad rap by denying Barak to speak. He says he also wants to give back to Jewish patrons of his company, National Criminal Investigation Service Inc. His firm has protected movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, the children of foreign diplomats visiting Now it wants a crack at Barak. "We're willing to help out," Corcoran told The Gazette. "If there is an open mind at Concordia, we'll sit down and discuss and provide additional security for the event." When Barak was at a Cote St. Luc synagogue three years ago, Corcoran said, "they had 10 or 15 security guards" - not Corcoran's - "with about four RCMP officers protecting him, and nothing went wrong. ... I was there, and there was no problem." Corcoran's offer is being backed by Montreal community activist Barak was to have been invited by Hillel, a Jewish students' group at Concordia, to talk Oct. 19 at the university's Loyola campus, in Late yesterday afternoon, Wajsman wrote to Concordia's administration, detailing Corcoran's offer. A spokesperson declined comment. "The discipline and integrity of students' intellectual rigour at a university should never be held hostage to the threats of thugs," Wajsman said. "There can be no cause for self-satisfaction when the violent terrorize and the peaceful are traumatized." jheinrich@thegazette.canwest.com
Please read "Concordia's Capitulation: The Paralysis of Reason" at http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=396&z=22 A Day Aboard Canada's Pride
HMCS Montreal I was privileged to be invited on board the HMCS Montreal for a day sail in the company of Environment Minister Stephane Dion and Sen. Colin Kenny as the frigate made its way down the St. Lawrence to its name port. Institute board members Patrick Gagnon of the Parliamentary Group and Nino Colavecchio, President of the National Congress of Italo-Canadians joined me for the day. When reflecting upon the quality of the men and women we met the term the “…best and the brightest…” comes quickly to mind. Not in any pejorative sense. But in the truest sense. These are Canada’s elite because they have committed themselves to the twin principles of service to, and sacrifice for, our country. Our responsibility is to make sure that our political leadership gives them the tools to do the job. Not just to show our flag, but to carry our share of responsibility in this global village. Our servicemen and women have been beacons of freedom for people struggling against oppression from Haiti to Afghanistan. All those many lands from where Canada, as an industrialized nation, derives so much benefit in everything from cheap labour to cheap resources. Is it not simple decency to at least bring hope to their peoples in time of peril? And as we sailed into port and saw the many people waving and cheering; as we watched some of the faces of more than 5,000 visitors to the ship over the following two days in port ; as we recalled Sen. Kenny's words that this had been a "once in a lifetime" experience, we were struck by the thought that perhaps, in this evermore dangerous world, that hope could be a source for the redemption of our national political purpose and the spark for the restoration of our nation’s pride. For a full report on the visit please see "A Reminder of Our Nation's Pride and Purpose" http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=352&z=22 Avis aux médias La crise des enfants malades Les citoyens répondent
"...il a vu la souffrance et a tenté de la guérir..." ~ Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, aux funérailles de son frère Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Un article paru dans le journal The Gazette de Montréal la semaine dernière faisait état d'une situation alarmante. En effet, plus de 5,500 enfants sont sur des listes d'attente dans les hôpitaux de Montréal, dans quelques cas depuis un an, pour des interventions chirurgicales afin de remédier a des problèmes auditifs et visuels. Ces délais dans le traitement de personnes si vulnérables sont tout simplement inacceptables. Le fait que notre province ne dispose que d'un minimum d'anesthésistes et de personnel infirmier ne devrait, en aucun cas, compromettre la santé de nos enfants. Ce n'est pas le moment approprié d'engager un débat sur les soins de santé à deux vitesses au Québec. Nous sommes en situation de crise et ces enfants malades requièrent une intervention immédiate. L'unique priorité est de mettre fin à leur souffrance. L'Institut des affaires publiques de Montréal, en collaboration avec MedExtra Healthcare Plan, IUPAT, et Teamsters Canada , offre un programme permettant aux familles éprouvées d’avoir accès à des services de spécialistes qui permettront d'identifier les institutions de soins de santé et de leur en faciliter l'accès. Cette initiative des citoyens aura, nous l'espérons, un effet d'entraînement auprès des autorités gouvernementales concernées. Ces autorités devraient utiliser leurs marge de manoeuvre regulatoire pour aider ces enfants et leurs familles à défrayer les coûts appropriés pour leurs soins. Il est temps de cesser les discussions et de passer à l'action, immédiatement! Pour plus de renseignements lisez: "Voir la souffrance et tenter de la guérir" à: http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=376&z=22 An Interesting Note Following Team Florida Meetings
Les Orphelins Duplessis
We marched with Sen. Jacques Hébert, we demonstrated with him
|
Community Alliances
With former New York City Mayor the Hon. Rudolph W. Giuliani who
was the keynote speaker at the first major joint public event held
by the Italian and Jewish communities of Montreal which the
Institute helped negotiate and co-ordinate.
behind this bold and dramatic evening.
Institute Hate Crime Initiative
Creation of the Council for Community Conciliation
We received many calls about the firebombing of Ville St. Laurent’s Talmud Torah. Most callers wanted to know when we would write something about it. I told them that at a time like this I despaired of words. Despaired because words have so often been cheapened by their use as channels for pious platitudes and replacements for assertive action.
We live in a time of instant communication and instant destruction. In this global village, the world comes home to roost in our own backyards every night. With so many failed states and failed cultures; with so many people whose frustrations with their own individual failures compel them to find any vessel into which to pour the bile of their interposition and nullification; and with so many readily accessible modes and methods of devastation, it was only surprising that the St. Laurent attack was not much worse and had not come much sooner. There will be more.
The great hope from the middle of last week was that so many finally seemed to “get it”. We were particularly heartened when we participated in a press conference of some dozen social action and cultural groups last Thursday at the South East Asian Community Center. We were proud when our board member Nino Colavecchio, in his capacity as President of the National Congress of Italo-Canadians, published a letter of support under the title “We Stand United”. So many came together to express their commitment to a society in which diversity is not corrupted by division, tolerance is not compromised by timidity and civility is not confused with capitulation. Brave words proclaimed bold promise.
But after the press conferences and public declarations we began to get other calls toward the end of the week. Troubling calls. Calls warning that this current flood of important popular passion could be smothered by parochial political impotence. That elected officials were making pledges for policies they had no jurisdiction to effect and for programs they had no means to enact.
This coalition of the willing which we had seen in action all week had to be kept together and the goodwill they fostered had to be constructively channelled. The energy could not be allowed to evaporate. This was a tide in our affairs that had to be taken at its head.
This was a time for action, not words. And act we did as we had done before. After consultations with members of our Advisory Council and social action leaders in our network, we determined we had the ideal organization, and the most effective alliances, to bring to reality what had been talked about all week. Just as we did with Food Banks and Social Housing and Israeli advocacy, we pulled together our communal and political assets and devised a plan to attack the problem of Hate Crimes on both the citizen participation and law enforcement levels. We are proud to report that this initiative has met with immediate and broad acceptance.
We are proud to report that the Institute has created the Council for Community Conciliation. The name was chosen to reflect both the multi-disciplinary approach of this ambitious agenda as well as our hopes for the broad goal to be achieved. For we seek not merely to oppose old prejudices but to propose new policies. Not merely to be reflexively reactive but to be purposefully proactive. Not merely to comfort those who are put upon for allegiance to culture or creed, but to encourage precisely those who are most afraid to engage with us in the broader community and help build beachheads of co-operation to beat back the jungles of suspicion.
Please see the full report on our website tntitled:
"The Council for Community Conciliation: An Institute Initiative on Hate Crime" at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=316&z=22
Dans La Rue
A special thank you from Dans La Rue for underwriting their Christmas dinner for 200 kids.
Conference of Defense Associations
CONFERENCE OF DEFENSE ASSOCIATIONS
MEDIA ADVISORY OTTAWA
23 JANUARY 2004
Press Release on Institute's Presentation on Canada's Foreign Policy Review
The Conference of Defense Associations (CDA) would like to bring to your attention a paper delivered today in Ottawa (see att) by Beryl P. Wajsman, President of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal (IPAM), entitled, "Canada in the World: The Restoration of our National Pride and Purpose." The paper, addressing the declining role of Canada in the international community, asserts that Canada has had twenty years of foreign and defense policies tied to the bankrupt notions of moral relativism and multilateralism. Wajsman makes an impassioned statement about the need to appropriately define Canada’s national goals and then for the Government to commit itself to properly implement them. He writes,
“It is imperative that with clarity, candor and courage we develop the national consensus, and the national will, to make the sacrifices necessary for passionate engagement by our nation on all issues reflective of mankind’s transcendent yearning for redemptive change.”
In the context of Canada’s role in the international community, Wajsman argues that we should look at the lessons of the twentieth century as guidance for the twenty-first.
“The lesson of the twentieth century was not that independent pre-emptive response and participation in international military preparedness would unleash anarchic bloodbaths – to the contrary – failure to respond, and worse, attempts to appease, would allow time for barbarous dictators to arm themselves to the teeth and embroil the world in a whirlwind of devastation heretofore unimaginable. The road to Auschwitz began in Munich.”
Wajsman's paper raises important issues and perspectives that we believe deserve to be incorporated into the upcoming foreign and defense policy review.
Col.(ret.) Alain Pellerin
Executive Director, Conference of Defense Associations
You can view the full text of the Institute's presentation on Canada's Foreign Affairs & Defense Policy review entitled "Canada in the World: The Restoration of our National Pride and Purpose" at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=306&z=12
Comrades in Arms
BPW with Clément Bergeron, Executive Director of the Québec Food
Bank Network; Laurie Normand Starr of "Taste of the Nation" and
Charles Seiden, Executive Director of the Canadian Association
of Food Banks.
MOISSON MONTRÉAL
----- Original Message -----From: CBEC-Réseau
To: Institute for Public Affairs Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 9:24 AM
Thank you for everything Beryl!
Clément Bergeron, Président
A Special Message
----- Original Message -----
From: McKinnon, Lachlin
To: Institute for Public Affairs
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 3:42 PM
Subject: RE: Institute Food Banks-National Post
Beryl, this initiative of yours is great.
It's impact will be terrific.
Your work ensures the commonweal. Your model of
working with unions advances the real logic that
the strongest unions in
So maybe a few more unions in
or at a Wal-Mart nearest you would be in order....
Many in our country make a common “democratic” error. They call
those who use government services “clients”. They are not "clients";
they are citizens, which is one more reason why it is in the public
interest that their basic civil entitlements be safeguarded.
The work you are doing is excellent and you should be
honoured for being a citizen making a significant
commitment to the Public Good.
Best,
Lachlin McKinnon
Senior Advisor to the Governor General
Institute Food Bank Initiative
Christmas deliveries to Moisson Montreal. Part of the continuing
Institute-organized business-labor alliance
that will increase the capacity of the Moisson network
by some 100,000 lbs. a month.
Inscribed copy from Bill Shore, Director of "Share our Strength",
North America's largest
humger relief organization based in Washington, D.C.
Tenants Rights
Further to a request by the Cote des Neiges housing co-op OEIL, we
worked with the City to bring an end to the suffering of some
thirty families living in abhorrent conditions.
Medal of Merit
Presented by the Association for the Welfare of the Soldiers of Israel.
Inauguarating Holocaust Museum Expansion
With former Government House leader Jacques Saada, 2nd from right,
and former National Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan,
at dedication of Montreal's expanded Holocaust Remembrance Museum,
a project on which the Institute advised on Federal and Provincial
government grant availabilities.
International Academy of Law and Mental Health
Robert F. Kennedy Community Service Award
Au Revoir From A Great Minister
A personal note of thanks from a great friend and public servant, the Hon. Jane Stewart,
as she left for her new post in Geneva as Canada’s representative to the International Labor Organization.
3rd Institute Policy Conference
Security and Trade in the post-Iraq Era:
"Doing Business in a Dangerous World---Redressing the Balance in U.S.Canadian Relations"
Beryl Wajsman, The Hon.Perrin Beatty, Thomas d'Aquino, R.James Woolsey, John F. Angus, Michael F. Gallagher
We are pleased to report that the Institute's 3rd Policy Conference , held May 29th at the Club St.Denis, was a resounding success. We have already had positive reactions from circles in Ottawa and in Washington. Jim Duff's report on it, posted in our Initiatives section, may be viewed at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=287&z=22
We would also urge you to look at
"A Conversation with James Woolsey:
Reflections from the former Director of
the Central Intelligence Agency" posted to our Insight section
at the following location:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=288&z=12
Dale L. Watson, Raymonde Folco, M.P., Stockwell Day, M.P., Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Charles H. Belzile, Patrick Gagnon
A Sampling of Participants Comments:
"Jim Woolsey and Dale Watson were genuinely impressed and honored by the professionalism and treatment. They are already talking about how soon they can come back to Canada."-Gerald Chipeur,Esq., Chipeur Advocates, Calgary
"Gen. Belzile and I thoroughly enjoyed the Conference. It was professionally run with an excellent group of speakers. The networking was of excellent value."-Col.(ret.)Alain Pellerin, Executive Director, Canadian Defence Associations, Ottawa
"Thank you for a most stimulating Conference."-David Bensoussan, Communautés Sepharade du Québec, Montréal
"I was thoroughly riveted by the presentations...it was a rare opportunity. A Tour de Force!"-Marie Bourbonniere, Raymond Chabot
"I really enjoyed this Conference. Keep on with the good work in building Canada's future."- Me.Stephane Hébert, IRB
Please view BPW's Conference opening address entitled "A Matter of Honor" at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=277&z=22
“It was a who’s who” at the
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Security & Trade Conference
LINDA MASSARELLA
Sunday, June 1, 2003
Beryl Wajsman, president of the influential Institut des Affaires Publiques de Montreal, has just wrapped up the Institute’s 3rd Policy Conference. Entitled “Doing Business in a Dangerous World: Security & Trade in the Post Iraq Era” brought together major politicians, military and security officials and leading CEO’s.
