How John Baird bungled Mohamed Fahmy's release

Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy wasted no time in blasting the Harper government just 18 days before the federal election for overstating its role in securing his recent release from an Egyptian jail.

“When a Canadian citizen is in prison and caught up in a case so complicated, related to terrorism, the most efficient and senior officials in the Canadian government should intervene from day one," Fahmy told Canadaland’s Jesse Brown in an extensive interview on Sept. 28.

How John Baird bungled Mohamed Fahmy's release

Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy wasted no time in blasting the Harper government just 18 days before the federal election for overstating its role in securing his recent release from an Egyptian jail.

“When a Canadian citizen is in prison and caught up in a case so complicated, related to terrorism, the most efficient and senior officials in the Canadian government should intervene from day one," Fahmy told Canadaland’s Jesse Brown in an extensive interview on Sept. 28.

John Baird, democracy's gold digger

John Baird has a new job (update: jobs). And not just any job. He's going to be an international advisor to the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold. You don’t get a gold watch when you retire from Barrick, you get a gold butler.

This is a company that'shugely benefited from policies of the Conservative government. But, if you believe that whatever's good for large corporations is good for all Canadians, then Baird's new job is no big deal. It's just public service in a different form. A form that happens to have no accountability and yacht-loads of money. 

John Baird lands yet another job as adviser to Hong Kong billionaire

Former foreign affairs minister John Baird has another new job, this one advising Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, son of one of the wealthiest men in Asia.

Mr. Baird will be based in Toronto and offer Mr. Li advice on international matters as the tycoon makes investments around the world. It is not a full-time job, but Mr. Baird is expected to spend as much as half his time on this new assignment.

JOHN BAIRD STRIKES GOLD WITH BARRICK

John Baird shocked the country this February when he abruptly announced that he was leaving his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of parliament. Last week, a regulatory filing of Barrick Gold revealed that the mining giant had hired Baird to its international advisory board, headed by former prime minister Brian Mulroney, for an undisclosed amount of money.

In hindsight, it is easy to see how Baird's position as Minister of Foreign Affairs could have benefitted both Barrick and Barrick founder Peter Munk's pet project, the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

John Baird’s appointment to Barrick job raises questions

OTTAWA—John Baird’s appointment to a high-level job at a global mining giant that lobbied him when he was foreign affairs minister is raising questions about the rules governing employment for former public office holders.

Baird, who announced last month that he was stepping down from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet and leaving politics, has been hired as an international adviser by Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp.

Barrick Gold hires John Baird, Newt Gingrich

Barrick Gold Corp. has hired former foreign affairs minister John Baird and former top U.S. lawmaker Newt Gingrich, the company said in regulatory filings.

Mr. Baird is working on Barrick's international advisory board along with Mr. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives. No compensation details were disclosed in the filings.

The company also gave its chairman John Thornton a pay raise as the world’s biggest gold producer repositions itself to deal with the severe slump in bullion prices.

John Baird made a mess of foreign policy

So now it falls to Robert Douglas Nicholson — the plodding journeyman — to inherit the world of John Baird.

The office will elevate Nicholson, but will Nicholson elevate the office? Will he bring to it less certainty and more humility? After Baird, the mogul of the megaphone, it won’t be that hard.

To his chorus of admirers, Baird was “principled.” He was “a rare beacon of light” and “a pillar of strength.” He was “a great foreign minister.”

That superlative comes from Jason Kenney, the new defence minister. Ironically, Kenney should be foreign minister; more than anyone in cabinet, Kenney has the intelligence and sophistication for serious diplomacy.

Baird's Claim About Canada's Stature In World Contains 'Some Baloney'

OTTAWA - "I have seen the stature of our country grow, in the eyes of the world ... Today, Canada stands tall in the world." — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in his resignation speech in the House of Commons, Feb. 3.

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How John Baird will cash in by quitting Parliament early

If it’s crass to talk about money while parliamentarians and pundits are praising John Baird’s political prowess and pondering his legacy, pardon my etiquette.

But one piece of the story is still missing. By stepping down this year, the former foreign affairs minister locked in his entitlement to an annual parliamentary pension of $64,381 starting at the age of 55. Had he waited until 2016, when new rules take effect, his golden handshake would not have been available until his 60th birthday.

To most Canadians, financial freedom at 60 still sounds pretty attractive. But for Baird, it would have meant forfeiting more than $320,000.

Russian bank that hired John Baird’s onetime chief-of-staff removed from list of firms facing sanctions

OTTAWA — A Russian bank hired John Baird’s onetime provincial chief of staff to lobby the federal government to get the bank removed from the list of Russian firms facing sanctions over Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine.

The then-Foreign Affairs Minister subsequently removed the bank from the list, but he and the lobbyist both say they never spoke about the matter. Meanwhile, ExpoBank LLC’s representatives say that it was only added to the list as a result of mistaken identity.

Expobank was added to the list April 28, 2014. A month later, lobbyist Will Stewart registered with the commissioner of lobbying “for the purpose of making an application to remove ExpoBank from the Schedule to the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations.”

Baird likely to return to politics, after making money in private sector

Former foreign affairs minister John Baird’s abrupt decision to quit federal politics last week stunned political Ottawa, but close aides and political insiders speculate that following the “Jim Prentice model,” he will return to politics in the coming years, most likely at the provincial level.

