On the second day of Proroguemas Harper gave to me:
Two silly talking points.
Silly talking point number one:
For the first time in twenty years, Conservatives will have a plurality in the Senate of Canada. Our parliament is a bicameral body consisting of a lower and upper house. While its activities may not be conducive to the lust of the cut and thrust of politics for the average Ottawa watcher — and who called whom “fat” on Twitter in committee this week — the Senate is constitutionally important to the parliament of Canada. When a new plurality exists in the lower House, the Governor General asks the party leader that can lead a stable government to form a cabinet. When a new plurality exists within the Senate, the government’s opponents accuse the Prime Minister of politics when the Prime Minister asks the Governor General for a chance to reset parliament so that its committees and functions may represent the new reality.
The case for prorogation is constitutional.The case against it is political.
Silly talking point number two:
The call for a new Throne Speech to launch the 3rd Session of the current Parliament is routine. The average Parliament comprises three or four sessions (and three or four Throne Speeches); some Parliaments have heard as many as six or seven Throne Speeches.
And one cancelled democracy.
On the first day of Proroguemas Harper gave to me:
One cancelled democracy.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will ask the governor general to prorogue Parliament today until early March, CTV News has learned.
[Updated story-ed] Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the governor general to prorogue Parliament Wednesday and plans to begin a new session with a throne speech on March 3, his press secretary says.
By now you’re undoubtedly familiar with the details of the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253. You’re probably also aware that conservative pundits are calling for the resignation of Janet Napolitano on the grounds that her incompetence allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the plane despite warnings from his father and other sources about the danger he posed.
I agree with them. This incident was a monumental failure that demands the people in charge of our security be held accountable. But this failure is not Napolitano’s alone. Flight 253 passed through Canadian airspace and would have crashed in southwestern Ontario–possibly killing many Canadians–had Abdulmutallab successfully carried out his terrorist attack. For that failure, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan should also resign in disgrace. We cannot afford to let Van Loan’s incompetence continue putting the lives of Canadians in jeopardy.
Germanwatch and the Climate Action Network have released their 2010 Climate Change Performance Index and here’s where Canada ranks on the list of 60 nations.
Update: Is it any wonder with a disgraceful record like this that that we’ve become the butt of jokes at Copenhagen and foreign representatives don’t want to be seen with ours.
I showed up there and noticed Steve Kelly, Prentice’s chief of staff, having a raised voice exchange with a member from the U.S. delegation. The problem was the U.S. delegation hadn’t given the green light for a photo-op, just for closed bilateral meeting between the two.
Over the course of 10 minutes, Kelly repeatedly asked the U.S. delegation official to reconsider, to which the U.S. delegation official replied, negative. When Kelly asked for this to be taken up the chain of command, the U.S. delegation official replied “it came from pretty high up. It’s not going to happen.”
Thanks to the Conservative Party’s inaction on dealing with climate change Canada is now an international pariah.
Just when you thought Torturegate couldn’t get any more scandalous..
A former governor of Kandahar who is accused of personally torturing Afghans might have been removed from office as far back as 2006 if Canadian officials hadn’t defended him, according to diplomatic memos that have never been made public by the Canadian government.
Hoo-boy, the skeletons are leaping out of the closet now.
Like most of the country I like Mike Holmes but this is just stupid.
Holmes is one of several advisers to the Canadian delegation, though Environment Minister Jim Prentice is keeping a tight lid on the various officials who will be assisting him in Copenhagen when he arrives next week. The government will say only that there are 47 officials from various government departments, “a number of advisers,” three members from opposition parties and representatives from the provinces and territories.
But the addition of Holmes appears to be in line with the Conservative government’s political and policy agenda.
I doubt very much that Holmes is in line with the Conservative government’s political and policy agenda when you take into consideration that the Conservative government’s political and policy agenda is focused on nothing more than showmanship. Mike Holmes on the other hand actually gets things done. That aside however, he’s simply not qualified to advise the government on a complex issue like climate change and is only there because of his popular appeal to Canadians. Harper’s latest demonstration of contempt toward the Canadian public doesn’t surprise me as he’s has made it clear on more than one occasion that he doesn’t take climate change seriously and has little interest in implementing a workable policy to address the problem. What does surprise me though, is that Mike Holmes would agree to take part in Harper’s charade.
