Dissappointed
Of course those with high expectations of Stephen Harper are trying to rationalize a decision.
Disappointment is the adjective floating around regarding the appointment of David Emmerson as Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.
What the Conservatives whined and complained about for almost a year because Belinda Stronach crossed the floor arbitrarily they have now gone ahead and done themselves.
Whoa! If ethics was the mandate Canadians bestowed on Mr. Clean then their hands are a little dirty. Perhaps the CPP aren't compulsive enough to wash its hands of the perception of the same type of ethical conduct usually associated with the Liberal Party.
It's a bad way to set the new government on a new foot by slapping Canadians in the face with these optics.
Yes, there is an inherent difference that Belinda Stronach crossed the floor dazzled by the aroma of that Ministerial carrot she was given for exchange for her vote to keep the Liberals in power.
Yes, she is without appropriate educational experience. But that doesn't mean she didn't have years of on the job training running a very large and profitable company - that any university would consider when giving credit for appropriate courses.
How many of us would love to achieve these heights without having the need or the desire to go to University? It's individuals like this whom I admire greatly even though she did have personal support. How many of us would love to achieve similar results without having any form of government interfering with our aspirations?
If anything, this should end the Belinda Bashing. If used correctly this could clearly define what is expected of cross-overs to the elected's constituency.
As for Toronto's abusive language to do their best to villify Harper and the CPP, in which Global News is using to its detriment - this should temper the fears that a Liberal felt the CPP sufficiently "unscary" to join them.
Notice that Toronto is the only large city in Canada that was not represented in Cabinet. Too bad for Toronto. The rest of Ontario is feeling that karma has finally come around to give Hog Town what it deserved - an appropriate snub.
Now David Millar in the the grovel position - a most satisfying position indeed.
posted by HR at 2/06/2006 11:36:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
Harper hubris, or Does Harper have a tin ear?
The conventional wisdom now seems to be that Stephen Harper is a political genius, of the same ilk as Napoleon, or Churchill, or – pick your favourite. But what if Harper’s cabinet-making is not a politically astute move by at all, but simply a sign that he has a political tin ear?
After all, sometimes the past is predicator of the future: in 2004 he misread the electorate with some of his comments about the Liberals – especially Martin – and his premature triumph speeches about the West taking over. And in Parliament he has sounded a bit screechy and overly self-righteous. Then there are those stories about him being a one-man-band, who does not need a mentor because, one observer says he said, he never met anyone as smart as he is ....
So, perhaps this was just Harper being Harper, and marching to his own discordant band?
If so, wait until the second Act: gonna be a lot of fun for Libs and NDP, and a lot of buyer’s remorse by many voters in Ontario ....
And meanwhile, the Bloc will crouch in the wings, nursing its wounds, and waiting for the right time to take Harper down – when he is under a cloud of intolerance or stupidity, but before he cements himself into Quebec as Mulroney Junior. Best get rid of him soon, before he becomes a real threat to the Bloc ...
So wait for the right moment, and the ganging up by the three parties who each have good reasons for taking him out of his new digs at Sussex, and who – between them – hold the balance of power.
After all, Harper arranged a mob-lynching of Martin with all three parties deciding to put in the knife on that particular Ides of May. Having shown the way, I wonder if Harper fears that this time the other three parties will cooperate to bring him down?
Better than even chance, I think; and probably before summer ends, too.....
Maybe Harper should let those renovations take place at Sussex Drive before he moves in: might save him having to move twice, eh?
I don't agree that Harper has a tin ear - I thought in their election platform they listened very well.
Certainly, Fornier & Emmerson was a surprise and old school *sigh*, personally I my expectations were higher and that should have been anticipated by the 'team'.
I'd like to know who actually came up with this plan. What makes it worse was the tight secrecy to the lead up of the Cabinet announcements.
I am confident in B.C.'s electorate making the necessary noise to resolve this issue. It's up to them and I wish them the best in whatever they feel they need to do that would benefit democracy.
I still think T.O. deserves being left out - although I don't think it was intentional. After tens of years of T.O. hogging all of the funding and attention from the coffers - other Ontario communities, hopefully, will get the attention they deserve.
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