Yesterday Ralph Goodale and company desperately tried to blame the Harper Government for the outrage of having to apologize and pay off Omar Khadr.
However many people are pointing out that Ralph Goodale was a Cabinet minister during the Chretien/Martin years when this all started. So he should be the last person in the world to blame the previous Conservative Government for anything to do with this matter.
It’s also a bit rich for Goodale to try to act so holier-than-thou and outraged at the so-called leaker.
On top of it all it sure does seem that this payment was rushed through in order to circumvent the U.S. victims from being able to sue for any of Khadr’s taxpayer-funded windfall.
Disgusting.
[Related: The Shady Business of paying Omar Khadr – Terry Glavin, Macleans.]
Blue Like You2 
“Disgusting” is right. But Goodale’s part in this entire mess is not the only one that’s disgusting. I am equally, if not more, troubled by the role of the Supreme Court and all the constitutional “experts” who suddenly came to life during Stephen Harper’s tenure but were quite content to leave matters be when Chretien & Martin were PMs.
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Very true Gabby. We sure seem to have a left-leaning activist Supreme Court.
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The Americans aren’t too happy with us either….http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/omar-khadr-killed-an-american-soldier-but-canada-just-gave-him-8-million/article/2628023
so good for Can/US relations!!
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I think they have every reason to be upset with Canada!
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More here via Joe Warmington: Trudeau should be charged with treason: Morris.:
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The Rebel has started an Indiegogo page for donations to the Speers family. Maybe if enough real Canadians donate we can at least show them we are not all treasonous idiots
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Although the crowd funding is well-intentioned, I disagree with it because it absolves the Liberals of responsibility. If Khard’s Charter rights were truly violated — which I doubt, despite the SCoC’s ruling — that was under the Liberals’ tenure back in the early 2000s, before the Conservatives became the government. The Liberal Party should be the ones forking over some money to Mrs. Speer, not good-hearted and well-intentioned conservatives — which in this case I guess I’m not. Failing that, since the Liberals, like good “progressives”, are truly magnanimous with other people’s money, maybe Omar Khadr can give the reported $.5M share of his $10.5 M bounty to Mrs. Speer to prove to Canadians he is a “better person” than many believe him to be.
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It’s one thing to give him a second chance, it is quite another to give him an outrageous settlement amount. The courts have not ordered a settlement yet so until then seems absolutely ridiculous especially such a large amount as with this amount he can live the rest of his life without ever having to work again. I agree both past Liberal and Conservative governments made mistakes here, but returning him to Canada and releasing him allowing him a second chance is more than enough.
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I’m curious. What mistake(s) do you think the Conservative government made in regard to Khadr?
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We should have asked to him repatriated or at least asked the US to move him to the US. I believe everyone no matter how heinous a crime deserves a fair trial. My understanding is every other western country asked for their nationals to be repatriated. That doesn’t mean be released, if tried in Canada and convicted, he would be in prison right now. Note these mistakes also apply to the Chretien and Martin governments too, not just Harper.
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A couple of interesting articles about Khadr at the tarekfatah.com website:
1. “L’affaire Omar Khadr: Former U.S. diplomat David T. Jones writes, “Canadian fibrillations over Khadr reflect simple anti-Americanism and are a caricature of reality”
2. “L’affaire Omar Khadr: Under Islamic beliefs, Khadr was no child, writes Farzana Hassan”
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Thanks for mentioning Tarek’s website Gabby. I saw on Twitter this morning that he’s battling cancer again. He’s been through so much.
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I hope it goes well for Mr. Fatah.
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We have such a simple explanation from Trudeau, Khadr’s Charter rights were violated, when rights are violated we must pay. How do “they”, whoever “they” are, decide on the amount we must pay?
What exactly did we do to tally it up into the millions?
To top it off, Khadr’s lawyer has pegged those of us who are against this payout as bigots! How dare we even have an opinion!
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What bothers me most about this whole sordid affair is the nefarious, underhanded and cowardly manner in which it was done. In this government’s mind the real problem is the way the taxpaying public learned of it. Now we’re just supposed to accept it and shut up. Where is that money going? I’m sure his lawyers will have gotten paid handsomely right off the bat. How much will go to his family of treacherous scroungers? How much will go “overseas”? Why the confidentiality clause? What else is being hidden from us and why? He claims he wants to be a nurse. Who in their right mind would trust him with their care, their medications?
