The Globe and Mail - 13.11.2019

A12 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER13,

EDITORIAL

PHILLIPCRAWLEY

PUBLISHERANDCEO

DAVIDWALMSLEY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

R

ussia’s interference in the U.S. presidential election

that brought Donald Trump to power was never ex-

actly hidden from view.

A month before the 2016 vote, the Obama administration

accused the Russiangovernment of Vladimir Putin of stealing

e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and mak-

ing them public through WikiLeaks and two websites associ-

ated with Russian intelligence services.

Less than a year-and-a-half later, the U.S. Department of

Justice accused the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm in

Saint Petersburg operated by allies of Mr. Putin, of spreading

misinformation through social media designed to interfere

with the U.S. election. The DOJ indicted 13 Russians, including

Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch tied closely to Mr. Putin, on

fraud and related charges.

The fact that it was easy to trace the stolen e-mails to Rus-

sian intelligence, and then uncover the breadth of Russian ef-

forts on Facebook and other social media to promote the cam-

paign of Mr. Trump and harm that of his opponent, Hillary

Clinton, spoke to a certain audacity on Mr. Putin’s part.

But if the world hoped that the indictments of 13 Russians,

along with the financial sanctions imposed on them by the

United States, would discourage Mr. Putin, that hasn’t turned

out to be the case.

According to a New York Times investigation published

this week, Russian political operatives openly manipulated a

general election in the tiny island country of Madagascar in

December, 2018, barely 10 months after the 13 indictments

came down.

Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa, is not a strate-

gic prize. But it does have a valuable chromium mine, one that

the indicted oligarch and Putin ally, Mr. Prigozhin, has a ma-

jority stake in through a third company. It now appears that

the Russian interference was designed to elect a president fa-

vourable to Mr. Prigozhin’s ownership of a resource that peo-

ple in Madagascar protested should stay in local hands.

As many as 30 Russians, operating openly in Madagascar,

paid bribes, spread misinformation and propped up spoiler

candidates in the election. Things didn’t go as planned with

their preferred candidate, so the Russians switched allegiance

mid-election and put their support behind another man. In

the end, Madagascar elected a president who subsequently al-

lowed Mr. Prigozhin’s company to maintain ownership of the

mine.

Russia’s Madagascar caper is eerily similar to the granddad-

dy of modern election meddling: the CIA-led coup in Iran in

1953 that overthrew a popular nationalist leader in order to

protect British oil interests in that country.

Both were blatant violations of the sovereignty of foreign

countries by more powerful countries seeking to promote the

financial interests of their friends and allies. After 1953, the

CIA went on to support coups in other countries, notably in

South and Central America, often under the guise of fighting

the spread of Soviet Union influence during the Cold War.

And now post-Soviet Moscow appears to have become the

leading practitioner of this black art. This week, Ms. Clinton –

the target of Russian dirty work in the U.S. election – urged

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to release a Parliamen-

tary report on Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referen-

dum and 2017 general election.

Mr. Johnson, who is pro-Brexit, has refused to do so until

after the general election in December.

This is the most shocking thing about Russia’s open attacks

on foreign votes: that some Western leaders, on one side of

the political spectrum, are willing to play it down.

Mr. Johnson should release the report, but it suits him not

to. And Mr. Trump still refuses to condemn Russian interfe-

rence in the 2016 election in a meaningful way.

It’s one thing for Mr. Putin to use his political assets to in-

terfere in foreign elections. It is another altogether for there to

be an under-reaction on the part of two Western leaders who

appear to gain from playing down the meddling.

Small countries such as Madagascar don’t have a chance

against Moscow. Mid-sized ones such as Canada can preserve

the integrity of their elections, but doing so requires more and

more money and vigilance.

What the world needs is the two most important Western

democracies, the United States and Britain, to demonstrate

that foreign election manipulation will be called out and stop-

ped, no matter where it occurs – or who it benefits.

Russia’sgame,

anditsplayers

intheWest

AFTER DON CHERRY

Re Fall Of An Icon: The Times

Changed, But Don Cherry

Wouldn’t (Nov. 12): Now that

Don Cherry is gone, the more im-

portant challenge for the Nation-

al Hockey League and its broad-

casters should be to change the

culture that celebrated him: to

make hockey a sport that wel-

comes all, regardless of race,

gender, sexual orientation and

how long one has lived in Cana-

da.

Hockey need only look to the

National Basketball Association

and the Toronto Raptors to see

what a more inclusive sports cul-

ture looks like.

Chris SasakiToronto

Now that Don Cherry is gone,

perhaps his segment could be-

come Player’s Corner. Every

week, the show could feature

captains of midget and junior

teams across the country who

could comment on the game. I

would value their perspectives.

Katherine PeelToronto

After a minor fender-bender in

her 80s, my mother gave up her

driver’s licence. Packing it in

didn’t negate all the great things

she had done over the years; she

just decided it was no longer an

appropriate vehicle for her. Don

Cherry has done many wonder-

ful things for Canada and local

communities, and will likely

continue to do so, despite

Coach’s Corner no longer being

an appropriate vehicle.

Jon McGoeyLondon, Ont.

