What Harper would do with a majority...

There are nagging questions about Steve Harper at the back of Canadians' minds. They have been reflected by pollsters...and have been part of punditry chattering class commentary since day one of the Harpocracy.
Simply put they are"Why does Harper want a majority so badly and what would he do with it?".
A glimpse of the answers may well be available to us in the aftermath of the election of Harper's ideological soul mate, Brad Wall, as Premier of Saskatchewan. Yesterday, the brand new Fire Wall on the Canadian political scene began his re-making of the Sask government. Mass firings of senior bureaucrats were the order of the day. The only reasoning offered: "There is a time when new government takes over and there is a new direction and new leadership that needs to be provided."
The traditional respect for the impartiality of public servants and the distance between the public service and conservative politicians are always the first victims of conservative majority rule.
Caveat emptor...Stephen Harper.

Harper Mulroney...

Boss Harp is caught in a box. For 7 months he chose to ignore Mulroney storm clouds contained in letters sent to him by Schreiber. All the while, the Mulroney forces used every trick in the book to avoid the lawsuit trial that Schreiber had launched to reclaim his supposedly ill-spent $300,000 in cash which he provided Mulroney starting in 1993. Meanwhile, the government over which Boss Harp has the oft-proclaimed "supreme" command worked away at their attempt to extradite Schreiber. Similarly, the Harper government and Harper personally, also used every opportunity to boost the profile and legacy of the former PM...going so far as labelling him the "greenest PM ever"....with Harp saying he was a true mentor.
Sure sounds like the makings of a cover up...or, equally damning, an attempt to NOT get at the truth.
And now the question that has Harp boxed in: To extradite or not? We know where the public stands. Will polls govern Harp's moves in this matter as they do in all other things?
Should be fun to watch and see whether Boss Harp and the braintrust (Finley, Flanagan and Brodie) believe that the turmoil that would be caused by extradition would be greater than the turmoil caused by keeping Schreiber around to testify.

KhAAAAAAAAn!

Shame to see the old rug master, Wajid Khan, has been charged with election fraud.
Another of Harper's brilliant strategic and tactical moves doesn't turn out so well in the long run. Just add it to the list...surprise Afghan mission-extension motion; taking his Cabinet to Quebec City in June 2006 and running away from the "n" word; budget during the Quebec election; income trust taxation; appointing a Senator and then putting the unelected primp in the Cabinet; Gordon O'Connor; climate change alliance with former Aussie PM John Howard and wounded duck George Bush; worshipping B. Mulroney, etc., etc.

Howard's End....Harper's Friend

Tomorrow is election day in Australia...Boss Harp's second-best buddy (after George Bush, of course) is in a tough fight. Lots of good stories for you to look at...but the cartoon at the right and the accompanying story says it all.

PS...The Associated Press say that Aussie foreign policy will change little whoever wins. Wrong! Kevin Rudd will make fundamental changes. It will be bye-bye Iraq and hello Kyoto...just for starters...he won't be Georgie Bush's best friend!

PPS...Canadian Libs should get ready for more of these kinds of tactics from the Boss Harp crowd.

Harper/Mulroney dance of the veils

It seems that some Ministers and Departments are not taking Steve Harper's anti-Mulroney edict very seriously. Like good old Johnboy Baird over at Environment Canada.
There we find that the department has very graciously posted the speech that Lyin' Brian gave at a recent enviro congress in Montreal celebrating the Montreal Protocol. Of course, that is not out of character for BairdBoy since he also issued not one but two Media Advisories related to the Montreal Protocol event. The first one noting that he would be taking part in the tribute dinner for Muldoon.
Then there are Steve Harper's own words from earlier in 2007 in describing the Greenback PM: "...he's regarded years later as the greenest prime minister." Who could have known?
Who could have known that the Student and Mentor would end up starring in their own version of Broke-at-the-bank Mountain? At least that was Luc Lavoie's explanation for Muldoon's avarice today.

November Man

From Slate...just too funny to resist...Boss Harp is thinking "where have all my mentors gone...far, far away?"

