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-- It appears Bush is not the only Oil man in politics
It appears Bush is not the only Oil man in politics
Written by Lowell Ponte
What possible reason, ask most Americans, could cause our next door neighbor and closest trading partner Canada to stab us in the back? To side with France and Saddam Hussein against us? To cozy up to Fidel Castro (even though Chretien�s and Castro�s socialist politics are not all that different)? To boo and curse America�s national anthem at Canadian sporting events? To have members of Canada�s cabinet say vile things about the United States and its President � and then go unfired and unpunished by its Prime Minister?
A few of us, however, know that Jean Chretien is a grandfather. Canadian oil tycoon and mega-billionaire Paul Desmarais, coincidentally, is also grandfather to the same grandchildren � his son Andre being married to Chretien�s daughter, whose very name is France.
One of the French oil companies that had been closest to Saddam Hussein is Paris-based TotalFinaElf. Its biggest shareholder is the same Paul Desmarais, and his son Paul Jr., brother of Chretien�s son-in-law Andre, sits on Total�s Board of Directors.
TotalFinaElf, incidently, recently and quietly moved to buy up a large share of a major oilsands project in the Canadian province of Alberta, which evidence suggests may be home to one of the world�s two biggest relatively-untapped oil reserves. This gives both Montreal and France a Saddam-like interest in making sure Alberta can never secede to become either part of a new independent nation or a new state of the United States.
"It�s all about oil," the anti-war protestors told us. Apparently they were right, writes Canadian journalist Mark Steyn, at least where Canada is concerned.
Jean Chretien has followed an anti-American, pro-Saddam Hussein policy that may be bad for Canada, but his family stood to make many, many, many millions of dollars if Hussein could by hook or crook be kept in power. To paraphrase its beautiful national anthem, Oh Canada, Jean prefers greed to thee.
If Chretien seems greasy, it apparently is because his family fortune rises or falls by floating on the oil of Saddam�s Iraq and other undemocratic Middle Eastern nations.
The Desmarais family has other links worth noting. Andre has held a proud place on the board of multinational communications behemoth Vivendi. And he runs Power Corporation, whose annual revenues typically top $18 billion (Canadian dollars). For a disturbing, if Leftist, depiction of how the Desmarais family manipulates the national media as well as all major political parties in Canada, check out University of Windsor Professor James Winter�s provocative book Democracy�s Oxygen: How the Corporations Control the News.
Andre also sits on the board of the Peoples� Republic of China�s China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), reportedly described by some as "the investment arm of the Chinese military." Canada�s version of the CIA, the CSIS, reportedly through its "Project Sidewinder" tried to investigate how this and Chretien�s frequent trade missions to China might reflect undue Chinese communist influence on Canadian politicians.
In the dawning light of the 9-11 world, we see change. Old enemies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere have become friends and allies. Old friends such as France at this moment look more and more like enemies, bent on undercutting "the American hegemon" to make themselves feel and appear taller. Canada has become closer to France and China, and moved farther from its traditional friendship with the United States.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones!
OIL is the basics of interest. Every country wants it and desires it, but only ONE country has the guts to invade another for it, not mattering the deaths caused by it.
Mm replace Country with - Administration in order to not generalize.
WOW...let's give trinitiy a cookie! She/he's told us something we already know!! congratulations!
Who doesn't want oil?
Thanks for your time
It's true, Chretien and much of his cabinet have lots to gain and lose financially when it comes to international matters. Nothing new there.
That bit about Alberta forming a new state is pretty 
There's lots of talk about "Western Alienation" around here and I also think that we're under-represented federally, but thankfullly, most people who live here are levelheaded enough not to buy into that "Western Separation" BS.
eeek... i think this is a bit far fetched...
the news would be all over it... reporters investigated on some grant (about half a million) a federal org. gave to a hotel to renovate, and that hotel owed money to Chretien or some bs like that... they still talk about it, and it was years ago.