Don Cherry may have shot from

the hip when he made his im-

passioned plea about wearing a

poppy. But I know – and I think

countless other Canadians do,

too – that his feelings came

straight from the heart.

I want to thank Mr. Cherry for

everything he’s done to unite

Canadians and make us proud to

be a part of this great country.

Wanda NowakowskaToronto

I just watched two past Coach’s

Corner Remembrance Day trib-

utes from the time when Cana-

dians were dying in Afghanistan.

There were raw and poignant

tributes to individuals who paid

the ultimate price. Don Cherry

made their sacrifices personal.

Can anyone name a person more

supportive of the Canadian

Forces and veterans than Mr.

Cherry? I can’t.

Colin Lockhart

Florenceville-Bristol, N.B.

Re On Don Cherry (Letters, Nov.

12): A few letter-writers believe

it’s a free country and Don Cher-

ry should be allowed to speak his

mind. Agreed. But why should

he have a podium and be paid

what was surely a princely sum

for often speaking like a court

fool?

Let him speak his mind over

beers at the local tavern.

Richard HarrisHamilton

I, too, am an old, cranky, white

male, born and raised in Canada

from ancestors who arrived from

Scotland in 1774. I have never

seen Don Cherry as an icon – his

notions about hockey seemed

obsolete long ago. I believe the

game is better because of prac-

tice routines developed by Rus-

sians, skating and passing per-

fected by Scandinavians, the

elimination of the red line and

better referees.

I also believe Mr. Cherry has

the right to freedom of expres-

sion, but not on television, not

with budding young players

watching. The CBC should have

clicked him offstage years ago.

Larry BlackBarrie, Ont.

Perhaps it’s time for Don Cherry

to consider a career shift to

where his temperament and

views would continue to find a

receptive audience: politics.

John SilversteinToronto

IF YOU BUILD IT ...

Re More People. Fewer Cars. Bet-

ter City (Editorial, Nov. 9): Every-

one in the housing business

should know that the solution to

the housing crisis is to build

more housing, quickly and at a

much higher density. For many

years, the City of Vancouver

seems to have worked very hard

to prevent developers from do-

ing so.

It never occurred to me that

the solution would be Indige-

nous groups who can ignore all

of the city’s requirements and

build on their lands whatever

they want, including 6,000 hous-

ing units on a relatively small

parcel in the city’s Kitsilano

neighbourhood. And with an ab-

breviated approval process, they

can also finish construction

much faster. Perhaps the city can

learn some lessons here.

What that would require is

strong leadership to defy special

interest groups and do what is

necessary to build more housing.

At the moment, anyway, that

kind of leadership seems in short

supply at city hall.

Garth EvansVancouver

The development industry

seems to have greeted, with

shameless enthusiasm, the

Squamish decision to ignore

zoning constraints. The Squam-

ish are within their legal rights,

but they should remember that

Senakw will have value because

it is in Vancouver, a city that is

livable largely because of plan-

ning rules. The rules, though on-

erous at times, exist to protect

the collective interest.

As well, when the Squamish

were peremptorily evicted from

Kitsilano in 1913, each head of

household received $11,250 – at

the time more than enough to

buy two houses in the city. Then

in 2000, the Squamish negotiat-

ed a $92.5-million settlement

with Ottawa to compensate for

Kitsilano and a North Vancouver

property. And in 2002, the

Squamish reacquired, after a

court case, the 10 acres now slat-

ed for this development.

Surely the original sin of ex-

pelling the Squamish has been

paid for. Yet the citizens of Van-

couver will have to pay yet again

with a massive development, un-

constrained by regulation and

designed without concern for

transit, schools, parks or the lo-

cal community.

Susan FisherVancouver

DRIVING FORWARD

Re Canadians Are Being Driven

To Distraction (Folio, Nov. 9):

While it is truethat government

policies and penalties can offer

some disincentives to dangerous

behaviours, there is another

powerful motivator.

Following the Ontario deci-

sion in Hunt v. Sutton Group –

when a woman, apparently

drunk at an office holiday party,

was injured – we all took notice.

Office parties toned down, taxi

chits were given out and atten-

tion was paid to how employees

were getting home.

Never mind that the trial

judge’s decision finding the em-

ployer liable went to the Court of

Appeal and was sent back for a

new trial. What we remember is

that we can be held personally

liable if someone we serve drives

drunk and hurts themselves or

someone else.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers have long

known about the risks of im-

paired driving through cell-

phone use. Requests for cell-

phone records after collisions are

the norm. In a 2017 case, Austin

v. Smith, phone records were

held producible just because the

defendant driver had a phone in

the car, without other evidence

of use.

There’s nothing like a lawsuit

to remind the community that

there are consequences to ac-

tions. Your data will find you out.

Barbara LegateLegate &

Associates LLP; London, Ont.

It seems to me an easy and effec-

tive solution to the problem of

cellphone use while driving

would be to have a 24-hour sei-

zure of the phone as a penalty,

rather like a 24-hour roadside

suspension of a vehicle. I guaran-

tee that drivers would pay atten-

tion to this penalty.

Lorna HrubyVancouver

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