Dimitri Soudas - Still on the milk carton

The search is on for Youtube impressario and PMO Director of Disinformation Dimitri Soudas.
.
A House of Commons bailiff seeking to serve Soudas and another staffer with a summons to appear before the Ethics Committee was twice refused entry to the government offices where Soudas works by the security desk.
.
Soudas has been summoned to answer the Ethics Committee's questions on
"allegations of systematic political interference by ministers' offices to block, delay, or obstruct the release of information to the public regarding the operation of government departments".

The Search for Soudas continues via Google, where the number one search result reads :

"No one takes Ethics Committee summons seriously"

"At the end of the day, [Ethics Committee Chair]Paul Szabo and this kangaroo court have no credibility and no one takes their summons seriously."

So said Con MP Pierre Poilievre in August two years ago when he was only an associate member of the Ethics Committee.
Since becoming fully-fledged, and also Parliamentary Secretary to Steve, his job there is apparently to pipe up "Point of order" every few minutes like some demented Energizer bunny until the Chair finally cuts his mike.

Lib Wayne Easter's spirited response to John Baird's surprise appearance before the Ethics Committee on Tuesday in place of Dimitri Soudas has already been well covered. Soudas cancelled only minutes before the committee convened, in keeping with Steve's new rules forbidding ministerial staffers from appearing before committees.

Chair Paul Szabo at first let Baird speak, setting off an hour of angry opposition motions to dismiss the usurper, interspersed with Poilievre's points! of! order! By contrast, the Con committee members dutifully bent over their brand new talking points on "ministerial responsibility for their staffers", carefully read aloud with heads bowed down when it was their turn to speak.
Eventually Szabo broke a tie vote over whether or not to let Baird stay and booted him out.

Well sure. After all, as Minister of Transport, Baird is not Soudas' boss and would not be able to answer any of the questions the committee was intending to ask Soudas, despite Baird's sinister hand waving about something he called "collective responsibility".

And as Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac of the Bloc pointed out, the last time a minister appeared before the committee on behalf of one of their staffers - that would be Christian Paradis, Minister of Asbestos - his idea of "ministerial responsibility" was to just blame the staffer.

Carole Freeman of the Bloc brought up committees' right to subpoena witnesses :

"[Soudas] is an ordinary citizen and should be treated as such. A house leader does not have the power to change existing rules simply by standing up in the House and making a statement."

But then there was another tie vote that I haven't seen discussed.

What to do about the many named bureaucrats already scheduled to appear in the few weeks remaining before the committee last meets on June 22? And what to do if their ministers wanted to show up in their staffers' place?

Chair Szabo asked for a motion to give him authority to summon the witnesses already scheduled to appear ... if necessary ... even if it meant allowing those witnesses' ministers to come as substitutes in their stead.

A pretty weak motion but as he explained, they were waiting on an expected future ruling by the Speaker on such witness substitutions. And he was only asking for either the scheduled witness or his/her minister to appear if that's what was offered.

OK so it was an astoundingly weak motion to exercise parliamentary committees' right to summon witnesses, but you know what? That vote was tied up 5 to 5 - the Cons vs everyone else - and only passed because the Chair broke it by voting in favour.

Pierre Poilievre suggested what he called "a friendly amendment" to solve the impasse over the next scheduled witness :

"just replace the name of the political staffer in question with the name of the Minister."

Your moment of hideous irony : The work currently before the committee is looking into "allegations of systematic political interference by ministers' offices to block, delay, or obstruct the release of information to the public regarding the operation of government departments".

Just so we're clear here...

Dimitri Soudas

is a coward.

He is a chickenshit, cowering piece of quivering liver. He cries for his mother when things don't go his way.

He is a conservative.

He let's other people fight his battles.

We have put the defence and the security of this country in the hands of the likes of him. Isn't that reassuring?

Look what a piece of cowardly crap your vote got you.

Want a piece of me Dimitri? No problem, you cowardly turd. Single combat. Look it up.

There is a fine line...

Between earning your stripes and falling on your face so many times that your competence becomes a matter of question.

But not to a Conservative. Taking a page out of the Karl Rove playbook, Harper has elevated one of the frat boys based on his loyalty to Dear Leader.

Dimitri Soudas, 30, who has worked for Harper for eight years, replaces John Williamson as director of communications. Soudas, whose most recent position was associate director of communications, will be the prime minister's fifth communications director in five years.

And without even thinking hard, this is how good the guy is:

Last December, he accused Canadian environmentalist Steven Guilbeault of being behind a spoof designed to embarrass the Canadian government at the Copenhagen climate summit. It turned out the Yes Men were responsible for the series of fake news releases that claimed Canada had committed to drastic greenhouse gas emission cuts.

In July 2009, Soudas had to apologize for passing along incorrect information to Harper about comments made by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

Harper criticized Ignatieff for saying Canada could become irrelevant at major international summits. But Ignatieff never made the comments, which were made by former Canadian diplomat Gordon Smith.

Earlier this year, Soudas had to close his Facebook account after he accepted a wanted criminal as a friend on the popular social networking site. Infoman, a Radio-Canada news program in Quebec, had faked the friend request and warned Soudas could have been causing a security risk by including personal photos of his family on Facebook.

So the PMO now has an Alfa-Squirrel and a walking example of the Dilbert Principle.

The rest of you Harperites will just have to keep on sucking.

