Author: Emil Lazarian

BBC rejects accusations of bias – Azeri agency
Turan news agency
4 Jun 04
Baku, 4 June: The BBC World Service has issued a statement expressing
its regret that Azerbaijan’s ANS TV and radio company suspended
the transmission of its regional programmes in Russian on 1 June
2004. The statement says that Azerbaijani state radio will continue
rebroadcasting BBC programmes in Russian and on 103.3 FM in Baku. “The
BBC remains committed to covering events in the region and in other
parts of the world, scrupulously observing impartiality, fairness,
accuracy, balance and editorial independence and presenting a wide
range of opinions from all the strata of society,” the statement said.
The BBC takes all criticism seriously and reviews its coverage of
events in the region regularly. “On the basis of such comprehensive and
careful scrutiny, the BBC is confident in rejecting the suggestion that
its reports contain bias against any community in the region,” it said.
“The BBC provides equal opportunities to its employees and is
legally bound not to allow discrimination on racial, religious,
ethnic, national and sexual grounds, as well as because of martial
status, sexual orientation, disability or age,” the statement said
in conclusion.
To recap, ANS suspended the transmission of the programmes of
the BBC Central Asian and Caucasus Service in Russian saying that
they are biased and “pro-Armenian” in covering events around the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
Turan note: The BBC World Service broadcasts its programmes throughout
the world in 43 languages on radio and the Internet. Some 150m people
across the world can listen to BBC radio, while its Internet web
sites receive 200m messages a month.
[Earlier, at 1130 gmt, Azerbaijan’s MPA news agency carried a similar
report on the BBC statement]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN FM MEETS OSCE ENVOY
ArmenPress
June 4 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vartan Oskanian received today OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Chairman’s
special representative on the Nagorno Karabagh conflict, Goran
Lenmarker. This is the second visit by Lenmarker, who is a member of
the Swedish parliament, to Armenia,
Lenmarker was quoted by the ministry’s press office as saying that
this time he intends to pay a fact-finding visit to Nagorno Karabagh.
He noted also that the OSCE parliamentary Assembly together with
other European organizations is able to build a favorable climate
around the conflict’s regulation.
Oskanian in turn introduced OSCE PACE Chairman’s Special Representative
to the current status and dynamics of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict
settlement. The parties exchanged views on the prospects of the
settlement process in view of the recent developments.
Oskanian underscored the enlargement of European’s organizations’
involvement in the regional issues, underlying the practical
importance of TRACECA and INOGATE projects for the region’s further
integration with Europe. Opportunities for normalization of Armenia
– Turkey relations were also mentioned. At the end of the meeting,
the parties reiterated the important role of the OSCE in ensuring and
furthering regional security and cooperation and expressed willingness
to continue the current dialogue and exchange of ideas.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KOCHARIAN RECEIVES CANDLE PROJECT SCIENTISTS
ArmenPress
June 4 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
received today a team of Armenian scientists, who are involved in
CANDLE (Center for the Advancement of Natural Discoveries using Light
Emission) – a new synchrotron light source project in Armenia, to be
based on a 3 GeV synchrotron light source that will provide a unique
opportunity for the scientific research using a wide spectrum range
photon beams with high flux and brilliance. CANDLE expected to be in
operation in year 2007.
Kocharian’s press office said possibilities of the project
implementation were discussed. The growing interest of different
states, international organizations and academic community in the
project was stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Bush’s Neo-Con Praetorian Guards
by Ahmed Amr
June 5, 2004
A few weeks ago, on April 14th, George Bush decided to void the
Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland. The President also
took the occasion to make illegal Jewish settlements a permanent
“fact on the ground.” In a single press conference with Ariel Sharon,
he managed to truncate the size of a Palestinian state and assault
the fundamental human rights of refugees around the world. One has to
assume that Bush has now assumed the right to decide which other group
of refugees can forget about ever returning to their native lands.
