At Home in Hespeler

it’s like Fantino never left…

On Saturday there was a “Truth and Reconciliation Rally” in Caledonia Ontario,  in which the protesters, or bad guys in OPP parlance, were “repeatedly bumped and obstructed,” walking down the road. The OPP, which did arrest Gary McHale in 2007 for the aggressive action of raising a Canadian flag, did bubkus.

McHale did have a chance to speak to one of the six nations elders, but was drowned out by bussed in protesters.

Natasha at Moose & Squirrel has done great work on this.

And be sure to read Christie Blatchford’s compelling book on the Caledonia Crisis:

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Update: from Natasha in the comments: o, no — All I’m doing is relaying the info Mark Vandermaas (Voice of Canada) has been kind enough to provide.

In Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario… Caledonia, Christie Blatchford, Gary McHale, Helpless, OPP

Christie Blatchford’s Helpless begins with a story. On June 9, 2006 Kathe and Guenter Golke of Simcoe Ontario went for a drive. The 68 and 66 year old wound up in Caledonia, which had been in the news recently due to what they used to call in the movies an Indian incursion. The Natives of the 6-Nations reserve East of Brantford had taken over an housing development, known as the Douglas Creek Estates, due to a land claim dispute.

Driving through Caledonia the Golke’s slowed down to have a look at the Estate property. A woman on a motorcycle raced up to them:

“Is there a problem?” and then let fly a torrent of verbal abuse, accusing them of coming to “look at the bad Indians.”

They were soon surrounded by First Nations, attempting to stop their car. They spotted an OPP cruiser and went for help. Twenty or so First Nations followed, then surrounded and attacked their car. They jumped on the hood, grabbed for the steering wheel and attempted to open the car doors, while the Golke’s were parked beside the OPP car, talking to the officer.

It was one of three incidents that day, the one that was less newsworthy. A couple of senior citizens are attacked by a mob is much less interesting to big city editor than a policeman or an MSM cameraman assaulted. But it was the most telling: the First Nations had a complaint, so attacking a couple of innocent senior citizens is OK.

The surprising thing about Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All Of Us is how often you put the book down and seethe in quiet anger. Two governments and three OPP Chiefs, including Conservative MP Julian Fantino and his successor Chris Lewis, utterly and completely failed the people of Caledonia. However, it is original Commissioner Gwen Boniface and Inspector Ron George, director of the OPP Aboriginal Relations Team who takes the most blame for the force’s complete lack of action in Caledonia.

Ron George, it should be noted, is cousin of killed First Nations protester Dudley George. Yet without fear of conflict of interest, he was front and centre in the OPP’s decision making process.

The story of Caledonia is about the people who live there, and the people charged with protecting them not failing to do so, but refusing. Sixth line, on the south side of the Douglas Creek Estates, was populated by country homes, owned by non-natives. Although native occupiers of the Estates often criminally harassed the residents, the OPP refused to respond to calls on the sixth line for over three years.

The residents of sixth line were abandoned by those charged with keeping the law in Ontario, a state of Anarchy that they never asked for or did anything to deserve.

Christie Blatchford’s Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All Of Us is a quick, easy read. One of those books you start, curl up with, and find you’ve read half of it by dinner time. My only complaint is that the book is not broken into enough chapters. A chance to breath, and to let some of the anger that overtakes you breath, would help drive the point of the book home: “the failure of government to govern and to protect all it’s citizen’s equally.”

Books, Caledonia Caledonia, Chris Lewis, Christie Blatchford, Douglas Creek Estates, Dudley George, Guenter Golke, Gwen Boniface, Helpless, julian fantino, Kathe Golke, OPP, Ron George

Remember, Julian Fantino doesn’t break the law, Julian Fantino is the law:

Meeting Conservative Julian Fantino last month on the hustings for the upcoming Vaughan by-election didn’t go as Liberal Tony Genco expected. He’d imagined pleasantries between competing candidates…

“I gave him my best wishes…and he told me some of my signs were too close to his campaign headquarters so he’d had his people take them down.”

…“I asked him if he would please give them back — they’re expensive, you know — but he didn’t respond.”

Genco apparently never did get his signs back …

“My volunteers followed all the rules in putting our signs up on public property and they weren’t placed improperly.”

…Asked about Genco’s allegations, a Fantino spokesperson emailed a response: “(Liberal Leader Michael) Ignatieff’s candidate may want to talk about signs; I’m talking about what actually matters to families in our community.”

OK, you want to talk, here’s an issue: Julian Fantino is dictatorial and arrogant ex-cop who thinks the law is his to interpret. He is the kind of man who is dangerous to our democracy.

