Now there’s a title, however accurate, that you’d not expect from a Conservative!
Prime Minister Harper doesn’t get it and neither do the apologists for Harper and Emerson’s ethical lapse (centre to right) Premier Gordon Campbell, Mayor Sam Sullivan, and 2010 Olympic Chair Jack Poole. (Why is Emerson hiding behind Poole?)
The message sent to Canadians by these people is clear: your vote is a mere formality, something to be dispensed with when the outcome doesn’t support the elites who tug on the strings of power.
Fortunately, we have the advantage – our strength is both in the justness of our cause, and in the numbers and breadth of our support. Harper’s snippy response today to the hamstrung Ethics Commissioner report has only enraged even more people and they are jumping in to help.
Examples abound. Over the weekend, two individuals, working on their own and not connected with any of the anti-Emerson, pro-Democracy groups, announced their plans. Michael Pan spent his Mexico vacation money to produce and distribute thousands of letters, in both English and Chinese, throughout the riding. Barry Shell produced a template (which anyone, anywhere can use too) and printed a thousand postcards pre-addressed to Emerson and Harper – simply add your own comments, and pop them in the mailbox – no postage required!
A downtown businessman who doesn’t live in the riding made the extra effort to come out to Trout Lake for yesterday’s Dogs for Democracy – Emerson’s in the Dog House event to offer a welcome donation but more importantly his on-going support for our common cause. A printer in the riding donated the production of 8,000 handbills, and a publisher provided graphics services on the house to make the Walk for Democracy handbills happen in time for distribution this weekend.
Just this afternoon another apolitical group has popped out of the woodwork to offer their help – more on this soon. This evening I learned that someone from Toronto, enraged after watching news of Harper’s comments, is sending money to help us buy more signs and buttons.
The people get it. Take note of that Premier Campbell and Mayor Sullivan. They aren’t going to forget.
Stephen Harper has provided an entirely predictable response to the more or less predictable report by the Ethics Commissioner’s inquiry into the Harper-Emerson affair:
This was never an ethics issue. Today, the Ethics Commissioner has confirmed that there was not even a basis for an investigation – this comes as no surprise.
The attacks on David Emerson have, since his appointment, been nothing more than a partisan effort to demean his fine record of public service. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, commenting on the release of the Shapiro report into the Harper-Emerson affair
Lets not let the PM shovel us a load of manure. Partisan politics have nothing to do with this issue, and the only people who have demeaned Emerson are in fact David Emerson and Stephen Harper.
Everyone knows that the Harper-Emerson affair is and always has been an issue of ethics. The pair escape censure only because the ethics commissioner lacks the scope in his mandate to do the right thing. That’s right, Harper and Emerson escape on a “technicality”.
Canadians deserve better.
Put simply, Emerson said “vote for me and I will do XYZ”. Then, less than 24 hours after the last ballot was counted, Emerson was in negotiations with Harper’s representative. The net result – Emerson must now say “I know you voted for me but I will NOT do XYZ.”
The people of my riding get it.
Stephen Harper, a smart and crafty man, gets it, but pretends he doesn’t. In effect our Prime Minister thinks that we are all too stupid to figure out what is really going on and that we’ll get on with our lives and forget what he has done.
You’ve made a grievous error Prime Minister, and the people are on to you.
Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro has released his report regarding The Harper-Emerson Inquiry (PDF)
My quick reaction: no-one on the ground here in Vancouver-Kingsway expected Shapiro to investigate in the first place, and many realized that the ethics commissioner’s mandate is too restrictive to be useful in this, the Harper-Emerson affair—sadly so because what could be a bigger ethical issue than the usurping of our democracy?
The Ethics Commissioner’s mandate rightfully or wrongly restricts him from looking at the deeper issues presented by Prime Minister Harpers’ decision to negotiate with David Emerson the day after Emerson was elected to represent my riding.
That’s unfortunate, because there should be some body within our government empowered to improve our democracy, but because there isn’t, the people here have taken that burden upon themselves. The Shapiro report will not deter the growing movement here one bit.
All will concede that Emerson won the public’s trust and his seat by running a highly partisan campaign which sold his constituents on specific Liberal party policies—and its those very policies which Emerson has now sworn to oppose as a member of Harper’s cabinet. Not a single person in my riding voted for Emerson to do that.
