The Harpy's Latest Mistake

Today, "The Harpy" made a big mistake. He booted former Conservative MP Garth Turner out of caucus. The Honourable Member from Halton will now be sitting as an Independent MP. Here was a guy who was not afraid to speak his mind, even when it was against his own party. Of course, The Harpy couldn't have that. Mustn't have any MPs violating the "Cone of Silence" surrounding this Conservative Government. Everyone is supposed to keep their mouths shut, and tow the party line, only saying and doing as The Harpy commands. So much for that whole "open and transparent" government that The Harpy wanted us to think he would give us.

In my opinion, The Honourable Garth Turner is the only MP in the current government who actually deserves the "Honourable" title. He is the most progressive MP in Ottawa today, and the Reform, I mean Conservative, Party doesn't deserve to have him as part of their ranks.

Mr. Turner, I salute you. Keep up the good work of representing your constituents. And keep up the great job of being a thorn in The Harpy's side.

I should mention that he is neither my MP, nor am I a supporter of the Conservative Party of Canada.

I only hope that The Harpy won't kick me out of Canada for speaking my thoughts and opinions. If my next posting is from some tropical locale, then you'll know what happened.

Stephen Harper and the AIDS Conference

I am going to jump on the bandwagon also, and condemn Mr. Harper for not attending the AIDS conference recently held in Toronto. Yes, I know that Tony Clament, the Minister of Health was there, as he should have been. However, this is not just some discussion group we are talking about. This is a major, internationally attended, event. Bill Clinton could find time to attend. Bill Gates could find time to attend. But Mr. Harper couldn't find a single day to make an appearance. He didn't even have to attend the entire event. That is what Mr. Clament should be doing. But why couldn't he make an appearance, shake hands with Bill and Bill, make a speech, and then head back to Ottawa and the business of running the country.

This will rank up there, in my mind at least, as being only slightly less dumb of a PR blunder as when Former PM Jean Cretien decided not to attend the funeral of Jordan's former king, King Hussein.

Stephen Harper and the GST reduction

I would like to personally and publicly thank Mr. Harper for the 1% reduction in the GST. I have given him a hard time here in this blog, but I will give credit where credit is due. He said he would reduce the GST, and he has done it. 1% doesn't amount to a whole lot of extra money in a person's pocket, but every penny counts. For example, my morning coffee is now 1 cent cheaper. You may be thinking, "Wow. You can take that early retirement now" in a sarcastic manner. However, in the course of a year, given that I drink a coffee pretty much every day, and occasionally, twice a day, then that works out to 2 or 3 free coffees per year.

It may not be a lot, but I'll gladly take it, with a warm "Thank you!" to our Prime Minister.

Flags at half-staff on the Peace Tower

There is a lot of discussion lately on when the government should lower the flag to half-staff on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. Here is the official description of the times it is appropriate, from the Government of Canada web site:

Flags on federal government buildings, airports, military bases and other establishments are flown at half-mast when directed by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The following are examples of the practice:

• across Canada and abroad, on the death of the Sovereign or a member of the Royal Family related in the first degree to the Sovereign (spouse, son or daughter, father, mother, brother or sister), the Governor General, the Prime Minister, a former governor general, a former prime minister, or a federal cabinet minister;
• within a province, on the death of the Lieutenant Governor, the Premier or another person similarly honoured by that province;
• within his/her own riding, on the death of the Member of the House of Commons, or the Member of the Provincial/Territorial Legislature;
• at his/her place of residence, on the death of a Senator, a Canadian Privy Councillor, or a Mayor.

Apart from occasions when flags on all government buildings and establishments across Canada are flown at half-mast, the flag on the Peace Tower of the Parliament Building at Ottawa is flown at half-mast:

• on the death of a Lieutenant Governor;
• on the death of a Canadian Privy Councillor, a Senator, or a Member of the House of Commons;
• on the death of a person whom it is desired to honour.

In effect, the Government of Canada can lower the flag on the Peace Tower to half-staff for anyone it chooses to honour.

It should also be noted that the description talks about lowering the flag to half-mast. This is technically incorrect, since half-mast is a naval term, where the tradition started. At sea, on naval vessels, flags are indeed lowered to half-mast. However, on a land-based flag pole, the proper term is half-staff.

