Pointing Fingers

If you're wondering whatever happened to Julian "Caledonia" Fantino:

The ball started rolling in January when a group of veterans gathered in Ottawa to meet Fantino. The minister was 70 minutes late and things only got worse when he did show up.

Fantino chastised one veteran for pointing his finger, and the minister walked away, seemingly exasperated, a few minutes later. News cameras caught the interaction.

Afterwards, several angry veterans who were present started to make plans.

“Up until he screwed up, it would have probably been a fairly quiet thing,” said Scott.

“But he made the big mistake of mouthing off to the veterans, and a couple of them, of course, didn’t take it very well.” 

Say what you will about the former OPP Chief but he's consistent: A callous indifference to the suffering of the people of Caledonia is matched by a callous indifference to the concerns of veterans. This story is fascinating as a reveal into the psychology of the man. Ministers routinely meet with interest groups, it's part and parcel of the job. They smile, they nod and tell their guests that the government is doing something about it. The minister thanks their visitors for their contributions to the community and their input to the political process. It's boiler plate politics and a very basic level of courtesy. But our boy Julian screwed it up. 

This begs an obvious question: How much of an unprofessional jackass do you have to be to piss off a group of veterans? 

The military leans Right and has since at least Paul Hellyer's "reforms" of the military in 1968. The word Liberal is practically an insult for some vets. They remember the Trudeau years. They remember the contemptuous indifference of the Chretien-Martin years. To have needlessly provoked such an otherwise loyal group of Tory voters is something of a political feat.

There are two substantive issues behind this veterans revolt against the Conservatives: The closing of regional service centers and the changing of compensation for those wounded in combat from a periodic lifetime payment to a lump sum. While I view both changes as being penny wise and pound foolish, especially in regards to veterans benefits, you can debate the merits. The sums involved are comparatively tiny. The closing of eight regional centres will save the government about $5 million. There's plenty of places in the federal government to trim $5 million dollars. The Veterans Department shouldn't be one of them.

So it's a dumb callous policy that might, in some abstract way, make administrative sense. There should be someone, somewhere, in the PMO looking over issues like this one. Someone who didn't graduate from university two weeks ago. Someone who realizes that pissing off veterans to save chump change out of a $280 billion budget is bad in so many different ways. Apparently that person doesn't exist. The end result is a callous policy defended in a callous manner by a tone deaf bully.

Those with longish memories will recall that at the height of the Caledonia crisis it was Julian Fantino who failed to uphold the law. It was Julian Fantino who persecuted Gary McHale for having the audacity to upload basic Canadian principles. It was Julian Fantino who, by all rights, should have been dismissed and charged but was instead offered a Conservative Party nomination. It is Julian Fantino who now sits in the federal cabinet. 

When Fantino entered federal politics I warned that the Tories complicity would come back to haunt them. If you refuse to denounce such a man and instead, almost unbelievably, reward and promote him, you own him. Whatever jackass thing he does going forward is on your head. The Conservatives wanted Julian Fantino, now they've got him and everything he entails. 

 

Comments

[Roseberry]

The "outrage over the regional DVA office closures is largely manufactured by the employees and people who will never vote Tory. The Sydney, Cape Breton office serves a comment shrinking number of vets, who now will have to do what vets in Yarmouth, Bridgewater, and Amherst have had to do forever.

Some veterans would prefer a lump sum payment but others just want regular cheques delivered to their front doors. It should be possible to grandfather in a set of options.

That said, Fantino is a thug and a disgrace to the Italian community.