BUT . . . Rae is a hugely influential national policy maker with a strong history of supporting Baltic sovereignty.

Worse than Harris???

True.
When Michael Wilson returned from his tour of the newly independent Baltic countries in September 1991 and spoke to the Toronto Baltic community about his experiences, Bob Rae, who was Premier at the time, insisted on participating and also offered his personal and governements congratulations to the Baltic nations and people.

In the 90's Rae spoke vociferously against the Soviet occupation and contributed nearly 2 million dollars to help rebuild the impressive Estonian state that exists today.

Yet in 2007, Harris spent most of March-April at Putin's private dacha in Sochi to lobby Putin's most trusted oligarch to buy a 50% stake in Magna.

Which is worse?

Where is the evidence Rae ever made such an enormous contribution of 2 million dollars the the Estonian State! If it were so, then the proof of such an investment would be in the shape of a EV aumärk presented by Lennart Meri. This sort of money was big bucks back then, and it would have received huge recognition from the Riigikogu and President. However, I think this is a fraudulent piece of information aimed at gaining brownie points for Rae. Let's face it-Rae, van Loan et al have very little interest in the Baltics at a time when anyone in their right mind would be plain stupid not to understand the investment opportunities begging to be had next door in Russia. The Canadian leadership is only too aware of this fact, and you can be sure there will be a lot of talking out of both sides of the mouth when these charlatans get together for this forthcoming gabfest !!

"When Premier of Ontario Rae approved supporting Estonia with $ 1.5 million dollars, this at a time when the nation needed such support the most."
from the article above this one. The money, ostensibly went to the Estonian ministrty of justice to fund judicial reforms.
And yes Maxim, he should have received a gov't order for this years ago.

I suspect that our infamous Minister for "Justice" Rein Lang has fattened up his personal lifestyle at Rae's and the Canadian taxpayer's expense. Alles nimetati teda kultuuripidurdajaks, aga ma arvan et tema võimed ühiskonnaelu pidurdamiseks on palju laiemad kui tollal tunnistati.

When have Baltic issues EVER been discussed at this level? This is the first event of its kind! It gives the entire community a chance to offer their views - on a rare one-on-one basis- on how we should proceed with Canadian foreign policy in the region.

We should be putting our common cause ahead of petty, self-serving, squabbling. Surly the Bronze Soldier crisis proved that we need our Gov't, regardless of its political stripes, to support the region. This is one way that we can encourage them to do that.

Well said!

Well, well..this is one for the books. Since when have Estonia and the EU been flirting with each other in such a clandestine political relationship? Back in the early 1990's I would have expected Estonia to be too distanced from the activities of the EU, but sounds as though Rae knew something about the establishing of ties long before most Estonian politicians knew or cared for such a thing. If this is all true, then Rae should be called to account for his political actions and his interference in Estonian affairs!!

Calm down.... It was clearly part of a Federally mandated program that Ontario was participating in.
I hadn't heard of this before I read Adu's article. Impressed that it was Rae. Things certainly got done in the Leivat/Hess golden years!!

Those were heady days when Hess and Laas were in the forfront and things got done. Laas must be getting tired and Hess must have moved on. Too bad Avo has none of the fire or talent of these two. I see him sitting in estore a lot of the time, so his busy, but what does he get done??

Don't underestimate Avo. He distributes a few copies of EE every week. He also sells a book or two and on a good day a piece of jewelry. If he was getting paid for these efforts, I'd say good work if you can get it. But since he's one of countless volunteers in our community, go easy on him.

Avo - volunteer? Are you joking?