Here are two articles from today that tell you all you need to know about the contempt the Harper Conservatives display toward taxpayers.
Taxpayers on hook for $1.7-million as PMO rolls out video
Taxpayers are being asked to pay an extra $1.7-million this fiscal year to help bolster Stephen Harper’s communications support services – just as the Prime Minister’s Office begins distributing government videos of Harper to the news media.
Supplementary estimates tabled last month by the Privy Council Office, the Prime Minister’s bureaucratic back office, boosted internal operational spending by almost $7.3-million for 2009-10. That’s on top of existing budgets.
Feds paid out nearly $7M in separation, severance pay
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has paid out nearly $7 million to political staffers who have left their jobs over the past two years.
The amount of “separation pay” that was doled out at the discretion of cabinet ministers is more than twice the amount of “severance pay” the Conservatives were obliged to pay departing political aides under government guidelines…
NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair, who served as a provincial cabinet minister in Quebec, described the $7 million payout to Conservative staffers as “an outrage” and an “orgy with public money.”
“When they are letting go staff, they are treating the public purse like it was a Conservative candy store,” he said.
Harper is spending tens of millions of our tax dollars in his quest for a majority and to line the pockets of his friends.
While most of the attention has been focused on the appalling behaviour of the Conservatives over the explosive testimony from Richard Colvin on the torture of detainees handed over to the Afghan government there have been other instances of Conservative tomfoolery uncovered over the past week.
Accidental Deliberations noted earlier today that the Conservatives played games in order to withhold information from the Justice committee studying Bill C-36. NDP MP Joe Comartin’s motion to have the bill moved back to committee was unfortunately voted down.
Another bit of monkey business from the Conservatives was revealed a few days ago by David Pugliese.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay has politicized an international forum taking place in Halifax on the weekend by refusing to invite federal politicians from parties other than the Conservatives, says the head of the Senate defence committee.
Liberal Senator Colin Kenny said the forum, being funded by taxpayers through the Defence Department, should have been a non-partisan event as it was a key meeting of politicians and military leaders from a number of nations. He noted that Canadian MPs and senators interested in defence matters should have been invited but MacKay and Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin were the only Canadian federal politicians being allowed to attend.
The final bit of Conservative chicanery uncovered over the past week involves the appointment of a drug company executive to the board of the independent public agency that funds health research in Canada.
The health committee’s Nov. 30 review comes after NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis complained the appointment of Dr. Bernard Prigent, vice-president of Pfizer Canada, to the governing council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research is a “potential conflict of interest.
“Having the drug companies’ executives deciding health research directions is like having the big bad wolf directing the three little pigs on how to build their homes,” she said in a statement.
More on this from The Tyee.
Barely a week goes by now when some sort of Conservative malfeasance that undermines either our democracy or public institutions is uncovered.
“what’s wrong with child pornography — in the sense that it’s just pictures?”–Tom Flanagan.
I don’t know what to say about this other than it’s disgraceful that Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy doesn’t care about his constituents enough to spend almost $88,000 on ten percenters to keep them informed like Conservative MP Rick Norlock did. Get with the program, Gerard. A paltry $983 won’t fill up many blue boxes in your constituency.
The increasing frequency of stories like this is leading me to believe the Conservative Party is beginning to crumble from the inside.
A fight among Conservatives in the federal riding of London-Fanshawe has prompted a wannabe candidate and some supporters to jump ship to the Christian Heritage Party.
In so doing, Gilles Rancourt says he left a Conservative party that doesn’t embrace ethnic members and cares little for grassroots democracy.
“We do so in protest of the racial discomfort shown locally,” he wrote in a letter to party brass in Ottawa. “We are tired of top-down democracy.”
It’s not surprising that bigotry would remain a problem for a party that courts bigots but this shouldn’t pose any more problems for them than it already does. The growing sentiment from the grassroots that they no longer matter to the party should be of great concern however, to a party built and funded almost entirely by grassroots support.
Via Aaron Wherry, all you ever wanted to know about Conservative views on media coverage.
Miller said the focus on the cheques is a Liberal attempt to turn the spotlight from their own problems.
“This is about the national media trying to help the Liberals deflect the attention off their problems right now,” said Miller. “Anybody that has seen Mr. Ignatieff and his crew in the House of Commons in the previous two or three weeks, it has looked as bad as when (Stephane) Dion was there and the media knows it, the Liberals know it and they are just trying to make an issue out of something.
