Everyone Hates Julian Fantino

Well, the cancellation of Christie Blatchford's speech at Waterloo has kicked up a mini-kerfuffle, with the University apologizing and Tory MPPs Randy Hillier and Toby Barrett vowing to stand beside the G&M journo when she makes her triumphant return (see an extract from their letter below)

Now, here's the interesting thing: Blatchford was touring behind her new book, Helpless, in which she among other things slags off CPoC candidate for Vaughan Julian Fantino for creating a two tiered justice system during the Caledonia native occupation, where First Nations lawbreakers were set free, and white protesters arrested for legal acts.

So does this mean that provincial Tories Hillier and Barrett support Blatchford's charges against the Conservative candidate for the federal riding of Vaughan?

Interesting that you should ask, because one of the twists and turns in the Caledonia saga involved criminal charges laid against Fantino of attempting to influence a municipal official --Fantino allegedly warned the Mayor of Caledonian and other local officials against supporting activist Gary McHale (now involved in the newly renamed group Against Fantino).

When these charges were dropped, MPP Barrett complained vociferously:

Toby here,

As you may know, we in the Ontario PC Caucus, and people from across Haldimand, have criticized the fact that the Crown has seen fit to drop charges against Julian Fantino.

In fact, this was only one in a series of complaints by Barrett--back in 2008, for example, he wrote of Fantino's failed attempts at intimidation.

Nor was Barrett's ill-feeling towards the then OPP chief an isolated case. As hinted at in the release above, Tim Hudak, head of the PCPO (Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario) and the leader of the province's official opposition, spoke out on behalf of his party about the charges against Fantino:

What we have called for as a PC caucus is for a prosecutor from outside the province to take a look at the evidence and that way people in Caledonia and across our province know that it was done with objectivity.

There is even some suggestion that anti-Fantino emotions existed among federal Conservatives. MP. Diane Finley allegedly signed this anti-Fantino petition back in 2009 (although if you look here you'll see that attempts to confirm her signature failed)

Now, my own take on Caledonia is that Fantino was in tough and did the best he could in a difficult situation. With two excerpts from Helpless now having appeared in the NP (here and here), the worst examples of native law-breaking Blatch seems to have discovered are driving without a seat-belt and riding an ATV without the appropriate license. Not being a Conservative, however, that isn't my problem. If you are a Conservative, you probably hated Julian Fantino's guts...until about a month ago, when the Prime Minister appointed him to your team. And now your trying to pretend that everything is ice-cream.

The Tories "Controversial" Candidate For Vaughan

Conservatives Against Fantino rallies today outside of Julian's campaign HQ in Vaughan. They've managed to pick up a surprising amount of media coverage, and while some have criticized them for their lack of ties to either Vaughan or the CPoC (their leader, Gary McHale ran as an indy in Haldimand Norfolk, I believe, and lost badly), their allegations of Fantino's having established a two-tier justice system around Caledonia in the wake of the First Nations/non-aboriginal standoff there seems to have struck a chord with the Tory base.

In other words, we have a Tory candidate that alot of Tories dislike.

Whether Joe and Jane voter care is another story. I doubt they will, but certainly its clear that Mr. Fantino's campaign is off to something of a rough start.

In related news (related because she is clearly one of Julian Fantino's right-wing non-fans) the ARA managed to get three activists on stage before Christie Blatchford was to address a handful of geezers re her new book on the Caledonia Crisis, and prevent her from speaking.

Maybe not worth the candle, given the number of empty seats.

Tory Turmoil In Vaughan

Looks like a number of Ontario Conservatives have come out against Julian Fantino's soon-to-be-announced run for Tory MP in the upcoming Vaughan by-election. Their beef--his actions(or lack thereof) in regards to Caledonia and the ongoing clashes between non-natives and natives in the area:

Julian Fantino is a symbol of the Race-Based Policing practices in Caledonia that saw innocent property owners victimized with illegal occupations while OPP officers stood guard for those committing the crimes. His candidacy for the Conservative Party would symbolize that the party has fully embraced racialized policing and the dangerous ideology that innocent victims should be controlled, silenced and targeted for arrest as an alternative to enforcing the law against extremist groups. Julian Fantino has shown scarcely believable bias in favour of native criminals all the while using the full weight of his office to try to intimidate peaceful, law-abiding non-natives into compliance.

The two founders of Conservatives Against Fantino are Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas. McHale especially is a rabble rouser as much as an activist--several members of the Neo-Nazi Northern Alliance appeared at one of their rallies, and his followers have occasionally described themselves as a militia. Although, that said, he has managed to win several small legal victories against the OPP.

Vandermaas writes a blog devoted the ongoing Caledonia standoff. I don't know what if any previous connection to the CPoC these two might have had before launching their website.

My opinion is that Fantino was in tough in Caledonia, and nothing he could have done would have been beyond criticism. He'll also almost certainly take the seat whatever these two guys get up to. But what the heck. My job here is to upset Conservatives.

Caledonian MilitiaMan Wins In Court

Gary McHale's name comes up a lot when you're reading about the on-going troubles between native and non-native in Caledonia, usually in a negative context, as for example when Northern Alliance Members show up at his rallies. But one of the tactics that McHale and his followers have employed--laying private charges against native protesters, and against OPP officers who have allegedly failed to arrest or in fact aided native protesters--seems to have borne fruit. The full ruling is here, and the money passage below:

Now, my early morning pre-coffee reading of this ruling suggests it is fairly limited in scope. The police have been telling McHale and co. that, look, these charges are just going to get stayed, so we won't let you lay them in the first place. The judge is saying "no", these are two separate events, and the 2nd (where the charges get stayed) follows the 1st only after a certain amount of processing by the justice system.

So, while the charges McHale files will still get tossed eventually, he will be able to use the justice system to lay a hassle on the police and natives on the other side of the barricades.

Ontario In The Bag?

Quick Link.

The five-day survey that wrapped up Monday found the Liberals at 41 per cent support, the Conservatives at 32 per cent, the New Democrats 14 per cent and the Greens 12 per cent.

That's a Majority, folks, though a small one.

The only thing I worry about is Tory demagoguing the Caledonia issue because, given the behavior of the First Nations there, they're not deserving of a whole lot of Liberal guilt at the moment. But its hard to campaign as a moderate worthy of Toronto's vote and then turn into Mike Harris on a dime, so I don't think John Tory could pull it off even if he wanted to try.

Also, 12 per cent for the Greens. That might hold on election day without them winning a single seat. Good argument for MMP (which I will probably write about tomorrow).

Pollster: Caledonia Occupation Hurts Liberals, And Our Skaters Was Robbed

I'm trying to figure out how something like this happens. A story about the aborigonal occupation of Caledonia appears on Canada.com and elsewhere. Pollster Greg Lyle, managing director of Innovative Research Group, says that:

TORONTO (CP) - The aboriginal occupation that has dragged on for more than a year in a small southern Ontario town is hurting the provincial Liberals in opinion polls as they prepare for a provincial election in October...

Fair enough, though an arguable claim, as CP staffer Chinta Puxley points out later. But then comes this bizarre bit of reporting:

Public awareness of the controversy isn't quite as high as it was when Canadian figure skating champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were almost robbed of their gold medal in the 2002 Winter Games, but it's close, Lyle said.

"This is way above the typical political awareness," he said of his monthly surveys of 600 people over the past year. "Anyone who's going to vote in the next election in Ontario has heard of this issue."

What connection do Sale and Pelletier have with Caledonia? Theories, anyone? Is this some weird cut-and-paste accident?