Category: Harper
Harper as an Illusionist
| 4/4/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Harper |
The boy Stephen Harper is trying to convince the public that HE doesn’t want an election, it is the Liberals who are threatening to cause an election. RIGHT, it is the Liberals who have constructed a 17,000 square foot war room for election readiness, it is the Liberals who having been running attack ads on the Conservatives and it’s the Liberals who has been passing out tax payers money like it was candy to try to buy a majority government.
Harper really does appear to think that Canadians are pretty dumb. You’d have to be living under a rock not to be getting a pretty clear picture of who is manipulating the public and often at taxpayer’s expense. Now, the latter would be nothing new if Harper hadn’t spent so much time in opposition decrying the use of public dollars by the Liberals. If you want to scream about others, then don’t do so yourself.
Harper can use all the money he wants to try to turn lies into truths but Canadians will see through him. We’re not blind to the fact that he hasn’t governed for the last year, more like run an election campaign from the government side of the house. If he truly wanted to govern, he’d get down to it instead of harping about the opposition parties, especially the Liberals. All he’s doing is showing how nervous he is of Dion.
For the moment, at least, Dion is getting smarter, he’s staying focused and not rising to Harper’s attempts to get a rise out of him. He may be learning yet. Well, other than him getting his nose out of joint over the Vimy memorial.
If he’d been smart, he’d have made sure that his schedule was clear to go and then waited to see if the government extended the invitation to the opposition leaders. Then he could have really pissed Harper off by being there. Opportunity lost Stephane, you got to start thinking like your opponent, even if you don’t act like him. And for god’s sake, don’t act like him.
The Prime Minister That Isn’t
| 3/23/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Harper |
Earlier this month I posted on some of the boy Harper’s smears and lies that I really didn’t think would leave him room to go much lower. Well, I’m not too big to admit when I’m wrong, I was wrong. The boy found room to go lower.
This week in response to Liberal calls for the resignation of Defense Minister Gordon O’Connor over his misleading parliament in regards to the follow up on detainees captured by Canadian troops and turned over to Afghani authorities, Harper rose not to defend his minister but to slam the Liberals by accusing them of supporting the Taliban over our own troops. Not surprisingly, the Liberals were outraged.
Khan Back on the Move
| 3/12/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Harper |
Wajid Khan the former Liberal MP who crossed the floor to the Conservatives shortly after Dion became leader is once more traveling on the public purse allegedly fact finding on behalf of the boy Harper. He arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday as the start of a four day trip which will include a visit to his native Pakistan. I guess Harper needed to keep the little guy appeased and out of his hair during spring break.
Wonder what facts Khan would be collecting in Afghanistan that the Governor General (commander in chief of the Canadian Armed Forces), Gordon O’Connor (Minister of Defense) and Rick Hillier (Chief of Defense Staff) couldn’t have found. He must fit into scummy dark corners easier than they do.
Khan has a secret itinerary and wont be producing a written report cause someone might mistakenly discover that he really doesn’t know how to write and if he could, he has nothing of value to say.
PM’s Lies Riles Liberals and I’d Hope, Canadians
| 3/2/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper |
Fresh from his smears at Liberal MP Navdeep Bains over his father-in-law, the boy Harper was emboldened yesterday in his slurs at two Montreal area women MPs. The slurs arose during debate over a move by the government to having political appointees on the panel that makes up the Immigrant and Refugee Board. A move that prompted the resignations of several members of the board this week.
The Liberal government moved away from political appointees during their time in office because of the patronage inherent in the process.
Harper rose in the commons to claim “We are putting in place a new selection system so we do not have what we had before — like the member for Westmount-Ville-Marie (Lucienne Robillard) appointing her former husband as a member of the board, like the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine (Marlene Jennings) as a member of the board,” He further stated “That is the mess we are cleaning up. That is the Liberal culture of entitlement and we are getting rid of it.”
Were either accusation true they would be serious ethics breaches. Neither accusation was even remotely true as Robillard’s ex-husband was appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1990 and Jennings husband was on the board in 1996 which was before Jennings was even elected to Parliament.
Harper and his band of bullies have been engaged in smears through fiction with just enough truth attached to make the unaware believe them, but this round, this is blatant lying. This is what wants to have a majority government? Are Canadians really crazy enough to elect the likes of this and give him a majority?
Over at the Woostock Ontario Independent News he comments:
Harper when in need, relies on bullshit fear and propaganda to enforce his view. He fits well into the
historical perspective of other failed leaders that Canada was built on fear, lies and coercion backed up ith violence.
