Following his retirement from the military as a brigadier general and before his election in 2004, Mr. O'Connor worked as a lobbyist with Hill & Knowlton Canada.
In that capacity, according to federal records, he lobbied for a Who's Who of defence firms.
Between 2001 and 2004, Mr. O'Connor was the registered lobbyist for Airbus Military. In that capacity, defence sources say, he would have received a retainer in he range of $15,000 to $20,000 a month, and had extensive contacts with company officials, including regular product briefings.
Airbus is currently developing the A400M aircraft, which is a contender for a pending $4.6-billion tactical airlift contract, as well as the C295 fixed-wing rescue aircraft, one of several contenders for a planned $3.4-billion purchase of new search-and-rescue planes.
Mr. O'Connor also formerly lobbied for BAE Systems, Raytheon Canada, General Dynamics Canada and Stewart & Stevenson.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060410.wdentandt/BNStory/National/home
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 11, 2006]
Note: http://www.theglobeandm...
Grits Hammer Away At Defence Minister's Former Role
Posted on Tuesday, April 11 at 11:12 by 4CanadaContributed By
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I don't often agree with Ujjal Dosanjh but, in this case, he is to be
thanked for stating the case against Gordon O'Connor so clearly.
The infamous little platoon of rejects is forming on the right:
David Emerson
Gordon O'Connor
Michael ("too busy to get elected") Fortier
and, yes, Paul Martin
<br />
Also, although he was a lobbyist for various corporations like Airbud<br />
s Military and General Dynamics, Airbus is developing what will be the best plane for the job with respect to the tactical aircraft replacement Canada will eventually buy--and it was the Liberal Party who signed a contract to purchase General Dynamics designed LAV-III vehicles built in London, Ontario.<br />
<br />
The Airbus A400M is a tactical airlifter that can even do some straegic airlift, and is quieter, larger and has amuch bigger range than the Lockheed C-130J that is the other candidate. The options are to buy new Hercules 130-Js, or buy Airbus 400Ms and take the offer of refurbushed C-130Hs or Js until the A400M is complete as it is not yet ready for production.<br />
<br />
It lookd like the government might but Airbus 400Ms, skip the new Lockheed 130-Js and also buy 3 larger Boeing C-17 Globemasters (jet not propeller planes) for strategic airlift that requires longer distnaces and longer payload, runways....that said, in the short term the article states the Being C-17 can do some tactical work as well....an eventual fleet of 20-30+ A400Ms and 3 Boeing C-17s would be ideal IMO....both could also be used for humanitarian measure to appeal to humanitarians.....<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sfu.ca/casr/bg-airlift-update.htm">www.sfu.ca/casr/bg-airlift-update.htm</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.airbusmilitary.com">www.airbusmilitary.com</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-17.htm">www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/c-17.htm</a><p>---<br>People who openly hate America, while making money from America, burning U.S. flags, waving Mexican and Jamaican flags, while demanding the right to be American