Laurentian Swamp: Soliman; Heenan Blaikie; Desmarais; Canada-China Business Council; O’Toole; Harper; IDU

Nothing screams loyalty to Canada like being the Chief of Staff for a major Canadian political party, and also being honoured as a “United Nations Global Citizen”.

1. Important Links

Walied Soliman Honoured As UNA Global Citizen Laureate
Norton Rose Fulbright Profile For Walied Soliman
Walied Soliman, Director At Sick Kids Hospital Toronto
Walied Soliman Fundraising For Erin O’Toole
BlackNorth Initiative, An Actual Group
Norton Rose Fulbright Profile For Frederic Desmarais
Norton Rose Fulbright Profile For Martin Masse
McMillan & Biometrics For Employers
McMillan: Cannabis And Environmental Opportunity
Heenan Blaikie’s Sudden Collapse
Wikipedia On Heenan Blaikie Members
Century Initiative Directors And Staff
Canada-China Business Council Directors
CCBC Pushes Hard For Canada-China FIPA Deal
Earlier Review On China-Canada FIPA
Canada-China Business Council & Huawei
O’Toole Wants War Footing For Canada
O’Toole Adopts Globalist “Build Back Stronger” Variation
Stephen Harper – International Democratic Union
International Democratic Union — Members

2. Walied Soliman & His Many Roles

Walied Soliman is the Canadian chair of Norton Rose Fulbright. He is also co-chair of our Canadian special situations team, which encompasses Canada’s leading hostile and complex M&A, shareholder activism and complex reorganization transactions. He is widely regarded as one of the leading special situations practitioners in Canada. Over the past several years, Mr. Soliman has been involved in almost every major proxy battle in Canada, acting for both issuers and activists. In addition, his practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, financings, corporate governance and structured products.

Sought after for his depth of knowledge and experience, Mr. Soliman was appointed in February, 2020 by the government of Ontario to serve as chair of the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce, whose mandate was to conduct a full review of the capital markets regulatory regime.

Mr. Soliman was the only lawyer recognized in the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine Power 50 list for 2017; was designated as a “Star Lawyer” by Acritas in 2017 for ranking in the top 28 lawyers globally (over 5,000 lawyers) as selected by a panel of over 3,000 senior in-house counsel; ranked as a leading Canadian corporate lawyer by both Chambers Canada and Lexpert Canada since 2016; named one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer magazine in 2014; ranked by Best Lawyers in Canada since 2013; and was ranked as one of the Top 40 Lawyers under 40 in Canada by L’expert magazine in 2009. Mr. Soliman sits on the board of the BlackNorth Initiative against anti-Black racism, and among other philanthropic endeavours, he is a board member of the Toronto SickKids Hospital Foundation.

The above quote is from Soliman’s biography in his profile with Norton Rose Fulbright. While holding a position as a corporate lawyer, he has many other roles. Some might see these as conflicts of interest. Soliman was also a campaign chair for Erin O’Toole, who now heads the Conservative Party of Canada. Soliman is also a Director at the Gates-funded Sick Kids Hospital Toronto.

Blacknorth is in fact a real group, and it’s job is to convince the Canadian public that there is systemic racism against black. This in spite of laws which HELP blacks in criminal court. Obviously, it’s nothing to so with average physical differences, or differences in culture. It must be racism perpetrated by whites. Directors also include Paul Desmarais III, and former Governor General David Johnston.

3. Biometric Identification Article

Side note: Martin Masse would also go on to work at the Desmarais controlled Montreal Economic Institute.

As biometric technologies become more sophisticated and accessible in the marketplace, employers doing business in Quebec are increasingly considering the opportunity to implement biometric identification systems. At first glance, these systems may appear convenient and cost-effective, and, in some circumstances, they indeed are. Unfortunately, convenience is not the decisive criterion to justify their implementation: necessity is that criterion. In addition, since the entry into force on November 1st, 2001 of the Act to Establish a Legal Framework for Information Technology (the ‘‘Act”), employers must comply with relatively burdensome formalities before proceeding with the implementation of such systems.

types of biometry
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Physiological biometry is based on particular physical features which are unique and permanent for each person such as fingerprints, the form of hands and of the face, the iris and retina of an eye. On the other hand, behavioural biometry refers to the analysis of the behaviours of a person such as his signature, his voice or his keyboard typing habits.

the legal framework in Quebec
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The implementation of biometric systems may raise concerns in connection with employees’ rights to the respect of their private life, integrity and dignity. Depending on the nature and use of the biometric characteristics or measurements recorded, certain practices may lead to discrimination claims. They also beg the question whether they infringe section 46 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms which provides that: ‘‘Every person who works has a right, in accordance with the law, to fair and reasonable conditions of employment which have proper regard for his health, safety and physical well-being” (emphasis added).

