Mentor and Student...

Mentor(s)


Student(s)

Mentor and student...leadership that counts...dollars...in bank accounts...

Harper mentor steps out

Lyin' Brian reappeared from his corporate solitude yesterday to give a pat on the back to his student little Stevie Harper. After blowing the usual blarney out the ass that he calls a mouth ("I would say that his government is probably off to the best start of any government that I can remember in my lifetime.."), the ole Liar went on to say, "...I'm sure he and his colleagues are going to come up with some very attractive ideas.'' At least perhaps he recognises they haven't had an original thought so far.
The Irish Bullshitter then went on to boost his own humble self...what a surprise..."When I was there with my 'big idea' government..." he blathered. When HE was there with his 'big idea' government all that happened was that (a) he set the country on a path to near destruction in the 1995 referendum with his ego-driven Meech Lake; (b) he set the country up as a laughing stock internationally with the worst fiscal management in the history of our nation; (c) he oversaw the largest spending and personnel cuts in the history of the Canadian Forces AND screwed with Forces procurement in unprecedented fashion; (d) he lost more ministers to scandal than any Prime Minister in our history; and (e) he left his Party in position to win 2 paltry seats in the 1993 election.
His student is on track to replicate his mentor.
Worth noting that not one reporter bothered to ask Mulroney about the $300,000 he got from his (and Pater MacKay's) good friend Karl Schreiber.

Of Harper, the Dutch and others

Over at the Conservative Corral of Stephen Harper we see that some people just never learn the old adage "It's the cover up that kills...not the initial problem." It seems that the Tories have asked political staff to make a donation to their Party. Some are offended, just as some are offended in other Parties when they are asked. And make no mistake, all Parties do ask their staffers for donations. Nothing wrong with that...Party members are asked for money all the time and so their is no earthly reason why those who are making a living should not be asked. It most certainly cannot be mandatory and there is no indication that the Tories have tried that route. However, Sandra Buckler should not be trying to deny involvement of the PMO. Of course, it comes from the top for heaven's sake!
Meanwhile, in Ontario Liberal-land, a small glitch has hit the war room of the Preem McGuinty. Unlike PMO types in the previous paragraph, the Grit involved (Warren Kinsella) knew enough to own up, correct the error and stay the hell outta the way of cameras, microphones and reporters. Of course, Lisa MacLeod (the target of the poor taste) just couldn't avoid commenting. In the CP Wire piece posted by CTV though she went way overboard in accusing Kinsella of being "...somebody who is in the inner circle of the Liberal campaigns both federally and provincially." I guess Lisa missed the last federal election campaign (when he backed a guy named Harper). Kinsella does have a record of backing "winners", which is no doubt why he was attacking Randy Hillier.
Finally, we see that all the Afghanistan camaraderie displayed by the Dutch PM on his visit to see Boss Harp a few weeks back was nothing more than whistling past the graveyard. The Dutch are debating their projected military withdrawal date right now...well ahead of time...like we should be.

Harper doublespeak

It seems that reports of our pullout from Afghanistan were somewhat premature. So, another day...another storyline from the Harper government. They are having difficulty keeping things straight they have told so many lies. Yesterday and Sunday there was Goner O'Connor yapping about training Afghans (people, not dogs) to take over the fighting. Now today we get a first hand account from Don Martin over at CanWest. His verdict? Any diminishing of the Canadian role would be a surprise on the ground in Kandahar.
Who to believe?
Not Stephen Harper or Goner O'Connor. They will say or do (as in another photo-op please) whatever they think it takes to hoodwink the people and win a majority.

Chicken Steve

It looks like Boss Harp is becoming Chicken Steve...when it comes to calling by-elections. He just ain't a leader...leaders do not shrink from a challenge. Leaders also let the people have their voice in Parliament.