It was a who's who of intrigue at the by-invitation-only Conference held at the Club St. Denis. Former CIA head honcho James Woolsey was the keynote speaker and spent some time at a breakfast meeting with some high-powered Institute board members and Wajsman’s special invited guests.
Retired General Charles Belzile was there, as were businessmen, lawmakers and intelligence experts The Hon. Perrin Beatty, Thomas d'Aquino, President & CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Dale L. Watson, former Director of Counter-Terrorism for the FBI, Raymonde Folco, M.P., Michael F. Gallagher, Minister-Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa , John F. Angus, President of the Stonehenge Corporation and board member of UBS (Canada) and Patrick Gagnon, former M.P. and current President of Protocol Strategies
But it was Canadian Alliance MP Stockwell Day who made everyone laugh when he joked to Woolsey he'd love to be an undercover diplomat for the U.S. intelligence agency: "I'd love to tell people my last name is Bond, only trouble is I'd have to say, 'Hello, I'm Stock Bond.' "
4th Institute Policy Conference
Québec and Israel:
"A Challenge to the Content of our Character and the Courage of our Conscience"
Israeli Foreign Ministry North American Director Aharon Yaar, Ronald Denom (SNC), Nino Colavecchio (Canadian Italian Congress)
The Institute has just concluded it's first Quebec-Israel Conference on Civil Society held July 7th at the Club St-Denis in Montréal. This historic encounter was the first time that leaders of every sector of Quebec met with representatives of the Government of Israel on a broad-based summit agenda. Political, economic and cultural relations were covered by an important and compelling assembly of leaders. Four Israeli officials, including Aharon Yaar, Director of the North American Division of the Foreign Ministry of Israel and newly appointed Montreal Consul-General Marc Attali attended. We are proud that all sectors of Quebec were represented including business, labor, government, cultural groups, media and academe. Among the notable guests were Henri Massé, President of the FTQ, Guy Bouthillier of the Société St-Jean Baptiste, André Pratte of La Presse, Francis Bellido, President of the Société Generale de Finance (Santé), Nino Colavecchio, President of the Congress of Italo-Canadians, Jean E. Fortier, President of the Conseil des Relations internationales de Montréal, Danielle Laberge, Vice-Rector of UQAM and Ronald Denom, Senior Vice-President of SNC-Lavalin International. Other participants from the business community included Myriam Truchon, Director of Public Affairs and Environment of Hydro-Québec, Edith Ducharme of CDP Capital and Alain Bonneau of Montreal International.
Guy Bouthillier (SSJB), Alain Bonneau (Mtl.Intl.), André Pratte (La Presse), Francis Bellido (SGF), Henri Massé (FTQ), BPW
When we we were asked to organize this conference we were quite pleased to accept because for us at the Institute, the support of Israel, without implying a blanket endorsement of all its policies, represents the support of a democracy and that is as much a part of the progressive agenda as the other causes we have represented, defended and participated in such as the compensation fight for the Duplessis orphans with Jacques Hébert, the plight of refugees with Sœur Andrée Menard, the protection of the homeless with housing co-ops O.E.I.L. and ROMEL, and the opposition to bank mergers with the Community Coalition for Re-investment. The fight for social justice is global and we should never be so smug as to think is stops at our borders.
Francis Bellido, Consul-General Marc Attalli, Edward Brandone (FTQ), Alain Bonneau, Édith Ducharme (CDP Capital)
Les liens entre le peuple juif, l’Israël et le Québec sont longs et profonds. C’est ici que Louis-Joseph Papineau aida à mener le combat qui permis l’émancipation totale des juifs en 1832, et ce huit ans avant l’Angleterre. C’est ici que des leaders syndicaux québécois appuyés par des syndicalistes d’origine italienne et juive ont créé à travers les années 30, 40 et 50 l’état qui peut se vanter d’avoir, avec l’Italie et l’Israël, le plus important pourcentage de travailleurs syndiqués de l’Occident. Les premiers remous intellectuels visant à bâtir une société distincte se sont inspirés de ce qui se faisait de mieux au monde en matière gouvernementale, c’est ainsi que le « Guide des patriotes » de Marcel Chaput proposait plusieurs les institutions israéliennes comme exemples pour le Québec. Finalement, nous pouvons pas oublier que 20% de la population d’Israël ont le francais comme langue maternelle.
Les modèles québécois et israéliens d’intervention de l’état pour la justice sociale sont par mis les plus inclusifs et compatissants au monde. L’Israël fait aujourd’hui face à beaucoup des mêmes problèmes économiques et défis syndicaux que le Québec a si bien géré depuis les trente dernières années. Le Québec a une expertise économique unique à partager, notamment la création du Fonds Solidarité. Parallèlement, l’Israël est devenu un modèle mondial parmi les nations plus petites pour ses succès dans la mise en place d’une infrastructure technologique sans pareil, et le Québec peut bénéficier de cette expertise pour l’expansion des secteurs de biotechnologie, de pharmaceutiques et d’aviation.
There is a need for heightened understanding between the two societies, and we already have indications that this first meeting is leading to exciting new initiatives of co-operation in the political, economic and cultural arenas. 
We invite you to view the opening address of the Conference entitled "Why Israel?" at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=290&z=22
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laberge, Danielle"
To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca>
Cher Beryl,
J'ai été ravie par notre rencontre de lundi au club St-Denis.
Un grand mercide m'avoir invitée. Je serai ravie de
poursuivre la collaboration avec l'Institut .
Danielle Laberge
Vice-Rectrice à l'enseignement, à la recherche et à la création
UQAM
Institute Vice-Chairman Jack Dym, BPW and then Minister of State
for New and Emerging Markets the Hon.Gar Knutson
at the Institute's 2nd Policy Conference.
Letter of thanks from Minister Knutson. His closing line was particularly encouraging.
With then Justice Minister and Quebec Political Minister The Hon. Martin Cauchon (3rd from left).
Jean-Paul Ruszkowski (at head of table), diplomat,
political Chief of Staff and one of Ottawa's
most dedicated and able men of public affairs
briefing members of our board and special guests.
Helping Build A True Alliance for Progress
Trinity Church
Montreal
Five years ago we helped AQ unblock some $300,000 in stalled federal funding. Stalled due to bureaucratic indifference. This past Saturday night we helped our friend Rev. Darryl Gray's efforts to take Alliance Quebec toward a new direction and away from a different kind of indifference.To guide its members in daring to care not just about English rights but about the whole community. The full rainbow coalition. All Quebecers. Of all languages, of all races, of all creeds.
For that is what Alliance Quebec must be about in the final analysis. It must be about equity and just consideration for all who celebrate freedom and equality. A meeting place for all of conscience and character who want to build that glorious city on the hill together.
If the Alliance is to have any meaning, and any future. it must be more than an Alliance of shriveled spirits and hostile hearts seeking to restore a comfortable past that, in fact, never existed. It must be an Alliance that looks forward. An “Allianza para el progresso” as President John F. Kennedy dreamed of. An alliance that demands “hasta la victoria siempre” may the victory come quickly. And that victory is the triumph of unity and community. For only in that spirit can we, as Canadians, ever vindicate the possibilities of our own capacities. ~ BPW
To view the text of
please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=404&z=22
Some Press Coverage Excerpts of the Speech
AQ STARTS EMERGENCY FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
Martin C. Barry
With almost nowhere left to go but up, Alliance Quebec is calling upon its supporters and the rest of Montreal’s English-speaking community to come to the rescue. Speaking at an emergency AQ fundraiser at Trinity Memorial Church in NDG last Saturday evening, AQ president Darryl Gray referred to the budget Heritage Canada now allots the group annually, compared to the $1.2 million received at one time, as “… almost impossible for us to work with…”.
“If this Alliance is to have any meaning, and any future, it must be more than an alliance of shriveled spirits and hostile hearts seeking to restore a comfortable past that, in fact, never existed,” he added, “It must be an alliance that looks forward.”
-30-
ULTIMATE TEST
Is Quebec's English community concerned enough about language rights to fund the organization founded to protect them? Alliance Quebec's future depends on the answer.
Speaking at last Saturday's AQ fundraiser at a West-End church hall, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal president
"...Alliance Quebec must be about...equity and just consideration for all Quebecers who celebrate freedom...But it's not going to happen just by complaining about government handouts. If we can spend $100 on hockey tickets, then we can spend the same amount for our own political self-respect. It's too bad that money matters, but that's the reality. We didn't set the rules, but we can win by them. Because though they may have the big money, we have the people. And imagine if just 3,000 pledged this $100, the state would have no suasion and that is what it's all about."
We agree. The time has come for AQ to throw off its federal funding leash, to live or die on its own. But here's our observation: if AQ dies for lack of Anglo interest, English-speaking Quebec can hardly complain about its rights being violated.
Jim Duff
Attacking the Housing Crisis
A Plan for up to 2000 Social Housing Units in Cote-des-Neiges and Hochelaga-Maissoneuve
The Institute has convinced private investors and union funds to finance the plans and infrastructure work that could lead to the construction of some 1250 social and affordable housing units in each of Cote des Neiges and Hochelaga-Maissoneuve to be called Habitations Louis-Laberge I and Habitations Louis-Laberge II. There should also be a significant governmental participation from both the Municipal and Provincial levels. We are proud to report that this is the first time that there has been such a broad agreement on a building project of social worth where all the investing parties have agreed to take minimal returns for the use of their money. This could be the biggest non-transport infrastructure project in Montreal in many years, and the only project to attack the problem of affordable housing on such a scale anywhere in the country.
National Social Housing Initiative
PCHA
June 8, 2005
Beryl,
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule last evening to discuss the matters of the National Housing Initiative of PCHA Canada
I am willing to personally vouch for your appointment to the Board as Chairman. We are committed to creating Canada
I am truly passionate about our commitment and I am also compassionate about the manner in which it operates and with whom. You are a savvy leader whose devotion and commitment to excellence is clear. The ideal board I have envisioned would be filled with a broad spectrum of cultural and community proportionately representative of every region of the country. I would hope that your next comments and suggestions would include your interest and position in regards to proceeding to the next step.
Again, thank you for your time and I look forward to your acceptance shortly.
Regards,
Richard E. Bingley
CEO
PCHA
Fighting Racism
We have led public outcries against racism whether based on cultural origin as in the Colavecchio affair...
...or on race and religion as in the Schecter case at UQAM.
Montreal Professor Subjected to Anti-Semitism On Campus
by Mike Cohen
February 13, 2003 — 11 Adar, 5763
MONTREAL — Administrators from the Université de Quebec a Montreal have ordered an immediate disciplinary hearing for several dozen students who prevented a Jewish professor from entering his classroom. Prof. Stephen Schecter, a former chairman of sociology who has been teaching at UQAM for more than 25 years, was blocked in mid-January from entering a classroom by students demonstrating against UQAM policies of resource rationalization. Ordinarily this would not occasion unusual comment. However, quite unexpectedly, the students started chanting “Israel assassin, Schecter complice.”
In light of recent events at universities, including the rioting at Concordia on September 9 which cancelled a planned speech by former Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the attempt in Toronto to stifle a talk by Professor Daniel Pipes, arguably the world’s leading authority on radical Islam and a consultant to Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, observers found this latest event quite troubling, quite sad and requires reflection and response.
“Ironically, the subject of the undergraduate course Professor Schecter was teaching was democracy,” says Beryl Wajsman, president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal. “Painfully, this event occurred in the same week that marked the 70th anniversary of the ascension to power of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.” Wajsman says his Institute does not want to draw parallels between the brutality and insanity of political Nazism and the current atmosphere of intolerance and exclusiveness.
To view the full text of this story please go to the following link to the Insight section of this website:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=482&z=12
copyright - Jewish Tribune - 2003
Beryl,
I think that the Institute is doing a job that nobody else is doing in Québec.
Whatever help you may ever need you may count on me.
Alain Jean-Bart
From: Kathleen Weil
To: Institute for Public Affairs
Subject: RE: Institute-National Post
Hi Beryl
Congratulations to you for this amazing and successful initiative
on the Food Bank crisis as well as your article on the Colavecchio affair.
Kathleen Weil
Executive Director
Foundation for Greater Montreal
Promoting Multiculturalism
Interview with Global's Georges Saad at
Multicultural Conference.
To see the full clip please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/articlefiles/global.wmv
A Pride of Scholars
-----Original Message-----
From:
To: bpwajsmann@iapm.ca; james wright
Subject: invitation
Hi Beryl,
I am writing to follow up on my invitation to have you come and speak to this year’s class of Sauvé Scholars. Jim Wright, our Director, will be co-coordinating the session. We are looking at February 15th if that is convenient for you. I have forwarded regularly many of your pieces to our Scholars in order to expose them to your insights and positions on issues relevant to all. The evening will take place at Sauvé Hall on Dr. Penfield.
Cheers,
President
Sauvé Scholars
In Conversation with Shivangini Arora
BPW being interviewed by Shivangini Arora (r.)
The evening with the Sauvé Scholars was remarkable and invigorating. It is a program of great importance bringing together future leaders from over a dozen countries each year. Jean-François Sauvé,
Prior to the evening, Shivangini Arora, an Indian journalist and one of the scholars in residence, paid us a visit at our offices. The interview for her show can be viewed at the link below.
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/articlefiles/InConversation.mpg
-----Original Message-----
From:
To: Institute for Public Affairs
Subject: Re: Many thanks for your talk
Beryl, there seems to be consensus that it was the best evening for the scholars since they came to
President
Dangerous Times
We have received our share of threats including this hacking of our website by a group of radical Arab students.
