Political Staples

As long as Harper keeps moving forward in a positive way for all Canadians, the Emerson/Fortier moves will be forgiven in a fortnight. Making hard decisions isn’t easy, the outgoing Ditherals proved this.

The people of Vancouver get to test drive Emerson and will be afforded an opportunity to re-elect him, or not. As far as I’m concerned both men put the interests of their constituencies first, Emerson for Vancouver and Harper for Canada. Same for Montreal. These men of higher principal and honor have put Canada first, despite knowing the MSM and opposition parties would attack.

Unfortunately for the “progressive” Joe Clark style Ditherals, their own covert political actions that parallel Harpers supposed transgressions take the sting out, rendering their rhetoric toothless.

Yap, yap, yap. Down boy, shake a leg.

But Bill Graham beseeching Harper to “patch it up” with the states after he spent the last two years dumping all over them (the yanks) is the funniest thing, jaw all jutted out and goggle eyed - priceless — a Valeri moment perhaps.

Like a Danish caricature, a cartoon that’s actually funny, but somewhat offensive to those of a like mind. Mickey Mouse and Elmer Fudd would be proud, very proud.

Obviously you dont think it unusual to pluck talent from another party in order to strengthen your cabinet. Emerson is qualified, nobody argues that. Vancouver needed a minister. This is just business.

If Harper doesnt snag Emerson and elevate Fortier the story today is how Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver have no cabinet reps.

On the Fortier thing I’ve never expected Harper not to appoint a senator until it becomes law that senators are elected. I bet he’ll at least appoint the 3? elected senators-in-waiting from Alberta as soon as possible.

I agree Greg. I also think Harper has made it more likely he will fall over daycare. He is now just a politician, not a saviour. What political price will the opposition have to pay for bringing him down quickly over a matter of principle? I would say not a really high one anymore. In fact it gives an excuse to attack while the memory of this incident is fresh.

Looks like child care allowance will be in the budget so I think it goes through.

I wouldn’t bet on it at this point.

What Stephen Harper did, he did it for a strong cabinet and at the next election Fortier will be or not elected, there are always people who find fault whether it is good or bad. As far as the other conservative MPs are concerned there will be good positions for them to have. We should be glad that martin is not running this country anymore - he was a disaster to Canada. Stop and think before you complain. Emerson is an asset to cp cabinet when it comes to soft wood lumbar and also the olympics.

Everyone has to think LONG TRTM before you throw out condemnation. In order for SH and the tories to clean up the place you have to gain power, we have some but do not have that yet. SH cabinet is designed with one thing in mind SPEED. Harper has very limited time to get things through. I believe that Emerson is on the verge with softwood and now with a less confrontational link to the USA maybe having the same people working it a solution is close.

The first thing PM Harper said after the Cabinet Meeting yesterday was that parents would be receiving cheques after July 1st. If this isn’t set in stone then nothing is.

Pardon me — who ever said Harper was elected as a savior? If that were the case, he would have gotten a majority.

Harper was given a minority to see if the Tories are actually competent at government. If he comes off the first year without any major scandal, that should impress the electorate.

Just because Harper says it, doesn’t make it so. He needs another party to help him. The Liberals smell blood and neither of the other parties wants this program. What political price will the opposition pay for bringing him down after yesterday, on a matter of specific policy difference of long standing? If anyone will pay it will be Harper for being dumb enough and arrogant enough to think he can rule like he has a majority.

What if there is a quick solution to the Softwood Lumber Crisis, and Mr Emerson is given the credit. Then what will the nay sayers have to gripe about?

Harper v. Martin III. Doubt it.

For all your wishful thinking needs, see socialist Greg.

“Does anyone believe that the Opposition Parties won’t cause a snap election if they can’t gain anything from it? I don’t.”

Does anyone understand this question? I don’t.

Yeah, I know, not well written. I was just trying to say that the Opposition will bring the CPC down if they lose the will of the people (i.e. the Liberals think they can win and the NDP think they can gain balance of power in Liberal minority).

Right now the polls show that CPC can pretty do what they want ‘cause people are not keen on another election. I wouldn’t want to put that to the test though. They’ve got the spring and the budget no matter how much Sinister Greg does not want the choice in childcare policy. More stunts like yesteday and I don’t give them a year though.

For all your whistling past the graveyard needs see OC.

Mark my words. If Harper stays on this course we will be voting by late June. Hubris will be his downfall.

No doubt the Toronto based media elites will attempt to keep this story alive for some time. Just keep this in mind though. If Emerson successfully settles the softwood lumber dispute in the near future, Mr. Harper will look like a genius.

Toronto-based Liberal media elite?

You mean the ones who endorsed the Conservatives last election?

Or the ones that the McGill study showed wrote more positive stories about Harper and the Conservatives than any other political party?

Media liberal bias my ass.

Congratulations on a successful perpetration of this myth.

