More on Senator Brazeau in the news….

The Federal Government must be rubbing their chins and asking themselves – What the heck have we gotten into and how do we fix it? I will say good luck because obviously those of us that are at a community level have been wondering that ourselves.

The bad news is not going away for past CAP leader, Patrick Brazeau. CTV news did a piece on the newly appointed Senator which ended with him driving his new Porshe. He certainly has brought to the attention of all Canadians that it does not matter how many issues may be a part of your past … if you are a friend of Prime Minister Harper’s accountability is not an issue. In fact the CTV broadcast certainly brought forward some very disturbing accounts of a man who is ridden with fallacies and who is not the person he portrayed himself to be.

The other two individuals who were at CAP and riddled with some of the same accusations that are facing Senator Brazeau have left the organization are now a part of the support staff for the Brazeau in the senate.

Even the leadership hopefuls for the AFN’s top job are now weighing into the story. Attached are a couple of articles in relation to these matters.

Reserve seats in Commons, Senate for aboriginals: Chief

By CHRISTINA SPENCER, NATIONAL BUREAU

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/04/8255526-sun.html

OTTAWA -- Parliament should set aside a minimum number of seats in the House of Commons and the Senate for aboriginals, says a top Ontario candidate for the job of national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

John Beaucage, grand council chief of the 42-member First Nations of the Anishinabek Nation, said the AFN needs to be "more than a special interest group" lobbying federal officials. Instead, he said, it should focus more on acting as a steward of native self-government.

"We are a government in principle," he said.

New Zealand, a fellow Commonwealth country with a parliamentary system, already sets aside seats for Maoris, he said. "I think that could ... hold true for Canada."

While there are aboriginals in Canada's parliament, they often have to vote the party line, rather than defend the interests of First Nations, Beaucage said.

And he added one of them -- recently appointed Senator Patrick Brazeau -- had "hurt" aboriginal causes. Brazeau, former head of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which purports to speak for urban First Nations, has been the subject of controversy since his appointment. "He does not speak for us."

About 60% of First Nations people don't live on reserves and are not represented by the AFN. Beaucage said he would like to see the organization represent them as well.

So far, three candidates are running to become the next head of the AFN: Beaucage, Perry Bellegarde of Saskatchewan, and B.C.'s Shawn Atleo.

Current AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine has not said if he will run for re-election.

Don Martin: Patrick Brazeau should have stayed a 'senator-in-waiting'

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/02/03/don-martin-patrick-brazeau-should-have-stayed-a-senator-in-waiting.aspx

Posted: February 03, 2009, 10:44 AM by Dan Goldbloom

It's hard to imagine how such a thoroughly damaged resumé could've survived the supposedly ruthless scrutiny of the Prime Minister's Office, particularly when the job is a 40-year guaranteed Senate gig with an annual salary of $130,000 plus perks.

But the allegations, investigations and accusations against newly-appointed aboriginal Senator Patrick Brazeau, 34, are piling up in such a frenzy that it's quickly put the unelected Senate under a negative light, and must surely embarrass Canada's other six native senatorial representatives.

Consider the growing list of Brazeau indiscretions conveniently overlooked by the PMO, but unearthed by reporters in fairly short order.

Brazeau had to be arm-twisted to give up his six-figure job as chief of the Congress of Aboriginal People, lest it be seen as double-dipping on the taxpayers' tab.

That Conservative-cheerleading organization is still under investigation by Health Canada for its use or misuse of $260,000 in public funds including $16,050 in suspect payments to Brazeau or his sidekicks.

The man described in his bio as a loving father of three is darn close to qualifying to be a deadbeat dad with the mother of one offspring telling CTV that Brazeau hasn't seen or properly supported his 14-year-old son in eight years.

Brazeau's been seen tooling around Parliament Hill in a new Porsche SUV, has hired Ottawa staff who were reportedly hitting the sauce hard during work hours at his former congress job and is still fending off refuted allegations of sexual harassment at a human rights tribunal.

If this is the calibre of individual Stephen Harper had in mind when he set out to reform the Senate, well, it's enough to make you yearn for those days when they filled the place with backroom bagmen.

It's clear that Patrick Brazeau should've been kept a senator-in-waiting a bit longer to clear his name — or save taxpayers from a bad appointment.


AFN candidate challenging CAP in wake of Brazeau's departure
http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/02/afn-candidate-challenging-cap-in-wake.html

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Patrick Brazeau's departure from the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples has caused a candidate for the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations to seek to drive CAP out of business by making AFN the true representative of "natives on and off reserves": "AFN contender targets rival native group."

I'll let others speak to the merits of that proposal. I just want to note one aspect of this report that fits with the larger Conservative modus operandi.

Note this part of the report, Harper's favouring of CAP over the Assembly of First Nations and Brazeau returning the favour:

Hostilities between the AFN and the Congress have festered for years, but came to a boil when Mr. Brazeau became national chief of the Congress in 2006. He regularly criticized the AFN and its political structure of on-reserve chiefs as unaccountable to aboriginals and unaccountable in their use of taxpayer dollars.

Mr. Brazeau was also far more overtly political than his predecessors, publicly endorsing the Conservative Party and its leader, Stephen Harper. In turn, Mr. Harper attended a gathering of the Congress but did not attend any meetings of the AFN.

The Conservative government also funded a cross-country tour by Mr. Brazeau, where he concluded that off-reserve aboriginals are sometimes banned from taking part in elections on the reserves where they or their family are from.

More of the Harper government's short-sighted philosophy of picking winners and losers on any given issue. We've seen it as well with the ethnic groups the Conservatives target for votes. Some are more sought out than others. The federal government shouldn't be favouring one organization here over another and sowing division. Less political opportunism, more good governance. This the Conservatives have failed to learn.

Anything else coming down the pipeline? It can't be over...