Inducted into the Order of Canada
“In the final analysis, on the battlefield of war or life, you don’t die for
your God or your Queen or even your country.
You die for your friends.”
~ Maj.-Gen. Lewis W. MacKenzie
Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie’s induction as a Member of the Order of Canada should fill all Canadians with pride, and more importantly, with hope. I say this not just because Lew MacKenzie is a friend and trusted advisor. But because this nation, after so many years mired in moral equivalency, has too few voices of courage, honor and authenticity. Lewis MacKenzie does not run between the raindrops. He dares to care. And unlike so many in public life, he can tell right from wrong. Until Prime Minister Harper’s election and the brave new direction he set for
To read more about this extraordinary Canadian please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=526&z=8
The Quebec "Reasonable Accomodation" Debate
Quebec
A matter of prejudice
Quebec
Quebec
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Sunday, February 4, 2007
« Mais le plus pathetique dans toute cette saga, c'est ce besoin visceral de nos leaders nationalistes d'obtenir la reconnaissance des autres provinces. Leur besoin est si intense qu'ils se sont abaisses a quemander cette reconnaissance a Ottawa. Or, le veritable respect ne s'obtient pas à force de mendier, il se merite! »
~ Nathalie Elgrably
"A prejudice that makes Quebec incapable of putting into place what should really characterize a progressive civil society in Canada
~ "A Matter of Prejudice"
For the complete text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=524&z=8
"THE WORLD TONIGHT"
THE QUEBEC
http://www.iapm.ca/media/chqr20070205.mp3
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=526&z=8
The Quebec "Reasonable Accomodation" Debate
A matter of prejudice
Quebec
Quebec
by
Sunday, February 4, 2007
~ Nathalie Elgrably
"A prejudice that makes
~ "A Matter of Prejudice"
For the complete text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=524&z=8
Fighting Suffocating Bureaucracy
To read the full text of
"A Nation Under Suspicion - Time to Stop the Tyranny of the Mindless"
please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=495&z=22
Canada Free Press
Boycotting Israel, Palestinians
The C.U.P.E. boycott of Israel:
Echoes of darker evils
by Beryl Wajsman, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
"We cannot expect anti-Semitism to disappear - Jewish existence and Jewish philosophy will always be threatening. The trauma and insecurity, on the other hand, is within our power to diminish - should we decide to do so."
~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harvard, 1968
The next time labour leaders in Canada want to know why there is such antipathy to their agenda in many quarters, they need look no further than the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario Israel
It’s time to call a spade a spade. CUPE (Ont.)’s action is, at worst, a primordial example of a hypocrisy unmasked revealing the true face of anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and, at best, a knee-jerk Canadian antipathy to any American ally. An antipathy that at its heart is fuelled by a self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others self-belief.
To read the full paper please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=487&z=22
Boycotting Israel, Palestinians
The C.U.P.E. boycott of Israel:
Echoes of darker evils
by Beryl Wajsman, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
"We cannot expect anti-Semitism to disappear - Jewish existence and Jewish philosophy will always be threatening. The trauma and insecurity, on the other hand, is within our power to diminish - should we decide to do so."
~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harvard, 1968
The next time labour leaders in
It’s time to call a spade a spade. CUPE (Ont.)’s action is, at worst, a primordial example of a hypocrisy unmasked revealing the true face of anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and, at best, a knee-jerk Canadian antipathy to any American ally. An antipathy that at its heart is fuelled by a self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others self-belief.
To read the full paper please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=487&z=22
For the full text of this article please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=484&z=8
"Speaking the Unspeakable"
"Speaking the Unspeakable"
Invitation from the Swedish Ambassador to
participate in a Conference on genocide at
McGill University co-sponsored by the
Swedish Embassy and McGill
Online Extra
Henry Aubin's Saturday column about smoking and "the new hedonism" missed the point, argues Montreal
Online Extra
Henry Aubin's Saturday column about smoking and "the new hedonism" missed the point, argues
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/features/onlineextras/news/story.html?id=0f5546e0-6cee-4975-8816-c7eb05254400
The Freedom to Choose:
Always the Right Side of History
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
Montreal Gazette
Henry Aubin's exposition on French social critic Hervé Juvin's book L'avènement du corps (The Elevation of the Body), which argues that our ability to live longer has seen the birth of a hedonism of self-preservation replacing the hedonism of self-indulgence, fails on historical and ethical grounds.
Aubin argues that smoking rights advocates are on "the wrong side of history" because people today are prepared to do anything and submit to anything for the sake of longevity. His article implies that this trend is irreversible and that societal submission to state dictate on our behaviour is acceptable in order to accommodate this new wave of "sanctimonious puritanism" to paraphrase Aubin.
Aubin misses the point. The debate is not about libertines. The debate is about liberty.
The "right side" of history has always been, and will continue to be, that side that defends and expands individual freedoms. Among the most important of which is the freedom to choose. That freedom is one of the most telling barometers of any society's progress.
For the full text of this article please see
"The Freedom to Choose - Always The Right Side of History
at the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=483&z=22
State and Faith
Guarding Against the Low Limitation of
Narrow Narcissisms
The Freedom to Choose:
Always the Right Side of History
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
Montreal Gazette
Henry Aubin's exposition on French social critic Hervé Juvin's book L'avènement du corps (The Elevation of the Body), which argues that our ability to live longer has seen the birth of a hedonism of self-preservation replacing the hedonism of self-indulgence, fails on historical and ethical grounds.Aubin argues that smoking rights advocates are on "the wrong side of history" because people today are prepared to do anything and submit to anything for the sake of longevity. His article implies that this trend is irreversible and that societal submission to state dictate on our behaviour is acceptable in order to accommodate this new wave of "sanctimonious puritanism" to paraphrase Aubin.
Aubin misses the point. The debate is not about libertines. The debate is about liberty.
The "right side" of history has always been, and will continue to be, that side that defends and expands individual freedoms. Among the most important of which is the freedom to choose. That freedom is one of the most telling barometers of any society's progress.
"The Freedom to Choose - Always The Right Side of History
at the following link on this site:
State and Faith
Guarding Against the Low Limitation of
Narrow Narcissisms
BPW with CBC's Anna Asimakopulos on "All in a Weekend"
http://www.iapm.ca/media/stateandfaith.mp3
Canada Free Press
Religion, multiculturalism, Canada
State and Faith:
To guard against the low limitation
of narrow narcissisms
To guard against the low limitation
of narrow narcissisms
by Beryl Wajsman, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Thursday, March 30, 2006
"In 1995 the father of Canada’s multiculturalism policy,
Pierre Elliot Trudeau, commented that one of the policy’s failures
was that instead of making immigrants comfortable in celebrating their
diversity within the universality of the Canadian experience,
it led them to demand entitlements separating them from full
participation in, and allegiance to, the great triumphs of those universalities.”
To view this paper in full please go to one of the following links:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=481&z=22
Montreal, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, March 18th, 2006
THE NEW REALITIES OF
THE MIDDLE EAST
HOW NOT TO READ THE SIGNS
SPEAKERS
FORMER UNOPS’ ADVISOR COL. (ret.) PETER W. REYNOLDS
DR. DAVID ROMANO, Ph.D., EXPERT ON ARAB NATIONALISM
BPW speaking to the Conference
For a full report on the conference please go the following link on this site:
The following is an interview given by
CHQR's
The World Tonight
with
http://www.iapm.ca/media/reynoldschqr.mp3
To view a television interview with Col. Reynolds
please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/media/reynolds.wmv
Harper in Kandahar
Now We Have a Game
March 16, 2006
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=cfcd1793-0075-4ff3-8ad0-24ebd55a6d9e
The piece generated much commentary and a number of opinions, including ours, were published by the Post in a section entitled “Harper in
Canada and Kandahar
by
Beryl P. Wajsman, president
Institute for Public Affairs of
Andrew Coyne’s words ring profoundly in the swirl of debate about
To read this article in full please go to the following link to the Commentary section of this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=475&z=13
Bernard Shapiro, investigating Liberals and Conservatives
The Shapiro Affair:
A Commissioner worthy of contempt, or a culture beneath contempt?
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Monday, March 13, 2006
"The condition of all human ethics can be summed up in two sentences:
We ought to. But we don't."
~ Kurt Tucholsky, anti-Nazi German Philosopher
The audacity of Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro's plans to investigate Prime Minister Harper and International Trade Minister David Emerson is a display of blatant partisan hypocrisy by a public servant whose practices and purposes have been roundly condemned and whose own public proclamations have compromised the very integrity of his office. To make matters worse, for NDP leader Ed Broadbent, the "secular saint" of Canadian politics, to warn Mr. Harper that he may be in contempt of Parliament if he does not co-operate with Shapiro is eloquent testimony to the fact that this nation's problem lies not with a Prime Minister who is in contempt but with a political culture that is beneath contempt.
To read the complete text please go to one of the following links:
http://canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman031306.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=472&z=8
Patterson Palmer
Beryl P. Wajsman,
President,
Institute for Public Affairs of
Dear Mr. Wajsman,
For some months now, I have been on the mailing list of the Institute for Public Affairs of
In any event, I write to congratulate you upon the most interesting writings and views that you are expressing in your bulletin particularly with reference to the right of expressing whatever opinions one has undaunted by any actions of government or other authority.
Congratulations on the work you are doing. I would appreciate your keeping me on the mailing list.
The Honourable John C. Crosbie, P.C., O.C., Q.C.
Western Liberalism and Islamist Statism
To read this article in full please go to the following link:
http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=16165875299058365433805459223&ctid
=1000004&cnid=1006643
Government and Business in Quebec
The second fall of Quebec Inc.:
Time for an untranquil revolution
by
Monday, March 6, 2006
"Democracy, the way we are practicing it, seems to be just gestation for the tyranny of the mediocre.
~ Bertrand de Jouvenal
The economic and social construct known as Quebec Inc. is a structure of parallel pillars. Buttresses of centralized state control and intervention with four times the number of bureaucrats than the State of
To read the complete text please go to one of the following links:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman030606.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=471&z=8
Saint Mary’s University
Since 1802
From:
Sent: March 4, 2006 3:29 PM
To: Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Subject: Re: THE KIRPAN DECISION: THE SUPREMES FAIL AGAIN
Wonderful stuff. You take our breath away. I'm forwarding it to colleagues.
Prof.
St.Mary's University
Canadian Charter of Rights
The Kirpan Decision:
The Supremes fail again
by
Monday, March 6, 2006
“Freedom of religion has never implied, and should never imply, the elevation of any aspect of religious sacrament to the level of secular right. It is simply not appropriate for the state to validate, encourage or finance faith-based estates.
"State submission to special interests will do nothing more than heighten irrational feelings of superiority and strengthen unreasonable commitments to particularity. Rather than encouraging social peace, they will incite further irritation between religious and secular, straight and gay, as our legal system struggles to accommodate the inevitable explosions of legislation, regulation and exception.
“That every individual has a natural, moral, right to submit to canonical doctrine, undertake religious education or indulge in nonconformist lifestyles is not in question. But on no account should we allow their demands for material support, whether legal or financial, to prevail upon the patrimony of civil society by forcing that society to legitimize separateness and exclusivity in its public law. Catering to exclusive-and exclusivist-communities of interest is an aberration from, and an affront to, all that is best in our dynamic, and continuing, experiment in social democracy."
To read the complete article please go to one of the following links:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=470&z=8
http://canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman030606a.htm
The Nicholson Files
02/26/2006 08:35:13
The DTNicholsons say
Sundays at Noon. It will not be ordinary talk radio. With
940 AM
BPW on Free Speech and Holocaust Denial
With
The World Tonight
with
http://www.iapm.ca/media/chqr22022006.mp3
Canada
Holocaust Denial, Free Speech, Danish Cartoons
The David Irving Prosecution:
The Perils of divisible freedoms
Mirroring what we seek to destroy
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
"Freedom consists largely in the right to talk nonsense."
~Edgar Watson Howe, American novelist
"Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
~ George Orwell
"Freedom is the right to be wrong; not the right to do wrong."
~ Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
Freedom is indivisible. If we want to enjoy it we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they agree with us or not. This standard cannot be carried lightly, and the burden of it has fallen from many hands throughout history. Each generation must be vigilant that it not slip from its grip.
We are now in the midst of a grievous struggle against an implacable foe whose demands hearken back to the hegemony of the theocratic tyrannies of the Middle Ages. We have told these Islamist fanatics that we will not sacrifice our hard-won liberties and that we will protect at all costs the pluralism that defines our western way of life.
For the sake of the success of this world struggle for hearts and minds, as much as the justice of the cause, it is incumbent upon all free men and women to raise their voices whenever freedom's indivisibility is compromised. Particularly when it occurs in our own backyards; especially when the one compromised is egregiously distasteful; precisely when what we are defending is the right that such an individual has to be the sovereign of his own conscience regardless of the low estate to which it brings him. For this, more than anything, is the object lesson in the difference between liberty and tyranny.
To read the complete article please go to one of the following links:
http://canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman022206.htm
Volpe Officially Wants To Be Leader
Joe Volpe wants to be the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
No surprise, I guess, but now we know for sure. He made a call today to
a young liberal organizer (who prefers to remain in the background)
asking for his/her support. This is exactly how we found out about
the first guy to declare for LPC leadership, Beryl Wajsman .
So now we have three candidates.
Beryl Wajsman , Martha Hall Finlay, and Joe Volpe all want it. Wajsman
would be our first Jewish Prime Minister. Hall Finlay would be our first
woman Prime Minister to win an election and Volpe would be our first
Italian Prime Minister. Now to toot my own horn, this is
Leadership Hopeful #2 I've outed.
Stay tuned, there is a 3rd you'll hear about right here.
Canada
Canada
The Moslem Riots:
Why We Owe Them Nothing
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Thursday, February 9, 2006
"It is evident that we must protect freedom of expression."