I chalk up all this Emerson/Fortier stuff to slow news days since the swearing-in. If we had a good juicy scandal, or a good assasination, the E/F thing (which is 100% legal, BTW) would be instantly forgotten. How about starting a rumour that Belinda is negotiating with Peter McKay to be his very own “Parliamentary Secretary”, working underneath him for experience before cozying up to the PM spot on the Liberal Team Z?

Can’t figure why half the Blogging Tory faction is bent out of shape on this one. Is is 100% legal. Surely no one is so dogmatic to believe that government or politics is 100% pure and pristine? Maybe it’s just “hurt feelings”? But over what?

The other thing I can’t figure out is why Greg (Sinister) is so gleeful these days, as evidenced by his posts above. Maybe because he multiplied the number of NDP members by 5, and the talent of these members by the same amount, and came up blank on trying to name the first minister in an NDP cabinet?

No, that can’t be it. Maybe he’s getting back at Harper for not appointing Buzz (a loyal NDPer, if there ever was one) to the Senate ahead of Fortier? By all accounts of the worth of Buzz to the CPC’s success in the election, Harper SHOULD have appointed Buzz to the senate WAY ahead of Fortier, to be sure!

Anyway, time heals all, Greg (Staples). By Saturday at this rate you will be a raving supporter of the E/F appointments.

“Congratulations on a successful perpetration of this myth.”

Why, thank you. It wasn’t easy.

If the election in the other 307 ridings meant anything he’ll get his 5 principles with some compromises.

GS: The Cosh post might interest you:

“That’s not to say that any of us have terribly high hopes; we’re prepared for dozens of tiny little slaps in the face like the David Emerson appointment. (For the record, I don’t think the Emerson thing is ethically comparable to the Liberals’ wooing of Belinda Stronach. Stronach’s crossover propped up an outlaw government that had already lost a confidence vote, while Emerson’s doesn’t serve anyone’s particular interests except perhaps the NDP’s, and the need for urban representation in cabinet is a credible rationale in itself. That said, Emerson should obviously resign the seat and face a by-election.)”

I’m somewhere between Coyne and Cosh. I want this issue to stay alive like Coyne and am glad NDP and CPC supporters are leading the charge for a ban. Like Cosh I think the reaction against Harper is hysterical spin.

I’d argue Stronach and Emerson are both particularly bad cases: Stronach in the context of the extra-constitutional delay while votes were for bid for; Emerson, 2 weeks after an election.

Liberals smell blood? I don’t think so.

Prime Minister Harper has shown toughness and ability. The reason that all the high profile Liberals are jumping ship (or joining PM Hrper’s Cabinet) is precisely because they understand, better than many bloggers apperently, that the Conservatives are on the verge of a majority government the next time around.

I congratulate Prime Minister Harper for his gutsy move. He has shown without doubt that he is not Joe Clark or Paul Dithers Martin.

This post is pure gold, Greg. Could not agree more.

Food for thought: Peter MacKay was once thought a sleazeball for breaking his pledge to David Orchard and entering into an arranged marriage with the Canadian Alliance.

He’s since reversed that impression (by being pretty squeaky-clean since) and is well-regarded by Tories and non-Tories; if Stephen Harper can pull off a similar stunt, then he’ll have a long and storied career. But it all depends on avoiding even the appearance of “politics as usual”.

Several observations come to mind about the Emmerson and Fortier appointments. If negative reactions will soon be forgotten, then why were ethics and accountability so important in this last election? Wasn’t it because of such smelly behaviour that voters wanted the Liberals out in the first place??? And wasn’t it the Conservative party that spent so much time whipping up public disgust at this sort of behaviour? I had thought that the Harper government might actually implement some of its ethics and accountability package before it involved itself in such appalling political optics. And as for whether David Emmerson will solve the softwood lumber problem and all will be forgiven, well it appears that Emmerson is disqualified from doing so because 2 years ago he signed a recusal with the Ethics office that forbids him to be involved with this file. It seems being a former executive of Canfor, one of the largest lumber companies involved in the softwood lumber dispute, puts him in a conflict of interest position. Nice one. (The details of this are on another blog.) Harper made the decision, according to a newspaper article I read, to appoint Emmerson because he wanted to create links with big business, something the Conservative party didn’t have. It also makes Premier Campbell and the BC business community pretty happy too as it means that they have a conduit into cabinet that they wouldn’t have had. I think all the talk about Vancouver and Montreal needing cabinet representation is probably just spin because if big city representation was truly the reason, wouldn’t Toronto, Canada’s largest city, be included. Isn’t there some unelected worthy out there who could also have been appointed? Or is representation from the suburbs good enough for Toronto when it isn’t for Montreal and Vancouver. As far as I’m concerned, not much of this passes the smell test.

Quebec is one of the provinces that isn’t keen on Senate reform so don’t be surprised that Fortier isn’t in a rush to be elected. I can’t help but think that what we’re seeing is a moving away from grassroots politic to elite accommodation. If Harper has to keep the ‘big guys’ happy he will even if it means trashing what he supposedly stood for. And even if it means trashing the idea of the grassroots is over. Is Reform well and truly dead?