They say a picture is worth a thousand words....however this picture has been used as a weapon against me and the words are necessary.
December 5, 2007 I hosted a meeting at the Hilton Hotel with my lawyer Hon. John Crosbie and invited Mr. David Bernstein who is a political advisor. A recommendation was made at this meeting that we meet with Mr. Sarker the Conservative candidate from Papineau later that day. During the meeting with Mr. Sarker, Mr. Bernstein, myself and Hon. John Crosbie, the formation of a fundraising event in January, 2008 was planned.
The honoured guest would be Hon. Maxime Bernier, the Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs who would be present to give a speech supporting Mr. Sarker and the plans we had developed for a job fair in the Papineau riding that would offer jobs and employment opportunities in UAE through my company in Dubai.
During the month of January, 2008 the plans became more concrete with an agreement of the announcement and who would be speaking. Finally, a few days before the event, I received my VVIP invitation to meet with Min Bernier prior to the event. The invitation also suggested that I would speak following Min. Bernier’s speech.
The night of the event we arrived and were taken to the 3rd floor reception area where I met with Min Maxime Bernier and we discussed international business as he had just returned that day from the Middle East from a several week visit in the Gulf region.
Speeches were focused on building support for the eventual election campaign and to showcase what the candidates would do for their constituency. Min Bernier was giving the Conservative Party line and how we were all working together for a greater Canada on the global economy. And finally I was invited to speak;
I made the announcement for the job fair to be hosted by Mr. Sarker in the riding of Papineau; and briefly talked about the 350,000 jobs that were available over the next 3 years supporting the vast development in the UAE. I presented some corporate gifts from the company to the respective politicians.
The following clips were taken by an amatuer Camera operator
My speech
Gift reception
This failure was based on what? My unwillingness to play their game? That I would not play the game of envelopes stuffed with money for political favour? Imagine my surprise in finding out that I was an easy ‘lamb for slaughter’ when the real truth was about to be revealed. That at the same party that I was invited to attend by the Conservative Party, there were nefarious dealings going on with the Foreign Affairs Minister. Certain people attending were listed on government watch lists and in fact had approached ministry officials to have their name removed from the terrorist watch list for $50,000.
In searching for answers as to why I was targeted, I discovered that this was the real story they were trying to cover up so that more harm was not done to the government. I was expendable and forgettable for them.
On May 10, 2008 following a week of controversy surrounding Maxime Bernier and his affair with the Quebec woman, an article was published by La Presse written by Andre Noel and Andre Cedilot, specifically about me and Minister Bernier, based on the photo of our January 15, 2008 reception. This article contained so many false allegations and statements about me that it screams out: where did you get this information? How did they validate the statements they made?
