..."The Baltovich story has a very Mexican ring to it, if you will,” Kormos said.
Bentley was evasive when asked about a news report that the Crown had earlier offered Baltovich a one-day jail sentence in return for revealing the location of Bain’s body...
Meanwhile, Deb Tielman seems to have finally learned that you catch more flies with honey than with caustic rhetoric:
"I do believe this is good for Brenda," she added. "I think to have Jason (Kenney) come and be able to give Brenda some kind of assurance from the government that this is going to be expedited and they can have her home in a couple of weeks will give Brenda something to hold on to.
I could actually get back on board the Brenda bandwagon if this keeps up.
* * * *
Related: CBC notes that the Premier and the AG don't seem to have their talking points synchronized today....
More on Baltovich at The Politic.
And poor Tonda. She just couldn't get Bill Graham to take a partisan stand on Brenda Martin.
Claire Hoy has a great editorial on Brenda Martin - Politics and Martin; Canadian prisoner in Mexico strangely partisan in her attacks.
More on Baltovich at The Politic.
And poor Tonda. She just couldn't get Bill Graham to take a partisan stand on Brenda Martin.
Claire Hoy has a great editorial on Brenda Martin - Politics and Martin; Canadian prisoner in Mexico strangely partisan in her attacks.
24 comments:
I was wondering if they were going to claim this new visit by Kenney was a "photo-op" or "circus" or "dog and pony show."
I guess now that Brenda is looking at 5 yrs hard time in a Mexican jail they'll even kiss Conservative ass to get the hell out of hell.
After what she said about the Conservative Govt. i would just leave her there and take the medicine!
So now that she "messed up" in another country, was found "guilty" in that country and sentenced to do time and pay a fine, Canada now is going to step up, pay her fine, bring her back here, cover her expenses to do that, set her free, support her via Onatio Works, with full medical coverage including medication free of charge, and then there's no doubt that they'll have to foot the bill for re-hab (And a big bill that will be. Why now it'll be for, not only alcohol, but prescription drugs, and whatever other narcotics, legal or otherwise)
Guess this will also be the basis for her to NOT work, and then further collect from the Canadian people...via ODSP!
Oh right! She gonna create some business of selling the Mexican prison "custom made" jewellery here...
We'll see about that, I guess...
Forgive my lack of sympathy for her, but something still sits so wrong for me with the whole situation...
In fact, between the aftermath of yesterday's verdict, and all the news today, I've discovered there is definately something wrong with all of it...
And I can't shake feeling disgusted by all of it!
Someone, help me make sense of it!
Please!
Let the public inquiries begin!
"Canada now is going to step up"
You forgot her suit against the Canadian Government!
Dave Rutherford on Corus 630 Ched had a great, great opinion piece on Brenda this morning. He pulled no punches including calling the Libs out for using her for political gain.
I am sure all the Brenda sympathizers will be all over him for that - I have not talked to one person that has any sympathy for Brenda after the stunts she has pulled.
Good!
Then I'm not alone in my heavy resentment towards, and regarding it all...
Resent away. It's still a free country - for the moment.
No one has mentioned the backtracking on ctv last night re, maybe all the media attention, crying, friends, insulting the Mexican legal system backfired and kept her in jail longer than necessary. These people better be careful because they also mentioned it could take years to get her home. Do not interfer in other countries justice.
...insulting the Mexican legal system backfired and kept her in jail longer than necessary.
Yeah, Mary, I was flabbergasted when I heard Brenda's mother keep going on about how they should have paid the bribes and so forth... Does she think that folks in the Mexican judicial system don't watch the news? I think that kind of mud-slinging would only make them dig their heels in deeper.
Bone-headed move if you ask me.
Just a thought, but what if Mexican authoritis insist Brenda serve a jail sentence in Canada, with parole for 5 yrs or less.
What if they insist time served not be counted. They still hold all the cards and papers can get lost in the system.
Unless she and her supporters make a public apology to all Cdns, on TV, for all the lies they have told, I hope she rots someplace hot.
Free Country!
Let it fight and protect the "guilty" and those who have chosen to LEAVE Canada for another country...Hell, even protect and care for the ones that don't even belong here or are here illegally,
and yet -
Ignore, and avoid those that live and work here, that represent and work for Canada, that are genuinely and positively innocent, and that really do NEED a hand...
That could definately use some government intervention...
That's it! Just let them be...
Latest on Brenda here.
The Brenda Martin story has consumed many hours in the past few months of our government's time and the taxpayer's money that goes with it. The saga has a very sad tinge to it and nobody but nobody would want or wish to be in Brenda Martin's shoes.
However this is no excuse to provide anyone with an opportunity to lay blame where it doesn't belong or to accuse career people of not doing their job.
Dan McTeague, who has chosen to ride this story for partisan reasons, has the temerity and gall on the program Mike Duffy Live to blame Stephen Harper and the government for the fact that Brenda Martin was found guilty by a Mexican judge.
Members of the Canadian consular staff were accused by Brenda Martin and her supporters of doing nothing on her behalf, although officials had said, over a hundred interventions had been made by staff in regards to her case. McTeague chose not to inform himself of what was done but rather slammed the staff for inaction . When it was leaked of some of the efforts and work done on behalf of Martin by consular staff, which validated their declaration, McTeague's response was that an investigation and law suit should be launched for this breach of Martin's privacy - trying to secure the truth and facts in the case were of no consquence but it was more important that open season could be conducted on the integrity and efforts of consular staff, without the opportunity to defend themselves.
