XPost: can.politics, bc.politics   
   From: politico@astraweb.com   
      
   > On Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 4:51:06 PM UTC-6, politicosage wrote:   
   >> Sounds like 'Let's Make a Deal' time in Panama.   
   >> If only they would mistake him for a high-risk prisoner and *keep* him   
   there.   
   >> __________________________________________________   
   >>   
   >> -- The Canadian Press -- Apr 10 2015   
   >>   
   >> Arthur Porter invites Harper to visit him in jail during PM's visit to   
   Panama   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> OTTAWA - When Stephen Harper arrives in Panama on Friday it will bring him   
   >> within a short drive of a man he'd probably rather forget: alleged fraudster   
   >> Arthur Porter.   
   >>   
   >> For his part, Porter, who's been jailed in Panama City for nearly two years,   
   >> still thinks about the man who made him a member of Canada's spy watchdog a   
   few   
   >> years ago.   
   >>   
   >> He also has a message for Harper.   
   >>   
   >> Porter told The Canadian Press in a recent phone interview from La Joya   
   prison   
   >> that he wouldn't mind a visit from Harper while the prime minister is in the   
   >> region this weekend for the Summit of the Americas.   
   >>   
   >> "If he wishes, he is most welcome to come and see the conditions that I   
   live in   
   >> now," Porter said of Harper during the conversation, which was drowned out   
   at   
   >> times by the shouts of other inmates in the background.   
   >>   
   >> "The (prison) air is the same, the infections are the same, the   
   difficulties in   
   >> finding water and food are the same.  You know, some days are better than   
   others."   
   >>   
   >> Porter has been detained since May 2013 in the Central American country as   
   he   
   >> fights extradition to Canada.  He faces fraud charges in Canada related to a   
   >> $1.3-billion hospital project in Montreal.   
   >>   
   >> It has been a long fall from grace for a man who won the trust of many   
   >> high-level Canadian officials and politicians, including Harper.   
   >>   
   >> **  Harper has faced criticism for choosing Porter as well other past   
   >> appointments, including now-suspended senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau   
   and   
   >> Pamela Wallin, who are all in trouble over expense claims.   
   >>   
   >> **  The prime minister named Porter in 2008 to the Security Intelligence   
   Review   
   >> Committee, which monitors the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.   
   >>   
   >> **  In joining SIRC, Porter was also sworn to the Privy Council and he   
   remains   
   >> a member.   
   >>   
   >> Porter was elevated to SIRC's chair two years later but resigned in December   
   >> 2011 following published reports of his business links to an international   
   arms   
   >> dealer.   
   >>   
   >> After moving to the Bahamas, he was arrested along with his wife, Pamela,   
   >> during a flight layover in Panama.   
   >>   
   >> Since his arrest, he claims he's had no contact "whatsoever" with Canadian   
   >> authorities and has yet to have a court hearing in Panama.   
   >>   
   >> Still, the Sierra Leone-born doctor says he would rather stay in the prison   
   and   
   >> fight extradition than return to Canada, a country where he now mistrusts   
   >> authorities.   
   >>   
   >> "I don't think I have a level playing field in Canada and I certainly am not   
   >> interested in getting penalized for something that I am not guilty for,"   
   said   
   >> Porter, who is a cancer specialist.   
   >>   
   >> Before his arrest two years ago, Porter revealed he was suffering from stage   
   >> four lung cancer and likely had three months to live.   
   >>   
   >> He credits his survival to treatments he says knocked the cancer into   
   >> remission.  But he fears the disease is re-emerging and was recently told by   
   >> friend Dr. Karol Sikora that he may only have six weeks to six months left.   
   >>   
   >> "I am still a tremendous optimist," Porter said through a muffled, raspy   
   voice.   
   >>   
   >> "Of course, being an oncologist, I also know the score."   
   >>   
   >> Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ashley McArthur said Porter has been offered   
   >> consular visits and medical help, but has refused both.   
   >>   
   >> "Canada is seeking Mr. Porter's extradition to Canada to face the charges   
   >> against him.  Canadian officials have scheduled consular visits with Mr.   
   Porter   
   >> on several occasions; however he has chosen not to attend," McArthur said   
   in an   
   >> email.   
   >>   
   >> "Canadian officials have also consistently supported access to medical   
   >> treatment, which Mr. Porter has declined.  Consular officials will continue   
   to   
   >> provide assistance to Mr. Porter, as they would for any Canadian."   
   >>   
   >> Sikora, who ran a cancer clinic with Porter in the Bahamas, based his   
   estimate   
   >> on email conversations with his friend and has not examined him in person.   
   >>   
   >> The U.K. physician also wrote an email last week to Harper, urging him to   
   raise   
   >> Porter's situation with Panamanian officials while he's in the country.   
   >>   
   >> "It is just amazing that this sort of human rights abuse of all prisoners   
   not   
   >> just Arthur can occur today in a civilized country," Sikora wrote in the   
   email   
   >> to Harper, which he forwarded to The Canadian Press.   
   >>   
   >> Sikora, who also sent Harper some of Porter's medical records, said the   
   jailed   
   >> physician was in urgent need of scans, tests and a new course of treatment.   
   >>   
   >> Aside from the invitation to visit him in jail, Porter said he doesn't have   
   any   
   >> specific message for Harper, who will meet with hemispheric leaders at the   
   >> summit on Friday and Saturday.   
   >>   
   >> He hopes someone will ensure he gets access to adequate medical care and   
   speed   
   >> up his legal process.   
   >>   
   >> Porter feels his case got a boost following a recent report by the United   
   >> Nations special rapporteur on torture.  The brief UN report said that   
   Porter is   
   >> being held in degrading and inhuman conditions and has been denied medical   
   >> treatment.   
   >>   
   >> "I am here not at the request of Panama, but at the request of Canada,"   
   Porter   
   >> said.   
   >>   
   >> "They need to know the conditions that led to the UN finding that was   
   against   
   >> the convention against torture."   
   >>   
   >> His frustration, he added, is not directed at Harper himself.   
   >>   
   >> "I'm not unhappy about the man, but I am certainly unhappy about the   
   government."   
   >> ___________________________________________   
   >>   
   >> 	Welcome to 'under the bus', Mr Porter.   
      
      
   On 4/11/2015 4:20 PM, Roy wrote:   
   > In Porter's case...I say "Stay under the bus where you belong".   
      
      
   No argument with that . . . .  but isn't it curious that all those 'appointees'   
   by Harper are ending up in jails or courtrooms?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)