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So, Canadian International Development agency--Where's the money?

by Garth Pritchard, Canadafreepress.com
Thursday, May 5, 2005

Last night Padre Captain J. B. Hardwick received a telephone call from Pastor Sunil Sagadavan of Smyrna Church Samagipura, of Hingurana — a small town in the ampara district, where the Canadian DaRT (Disaster assistance Relief Team) spent 40 days helping the victims of the tsunami.

The pastor had served as translator for the Canadian padre and had traveled to all of the displaced persons camps in the Canadian area of operation in Sri Lanka.

Pastor Sunil reported that the people--those affected by the tsunami--were in exactly the same situation now as they had been after DaRT had left.

The Pastor sadly reports that the people are still living under the same blue plastic Canadian Tire tarps that had been given to them by the Canadian soldiers.

On January 3, 2005 Prime Minister Paul Martin, using his propaganda machine--the Ottawa media--promised a "doubling up." Eighty million dollars, he said. another arm of the government, CIDa (Canadian International Development agency)--has been furiously putting out documents on who got what money. Great--but it hasn't reached the people of ampara. The tsunami occurred December 26--over four months ago.

Neither the Canadian Padre nor Pastor Sunil had missed Canada's Prime Minister's promise of aid, repeated during Martin's boorish whirlwind visit to the ravaged area. They witnessed Martin and his handlers stumble over mass graves and knock down some villagers. and the people all heard the pledge of financial aid.

However, as of last night, according to the pastor, not one penny of the promised Canadian money has arrived in the ampara area.

Canadians contributed a minimum of $40 Million from their own pockets. Where is it?

Paul Martin has put the figure at $425 Million for disaster relief. CIDa seems to be playing their normal game. Canadians want to know where their money went. It is not in ampara, Sri Lanka.

We've seen this pattern with CIDa before. In my four-month stay in Kandahar, afghanistan with the Canadian PPCLI Battle Group, CIDa had guaranteed $100,000 for humanitarian projects in afghanistan. as a liaison officer, Captain alex Watson had been charged with the administration of that money. He built five co-ed schools--not the boys-only madrassas. He had 11 wells drilled to supply fresh water in communities around the airport in Kandahar. By the end of Watson's tour, the contractors had not been paid-- CIDa's money never arrived. Trying to make things right, the american military contributed 50 percent of the shortfall, matched by the Canadian Department of National Defence. We were all embarrassed by CIDa.

There's also the little matter of the hundreds of millions of dollars promised by the Prime Minister for afghanistan through the Canadian embassy in Kabul. We spent two months looking for this money. We could not find it. and, there's the never-ending reports by Canadians who know, that there have been investigations of CIDa employees wanting kick-backs from local afghani contractors before giving out CIDa contracts.

What does CIDa do with all the money it's supposed to administer? It seems never to get to the people who so sorely need it.

Canada Free Press columnist Garth Prtitchard, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker living in alberta.

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Jack Layton — The Dance Has Begun

by Garth Pritchard, Canadafreepress.com
Friday, april 29, 2005

as Canadians, where have we seen this all before?

The last two elections come to mind. and the use of the Ottawa press corps to guarantee the Liberals run the country.

The media feeding frenzy has begun.

Now Paul Martin is ranting on television that Harper is in bed with the Separatists — what is he thinking?

What happened to our tsunami aid?

by Garth Pritchard,
Tuesday, april 26, 2005

Given the lack of interest in a federal election over the revelations from Judge Gomery's inquiry, one wonders how Canadians will react when they learn that Ottawa is sitting on more than $400 million in tsunami relief.

The outpouring of compassion following the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster was unprecedented in Canadian history. This is a compassionate country, and Canadians gave from their pockets, piggy banks, and bank accounts. The Canadian media told them not to send blankets or food--send money. and they did.

Scandal looming in promised $425 million for Sir Lanka tsunami victims that never arrived?

by Judi McLeod, Editor,
Wednesday, april 20, 2005

Even as the association of Canadian Maurice Strong with "Koreagate Man" Tungsun Park was coming under world limelight, Sri Lankans were starting to demand answers about where the $425 million promised by Canada to tsunami victims is.

Four months after the tsunami hit, Sri Lankans still don't have their money. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin rushed to the scene for a weeklong photo op. Generous Canadians donated record amounts of money on line.

Chairman of Paul Martin company that accepted Saddam's million worked for Power Corp.

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
Monday, april 25, 2005

The former chairman of the Prime Minister Paul Martin-owned company that accepted $1 million from Saddam Hussein, worked with Martin at the Paul Desmarais-owned Power Corporation.

William Turner was chairman of Cordex Petroleums Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company based in alberta with an american subsidiary in Denver, Colo.

Saddam invested one million dollars in Paul Martin-owned Cordex

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
Friday, april 22, 2005

The Canadian company that Saddam Hussein invested a million dollars in belonged to the Prime Minister of Canada, canadafreepress.com has discovered.

Cordex Petroleum Inc., launched with Saddam's million by Prime Minister Paul Martin's mentor Maurice Strong's son Fred Strong, is listed among Martin's assets to the Federal Ethics committee on November 4, 2003.

PaTHETIC!

by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
Friday, april 22, 2005

Last night Prime Minister Paul Martin gave up six minutes of his precious time to speak directly to the Canadian people.

Canadian prime ministers have requested air time to speak to the country about matters of national importance only on rare occasions. The last time this was done was 10 years ago when Jean Chrétien took to the airwaves to attempt to persuade Quebeckers to remain in Canada prior to the October 1995 referendum. Pierre Trudeau addressed Canadians back in 1970 when he implemented the War Measures act to counter the FLQ crisis.


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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