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| What possible reason, ask most Americans, could cause our next door neighbor and closest trading partner Canada to stab us in the back? To side with France and Saddam Hussein against us? To cozy up to Fidel Castro (even though Chretien�s and Castro�s socialist politics are not all that different)? To boo and curse America�s national anthem at Canadian sporting events? To have members of Canada�s cabinet say vile things about the United States and its President � and then go unfired and unpunished by its Prime Minister? |
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| Originally posted by ahlamalek I wouldn't bet 50 cents on this story. |
Let's see, where to begin?
DrummeRaver86: Just in case you got lost on the forums, this is the political debate section of TA. You see people visit this section to debate points in an adult manner. Obviously that concept is lost on you. I apologize, but I�ll break my cynicism down for you, if you dig through some of the old post from the last 2 months you will find a tremendous number of anti-bush/anti-American threads blasting us for our warmongering on the basis of oil. I was just providing an alternate view point for the sake of discussion. Again I apologize for you.
ahlamalek: I know the motives of the article are anti-canadian. That�s why I posted it, don�t flame me, I have nothing against Canada, I just wanted to play devils advocate here. Any why not cast some dirt on Canada a lot of you have been flinging plenty of dirt toward bush and America. I say turn around is fair play. Try defending you country for a little while.
Also the article may have been written very one sided but the points are valid. Here�s some more info: For many years, astute political observers have noted what appears to be an unusually powerful web of influence over Canadian federal politics by wealthy Canadian businessman and Power Corporation founder, Paul Desmarais senior. The number of Prime Ministers and other elected and influential Canadians financially beholden to the Quebec based Canadian nationalist is astonishing.
In an Ottawa Citizen article of May 2, 1995 columnist Paul Gessell asked �Why does Desmarais have a direct pipeline into every Prime Minister�s office, regardless of who occupies that post or what party is in power?� Following is LifeSite�s summary of the most significant elements of the Desmarais web of influence.
* Current Prime Minister Jean Chretien sat on the board of Power Corp. subsidiary Consolidated Bathurst Inc. before becoming leader of the Liberal Party. Chretien�s daughter France is married to Paul Desmarais� son Andre. Andre was involved in Canadian power station projects in China. Chretien personally withdrew Canadian support of a UN condemnation of China�s human rights abuses after Chinese officials threatened to take power station projects away from Canadian firms. The Prime Minister's nephew, Raymond Chretien, is now Canada's Ambassador to France." Chretien's "advisor, counsellor and strategist" for the past 30 years has been Mitchel Sharp, who brought Chretien into politics when he was Finance Minister. From 1981 onwards Sharp was Vice-Chairman for North America of David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission.
* In her April 17, 2003 National Post column Diane Francis notes that Chretien heir apparent, Paul Martin, was hired in the 1960s to work for Paul Desmarais senior by Maurice Strong. In 1974, Francis writes, �Desmarais made Martin president of Canada Steamship Lines and then, in 1981, made him spectacularly rich by selling the company to him and a partner�� She follows, �It all begs a number of questions, Did Mr. Desmarais give away the company to Mr. Martin? Did Mr. Desmarais lend him the money or guarantee the loan? And what does this mean in terms of his allegiance or loyalty to Mr. Desmarais and his empire in Canada and France.�
* An August 5, 1994 Globe and Mail article noted that "Another prime minister, long-time family friend, Pierre Trudeau (now deceased), sits on Power's star-studded international advisory board."
* Ted Johnson, A former Trudeau assistant, and a friend of Chretien�s chief of staff, Eddie Goldenberg (more powerful than most MPs and even Cabinet Ministers), was vice-president, secretary and legal counsel to Power Corp.
* Michael Pitfield, the super-bureaucrat under the Trudeau government, was a vice-chairman of Power Corp and is still listed as a Director Emeritus.