…
Say no to bullying…say no to Harpers’ mindless CONservatives.
enough said.
Harper’s High Road Bites His Ass
| 3/1/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper |
Back in the days when the boy Harper was in his best role, as leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition he went on the attack at then Prime Minister Paul Martin for his use of government jets for personal flights. He claimed the cost of these flights were $11,000 per hour while the Prime Minister did reimburse the public purse for his families flight to Morocco for their vacation based on the cost of commercial flights and then almost doubling it which, of course, was no where near the cost Harper claimed.
Martin paid from his own pocket, not from party funds. Much of the figure that Harper came up with is cost that would have to be paid whether the government’s Challenger jet was in the air or not. Now to keep some perspective here, it is a security requirement that the Prime Minister can not fly on commercial flights so it isn’t like this is a subject that can be killed by the PM flying like the rest of the population.
So now, the table has turned. The boy Harper is Prime Minister and he’s the one using the government Challenger. Today’s Toronto Star takes a look at the example he’s setting. The Conservative party is paying for flights Harper takes for personal or partisan reasons. It is the rate at which their paying that is hypocritical.
The article used the example of a flight Harper took on Feb. 10, 2007 for which the military billed the PMO for 3.1 flying hours at $2,139/hour = $6,639 to which the PMO responded that an equivalent flight at commercial rates return would have been $484 per person. The commercial rate was paid for each staffer on board and $3,144 was remitted. Based on the figures the Globe & Mail reported in their story on this, Paul Martin would have been paying a bit less than $6,288 based on the commercial rate x almost 2 which they said Martin paid from his own pocket.
But ah, there is another twist to the compensation story. Seems that in subsequent trips for partisan or personal reasons the PM has been known to manage to schedule some ‘government business’ like a roundtable meeting with Block Parents and thus the public purse pays the whole tab. How convenient.
Jeff at A BCer in Toronto writes:
But let’s use that base figure for our calculations. We know that for the two trips the CPC reimbursed the people of Canada $9624.00. We know that total flight time for the trips was appx. six hours. At the very conservative (small ‘c’) operating cost of $2,233/per hour, that would cost $13,398. Which means Harper shortchanged the taxpayer by at least $3774. More, when you factor in the flight crews, ramp fees and other costs. Or, if Harper was telling the truth in opposition when his MPs would routinely say the true cost was $11,000/hour, then he owes the taxpayers some $56,376.
Cameron over at Cameron’s House of Fun makes the point that really the cost of flights for the PM, any PM shouldn’t be an issue. I do agree with that, I remember at the time that the boy was trying to hammer Martin over it that it was nothing but petty politics and something that would never be an issue for the boy’s hero Bush. Our Prime Minister might not be the head of state but he’s the head of the government, if security dictates that he fly private then we pay.
So what’s the fuss over? I like Cameron’s comment:
As the article notes, Harper attacked the Liberals for using the jet service, in fact he went on about it a fairish amount. It was all part of the “look they are elitist, snobby shits, not like us common folks” offensives. Good politics. Smart politics. Apparently politics that wins elections.
The problem with this kind of politics is that it comes back and bites you on the ass, hence the uproar.
I don’t have a problem with someone taking a principled stand on an issue. Just remember that when you’re in a position to carry through on that stand, be just as principled or honest enough to admit your perspect was wrong. OH, wait, I am talking about Harper admitting error, that would be a frosty Friday in hell.
Having said all the foregoing, if Prince Charles, the future King of this country, can fly commercial as an example of environmental stewardship, how come the PM can’t do likewise and still be provided adequate security?
The Boy Harper Finds New Low
| 2/22/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News, Canadian Politics, Ethics, Harper, War on Terror |
Harper sank to a new low yesterday in the House of Commons when he launched a smear at Liberal MP Navdeep Bain and his father-in-law who the Vancouver Sun is reporting was to be on the potential list of witnesses to be brought before an investigative hearing into the downing of the Air India flight in the 80′s.
The smear came in response to a question that was being put to him by Liberal leader Dion about Harper’s meddling with the judicial appointment process. It does appear that the boy was attempting to avoid answering questions on one of his dictatorship moves and created a firestorm over another issue that truly is worthy of serious and reasoned debate, not one of attacks and slurs.
At issue is two clauses in the Anti-Terrorism legislation that was passed in the wake of 9/11. One clause allows for ‘preventative arrest’ of people that law enforcement agencies believe is or could be involved in an imminent terrorist activity and the other allows for investigative hearings where witnesses could be compelled to testify. Both of the clauses were controversial amongst the Liberals when they passed the legislation and they appear to be just as controversial now.