November Man
If history is kind, Bush might get a turkey named after him.
By Bruce Reed
Monday, Nov. 19, 2007
Wing & Prayer: Tomorrow, for the next to the last time, President Bush will go to the Rose Garden for the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon. Bush rushed through the 2001 ceremony in just four minutes. This year, like last, he is more likely to linger, savoring each remaining drop of relevancy and proud to be trusted with at least one exercise of executive power.
It's not fair to suggest that over time, pets begin to resemble their masters. But Bush does have more in common with the turkeys than ever. As Peter Baker points out in today's Washington Post, Bush told one biographer, "Now I'm an October-November man." Unfortunately for Bush, time has passed him by. Both parties are in such a hurry to choose his successor that they're jumped to the same conclusion as American retailers: it's December already.
Republicans and Democrats aren't the only ones ready to turn the page on the Bush White House. So, it seems, is the Bush White House.
Like Bush, the previous two second-term presidents faced a hostile Congress in their last two years in office. But unlike Bush, both Reagan and Clinton used their sway with the American people to bring Congress to the table, and welcomed the chance to find common ground. Reagan worked with Democrats – including an up-and-coming governor named Clinton – to pass the Family Support Act of 1988. Clinton persuaded reluctant Republicans to fund his domestic agenda, from reducing class size to opening new markets in poor and rural areas.
By contrast, Bush seems to have given up on working with the Congress or winning back the American people – or perhaps taken note that they have long since given up on him. Even loyalist Karl Rove, in his debut column for Newsweek, doesn't mention Bush by name, advising GOP candidates on how to overcome "the low approval rates of the Republican president." The only audience Bush has left is history, which may not have much use for him, either.
The White House is so intent on the history books that appropriately enough, tomorrow Bush may even pin hopes for his legacy on a turkey. Usually, entries in the annual contest to name two turkeys come from Thanksgiving history and tradition, like this year's "May & Flower." But an unlikely 2007 entry stands out as Bush's own sentimental favorite: "Truman & Sixty."
The professed reason for "Truman & Sixty" is that Harry Truman granted the first turkey pardon 60 years ago. But for this White House, those two words are more about Bush: "Truman" (an unpopular president rescued by historians half a century later) and "Sixty" (Bush's best-case disapproval rating, as well as his age when he lost Congress). That's the only way to explain an entry that could draw the lowest vote total since "Harvest & Bounty" and "Plymouth & Mayflower" got 3% each in 2003. (This year, the smart money is on "Wing & Prayer.")
The Bush White House put one other curious entry on this year's ballot: "Jake & Tom," which sounds a lot more modern than such past same-sex pairings as "Washington & Lincoln" or "Lewis & Clark." At first glance, this seemed like an historic breakthrough for a president whose response to Brokeback Mountain was, "I'd be glad to talk about ranching." Back in the day, the conservative base might have lit up the White House switchboard, demanding to know what this administration will force America's schoolchildren to vote on next? "Will & Grace"? "Truman & Capote"?
Alas, the White House remains a few centuries behind on gay rights, and "Jake & Tom" is not some gossip item about Gyllenhaal & Cruise. According to the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), "Jake" is the term for a juvenile male turkey; "Tom" is the name for an adult male. You can tell the two apart by their feathers: the juvenile has an erratic tail.
Father and son turkeys may not be quite the historical spin the Bush White House was looking for. But even 43 has something to be thankful for. At his first ceremony in 2001, Bush joked that one of the two turkeys he pardoned was in a secure and undisclosed location. Nowadays, the roles are reversed, and Bush is the one in the safest place to go unnoticed – his own White House.

Throw another Harper mentor on the barbie...

Couldn't help noticing that just last Friday Johnboy Baird said something like "Gee, the science of climate change is really scary."
Quite an admission from a government that only a short while ago was referring to climate change as a "so-called" problem. Ah well...better late than never. Johnboy and his trusty pal Steve will have a chance to put their money where there photo-op usually is in Bali next month. That is when and where the international community will begin negotiations on the next round of climate control. It will be interesting to see if Baird and Co. are able to rise above their propensity for leadership by photo-op.
Meanwhile, another of Boss Harp's political mentors is in some difficulty Down Under. Australian PM John Howard enters the final week of campaigning in the Aussie election still trailing his opponent, Kevin Rudd. A chilling thought for Harp is that climate change has been a major issue in the election. Rudd is a climate change and Kyoto believer. He has said his first act as PM will be to sign onto the Kyoto Protocol.
It has been a bad year for Harper mentors. Georgie Bush is lower than a snake's belly in every poll imaginable. Lyin' Brian is in the news yet again over those darn cash payments he got...and lied about for years...from an arm's dealer. And now Howard...another of those "say anything, do anything to win" politicians is in tough and not even $200 million in government advertising seems to be helping. Which reminds me...there has been an awful lot of Harper government advertising kicking around lately. Hmmmm...