Before unilaterally making this radical departure from the policies
of every American administration since 1948, Bush dispatched Elliott
Abrams to negotiate terms with Sharon. Abrams, the radical Likudnik
activist of Iran/Contra fame, has a history of beating the drums of
the Netenyahu wing of the Likud party. His mission was to convince
Netenyahu to accept the terms of the “moderate” Sharon who had declared
his intention to withdraw from Gaza.
Abrams convinced Netenyahu to agree to stop lobbying against Sharon’s
plan, which was scheduled to come up for a vote in the Likud party. But
his agreement came with a stiff price. Netenyahu’s “generous offer” was
contingent on getting American assurances that the Palestinians right
of return would be voided and that the settlements would become legal.
Upon returning to America, Abrams held a meeting in the White House
with the leadership of the Christian Zionist movement, a key Bush
constituency. He wanted to reassure them that Gaza was not part of
biblical Israel and evacuating it would not stall the Second Coming of
Jesus or the prospects of a timely advent of the rapture and the end
of times. You have to marvel at the marketing skills of this Likudnik
fanatic who doesn’t even believe in the First Coming of the Messiah.
In any case, Abrams managed to convince Bush that he had cut a
great deal. All Bush needed to do was to stiff the Palestinian on
a few of their rights and shrink the boundaries of the Palestinian
Bantustan to accommodate Israeli expansionist fantasies. In return,
Netenyahu would not actively obstruct a critical vote in the Likud. The
president accepted Netenyahu’s “generous offer.” By the time Sharon
landed in Washington, Bush had prepared a letter officially committing
to Netenyahu’s terms. For the Palestinians, it was the Second Coming
of the Balfour Declaration.
Abrams didn’t go to Israel to negotiate American terms with Sharon. He
was there to settle an internal Likud party squabble. As a confirmed
member of the Netenyahu wing of the Likud, he wanted to draw a line
in the sand for the “moderate” Sharon. In effect, Bush had dispatched
one Likudnik fox to negotiate with another Likudnik fox on how best
to cook the chicken.
As promised, the reluctant Netenyahu did not publicly campaign against
Sharon’s plan. But he wasn’t about to endorse it either. When the
vote took place, the Likud faithful turned down the “compromise”. So,
the Israelis pocketed George’s concession of Palestinian rights and
Palestinian real estate and laughed all the way to the West Bank.
After the Likud turned down the idea to withdrawing from Gaza, the
Israelis came back and got a green light from the Bush administration
to batter the Palestinians. Sharon explained that he needed to
torment the refugees in Gaza to shore up his standing in the Likud
after failing to get approval for his plan. Bush understood. After
a few weeks of demolishing homes and killing dozens of Palestinians,
the people of Gaza staged acts of resistance that resulted in the
death of thirteen Israeli soldiers.
As usual, Sharon lost his temper and Bush agreed that Israel had
the right to defend its soldiers from the “terrorists” who had the
audacity to resist Sharon’s efforts to demonstrate his toughness in
front of the Netenyahu wing of the Likud. The president of the free
world had an AIPAC engagement coming up and that’s never a good time
to bring up the issue of Palestinian rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. So once again, Bush expressed sympathy and gave
a green light to “Operation Rainbow.” The rape of Rafah was on.
In an effort to resolve a feud within the Likud, Elliott Abrams had
set in motion a major Israeli killing spree.
Abram’s Likudnik antics are typical of the standard operating procedure
in the Bush administration. In reviewing the resume of the folks
Bush appointed as architects a “Greater Middle East,” one runs into
a who’s who list of professional Jewish activists with a long record
of supporting the most extreme right wing factions in Israel.
Wolfowitz’s sister actually gave up on America and immigrated to
Israel. Like his sibling, he has spent his whole adult life working
on Likudnik agendas. Douglas Feith’s law partner in Israel represents
the right wing settler movement. Lewis Libby, the lawyer who convinced
Clinton to pardon the tax dodging Mark Rich, has well established
ties to Israeli intelligence. Richard Perle sits on the board of the
Jerusalem Post and works with Conrad Black, a media mogul and Zionist
propagandist. Along with Dick Cheney’s wife, all four are affiliated
with the neo-con movement that has its imprint all over Bush’s Middle
East policies.