The clauses are set to expire March 1st if the House doesn’t vote to extend them. The sunset provision was built into the clauses at the time the legislation was enacted because of their controversial nature and the concerns about the potential for abuse of civil liberties by police. The clauses have yet to be used and at this point the Liberal stand is against extending them.
I have to admit to some ambivalence on the issue of extending the clauses.
The social justice part of me leans towards not extending them because they do leave too much power in the hands of law enforcement agencies and we’ve seen what them and an agenda can do to innocent people. Out of necessity, the definition of ‘terrorism’ is rather broad which adds to the potential for abuse of the clauses.
Another part of me looks at the fact that the clauses have not been invoked which provides some hope that they would not be abused. I would be wearing rose coloured glasses not to realize that there are situations when police have a pretty strong sense that someone is about to or is involved in some criminal activity which they are powerless to prevent in the absence of appropriate evidence in order to arrest the suspect. So, the concept of preventative arrest has it’s benefit if applied prudently.
I have zero ambivalence about the boy’s smearing though.
He was wrong and had he made the same statements outside of the House, he could be finding himself facing some legal ramifications. A reading of the article in the Vancouver Sun gives little indication as to what exactly a hearing would expect to be exploring with Darshan Singh Saini (Bain’s father-in-law) or if he could potentially be implicated in the plot.
The boy Harper was attempting to link the potential witness of Saini to a hearing that will not take place should the anti-terrorism clauses expire next week to the reason that the Liberals have taken a stance opposite to the stand they took five years ago when the laws were passed.
That is somewhat typical of the low brow thinking of Harper. A lot has changed in five years, not the least of which is the makeup and leadership of the Liberal party which had been divided in the first place on the issue. We also have a minority government in place that demonstrates a very black and white thinking process towards its own right wing ideology. The Liberals as the Official Opposition needs to be the party of sober second thought.
Mike over at Rational Reasons puts the issue rather well:
It is quite clear that Stephen Harper will spread any myth, any lie, any outrageous conspiracy theory as long as he thinks it will get him his precious majority. God help us all then.
….
Stephen Harper has demonstrated he has no honour, no morals, no ethics and no scruples. He does not deserve to be president of a student’s council, let alone Prime Minister of Canada. Frankly, none of them do, but Harper most especially.
Well expressed Mike.
Eugene over at LE REVUE GAUCHE puts forth his argument that Harper is not and never will be a statesman or parliamentarian:
But pompous megalomaniac he is Harper could not resist, nor could he trust anyone else to deliver his hit on Dion and the Liberals.And so he showed himself to be what he really is, an Opposition Leader. Not a Prime Minister.
And what he was today was an Opposition Leader, a strong one, one who is gaining in the polls. And thus one doomed by his limitations of office, and personality, to act like an Opposition Leader rather than as a PM. Holding on to power with a minority, but acting like you are majority has won Harper the polling support of some Canadians.
But in reality what the recent polls have shown is that he is far better as Leader of the Opposition than Dion is.
And that is what he confirmed today. He does not have the stuff to be PM. He is no statesman, and no parliamentarian.
I agree with Eugene, the boy has zero class. He strikes me as someone who either was the schoolyard bully or was bullied and is now getting his revenge on the whole country. Course, when you vote for a red-neck you get low brow.
The final word goes to Ekonoline:
Harper is a chameleon of sorts, fashioning himself as a moderate conservative while simultaneously sinking to any low to gain political advantage. Three years ago, he accused Paul Martin of supporting child pornography. How low can he go? I seem to recall learning in my high school civics class that Canada is a democratic country, where slanderous allegations cannot be simply thrown about at will. Harper would do well to keep that principle in mind. Innocent until proven guilty, Stephen, innocent until proven guilty.
Innocent until proven guilty indeed.
Harper Says He’ll Respect Law
| 2/16/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Harper |
Harper has responded to questions about wether his minority government will respect Bill C-288 which requires him to comply with Kyoto or not by saying he will if it is passed into law. Since he appears to be preparing to be heading into an election at the end of March he’s likely rather confident that the law will die on the order paper when the writ is dropped.
Courts Being Stacked? — What Else is New?
| 2/15/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics, Harper |
It appears that the boy Harper’s government, which of course is the boy, is deliberately moving to stack the committees which make the recommendations to the government on the appointment of new judges with Conservatives. More specificially, the move appears to facilitate the appointment of conservative judges which support what Harper deems to be a ‘law and order’ agenda.
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