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rfmcdonaldMacLean's journalist Michel Petrou is decidedly unimpressed with the secrecy of the Canadian federal bureaucracy, product--he suggests--of the Harper government's secrecy and gagging of its subordinates.
The commenter who blames Canadian tendencies on left-win media muckracking, and Polish tendencies on the recent emergence of democracy, is triggered by unwavering support for the Conservatives, of course.
Go, read.
Researching this story on Polish support for the democratic opposition in Belarus, I called up a contact at the Polish embassy in Ottawa. Within a couple of hours, he sent me personal cell phone numbers for the relevant deputy ministers working on the file. The Polish ambassador invited me to come by for a chat. Did I want to interview Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski? No problem.
You might find this unremarkable. Surely most ministries want to publicize the work they do. You would be wrong — at least if we’re talking about Canada and its current government. In the past five years, I’ve spoken on the record with precisely one person at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs who wasn’t a spokesperson reciting usually banal and evasive talking points that someone else had written.
As it happens, Canada also says it is supporting democracy in Belarus. It pledged $400,000 to the cause in February. Of this, $100,000 was pegged to support Belsat, a Belarusian language television station based in Warsaw and broadcasting into Belarus. I contacted Belsat in March and was told they hadn’t received the money.
A little later I received another note from Belsat saying they had been in touch with Irex Europe, an NGO that aims to builds civil society by supporting independent media. Belsat said Irex Europe told them only $70,000 of the promised Canadian funds would reach Belsat, while Irex would keep the rest. I called Irex Europe and spoke with its director, Mike de Villiers. He said Irex Europe has no contractual agreement with either Belsat or the Canadian government but had been in discussions with both parties. He said a 70-30 split would not be out of the ordinary. Irex Europe would use its share in a case like this to cover administering the rest of the funds, evaluating how they were used, financial oversight and training.
None of this is necessarily scandalous. But it does leave some questions that Foreign Affairs should answer: When will the money promised to help Belsat be dispersed? Is Canada channeling that money through a third party? If so, why? How much will that third party keep? What does Canada expect in return?
I tried for weeks to get answers. Phone calls. Emails. One spokesperson ignored me. Another seemed embarrassed by the talking points he was given. Neither would — or were allowed to — answer my questions.
The commenter who blames Canadian tendencies on left-win media muckracking, and Polish tendencies on the recent emergence of democracy, is triggered by unwavering support for the Conservatives, of course.
Go, read.