Before joining the Bush administration, this neo-con cabal agitated
against the Oslo agreement and worked on Netenyahu’s election
campaign. Dick Cheney and his wife actually retained Bernard Lewis to
tutor our president of vice on the “Arab mind.” Lewis is a vicious
anti-Arab racist and a suspect pseudo-academic who was convicted in
a French court of denying the Armenian genocide.
One has to be extremely delusional to subscribe to the notion that
any of these characters are interested in the freedom of any pedigree
of Arabs, be they Iraqi or Palestinian. Quite the contrary. Their
real motives are to subjugate and humiliate Arabs into accepting
Sharon’s dictates.
It should come as no surprise that Douglas Feith was the Pentagon
official who signed off on torturing and sexually humiliating Iraqi
prisoners. Or that Feith and Libby are the main suspects in leaking
the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent. Or that Wolfowitz
and Perle virtually created Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress and
collaborated with the INC in fabricating false intelligence and
feeding it to neo-con media operatives like Judith Miller and Charles
Krauthammer. Or that Libby and Feith were the force behind setting
up the Office of Special Plans that sabotaged the CIA’s and DIA’s
intelligence gathering operations. Or that Feith was in charge of
the now discredited post invasion fantasies. Or that Paul Bremer,
the current emperor of Baghdad, is a self-declared neo-con and a
protégé of Henry Kissinger. Or that Michael Rubin, a neo-con zealot,
was given a major role in administering our Iraqi colony. After
his assignment in Baghdad, Rubin went right back to his desk at the
American Enterprise Institute.
These are the Bush advisers that prey on the mind of a president who
believes he is getting battle plans from God. They write his speeches
and condense the news that he can’t bother to read. Even Republican
Senators are alarmed at the virtual seclusion of this President
behind a wall of Praetorian guards recruited from the ranks of the
Israeli Lobby.
None of this is a secret. It is just one of those taboo subjects that
can get you libeled as an anti-Semite if you so much as hint at who
these people are or question their allegiance to a foreign state ruled
by a serial war criminal. But some prominent Americans have apparently
had enough of their shenanigans. Retired General Anthony Zinni and
Senator Hollings and others are finally taking them on. Zinni, in a
challenge to the complicit silence of many in Washington, recently
appeared on a 60 Minutes program and said, “I know what strategy they
promoted. And openly. And for a number of years. And what they have
convinced the president and the secretary to do. And I don’t believe
there is any serious political leader, military leader, diplomat in
Washington that doesn’t know where it came from.”
Zinni is not just any old retired General. During his military career,
this distinguished American officer served for four years as the
commander-in-chief of the United States Central Command, in charge
of American forces in the Middle East.
The Israeli Lobby has always had an extraordinary amount of influence
on American foreign policy. With Bush, they have hit the jackpot
because they find him so easy to manipulate, especially when they
make an appeal to his faith. He is at once the most peculiar and
the most transparent of Presidents. If he appears to be cruel, he
is just administering the wrath of God on planet earth. For him,
Palestinian and Iraqi sufferings are a necessary price to pay to bring
on Armageddon. He is not an opportunist preaching to the flock. He is
part of the Christian Zionist movement. The designated priests of this
Christian heresy are folks like Abrams who must get a huge kick out
of messing around with the collective emotions of these holy rollers.
We can only hope that a slumbering America will wake up to the real
and present danger of giving this very simple and very dangerous
President a mandate of a second term in office. If he gets four more
years, we might just find ourselves two years away from Armageddon.
Unfortunately for the Palestinians, John Kerry appears to be recruiting
his own brigade of neo-con Praetorian guards to administer Middle
East policy. Rafah was just one more sign that the Palestinians are
set to lose another American election.