~ Nicolas Sarkozy, French Interior Minister
"Islam is protected by an invisible blasphemy law. It is called fear."
~ Jasper Gerard, The Sunday Times, London
“In European countries, with a large or growing Moslem minority, there is a
real fear that behind the demand for respect hides another agenda: the threat that
everyone must adjust to the rules of Islam."
~ Dutch newspaper editorial from NRC Handelsblad
"I prefer mass caricature to mass censorship." With these words French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy boldly stated the case for western liberal pluralism over eastern theocratic tyranny. The current overkill of "outrage" by Moslems protesting the cartoons of Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper not only brings into stark relief the clash of civilizations we are engaged in, but also underlines the degree of lies and manipulations to which radical Moslem leaders will go in order to incite violence.
Immigrants, from whatever country or race or creed cannot descend on the industrialized west hoping to improve their economic conditions and at the same time demanding, in the case of Moslems, that the west abandon centuries of freedom for the statist faith their religious demands dictate. If they want financial benefits from our free economies, they must also respect the liberties of our free polities.
The lack of ability of many Moslems to acculturate and acclimatize to the west has less to do with the color of their skin than with the content of their character. Their radical leaders incite the broad base of the faithful to believe that freedom of religion implies state sanction of their parochial particularities and state surrender for redress to any perceived slight. This is their great failing. And this is their greatest threat to us.
To read the full text please go to one of the following links:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman020906.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=467&z=22
Canada Free Press
Liberal leadership race, Canada
Liberal renewal
A time to propose not merely oppose
Towards a return to radical Liberalism
A time to propose not merely oppose
Towards a return to radical Liberalism
by Beryl Wajsman, Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Friday, February 3, 2006
"I am a liberal of the British school. I am a disciple of Burke, Fox, Bright, Gladstone,
and of the other Little Englanders who made
what they are."
~Henri Bourassa
"Somehow liberals have been unable to acquire from life what conservatives seem
to be endowed with at birth: namely, a healthy skepticism of the powers of
government agencies to do good."
~ Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Now that all these factors have been rendered meaningless by the regional breadth, if not the depth, of the most dramatic electoral shift in a generation, they are left rudderless. They simply don't know what brought them here in the first place. Power had always trumped principles. That was the raison d'être of the Natural Governing Party. Be all things to all people at all times at all costs. Just get the votes. With apologies to Karl Marx, that is not the small-l "liberal dialectic". It is time for all good Liberals to go to re-education schools and understand what being liberal really means.
To view this article in full please go to one of the following links:
http://canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman020306.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=480&z=8
INSTITUTE ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER
Dr. ANDRÉ DASCAL
HELPS CRACK C.DIFFICILE GENETIC CODE
Scientists map C. difficile strain
Important step in diagnosing and treating disease
Dr. Andre Dascal says the discovery of C. difficile's genetic code
"will provide scientists with the basic information needed to understand
why this strain is more virulent."
Photograph by : Pierre Obendrauf, CanWest News Service
Aaron Derfel
CanWest News Service
Montreal - Scientists at Montreal's McGill University have cracked the genetic code of a highly lethal strain of the C. difficile superbug that has claimed the lives of as many as 2,000 Quebecers since January, 2004. The sequencing of the entire genome of the Clostridium difficile bacterium should pave the way for a quick genetic test to diagnose those infected with the microbe, researchers said yesterday. The information could also lead to potentially new treatments for C. difficile-associated diarrhea.
"Just as knowing the letters of the alphabet underlies the ability to read and write, this discovery will provide scientists with the basic information needed to understand why this strain is more virulent," said Andre Dascal, associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at McGill. The Quebec Washington University in St. Louis Quebec
To read this article in full please go to the following link in the Profiles section of this website:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=144&z=14
© National Post
BPW with CORUS’ NEW 940 MONTREAL’S APHRODITE SALAS
ON GOMERY'S SECOND REPORT
To hear the full interview please click on the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/media/asalas2.mp3
Not in Gomery? It doesn't exist
By Beryl P. Wajsman and Jim Duff
On Monday, deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay incurred the wrath of the Liberal boo-birds when he brought up the $8,000 in sponsorship cash that supposedly went toward the election expenses of former Canadian Heritage Minister Hélene Scherrer.
Scherrer, named Paul Martin’s principal secretary after she was defeated in her Quebec City riding, snapped back with what will become the rote Liberal response: She never received money from anyone during any of her campaigns, “and Gomery doesn’t talk about it either in his report.”
There’s the new Liberal mantra: If it’s not in Gomery, it’s not a legitimate election issue. There’s a lot that should be in Gomery that isn’t.
To read the full text please go to one of the following links:
www.westerstandard.ca
www.thesuburban.com
TEAM EMS PRESIDENT HAL NEWMAN
RECEIVES MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr.
LEGACY AWARD
Hal Newman, with his daughter Sophie, holding the MLK Legacy Award
We are proud to report that Team EMS President Hal Newman, a member of the Institute’s Advisory Council, was one of the recent recipients of a Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Award. The Awards were announced at a breakfast in the Salle d’Honneur at Montreal City Hall
Hal was recognized for his remarkable efforts in organizing para-medic relief efforts to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. His work wasn’t just about talking the talk. He walked the walk, going into some of the worst affected areas in Mississippi and Alabama
Responding to his request for moral and material assistance, the Institute worked closely with Hal and his team in breaking through bureaucratic barriers in Canada and the U.S.
As an organization we pride ourselves on our advocacy work that helps empower so many. But sometimes it’s not about the many, it’s about the one. Hal Newman is living testimony of the power of one.
Beryl P. Wajsman
President
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
www.iapm.ca
To learn more about Hal’s work please read:
New Orleans
at the following link on the Institute’s website:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=447&z=22
Bowie's call
My take on government in Canada
24 January 2006
Jim Bowie in Ottawa
The Prime Minister After Next
I predict the following names will appear on the first ballot at the
leadership convention for the Liberal Party of Canada
1. Beryl Wajsman
2. Belinda Stronach
3. Scott Brison
4. Philippe Couillard
5. John Manley
6. Maurizio Bevilacqua
7. Frank McKenna
8. Martin Cauchon
9. Denis Coderre
10. Ujjal Dosanjh
11. Mark Garneau
12. Michael "Iggy" Ignatieff.
Of course, we don't know when this convention will be, and news will arrive between now and then. I just
wanted to be the first, you know? Further, I predict that some totally unknown people will run. Good, I say.
BPW with CORUS’ NEW 940 MONTREAL’S APHRODITE SALAS
ON LIBERAL LEADERSHIP BID
To hear the full interview please click on the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/media/asalas.mp3
Canada Free Press Cover Story
Hamas
The Holocaust Day Election
by Beryl Wajsman , Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Saturday, January 28, 2006
"Only those can afford peace who can no longer afford war."
~ Friedrich Duerenmatt
And so it continues. After a century marked by orgies of blood orchestrated by thugs and tyrants who were appeased and pandered to, the eve of the United Nations first Holocaust Commemoration Day saw the election of another gang of murderers. The irony could not be more striking. The heartache could not be more piercing.
Henry Kissinger once said that Arafat and the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Well, Arafat's gone, but the Palestinian people missed another one. Months away from de jure statehood and Israeli withdrawal they elected a government sworn to the destruction of Israel
To read the full text please go to one of the following links:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/wajsman012806.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=466&z=8
Beryl Wajsman rêve de succéder à Paul Martin
Antoine Robitaille
jeudi 26 janvier 2006
Beryl Wajsman , président de l’Institut des affaires publiques de Montréal, songe à se lancer dans la course à la chefferie du Parti libéral du Canada (PLC). «J'ai mis sur pied un comité exploratoire chargé d'étudier ma candidature», a-t-il confié au Devoir hier.M. Wajsman, un activiste sociale, souhaite un financement populaire pour sa campagne : «Pas d'avion, juste un grand voyage en chemin de fer [sic] de Québec à Windsor pour amasser les fonds et l’appui au niveau de la rue, par petits dons des gens ordinaires. Je vais leur montrer que je survis au salissage, que j'ai réalisé le "Canadian dream". Immigrant, j'ai réussi.» Aussi, s'il se présente, il compte défendre un «libéralisme de justice sociale».
Croit-il pouvoir l'emporter ? «Ma victoire sera de pouvoir m'adresser au public canadien. Je veux faire un grand discours.» Selon son interprétation, la prochaine course à la direction du PLC sera la seule «vraie course ouverte depuis 1968» dans cette formation politique. Depuis 1968, on n'a assisté qu'à des couronnements ou à des luttes à deux «intéressantes». Mais cette fois, fait valoir M. Wajsman, le jeu est vraiment ouvert, «comme lorsque J. J. Green a lancé un mouvement d'appui pour Trudeau» en donnant à ce dernier ses 77 délégués. Et lui, Wajsman, à qui pourrait-il servir de «J. J. Green», éventuellement ? Pour l'instant, confie-t-il, ce serait Martin Cauchon , qu'il dit «beaucoup respecter», ou Brian Tobin.
M. Wajsman, un activiste sociale, souhaite un financement populaire pour sa campagne : «Pas d'avion, juste un grand voyage en chemin de fer [sic] de Québec à Windsor pour amasser les fonds et l’appui au niveau de la rue, par petits dons des gens ordinaires. Je vais leur montrer que je survis au salissage, que j'ai réalisé le "Canadian dream". Immigrant, j'ai réussi.» Aussi, s'il se présente, il compte défendre un «libéralisme de justice sociale».
Croit-il pouvoir l'emporter ? «Ma victoire sera de pouvoir m'adresser au public canadien. Je veux faire un grand discours.» Selon son interprétation, la prochaine course à la direction du PLC sera la seule «vraie course ouverte depuis 1968» dans cette formation politique. Depuis 1968, on n'a assisté qu'à des couronnements ou à des luttes à deux «intéressantes». Mais cette fois, fait valoir M. Wajsman, le jeu est vraiment ouvert, «comme lorsque J. J. Green a lancé un mouvement d'appui pour Trudeau» en donnant à ce dernier ses 77 délégués. Et lui, Wajsman, à qui pourrait-il servir de «J. J. Green», éventuellement ? Pour l'instant, confie-t-il, ce serait Martin Cauchon , qu'il dit «beaucoup respecter», ou Brian Tobin.
PREMIER TRIO PONDERS LIFE AS TOP GRIT
By CP January 27, 2006
Ottawa Nova Scotia
Of the three, Rae is the longest shot, since the former New Democrat premier of Ontario New Brunswick
Meanwhile, the Liberal party got a bit of a surprise yesterday when Beryl Wajsman , a former Liberal fundraiser and president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
Why Harper Won
A Victory of Character over Connivance
To view the full text of this article by Beryl Wajsman and Jim Duff please go to the following link:
http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=21154047501133590859204406738&ctid
=1000004&cnid=1006451
To read the full paper by BPW on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=465&z=8
BPW Interview with
CORUS Network's Charles Adler
Decision Canada
A Flock of Sheep or a Pride of Lions?
http://www.iapm.ca/media/adler16012006.mp3
To view the paper that was the subject of this interview please go to the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=463&z=8
Days of Drums
Times of Treason
Days of drums, times of treason
by
Monday, November 11, 2005
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
~ Edmund Burke
“Valour and Cowardice” by Alfred Stevens
On this day of remembrance, as we pay tribute to the ultimate sacrifice for freedom paid by so many, one would be culpable of the grossest ingratitude to remain mute in the face of the retrograde justice policies of this supposedly Liberal administration. We must keep faith with those who lie "...row on row where poppies grow..." and never allow their proud legacy symbolized in these days of drums to be forgotten through times of treason.
For the full text of this article please go to one of the following links:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman111405.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=455&z=22
The Temper of Our Time
A World Turned Upside Down
Iranian terrorist president Ahmadinjed:
"World without
MIM:
This new escalation of the nuclear threat coming on the heels of third term for Mohammed El Baradei, the Muslim head of the world wide nuclear monitoring organization The International Atomic Energy Agency, should also serve as an indication that entrusting the safety of the world to a practicing Muslim who served in the Egyptian government under Nasser, (who also shared Ahmanijed's ambitions and launched a failed war of annihilation against Israel), is a case of the fox who is guarding the henhouse holding open the door inviting the others in for a free meal. Instead of demanding Iran halt their nuclear program, the UN has been pushing Israel to give up their nuclear weapons deterrent.
In an article entitled "A World Turned Upside Down" Beryl Wajsman of the Institute of Public Affairs of Montreal recently wrote :
"... Mohammed El-Baradei has some interesting baggage of his own. He has for years played a critical role in undermining any censure of Iran saying that as long as Israel has nuclear capabilities, it would be " He has actually been quoted as saying that "the jury is still out on whether the Mullahs want the bomb." This was at the same time that Mohammed Ghannadi, second in charge of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told the Tehran Times in October of last year that the Isfahan uranium conversion facility "... is 70 percent operational right now..."
To view the article please go to one of the following links below:
Society
The temper of our time:
A world turned upside down
IAEA’s Mohammed El-Baradei with Imam Hasan Rowhani
of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council
by
Thursday, October 13, 2005
“In light of all this, the title of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard commencement address resonates hauntingly today. “What is the joy about?” he challenged. He admonished us that, “…the most striking feature in the West today is the decline in courage. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party and of course in the United Nations. Political and intellectual functionaries proudly exhibit self-serving rationales as to how realistic, reasonable and even morally justifiable it is to base policies on weakness and cowardice…”
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman101305.htm
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=478&z=8
Talk, Beryl! Talk!
