Monday, March 20, 2023

Canada's Malicious Prime Minister

"At all material times, the investigation was tainted by considerations of political expediency, by unfairness and by lack of due process."
"Carried out under rushed, politically sensitive circumstances, the die was cast before the investigation was fully and competently completed."
"The political actors made the decision to publicize the investigation and the allegation against Major-General Fortin. [Eyre and other military officials] acquiesced to this decision."
"The reality that Major General Fortin's reputation has been so tarnished by the defendants' conduct that the CAF [Canadian Armed Forces] itself will not accept his return; and the climate that the defendants have created in which an individual who has done nothing wrong cannot continue or advance with their career simply because a complainant made a sexual assault allegation."
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin Statement of Claim

"[The lawsuit] seeks to address the grave harm and damage that has been inflicted [on the officer]."
"Major-General Fortin regrets that he has been forced to start litigation in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against the Canadian Armed Forces, an institution he has served loyally for over 30 years."
"He has sadly concluded that he has no other recourse to redress the injustices to which he has been subjected throughout the ordeal described in the Statement of Claim."
Legal team representing Major-General Dany Fortin
A judge has acquitted Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who once led Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, of one count of sexual assault following a trial this fall. Fortin says he is now planning his next legal move, saying his career was derailed by a lack of due process.  CBC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has amply demonstrated on several occasions that he will not tolerate insubordination to his wishes. Declaring himself a 'feminist' he is nothing but an imposter, claiming for himself what he delineates as virtues representing any issue that falls into a progressive category. His sense of entitlement and his natural antipathy to anyone who might question his sanctimonious positions in the belief that he is always right and those who find fault with his reasoning must pay the price, this is the second military serviceman of rank whose reputation he has personally slurred and ruined.
 
On a previous occasion it was the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman whom the prime minister accused of leaking secret information to the press, and in so doing embarrassed Justin Trudeau. Aside from the fact that Norman did no such thing, and the so-called secret information had already reached the press, Trudeau boasted that Norman would be found guilty of the charge of releasing the fact that the prime minister vetoed a decision of the previous government to purchase a badly-needed naval supply ship to an underfunded, under-supplied navy.
 
In the event, the-then chief of staff rather than standing by his deputy and defending him as an honourable man would, chose to support the prime minister, just as has happened with Dany Fortin who had been assigned to head the national strategy of COVID defence three years earlier. He was removed from the post on the strength of a former female naval officer-cadet charging that he had molested her 30 years previously. A charge that was found to have no substance, and that saw Major-General Fortin acquitted. By that time his reputation was in tatters and he had lost the position he had worked to attain.
 
He is now suing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, military officials, police investigators and Chief of the Defence Staff, General Wayne Eyre. Filed in the Superior Court of Ontario, the statement of claim alleges shoddy police work and political interference damaged his reputation and led as well to a sexual assault charge with no basis in fact. He is now seeking $5 million in general damages and another $1 million in punitive damages. The unfortunate thing is that should he be successful in his mission it will be the Canadian taxpayer that will foot the bill.
 
There is irony in that as well as a sense of justice. Taking into account that the Government of Canada paid millions of taxation-raised treasury out to Canadian Muslims who were held to be involved in terrorist activities, several held in Arab state prisons fund guilty in their places of arrest. When they were released the Muslim-Canadian citizens -- one of whom was in fact a member of a terrorist group who had participated in jihadist al-Qaeda conflicts with the West -- accused Canadian government agencies of aiding and abetting in their prison stays.
 
If Canadian tax dollars can be expended for the purpose of settling accounts with Muslim Canadians whom authorities are alleged to have wronged, then there should be no complaints when said tax dollars are paid out to settle other legitimate complaints of federal government wrong-doing. Another irony, General Jonathan Vance, the-then chief of the defence staff who abandoned Mark Norman in favour of pleasing Justin Trudeau in his vendetta, was later himself found to be guilty of a sexual misdemeanor of long standing. 
 
Being sued by Maj.Gen. Fortin are Justin Trudeau, defence chief General Wayne Eyre, former minister of defence Harjit Sajjan, former health minister Patty Hajdu, former defence deputy minister Jody Thomas, clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette and a number of political aides. All of whom lent themselves to Trudeau's vendetta against another innocent man. Named as well in the lawsuit Canadian Forces Provost Marshall Brig.Gen.Simon Trudeau, members of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, members of Eyre's staff and advisers, along with other generals. Quite the list. 

But then Fortin had quite a stellar reputation in his military career. Derailed when the Canadian Forces announced he was under investigation on an allegation of sexual misconduct that dated back over 30 years. Removed from his position as senior military commander leading Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout, his reputation was befouled. Charged with one count of sexual assault in August of 2021, he was acquitted in December 2022 by Quebec judge Richard Meredith's ruling he was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt Fortin was the assailant who had assaulted a member of the military in 1988.

Two witnesses had been interviewed by military police. Their information failed to corroborate the complainant's allegations or her version of events. The claim alleges that public statements relating to the case came about as a result of pressure by politicians. A review of Fortin's case was conducted by the military following his acquittal, concluding the major-general had not, on a balance of probabilities, committed the sexual assault as alleged.

"The review was based entirely on information and evidence that the CAF always had in its possession or control or that it could easily have obtained had it conducted its investigation with a reasonable degree of skill and diligence", the statement of claim pointed out. Despite the acquittal of the criminal charge and exoneration by an internal review, the major-general's legal team alleges the Canadian Forces continues to refuse reintegrating Maj.-Gen.Fortin into the military and to assign him work at his rank level.

Photo of major general dany fortin walking into Quebec court with his wife and daughter during his criminal trial last year.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, right, arrives in uniform with his wife Madeleine Collin and daughter at a Gatineau, Que. courthouse for the third day of his criminal trial. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

 

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