Ahmed Amr is the Editor of NileMedia. He can be reached at:
[email protected].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assadourian to advise PM on foreign policy
By Lynne Cohen
Jewish Tribune
May 20, 2004 – 29 Iyar, 5764
Leaders in the Jewish community reacted cautiously to the announcement
that Sarkis Assadourian is stepping aside after almost 11 years
representing the Liberals in the Ontario riding of Brampton Springdale,
in order to join the Prime Minister’s office as a special advisor
on foreign affairs. The Syrian-born, Armenian MP will be responsible
for Near Eastern and South Caucasus affairs.
“I am delighted to be able to turn to Sarkis Assadourian for expertise
when it comes to matters of trade and foreign relations with the Near
East,” said the Prime Minister in a statement immediately following
the appointment.
Assadourian’s appointment is in exchange for giving up his riding so
that Manitoba-born Ruby Dhalla, a Toronto chiropractor, can run for
the Liberals in his place. Assadourian has been a frequent critic of
Israel in recent years. In 2002 he attempted to introduce a Motion in
the House of Commons calling on fellow MPs to express their support
for what he called “our government’s position at the UN” on Israel. At
the time he was referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1402
which called for the immediate “withdrawal of Israeli troops from
Palestinian cities, including Ramallah.” This resolution was adopted
after a series of Palestinian suicide bombings prompted Israel to
deploy Israeli troops around Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah.
A spokesman for Assadourian, Daniel Kennedy, said the countries
involved in Assadourian’s new portfolio are Eastern European as well
as Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. “He is not advising on the Middle
East,” said Kennedy.
“Just because the countries under Assadourian’s mandate do not include
those in the Middle East, it does not necessarily follow that his
appointment will have no wider impact,” said Amos Sochaczevski,
National Chair of B’nai Brith Canada’s Institute for International
Affairs. “What happens in the Middle East impacts many different
countries in many different regions, several of which are struggling
with the rising tide of Islamic extremism and terrorism in their
own territories.”
Assadourian hosted a reception recently to provide a representative of
the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem with a platform to explain why
his organization was suing the Israeli government over the construction
of its security fence.
“Our concerns are not limited to international issues,” said
Sochaczevski. “For instance, not only does Assadourian oppose the
construction of a Holocaust museum, he also opposes the construction
of any museum on intolerance that would place emphasis on the Holocaust
as a unique event in history.”
Instead, Assadourian has been promoting a private members bill that
would see the creation of an exhibit at the Museum of Civilization
located in Gatineau, across the river from Parliament Hill, that
would commemorate in a generic sense all “crimes against humanity
perpetrated during the 20th century.”
“My position has been from day one that we can’t have one museum for
every minority,” explained Assadourian at the time.
“A museum… is not a doughnut shop that you open on every street
corner. It has to be inclusive…”
Assadourian’s appointment comes at a time when Canadian Jews are
beginning to ask themselves where exactly the Government stands
on issues of concern to the Jewish community. The day before the
announcement, Canada supported a resolution at the United Nations
that for all intents and purposes denied Israel any a priori rights
in the disputed territories. This is a move that contradicts the
government’s own guidelines on Middle East policy, which emphasize the
importance of not pre-judging the outcome of final negotiations and
of reaching a negotiated agreement between the parties. Canada’s vote
also went against Resolution 242 which it has always endorsed. That
resolution recognizes that modifications to the so-called Green Line
are necessary.
“Our Government must make up its mind on the fundamental issue,”
added Sochaczevski… “Either Canada supports Israel as the only free
and democratic country in the region, or it doesn’t.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS OFFICE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
June 4, 2004
___________________
COUNCIL MEMBERS WILL MEET WITH CATHOLICOS
Last year, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of
All Armenians, invited diocesan councils throughout the world to hold
meetings at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
The Catholicos, during a visit to New York in the fall, personally
extended his invitation to the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern).