November 1, 2005
This corner offers no value judgement about the contributions
A Take on BPW’s Leadership
My take on government in
5 November 2005
Jim Bowie in
With CBC Newsworld's Kathleen Petty on
BPW Leadership Bid
http://www.iapm.ca/media/video02112005.wmv
For a fuller view on this please see:
"A Time To Strive and Not to Yield:
BPW in the Media on Liberals,Lapierre and Leadership"
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=454&z=22
On "The House" with Anthony Germain
http://www.iapm.ca/media/cbcradioone12112005.mp3
BPW with CHQR's
On Paul Martin: The Politics of Canada’s Nixon
Breakenridge BPW
http://www.iapm.ca/media/770chqr01112005.mp3
To read more on this please see:
“A Political Mugging :
The Politics of
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=453&z=22
BPW and
To view this article in full please go to the following link:
http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=19056071401054248176236879255&ctid
=1000004&cnid=1005758
Liberals, Gomery, AdScam
A TOP TEN LIST OF GOMERY HYPOCRISY
by
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
"The practice of hypocrisy is not merely indispensable to government,
but is capable of being sustained without much difficulty for as long
as may be required."
~ Niccolo Machiavelli
"A government is an organized hypocrisy."
~ Benjamin Disraeli
In the last of the closing legal arguments at the Gomery Inquiry, Sylvain Lussier, private Counsel to the Attorney-General of
He went on to say that the political side of the Minister's operation was not at fault, and pointed the blame squarely at the bureaucrats including Chuck Guité. Even then he soft-pedaled his accusations by admitting that there were really no clear regulations for anyone to follow and much of the fault lay with the system itself. He encouraged the Commissioner to concentrate on making recommendations for improved regulatory oversight a touchstone of his report.
You may not read much of this in many of your daily newspapers whose reporters treasure their pre-conceived notions and ethnic caricatures like so many precious jewels. Add to that their lemming-like readiness to be co-opted by the current leaders of the Natural Governing Party, and you have a tailor-made recipe for the bodyguard of lies that has been characteristic of media coverage of the Gomery Inquiry. But I urge all of you to go to the Gomery website and read this eye-opening transcript and the full report that now follows.
To read the rest of this article please go to one of the following links:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman110205.htm
Two-Tiered Justice and Scared Liberals
On justice Gomery’s exoneration of Paul Martin: Gomery has created a two-tiered justice system. Paul Martin said he knew nothing, so judge Gomery takes his word for it even though there was substantial evidence that his office went to the Liberal ad fund for financing of pet projects. (Names and dates.) For the rest of us, ignorance of the law or what is being done for you is not an excuse.
On the expulsion: A government that does nothing and has no vision needs lots of enemies to survive. Enemies that it can frighten the public with. (Here he compares the Liberal administration strategy to the tactics of the embattled Nixon administration.)
This is my kind of Liberal.
A More Perfect Dominion
Time for the
Cloutier BPW
BPW interview with CORUS NEWS Richard Cloutier on the irrelevance
of the Governor-General and the need for a
Just click on the link below to hear the interview.
http://www.iapm.ca/media/thecanadianrepublicCorusNews.mp3
To read the full paper on “A More Perfect Dominion”
please click on the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=452&z=8
WIESENTHAL
A Tribute to Courage
To read the full article please see:
Wiesenthal: “And the Sun Stood Still at Mid-day”
at the following link
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=451&z=8
Canada's Liberals
Ottawa
The compromise of individual imperative
by
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
"... there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." ~ James Madison
When most of us came to political maturity we were stirred by the possibilities of hope. The hope that we could all become part of what Robert Kennedy called the "...centres of energy and daring..." that would send forth "...ripples of hope..." that in common cause would become currents sweeping down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. We understood, viscerally, what Martin Luther King Jr. called "...the fierce urgency of now...” Rarely in our history have energy and daring been so vitally needed as now.
At an Institute conference a Member of Parliament once characterized
Next month the Martin government will bring forward legislation allowing for the monitoring of e-mail and internet communications. The bill would force providers of internet and telephone services to duplicate records of their clients' activities and require, on simple request, that the information be passed on to police authorities. The proposal demands that network capacity be constructed to allow for tapping of some 8,000 individuals at any one time. Federal Privacy Commissioner
To read the rest of this article please go to one of the following links:
Attacking the New Prohibitionists
"Big Brother" est allé trop loin
Canada’s leading constitutional and civil liberties attorney, Me. Julius Grey, has launched a court challenge to another piece of nanny-state fluff,
Le Devoir’s
CAGE has stated that “…when it comes to developing a proper focus for government policy abroad and at home, and motivating ordinary Canadians to be informed and empowered, few can match the energy of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal. “
For a fuller review of this issue please read "
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=450&z=22
-----Original Message-----
From: Montefiore Club
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:47:02
Beryl, I checked out your website and your articles are very interesting. I enjoyed your writing. One of my many tasks at the Montefiore Club is organizing events. Perhaps we could discuss a future 'political' event with your participation. A political panel could be interesting. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Chantal Clabrough
Membership Services Manager
Guest Column
Sharia Justice:
Sowing a whirlwind of exclusiveness
by
September 11, 2005
The saddest aspect of the current Sharia family tribunal debate in
Along with the supremacy of the people's suffrage; the sovereignty of the liberty of the individual over any corporate or collective demands of the state and the independence of the judiciary, the separation of church and state is one of the pillars of liberal democracy. As James Madison put it over 200 years ago, "The civil administration shall take no cognizance of religion." Freedom of religion has never implied, and should never imply, the elevation of any aspect of religious sacrament to the level of secular right. It is not appropriate for the state to validate, encourage or finance faith-based estates.
That opening will sow a whirlwind of exclusiveness and intolerance that will compromise the very consequence of this nation's constitutional framework. All citizens have a right to the protection of equal and equitable consideration under one set of laws of universal application that reflect our common humanity. Nothing more, nothing less. Any prejudice to this principle in order to appeal to special interests will make the evocation of our noblest aspirations to tolerance and inclusion objects of dangerous derision. Instead of celebrating the great circumstance of our human commonalities--which should be the goal of a multicultural society--we will be imprisoned by the low limitation of narrow narcissisms.
To read the rest of this article please go to one of the following links:
http://canadafreepress.com/2005/wajsman091105.htm
§
Please read "The Hijacking of Legacy:Irrational Theocracy,
Irresponsible Theology" at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=449&z=8
We were honoured to be invited to the
Democracy Overcoming Despair
"As a man, I undertake to face the possibility of annihilation in order
that two or three truths may cast their eternal
brilliance over the world.”
- Frantz Fanon
One of the finest public servants that it has been our privilege to know is
During his time with Minister Knutson we worked together on two conferences the Institute organized in
BPW with
Two years ago Peter went to
Peter recently reported that all of the centers are operating at full steam. The centers are training some 1200 people a week. This pace is expected to continue until the second week of August. At that point the NDI personnel switch to training candidate agents (poll-watchers) for approximately three weeks. The NDI is responsible for getting 55,000 (you read it right, it’s not a typo) through a half-day course.
We are sending out this brief summary to salute Peter and the courageous work he does. It underlines that in spite of the cynicism of many in the western media about what is happening in that part of the world, people like
A Policy Against Terror
Please read the full paper, "To Vanquish the Venom"
at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=444&z=8
The Canadian Club
-----Original Message-----
From:
To: bpwajsmann@iapm.ca
Subject: Canadian Club of
Dear Mr. Wajsman,
My name is
We are currently putting together our 2005/2006 calendar and we would love to add your name to it.
Sincerly,
Attacking Anti-Semitism
In response to the outrageous racism of Canadian Islamic Congress President Mohammed Elmasry and Vancouver Imam Sheikh Younid Kathrada, we asked that the Federal government launch an investigation under the incitement provisions in Sec.319 of the Criminal Code.
Besides the brief and articles, we went on the air with
From: Rob Breakenridge
To: Institute for Public Affairs
Beryl, I thought it went great. Thanks again for your time.
Rob
For a fuller examination of this issue please see "Dangerous Inmates: Elmasry, Kathrada and the Plague of Illegitimate Orthodoxy"
at the following link on our website
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=358&z=22
To hear the full interview please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/media/281-CHQR_October_25_2004.mp3
Justice and Jobs
Opposing
Business leaders always like to draw a connection between free markets and free societies. Where is the inherent protection of either when dealing with a Communist dictatorship? Noranda’s President said that he is attempting to “…crystallize value for shareholders…” Well, the main shareholder happens to be Brascan and they are doing quite well thank you. We would prefer to see political and corporate leaders as concerned about catalyzing conscience.
In this very dangerous world nations do not have the luxury of acting without restraint of consequence. When posturing replaces purpose and platitudes trump principle people get hurt. At home and abroad. Millions of them. And guilt will be assigned. It will be laid at the feet of those nations whose governments were so devoid of moral compass they could no longer tell right from wrong.
That moral compass was clearly defined a generation ago by a man who laid down his life for it. When we see wrongs we must try to right them. When we see suffering we must try to heal it. When we see injustice we must try to stop it. It’s all about looking out for the other guy. A pledge to engage in common cause with all those whose struggles are reflective of mankind’s transcendent yearning for redemptive change.
For a full version of "A Catalyst for Conscience", the paper we sent to
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=348&z=22
The Nicholson Files
The Noranda acquisition has caught the attention of our favourite polemicist, Beryl Wajsman, who, in his most recent commentary, states: Business leaders always like to draw a connection between free markets and free societies. Where is the inherent protection of either when dealing with a Communist dictatorship? Noranda’s President said that he is attempting to “…crystallize value for shareholders…” Well, the main shareholder happens to be Brascan and they are doing quite well thank you. We would prefer to see political and corporate leaders as concerned about catalyzing conscience.
For Civility of Commerce
Wal-Mart's Race to the Bottom
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
Sam Walton and the businesses he created have been hailed as dynamic and revolutionary corporate models that established new paradigms for business to follow. In fact, the Wal-Mart formula is as old as the Pharaohs and as jaded as the worst excesses of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. The closure by Wal-Mart of its Jonquière store in the midst of negotiations for a collective agreement is simply the latest in a long history of cynical and destructive machinations that this colossus has imposed on suppliers and workers alike.
The policies of this company have single-handedly been responsible for more North American jobs lost to China, and the other slave labor markets of the East, than any other single entity. It’s trade with China alone is greater than Britain and Russia. This company, that in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone bringing it to nearly 15% of all Chinese exports to the United States.
Yet for all this the average Wal-Mart employee earns $13,860 a year. Five thousand dollars below the Federally established poverty level for a single individual. Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has reported that the company has been fined $500,000 after pleading guilty to 25 charges of failing to notify the WSIB of injuries to its employees. And in California Wal-Mart is facing charges that it forced as many as 200,000 employees to work without meal or rest breaks.
~ Mr. Wajsman is founder and president of the Institute for Public Affairs of
© National Post 2005
For a fuller examination of this issue please read "Wal-Mart: A Pharoah Who Knew Not Joseph"
at the following link on this ste:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=388&z=22
Helping Save Emergency Medical Services
Beryl, I knew you had the power to energize this fight... To save a life -- to attempt to save a life as an
Hal Newman, President
Between Martin and Gomery
BPW interview with
"The National" on Leadership
BPW on CBC's “The National” speaking with
What has led to the current crisis in this country can be summed up in three words: abrogation, abdication and abnegation. And it is a process that has perniciously advanced over the past twenty years.
The greed decade of the eighties during which the Mulroney administration ruled, was characterized by an almost total abrogation of the public trust. Some half dozen Ministers had to resign for questionable dealings. It is evidence of the feckless mindset of the Canadian political culture that no one is affronted by the fact that Mulroney's Chief of Staff during that sorry period is now the Chief Counsel to the Gomery Commission masterfully exhibiting a magisterial projection of false piety. The Chrétien administration that followed, engaged in abdication of Parliamentary responsibility by shuffling off important matters of state to bureaucrats, Courts and law-enforcement agencies answerable to no in order to avoid taking hard decisions. Micro-management at its most dangerous.
The sovereignty of the people's suffrage over the state was so compromised by these policies that we hardly noticed the brutal use of instruments of state power that almost destroyed Francois Beaudoin who insisted on maintaing his integrity in the Auberge Grande-Mere affair. It is offensive that the public morality of our commonweal has sunk so low that there has been no objection raised to the fact that Beaudoin's lawyer, knowing better than most the corrosive power of the state, is now representing the Liberal party attempting to reverse its own deflowering.
Finally, in the past few years, we have witnessed the self-abnegation of Canadians in their own consequence. This nation has been characterized by a self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others’ self belief. They have sold their souls for government handouts and have been rendered impotent by fidelity to the false security of the demands of statocratic consensus.
By the late nineties the stage had been set for what the philosopher Becarria called the triumph of the mindless and the tyranny of the mediocre. But, as Joseph Heller titles so well, "Something Happened”.
What happened was the near disaster of the 1995 referendum. This Prime Minister knows full well that
None of the leaders much cared how it was done as long as the voters could be satisfied. Besides, the specific tactics were unimportant. The overall strategy and structure had already been in place since Mulroney’s time with tens of millions of discretionary dollars allocated for Canadian unity initiatives with little or no reporting obligations.
All the Liberal leaders were very happy in the 2000 elections when federalists won
And there lay the problem. Politics had stopped being a vocation entered into because you felt a visceral desire to serve the public good. It became just politics. Just business. Politicians saw suffering and did not relieve it. Saw wrongs and did not right them. Saw injustice and did not cure it. Instead
A great party of power and principle was reduced to a sandbox of petty infighting between rival gangs. All for the sake of the brass ring. No matter how many lies were told. Well this did not fully meet its duty and all sides in the Liberal Party will soon have to pay the piper.
