Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Harping on Harper's hypocrisy

I cannot WAIT to talk to my father-in-law the Albertan. (and by talk, I mean gloat.) Day one of Steven Harper's reign, and wouldn't you know it, he's already giving us quite the show. Our prime minister has picked his cabinet, and surprise! He's successfully wooed a prominent Liberal to the dark side, and contradicted two of his own campaign issues.

To begin with, he has selected Liberal MP David Emerson to be the new Conservative minister of international trade. This really isn't that big of a deal, after all, politicians cross the floor all the time. Why, I remember back in May when Belinda crossed the floor- Mr. Harper (and several other members of the Conservative Party) had some very nasty things to say about her defection to the Liberals. But that's cool- Harper sees something he wants in Emerson and apparently that something trumps his status as a Liberal. I can't help but wonder what all the good folks back in his Vancouver- Kingsway riding have to say about their (former) Liberal candidate.

But here's where it gets reaaallly juicy. So, the dude Harper decides to make minister of public works and government services (the cabinet with the biggest budget), is none other than the UNELECTED Michael Fortier. That's right people, despite campaigning against a) an unelected senate and b) the appointment of unelected ministers, Harper has managed to accomplish both with his appointment of Fortier; in order to jettison the unelected Fortier into a cabinet position, Harper first had to make him a senator. Did I mention that the unelected Fortier also happens to be the co-Chair of the 2006 Conservative campaign? So much for getting rid of cronysm in government, eh?

I'm not sure if Harper's really stupid or really callous, but one thing's certain; on day one of his job as prime minister he's shown the country that lack of accountability and broken promises aren't just maladies suffered by the Liberals. Apparently, hypocrisy is something that all Canadian leaders aspire to. For years my father-in-law the Albertan has been hoping for a conservative government that would exhibit the integrity that the Liberals lacked. Sadly, after day one of the new Conservative government, it looks like his long wait is far from over.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Stephen Who?

On his very first day as PM, Stephen Harper showed clear signs of following in the footsteps of the bungling Joe Clark, who not only lost his luggage but succeeded in losing his bearings in Parliament as well. Like Joe, Harper seems to have forgotten that his is a minority government, not a majority one, and seems to have assumed – at great risk to his fledgling government – that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc will not oppose him and force another election for 12 to 18 months.

We shall see if that assumption is valid.

If an election is held soon, the Tories will start off with egg on their faces, due to Holier-than-thou Harper’s baffling judgment on Day One.

Why on earth did Harper harpoon his own left foot?

He did it once, with his turncoat-conversion and the Liberal into the cabinet before anyone can see it sleight of hand.

He did it twice, with his appointment of – among others – Stockwell Day to his cabinet, instead of more women, and more women it important posts. Does the other half of the population – women – not count in Stephen Who’s world?

He did it thrice, with his U-turn on an elected senate. Principles dumped for expediency?

He did it fourthly, with his appointment of a former lobbyist – and then breathtakingly wants to legislate against others being allowed to do the same.

He did it fifthly, with his introduction into Canada of the Karl Rovian doublespeak. Thanks to Stephen Who, Canadians can now also spend delightful hours parsing the speeches of politicians, to decipher just how they are being bamboozled.

What a beginning!

I wonder if he will last as long as Joe Who....

07 February, 2006  
Blogger Emma Jo Aiken-Klar, PhD said...

Dear curiositykilledthecat,

Great comment, my friend. For the sake of a shorter post, I decided to leave out the Stockwell Day issue, as well as the number of women and minorities...thanks for bringing them to our attention!

thanks for visiting, come again.

07 February, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Harper hubris, or Does Harper have a tin ear?

The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Stephen Harper is a political genius, of the same ilk as Napoleon, or Churchill, or – pick your favourite. But what if Harper’s cabinet-making is not a politically astute move by at all, but simply a sign that he has a political tin ear?

After all, sometimes the past is predicator of the future: in 2004 he misread the electorate with some of his comments about the Liberals – especially Martin – and his premature triumph speeches about the West taking over. And in Parliament he has sounded a bit screechy and overly self-righteous. Then there are those stories about him being a one-man-band, who does not need a mentor because, one observer says he said, he never met anyone as smart as he is ....

So, perhaps this was just Harper being Harper, and marching to his own discordant band?

If so, wait until the second Act: gonna be a lot of fun for Libs and NDP, and a lot of buyer’s remorse by many voters in Ontario ....

And meanwhile, the Bloc will crouch in the wings, nursing its wounds, and waiting for the right time to take Harper down – when he is under a cloud of intolerance or stupidity, but before he cements himself into Quebec as Mulroney Junior. Best get rid of him soon, before he becomes a real threat to the Bloc ...

So wait for the right moment, and the ganging up by the three parties who each have good reasons for taking him out of his new digs at Sussex, and who – between them – hold the balance of power.

After all, Harper arranged a mob-lynching of Martin with all three parties deciding to put in the knife on that particular Ides of May. Having shown the way, I wonder if Harper fears that this time the other three parties will cooperate to bring him down?

Better than even chance, I think; and probably before summer ends, too.....

Maybe Harper should let those renovations take place at Sussex Drive before he moves in: might save him having to move twice, eh?

07 February, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a proud Conservative. However, I too was quite dissapointed by two of Stephen Harper's cabinet appointment. I do view it as hypocritical. He said he would stand up for more ethics in Canadian Government, but yet he approached a Liberal to come into his cabinet. He also promised for a triple E senate and senate reform, yet he made his first senate appointment and put him in his cabinet. While I still believe Harper will still clean up governement and invoke senate reform, this is definately not a good start. I hope that the results of his government make up for this rather suprising cicrumstance.

08 February, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel reafirmed!

This is exactly what I feared from this Conservative party but I didn't expect it so soon.

The sad part was that many people voted for Harper because they thought that he would bring integrity back to politics.

As we can see, there is little difference. Those who thought that there was hope for honesty and ethics in government have now had their hopes severely shattered.
I will expect that there will be even fewer people who will vote during the next election.

Are all politicians the same?
Indications seem to point in that direction.

So far for week one...
Let's see what else is in store in the coming weeks.

It really seems to be better to go with the devil that you know whether than the one you don't.

I wait to be proven wrong.

12 February, 2006  

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