Responding to that invitation, the Council members decided to go to
Armenia at the end of October — at their own expense — to hold their
regular business meeting and have an audience with the Catholicos and
other church leaders.
“What we’re trying to do is really create a closer partnership between
the Diocese and the Mother See, between this council and the Vehapar,”
said Diocesan Council Chairman Haig Dadourian. “We felt the best way to
do that is through physical closeness, and sharing of each other’s goals
and concerns.”
Most of the council members have been to Armenia, but a couple have yet
to visit. Dadourian said another benefit of the meeting is for those
who will be seeing their homeland for the first time make the journey.
“Going to Armenia makes a very lasting impression,” Dadourian said. “I
don’t want to get so dramatic as to say you’re never the same; but it
does make a lasting, positive impression.”
Along with attending a couple of days worth of meetings at Etchmiadzin,
the council members will also tour Armenia, and visit sites run by the
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) — the Diocesan-affiliated international
humanitarian aid organization. They will also tour some orphanages and
meet with children helped by the Children of Armenia Sponsorship Program
(CASP), run by the Diocesan Women’s Guild.
“It’s important that the leadership of the Armenian Church throughout
the Diaspora go and visit the Mother See, which has been the center of
our Christian faith for more than 1,700 years,” Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese, said. “They should pray in
the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, visit historic sites, and see
the development of the independent Republic of Armenia. It’s important
for every Armenian to go, especially those Armenians in leadership
roles.”
— 6/4/04
# # #
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Ageless: Pioneer of Armenian rock regroups (on cd) across continents
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
04 June 2004
ArmeniaNow arts reporter In the early 1980s, when rock music was still
an evil in Armenia, a band formed to test the limits of “glasnost”
and “perestroika” and bring the previously-forbidden music to a ready
audience of rebellious youth.
The faces have changed, but not the music.
Four musicians formed Thessilck in 1983, and as the controls of
communism were lifted, the rock band became popular to a generation
welcoming the freedom to wear jeans and listen to western music.
Many rock bands followed, but Thessilck was among the first.
Khachik Melekyan, Artur Safaryan, Harutyun Stamboltsyan and Hovhannes
Shadanyan, rocked Armenia toward independence, before the dark days
of struggle forced them apart.
The band broke apart in 1989, a victim of necessity, as its members
went off in search of better living conditions.
And it broke up leaving behind only memories of live performances
for its fans.
Now, 15 years since they last performed together, the music of
Thessilck has returned on a 17-song compact disc put out by founder
Melekyan from a studio in Los Angeles.
“This cd seems to be an embodiment of the old days. We’ve been thinking
about creating it for a long time, but a small incident took place
last year which simply obliged us,” says, Melekyan, the founder and
artistic director of Thessilck.
Melekyan relayed the incident to ArmeniaNow during a visit last week,
telling about a phone call he got last year while on his first visit
back, since moving to California in 1991.
A stranger called Melekyan (while Melekyan was here to promote a
solo instrumental cd “Mysticity, The Influx”), saying that he was
a big fan of Thessilck, that he’d traveled to all their concerts,
and was disappointed that the band’s music was not on record.
“Isn’t there a single record? Can’t we even listen to your songs?”,
the fan asked.
A year later, the answer is “yes”.
“Great desire and modern equipment allowed us to overcome time and
space,” Melekyan says. “All of us, the four members of the band,
live in different cities but we created and recorded together.”
Of the four members of Thessilck, only Shadanyan still lives in
Yerevan. Safaryan is in Moscow; Stamboltsyan, in Florida.
The distance was bridged by Internet.
To create the new cd, Melekyan first recorded general instrumental
parts, emailed files to the other members who added their respective
parts, then Melekyan put it all together in Southern California.
“Thessilck is like our baby, we gave birth to it from our young dreams
and emotions,” says Melekyan. “Even though we live so far from each
other, we’re always united with the history and the past of Thessilck.”