I Wanted To Be Wrong

Do you know what bothers me most about the new Prime Minister? I had always distrusted this Conservative from the West. I thought he was a slimy snake from the moment I first heard of him. I'm not even entirely sure why I didn't like him, but I didn't. It could have been because he reminded me of a Bush wannabe. Who knows. I never thought he was fit to run the government, certainly not in the way he claimed he wanted to run it. But you know what? I really, really, wanted to be proven wrong. Never before had I wanted to be wrong about something as much as I wanted to be wrong about Stephen Harper. And in his first week in office, I feel he has proven me right. I desperately wanted to be wrong. But I wasn't. And I am really saddened and disappointed about that.

It Needs To Be Said

Just remember one thing, folks. David Emerson, former Liberal and now a Conservative MP and Minister of International Trade, and Michael Fortier, who didn't even bother to run in the election, and is now the Minister of Public Works and Government Services (where the sponsorship scandal started in the first place) have something in common with David Dingwall, the former head of the Royal Canadian Mint: they seem to believe that they are entitled to their entitlements.

This honeymoon seems to have ended faster than a one night stand in Las Vegas.

An Inside View of Canadian Politics

I have just discovered the blog of an elected Conservative MP from southern Ontario, Garth Turner, MP. His blog is called The Turner Report. It gives an interesting perspective of the turmoil and other goings on inside the Conservative Government. I encourage everyone to give it a read.

Different Party, Same Lack of Ethics and Morals

It looks like the Conservatives will continue with the hypocracy that started the day of the swearing in of the new government. According to a CBC new article, which can be found here, David Emerson has no intention of stepping down and running in a bi-election. To quote him directly,

"No, I'm not going to quit."

"We've got at least three, perhaps more, members of Parliament who have crossed the floor or opted to sit as an Independent. Frankly, my circumstances are not any different than those. As, and when, Parliament changes the rules to apply to all members of Parliament, I will abide by those rules," he said after getting off a flight at the Vancouver airport.

This is what we have to look forward to for the next couple of years. No matter what the Conservative Party has said in the past is wrong, and shouldn't be done, they will do it themselves, simply because they can. Never mind that they campaigned on a platform of government reform and cleaning up government corruption and immorality. Now that they are elected, they have shown that they are no different than the Liberals that they are replacing.

They say this is different, because he didn't cross the floor to prop up a government looking at a possible non-confidence vote, with the promise of a nice Cabinet portfolio. I disagree completely with this. This is exactly the same. Emerson was enticed to cross the floor, with the promise of a nice Cabinet portfolio to help prop up the government. The only difference is that Stephen Harper didn't wait until the vote was imminent before starting the enticement game.

I'll give Prime Minister Harper credit where credit is due. He is certainly no procrastinator. It only took him a few days to make people think he has no parliamentary ethics at all, and that he'll do whatever it takes to hold on to power, now that he has it. Gee, why am I having a feeling of deja vu all over again?

Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister. You've proven to everyone that a businessman from the West can be just as shady and underhanded a leader as lawyers from Quebec have been. I can't wait to see what he does next to make people wish they had voted for the Liberals or the New Democratic Party.

The New Conservative Government

Stephen Harper is the new Prime Minister of Canada. Last night, he spent his first night at 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the Prime Minister. He has been Prime Minister for less than a week, and already, he has done things he has previously spoken out against.

For example: On many occasions, he has spoken against appointments to the Senate, desiring to reform Senate. So what was one of his first acts of office, just after being sworn in? He appointed someone to Cabinet who did not even run in the previous election, never mind actually wanting to run for a seat. And to give this guy some political legitimacy, Harper appointed him to the Senate. This was his first few hours as Prime Minister.

Another example: On the same day, in the same time as he was doing the above act, he announced that he had coerced someone who got elected as a Liberal to cross the floor and get sworn in as a Conservative Cabinet Minister. I seem to recall that he was quite upset when Belinda Stronach, a member of his own party, did this to him last year. I recall that he declared that this was an ethics violation, though not against the rules of the House of Commons. So let me ask you this, Mr. Harper. Is it more ethical when you do it than when then Prime Minister Paul Martin did the exact same thing?

I am left to wonder if we are in for more of the same sort of governing that we got from the Liberals. We wanted to send the Liberals a message that we are tired of the same old politics as usual act we've been getting for years. Apparently, Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party didn't get that message either.