Dirty Pennies Coming Up For Air

One can only hope that old political warhorses, unseated from their perches of governance will simply fade into the background, never to be heard from again. Invariably, those who have left office in the miasma of disgrace have the good sense and grace to leave and be done with it. They had their opportunity to administer the affairs of the country.

Unfortunately, it's not to be. The departing government can be certified incompetent and even corrupt in the opinion of the wider public, but this does little to erase the self-entitled belief of supreme authority on the part of one of the ilk of Jean Chretien.

The simple matter is,to attain the highest office of the land candidates must all too often become transformed through the process - or the syndrome pre-existing the process of attainment - into an egotistical monster. And so it is that once again the voice of Jean Chretien is heard throughout the land.

Our former prime minister who vastly overstayed his usefulness to the country and in the process besmirched his party, and revealed himself for the mercenary acquisitor that he is, has pronounced his opinion of his successor's performance.

It is his considered opinion that the current office holder has erred drastically in throwing the cautionary principle he exemplified to the winds, by not currying favour with Beijing.

To have determined that it is not his place, nor representative of his office as prime minister of Canada to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Stephen Harper, in the opinion of Jean Chretien, has let opportunities slip through Canada's trade fingers. Of course most heads of most countries do not routinely attend the Olympic events when they take place outside their own countries.

That China went out of its way to entice, encourage, beseech the presence of as many heads of government to its coming-out-party as possible, did garner it the presence of many political hierarchical Illuminati, but not our prime minister, although a high-enough ranking cabinet minister was dispatched to the event to represent Canada.

"I would have been at the Olympics myself", chafed Mr. Chretien, who feels that this Conservative-led government currently in office has acted ignobly in criticizing China for its human-rights record, and which has, as a result, held itself diplomatically aloof rather than opt for friendlier relations.

As indeed Mr. Chretien himself did, revelling in putting together a series of high-profile trade missions to China, accompanied by any number of representative Canadian corporate heads, all paid for by the Canadian taxpayer. And here goes Stephen Harper et al, ruining all the foundation-work of future trade and mutual economic enhancement potentials.

Mind, the Right Honourable Mr. Jean Chretien ensured his own financial future in setting the stage for further, non-governmental entries into China. He made the right contacts while in office, opened doors for himself and for the corporations he would represent after leaving office, vastly increasing opportunities to make inroads based on his reputation as a former prime minister of Canada.

And that paid off handsomely for Jean Chretien, enabling him to rake in the proceeds, to famously process his plans, glad-handing his way through Beijing, enjoying lavish courtesies as doors open to his business overtures, and living as lavishly as his dark little heart desires.

Now he looks on, glowering with disapproval at the stance of his successor who, he claims, has been churlishly solely responsible for sinking Canada's esteem and trade potential with China through his stubborn adherence to ethical and moral positions in response to China's behaviour on the world stage.

Jean Chretien's sanctimoniously self-serving,self-congratulating hindsight does him no great credit. Canada, however, does not really have to sacrifice its need to express its condemnation or disappointment in the actions a trading partner takes, which does great discredit to a great country whose people deserve far better.