The Chretienites were carrying out the sponsorship initiative with electoral success, but with egregiously sloppy controls and shady deals. The Martinites were busy premeditatedly compromising the public trust stealthily funneling contracts to their friends and firms. Both are responsible for turning the business of government into an arena for intra-mural rivalries. An arena where one wing of the party usurped the rule of law and enforced McCarthyite guilt by association in order to deflect from their own questionable practices.
It is time for new leadership in this new millennium. A leadership that does not merely oppose any man, but proposes new policies. Policies that restore
Though the Liberal Party may, to a great extent, be discredited, there are many of us who still value liberalism. A liberalism that celebrates the sovereignty of each individual’s rights over any corporate or collectivist interests in a state. A liberalism of inclusion not exception. A liberalism of expanded opportunity, not low limitation. A liberalism based on the equity of just consideration, not the inequality of narrow circumstance. A liberalism that is the shield of the vulnerable and the staff of the unempowered. A liberalism whose leaders do not exercise power merely as a two-edged sword of craft and oppression.
Leadership does not lie on top of a fence. It climbs heights. It speaks truths. Clearly proclaimed and candidly proposed. If we do not soon marshal a new national resolve, we will fall victim to the warning of Thomas D’Arcy McGee who wrote in 1865 that,” There is room in this Northern Dominion – under one flag and one set of laws – for one great people. But that greatness can never be achieved – under that same flag and those same laws – if we succumb to a thousand squabbling interests.” Only if we heed these words and begin to celebrate our common universalities, rather than pandering to our parochial particularities, can we as Canadians ever vindicate the possibilities of our own capacities.
~
http://www.iapm.ca/media/cbcgomery.wmv
§
§
BPW on "The Current" with Anthony Germain
http://www.iapm.ca/media/thecurrent.mp3
From: Charles. Coffey
To: bpwajsmann@iapm.ca
Subject: WELL SAID
Good morning my friend,
Heading up Hwy. 28 to my cottage south of Bancroft and who do I hear on CBC's The Current?
I loved your description “the Elvis Presley haircut, pencil thin moustache, and sweating”. I could not introduce such a character to anyone either. Well said. I will be thinking of you later today as you appear at the Commission.
Good luck.
RBC
§
John Angus on Canadian Consequence
Institute Advisory Council member John Angus was taken aback by the demanding tone of a recent Liberal Party solicitation letter . He decided to put some of his thoughts, and frustrations, on paper. He has kindly allowed us to share them with all of you. It is well worth your while to take a few moments and read them. Not just for what they say about this country, but as much for what they say about ourselves.
BPW
John Angus speaking at an Institute Conference
I would like to start this letter by suggesting that a change in the wording being sent to those who are late with their annual fees is in order. I note that there is a “thank you” at the end, but no “please” at the beginning and this makes it sound a bit more like a command rather than a request. I send you my cheque reluctantly this year, as I find that for almost the first time in my life, I am a Liberal only by default.
I am terribly shocked by our very nice Prime Minister’s lack of leadership skills and by the total lack of courage, vision and ethics exhibited by our present cabinet. They are making decision after decision with no overall context, no overall plan and no moral compass. Moreover, they are tainted by a whiff of corruption and cronyism. They attack serious problems with a feather duster. Here in our riding, our MP is also a nice man. I am sure that he adequately represents local issues for us in the house, but he is not a leader, nor does he impact on the major issues of the day. We can do better.
I sense everywhere a growing feeling that it is high time we have a thorough house cleaning. People want us to find a leader who is courageous, solid and can express a vision for this country that we would all be proud to follow, especially as Liberals. We also need to elect local MP’s that are more than just caretakers. The Party needs to do much better.
Fortunately or unfortunately our Party is not the only one lost in the wilderness. While we dither and the other side waffles and the third and fourth Parties do whatever it is they do, our country suffers. This situation is completely unacceptable.
In contrast, Australians today are proud of their country’s growing sense of purpose and direction. Proud of their military. Proud to take on responsibilities. And because of that they are gaining weight, and stature, on the world stage. Their Prime Minister has articulated a vision that is bold and brave. We on the other hand, are experiencing the exact opposite. We have a Prime Minister that seems incapable of articulating any vision. We are becoming less and less relevant on the world stage. Our Armed Forces have been mortgaged for decades. We often shirk our responsibilities and the results are all too obvious. Our national sense of pride in our country is abating fast. What an incredible contrast. What an incredibly bad report card.
Some would say that we only get what we deserve and would casually point to our present muddled and deteriorating situation as proof of this. I for one do not agree. We not only deserve much better, but we can demand much more of ourselves and we can do much better for our Party and our country. The shame and the blame rest on my shoulders, on yours, on all of us. As a Party, we have been complacent and feckless for far too long. It is time to wake up and time to get moving.
Sincerely,
§
May 10, 2005
If it wasn’t for State Rape, Libs would never get paid
Probably one of the most interesting articles I have read in a
long, long time.
~ Editor, Grandinite
State Rape
The Scandal of Public Intrusions into Private Lives
Beryl P. Wajsman, President
Institute for Public Affairs of
“Die Gedanken Sind Frei…My thoughts freely flower…
Die Gedanken Sind Frei…My thoughts give me power
Never to cater… To Duke or Dictator
No man can deny…Die Gedanken Sind Frei;"
~ Anthem of the German Student Movement in pre-war
(as translated by Pete Seeger)
The violation of our thoughts, and the paralytic fear caused to our spirits, by excessive state oversight, are as much acts of aggression as the breach of physical integrity caused by rape.
If we have one boast, one over-riding advantage, over totalitarian regimes it is not in matters of materialism. It relates to matters of the mind and of the spirit. To those issues of natural law that, having a broad base in morality, protect our individuality and conscience against direct and indirect interference by government. All human progress centers around one continual rebellion. People, as citizens, in revolt against oppressive laws and insisting upon a personal accountability to conscience above the state.
Government was to exist for man, not man for government. The aim of the state was to be security for the individual and freedom for the development of his talents. The individual was to be protected from authority itself.
More on the paper in full at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=293&z=8
§
COMPLACENT NATION
Tuesday, May 10. 2005
Beryl Wajsman tells all
Full article from M.K. Braaten
Whoa. Everyone must listen to the recent radio show,
- Why Paul Martin as Finance Minister systemically changed the tax codes to loosen the rules for off-shore corporations; allowed for the transfer of jobs to 3rd world countries and loosened the rules for Ministers having knowledge of their private business interests:
- How these changes will hurt our country far worse then misspent money on sponsorship;
- CSL: how an accounting error went from 165,000 to 165 million.
- Gun Registry: how it went to 1 billion.
- Contracts with Earnscliffe and Team Martin
- How Paul Martin took the surpluses out of the EI and CPP funds and almost bankrupted them.
Quote: "Its hard to imagine that men at that level, men in Cabinet, did not know, from 1995 on...it would be hard to imagine that any man of consequence at the political elite did not know about these programs.'
§
Random notes on the issues of the day
An Honest Liberal
I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. More and more it looks like all Liberals are liars. It has gotten to the point where they even call each other liars. But, I do not believe all Liberals are dishonest. These days, however, any Liberal who is fundamentally honest must feel awfully uncomfortable with Adscam and subsequent efforts of the Liberal Party to sidestep any responsibility for the scandal.
Consequently, it was with some relief that I read a letter from
After a long talk with Wajsman this afternoon, I am more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I would encourage my readers to have a gander at some of his articles on the web site of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, of which he is president. We may finally have a Liberal who seems to genuinely put integrity ahead of self interest.
There is little doubt that Wajsman is an unrepentant “liberal” who is passionate about his beliefs. He finds inspiration in Trudeau’s just society and envisages "a national political culture where victory is won on the battlefields of ideals and principles are never vanquished in the backrooms of deals."
One thing for sure, he is not one to acquiesce to authority. As he inveighs against the corporatism that permeates the Canadian state, he assures me, “we are going to expose who is running this country.” And by this, he does not mean the politicians.
§
Beryl Wajsman Interview At CQ with Edward Morrissey
This evening, I had the pleasure of speaking at length with
Beryl, it turns out, is a man who does not remain silent gladly. As his statement suggests, he is a man of strong opinions and convictions, a man who speaks bluntly, and someone who needs little prompting to discuss difficult subjects. Despite the differences in our political viewpoints, I found Beryl very convincing and his enthusiasm contagious. He cannot wait to appear before Gomery and tell his story to the Inquiry.
However, as he made plain during our interview, he sees the Gomery Inquiry as a red herring -- a machination that allows Prime Minister Paul Martin to deflect attention from his own peccadilloes. Beryl speaks about Martin's scandals in some detail during our interview, as well as his connections to Power Corporation, the TotalElfFina Group, and the Desmarais family. He told me that the Canadian media has focused on Gomery instead of Martin's much more extensive (and expensive) financial manipulations simply because Gomery stories write themselves, and the media doesn't have to lift a finger to get the updates.
If you expect to get inside scoop on Adscam corruption, you won't find it in this interview. Beryl didn't do any work for the Sponsorship Program, and as his upcoming testimony will show, he burnt his bridges at the Liberal Party well before Jean Brault alleges that Wajsman was present at a cash drop (which reporters mistakenly attributes as an accusation that he took a payoff, which isn't what Brault said at all.). He does give an insider's look at some of the players involved in the scandal, though, including Martin, Alfonso Gagliano, and Daniel Dezainde. He also gives his own unique analysis of Canadian politics and talks about his plans for the future.
I hope that over the next few days, you'll keep up with the posts of this extraordinary interview as I get them transcribed. Beryl's is a voice that not only should be heard, it practically demands it.
§
On LCN with Esther Begin
http://www.iapm.ca/media/tva120505.mpg
From:
Sent: May 12, 2005 4:27 PM
To: 'Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal'
Hey... nice job on LCN. You’re everywhere.
CFCF News
§
Qui est
http://www.iapm.ca/media/quiestwajsman.mpg
-----Original Message-----
From: Romano Dave
Sent: May 13, 2005 1:09 AM
To:
Subject: good job
Beryl -- saw you on the French news this evening -- great job! I think people may respond quite well to the kind of "fed-up with it anger" you displayed!
Cheers,
David H. Romano, Ph.D., McGill University
Carrefour des communautés du Québec
From: Zénon Mazur
To: 'Institute for Public Affairs'
Il est fantastique de constater qu’il y a encore des gens très bien.
Ta liste le prouve sans équivoque. Ta réponse et bataille est superbe, mes félicitations et ne lâche pas !!!
Carrefour des communautés du Québec
The Ongoing Fight Against Intolerance
Please view “Brit Academics Boycott Israel –
Brit Proctologists Throw Party” at
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=425&z=8
Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of
the Netherlands by Canadian Forces
For the Devasted of Darfur
Canadian Rescue Committee for Darfur
1155 Blvd. Rene-Levesque W., Suite 2500, Montreal, Qc, Canada H3B 2K4
"Chaque fissure dans l’ordre établi n’est jamais le résultat du hasard. C’est le résultat des efforts des gens déterminés à rendre compte à la vie." ~ André Malraux
In our continuing work to bring attention to the Darfur crisis, we are proud to announce that the Institute has organized the Canadian Rescue Committee for Darfur. We have brought together over a dozen regional and national organizations that are not only prepared to help with financial contributions but are also drawing up lists of families that are prepared to take in refugees at particular risk. We are liaising with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and have received important encouragement and guidance from their remarkable Montreal legal counsel Me. Denise Otis.
For a fuller view of our work on this crisis please see:
"With One Voice: For the Devastated of Darfur" at the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=324&z=22
An Appeal to the National Community
March 2, 2005
ROUSING CANADIANS FROM THEIR LETHARGY
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
The democratic struggles in so many countries today, Lebanon’s being the most recent example, have important lessons for Canadians. Not because they beg comparisons between our problems and theirs. But because of the need to revive our national consciousness which is permeated with a self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others’ self-belief.
Canadians need to be mobilized to finally reject the sanctimonious sophistry that masquerades for public discourse in this country. For too long we have remained complacent with leaders at the apex of power who use hypocrisy, duplicity and false piety to perpetuate their own immortality. Canadians’ lack of resolve has brought this country to levels of low limitation and narrow circumstance that are in and of themselves a form of self-imposed tyranny. A tyranny that mutes individual integrity and conscience for the false security demanded by state-sponsored bureaucratic consensus.
George Bernard Shaw once wrote that, “All great truths begin as great blasphemies.” It is time for Canadians to learn from the profiles in courage around the world and start to blaspheme. To call to account a generation of leadership that has compromised the health of our parliamentary democracy by abrogating public trust and state prerogatives.
It is time to raise to national debate some hard questions that may reveal the troubling truths about the state of what one former Liberal MP called our experiment in “controlled democracy.” And it is to be hoped that the epitaph for Canada has not already been expressed through the character of
Governing is hard. Politics is trench warfare. Warfare made all the harder by the fact that we live in a country with one of the lowest rates of active citizen participation in the Western world. It has been said that "Liberty demands responsibility...that's why so many dread it." Well dread it they may, but it's time to shake up the good-time Charlies and the sunshine patriots that unfortunately make up the overwhelming majority of our citizenry.A citizenry that lives in an Alice In Wonderland culture that cannot recognize its own lethargy because it’s sitting on it.
If we don’t shake them up, we will never again be able to dream D’Arcy McGee’s great vision that this “…Northern Dominion of one great people---under one flag and one set of laws--- will vindicate the possibilities of its capacities.” For in the final analysis what is at stake, more than anything else, is the survival of Canadian consequence. To assure that survival, Canadians must find the character to rebel against complicity in the sovereignty of their own self-abnegation.
-Mr. Wajsman is president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
For a fuller view of these issues please see "Hey Canada!" at the following link on this site:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=405&z=22
Attacking Appeasement
December 20, 2004
TO HAVE MADE A DESERT AND CALLED IT PEACE
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
President
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
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This past week has demonstrated once again the troubling directions of the Martin government. I say this not from any particular partisan posture, but from the concern and conviction that we are witnessing actions of dangerous naïveté couched in cloaks of smug complacency.