I am not a crook...I've done nothing wrong

In 1973, Richard Nixon famously said, "I am not a crook". He was proven wrong.

Almost 34 years to the day later, Brian Mulroney claimed "I've done nothing wrong." We'll see.

Harper leadership follies

Making decisons is never easy for Steve...

"So, you know...I think we do have to get an independent, impartial view on how to proceed. And I’m just not sure what that is. I know that I don't feel qualified to make that judgment myself."

(Stephen Harper, November 9, 2007)

Well...well...Birds roosting

So it seems that the Tories of Steve Harper have a little problem on their hands. Internal strife is heating up as Lyin' Brian's pals get a little cranky that Mean Steve dissed them so quickly.

Quickly in Harper's world is a relative term.

Seven months ago he received word in a letter from K. Schreiber that some things were a little tiny bit amiss on that old Mulroney Cash Sweepstakes file.

Boss Harp did nothing...no doubt on the advice of folks like Marjory LeBreton, Derek Burney and Mike Wilson.

The story is just beginning to unfold...or unravel..."oh what evil webs we weave, when first we practise to deceive."

Birds of a feather...

Harper's mentor has a bad news day

Our old friend Lyin' Brian is having a bad news day...
Harper's threats won't quell pointed questions
The Daily News, Canada - 22 hours ago
But then Stephen Harper went even further, adding ominously: "I don't think that if the Liberal party thought twice about it, it is a power they would want ...
Schreiber alleges Mulroney sought Airbus cash
National Post, Canada - 3 hours ago
Businessman Karlheinz Schreiber alleges in an affidavit filed in court yesterday that an advisor to former prime minister Brian Mulroney requested a ...
Allegations pull Mulroney supporter into spotlight
Globe and Mail, Canada - 3 hours ago
Fred Doucet, a long-time supporter of Brian Mulroney who has spent most of his life in politics behind the scenes, was thrust into the spotlight yesterday ...
The interesting little tidbit in much of this is that Schreiber has said that the first $100K that he collected from Mulroney came "on or about August 27, 1993". Mulroney was not Prime Minister at that time...but he was still a Member of Parliament. Perhaps that is why it appears that he was trying to retroactively put in place a paper trail.
It is also no surprise that Schreiber and Mulroney got on so famously. After all, Schreiber was an "arms dealer" and Mulroney was best buddies with Ronnie Reagan (of Evil Empire fame). Mulroney declared Canada "open for business" to group of the military-industrial establishment in North America in December of 1984. All of which, come to think of it, sounds an awful lot like the current Harper government line (adapted slightly for political expediency in a minority Parliament): "Canada is open for business but it's not for sale". Not to mention the close buddy-buddy friendship between Steve and Dubya.

Things just pile up...Mulroney and death penalty

Boss Harp has taken to the road this week to spread government largesse across the land. But the controversies just continue to pile up.
There is the ridiculous "decision" to not push Canadians' long-held view that the death penalty is just wrong. Last week's sanctimony and attempt by Tubby Van Loan to make this a law and order wedgie has been shown to be yet another half-truth from the gang that will say or do whatever it takes in their never-ending pursuit of more seats. This week we learn that Canada's Harper Government will also not co-sponsor an anti-death penalty resolution at the United Nations. The whole schmozzle has even journalist-apologists like Lorrie Goldstein up in arms. In the broader picture, Canadians travelling abroad should not expect the Harper world view to ever do anything to assist them should they run afoul of the law. Harper prefers to just wash his hands of any need for consular assistance. Another good job being done by Joe Louis Bernier too!
Then there is the little Mulroney problem bubbling away. Yesterday it became known that Harper Ministers (and probably Harper himself) chose the "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to this thorny little gem. Now even Harper's old buddies the NDippers have joined the chorus of Liberals who have been digging into the decade-old Mulroney settlement for $2 Million Canadian's tax dollars. Even noted Liberal-hater and baiter Chantal Hebert has been asking questions of late!

Harper Cabinet...at work!