When Melekyan returned to Armenia this time, he brought cds (on sale
throughout Yerevan and through and posters, announcing
to Armenia’s first rock generation now with children of their own,
that Thessilck is back – at least in recorded form.
“This is neither rabiz, nor folk, nor even techno or hip hop. This
is Armenian rock,” the musicians claim.
It is a music born of chance in a time of change.
None of the members of Thessilck are academically trained musicians.
“We learned to play music on a neighbor’s piano,” Melekyan says.
Melekyan..
Melekyan and Stamboltsyan met in the yard and accidentally found
out that they both play guitar and started rehearsing and writing
songs together.
“We found out that some guys from a neighboring yard had formed a
band and they perform, so we thought why don’t we have our band,
too?” says Melekyan.
Then in their early ’20s, members of Thessilck had difficulty finding
instruments, not to mention countless other obstacles.
But in 1986 Thessilck participated in the first rock festival in the
Soviet Union, in Rostov, where they won the first prize. Afterwards,
there were concerts, tours and fame.
Other Armenian rock bands of those years, such as Vostan Hayots,
Ardzagank, 36.6, were in serious competition.
“Others were envious when we were appearing with a new song, and we
were envious of the success of others, but all of that is left in
the past since if we were competitors with Yeghish Petrosyan from
Ardzagank, today we’re friends,” says Melekyan sincerely.
The songs of Thessilck are remembered and reborn in a new way performed
by young singers, just like the most famous song of Thessilck “Andzrev”
(Rain) is performed by Arsen Safaryan.
Old songs get new soul through videos as well. Based on Melekyan’s
instrumental work director Hrach Keshishyan and actress Nare Haykazyan
produced a video and another one is being prepared.
Melekyan says they have to keep the soul of Thessilck since together
with them their baby grows up and it can get lost in the maelstrom
of life.
“Even the word ‘Thessilck’ (it means ‘vision’) has become a cliché for
us and in our speech the word mirage substitutes amazing, beautiful
words,” Melekyan says. “We’re looking for our past in a mirage; we
re-find in ourselves those young ones with endless dreams and folly.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Is Armenia an authoritarian state?
Yerkir
May 28, 2004
During parliamentary briefing on May 27 faction representatives
discussed more political development rather than legislative
activities.
Who is governing Armenia today? Is Armenia democratic? Did the
president behave accurately during the opposition activation
period? How is the legislative activity possible in terms of the
opposition boycotting? These questions were answered by all faction
except for the opposition which once again skipped the briefing.
ARF faction leader Levon Mkrtchian believes Armenia is now governed by
the constitution. The first person is the president who is responsible
for home and foreign policies. There is the political coalition which
has its share of responsibility. As to Robert Kocharian’s presidency,
he has been carrying out his functions and expressed his position at
every necessary point.
The leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) believes that
the presidents should have been stricter, since tolerance brings even
worse consequences.
Touching upon the estimation of an international legal organization
that called Armenia authoritative, Mkrtchian advised to consider
the purpose and period of the made assessment. “The activities of
such organizations have a subjective factor which implies certain
regional, geopolitical issues that do not exclude pressures,” said
Mkrtchian. “Our route is democracy, since otherwise we would not be
a member of many international prestigious organizations.”
Regarding these issues, leader of RPA Galust Sahakian said: “The
trouble is that any phrase and judgment of a foreigner is more
discussed than the issues of our national interests.”
Leader of the Orinats Yerkir faction Samvel Balasanian stated that
Armenia has a primary development stage of democracy.
As to the recessed dialogue, the coalition once again stated its
determination to bring the opposition back to the political field.
Levon Mkrtchian said: “The coalition always tried to get the opposition
back to dialogue, since otherwise political functions are passed to
the legal field.
The dialogues must take place not only between the coalition and the
opposition but the society must also be prepared for it. And the
society has mad clear its point: it wants t be able to peacefully
live and work in between the elections. It does not want shock.”
