As this story progressed today, we first saw Harper threaten provinces, by suggesting he'd sue them, because they have called him out on his deception. Now we see another Conservative member, Gerald Keddy, having second thoughts.What suddenly hit me is this. Why all of a sudden is this coming out? Afterall, the con's have known the facts of the budget for months. I understand that Casey had raised the issue a while back, but I don't have the sense it was all that long ago.
I suddenly thought, what is Harper and Co. good at? Deception. I think they sold their own members a "bill of goods" and now that the deal is being scrutinized a little more closely, the MP's are waking up.
Now, no matter what your political stripe, it seems a bit odd that an MP wouldn't have done more homework before committing to such an important measure, but in the absence of any other information, it's difficult to come to any other conclusion.
We know that Harper runs a tight ship, (one with a plank apparently) and we know that they live to "message"their ideas. Why would he stop at the general public? Why wouldn't he dupe his own group?
Will MacKay cave too? Doubtful. Me thinks he's grown accustomed to the perks of his position.
12 comments:
I think it's highly unlikely McKay will jump ship. Not because of principles, of which he has none, but because, as you suggest, he likes the perks. And should Harper ever lose the support of his MPs (fingers crossed!!), McKay is well positioned to succeed him. He may have sold his old party down the river, but make no mistake he is as cunning and self-serving as Dear Leader himself.
Bet that Librano kool-aid still tastes sour.
Mr. Harper didn't threaten to sue. He challenged the premiers to take him to court. Huge difference moron.
MacDonald's reply...I have the court of public opinion on my side. Just another grand-standing East Coast politician scared to get off the public teat!!!
Actually, it was the Nova Scotia gov that threatened legal action against Ottawa, in March 2007. Harper just said 'make my day' and told Rodney to proceed with his threatened court action.
Canadian Press, March 27,2007:
'....Nova Scotia's Tory government accepted Ottawa's recent equalization offer in his government's budget,
but Finance Minister Michael Baker promised the province would use "every capacity," including potential legal action, to maintain the accord in the future.'
Huge difference moron.
ahhh, the high level of debate that the current government delivers is present in it's believers.
red canuck...I started thinking about MacKay's odd's this evening. I agree that he is as cunning, but he's proved that he is not the brightest bulb. Nor is Harper for that matter, in spite of all that is said of him.
Interesting outcome isn't it? Their goal was to kill the Lib's...instead we have, what's the term...fratricide? We'll see.
wilson, do you not think it more appropriate that a province would go up against a Federal Government, than the other way around?
Forget that it's Harper, if it was Martin or Chretien saying that they would "take the province to court", it's ridiculous and just another example of Harper playing the bully...my way or the highway.
He is out of his depth playing PM, plain and simple.
Love these "anonymous" posters... They were all crying when a Liberal MP called someone a "moron", yet here they are tossing that word around "liberally".
I don't think the point (and I'm sure YOU missed it) of the blog was to point out Harper's exact words. It really is focused on Harper's continued bullying tactics - including with his own caucus, members of the media (who don't work for CanWest), and any opponents. Diplomacy is not part of his neo-Con vocabulary.
Oh yeah... And Liberals being sour? Eh-eh. We built the greatest G8 economic growth over our 13yrs, and we are rofl right now, at the fact that we'll soon be back for another decade or so - because of the inadequacies of the stone-age neanderthals struggling to run the govt right now. Once the neo-Cons and Pro-Cons work things out again sometime in 2015, we might feel a little (mild) apprehension...
Cheers!
"Will MacKay cave too? Doubtful. Me thinks he's grown accustomed to the perks of his position."
Knb, he ain't happy.
Hey KNB - Good point. The uber right are spinning, mainly because their view of the world is well grounded in ideological fantasy. It was always plain that eventually Stephen Harper would have to confront - Stephen Harper.
So what you get is the PM telling the NS Premier to sue him like a tort liability lawyer --- wait a minute, Flaherty was one in his past life!!!!
knb - thanks for a very insightful post. I've been quite busy of late and hadn't been paying attention to the news or the blogosphere, but I'm catching up. I think there is a natural limit to how tightly Harper can personally dictate the entire agenda of his government before the back benches get restless. We are starting to see the symptoms now. McKay may well be only Tory MP left on Nova Scotia after the next election. But despite being incredibly untrustworthy, and despite being the weakest foreign minister in a generation, I think his seat is safe.
BTW Thanks for commenting on my blog. I hadn't responded because I hadn't visited it in a couple of weeks, but I have finally got around to updating it again.
But despite being incredibly untrustworthy, and despite being the weakest foreign minister in a generation, I think his seat is safe.
Sigh, isn't that a sad statement about the electorate?
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