Hypocrisy thy name is NDP

Earlier this week the police in St. Thomas Ontario arrested and charged a former Liberal Party official with fraud. Suzan Pawlak had been the treasurer of a riding association in southwestern Ontario. She was also a former staffer at the federal Liberal Ontario division (the Liberal Party is a federation with separate provincial and territorial wings).
Ms. Pawlak was charged following a police investigation that was initiated when the riding association contacted them early in 2007. It is a bit ironic to note that she faces 42 counts of fraud related charges with respect to the disappearance of $15,000. Ironic in that 42 is the number of charges that Con Black and his henchmen faced on a slightly large amount of "disappeared" money.
Anyway...subsequent to the initial stories the Tory bloggers have decided that it is important to bring to light the fact that another Liberal employee, David Pretlove, had suggested to the riding association that head office would reimburse the association for the stolen funds. Clearly, this was a bone-headed suggestion and ONE THAT THE RIDING ASSOCIATION DID NOT FOLLOW! They called the police instead.
Now we see Paul Dewar piling on as though this is indeed a second Con Black affair. Dewar, for the many who do not know, is the son-of-a-legend who represents the Ottawa Centre riding for the Dippers. He is demanding Pretlove's head on a platter and is accusing Stephane Dion of refusing to deal with the matter. What crap.
First, the police were called in and charges have been laid. Second, Pretlove's bone-headed advice was not followed and he is leaving the Party staff according to the LPCO President (worth noting that the federation structure of the Liberals is different than the monolithic structure that the NDP and Tories prefer). Third, there is absolutely NO evidence anywhere that anyone other than those directly involved had any idea that all this was going on...so calling in the police WAS the right thing to do.
There are some interesting questions that come to mind about the "accusers" in the NDP and those "Blogging Tories". Like, for instance, perhaps the NDP could explain the double standard that would allow them to allow public profile and involvement in the past of Lorne Nystrom and Svend Robinson after each self-confessed to major lapses in judgement, if not the law. And perhaps someone in the media should do a little more research into the funding mechanisms that see some blogging Tories wandering around Parliament Hill with staff passes.
The final added truth to this saga is that Dewar is "feeling the heat" in Ottawa Centre and he has this love of the media...so he decided to grab some cheap free attention (while Pat Martin was on holidays).

Harper in la-la land

Today Steve is in Barbados soaking up some sun on his southern hemisphere photo-op jaunt. Says he is going to "repair" Canada's relations there. I guess that means he will stop taking cheap shots at Canadian shipping companies that are headquartered in the island paradise.
On the home front...since the Tories like polls...perhaps they will have a gander at today's Mop and Pail special front page which says Harp is failing. Some of the reason can be found in Harper's Bush-like desire to "use" the Afghan mission as a political tool. Just this week again he claims Canadians support the mission. He is wrong. Canadians, like the Liberals under Dion, support our Canadian Forces. They do not support this Harper "mission", nor do they wish to see an extension of the mission. And another thing...the public is tuning out the constant Tory attempt to use the tired old "corruption" label on Dion.
It would appear that, since foreign affairs is on the front burner, Stéphane Dion has found a candidate for the Outremont by-election who will be of great service in the Parliament of Canada...Jocelyn Coulon.
Rumours of a Cabinet shuffle persist.

Layton lives

The NDP and Jack Layton have finally decided to tackle the government over the Access issues swirling at National Defence. In typical Layton fashion (he is a spinner and photo-oper just like Boss Harp), the Dippers try for a big media splash on an issue that the Liberals have been doggedly pursuing for many weeks. Even in this latest kerfuffle (DND claiming they can't release anything on detainees and past releases were a mistake) poor old Jack is 6 days behind the Liberals in demanding action. And, even now, rather than ask the Info Czar to do his job they prefer the grandstanding route of threatening to take Rick Hillier before committee. I suppose criticising Harper is very difficult for the man who made it possible for Steve to take power.
Goner O'Connor is still Defence Minister...and retired General Lewis MacKenzie is rumoured to have moved into Goner's riding.