The political forces say the issue of depriving the boycotting
opposition of parliamentary mandates is not on the agenda, but it
can have more serious political consequences.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN TV CHANNELS REFRAIN FROM COVERING PROTEST ACTION
A1 Plus | 13:53:23 | 04-06-2004 | Politics |
Every-day protest action outside the Prosecutor General Office in
Yerevan continued Friday. Protesters keep on demanding a number of
political prisoners to be released from jail.
Only Aravot TV Company is highlighting the event.
Armenia’s other TV channels prefer to keep silence about that,
despite the organisations that staged the picket have repeatedly
invited crews from all TVs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The PM: After the first six months
Windsor Star (Ontario)
June 2, 2004 Wednesday Final Edition
Prime Minister Paul Martin, like all politicians mired in an election
campaign, is running on a slew of promises. In his first week on the
hustings, Martin promised to hand cities at least $2 billion annually
from the federal gasoline tax and dump nine billion new dollars into
health care without raising taxes or introducing premiums to pay
for either.
But promises come cheap. Ontarians learned that the hard way when
Premier Dalton McGuinty whacked them with the biggest tax hike in a
decade just months after vowing on the stump to not raise taxes and
to balance the books.
With that in mind, prudent voters have no choice but to assess
politicians — particularly those who’ve governed and had the chance
to make changes — on past performances just as much as future pledges.
So how does Martin’s performance stack up? What did he accomplish in
his 163 days as prime minister before dropping the writ that might
convince Canadians to vote for him?
Sadly, very little. First, Parliament under Martin was a legislative
wasteland. His government passed only one major new bill — a piece
of legislation handing municipalities a 100-per-cent rebate on
the GST. Most of the other bills it passed, like one to establish
independent ethics officers for the House and Senate and another to
change the Patent Act so generic companies could sell cheap AIDS drugs
to Africa, were recycled offerings introduced in Jean Chretien’s final
term. The few major bills Martin’s government actually introduced
died on the order paper when the election was called.
Second, Martin failed to slay what he termed the “democratic
deficit.” He consulted with more people, more often, to be sure; but
his efforts at democratic reform were half-baked. After promising more
free votes in the House, he cracked the whip on a vote to continue
funding the rifle and shotgun registry and forbade his cabinet
ministers from voting in favour of a motion condemning Turkey for
the 1915 Armenian genocide. On the Supreme Court front, Martin hasn’t
given any clear indication how he’ll pick judges, despite the fact two
vacancies are pending. Martin gave no indication he’s about to engage
in meaningful Senate reform that would take the appointment process out
of the PMO. And Martin’s plans to expand the powers of parliamentary
committees produced only the farce that was the sponsorship hearings.
That brings us to another of Martin’s failures. He bungled the
investigation into the advertising money scandal. After he pledged
to get to the bottom of the mess, the Liberal majority on the public
accounts committee cut short its inquiry into the alleged scam 12
days before the election call.
All this ignores a host of other positive changes Martin might have
made as prime minister. He could have scrapped the gun registry, began
work on Senate reform and started the ball rolling on a much-needed
retooling of the High Court. But he didn’t. Overall, he has little
to show for nearly six months at the country’s helm.
A Martin performance review would be unfair and incomplete if it
ignored his nearly nine years as finance minister. As a fiscal manager
he did trim spending and cut taxes to revitalize Canada’s economy
and balance the country’s books for five straight years. But his
record was hardly blemish free. His balanced budgets were largely the
result of slashed transfer payments to the provinces. The sponsorship,
HRDC and gun registry fiascos occurred on his watch.
Since winning the top job, Martin has proved relatively inept; he
talks a good game but takes no action.
For that reason Canadians are right to question if Martin might not
be better suited to playing second fiddle than leading the band. At
the very least they have to question the veracity of his election
promises. He hasn’t delivered as prime minister. Canadians have a
right to wonder if Martin would morph into the mailman if re-elected.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress