Summary:
A WWII Veteran of the RCAF and Fleet Air Arm, former Canadian trade diplomat and entrepreneur, Ian Macdonald (Ian Verner Macdonald) is an author and political analyst well known for his advocacy of closer Canadian business and political ties with Arab countries, notably Libya and Iraq. As a trade diplomat, Macdonald achieved unprecedented success in Germany, Sri Lanka, the U.S.A., the Middle East and Libya. For two years he was the sole Canadian diplomat accredited to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. When, after six foreign postings, he was given charge of export policy planning at head office, and wrote a strong recommendation that Canada end her “special relationship” with Israel and concentrate on the rich oil producing markets, he was accused by the Jewish Lobby of anti-Semitism and promptly fired. He then found employment in negotiating overseas projects on behalf of Canadian industry, once again, with unprecedented success in Arab countries that resulted in his second dismissal. In the 1990′s he fostered closer relations with Iraq and as President of the Iraqi-Canadian Friendship Association spoke at conferences in Montreal, Moscow and Baghdad opposing the sanctions and the use of deteriorated uranium munitions against Iraqi civilians. He battled defamation attacks by his powerful Zionist detractors, including the CBC where he was falsely named as a supporter of “extreme right-wing” terrorism in Canada.
Associations
In 1987, Macdonald, who had business dealings with Libya since 1970, was asked by Palestinian-American Mousa Hawamda, a Libyan agent, to organise a Canadian delegation to Tripoli to commemorate the American bombing of Libya the previous year. Macdonald agreed, and recruited a contingent of 96 members, composed chiefly of politicians, academics and peace activists from all shades of the political spectrum.
The International Peace Conference was derided by Col. Gaddafi’s enemies who planned to discredit the conference by murdering the leader of the Canadian Delegation. Macdonald learned of the plan and escaped, only to have aspiring young journalist Christoph Halens of the Ottawa Citizen, killed in his stead. He was interviewed at length for the CBC TV production “Death in Tripoli” but his informed opinions on the identity of the perpetrators and infiltration of the delegations were all deleted from the broadcast. Subsequently, he led several delegations to Moscow and Baghdad where he spoke against the use of deteriorated uranium and other atrocities by U.S. Forces in Iraq.
In March 1989, he and Ingrid Beisner,(6) organized a sold-out speaking engagement for controversial author David Irving at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa In September of that year, author Warren Kinsella wrote an article titled “The Somewhat Right of Centre Views of Ian Verner Macdonald” for Ottawa Magazine.[3] Macdonald noted that he had heard a radio interview of James Alexander McQuirter, the 22 year old self-styled Grand Wizard of the Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and was very much impressed by his articulate criticism of Jewish power structure in Canada and of anti-White immigration policy. He introduced himself to the daring young polemicist and became his friend.[7] Although he remained aloof from the Klan itself – the majority of whose members were undercover cops from 3 police forces. McQuirter was later sentenced to 10 years in prison after police entrapment.
Kinsella published the book Unholy Alliances in 1992 and devoted Chapter 5 of the work to detailing his allegations about Macdonald’s personal views. He also wrote Web of Hate in 1994, and accused Macdonald of being a “fascist” and “anti-Semite”, claiming that Macdonald’s friendship with McQuirter linked Irving to the KKK.[6][8] Macdonald engaged famous litigation lawyer Doug Christie to sue the CBC and Kinsella for libel after he stated on a CBC TV program that Macdonald was one of the main sources of finance for extreme Right Wing terrorism in Canada and was a link between the KKK and the Libyan administration of Muammar al-Gaddafi. The case was dismissed on the grounds that the statements were not defamatory and that the claim was filed more than six weeks after the broadcast.[3][9] The ruling was upheld on appeal by the Court of Appeal for Ontario (Rosenberg) October 19, 2011 [10] and an application to the Supreme Court was rejected.
In 2008, Macdonald, an important collector of paper antiques, published OTTAWA – The Golden Years, a unique album of 2,144 rare images from the Victorian era. A copy was presented to Queen Elizabeth II (who described the album as “remarkable” and “splendid” and placed it in the Library at Buckingham Palace).[12] He published in 2010 the Star Weekly at War“, an album of vivid wartime covers of the iconic magazine.
He has been a noteworthy author of letters to the editor, on Zionism, the origin and purpose of WWII, the 1996 American wars on Iraq,[13], unanswered questions on the 9/11 demolition, the war on Libya, politicizing of social services including the removal of a daughter from her mother who espoused Neo-Nazism,[14] defence of the United Church‘s stance on Zionism.[15], uncontrolled immigration, gun confiscation and subversion of the political process in Canada. He deplores in print and on-line the decline in political, judicial and educational standards in Canada. He is an ardent member of the Royal Canadian Legion.