Hey, Conservatives in Vaughan: do everybody a favour, including the Conservatives, and vote Liberal on by-election day.

by-election fever, Caledonia By-election, Caledonia, Conservative Party, julian fantino, Liberal Party, OPP, Tony Genco, Vaughan

doesn’t include Julian Fantino.

This Friday in Vaughan, there is a rally to support Julian Fantino as the Conservative candidate for the riding. A counter protest, by Conservatives Against Fantino will also be held:

Fantino’s nomination is a slap in the face for every resident in Caledonia and Haldimand County; every police officer who served there; and every Conservative Party supporter who believes in fundamental justice and respect for the rule of law. Let’s tell Stephen Harper that Fantino must answer for Caledonia’s victims, not be rewarded for creating them.

I know which rally I would be attending if I wasn’t working (and they weren’t telling  people to dress up for the protest?).

Find out more about the counter-protest here.

Meanwhile, Christie Blatchford’s new book on Caledonia Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed Us All will hit bookstores October 26th. Here’s a preview video:

Caledonia, Conservative Party Caledonia, Christie Blatchford, Conservative Party, CPC, julian fantino

the constitution is for natives… in our street…, with guns (and no, I didn’t make that up): not for ordinary citizens driving their car.

Dalton Dalton Dalton, In Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario… Caledonia, Dalton McGuinty, stunt driving

I received a call this afternoon from Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Tim Hudak, ostensibly to thank me for endorsing him in my post last Saturday.  I have been hearing that Hudak is an easy to like kind of guy, and it couldn’t be more true.  I have never seen him in action, but based on one phone call I have no doubt he’s a guy who knows the politicians art of working a room.

The conversation moved quickly and smoothly, ranging from what kind of dog I had (she was being noisy), to my thoughts on the future of the auto industry, human rights commissions, the past and future of the Ontario PC party and my local PC MPP, Gerry Martiniuk, whom is a Tim Hudak supporter. The conversation involved me desperately trying to scribble the odd note, scribble being the operative word.  Here’s a brief recall of the conversation.

Hudak seems to consider the HRCs a big issue, and he had examples at hand of the abuse of the system, including an Ontario town (I can’t recall which one) that has had a eight HRC complaints against them by one citizen, one of his complaints being there isn’t a sidewalk in front of his house (next year he’ll complain he has to shovel the snow on his new sidewalk).

On blogs, Hudak pointed out that the press gallery is shrinking dramatically at Queen’s Park. The net result being there are not enough reporters covering the government and are thus less able to hold their feet to the fire. It’s the blogs that are picking up the slack, and as such, the blogs are becoming more important.

As for the race for leader, he and I both agreed it was a good race, that saw some ideas emerge from all candidates. It was a healthy process, and Hudak is confident he can win. On the vote itself, he said they had scrutineers in every riding on Sunday, they felt the vote was going well, and about 3o% of party members voted Sunday. The rest will have the opportunity to vote Thursday, the results, of course, will be announced Saturday.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get in some question I had prepared, such as inquiring about his four steps to solve the doctor shortage. His ideas are: expanding capacity at medical schools, flexible retirement for physicians, recognize foreign credentials and increase incentives for Canadians studying abroad to return to Canada to practice. However, I feel a big part of the problem is David Peterson/Bob Rae’s old ban on extra billing, and was curious if he’d given any though to rescinding that.

e-health Ontario is another area I would have liked to quiz him, as well as: Caledonia; his favourite Led Zeppelin song (that says a lot about the man); Mike Harris: help or hindrance?; flat tax; the $1,000 newborn baby fund; the HST; who runs PerezHudak.com, and will any known rap artists be smacking him around in the near future?; his solutions for the manufacturing crisis.

While I didn’t get to ask him all that, I did get to tell my son he had been talking to the man who could be the next Premier of Ontario, I had a good excuse for not getting the vacuuming done, and I had a pleasant conversation with a genuinely nice man. I believe he would be an excellent leader, and like Joanne before me, “my interest in Ontario politics has gone from mope to hope and excitement.” And yes, I too am starting to think the PC party might have a chance.

Tim Hudak baby fund, Blue Like You, Bob Rae, Caledonia, David Peterson, Gerry Martiniuk, HRC, HST, Human Rights Comissions, Human Rights Tribunals, Joanne's Journey, Led Zeppelin, manufacturing crisis, Mike Harris, Ontario Human Rights Commision, Ontario Politics, PC, PC leadership, PC leadership convention, PC leadership vote, perezhudak.com, Premier of Onatrio, Progressive Conservative, Queens Park, Queens PArk press corp, Tim Hudak