Thursday, June 24, 2010

What's going on here?

So a year after his appointment, we are left with an uncomfortable speculation about exactly what kind of man Canada has chosen to be its CSIS chief.
Gordon Campbell says Richard Fadden's accusations that municipal and provincial politicians are Chinese agents are "unprecedented and completely unprofessional" The Toronto Star says Faddan was "bowing smoke, perhaps in order to reinforce his pitch for more funding". At the National Post, John Ivison calls the comments "extremely odd" and speculates that Fadden wants to quit his job --"If the CSIS director wanted to come in from the cold, there must be less dramatic ways of ending his career."
At Macleans, John Geddes says Fadden "made himself look ridiculous". At the Globe and Mail, Michael Posner says this isn't the first time Fadden has talked about boogeymen under the bed and Gary Mason says Fadden "got carried away trying to impress Mr. Mansbridge" The Globe editorial says the remarks are reckless, foolish and contradictory.
Mr. Fadden tried to backtrack yesterday. He issued a statement noting that foreign interference is a “common occurrence,” and saying he had not apprised the PCO of the cases, or deemed them to be of sufficient concern to alert provincial authorities.
If the cases aren't serious enough to share with his political masters, why mention them on national television? Why say he is talking to the PCO, only to later deny this?
Watch the interview and see if you can figure out what the heck Fadden thinks he is doing.
Creepiest part is when Mansbridge asks him how he knows Canadian politicians are foreign agents and he replies "Under the law we can monitor anything."
And I was wondering why I keep hearing this funny buzzing on the line when I call city hall these days...

No comments: