Well this is actually more of a week and a half in review. Why? Because I said so. No, it is really because we just have that much to discuss.
In this Week (and a half) in Canadian Politics – the Emerson Ethics scandal grows to include Prime Minister Harper, an Ethics Minister who now may be fired by the Prime Minister, an out of control Primer that is making it difficult for the new Prime Minister, a questionable foreign policy and minister, and something about finally electing senators. In other words, not a good week for the Conservatives and Prime Minister Harper.
This Week in Canadian Politics is a weekly summary of postings at Maple Leaf Politics.
That Pesky Little Thing Called Ethics
We start with the Ethics investigation of David Emerson, the Vancouver MP, that ran as a Liberal and two weeks after the election “cross the aisle” to become a Tory and also pick up a Minister position. The NDP called for an investigation and Emerson’s riding was in an uproar calling for another election where Emerson would run as a Tory. Poll after Poll showed most Canadians felt the same way – Emerson should step down or run again. Emerson dismissed all of it and said he was doing the right thing. But this week it got much juicer.
First, Emerson stated that if there was another election, he could win as a Conservative.
“I actually do think I could probably win an election as a Conservative,” Mr. Emerson said, appearing on CTV Newsnet. “The whole issue of whether a by-election or part of the next general election, of course, is a point of some debate.”
He is either clueless or scared of what could happen to him. He keeps bring up Belinda Stronach’s defection from the Conservatives to the Liberals prior to an early “no confidence” vote last year. That vote failed and the Liberals remained in power for a few more months. However, Emerson may have opened himself on this one. Stronach ran as a Liberal in the January election and won her riding with 46.2% of the vote, the Conservative candidate only received 38% of the vote. On the other hand, Emerson when he ran as a Liberal won 43.5% of his riding while the Conservative candidate won 18.8%, the NDP candidate got 33.5% of the vote.
But the real hammer fell when Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro not only stated that he would investigate Emerson for misconduct, but also Prime Minister Steven Harper who approached Emerson to switch. This quickly made Stephen Harper go ballistic!
Harper quickly called for Shapiro to be removed as Ethics Commissioner and had no right to investigate him.
…in a surprising move, Harper’s office responded by trying to discredit the ethics commissioner, who was named to his post by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin.
“This guy’s got a real pattern of attacking Conservative MPs and not Liberal MPs,” said Sandra Buckler, Harper’s director of communications.
She suggested the latest investigation has persuaded Harper he has to get rid of Shapiro.
“This Liberal appointee’s actions have strengthened the Prime Minister’s resolve to create a truly non-partisan Ethics Commissioner, who is accountable to Parliament,” she wrote in an email.
Buckler also argued that, since the Emerson affair happened when Parliament wasn’t in session, Shapiro has no right to investigate.
Wow! What a political move! Fire the ethics commissioner when he is going to investigate you. That sends a positive message to the people that voted for you after you told them that you would “clean up government”. I guess the first person to go will be the ethics commissioner.
This seems to be a road that the Conservatives don’t really want to go down. It has already given political ammo to the opposition.
In an open letter yesterday, Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque) demanded Harper clarify his position on the role of independent government watchdogs.
“Should Canadians now expect that if the Auditor General (Sheila Fraser) were to indicate an intent to investigate your government, your response would be to refuse to co-operate with her on the basis that she was appointed by a previous Liberal government?” Easter, a former solicitor general, wrote.
As I said before, April 3rd is not going to come fast enough.
Crazy Man from Alberta
Many still believe that it was the arrogance of Former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien that brought down the government of Paul Martin. Even though Martin tried to distance himself from his fellow Liberal, the past actions of Chretian finally made Canadians elect a new government.
Now it seems that Steven Harper may have the same thing happening to him, in the form of Alberta Primer Ralph Klein, who is also a Conservative. Klein’s proposed privatization changes to the Canada Health Care system has rallied Harper’s opponents.
Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton has challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to uphold the principles of medicare and to stop any proposals of privatization from the provinces – including Alberta – in their tracks.