RCMP...get their half a man

Bill Elliott has started his new job. But the anomaly continues. He is not a police officer. So on the day of the swearing in of Mr. Elliott to the top law enforcement job in the land Stockboy Day also announced:
1. That a 33 year veteran of the force, Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney, would deal with "police matters" as Elliott's right hand, while Elliott focuses on restructuring...at least temporarily (according to reports).
2. That a five member "task force" will "re-design" the RCMP.
All of which begs the question...Why didn't the government just appoint Mr. Sweeney as Commissioner and assign the bureaucrat, Mr. Elliott, to head the "re-design" effort? The answer to this is not readily apparent.
What is apparent is that as of today, the RCMP has two "half-Commissioners" and a five member "task force" running the show (not to mention the Minister). The government has created a two-headed beast and greater bureaucracy to run an organisation that needs less Ottawa-centric bureaucracy, not more.
Perhaps this latest improvisation reflects the fact that the Tories were feeling a little skittish over the "politicization" accusations and they just decided to back off a tad for the time being. Time will tell.

Harper mind control

Last week there was news of a poll by Strategic Counsel for Boss Harp that advised him to "change his tune" on Afghanistan. The report was quite detailed as to what "words" the Bossman should use to sell his policy.
Interesting how the man...Steve Harper...who always criticised 'government by polls' when in Opposition is now willing to live and breath by them.
More proof? Just look at today's Mop and Pail and you will see another poll for the government that tested Mr. Harper's less than moderate view of the west coast fishery. No doubt a poll with wording suggested by Harp's mentor Tom Flanagan. Another colleague of Harper's who is less than moderate.
Interesting how Boss Harp likes to poll on things that appear to be Conservative wedge issues. And he has no qualms about using taxpayer dollars for that partisan purpose. More "Big Lie" technique in practise.

Truth is Dion was right

So...Steve Harper has "changed his tune" on the Afghanistan mission. We have all seen this nuanced shift since the last day the most recent House sitting. He wants either a "clear consensus" or a "reasonable agreement" to go forward from the current 2009 end date...or whatever other "words" are put in his mouth on a given day.
Today's Mop and Pail reports that it is all about "words". Words that are given to Boss Harp by the pollsters over at Strategic Counsel (the roosting place of Allan Gregg until recently).
Fact is that Stéphane Dion has been pointing out the Harper penchant to use polls for some time. In April, he pointed out that, "For years, Stephen Harper denied the existence of climate change. He called Kyoto a socialist scheme. When he took office, he cut billions of dollars in programs to deal with this challenge. Now he’s seen the polls and knows Canadians want action." And then in June he said of the Harper government, "The first instinct of this government is not to say the truth, but to find the best spin. And when that spin doesn’t work, they try another one. And so they change their story. They contradict themselves, and they contradict each other. Often on the very same day. Or in the elevator! As they did for the sad saga of our detainees in Afghanistan."
Dion has had it right for some time. It is catching on. Stephen Harper is a "product" not a person. He is a product of the pollsters and the wordsmiths. Murray Mandryk wrote about it yesterday in CanWest papers in a piece titled Truth lies buried under rhetoric when he said, "...when the leader of the nation calls one of the country's premiers an ingrate because rightly, that premier is not buying the federal government spin, it begins to feel like propaganda from another era. This takes us back to the "big lie".
The truth is out Steve...you are a phony. The makeup artist, the George Bush copycat routine and now the wordsmithing pollsters. The voters at Tim Hortons are going to be very disappointed.

RCMP in the news

The Mayerthorpe investigation gets curiouser by the moment. Today we read that former RCMP constables are coming to the defence of the two young men arrested earlier in the week.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, as the old saying goes, Wild Bill Elliott is still under scrutiny for the critical lacking on his CV...he is not and never has been a police officer. This is ably pointed out by Jim Travers this morning, who also reminds everyone that this is NOT the NASCAR Bill Elliott (much to the chagrin of the Tory advertising flaks who thought they had a great cross-promotion going here).

Top cop flop...for all Parties

A last word on the Elliott travesty...
Yesterday the Conservatives felt it necessary to have Boss Harp weigh in to assist his faltering Stockboy Day. Part of his defence was that William Elliott has "...been a public servant for 15 years, promoted through the ranks by the Liberals up to and including being the personal and national security adviser to Prime Minister Martin, so I think it's a bit late to claim that he's a partisan.'' (He was also Harper's Nat Sec Advisor)
Horse bleeping shit!
Being an "advisor" to a PM or a Minister is one hell of a lot different than being the top police officer in the land!
This is the right wing of Canadian politics injecting a civilian right winger into this position. It is no different than stacking the courts.
The Opposition parties are chickens (yes...Liberals included). If they cannot carry this argument now...or at least try...they may as well pack it in. The only opposition leader to mention or attack the "control freak" nature of this appointment was Stephane Dion. But his Party Critics are virtually silent and prefer to babble on about "process".
Get with the program people! The general public doesn't give a rats ass about insider Ottawa crap about "process". It is a bad appointment and should be attacked. Period.

Top cop flop

For several days now the Tory government has been loudly proclaiming that new top RCMP cop, William Elliott, is a real pro who can handle the task. But they may be losing the battle on this one.
Yesterday the mother of one of the slain Mayerthorpe RCMP officers blasted the government and pointed out, "As parents of a Mountie we know that Brock would be truly dismayed and shocked that it is OK to take a bullet for Canada, die for your country as a Mountie, but a Mountie isn't good enough to be a commissioner,'' Colleen Myrol said.
Now we learn that Stockboy Day has been reduced to sending out mass emails to the plebes at the RCMP exhorting them to support his non-cop choice to lead them.
To top it all off...one of the key points being made to defend Elliott's appointment is that he did such a great job in coordinating Canada's response to the 911 bombings. Specifically, he was at Transport Canada at the time and responsibility for re-vamping airport security seems to have been his forte. Former Transport Minister David Collenette (yes a Liberal) was singing his praises on the weekend in just this context. Setting aside that Collenette himself once had to resign from Cabinet because he could not figure out the arm's-length relationship with the judiciary...we now hear more reports that the security at Canada's airports is, shall we say, less than effective. We have also heard for years of the shortcomings of the 911-spawned Canadian Air Transport Security Association. So, did Elliott "do" a good job? Or not? Not!
Looks like those who think this was a politically driven appointment are gaining momentum.

New top cop a flop

Stockboy Day has already proven that Stephane Dion's fears about new top Mountie Bill Elliott are accurate.
In defending Stephen Harper's irresponsible decision to put a political hack into the top job, Day has said that Elliott used to warn him off of areas that minister's should stay out of when it comes to policing.
That is precisely what Elliot should be doing AS AN ADVISOR to government. And yes, he was AN ADVISOR to Liberal governments.
But being AN ADVISOR is NOT being the top cop.
He has NO policing experience.
He is a political hack who has been given a big time governance role with the country's top police force. Just think of the howls that would be coming from the Tories if any Liberal PM had tried a similar shenanigan!
This is just Steve Harper copying his buddy George Bush...yet again.
It was wrong when George Bush appointed political hack Alberto Gonsalves as the Attorney General in the United States. But that is how their patronage driven system works. Unelected hacks get governance jobs all the time.
That is not how the Canadian system works and the appointment of Elliott to such a sensitive position at such a sensitive time for the RCMP is wrong.

