This past Monday, February 6 2006, Stephen Joseph Harper was sworn in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada marking the beginning of the Conservative Party’s Minority rule in this country.
In my continuing quest to become more aware of the political landscape of my own country – and in search of new material from which I hope to derive some interesting insight and, of course humour – I am going to try writing a new segment called The Minority Report.
My intention is to stay informed on the issues by writing about them here and commenting on them. Hopefully, you’ll find my rants informative and amusing. If not, then I hope you at least enjoy the pictures.
A Rocky Start
So Mr. Harper didn’t even have time to change the red welcome mats at 24 Sussex Dr. in Ottawa to blue before committing his first Prime Ministerial faux pas.
Not even 24 hours into his reign and he already managed one act of hypocrisy and one broken promise. I would call this a Canadian political record if I didn’t live in Ontario, home of Dalton McGuinty.
Oh The Hypocrisy!
Let’s rewind to Tuesday, May 17, 2005, when then-Conservative party superstar and former leadership candidate Belinda Stronach shocked and awed Canadians by crossing the floor and joining the then-ruling Liberal Party.
Both Conservative Party members and voters of Belinda alike were naturally upset. I mean imagine voting for an MP in your riding thinking that your vote is going to one political party, only to see it end up in the hands of the enemy.
Criticism followed and eventually became nasty:
“This is just another action, another moment, that breeds cynicism of electors.”
—New Brunswick Conservative Premier Bernard Lord 1
Ouch!
“There are two types of people: People with principle and Belinda Stronach…”
—B.C. Conservative MP James Moore 2
Burn!!
“She sort of defined herself as something of a dipstick, an attractive one, but still a dipstick, with what she’s done here today. She is, at the end of the day, going to paint herself as something of a joke.”
–Ontario Conservative Bob Runciman 3
SNAP!!!
Those are some strong, bitter words. Then of course there is Mr. Harper:
“There’s no grand principle involved in this decision, just ambition…this will ultimately negatively affect Belinda Stronach’s chances of being re-elected…”
— Stephen Harper 4
By the way, even though the Liberals lost the election, Belinda did win in her riding…by a fair margin.
“The governing party is corrupt…It is in the process of ruining the nation’s finances with the biggest vote-buying spree in Canadian history …”
— Stephen Harper 5
The vote-buying refers to the cabinet position of Minister of Human Resources offered to Stronach by Martin immediately after her defection.
Fast-forward to present-day…
After being sworn in as Prime Minister this past Monday, Harper announced his new streamlined 26-member cabinet. The announcement carried a couple of surprises, the biggest being the appointment of David Emerson as Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.6
Why is this shocking? Well, maybe it’s because Emerson ran and won as a LIBERAL for the riding of Vancouver Kingsway.
This is preposterous! Yet another elected official has turned colour and bolted to the other side to accept a cabinet position. It’s shameful! It’s scandalous! There are two types of people: People with principle and David Emerson, right James Moore?
“David Emerson is a very talented British Columbian who will do good things for B.C. in cabinet and I’m looking forward to Parliament coming back and us doing those good things…”
— James Moore 7
<cracking voice>Huh…!?</cracking voice>
“It is a big score for us, no doubt about it,”
— Conservative strategist Tim Powers. 8
But…but…surely this man has broken the trust between him and his constituency and must be held accountable…right Prime Minister Harper?
“He is a man of great intelligence, a man with a stellar record in the private sector, who is clearly committed to public service.”
— Prime Minister Stephen Harper 9
You’ve gotta love politics. Sometimes it’s like watching WWE. One day Hulk Hogan is a good guy, then he’s a heel, then he’s a good guy again.
Here are a couple of quotes by Emerson, one is from when he was elected by his riding as a Liberal MP, the other was after he defected to become a Tory. Can you guess which one is which?
“I’m going to be Stephen Harper’s worst enemy. We’re going to stir the pot and you better believe we are going to make a heck of a lot of noise.”
— David Emerson 10
All right!! We’re going to stick it to the minority government…Who’s with me?
2 weeks later…
“People want a member of Parliament who can help them, who gets things done. I feel I can have the most impact in cabinet, particularly when they are asking me to join them.”
— David Emerson 11
Wah? But we were going to be his worst enemy…you know stir the pot…where’s the pot? Wait a minute…YOU HAVE POT? Hey…where’d he go? He’s crossing the floor. Hey, Emerson, come back here!
And…and bring the pot!
This is a great example of how inflation taxes our political system. Less than a year ago, a defecting MP cost only one cabinet position. Now, the going rate for a turncoat minister is 2 cabinet positions and an Olympic Games! At this rate, you’re going to have to offer the Liberal leadership to the next defector. May I suggest Gilles Duceppe?
Promise? What Promise?
Harper’s second indiscretion came when he appointed Michael Fortier as Minister of Public Works. Fortier is not an elected MP, in fact he didn’t even run.
This sort of flies in the face of Harper’s proposed Federal Accountability Act.
It doesn’t look good for a guy who is trying so desperately to separate himself from a corrupt former Liberal government that rewarded it’s supporters with laundered money and undeserved cabinet posts by offering a cabinet post to an unelected official.
So much for voting for change…
This isn’t a good start. Hopefully this Conservative Minority can walk it off and right this ship before it sinks. If Harper isn’t careful, you know what’s coming next…
Can you say, “No Confidence?”
- From Tories will support 1 of 2 budget votes on www.cbc.ca, Wednesday, May 18 2005 ↩︎
- From Tories give Emerson, Fortier lukewarm welcome on www.ctv.ca, Wednesday, February 8th 2006 ↩︎
- From Tories will support 1 of 2 budget votes on www.cbc.ca, Wednesday, May 18 2005 ↩︎
- From Tories will support 1 of 2 budget votes on www.cbc.ca, Wednesday, May 18 2005 ↩︎
- From Tories will support 1 of 2 budget votes on www.cbc.ca, Wednesday, May 18 2005 ↩︎
- From Harper sworn in as Canada’s 22nd prime minister on www.ctv.ca, Tuesday, February 7th 2006 ↩︎
- From Vancouver Liberals want Emerson to repay $97,000 on www.ctv.ca, Wednesday, February 8th 2006 ↩︎
- From Former Liberal David Emerson defects to Tories on www.ctv.ca, Monday, February 6th 2006 ↩︎
- From Former Liberal David Emerson defects to Tories on www.ctv.ca, Monday, February 6th 2006 ↩︎
- From Reaction to Harper’s cabinet appointments on www.cbc.ca, Tuesday, February 7th 2006 ↩︎
- From Reaction to Harper’s cabinet appointments on www.cbc.ca, Tuesday, February 7th 2006 ↩︎
What are you thinking?