“Canadians now believe as a fundamental value that you don’t buy your way to the front of the line to get health care,” Layton said in a speech Sunday to enthusiastic supporters at a meeting of the party’s Ontario provincial council.
“Mr. (Alberta Premier Ralph) Klein cannot be permitted to undo this fundamental concept of equality that we have in Canada,” he added.
“We need Mr. Harper to stand up and make it absolutely clear that this fundamental in our society is going to be protected.”
Layton called on Harper to reject any plans by the provinces to implement a two-tier health care system, which includes rejecting Klein’s so-called Third Way plan on health care reform.
The Alberta premier’s proposal would allow patients to get better or faster service for some procedures if they’re willing to pay for them, including hip and knee replacements. The plan would also set a precdent by allowing doctors to work in the public and private spheres simultaneously.
Klein has always been the renegade in the Tories. But now that the Tories have some control over the Federal government, Klein’s actions may scare the voting public. This could put off any plans by the Conservatives to try and force another election to gain more seats. If the opposition can portray the Tories as a bunch of Ralph Kleins out to destroy the Health Care system, the Tories may actually lose seats.
In closing, Krazy Klein also “abused” an Alberta Legislature page with an 80-page booklet.
Meet Our Canadian Foreign Policy?
The new Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter MacKay, is an attractive man. A good candidate to be the “face” of Canada to the rest of the world. However, there is one problem – the man has no idea what he is doing.
John Gray of the CBC has a great article (the first of many) on MacKay and his recent missteps in the realm of international politics. MacKay has messed up on Israel-Palestine issues – first saying that regardless of the newly elected Hamas government, aid would continue flowing – oops – no it won’t. Then stating that the government had information on the Canadian hostages in Iraq – oops – no we don’t.
Gray made the critical analysis that these seem like small missteps, but can easily turn into huge political blunders on the world stage and Canada’s reputation could suffer. Wow!! A Conservative government’s reputation on the line in the eyes of the world. Didn’t see that coming. Especially when they seem to be borrowing tactics and words south of the border.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay says that despite mounting casualties in Afghanistan, Canadians should be standing behind their troops rather than questioning their deployment.
“This is the type of mission that is demanded in this day and age,” MacKay said. “Terrorism, which has its roots in Afghanistan, is something that we have committed to fight with our allies.”
But even Harper had to borrow words from a Republican. He’s choice – Ohio Representative Jean Schmidt. Tell me if this sounds familiar.
Canada won’t “cut and run” from Afghanistan, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and there’s no need for a House of Commons debate that could potentially sap the morale of troops overseas.
Harper suggested Tuesday that a parliamentary vote on the mission would be a foregone conclusion anyway because his government supports it and he expects the Liberals – who made the original commitment – also support it.
“Canadians don’t cut and run at the first sign of trouble,” he said. “And when we send troops into the field I expect Canadians to support those troops, in particular those who made that decision.”
So who’s foreign policy is this again?
Senate Elections
One of Harper’s election promises was to push for elected senators. He seems that he wants to do this.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would like to have an agreement with the provinces on Senate elections by the time the next vote takes place. But barring that co-operation, Harper said he has the power to create an electoral process for the Upper Chamber.
“While I obviously would like to see the co-operation of the provinces, it’s a commitment our government (has) made to pursue Senate elections and that’s something we believe we can do from Ottawa,” Harper said.
The authority to go it alone, he believes, comes from a PM’s exclusive power to appoint senators — the current system.
“It’s something I would like to get on with sooner rather than later and I would expect that no later than the next federal election we will have a senatorial election process in place,” said Harper.
It is still sort of odd that Harper’s first Senate appointment was that of Michael Fortier, who will be the new Minister of Public Works. Most Conservatives are upset about this. Why? Because Fortier is unelected and has control over billions of tax dollars.
I see no problem with an elected Senate, but atleast stand up on some sort of principle Steven.
That’s all for this week in Canadian Politics. See all of you next week.