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For Miles Lunn @ July 9, 2017 at 11:19 pm
I disagree with you that PM Harper should have asked Khadr be repatriated. I’m sure Mr. Harper wanted to uphold 1. the conservative principle of respect for law & order and 2. not wanting to interfere in another country’s judicial process, since the US trial of Khadr was still pending when repatriation was requested. In addition, despite the fact the SCoC stated Khadr’s Charter rights were violated (remember, under the Liberals’ tenure), the Court refused to order the Harper government to repatriate Khadr.
https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/7842/index.do
“For the reasons that follow, we agree with the courts below that Mr. Khadr’s rights under s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated. However, we conclude that the order made by the lower courts that the government request Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada is not an appropriate remedy for that breach under s. 24(1) of the Charter . Consistent with the separation of powers and the well-grounded reluctance of courts to intervene in matters of foreign relations, the proper remedy is to grant Mr. Khadr a declaration that his Charter rights have been infringed, while leaving the government a measure of discretion in deciding how best to respond. We would therefore allow the appeal in part.”
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Every other country had their nationals repatriated from Guantanamo. It is customary procedure that if another country’s procedures do not meet the standards in their country they advocate otherwise. For example on the death penalty, it is customary for countries without the death penalty to advocate for clemency even if the country they committed the crime in has the death penalty. While agree this is a gray area, the fact every other country with nationals in Gitmo asked for repatriation looks bad at least. Repatriation doesn’t mean release, we could still imprison Khadr. The problem is the rule of law and fair trial was not applied in Gitmo and as a country who believes in this we should not support breaking this for our citizens. I agree Khadr should pay for his crime, but through a fair trial and then imprisonment, not torture and ignoring those procedures as the US did. No matter how heinous the crime, I believe all suspects deserve a fair trial as mistakes happen and yes guilty should be punished, but innocent should not and a system that doesn’t allow for innocent until proven guilty should not be supported by Canada.
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Not that our disagreeing on the case will change anything … but here goes anyway.
• “Every other country had their nationals repatriated from Guantanamo.”
Yes, and some of those nationals reverted to terrorist activities.
Article “Intel report: 121 former Gitmo detainees returned to terrorism
BY REBECCA KHEEL – 03/07/17 02:58 PM EST”
That possibility — that if released Khadr might revert to terrorist activities — may have added to PM Harper’s reluctance to repatriate. In any case, he also probably wanted the US judicial process to come to a conclusion without his government’s intervention.
• Khadr “tortured”? His claim, unproven. Sleep deprivation does not equal torture IMO.
• His Charter rights violated? The SCoC is rather inconsistent on that point. In a June 2007 article titled “Charter Protections End at Canadian border: top court”:
“Canadians accused of crimes abroad are not protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they’re being investigated by Canadian or foreign police, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday.”
But, as I said before, none of these arguments will change the reality that Khadr & his lawyer probably laughed all the way to the bank and are laughing still.
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GabbyinQuebec – good points. Although I may have a slightly different view, I absolutely do not support the 10.5 million compensation unless required by the courts which is not the case. As Andrew Scheer pointed out being returned and now released is more than enough.
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Is this a furtherance of M103 signifying Sharia creep in Canada? Whatever it is, it’s concerning. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/07/canada-sending-sharia-supporting-muslim-parliamentary-secretary-to-oic-session
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Yes, Anne, it is concerning, very concerning, especially so with the present government. Freedom of religion is a Charter dictate, they have that. Sharia law has no place in Canada.
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Lorrie Goldstein has Ralph Goodale pegged well “Canada’s own Comical Ali”.
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Here’s the link for that article: http://www.torontosun.com/2017/07/10/ralph-goodale-our-own-comical-ali
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For Miles Lunn @ July 11, 2017 at 2:24 am
If the civil suit against the federal government for “wrongful imprisonment” had continued, I’m afraid the court might have awarded Khadr some compensation, although perhaps not the huge bounty the Libs gifted to him. Let’s face it, our courts lean more to the left than to the right. However, if Martin Patriquin is to be believed, some court awards are rather paltry in comparison to what Khadr got.