Briefing notes tell Tory ministers to say they weren't briefed

The Canadian Press Nov 7, 2007

OTTAWA - Internal federal documents reveal the secrecy and sensitivity with which the Conservative government is handling allegations involving Brian Mulroney and the Airbus affair. Briefing notes obtained by The Canadian Press advise two cabinet ministers to say that they were never briefed about the matter.
The notes were prepared for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and his predecessor, Vic Toews.
Correspondence records show that one bureaucrat suggested to his political bosses that they remain silent to avoid fuelling the scandal.
The Tories are under pressure to investigate Mulroney's financial dealings following new details about $300,000 he received from businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who was tied to the Airbus affair.
Mulroney has denied any wrongdoing in the affair, which involved allegations of a bribery scheme in the government's purchase of 34 planes.

Interesting times

The old saying is "may you live in interesting times". We certainly do.
Yesterday was particularly interesting. Petey Boy MacKay was under bombardment in Afghanistan. No word on whether Harper was behind the attack...but for sure Petey and his trusty sidekick, Dan Dugas, will remember to bring the Joe Louis' next time. Turns out GQ Bernier wasn't so stupid after all.
At the same time the quote of the day in politics belongs to a Separatist MLA in Quebec City. His response to a "surprise" confidence motion by Mini-Separatist Mario (Dumont): "Mr. Dumont suffers from a major attention deficit problem."
And what is Boss Harp up to? Well, this sort of says it all...
Unconventional wisdom might say the Conservatives are almost as afraid of an election as the Liberals. Ask yourself this: If Stéphane Dion's Liberals are really on the mat, why spend millions of dollars on another set of attack ads that are so crude and amateurish as to be embarrassing?
But the most telling evidence of Conservative fear is their abrupt decision last Thursday to revisit the death penalty by declaring they will no longer seek clemency for Canadians sentenced to death in other democratic countries. (Winni Free Press, Nov. 7th)
And through all of this frolic, some people just have all the luck!

Decima decimatus

Good grief Charlie Brown...Halloween is over. So why is Bruce Anderson dressing up like a duck in hunting season and proving to be the quack of Canada's polling subset?
Decima has done a poll asking Canucks about the recent Drone Speech. They have found that a whopping 90% "approve of the Conservatives commitment to fight climate change mapped out in the October 16th Throne Speech."
It is surprising that anyone would pay for a poll to tell you what everyone in the country has known for at least a couple of years now. Everyone, that is, except Steve Harper. His problem remains that he is several years behind the curve on this and other issues.
Proof of this can be seen in little snippets that now come out. Evaluations, for instance, of old Liberal environment programs. Turns out they weren't all that bad after all. Think back to the One Tonne Challenge...the awareness raising program that Mean Steve petulantly cancelled, while derisively putting down the efforts of Rick Mercer. Well, the Tories have now reviewed the program and look what they found...(I have added some bolding of my own)
The program established partnerships that helped to broaden awareness of and participation in the One-Tonne Challenge:
· Across the country, 40 community challenges, involving over 200 organizations, supported the One-Tonne Challenge by promoting local products and services that could help residents meet the one tonne goal;
· Twelve provincial and territorial outreach centers (“Hubs”) promoted the One-Tonne Challenge through a variety of outreach and marketing activities;
· OTC partnerships were established with 60 companies and industry associations who were in the transportation, utility, retail, manufacturing, industrial and residential sectors. Approximately 480 companies representing over 2 million employees registered as users of an online Employee Awareness Toolkit;
· Eighteen youth-led organizations (including the Youth Environmental Network, Sierra Youth Coalition, Environmental Youth Alliance, and Clean Air Champions) incorporated the One-Tonne Challenge into their outreach activities;
· A teachers’ toolkit, accompanying website and promotional materials were developed to provide support to grades 1-12 teachers to educate students about climate change in their classrooms;
· 108 EcoAction projects incorporated the One-Tonne Challenge into their projects; andFederal in-reach took place with over 25 different federal departments and organizations in the National Capital Region and across the country engaging their employees in the challenge.
Not that the OTC was perfect...but this summary shows several things that Mean Steve should have taken into account. The report concluded:
Overall, program results demonstrate that:
· Canadians have an interest in environmental issues, including climate change and air pollution, and want to do their part to address them. However, they also feel strongly that governments and business/industry should do their part.
· A specific and concrete goal like a One-Tonne Challenge can generate interest and participation, however measuring results in terms of GHG emission reductions is difficult. In the case of the One-Tonne Challenge program, it was not clear what actions Canadians were taking, whether these were new actions, and what impact on GHG emissions these actions were having.
· To achieve GHG emissions reductions requires integrated programs that include public education and outreach, regulation, and financial assistance for energy efficiency upgrades. Any of these elements on their own will be less effective than the combination.
· Using a social marketing approach that identifies barriers and addresses these to encourage specific actions is important. Promoting an overall challenge like the One-Tonne goal can help generate awareness of the need for action, but specific incentives/promotions and activities are required to support specific actions or purchases that can help citizens meet this goal.
· With the exception of the long-standing federal incentives associated with the EnerGuide for Houses (which the Tories cancelled in another petulant move) initiative, there was a noticeable absence of federal or provincial incentives to promote major purchasing decisions (e.g., appliances, vehicles) by homeowners and consumers. Only a few provinces, such as Alberta, offered recognized rebate programs on the purchase of energy efficient appliances.
· While small programs with small incentives can contribute to smaller impacts, efforts towards major behavioural changes on the purchasing decisions of big-ticket items will require governments to provide a stronger and broader suite of incentives and supporting programs.
· A high-profile national advertising campaign is essential to generate awareness among the general public and to attract partner support.
· The OTC program should have been positioned within the broader context of how the Government of Canada was addressing climate change and other environmental issues. The program was one of the first initiatives to be introduced under the Climate Change Plan for Canada, and therefore was seen by many to be Canada’s primary response to the issue of climate change. As a result, some national media criticized the program for being inadequate to deal with such a major environmental issue. Broad-scale societal behavioural changes require a sustained and long-term effort. If and when possible, it would be advantageous to develop a brand that could sustain the test of time and that could be sustained independent of government funding.
Too bad Mean Steve and Blustery Baird didn't recognise all of this BEFORE wasting two years!

