Guergis is the second member of Harper's cabinet who was ousted due to a political scandal, and the previous scandal (concerning Maxime Bernier) also involved the Hells Angels. While Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernier left highly confidential NATO documents at the home of a girlfriend who had long-standing ties to the Hells Angels.
It seems reasonable to suspect that the motorcycle gang is attempting to infiltrate government, or at least exert influence through social connections. This is a tactic long deployed by other organized crime such as the Italian mafia. Motorcycle gangs morphed into sophisticated organized crime syndicates some time ago, but public understanding has not caught up with reality.
Many people don't comprehend the difference between groups of motorcycle enthusiasts and organized crime syndicates like the Hells Angels. It's that ignorance that allows the Hells Angels to operate in a quasi-legitimate fashion.
I don't allege that the Harper Conservatives support or condone organized crime, but this second scandal related to the same crime syndicate has got to be a wake-up call to the Conservatives to take more care. All other politicians should take note, as well.
10 comments:
And the Liberal ties to the Rizzuto
family through Adscam, Gagliano and Volpe have all disappeared through the renewal period. Right?
People who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones.
And the Liberal party is a house of glass.(or cards)
Hi Blue Collar Blue -
First off, it's evident that you only read the headline, and not the content, of my post, because you miss my point entirely. The Hells Angels connections in these two Conservative scandals should be a wake-up call to all politicians.
Secondly, what's with the Conservative line of forgiving their own sins by saying the Liberals did it too - often decades before? And often misrepresenting what really happened?
Paul Martin called the most open inquiry in history to investigate Adscam. The Liberal party fessed up and aired everything. They're still paying the price for that in the polls - not just in Quebec where the scandalous behavior occurred, but across the country.
People sometimes do wrong, and parties need to be open and accountable about it: the Liberals are, and the Conservatives are not. That's been a pattern across scandal after scandal affecting Harper, most importantly the Afghan detainee affair.
We need this government to be more open and more accountable. It's not all partisan issues - as in this case, where the individual who is allegedly at fault (Jaffer) is not currently a member of the Conservative caucus, but has the closest of ties (marriage to a cabinet minister and being an ex-MP).
The Toronto Star says that Rahim Jaffer, husband of Helena Guergis, has been in business with The Toronto Star says that Rahim Jaffer, husband of Helena Guergis, has been in business with "a man who claims to be a former banker for the Hells Angels."
Do you people even grasp what basic reading comprehension skills are?
"a man who claims to be a former banker for the Hells Angels."
Then we see all sorts of unnamed sources in all of these stories as well.
Get a grip.
Yappa, your reasoning is sound to me. And what does our present government (and NATO) have unwritten access to that could possibly interest the Angels/Mafia? Der. It's probably all a big dope-deal gone bad. Call RICO. And keep your eyes on the money the CONS have been "raining down" and splashing around in. Bound to be lots of little paper trails around. Thanks be to Rahim for throwing open the windows and letting the light shine in the PMO! My only joy in this is the revelation of fact. So far, so good. Bring it. CON/LIB, BLOC/NDP. Allegations of war crime, illegal and/or unethical electioneering...scams all around, but could we stay in the present decade please?? Mr. Ignatieff must demand FULL disclosure from the CPC (on a myriad of Canadian interests). Not a "little" as he said. Who writes his stuff anyway? They all work for us though, right? Paid handsomely by us. And whomever else we learn about. So, who works for whom? Demand better.
Okay, okay, it looks like I was a little hasty about connecting the dots. It seems likely that Jaffer's partner, Nazim Gillani, did work with the Hells Angels (possibly laundering money for them), but it also seems that his connection with them is broken, and that he may have left BC in order to create a distance between himself and his former associates.
Plus, the problem with the whole Jaffer-Guergis story is that the Toronto Star is the news outlet that has the inside scoop on the story, and the Star is not the most credible news outlet in the country, to say the least. When CBC or Macleans or the Globe start revealing their research, the story will be clearer.
Your last post proves to me that while I don't always agree with you on things, you will listen to reason and change your mind as new information becomes available, Yappa.
Actually, the Toronto Star does by far the best investigative journalism that I've ever seen. The partisan issue here is not that blue is better than red, but simply that blue just happens to be in power right now.
As for organized crime, go to the library and check out "The Merger", probably one of the most comprehensive books on organized crime in Canada-and how it has effectively 'taken over' the country.
Need some proof of that? How about the latest mortgage fraud in Alberta which is so massive the RCMP says it won't be investigating it because its TOO big. Now, does that hold if I go out and kill MILLIONS of people-would they then see that its 'too big' a crime?
Everybody from MacLeans to the National Post has already written articles on Canada's lax white collar crime. Police forces have long complained, but they virtually never get airplay in the media.
Meanwhile, Harper can be 'tough on drugs', as long as its just a couple of kids trafficing. We can build big new prisons to stick more petty criminals in, but crimes that MP's are directly implicated in are just 'too big' for our police force.
The question is not 'whats with the Harper Conservatives and the Hell's Angers', the question is "whats with Canada and organized crime?" Again, go read "The Merger" and you'll get a whole new perspective on whats going on in the country. This is not a partisan issue, but the government just happens to be more blue than red at the moment, and they happen to be involved in the issues.
Sorry for the typo, thats not "Canada's lax white collar crime" but Canada's lax legislation on combating white collar crime.
Thanks, Anon, I plan to read that book and another, about the veil of secrecy regarding the RCMP, in relation to successive Canadian PMO's. I think the name of the author is Palango. What WE see is 'theatre' in government. It's good to know that people are documenting what's really taking place behind the curtain. There are always unseen reasons and cold calculation for everthing they do. I don't think the War On Drugs was an accident and the fact the whole border-towns in ME are now inhabited and ruled by criminals...well, like fighting terrorism by creating terrorism, dumbing-down and demoralizing much of the US and spreading that into Canada, it's all done for calculated reasons. Facts that people document are what interest me.
I, just last night,watched the doc about the whole Montreal--Mafia/Hells Angels/Rock Machine alliance. (Mystery Channel.) And I cannot believe our government is-- 'not NOW and has NEVER been', aware of or involved in any financial or 'other' way with the FORTUNES made by these people? On the backs of OUR drug-addicted, poverty-ridden segment of society, that so many of us know, or are related to? The fortunes made in the grey market of the halls of power--dwarf the Boston Pizza guys' first quarter earnings.
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