Last time I checked....

....Parliamentary committees did not call glorified clerks to testify about anything.  What Katie Telford was doing in front of the Ethics Committee talking about WE was completely wrong.  You might as well have the PM's driver or his nanny testify.

 Whatever happened to Ministerial Accountability?  Ministers are accountable, not clerks or public servants.  In this case, the Prime Minister is "Primus inter pares", first among equals, and he should never have had a clerk like Telford in front of the committee.  The most shocking thing that emerged from the media coverage today was that Telford does not get along with the lackeys in Morneau's office because she didn't like his choice for Governor of the Bank of Canada.

Whaaaaat!?

Telford wanted Carolyn Wilkes, but Morneau chose Bay Street crony Tiff Macklin.  What the F is a clerk in the PMO doing interfering with the Finance Minister's choice for Governor?!  And what the F is she doing fighting with Finance staff because she didn't get her way?!  Obviously, Telford wanted a woman because she's such a "feminist".  Gawd.  It's all so insane and contrary to the Constitution and Parliamentary procedure.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Trudeau continuously blamed the public service for choosing WE.  Again, where was ministerial accountability?  It's not public servants who make appointments, it's the government.  Why no one on the committee, or in the press, picked up on this crucial fact is beyond me?

My uncle was Deputy Minister of Defence when Doug Harkness was minister and that was the first time a politician stood up in the House and fingered a public servant for a political mess.  It was about the aircraft carrier 'Bonaventure' and the costs to overhaul it.  Harkness actually mentioned my uncle in the House of Commons and dumped the whole mess on him.  Outrageous.  That was when ministerial accountability went out the window.

My uncle, a dedicated public servant and deputy minister, was never the same after that.  He was doing the government's bidding, but was shuffled out and became DM of Taxation.  I remember sitting in the Minister's board room years later and seeing Uncle Elgin's picture on the wall of DMs.  I purposely sat under it.  He was a true professional and never said a word about the entire affair.  I still miss him.

Polticians must never blame public servants, but this is their new MO.

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Just want to say a few words about my Lake Windermere Open Water Swim.  This would have been my eighth, but I am not doing it this year.  Last year, you will recall, it was held three weeks earlier and the water was so cold I got hypothermia.  My legs felt like concrete and I almost could not finish.  I did and crawled out of the water, but I spooked myself.  Bruce Stroud, the original owner of the swim, sold it last year to some guy who now holds it three to four weeks too early, when the water is freezing.  I found that out the hard way.  But Bruce is such a sweet guy, he has organized an informal swim for this Sunday and called me to see if I would enter.  "The water's now really warm, Nancy," he told me.  "Please come and stay with us.  I'd love you to do the swim."  Sadly, I declined, but maybe next year!  Here I am with Bruce, getting a certificate for being the oldest swimmer in the 2K:

This year, in the pool, I did the calculation and I figure I've forgone more than 100 Ks in the pool.  My fat ass shows it!