Moral courage

Know anyone who has it?  B and I were talking about it today and I came up with very few.  Many are dead, but include B's grandfather, his mother, both my adoptive and birth mothers (the latter who had the guts to carry and put me up for adoption), my father, John Booth, Michael Kirby, Jacqui Sadler and John Vought. I know that sounds ridiculous, because these people are both living and dead and don't even know each other, but they stuck to their principles in the face of resistance.  Canvas your own circles and see what you find. 

On another note, the latest nonsense is the decision by that ridiculous Freeland to create the position of an ambassador dedicated to "women, peace and security".  What??!!  Why??!!  Trudeau made an embarrassing speech at the UN the other day lauding women and vowing to protect their security.  Great, but how are you going to prevent men in cultures that supress and violate women from abusing them?  You're not and neither will this ambassadorial position.  So ludicrous.

Canada already has devoted $450 million and a staff of 63 to a "peace and stabilization program" in departments and agencies across government.  What have they accomplished?  Nothing.  Why do we need another useless department dedicated to what can't be done?   

Both Andrew Coyne and John Ivison take it on in today's 'National Post' when they write about the disastrous appointment of Julie Payette as GG.  Speculation is the government is set to dump the vacuous Payette into that job and appoint a new GG.  Won't be happening if Payette has anything to say about it.  She may not like being GG and carrying out boring duties such as upholding Canada's constitution, signing stuff and pulling in $300 K a year, but if pushed, a contrarian such as she will dig in and stay.  So, that's a non-starter.  The betting is on the appointment of a native woman -- which is what I had predicted before Payette was named.  I got the gender right, but not the native part.  Now that can be glossed over if a native were to be named to this post.  But, as I said, she won't budge.

Coyne talks about "gravitas" being an essential part of a GG appointment.  The only holders of the office who had it were Vincent Massey, Georges Vanier and David Johnston.  Every other appointment consisted of light-weights -- mostly journalists.  Think of Jeanne Sauve, Adrian Clarkson, Michaelle Jean and Ed Schryer.  Any "gravitas" there?  No.  None.

In appointing Payette, Trudeau did not consult the panel of vice-regal experts, whose role it was to vet candidates, so Trudeau and his cronies could fast-track a female who ticked all his boxes.  Ivison says the whole deal with this new position is to create a superfluous job to provide a soft landing for Payette and cover for a blunder of Trudeau's own making.