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The Prime Minister’s visit to Libya gives validation to an illegitimate and murderous regime, regardless of how many other leaders have visited before, and underlines once again that our foreign policy is still mired in the bankrupt and foolish notions of moral relativism and political equivalency. It is sad to say that Mr. Martin’s banal characterization of Kaddafi as a “…philosophical man with a sense of history…” was almost to be expected since the words were probably prepared by the same foreign affairs bureaucrats who have been rendered senseless by lack of any moral compass in our international affairs.
This is the same DFAIT bureaucracy that two weeks ago refused to intervene when 19-year old Quebecer Sophie Dubé was sentenced to six months in a Qatar jail for passing bad cheques given her by her boyfriend because “Canada does not interfere in the judicial process of another country.” Yet on the very same day, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister, stated that Ottawa would press Israel for an early release for Jamal Akkal, a Canadian who admitted training with Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, after he was imprisoned. One presumes that they might even agree with Khaddafi’s proposal to incorporate Israel into a bi-national state that hey calls “Isratine”.
When will this government learn that the restroration of our nation’s pride and purpose on the international stage will never be accomplished by trading national honor for the expediency of oil leases.
This administration has failed to keep faith with the people. Courage has been replaced by compromise and has brought Canada to levels of low limitation and narrow circumstance. Canada needs leadership that will unleash a revival of a culture of conscience and compassion. A leadership that will free the great matters of our national agenda from the bondage of mere process. A leadership that does not rest at the top of a fence, but climbs heights and speaks truths. Clearly proposed and candidly proclaimed.
We cannot stand idly by while the political culture of this land is continually hijacked by special interest groups and government after government replaces policy and purpose with pandering and posturing accomplishing nothing more than staggering drunkenly from wrong to wrong in an effort to perpetuate their own immortality. If we do--if we persist in our failure of faith as citizens-- we will surely arrive at a point where we will have “… made a desert and called it peace…”
© National Post 2004
“The War on Terror and Canada’s International Role”: BPW interview with
CHQR’s “The World Tonight” (please click on URL link below) :
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/articlefiles/281-CHQR-BPW%20ON%20TERROR.mp3
McGill International Review
An invitation to write for the McGill International Review which has published contributions from U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour and International Criminal Court Chief Judge Philippe Kirsch among others.
NATO Night
We spent a great evening aboard the Spanish Frigate Navara thanks to our Canadian Navy friends. We got background information from several North Atlantic Fleet officers and had a particularly fascinating conversation with the Fleet's Chief of Staff, Dutch Rear Admiral Jacques Brandt.
To Restore National Integrity
Fighting the Charbonneau Appointment
We have voiced our concern at the appointment of Yvon Charbonneau as Canada's UNESCO Ambassador. His past record indicates a highly prejudiced view of certain ethnic groups and a very compromised position on major world issues. We have urged dozens of social action groups to examine the propriety of this appointment and join us in opposition.
Patrick Gagnon Forms The Parliamentary Group
Patrick Gagnon with Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Patrick Gagnon, Institute Council advisor on national political affairs, has agreed to lend his services to the newly formed government relations firm The Parliamentary Group. True to its name PG's associates are all former MPs, Liberals and Conservatives, who represent the breadth of this country. Aside from Patrick they include former Defence Minister David Pratt, Ontarian John Nunziata, Deborah Grey of Alberta and B.C.'s Val Meredith. Other appointments are forthcoming. The firm is sure to have an important impact on the Ottawa scene.
Patrick is currently President of Protocol Strategies, based in Ottawa, which counts RBC and Pfizer among its clients. He was the Member of Parliament for Ilês-de-la-Madelaine from 1993-1997. During that period he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray and was a member of four House of Commons committees.
Me.
We are pleased to announce that Institute Council advisor
In its tribute, the Barreau stated that Me. Grey "...tout au long de sa carrière, contribué de façon exceptionelle à l'avancement de la société québécoise de même qu'au rayonnement des droits fondamentaux dont il est un ardent défenseur."
Complimenting his extraordinary achievements at the bar, Me.Grey was a law professor at McGill for over twenty years. In addition to constitutional law, his teaching covered the breadth of administrative, federal and criminal matters. In 1984 he published Immigration Law in Canada. He has been involved in numerous associations such as the Canadian Foundation for Human Rights of which he was President from 1985-1988. He is a frequent contributor to many scholarly journals and makes it a point to regularly appear in popular print and electronic media in order to expand citizen awareness of, and engagement in, public policy issues.
National Focus on Quebec Issues
----- Original Message -----
From: "Turley-Ewart, John (National Post)"
To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca>
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 3:39 PM
Subject: RE: The Institute
Beryl, thanks for this.
I would be really interested in any op-eds you can provide to us on
social-justice issues in Quebec. Essentially, I'm looking for op-eds that
would lay out an issue and say what needs to be done to resolve the
associated problems.
Something like: "Pour ou Contre" on the question of racism and anti-
Semitism in Quebec would work for us. Is that possible? And if so, do
send along any ideas you may have.
Best,
John Turley-Ewart, Ph.D.
Deputy Comment Editor
National Post
A Night with Business and Labor at CIPBA
We were pleased to lend a hand to our friends at the Canadian Italian Business
& Professional Association in arranging for FTQ President
speak on the current political and economic climate in Quebec.
Multicultural Rapprochement
With current Justice Minister Irwin Cotler at a multicultural conference.
From: "Toni Cochand"
To:" beryl wajsman" <bpwajsmann@mobile.rogers.com>
Beryl,
You are wonderful!
I agree with you. If we can teach our children what it
takes to have a healthy community, to take responsibility
for the weak, the old, and the
needy....then there is a future for mankind.
Thank you.
Toni Cochand
Executive Director
Dans La Rue
From: Nicholas Tetrault
To: Institute for Public Affairs
Beryl what can I do to help you?
Félicitations pour tout ce que tu fais, cela m'impressionne!
Monsieur Nicolas TETRAULT
Conseiller municipal, Plateau Mont-Royal
Western Canada Radio Interview on Canadian Foreign Policy
From: Kirsten Bell
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 7:56 PM
Subject: Canada in the World
Dear Mr. Wajsman,
I am a producer with CHQR AM 770 in Calgary, Alberta. I am writing to you to ask if you would be willing to speak on a live radio show (The World Tonight) to discuss your view of Canada. Having recently received "Canada in The World: The Restoration of our National Pride and Purpose" I believe that you could provide our show with a compelling discussion on Canada's identity.
Please feel free to contact me via email or telephone.
Thank you in advance,
Kirsten Bell, Producer "The World Tonight"
CHQR AM 770
We are well known in the east, but this was a great opportunity to get our views out into several Provinces in western Canada.
Attacking Tolerance Toward Terrorism
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kappler, Brian (mon_exchange)"
To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca>
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 10:17 AM
Subject: RE: The Barbarians of Terror: A Time for Resolve in the Courage of Our Loathing
Hello Mr. Wajsman.
That's a powerful piece and I am inclined to publish it.
Op-Ed Page Editor
Media Request
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 10:41 AM
Dear Beryl,
I have become very intrigued by the magnitude of your vision.
Would be available to be a guest on my radio program on CJAD Sundays from 6-7Pm.
Regards,
New Leaders
With Québec community leaders Victor Henriquez, Katlyne Gaspard of the Hatian Community Junior Chamber of Commerce and Patrick Gilles of the PLQ.
On Track
"Canada in the World: The Restoration of Our National Pride and Purpose"
The paper was published in “On Track”, Canada’s defence quarterly. The editor’s note said: “Beryl Wajsman has written a noble call to our national consciousness to examine where Canada should fit in the world community. He addresses the question of why Canada needs to combine a vigorous advocacy of progressive and compassionate domestic policies, with an aggressive commitment to a strengthened military and a heightened involvement in democratic development and the expansion of freedom in the international order.”
5th Institute Policy Conference
Institute's Centre for Democratic Development
Why Do They Hate? Confronting Islamic Intolerance
This was the founding evening of the Institute’s Centre for Democratic Development. The guest speaker was Irshad Manji author of “The Trouble with Islam”. The Center has added an even wider group of allies pushing our government for stronger support for democratic regimes and an end to the multilateralism and moral relativism of the past twenty years. Remarks from the evening may be found at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=300&z=22
Helping Toronto’s “Lawyers Feed The Homeless” Program
Letter of thanks from the Law Society of Upper Canada for the Institute's commitment of an in-perpetuity supply of meat products to the "Lawyers Feed the Homeless" program at Osgoode Hall that is one of Canada's largest soup kitchens serving some 1500 meals a day.
Days of Rage
The People March
The labor demonstrations this week came at a time when the agenda of social justice demands activist character and conscience in place of pious excuses for inaction. That demand was met. As much on the issues of quality of workers' livces and the self-respect of Quebecers as on the quantity of their paycheques and the political differences with the government. Labor,and its leaders,demonstrated an instinctive and intuitive grasp of our societal values as the most progressive political jurisdiction in North America.
The greatest contribution this week, and the greatest challenge in the weeks and months to come, will be to translate the passionate sentiments of the public response into powerful and effective advocacy in the corridors of power with the requisite clarity, candour and courage to keep these urgent matters above the daily political pressures of mere process. We have never been prouder of the Institute's ongoing advisory role with several of the unions that took part, and we were fortunate to have participated in some of the planning aspects of this great day.
Major Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy Conference
Club des Vingt
le "Club des Vingt"- a note from three of our good friends -Prime Minister Martin's Principal Secretary Francis Fox, Minister of Social Development Liza Frulla and Me.Luce Bergeron, vice-présidente of the LPC(Q).
National Congress of Italian Canadians
Nino Colavecchio (l) with Vaudreuil-Solanges Liberal MP Nick Discepola
Nino Colavecchio Elected President
We are pleased to announce that our Advisory Council member Mr. Nino Colavecchio has just been elected President of the National Congress of Italian Canadians. Mr. Colavecchio has been a well known advertising and communications executive for some twenty-five years and is Founder and President of TNC Multicom. In the past few years he has served as National President of the CIBPA ( Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association) and as Quebec Region President of the Congress of Italian-Canadians, a position he still retains. He has also been an active participant in Federal Liberal politics over the past twenty years.
Important Institute Initiative
Newspaper op-ed launching the Institute's protection of privacy initiative called
"Help Stem State Rape".
BPW with Peter Dimitroff of the National Democratic Institute. Peter is not only a valued friend and trusted advisor but is one of the most outstanding men of public affairs. He is now working in the Balkans helping to establish democratic institutions.
International Affairs
We have been fortunate to have had opportunities to present our views on the need for greater engagement in democratic development in the international order and to work with some remarkable individuals on these issues at home and abroad. Above is an invitation from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations to participate in its deliberations on Iraq.
Working with Canadian Foreign Minister Manley’s staff I helped draft the first pre-emptive condemnation of an anti-Israel Arab initiative by Canada in 25 years. This was a statement of opposition to the Zionism-Racism calumny that Arab states were trying to revive five months before the infamous Durban Conference. The co-operation and comprehension shown by the Minister's staff was very gratifying.
I worked with Terrie O'Leary, Canada's World Bank representative, in assisting World Bank President James Wolfensohn's office in its attempt to build an alliance to delay a loan request of Iran. The request was made during the persecution by that theocratic tyranny of 13 of its citizens accused of spying. It was one of the most notorious show trials of the past decade. Working with French, Swedish and Austrian representatives, helped boost Canada's bold actions in successfully sending a message to Iran that it, and regimes like it, could not continue to act without restraint of consequence.
A Note From a Trusted Advisor
The Religious School Funding Issue
January 26, 2005
SCHOOL FUNDING OPPOSITION SHAKES MONTREAL
by JANICE ARNOLD
Staff Reporter
“James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers that “The civil administration shall take no cognizance of religion.” That has been the hallmark of progressive constitutional liberalism. The framework within which societies of inclusiveness and tolerance advance.
For all the historically progressive encounters of Quebec history, school funding has not been one of them. It has had a troublesome evolution from its very beginnings with the inherent advantages granted to Catholics and Protestants. Attempts to right those initial wrongs by spreading tax dollars around more equitably toward other religious and ethnic groups are misguided and doom us to a frustrating future of futile failures.
The use of school tax dollars is a fragile trust whose sole purpose should be to fund quality public education accessible to all in a system that is bi-lingual and non-denominational. School boards’ legitimacy must be rationalized based on natural community geography not on political language expediency. This is the only way we can ever be assured of the victory of our shared humanity over our parochial prejudices.
We need political leadership that has the courage to radically reform the mistakes of the shriveled spirits and hostile hearts of the past. A leadership whose trust in the people is qualified only by prudence and not one those whose mistrust of the people is qualified only by fear.
Freedom of religion has never implied, and should never imply, the elevation of any aspect of religious sacrament to the level of secular right. It is not appropriate for the state to validate, encourage or finance faith-based estates. This principle must hold true not only on the question of education, but on other issues such as marriage and religious courts.
Government’s proper role is to protect people from incitement and violence against their personal practices, so long as those practices do not violate the rights of others, and enforce the foundational principles of liberal democracy which are based on separation of church and state; independence of the judiciary; the supremacy of the people’s suffrage; and the sovereignty of the liberty of the individual over any corporate or collective demands of the state.
As Thomas D’Arcy McGee said in 1865, “This Northern Dominion can grow—under one flag and one set of laws—into one great nation. It cannot achieve this goal--under that same flag and under those same laws—by pandering to a thousand squabbling sets of interests.” Only with this in mind can we as Canadians ever vindicate the possibilities of our own capacities.”
