That’s kind of amusing, his first task is going to have to be asking Harper for $55 million that the Olympic Committee needs from the feds to cover their costs overruns. I wonder how Harper feels about giving large sums of money to one time events with a slim to none chance of profit or even breaking even.
The discussion on CPAC is truly interesting…. this is a “reality” of minority governments, they need to be flexable and strategic, and that’s what this is, Harper has “thought it through”. The hypocrisy is astounding, although not in the least unexpected.
If I didn’t already know that the political parties and their leadership were all cut from the same piece of greedy, self serving, cloth I’d probably find this disgusting, as it only reinforces what I already know.
Hopefully it serves to disillusion many who will not only remember it next time we go to the polls but actually stand up for themselves and vote the parties out.
Imagine that… Harper actively solicited Emerson, and please don’t try and tell me he didn’t dangle a cabinet post in front of him.
– and anybody who believes Harpers’ it’s not “Conservative verses Liberal” needs to give their head a big shake, it’s all about “Conservative verses Liberal”
SL,
Do you think Special Agent Grewal has that conversation on tape? Perhaps it wasn’t an offer of a cabinet post but mubblings of “welcome mats with lots of comfy fur” or some such….
I am personally going to enjoy the next few months hugely, as the Conservative ideologues have their first nasty encounters with political reality, and their legions of naive fans and admirers are forced to rearrange their mental universes.
Yet further evidence of the “do as I say not as I do” approach to politics I have watched the CPC practice since its inception. I can’t say the CPC actions here surprise me, although Emerson’s explanation for why he did so really did surprise me in its idiocy. Stronach had a better argument when she crossed into Cabinet than this. I can serve my riding better as a Cabinet Minister, and since I lost that as a Liberal I’m more than willing to be one in a CPC/Harper Cabinet despite my having campaigned against them and claimed they would make “crappy” policies. Yeah, right, that justifies doing this all right, I wonder if he would be willing to face a byelection though to see how his constituents feel about this since they only elected him as a Liberal two weeks ago. Nice to see Harper and the CPC staying so consistent with their prior stated beliefs about floor crossers, especially those that cross into Cabinet.
Expediency before principles, the CPC way.
Those who weren’t paying attention when Harper studiously avoided the Belinda backlash bandwagon are evidently very disappointed.
Fortier will be “answerable” - as if Question Period meant anything - in the Senate and it is fully intended, apparently, that he face voters in a by-election.
Emerson has much to answer for, but I doubt he will make himself available to answer until the the next federal general election.
Neither Fortier nor Emerson are lightweights. Either is a better deal than a Stronach or Grewal.
One upside is that the NDP are now, barely, a potential and practical ally to pass a bill in Parliament. It is a gift (albeit an odd one) to Jack!, who was on the verge of being the parliamentary chihuahua. Not coincidentally it makes the separatiste party in Parliament less relevant since there are two other potential allegiances of convenience rather than one.
Another upside is the obvious one that the other two of the lonely Canadian metropolises will have some sort of Cabinet representation.
Harper had to know he’d take some major heat over this and he had plenty of good elected MPs to choose, but he did it anyways. Was it opportunism, or was it principle? Note that this was done before anything was really at stake; it’s not as if a vote of confidence was a few days away or even likely in the next few months given the state of the Liberals. Much can be made of how this _looks_ from the outside, but it’s worth asking yourself if Harper’s reasoning process was a little deeper than that.
“Was it opportunism, or was it principle? Note that this was done before anything was really at stake; it’s not as if a vote of confidence was a few days away or even likely in the next few months given the state of the Liberals.”
You’ve answered your own question. Harper got the sleaze done quickly. He’ll take the heat immediately and move on. The real anger of those who feel their principles were betrayed will linger a bit: the vast majority of folks who voted Conservative will have forgotten this within a month. And those of us who’ve been pointing out that Harper is just one more political hack with a healthy streak of opportunism just grin.
It wasn’t sleaze. Harper has done this openly before any question has been asked, and he isn’t buying a vote to prop up a government; it already will take the other three parties working together to defeat this government instead of just two as in the last Parliament. There wasn’t much reason to bring over Emerson right now, or any other Liberal, except to give the NDP a viable voice in government. He could have simply named Moore to represent the GVRD or brought in another non-MP (like Fortier) if all he wanted was representation for Vancouver. Since presumably no non-CPC MP in Quebec will step aside to let Fortier run, it is also the case that Harper has done this will the full knowledge of risking a CPC seat.
