The Conservative Party must feel they are in a lot of trouble. First, in spite of their plans, they decided to avoid a spring election, and second, they're launching their fourth round of attack ads. While previous rounds were almost comical in their lack of inspiration, this round at least mentions some real issues. You can see the latest round of ads at the Party's new website (www.notaleader.ca).
This ridiculous little site even includes a blog allegedly written by Dion's dog Kyoto. The blog seems a little too poorly written and unintelligent to be authored by a dog, and that's what tipped me off that it is actually written by a Conservative staffer.
The site makes extensive use of Harper's favourite pictures of Dion. The first with Dion shrugging, the second with Dion mid-speech. It seems of the millions of photos taken of Dion, the Tories found two that are less than flattering and have decided to run with them. On the other hand, there is one shot of Harper. In the picture he looks some combination of evil and maniacal - which I suppose is a fair representation of the man. This shot is presumably the best they could find of the millions of photos taken of Harper.
I applaud Stephane Dion for doing an admirable job leading the Liberal Party. In contrast to Harper's micro-management of the Tory attacks, Dion has adeptly navigated the high road. By insisting on talking about the Liberal Party and our ideas, Dion has proven himself a much more likeable, electable leader.
I want to thank Harper and the Tory brain-trust for trudging through the slime while trying to drag Canadian politics to the dispicable depths only before seen in George W Bush campaigns. They're pushing Canadians towards the Liberal left. "Us versus them" scare politics won't work in Canada. We watched our American friends get duped by such dirty tactics, and we won't get fooled like them.
Harper's attack ads have done more to turn me off the Tories than anything else. I admire Stephane Dion. I will vote for him.
29 May 2007
20 May 2007
A Politician's Master?
A recent article by my great friend and political-economics sage Mr. McIver got me thinking about a politician's master:
With government of any kind: no ruler, so far as he is acting as ruler,
will study or enjoin what is for his own interest. All that he says and does
will be said and done with a view to what is good and proper for the subjects
for whom he practices his art. - Plato
19 May 2007
Obstruction Manual
I've heard time and time again how our Conservative government is interested in policy and democracy. This government is beyond the destructive political games that ran wild under the previous Liberal governments. Harper wants meaningful, substantive debate in the House of Commons and its committees. I always suspected this was hollow politiking, and it turns out I was correct. The Globe and Mail (among countless other news sources) has published an article about the Conservative manual that tells committee chairs how best to disrupt committee proceedings when the debate turns against the government.
According to opposition members, "A manual telling Conservative chairs of Commons committees how to stick to the party agenda — and to obstruct or end meetings when the debate turns hostile to the government — is proof that parliamentary dysfunction is being orchestrated by the Conservatives." And it gets worse. "The manual tells the chairs how to select and coach party-friendly witnesses, obstruct unwanted debates, pick witnesses from Conservative ridings and call a halt to meetings that have gone off track."
If you're wondering if the Harper government has actually been adhering to the manual, the answer is unequivocally YES. This week alone, the Tory government has filibustered the ethics committee, the agricultural committee, and cancelled hearings supposed to be held by the official languages committee (why didn't they cancel the Shane Doan bullshit? Because it basically did the job of filibustering for them).
The Conservatives' defence? According to Government House Leader Peter Van Loan, "we...made promises to Canadians at the time of the last election, and we have the duty to deliver on them." Even at the expense of the democratic process it seems.
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale opined, "Right from the very beginning, Canadians observed and members of the media observed, that [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper had a kind of control fetish, that he just had to run everything all the time and there couldn't be one comma or one sentence or one word uttered without his personal approval and I think in part, it is a manifestation of that kind of absolute obsession with control."
This manual basically tells Conservative committee chairs how to get in the way of democracy. As far as I can see, it represents the worst sort of abuse of our system.
In other news, recent polls are showing the Tories and the Grits in a dead heat* in terms of popularity. This before the Liberals have even managed to get their act together. Is this the death knell tolling for the Conservative government?
*****
*If you've clicked this link, you'll notice the poll has the Tories ahead of the Grits by 3%. If you read the entire article, you'll notice that the poll is considered accurate within 3.1%. Therefore, this poll tells us the Tories and Grits are basically tied.
According to opposition members, "A manual telling Conservative chairs of Commons committees how to stick to the party agenda — and to obstruct or end meetings when the debate turns hostile to the government — is proof that parliamentary dysfunction is being orchestrated by the Conservatives." And it gets worse. "The manual tells the chairs how to select and coach party-friendly witnesses, obstruct unwanted debates, pick witnesses from Conservative ridings and call a halt to meetings that have gone off track."
If you're wondering if the Harper government has actually been adhering to the manual, the answer is unequivocally YES. This week alone, the Tory government has filibustered the ethics committee, the agricultural committee, and cancelled hearings supposed to be held by the official languages committee (why didn't they cancel the Shane Doan bullshit? Because it basically did the job of filibustering for them).
The Conservatives' defence? According to Government House Leader Peter Van Loan, "we...made promises to Canadians at the time of the last election, and we have the duty to deliver on them." Even at the expense of the democratic process it seems.
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale opined, "Right from the very beginning, Canadians observed and members of the media observed, that [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper had a kind of control fetish, that he just had to run everything all the time and there couldn't be one comma or one sentence or one word uttered without his personal approval and I think in part, it is a manifestation of that kind of absolute obsession with control."
This manual basically tells Conservative committee chairs how to get in the way of democracy. As far as I can see, it represents the worst sort of abuse of our system.
In other news, recent polls are showing the Tories and the Grits in a dead heat* in terms of popularity. This before the Liberals have even managed to get their act together. Is this the death knell tolling for the Conservative government?
*****
*If you've clicked this link, you'll notice the poll has the Tories ahead of the Grits by 3%. If you read the entire article, you'll notice that the poll is considered accurate within 3.1%. Therefore, this poll tells us the Tories and Grits are basically tied.
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