Budget reviews...and Tories ditch TO

Flim Flam Flaherty is piling up quite a few reviews this week...looks like the "pizza budget" will be a gift that keeps on giving for Mike Harris' old pal...
Tax relief falls short, economists say
The overall tax breaks that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty doled out this week will ramp up to $14.7-billion annually within five years, but less than 11 per ...
GST cut dubious from every angle
Economists winced. (Reducing a consumption tax neither boosts productivity nor encourages investment.) Retailers grumbled. (They had to recalibrate their ...
Mini-budget a wasted opportunity
The mini-budget delivered this week by federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty represents a major lost opportunity to provide much-needed assistance to ...
Wanted: Provincial support
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is a master of the headline-grabbing declaration. In the last year, he has told Canadians that Canada's total net ...
Tories criticized for not helping manufacturing
OTTAWA–Opposition parties hammered Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a do-nothing mini-budget at a time when he admits manufacturing industries are in ...
Budget boos
FINANCE Minister Jim Flaherty’s pumped-up pumpkin-load of Halloween tax cuts has definitively scared away the bogeyman of a 2007 election, ...
Tax cuts come in a vacuum
One obvious virtue in Tuesday’s federal mini-budget is that it is exactly the sort of the thing these Conservatives promised to do and are expected to do. ...
That's all there is for tax cuts, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says
OTTAWA - The Conservative government has more than fulfilled its election promises on tax cuts, so Canadians should not expect more goodies in the spring ...
Ottawa still flush, experts say
OTTAWA — Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warned Canadians not to expect further tax breaks any time soon like the relief he doled out this week - cuts ...
Conservatives have written Toronto off
Anyone who has been paying attention knows that the federal Conservatives who now run our national government have a hate-on for Toronto.

Plumb-bobbing Steve

Boss Harp is back at it. Being his own true right-wing self.
Dumping candidates who lean a little to close to the "centre"...not to the left...just those who get too close to the centre.
Running a government that ends a longterm Canadian practise of seeking clemency for Canadians sentenced to death abroad.
Giving the Chief of Defence Staff his "marching orders."
Ah yes...the "moderate" Steve has gone into winter hiberbnation. He must want to stay away from his old pal Mulroney. Which reminds me...why does Environment Canada have a recent speech by Lyin' (now we know for sure) Brian posted on their web site? Did they pay a contractor to write it?