Liar Harp politicizes RCMP

It appears that Boss Harp will be proving himself a liar on several counts again today. At the same time he will show he is an inept liar.
He is reportedly appointing Bill Elliott as the new head of the RCMP. For you NASCAR Tories don't get too excited...it is not THAT Bill Elliott.
It IS the Bill Elliott who was a Tory staffer in the Mulroney years. He worked for the Deputy PM starting in 1988. Everyone might recall that as Mulroney's second term led to the crushing defeat of the Progressive Conservatives in 1993...so Elliott is an architect of that effort.
The fact is that Boss Harp and his current crop of Conservative doublespeakers made a big deal about (remember the Accountability Act) NOT allowing staffers to even join the bureaucracy. The sentiment was that they are just not "qualified". Another lie from Harper.
At the same time, Harper has always claimed that he would never politicize the bureaucracy. Another lie.
Likewise, in recent months when under fire for stacking the courts with right wing ideologues and cutting the Court Challenges Program, a major line of defense has always been along the lines of: "Not me...I am a moderate who would never politicize our justice system". Note to Harp: The police are one element of that justice system. Another lie.
Finally, let's look at Bill Elliott. This is where "inept liar" comes into play. Elliott landed a bureaucratic job in the dying days of the Mulroney/Campbell administration. No fool he...to get out before Armageddon. Off he went to the Canadian Coast Guard where he was for years a laughing stock. Laughing being done by other former Tory staffers who could not believe that "Good Times Bill" had such a perfect gig. No real responsibility as Deputy Commissioner...but lots of time and a good salary to party hearty. He has subsequently slithered his way through the morass of the civil service (always climbing half a rung at a time) aided and abetted by other (usually considerably more talented) Mulroneyites who had been likewise parked strategically within the Public Service of the nation. People often wondered how his French language capability allowed such advancement too. That will no doubt be a question that Boss Harp's best friend Gilles Duceppe will explore now. All of which points to a totally INEPT appointment by Harper the Liar.

Harper's magical misery tour continues

Steve Harper is continuing his summer misery tour this week. This comes fresh off a lacklustre (and totally typically partisan) performance before a below average sized crowd on Canada Day. Maybe it was the blue backdrop that took away the enthusiasm.
At any rate, Boss Harp is off to the east coast today, where even the Preem (a nominal Tory we hear) is wondering what re-announcement to expect.
On Thursday, we'll see the Big Kahuna out in Saskatchewan. Rumour has it that he'll be out there to talk up energy...but only the renewable sort. So that will no doubt be another re-announcement.
To no one's surprise Harp is NOT accompanied by any of the Four Horsemen of the Harris Apocalypse (Flipper Flaerty, Bully Baird, Tubby Van Loan or Clammy Clement) on these stops.
The moral in all this is: When in limbo....go for the photo-op.
That is the George Bush style (remember Mission Accomplished and "Atta boy, Brownie.") and it is clearly the Steve Harper style.

Chrétien honoured...and Harper flights of rhetorical fancy

I see that Jean Chrétien has been awarded the Order of Canada. Stéphane Dion very eloquently congratulated the former PM...all of which puts a lie to Harper's inflated rhetoric on Canada Day about Canada "being back". It is Tory times that are tough times...always!

Stéphane Dion Pays Tribute to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the Occasion of his Appointment to the Order of Canada
Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Official Opposition, paid tribute to former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the occasion of his appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada.
"The Prime Minister's achievements are foundational blocks upon which the unity, long-term financial stability, and international reputation of Canada have so solidly been built," said Mr. Dion.
"By rallying 122 Governments to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa, affirming Canada's independent voice by not joining the war in Iraq, or ratifying the Kyoto Accord, Prime Minister Chrétien repeatedly showed the best of Canada's international leadership."
Mr. Dion added that "in providing the leadership required to balance the federal budget, Prime Minister Chrétien's government - with finance Ministers Paul Martin and John Manley - delivered six consecutive surpluses."
"Nothing, however, stands out more in Mr. Chrétien's four decades of public service than his unceasing commitment to the unity of Canada, and of all Canadians," concluded Mr. Dion.
"His stewardship of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, his tireless campaigning - over two referendums - for Quebec to stay in Canada, and his passage of the Clarity Act are achievements that will forever be linked to the ongoing strength of our great country."
"It is a privilege to have served in his cabinet, and I am particularly proud of the role he asked me to play in the preservation and promotion of our national unity."