These just get better and better.
Don’t forget that Stronach’s name begins with an “S”, while Emerson’s name begin’s with an “E”. Yet another critical difference.
Seriously, though…a week ago the man’s riding elected a Liberal candidate. He has just thumbed his nose at the people who voted for him.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
STAND UP FOR NO CHANGE
It would appear that once again the voters of Canada have been duped!
Mr. Harper has begun the Conservative era on a rather sour note. After all that was said from the Conservative side regarding the defection of one Belinda Stronach, Mr. Harper has raided the liberals for one David Emerson to sit in his cabinet. So much for change!
Now to indicate how much Mr. Harper values the voting public and their right to choose, he has decided to give the portfolio of Public Works to Mr. Fortier of Montreal. Mr. Fortier didn’t run in the federal election. The Prime Minister has just given a plum post to someone who didn’t get a single vote. The fact that he was instrumental in the Conservative Quebec campaign may have had something to do with it. Rewarding ones’ friends, does have a familiar ring to it, something the opposition in the last Parliament railed against. Mr. Harper, in the campaign, claimed the new government would be above all that! So much for change!
The hypocrisy of it all is overwhelming, we have been duped once again!
Just so the liberals don’t feel to smug over this development, may I remind them that the decision to reward Mr. Dingwall was made Jan 20th, three days before the election, but did not become public knowledge until after the election.
It is time, my friends, to vote independent. These political parties have made a mockery of honesty and integrity, if not in the “letter of the law”, certainly in the “spirit of the law”. Unfortunately the biggest fools of all are the voters, for we have once again bought the campaign rhetoric and voted according.
I say “Do not stand up for Canada”, but rather “WAKE UP CANADA”.
Why Harper’s Cabinet Matters – A Question of Trust.
Remember Nixon? Remember the question his opponents raised during an election: Would you buy a used car from this man?
Are we in the same territory now with Stephen Harper, the policy wonk with broken promises in his first day of becoming Prime Minister?
Harper’s Achilles heel over the past two elections has been the question of trust. Many voters examined his views, going back several years, and came to the conclusion that this leopard had not changed his spots. And when he tried in the latest election to sidestep the issue of his beliefs, by simply saying he had “evolved†but his fundamental philosophy was unchanged, may voters were stopped in their tracks. Had he changed? Can this man be trusted?
Then he ran an election campaign designed to focus more on the Liberal’s record – perfectly justifiable – than on his party’s platform. A tightly controlled election that even had some rightwing candidates hiding in kitchens to avoid interviews with the press about their social beliefs. And a leader who avoided questions, sidestepped some, ignored others.
The pattern of avoidance, selective discussion, and ignoring of legitimate questions by the fourth estate, raised yet more concern among many voters: Can this man be trusted?
Now, his cabinet, with surprising choices in at least two cases, and omissions in other areas. A Liberal is elected and immediately joins Harper when Harper asks him to leave the party that elected him and join the minority Tories, now in need of more votes in Parliament. Doug Beazley of the Edmonton Sun puts it in context:
“But political scientist David Taras of the University of Calgary warns Harper is risking the wrath of the backbench. “Two weeks ago, Emerson was saying the Harper Conservatives were heartless. Now they’ve got to work with them. How can they trust him?” he said. “
But it not just whether the Tories can trust Turncoat Emerson, but whether Harper kept the faith with voters, and honoured promises made during the election. So once more voters are asking: Can this man be trusted?
And Harper’s response to the justifiable outbursts – by Tories and others – simply underscores the concern. To brush the criticism aside as simply being “superficialâ€, implies the voters who now feel dismayed by the Harper actions, are not capable of forming rational judgments and should leave it to Big Daddy Harper to make those decisions for them.
So the question lingers in voters minds: Can this man be trusted?
1 year ago: 07/25/2007
2 years ago: 07/25/2006
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When reading here you reminded of the words of Buddha: Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.
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Yes, a number of our Conservative friends felt that laws should actually be passed to prohibit floor crossing. Why do I sense that won’t be near the top of Prime Minister Harper’s agenda?