Attacking Appeasement
December 20, 2004
TO HAVE MADE A DESERT AND CALLED IT PEACE
by
Beryl P. Wajsman
President
Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal
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This past week has demonstrated once again the troubling directions of the Martin government. I say this not from any particular partisan posture, but from the concern and conviction that we are witnessing actions of dangerous naïveté couched in cloaks of smug complacency.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Libya gives validation to an illegitimate and murderous regime, regardless of how many other leaders have visited before, and underlines once again that our foreign policy is still mired in the bankrupt and foolish notions of moral relativism and political equivalency. It is sad to say that Mr. Martin’s banal characterization of Kaddafi as a “…philosophical man with a sense of history…” was almost to be expected since the words were probably prepared by the same foreign affairs bureaucrats who have been rendered senseless by lack of any moral compass in our international affairs.
This is the same DFAIT bureaucracy that two weeks ago refused to intervene when 19-year old Quebecer Sophie Dubé was sentenced to six months in a Qatar jail for passing bad cheques given her by her boyfriend because “Canada does not interfere in the judicial process of another country.” Yet on the very same day, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister, stated that Ottawa would press Israel for an early release for Jamal Akkal, a Canadian who admitted training with Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, after he was imprisoned. One presumes that they might even agree with Khaddafi’s proposal to incorporate Israel into a bi-national state that hey calls “Isratine”.
When will this government learn that the restroration of our nation’s pride and purpose on the international stage will never be accomplished by trading national honor for the expediency of oil leases.
This administration has failed to keep faith with the people. Courage has been replaced by compromise and has brought Canada to levels of low limitation and narrow circumstance. Canada needs leadership that will unleash a revival of a culture of conscience and compassion. A leadership that will free the great matters of our national agenda from the bondage of mere process. A leadership that does not rest at the top of a fence, but climbs heights and speaks truths. Clearly proposed and candidly proclaimed.
We cannot stand idly by while the political culture of this land is continually hijacked by special interest groups and government after government replaces policy and purpose with pandering and posturing accomplishing nothing more than staggering drunkenly from wrong to wrong in an effort to perpetuate their own immortality. If we do--if we persist in our failure of faith as citizens-- we will surely arrive at a point where we will have “… made a desert and called it peace…”
© National Post 2004
“The War on Terror and Canada’s International Role”: BPW interview with
CHQR’s “The World Tonight” (please click on URL link below) :
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/articlefiles/281-CHQR-BPW%20ON%20TERROR.mp3
Lest We Forget
"Pain which falls drop by drop upon the heart until, through the awful Grace of God, we attain..... wisdom."
~Aeschylus
"Those who choose to forget the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them."
~ George Santayana
September 2004
When madness seems to have paralyzed the civilized world with hundreds of women and children slaughtered in Russia, others killed in Israel and innocent workers in Iraq subjected to the cruellest of deaths by animals who slit throats and cut half-way into the neck forcing gasping convulsions for air through torn windpipes before severing the remaining sinews of heads from bodies.....words fail. Human vocabulary approaches the realm of impotent expression. The heavens themselves seem to challenge us to rage.
In order to comprehend today’s barbarism one must fathom the depths from which this terror has come and the depths to which it is prepared to go. What is happening has nothing to do with opposition to repressive regimes nor with frustrations born of economic privation. This brutality has to do with theocratic tyranny and the bloodlust it inspires. It has to do with the use of murder as a weapon to paralyze the free world and force it to obsequious obediance to an agenda of hate.
As we face these modern horrors sixty-five years after the outbreak of the Second World War, we are acutely aware that the past may become prologue. All our happy encounters with reason and progress are forlorn. And our complacencies in our smug orthodoxies are exposed for the bankrupt and foolish notions they are. Memory and witness become our minimal obligations. The photograph above was sent to us after the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in
It is eloquent testimony of what is expected of us.
BPW
Ordre National du Québec
Jean-Charles Chebat Nommé Chevalier
We are pleased to announce that Institute Roundtable member Prof. Jean-Charles Chebat has been name a Chevalier of the Ordre nationale du Québec. Prof.Chebat holds the Omer DeSerres Commerce Chair at the Hautes études commerciales (HEC Montreal). He was honored for his work in the area of consumer purchasing patterns, in which he is a world expert, and more particularly in the words of the citation "...sur la rhétorique et la sémiotique publicitaires, la psychologie environnementale, la perception du temps et les effets perceptuels de la voix du marketing. Les travaux de M. Chebat sont marqués par sa capacité à utiliser différentes disciplines pour éclairer de nouveaux domaines de recherche.
Prof. Chebat was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1996. Among his other distinguished awards, he has received the Pierre-Laurin Prize for his research work and le prix Stratège for his efforts in advancing the science of marketing. The latter was given by the Marketing Association of Montréal in recognition of his lifetime work in developing groundbreaking approaches in economic forecasting.
The Trials of Rev. Darryl Gray
Some one hundred years ago, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. constructed the foundational maxim of legitimate legal order: “Justice must be seen to be done as well as to be done.” These thirteen simple words embodied the hopes and strivings of those of compassionate conscience and noble purpose who recognized that a just society is predicated on the recognition of an equal claim by every citizen on a presumptive tolerance from the state over which, through the exercise of their suffrage, they have a sovereignty unencumbered by any conditions of special considerations to property or power, privilege or preference.
Over the past few months Canadians have witnessed a debasement of the noble sentiments of these words.
Crimes of prejudice take many forms. Some are manifested through classic violence and are categorized as hate crimes. The firebombing of St. Laurent’s UTT which led to our creation of the Council for Community Conciliation was one such case. Others, while more subtle, exhibit equally damaging and equally dangerous threats to the common weal. Each must be responded to with equal vigour and resolve.
The recent scurrilous trial by fire of Rev. Darryl Gray on the front pages of our newspapers was an insidious example of what the Italian legal philosopher Beccaria called the “…triumph of the mediocre and the tyranny of the mindless…” This crime of prejudice does as much violence to the spirit as the other does to the body.
Please read: "Without Restraint of Consequence: The Rev. Darryl Gray and Our Culture of Complicity" on our website at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=317&z=8
Multicultural Rapprochement With current Justice Minister Irwin Cotler at a multicultural conference. Some Social Action Allies ----- Original Message ----- From: "Laberge, Danielle" To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca> Cher Beryl, Danielle Laberge From: "Toni Cochand" To:" beryl wajsman" <bpwajsmann@mobile.rogers.com> takes to have a healthy community, to take responsibility for the weak, the old, and the Thank you. Executive Director Dans La Rue
From: Nicholas Tetrault To: Institute for Public Affairs Beryl what can I do to help you? Félicitations pour tout ce que tu fais, cela m'impressionne! Monsieur Nicolas TETRAULT Western Canada Radio Interview on Canadian Foreign Policy From: Kirsten Bell Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 7:56 PM Subject: Canada in the World Dear Mr. Wajsman, I am a producer with CHQR AM 770 in Calgary, Alberta. I am writing to you to ask if you would be willing to speak on a live radio show (The World Tonight) to discuss your view of Canada. Having recently received "Canada in The World: The Restoration of our National Pride and Purpose" I believe that you could provide our show with a compelling discussion on Canada's identity. Please feel free to contact me via email or telephone. Thank you in advance, We are well known in the east, but this was a great opportunity to get our views out into several Provinces in western Canada. Attacking Tolerance Toward Terrorism ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kappler, Brian (mon_exchange)" To: "'Institute for Public Affairs'" <bpwajsmann@iapm.ca> Subject: RE: The Barbarians of Terror: A Time for Resolve in the Courage of Our Loathing Hello Mr. Wajsman. Op-Ed Page Editor Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 10:41 AM Dear Beryl, I have become very intrigued by the magnitude of your vision. Would be available to be a guest on my radio program on CJAD Sundays from 6-7Pm. Regards, New Leaders With Québec community leaders Victor Henriquez, Katlyne Gaspard of the Hatian Community Junior Chamber of Commerce and Patrick Gilles of the PLQ.
Order of Canada Coffey, Wener Honored We are pleased to announce that Charles Coffey, a member of our Executive Roundtable, and Jonathan Wener one of our valued advisors, have both been awarded the Order of Canada this week. Mr. Coffey, Executive Vice-President for Government Relations and Public Affairs of the RBC Financial Group, may be singularly unique in the business world in his endeavors to reconcile private interests with public rights. He has given selflessly of himself on many issues of social justice from youth, to the poor to foreign affairs. Mr. Wener has set a remarkable example that cultural community leadership does not have to be parochial or provincial. His engagement in the community at large has set a standard for all leaders to follow. By bridging the divides, he has helped build the kind of alliances that, to paraphrase Pericles of Athens, will help to make of our city "...a palace once again...".
5th Institute Policy Conference
J'ai été ravie par notre rencontre de lundi au club St-Denis. Un grand merci
de m'avoir invitée. Je serai ravie de poursuivre la collaboration avec
l'Institut .
Vice-Rectrice à l'enseignement, à la recherche et à la création
UQAM
Beryl,
You are wonderful!
I agree with you. If we can teach our children what it
needy....then there is a future for mankind.
Toni Cochand
Conseiller municipal, Plateau Mont-Royal
Kirsten Bell, Producer "The World Tonight"
CHQR AM 770 Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 10:17 AM
That's a powerful piece and I am inclined to publish it.
Media Request
Institute's Centre for Democratic Development
Why Do They Hate? Confronting Islamic Intolerance
This was the founding evening of the Institute’s Centre for Democratic Development. The guest speaker was Irshad Manji author of “The Trouble with Islam”. The Center has added an even wider group of allies pushing our government for stronger support for democratic regimes and an end to the multilateralism and moral relativism of the past twenty years. Remarks from the evening may be found at:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=300&z=22
An Inspired Supreme Court Appointment
August 20, 2003
Legalists Welcome Fish Appointment
by
Joel Goldenberg
Justice Morris Fish’s appointment to the Supreme Court is being welcomed by Canada’s legalists, not only because Fish is the first English-speaking Montrealer appointed in decades and the first Jew since Bora Laskin, but because of his legal history as an eloquent advocate for individual rights. Legalists believe Fish brings with him a combination of fairness and adherence to Canada’s constitution.
Fish Grey Wajsman Tyler
Beryl Wajsman, president of the non-partisan Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, calls Fish “one of the staunchest defenders of civil liberties” and a supporter of “fair treatment of criminal defendants.”
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey says it is difficult to predict how a judge will rule, but said Fish’s appointment has received an overwhelmingly positive reaction. “There’s no question he is very favourable towards freedom of expression—his cases have shown that—and he’s very concerned about justice for the accused. What is easy to predict is the quality. It will be excellent.”
Alliance Quebec president Brent Tyler, whose English school access case will be heard by the Supreme Court, is pleased Fish will be hearing his case. “I think he will apply the law and the constitution. His reputation of being a level-headed judge will bode well.”
Helping Toronto’s “Lawyers Feed The Homeless” Program
Letter of thanks from the Law Society of Upper Canada for the Institute's commitment of an in-perpetuity supply of meat products to the "Lawyers Feed the Homeless" program at Osgoode Hall that is one of Canada's largest soup kitchens serving some 1500 meals a day.
Days of Rage
The People March
The labor demonstrations this week came at a time when the agenda of social justice demands activist character and conscience in place of pious excuses for inaction. That demand was met. As much on the issues of quality of workers' livces and the self-respect of Quebecers as on the quantity of their paycheques and the political differences with the government. Labor,and its leaders,demonstrated an instinctive and intuitive grasp of our societal values as the most progressive political jurisdiction in North America.
The greatest contribution this week, and the greatest challenge in the weeks and months to come, will be to translate the passionate sentiments of the public response into powerful and effective advocacy in the corridors of power with the requisite clarity, candour and courage to keep these urgent matters above the daily political pressures of mere process. We have never been prouder of the Institute's ongoing advisory role with several of the unions that took part, and we were fortunate to have participated in some of the planning aspects of this great day.
To Afflict the Comfortable and Comfort the Afflicted
The Challenge of Hunger in a Free Society
As difficult as it may be to believe, hunger is still the number one social problem we face on the provincial and national agendas. In Québec alone over 500,000 people simply do not have enough to eat, and it is estimated that close to another million are undernourished. This is a staggering 25% of our population. The national figures reflect the same dreary reality.
The Institute has long been involved with many anti-hunger initiatives including organizing long-term food supplies for one of Canada's largest soup kitchens, the 'Lawyers feed the Hungry' program at Toronto's Osgoode Hall, providing political help for the national food bank network and supporting local Montreal area charities such as Share the Warmth, Chez Nos Amis, amd MADA.
None of these efforts have been as dramatic as the agreements we have recently helped bring to fruition, and which just this week went into effect. Through a coalition of corporations, social activists and unions, the Quebec food bank network, and particularly Moisson Montreal, has been given a long-term commitment of protein based foods which will allow it, over the next few months, to substantially raise the number of clients it now serves from the current 300,000, as well as servicing some of the smaller groups now on waiting lists for help from the central food banks.
For a fuller report on this important initiative please go to the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=295&z=22
Major Foreign Affairs and Defence Policy Conference
20th ANNUAL CDAI SEMINAR
26 February 2004
The Way Ahead for Canadian Foreign & Defence Policy
Interests in the 21st Century
Chateau Laurier, Ottawa
We are proud to be co-sponsoring the 20th edition of this most prestigious Foreign Affairs and
Defence Policy Conference attended by representatives of some 300 organizations in addition to
MP's, Senators, Military officials, DFAIT advisors and diplomatic representatives.
An Agenda for Reform
Signature of a Society
Jim Duff's review of our national reform agenda, presented to the Liberal caucus, entitled "Signature of a Society:
A Populist Agenda for the 21st Century". You can view it in full in this website at the following link:
http://www.iapm.ca/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=83&z=22
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