Mathematical Representation Technology usually does not raise any human rights concerns since no images of employees’ fingerprints are stored. Furthermore, its underlying purpose is legitimate and work-related as it is generally implemented by employers wishing to increase the cost-efficiency and the accuracy of their working time attendance recording systems.

If nothing else, an interesting topic, although there would be some serious privacy issues. Of course, if refusing biometrics results in the loss of a job offer, it’s hardly voluntary. McMillan also has a very recent publication cannabis and waste as a “green opportunity”.

4. Heenan Blaikie (Now Defunct) Firm

For many years, Heenan Blaikie was perhaps the most prestigious law firm in Canada. However, it went under in February 2014, due largely to the greed of its members. However, there are some prominent names who were once part of the law firm. Several should be familiar. It seems that spending time at Heenan Blaikie is a stepping stone to greater things.

• Michel Bastarache, Ex-Supreme Court Justice
• André Bureau, Ex-Head of CRTC
• Jean Chretien, Ex-Prime Minister
• Oliver Desmarais, Vice-President at Power Corporation
• Clement Gascon, Ex-Supreme Court Justice
• Roy Heenan, Ex-Head of Trudeau Foundation
• Pierre-Marc Johnson, Ex-Quebec Premier
• Donald J. Johnston, Ex-Head of OECD
• Erin O’Toole, Head of Conservative Party of Canada
• David Stratas, Ex-Justice for Federal Court of Appeal
• Pierre Trudeau, Ex-Prime Minister

5. Desmarais: Canada’s Political Family

If you aren’t familiar with the Desmarais Family and Power Corporation, see this earlier review on the subject. There are many tentacles in Canadian politics, and these are some of them.

• Brian Mulroney, Ex-PM, was a lawyer for Power Corp.
• Jean Chretien’s daughter married Andre Desmarais
• Paul Martin worked for Power Corp., and received Canada Steamship Lines
• Peter MacKay dated Paul Desmarais Jr’s daughter
• Maxime Bernier worked for Montreal Economic Institute, headed by Helene Desmarais
• Martin Masse worked for Montreal Economic Institute, headed by Helene Desmarais
• Gary Doer, Ex-Manitoba Premier, sits on Power Corp’s Board of Directors
• John Rae, Brother of Bob Rae, worked for Power Corp.
• Pierre Beaudoin, Bombardier Chair, is also a Power Corp Director

Also noteworthy is that Andre Desmarais and Linda Koch Lorimer sit on the Trilateral Commission, along with many Canadian politicians. Desmarais is also part of the Century Initiative.

6. Canada-China Business Council

CCBC members include some of the largest and best-known Canadian and Chinese firms, as well as small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations. Members represent a wide range of sectors, including education, financial services, professional services, manufacturing, construction, transportation, oil and gas, natural resources, ICT, and public sector.

Essentially, this is a coalition of parties (many of whom have political ties), committed to commercial trade and relations with China. However, these relations may not be in Canada’s best interests.

Olivier Desmarais, Chair
Senior Vice-President
Power Corporation and Power Financial

Graham Shantz, President

The Honourable Scott Brison, P.C., Vice-Chair
Vice Chair
BMO Capital Markets

The Honourable Martin Cauchon, P.C., LL.M., ICD.D, Ad. E., Vice-Chair
Counsel, DS Lawyers Canada LLP

David T. Fung, B.Eng., M. Eng., Ph.D., PEng (BC), C. Dir., A.C.C., H.R.C.C.C., LL.D. (Hon.), D.Sc. (Hon.), Vice-Chair
CEO
ACDEG International Inc.

Paul Blom
Executive Director
British Columbia First Nations Energy and Mining Council

Sam Boutziouvis
Vice-President, Government Relations
SNC-Lavalin Inc.