Added: Definitely worth reading. Impolitical and BigCityLib.

Steve reaches out to Youtube World

As PMO spokesthingey Dimitri Soudas pitches it somewhat awkwardly on YouTube :
Ask Your Questions to Prime Minister Harper :

Submit your questions for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his response to the Speech from the Throne and the recent budget. The Prime Minister will answer a selection of your top-voted questions in an exclusive YouTube interview next Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 7 p.m. ET.

It must have seemed like a pretty good idea at the time when they were kicking it around the PMO - avoiding reporters while controlling the message, getting down with new social media, and reaching out directly to the demographic with a solid majority lockdown on Youtubeworld - youth.

But as any working clown will tell you, teh youth are a very tough audience. A sampling of questions submitted to Steve so far :

lol look at this talkcanada guy trying to be all formal and serious on a crap website

can you explain how selling our Natural Resources is good for Canadians

Check out the proper way to crush a beer can with ur head!!! It rulez

why is the quality of this video so shitty?

Mr Harper this a question regarding what has happened to the Afghan detainees. Currently by having retired Supreme Court Justice Iacobucci look into the documents, you have only created a smokescreen to hide behind. You have not chosen a sitting judge who would actually have power to do a proper inquiry. As well you are currently in violation of the Constitution by withholding these documents from parliament. When will you be releasing the documents regarding the Afghan detainees to parliament?

This guy sounds like he just gargled a bucket of cum

i gotta question,?? which u will never reply to, ... why the fuck do you lie stephen Harper??

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEGALIZE WEED ?

He hasn't listened to Canada for a long time, I'm Surprised he wants to start now. :/

What did you do during the time Parliament was prorogued besides sitting next to Wayne Gretzky and coming up with a plan to change the national anthem?

What's with the low-quality vid and the script reading...

I agree that the stimulus package was a good oppurtunity to further our advancements in green energy, but due to your lack of intrest in said topic, my scrotum gets itchy when I engage in sexual intercourse with multiple women. is this because of your lack of intrest in energy efficiency? If so what steps will you take to ensure the cleanliness of my yambag? Will you tax it? WE NEED answers Mr. Harper!

legalize marijuana?

When will your government end the waste of corporate tax cuts?

WHAT'S YOUR HAIR MADE OF?

Mr Prime Ribroast Minister, CAN I HAS CHEEZBURGAR?

Mr Harper, Will you please sing Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" on live television?

Why have you not requested that the United States release Omar Khadr from the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp? He was just a child when he was arrested in Afganistan. His continuing detention puts Canada's image as a champion of human
rights in jeopardy. (thumbs up if you want Mr. Harper to reply to this question.)

My question is how can you live with yourself?

legalize marijuana .

stephen harper - can you please quit your job

I couldn't be bothered putting down questions for that dud Harper

Jeez At least make it watchable. I mean it's not 2005 anymore. You are the government and you can't afford a freaking HD camera... sad

I think the prime minister should invest in a steady cam and a better mic for his youtube rep... c'mon...

fucking numpty

How can you possibly justify not legalizing marijuana?

Why are we "fighting" for peace (contradiction)? As a Canadian i hear that we are the peacemakers who care about all beings but yet we barely support those who are less fortunate. If Canada is known as the peacemakers of the world and have great alliances (U.S.A) than why do we waste our much needed money on weapons of war instead of food and shelter for the world?

why wont you legalize weed ?

testicals. that is all.

I think I have a way to cut the deficit ... stop making Canadians pay for your makeup PM. You want to look the way you do - do it on your own darn dime.

I find it amusing that marijuana is the topic of perhaps 30% of the questions (probably more) and is currently the top 3 asked question

What agreement we have with Israel? Will you send troops for Israel to attack Iran?

BORING

With crime at an all time low, why get tough on it, as well as building more prisons, shouldn't we build more schools and hospitals?Is there nothing to be learned from californias budgeting nightmare experience?

Harper, why have you continued to ignore your own Accountability Act?

why are you such an asshole on climate change?

Would you debate legalization of small quantities of marijuana considering:
A:Tax money saved w/reduced policing/incarceration/court costs B:Tax Revenue
increases. We're able to make wine/beer. 99% do not! Resulting taxation income
is massive. C:Drug cartels make Billion$! Then expand prostitution/guns/armed
gangs D:Create new job markets in these depressed times. Hemp is so
useful/environmental.Considering the facts, how can continued Fed Prohibition of
marijuana be justified?

Why won't you call an impartial public inquiry into the Afghan detainee affair?

When will Canada take a leadership role in the world when it comes to the environment? I am sick and tired of the Prime Minister taking a supporting role on such an important issue affecting our lives. Stop using the economy to ignore such a pressing issue. Time is no longer on our side when it comes to this issue. Please act now!

I often hear of you dirty playbook tricks , can you share them with the rest of us to use !Help us all learn to be Cons !

Why bother? Harper prorogued parliament so he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else. What makes you think he's going to listen now?

Legalize marijuana.

Methinks Mr Soudas better get himself a coupla sockpuppets up there pretty damn quick or Steve will be spending next Tuesday night talking about legalizing weed, the crap quality of Soudas' vid, and um, testicals.

h/t Kady, who has a couple of questions of her own about the appropriateness of Google gifting free Youtube facetime to Steve while registered as a federal lobby group.

Tuesday Night and we're off : Harper's Big Live Late Pretaped Youtube Debut