“The story that is missing is that he looked at what happened to Jim Prentice. Why don’t you go out at the top of your game and make a lot of money? He’s a lot younger than Jim Prentice and you can still come back to politics. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in politics. That door remains open for him without a doubt,” said a senior Conservative who spoke to The Hill Times on condition of anonymity.

REALITY CHECK: THE REAL REASONS JOHN BAIRD RESIGNED?

The spin After 20-plus years in politics, 10 of those on Parliament Hill, it was time for a change.

The reality The PM's office was clearly caught off guard by Baird’s resignation. Harper reportedly heard through media reports of his foreign minister’s impending departure. It was only after news began to leak out Monday night that Baird reportedly sought a meeting with the PM to make his departure official, leaving the PM with no time for a smooth transition of power in a key portfolio on which the PM has staked his political reputation. And so the PM now finds himself in a war in Iraq with an interim foreign affairs minister at the helm. The whiff of possible scandal lingers. And conspiracies abound about Baird's legendary lifestyle. Was there a falling out with the PM? Or is Baird simply abandoning a sinking ship? There’s some truth to Baird’s claim that he wanted to go out on top. Politically, there isn’t much higher for him to go in Ottawa, even if the HarperCons managed the improbable: another election win.

Goodbye, John Baird … and good riddance

If you’re searching for reasons why politicians and many in the mainstream media are as popular as flies in the vichyssoise these days, look no further than John Baird’s surreal exit from public life this week.

For a while there watching the ever-depressing Power and Politics, I thought we were saying goodbye to Lester Pearson instead of the PM’s attack-trained junkyard dog. (A tip of the hat to Ian Capstick for his refusal to sink to the occasion.)

The embrace between Baird and NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar seemed to turn the toxic battleground of the Commons floor into a Teddy Bear’s picnic — ironic, given how often Baird led the Harper government’s spittle-flecked berserker charge.

From parliamentary attack dog to international statesman, John Baird covered all the bases for his boss, Stephen Harper

On the morning of Thursday, December 6, 2008, veteran CBC parliamentary journalist Don Newman exposed for all Canadians the reflexive contempt the Harper Conservatives hold for Canada’s parliamentary form of government – a reflexive contempt that continues to grow and fuel every new parliamentary outrage.

Writes Newman in the first paragraph of his bestselling autobiography Welcome to the Broadcast:

“Outrage comes naturally to him (Baird.) But on the morning of Thursday, December 6, 2008, John Baird was ready to outdo himself,” Newman writes, quoting Baird: ‘We’ll go over the heads of the members of Parliament, go over the heads, frankly, of the Governor-General; go right to the Canadian people,’ Baird fumed, “telling me face to face, one on one, on live television across the country,”

John Baird Likens ISIS Fight To Struggles With Communism, Fascism, In UN Address

OTTAWA - American praise for Canada as one of its strongest allies in the fight against militants in Iraq and Syria wasn't enough to conceal sharp differences Friday over the role of Iran in potentially helping the cause.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told a special ministerial meeting of the United Nations Security Council that "our near neighbour to the north" was making one of the strongest contributions in the battle, prior to an address by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Kurds seek heavy weapons against ISIL

IRBIL, Iraq - Peshmerga Brig-Gen. Magdeed Haki motioned towards a dark blur on the horizon about a kilometre from his searing hot, windblown perch atop a sandbagged, orange-dirt bunker in northern Iraq.

Behind him, kilometres to the south, the key city of Irbil lies relatively unscathed, despite recent events. Just 40 kilometres northward, the city of Mosul is still held by the marauding Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, the al-Qaida splinter group that has waged a relentless offensive across this region for months.

John Baird Heckled By Protesters Over Canada's Israel-Gaza Position

LONDON, Ont. - Protesters who oppose Canada's position in the Israel-Palestinian conflict interrupted a speech Friday by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in London, Ont.

Baird was speaking to the Chamber of Commerce about global challenges that could affect Canada's economy and security in the future when the incident happened.

'The Right to Protect' and the loss of Parliament's moral compass

John Baird, Canada's Minister of External Affairs, allows for no nuance in his declaration of unconditional support for Israel in the current tragedy where more than 639 Palestinians, nearly 80 per cent of them civilians, have been killed by Israeli bombs. "We believe Israel has the right to defend itself by itself."

This statement, of course merely echoes statements by Israeli officials. On the face of it, such declarations seem to make sense. Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes the right of self-defence against foreign attack. However, Noura Erakat, a Palestinian American legal scholar, points out, "A state cannot simultaneously exercise control over territory it occupies and militarily attack that territory on the claim that it is 'foreign' and poses an exogenous national security threat."1In 2004 the International Court of Justice issued an Advisory Opinion that Article 51 had no relevance to Israel's relation to Palestine.

John Baird Maligns UN Human Rights Council On Gaza Resolution

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is once again maligning the United Nations, accusing its human rights council of singling out Israel and making no mention of Hamas in its resolution on the Gaza conflict.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted 29-1 on Wednesday to authorize an international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged abuses since mid-June in the Gaza Strip.