* Maurice Strong became President of Power Corp by his mid-thirties. From there he became a Liberal Party bureaucrat and created the controversial, left-wing Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In 1976, still under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, he was appointed to run Petro Canada, the state-run oil company. This wealthy ex-Desmarais employee is an architect of the Kyoto accord and has been a powerful advocate of UN world governance and world de-population. He is an advisor to both the UN Secretary General and the president of the World Bank. With former Soviet President Michael Gorbachev he co-authored the infamous �Earth Charter� which Strong, Gorbachev and numerous prominent allies are hoping will guide a new world order based on "planetary ethics". The Charter reads like a new age ten commandments and includes language supporting abortion. Strong also supports a one world religion. See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/jun/00063006.html See also http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/jan/00011302.html
* Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Desmarais go back at least as far as 1972. Mulroney friend Ian MacDonald described Desmarais as �Mulroney�s mentor in the business world.� Mulroney has done legal work for Desmarais since his spectacular election loss at the end of his second term as Prime Minister.
* Former Mulroney Cabinet Minister Don Mazankowski is currently Power�s company director.
* Former Ontario Conservative premiers William Davis and John Robarts sat on Power�s national advisory board.
* John Rae, the brother of former Ontario New Democratic (Socialist) Premier Bob Rae is currently listed as Power's Executive Vice-President, Office of the Chairman of the Executive Committee (Paul Desmarais).
* Former Quebec premier Daniel Johnson worked for Power from 1973 to 1981 and in the last of those three years was vice-president.
* The May 11, 1996 Toronto Star reported that �Desmarais� worldwide political connections have resulted in an international advisory board featuring such luminaries as former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt; Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, former oil minister of Saudi Arabia, Paul Volcker, former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau."
* There have been indications that the fabled de Rothchild family of Europe has been playing a role in Desmarais� international expansion. For example, the Nov. 20, 2002 Financial Post covered the opening of Sir Evelyn de Rothchild�s investment bank�s Montreal office. Quebec�s business elite were present in force, headed by � Paul Desmarais Jr.
Ottawa Citizen�s Gessell ends his column on Desmarais, �When Chretien retires and a leadership convention is held to replace him, chances are Desmarais will be on hand. Finance Minister (now former) Paul Martin (from Quebec, as were Trudeau, Mulroney and Chretien) could quite possibly be Chretien�s successor. And who taught Martin how to succeed in business? None other than his former employer, Paul Desmarais.�
Hey Trinitiy, if you did a little bit of research yourslef, you'd see that i'm a....well...."frequent" poster on this forum, so don't patronize me. Secondly, if you had done a LITTLE MORE research, you would have seen that i always post in a sarcastic ad sardonic manner, it's my style, so calm the fcuk down. I wasn't trying to insult you...take it easy. If you come into this forum all tight-assed you'll have a tough time.
Look DrummeRaver86, I don't want to start a flame war with you. I was just trying to debate an alternate view point.
Also I'm not new to the forums Trinity- Registered Feb 2001, DrummeRaver86 - Registered Jan 2003. Nor am I, as you so eloquently put it, tight-assed, I was simply giving a rebuttal.
-Trinity, is not like everyone is blasting on the americans, they are blasting on the current american gov't, and you might remember, theres a vast/large number of americans against that same THOUGHT as everyone else in here.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by trintiy Look DrummeRaver86, I don't want to start a flame war with you. I was just trying to debate an alternate view point. Also I'm not new to the forums Trinity- Registered Feb 2001, DrummeRaver86 - Registered Jan 2003. Nor am I, as you so eloquently put it, tight-assed, I was simply giving a rebuttal. |
Not to jump in late or trying to start anything anti-Canadian, but I didn't see it mentioned yet (and I am a noob around here so I may have missed it) that Canada is now the #2 source of proven oil reserves, overtaking Iraq. Would've been a lot cheaper to just invade Canada or go start a war in Venezuela if all we were interested was oil. I think it's a cop out excuse. Like it or not, we did a good thing in Iraq and a majority of the people over there are thankful.
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