Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ex-B.C. premier Campbell appointed as Harper’s envoy in U.K.

OTTAWA Former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell is off to London.

The Harper government formally announced his appointment as the new high commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on Monday.

The Canadian Press first reported Campbell’s new job in June.

Campbell resigned as premier earlier this year after the controversial introduction of the 12 per cent harmonized sales tax.

While a Liberal, he was responsible for reinvigorating the relationship between B.C. and the Conservative government.

His appointment was announced with several others, including a new ambassador for Afghanistan.

Glenn Davidson, the former commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic and ambassador to Syria, is taking over the post in Kabul from William Crosbie.

Crosbie reportedly offered to resign last year after criticisms he made about Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a diplomatic cable were published by the website WikiLeaks.

Crosbie had voiced concerns that his remarks would be damaging to Canada-Afghan relations, but at the time, the prime minister said his job was safe.

Monday’s appointments also included the elevation of Elissa Golberg as Canada’s ambassador to the office of the United Nations in Geneva as well as the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.

Golberg was the first representative of Canada in Kandahar, a position created by the Tories in 2008 to co-ordinate defence, diplomacy and development efforts in the southern part of Afghanistan.

A new ambassador to the United Nations in New York City was also announced. Guillermo Rishchynski, formally the ambassador of Mexico, will now fill that post.

Also appointed to a diplomatic position was Sanjeev Chowdhury, who was part of the team in charge of the G8 and G20 summits last year.

He will now serve as Canada’s consul general in Rio de Janeiro.

Origin
Source: the Spec 

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