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Thanks everyone for the great comments and intriguing debate here. I am busy this week with my seven-year-old grandson and will try to get back up to speed at the end of the week.
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Just the fact that the door to your place (blog) is open & anyone can feel welcome is enough for me. You don’t need to feed your visitors refreshments, particularly when your grandchild needs your attention. Thank you!
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Thanks Gabby! That’s very kind. And if you wanted refreshments it would be a yummy tropical fruit freezee. 😉
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For Greg @ July 10, 2017 at 11:00 am:
Having learned that “A judge in Toronto has dismissed a request to freeze Omar Khadr’s assets” in this article, I’ve reconsidered my position on the crowdfunding in support of Mrs. Speer. Whatever funds are raised should go to hiring the best lawyers on either side of the border, not only to fight for a freeze on the $10.5M the Trudeau Liberals gifted to Khadr, but also to sue the Liberal Party for the cruel anguish caused by her husband’s killer being rewarded by the LPC for his crime. However, there is no guarantee that will happen, since as I’ve said before, most judges seem to lean left.
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Joanne, that “yummy tropical fruit freezee” sounds good, even though July temps in these parts are below normal … you know, what with global warming and all …
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Haha! Indeed.
BTW I see that PM Harper reached out to the Khadr victims. Good for him!
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Mr. Harper embodies all the qualities of leadership and statesmanship. Oh, how I miss him!
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Like Anne in SWON I too miss Mr. Harper. But as has been the case throughout his time in Parliament, both as Leader of the Opposition and as PM, he is once again being maligned, this time for calling both victims of Khadr’s crime — by a pundit who had to step down from his job as news anchor at Global News because of a conflict of interest.
Roberts claims Mr. Harper made the calls to help the Conservatives’ cause leading up to the 2019 election. According to Roberts, “It’s important we call out politicians when they try and cash in on other people’s suffering for their own gain. That’s what’s going on here, the same way Justin Trudeau took that picture of that Syrian child who was on the beach during the election campaign … we called him out then, we’re calling out Stephen Harper now …”
Thing is, Roberts has a selective memory … Trudeau was not “called out” for using that questionable picture of the dead Syrian child. If anything, the MSM — for the most part — depicted then-PM Harper as heartless in comparison to the compassionate Trudeau … and the electorate bought it.
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Exactly. I find Global worse than CBC in some ways.
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He has received an apology, he’s been awarded millions but has Omar Khadr ever been heard to denounce terrorism?
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Indeed. And do we have any guarantees how he will spend that money? (i.e. will any go to terrorist causes?)
BTW excellent interview on Fox tonight with Tucker Carlson talking to Michelle Rempel about the whole Khadr mess.
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Heard a bit of an interview with Bob Fife on a CFRA Ottawa talk show and he certainly wasn’t impressed that Rempel was on Fox talking about it…surprise!! He also gave the me the impression he doesn’t care much for Rebel, I guess Ezra wouldn’t be surprised!
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Hi Liz. Sorry your comment was held up in the filter.
I think many in Canadian media are going crazy that Conservatives are bypassing them! More arrogance and entitlement from the elites.
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Some of them on twitter are really upset that Maxime Bernier wasn’t picked for Deputy Leader instead of Lisa Raitt. I understand why she was and they kept mentioning her connection to Cape Breton and the East Coast. They have no one out there to represent that part of Canada so Lisa will do double duty with the East and Ontario. I think he did a good job with someone to represent every part across Canada…..and we should all stop whining and work together or the Liberals will be in power for a long time.
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I’m sure Andrew Scheer will find a great way to use Bernier’s talents to grow and enhance the party.
I love the idea of Raitt as Deputy Leader. She is awesome.
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I’m sure I read somewhere that Bernier had wanted the position as finance critic. Lots to get his teeth into there.
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I too think Lisa Raitt was a good choice. Female, GenX, from the 905 belt, and with Atlantic Canada roots all groups we need to do better amongst to win in 2019. Also a moderate too. She was my second choice behind Michael Chong.
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Yes I’ve been watching Lisa a lot lately on various Canadian news channels speaking about Omar Khadr and other issues. She communicates very well and she can think on her feet. She comes across as very genuine, I feel.
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