Harper can only restore public confidence in our democracy by calling a by-election and allowing Emerson the opportunity to earn the public’s trust, instead of stealing their votes as he has done.
Bottom line:
Whether or not Shapiro has the mandate to look into the deeper, legitimate, grievance felt by people in my riding, its my sense that public outrage and opposition will only grow as people realize that the only body fully empowered to improve our democracy are the people themselves. Many politicians are on the wrong side of this issue and the people are leading the way.
Harper and Emerson’s spin doctors will undoubtedly paint this ruling as damaging to our cause; I predict in fact that the Shapiro report will have exactly the opposite effect.
Byng Giraud violates spirit of his mandate as a National Councillor and should be sanctioned
Quoted in the weekend Vancouver Sun (Anti-Emerson drive continues) is Byng Giraud, who along with Ray Leitch are BC’s representatives to the Conservative Party’s governing body, the National Council. Giraud is a long time conservative who has been active in regional and federal conservative parties including Social Credit, Mulroney’s conservatives, the United Alternative, the Canadian Alliance, in addition to holding one of the highest leadership positions in the current incarnation of my party.
Twenty people cross the floor every decade. That’s not unusual. That’s two a year. And we’ve never seen anything like this. To put up signs and to raise money requires an activist community. That this would spontaneously came out of the people who live there is a bit rich. Byng Giraud, National Councillor – BC, Conservative Party of Canada
Its sad and disappointing to see one of my party’s national councillors paint what Harper did in collusion with Emerson as just another crossing of the floor, when clearly the issue is much more fundamental than that – and Giraud ought to know that, with over 20 years of political experience under his belt. What Harper enabled and Emerson did has undermined the integrity of our democracy and electoral process and can not be allowed to stand.
Not only is Giraud on the wrong side of the issue, his criticism of the people in my riding is itself bit rich. First off, he is the very definition of partisan, trying to paint others as the same. Secondly, in his professional life outside of party politics, Giraud is in a conflict of interest in commenting on anything to do with David Emerson.
Giraud is a Victoria-based lobbyist who works for federal and BC lobby Earnscliffe Strategy Group, and according to the Canada Lobbyists Registration System, Giraud is using his knowledge of and influence in government to advance the cases of a number of companies and organizations intimately tied to David Emerson and the files he is responsible for.
- International Forest Products (Emerson link: the peek-a-boo MP is responsible for the softwood lumber and other international trade files)
- Forest Alliance of British Columbia (Emerson link: Emerson was CEO of Canfor, the largest lumber producer in Canada. Canfor is a member, as is International Forest Products. Canfor, Interfor and other lumber producers stand to lose or gain billions depending on the ultimate resolution of the softwood lumber dispute with the United States)
- 2010 Legacies Now (Emerson link: 2010 Olympics and building programs worth billions. When Emerson finally returned to BC after his Feb 6th appointments, a local camera crew caught Emerson’s first visitor at his home early one morning – none other than well known real estate developer and 2010 Chairman of the Board Jack Poole.)
- Translink (Emerson link: he is responsible for the federal participation in the “Pacific Gateway”, a program which includes major lower mainland highway infrastructure building projects worth billions)
Since motives are the base of Giraud’s argument against the widespread public uproar over the Emerson affair, why were not Giraud’s political and business ties cited to underscore his own bias?
Perhaps next time we BC Conservatives elect a National Councillor we’ll reflect on what type of person Byng Giraud is vs what he claims to be. When Giraud was running for the position in early 2005, he answered the question “what kind of conservative am I?” in part by citing Russell Kirk’s Ten Conservative Principles.
In defending the indefensible, Giraud runs afoul of more than one of Kirk’s ten principles, but principally:
A state in which an individual or a small group are able to dominate the wills of their fellows without check is a despotism, whether it is called monarchical or aristocratic or democratic. Russell Kirk
There are many in my party who claim to stand up for Canada but really are posers who are willing to trade principle for power at the first opportunity and thus Byng Giraud has joined Stephen Harper and David Emerson in this regard. Its time that Conservatives put a stop to the despotism some in my party so willingly embrace.