Morgan Elliott
Vice President, Government Affairs
Huawei Canada

Vivi Hou
President & CEO
Power Pacific Corporation Limited

Joyce Lee
Partner and Chair of Asia Group
McCarthy Tétrault LLP

The Honourable James Moore
Senior Business Advisor
Dentons

Nicole Changwen NIE
President and CEO
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Canada)

Ferio Pugliese
Senior Vice President, Air Canada Express and Government Relations
Air Canada

Pierre Seïn Pyun
Vice President, Government Affairs
Bombardier Inc

And of course:
-Paul Desmarais Sr.
-Andre Desmarais (son-in-law of Jean Chretien)

7. CCBC Pushed Hard For Chinese FIPA

The Canada-China Business Council was one of the organizations pushing hard for FIPA, the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Canada and China. See the earlier review. This CCBC is bipartisan, and is made up of both Liberals and Conservatives. In fact, the Conservative Party of Canada was key in selling out to China, but now tells the public they will stand up for Canada.

James Moore, of course, sits on the CCBC, and was a major proponent of FIPA. Erin O’Toole (now head of the CPC), lobbied hard for FIPA when he was a Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Trade.

8. Canada-China Business Council & Huawei

Business between Canada and China doesn’t happen in a closed corridor. Two most important factors that impact bilateral business are US-China relations and heightened technology competition. Our Fall 2020 Distinguished Speakers Series takes on these issues, featuring speakers who shine a spotlight on topics such as media coverage of China, 5G and Huawei, industrial espionage, data security, and AI.
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Huawei Canada Demystified
September 24, 2020
9:00 am – 10:00 am ET

With everything going on, sure, let’s focus on this. Surely China is just being misunderstood in the Western media. Interesting that the people held hostage wasn’t listed.

9. CANZUK, Open Borders, Erin O’Toole

CANZUK was addressed here, here, and here. It was initially adopted in 2018, when Andrew Scheer was leader. Now, Erin O’Toole seems to be an even stronger enthusiast. In short, this open borders scheme will let in “more and more countries” as time passes. O’Toole previously pitched it as opportunity. Now, he refers to it as a necessity to counterbalance China.

It’s strange that O’Toole hasn’t seem to lost his desire for open borders, even as he calls for Canada to invoke the Emergencies Act, and adopt a war footing. He also adopts a version of the “Build Back Better” slogan.

10. Harper: International Democratic Union

Having regard to their common convictions that democratic societies provide individuals throughout the world with the best conditions for political liberty, personal freedom, equality of opportunity and economic development under the rule of law; and therefore

Being committed to advancing the social and political values on which democratic societies are founded, including the basic personal freedoms and human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; in particular, the right of free speech, organisation, assembly and non-violent dissent; the right to free elections and the freedom to organise effective parliamentary opposition to government; the right to a free and independent media; the right to religious belief; equality before the law; and individual opportunity and prosperity;

Having regard to their common beliefs in an open society, where power is dispersed widely amongst free institutions, dedicated to creating conditions that will enable each individual to reach his full potential and to carry out his responsibilities to his fellow man; and where the central task of government is to serve the individual and to safeguard and promote individual freedom; and equally

Stressing the moral commitments of a free and open society, supporting the institution of the family as its fundamental social and cohesive force, as well as social responsibility towards the weak and less fortunate, particularly by encouraging self-help and individual enterprise and choice in the provision of services;

Being dedicated to a society of individuals working together in partnership for the common good;

All of this course seems perfectly fine and normal. However, this is an effort to build toward a world government, much like the proposed United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.

The Conservative Party of Canada is also listed as a member in the IDU. So are the Conservative Party in the UK, and the Republican Party in the U.S. Do the Party members know about this?

Of course, if you ask Maxime Bernier about his own involvement in promoting the UNPA, he will go full-Rempel and block you on Twitter. As for some of IDU’s members:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Conservative Party, Canada

Brian Loughnane
Liberal Party, Australia

Lord Ashcroft KCMG, PC
United Kingdom

Marco Solares
Partido Unionista, Guatemala

Christopher J. Fussner
Republican Party, USA

Dr. Kizza Besigye
Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda

The Honourable Reinhold Bocklet
Christian Social Union, Germany

José Carlos Aleluia
Democratas, Brasil

Oscar Ortiz
Movimento Democrata Social, Bolivia

11. The Laurentian Swamp Runs Canada

This is hardly an exhaustive account, but know that there is a group of people who run Canada for themselves, to the detriment of the public. They control all major parties, and much of the political agenda. As such, Canadians have no real representation in Government.