Boreal

Shooting the Messenger

Till Death Do Us Part

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Condolences

Should I join my wife before some of the better known, among my generation, prominent individuals who played a key role in my dismissal, I did not want to miss expressing how I would feel on their passing.

The Right Honourable Joe Clark

Clark’s passing leaves me with mixed feelings. That he signed off on a letter to me praising the officials who had just arbitrarily fired me I find particularly vexing. Despite that, I still think he was a decent man who couldn’t have known that his letter would be used to blackmail a judge (adjudicator).

https://www.boreal.ca/STM/blackmail.htm

Ambassador Raymond Chrétien

I remember Ambassador Chrétien as the most gracious of diplomats.

https://www.boreal.ca/STM/Chretien.htm

Unfortunately, his efforts to save me from the unemployment line were scuttled by a brutish fellow by the name of S.P. McGahey.

https://boreal.ca/STM/McGahey.htm

I sent the former ambassador an advance copy of my first attempt to tell my story. He called me at home and we talked for about an hour. He was quite forthcoming and cleared up the question of who actually ordered my firing.

https://www.boreal.ca/STM/Clark.htm

The Honourable Marcel Massé

The former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Treasury Board's (among other portfolios) heart may have been in the right place when he came up with the idea of the Sponsorship Program as a means of raising the Federal government’s profile in Québec and other parts of Canada.

His heart may also have been in the right place when as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs he undoubtedly ordered my firing without regard to due process as a way of preserving the reputation for propriety of Canada’s vaunted Foreign Service. My wife, who also has passed away, found nothing redeeming about what was done to her husband, and I can’t blame her (see previous link).

Keith Spicer

The former Commissioner of Official Languages' heart may also have been in the right place when as editor of the Ottawa Citizen he sidestepped an investigation that would have damaged the reputation of former colleagues and that of the Office he once headed.

https://www.boreal.ca/STM/journalism.htm

But how  do you explain the current management of the Citizen refusing to accept paid for advertising for Shooting the Messenger - Till Death Do Us Part?

D’Iberville Fortier and Max Yalden

Like all of the above, Fortier and Yalden are Order of Canada recipients. Both played a crucial role in my firing and therefore I felt deserved a mention in spite of their passing some time ago. These are the only two prominent individuals whose conduct I find difficult to justify.

https://www.boreal.ca/STM/TradingPlaces.htm

In June 24, 2003 I posted a letter I sent Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson to complain about what the Order of Canada had become.

https://www.boreal.ca/Canadian/honours.htm