David Emerson is fond of looking stunned when visible opposition to his undemocratic appointment is about. One of his enduring communications strategies (“spin”) has been to portray himself as above politics and thus appear to be immune from political criticism. Speaking on CTV‘s Question Period in February he famously said:
The truth of the matter is, when I came into politics I came in as a Paul Martin Liberal, I was not a political person. I’m still not much of a political person, as perhaps you can now tell . . . . I’m not the sharpest political knife in the drawer, I quite freely admit that. David Emerson
Anyone who follows BC politics knows that line is utter rubbish.
Emerson has a lengthy political pedigree dating back decades in this province. He’s been connected through ideology and employment to the Socreds and thus the BC Liberals for a very long time. His career has benefited from those connections. And since Emerson made it to the federal scene, its payback time.
David Emerson and Kim Campbell were both advisors to former BC Premier Bill Bennett back in the 80’s. More recently, several weeks ago Campbell came out of the European weeds to offer her support to Emerson on a CKNW radio show. Political chits are being called in from the BC gang.
Emerson was also a senior deputy minister in BC twice, first as Deputy Minister of Finance under Bennett and then as Deputy Premier in the government of Bennett’s successor, Bill Vanderzalm. No one gets these jobs unless they are simpatico with the government’s ideology and policy objectives, and as a former policy advisor to a BC Premier, Emerson had a role in shaping those policies.
John Reynolds, self-admitted intermediary between Harper and Emerson, was also a BC Socred cabinet minister and served on the province’s Vancouver International Airport committee before returning eventually to the federal political scene. After taking the top job at crown corporations BC Ferries and BC Trade Development Corp, Emerson went on to head YVR airport too.
Reynolds is arguably the most powerful federal Conservative today in BC despite having retired as a parliamentarian. Campbell is a former Prime Minister. Former Premier Vanderzalm is a supporter and was out at last Friday’s event. Emerson singled out his former boss, drawing parallels between him and Zalm and calling himself a “walking scar”, presumably referring to Zalm’s Fantasy Gardens ordeal. Another political chit collected.
For every one of these public figures there are tied to them literally hundreds of other back-room operatives and supporters, many of whom have their own political agendas and aspirations.
With so many current and historical lines, dotted or otherwise, linking many of our current political players both in front of the cameras and in back rooms, its not surprising that few Conservatives are willing to stand up and speak openly against the undemocratic appointment of Emerson.
After all, speaking out in favour of truth and justice is a career limiting move.
I’ve always felt that Emerson was a likely candidate to take over from Gordon Campbell as BC’s Premier. Mentioned it here. Note to current and aspiring politicians – regular Canadians have the ability to end political careers, as we are proving here.
While I do project work I’m listening to Questions and Comments as members of the House of Commons discuss Bill C-2, the Federal Accountability Act. While I like the idea of improved government accountability, I don’t like the current proposed implementation. It goes too far in some areas, leaves obvious loopholes in others, and completely skips over important aspects of political and government accountability.
Its also difficult to be solidly behind current efforts to improve accountability when Prime Minister Harper has appointed his former leadership campaign co-chair, Michael Fortier, to the Senate, against party policy, in order to get Fortier into cabinet. As Minister of Public Works Fortier has spending control over billions of dollars, but won’t have to answer a single question in the House of Commons. That’s not accountability in action.
Many Conservatives are more troubled by the Fortier appointment than the David Emerson affair, but I am equally troubled by both appointments, as I have extensively documented in these pages.
I’m also disappointed to see Conservatives follow one standard when out of power, and apply another when in power. Consider for a moment the comments on floor-crossing that prominent members of this cabinet have made in the past:
This is something that he was promised and he did this for his own benefit – not those of his constituents. It’s the most cynical and selfish thing we’ve seen in this country’s politics in a long-time. Peter MacKay, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, criticising Conservative floor-crosser now Liberal Scott Brison after he was named Martin’s parliamentary secretary on Canada-U.S. relations.
But in choosing opportunity over principle… Scott should be mindful of an old saying that, over time, applies to all political turncoats: Learn to love your enemies because you may not be able to trust your friends. Senator Marjory LeBreton, now leader of the government in the Senate, The Sunday Herald, Jan 11, 2004
Those with an interest in political history might remember that Mrs. LeBreton once worked with former Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell.
LeBreton also was a key supporter of Peter MacKay during his successful bid for the leadership of the now-defunct Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
That win – another classic example of promising one thing and doing another – was on the back of a now-infamous deal where MacKay signed an agreement with another leadership candidate, David Orchard, promising that he’d not allow the PC Party to merge with the Canadian Alliance (then led by one Stephen Harper).
Despite his campaign promises (”I am not the merger candidate”), and his specific promise, MacKay didn’t honour that agreement and probably never intended to. Very shortly after his election as leader he started negotiations with Stephen Harper to merge the two parties.
Moral of the story: before accepting what one says on issues of integrity, always look at the source.
While the Q&C session drones on I had to laugh when Helena Guergis, MP for Simcoe-Gray and Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of International Trade and Floor-Crossing (David Emerson), got up to speak on accountability. Guergis voted in favour of a floor-crossing prohibition (bill C-251) in the last parliament, but works for the floor-crossing poster boy, David Emerson.