Two on-line petitions have been launched, calling for David Emerson (Minister of Trade), and un-elected cabinet appointee Michael Fortier (Minster of Public Works), to resign:
Emerson: http://www.petitiononline.com/RDE/ – my entry is # 435. There are now almost 10,000 names, many with substantive and interesting comments attached.
Fortier: http://www.petitiononline.com/RMF/ – a new poll, my entry is # 76.
Why, as a card-carrying Conservative, am I speaking out? Democracy and ethics – principle – are issues of fundamental importance that should not take a back seat on the road to power. There are many committed democrats within the party; many, but not most, are speaking out, and I hope to influence this in any small way I can.
Peter MacKay has come out in support of Stephen Harper’s decision to appoint David Emerson, elected as a Liberal, to cabinet as a Conservative.
âWhat David Emerson did, I would suggest, is different, in the sense that he has done this early after the election in hopes of continuing the important work that he was doing inside a government which he was obviously very disillusioned with,â Mr. MacKay said.
This obvious tripe requires rebuttal. Mr. Emerson used every partisan trick in the book to get elected – twice. He defended the Liberals, pilloried the Conservatives, at every turn. Emerson just before his election was reminding voters in his riding that he’d never seen a right wing government come to power without savaging social programs early in its mandate. This election is not the first time Emerson had used this argument to bolster his support:
“Either they’re going to take us into a big Mulroney debt or they will be slashing social programs,” said Emerson.
“I’ve heard right-wing governments say for years they were going to save money by reducing inefficiency,” he said. “It’s a bunch of horsefeathers. It doesn’t happen. If you don’t cut programs, you don’t reduce expenses.” (Vancouver Sun, June 5, 2004)
David Emerson’s big disappointment with the Liberals is simply that they didn’t win government – that’s his disillusion. His conversion from stalwart opposition MP to unethical politician didn’t take long. As the results poured in on election night, he said:
“We have got to look at this as Ground Zero for rebuilding a stronger, more vibrant, healthier, winning Liberal Party.” David Emerson
As we now know, Mr. Emerson was in discussions with Conservative campaign chair John Reynolds the very next morning.
Choose Your Defenders More Wisely
Its also a bit rich having Peter MacKay stand up for the ethics of others. After all, this is the former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate who proudly, and repeatedly during the campaign, announced:
I can tell you right now, I am not the merger candidate. I am not interested in institutional marriages with other parties. Peter MacKay
Peter MacKay won that race, in part on that promise, because failed leadership candidate David Orchard implored his supporters to vote for MacKay on the final ballot.
Within several weeks, MacKay and Stephen Harper were engaged in merger negotiations which ultimately resulted in the institutional marriage of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties.
When MacKay, now Canada’s voice to the world as Foreign Affairs Minister, speaks to leaders of other sovereign nations I do hope they don’t assume Mr. MacKay is telling the truth.
Ironies abound in politics. My favorite line out of this election was David Emerson’s. Elected as an opposition MP, on election night he exclaimed to supporters and reporters ”I would like to be Stephen Harper’s worst nightmare.” Clearly Emerson’s wish has come true.
Quite a few Progressive Conservatives opposed senate reform of any sort, believing the Westminster system as it stands serves us well. Certainly there was openness to looking at distribution of seats. Those in my old party, the one that no longer exists, who really followed the issue were always uniformly opposed to simplistic senate reform.
I was pleased to see an article in the Globe’s comment section today touching on this. Gordon Gibson (who comments on senate reform frequently) writes:
The fuss over the addition of a Quebecker to the cabinet by way of a Senate appointment reminds us directly of one of Stephen Harper’s least noticed, and perhaps most dangerous, promises. Mr. Harper plans to appoint future senators to vacancies only on the basis of advisory elections in the province concerned—the purpose being to “reform” the Senate by making it elected.
This would be bad for the country and a disaster for his beloved Alberta and much-wooed Ontario and British Columbia, which collectively produce 67 per cent of the nation’s wealth and yet are a small minority in the Senate. More >
Unfortunately much of the discussion of this borders on the arcane, at least for the palates of many Canadians, and its going to be very hard to raise public awareness of the potential pitfalls without concerted effort.
Conservative MP Garth Turner (who also served back in the Mulroney era) has been flogged for speaking out against Stephen Harper’s deplorable appointments of unelected securities lawyer and party insider Michael Fortier and “business before principle” former Liberal David Emerson.
Obviously there is some bizzare geomagnetic disturbance located underneath the Prime Minister’s Office in the Langevin block, as it seems that whoever sits in that office tends to act in opposition of whatever makes sense and is right.
Its Stephen Harper that ought to be flogged, not Garth Turner. Conservatives of principle need to support and congratulate Mr. Turner for standing up on the side of integrity and principle.