Canadians also would like to know what McTeague and Martin supporters thought the Canadian government should do with a sovereign nation like Mexico, to secure the release of Brenda Martin, in spite of the fact that her case was winding itself through the judicial system and she was not being mistreated in the jail. Should Canada storm the Mexican jail and free Brenda Martin? Should the Canadian government bar the travel of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians to Mexico every year who enjoy the hospitality of the Mexican people and the Mexican government, and the protection of the Mexican judicicial system while they are there? Should the Canadian government have recalled the thousands of Canadians that work in Mexico to come back to Canada for their own protection because they are in serious and imminent danger and can not expect any help or assistance from a lazy and incompetent consular staff?
When, on behalf of Canadians, Prime Minister Harper dispatched Jason Kenney, the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, to Mexico to meet with Mexican officials and Brenda Martin, one would have expected this effort would have been appreciated. However rather than being gracious, Charles Rusnell reports that "Ms. Martin's supporters ,including her mother, had slammed the trip as nothing more than a photo opportunity."
We have heard for the past several months that Martin's defenders, which include Dan McTeague, their ace in the hole in Martin's defense was an affidavit from her former boss Alyn Waage, a convicted felon, swindler and con artist that she was innocent - what would give anyone reason to believe anything he would say and what defense lawyer worth his salt would put this crook in the witness box to help bolster his case.
Claire Hoy offers some sober and illuminating thought to this bizarre case when he wrote
"Yet we as Canadians, or at least many of us - along with most of the media - have recently adopted the position that if a Canadian is in jail outside the country there's automatically an injustice being done - to the Canadian.
Apparently, Canadians are all innocent as the driven snow and no foreign country really has a right to exercise their justice system against us. And, when they do, we tend to paint them as corrupt Third World despots."
Thanks for that, Anon. Do you have a link to the Claire Hoy article?
I found this interesting from the Globe link that I just posted at 4:11:
Ms. Martin's people “have to do what they can to get attention for her cause and to get support, but the proof is there; she's had translators,” he (Cruz)said.
So she did have translators!
Anonymous @ Wed Apr 23, 04:13:00 PM EDT, excellent comment.
McTeague was on the radio again this am bleating about the government not doing enough, about how he'd been on the case for over a year, blah blah blah.
And look at the results THAT intervention had.
The only thing missing was a horn blowing in the background.
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=957281
I found this one!
Thanks, Anon!
I was just watching Bill Graham on MDL about Brenda Martin. He was actually a voice of common sense and reason, saying that the Government has done everything it can and we can't send troops in there or anything.
Boy... I take back everything I ever said against Bill Graham. I am impressed.
She won't get any sympathy from me. If she can serve in Canada that's fine, but I never believed in this "double time" or "triple time" crap. That's like pretending you can speed up time itself. Five years are five years. I also don’t believe in concurrent sentencing (sentencing a serial killer to only one sentence for example), I think this encourages murder because criminals know after the first victim it’s free; so if a criminal kills someone in a rage and there are witnesses; they think in for a penny in for a pound. Mexico’s system isn’t the only one with problems.
Now (cue me sounding like a broken record) what the hell is happening to the other 20 Canadians? (Also Mr. Celil who I am very concerned about; as consular officials were never allowed access to him and no one even knows where he is).
As an aside, the government (and PM as apparently he’s directly involved) is really going above and beyond the call of duty here. Kenny has gone down again! Wow. I’m really impressed and I sincerely hope they put that much effort into freeing those Canadians we have not heard about. I’m inclined to believe they do, particularly with the new evidence that they DID do everything they could in Martin’s case even from the beginning; including translators. One thing this has really taught me is how little power the government has when you are in a foreign country. As much as they want to help they can only do so much, so be on guard.
I have the sinking feeling Brenda Martin will be incredibly ungrateful and acidic when she gets to Canada (I won’t say “home” because she hasn’t lived here in over a decade).
'Boy... I take back everything I ever said against Bill Graham. I am impressed.'
I wouldn't go quite that far Joanne. This is a classic liberal/msm tactic.
Yesterday on MDL Ezra did a very good job getting his point across. For partisans it makes no difference as those views are sent and will not change.
For people that might change opinions and start putting two plus two together on what Ezra said....out trots Bill Graham being very reasonable, people forget that libs were trying to play politics on the plight of Martin.
Story is dropped and msm have an excuse for not having to uncover and make a big stink about what has really been going on and libs and msm are not exposed for their tactics!
"Boy... I take back everything I ever said against Bill Graham. I am impressed."
I agree Joanne - I was very impressed - even when Tonda tried to get him to slag the Tories, he actually was truthful about what realistically could be done.
The Dano's (McTeague and Boudria) could take a lesson on how to behave like an MP.
Kudos to Bill Graham.
Dang -then Anony comes up with a sensible reason to make me think maybe he wasn't as reasonable as it appeared.
-then Anony comes up with a sensible reason to make me think maybe he wasn't as reasonable as it appeared.
Yeah... I was hoping there were one or two Liberals left with some kind of integrity.
Don't get me wrong AG and Joanne. I think that Bill Graham has alot of integrity. I think he was also saying what he believes and knows to be true.
I've just seen this tactic used many times when things have the possiblity to look bad for liberals.(or msm)
A taste of what's to come now...
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_21985.aspx
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