NFA Warns of problems with UN Arms Trade Treaty
25 July 2012

A near final draft and the closing days of the UN Arms Trade Treaty talks could spell trouble for Canadian interests.  There is tremendous pressure to conclude a deal by July 27 and if the latest draft is any indication, the deal will not be a good one for Canadians.

“The draft treaty still affects civilian ownership of firearms and could cause trouble for Canadians travelling with firearms,” according to Sheldon Clare, President of Canada’s National Firearms Association who was present for part of the talks. “Even more significantly though, are clauses which would establish an expensive and intrusive Implementation Support Unit, a body which would be engaged in keeping firearms trade records.  The ISU would be a likely conduit for providing money to unscrupulous regimes from UN coffers partially funded by Canadian taxpayers.  That is certainly not something that Canadians want or need.”

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Agencies, boards, commissions recipe for disaster

By: Anthony Furey

The Queen’s Park committee hearings into the Ornge scandal underscore how urgent it is that Ontario stop creating agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs) and rein in the 600+ now in existence.

Former CEO Chris Mazza’s testimony proves this. His 2006 compensation at the agency was $284,000 but ballooned to $2.6 million in the most recent year. He got his girlfriend hired, who rose to become a junior executive and board member. He took a seemingly interest-free loan from an arm of Ornge for $500,000 that he used for a home purchase. The list goes on.

But what’s equally damning are Mazza’s comments giving us a window to how ABC CEOs view their relationship to the government.

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