Yup, you read that right. Miller, and likely most conservatives, believe that holding the party in power accountable is nothing more than a distraction from what should be the real focus of the media; the troubles of the party that’s not in power. Unfortunately, most of the time our media agrees with this belief.
Conservative MP for St. Catharines, Rick Dykstra, at Memorial Public School.
Conservative MP for London West, Ed Holder, at University Heights Public School.
Conservative MP for Miramichi, Tilley O’Neill-Gordon, at Belledune School.
Conservative MP for Kildonan-St. Paul, Joy Smith, at Margaret Park Elementary School.
Conservative MP for Abbotsford, Ed Fast, at Ecole Clearbrook Elementary School.
Federal government lawyers have successfully argued that the Conservative’s fixed election date law was nothing more than a gimmick.
Murray Dobbin on Harper’s undemocratic nature.
Scorn for Parliament itself is high on the list of categories of contempt. Harper’s government simply declared that it would ignore the previous government’s signing of the Kyoto protocol. We withdrew from the UN’s Durban anti-racism conference, again with no reference to Parliament. Harper eliminated funding for English language classes given by an Arab organization because it also came out strongly in support of Palestinian rights. He casually announced that he was simply winding down the long-gun registry, passed by Parliament, with no intention of bringing it back to the House of Commons for reconsideration.
To try to destroy a key part of the parliamentary process, Harper produced a 200-page plus “guide” showing Conservative MPs how to thwart and otherwise frustrate the proceedings of Parliamentary Committees.
Check out the rest of the article for more example’s of Harper’s contempt for democracy.
The CBC has released a video of Harper’s speech that was closed to the media in Sault Ste Marie last week and the blue sweater is clearly off. In the video , Harper says, “We need to win a majority in the next election campaign…we have to teach them [the opposition--ed] a lesson.”
There’s no doubt in my mind what that lesson will involve. A Conservative majority will allow Stephen Harper to begin an unhindered assault on our democracy and the institutions that enable Canadians–condescendingly referred to by Harper as “left-wing fringe groups”–to fight for their rights and freedoms. Most of all, there won’t be any obstacles left in Harper’s path to systematically destroy the ability of the opposition parties to finance and wage election campaigns.
In his speech Harper said a coalition, “…will do long term real damage to this country.” If ever there was a classic case of projection this is undoubtedly it. A Conservative majority will do long term real damage to this country’s democracy.
Does anyone have any idea what it is?
The Harper Conservatives have repeatedly claimed their number one focus is the economy but what does that mean in terms of legislation. The stimulus money has already been doled out; 80% of it was out the door by the beginning of summer according to Harper. He’s repeatedly ruled out introducing more and he’s made it clear that he won’t make changes to Employment Insurance. So aside from cheerleading, what exactly are the Conservatives planning do during the fall session to help revive the economy and put Canadians back to work?
As far as non-economic legislation goes, the only thing new the Conservatives have mentioned recently that provides a clue about Harper’s fall agenda is changing the refugee system.
So is that it? If so, it hardly seems like an agenda worth protecting from an election.
…The Home Renovation Tax Credit or visiting Barack Obama?
The legislation on the HR tax credit has already passed through Parliament. It was a part of the spring budget. What hasn’t been done however, is the implementation of it by a ways and means motion. The House of Commons resumes sitting on September 14th and the Conservatives can introduce a ways and means motion to implement the HR credit on that very day.
But, ways and means motions are votes of confidence and if the opposition parties vote it down it will trigger an election. So will Harper introduce a ways and means motion at first opportunity or will he wait so as to avoid a possible election interfering with his visit to Washington on Sept. 16th?
The course of action Harper chooses will undoubtedly determine which is more important to him; the Home Renovation Tax Credit or visiting Barack Obama.
Then:
80 per cent of infrastructure cash already rolled out, Harper claims
Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a rosy report June 11 on the progress of his government’s stimulus spending as he attempted to stave off a summer election, saying 80 per cent of the money earmarked under the plan had been rolled out across the country.
Now:
The Conservative government is warning that if the Liberal opposition forces an election this fall it could jeopardize Canada’s economic recovery by delaying thousands of infrastructure projects.
So which is it; was most of the stimulus funding handed out over two and a half months ago or is most of the stimulus money still waiting to be handed out?
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