The "Dirty Tricks Manual" Lives

Some of you may know that an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs was called this week. It was called of course, to investigate the inappropriate advertising spending by the Conservative government.

The meeting convened Monday. Almost right off the bat, the con's demonstrated, just how hard they have been cramming this summer, to hone their skills on how to not deal with what is front of the committee. They began with presenting a motion to shift the discussion to the big "veil", (yawn), controversy. They claimed this was urgent and had to be dealt with before the by-election. Ridiculous of course, the law will not change between now and then. The opposition parties agreed to look at the issue, but made it clear that they thought this was a diversion, and yet the con's went on and on, in spite of that, wearing down the clock.


Finally agreeing on the details, this MP, Scott Reid, piped up. He brought a motion forward that argued that what was before them, the Ad-Con, was not legitimate committee business. I'm not sure how long he went on, but the meeting was only two hours long and he took up a huge portion. To his credit, his motion was really well researched, footnoted and referenced and he spared us none of that detail. That said, the depth of research shows just how hard they are working to block any light being shone on this issue.

His buddies on the government side, supported his position of course, which led to a decision by the chair,
this MP, Gary Goodyear, to state that he could not go on in good conscience, without reviewing the matter thoroughly. He stated that he'd do that and get back to committee with a ruling the following day at 15:30. After some debate, that is what happened. To his credit, I suggest that Reid did put an awful lot on Goodyear's plate and apparently he had only 4 hours sleep, along with the clerk and staff. That said, I do not believe for a minute that he didn't know it was coming.

So we come to Tuesday. The chair ruled, (surprise!), that indeed the issue before the committee could not be reviewed. He was voted down.

Enter the next character in this very bad play.
Yep, the vindictive brat, MP Poilievre. He of course, had an amendment to the motion. He contends, that if the committee wants to go forward, ALL parties must be examined equally. He took every opportunity to insert the words, Gomery, envelopes, criminal, etc., completely skewing the intent and then went on and on and on, and faced his guns to the Bloq and the NDP.

The rest of the con's then, in the most juvenile fashion, supported the amendment.

This character, MP Likiwski, was obviously scripted to be a main defender. It was beyond ridiculous. As they ran out the clock, I was surprised at how calm the opposition was, but then I thought about it.

There are two things at issue here. This is a pretty calm committee with regular members. The con's brought in Poilievre, (not a regular member), because he is a pitt bull, though a whiny teenager in terms of how he presents himself. The Lib's and the NDP also brought in sub's. It's not clear, by the choices, why they were chosen, (I suspect it was who ever could get to Ottawa). So, either the opposition was quiet because they are not used to being sideswiped like this, or they were happy to allow the con's make fools of themselves, which they did. They allowed the con's to prove that indeed, they have adopted a method to shut down committee's. They are terrified of this issue, Ad-Con, and will fight tooth and nail to prevent an examination of the facts.

The con's ran out the clock, again, I presume looking to their devoted Leader to prorogue and get this off the table. Today, on Politics, Poilievre, with a straight face, said the opposition spent hours filibustering. I burst out laughing. They honestly believe that they can say something, a lie, and presto!, it becomes fact. The problem is of course, that annoying little detail called Hansard.

It's clear that the con's have a hate on for Elections Canada. The veil non-issue, came up in committee, because they are determined to discredit Mayrand, who is appearing tomorrow.

Harper has spent a week on the world stage, bashing his opponents, the Senate, and Elections Canada. The lack of statesmanship this man shows defies description. His minions follow his lead and play that lack of civility at home. I've never agreed with Harper on policy and I understand his history in that regard. I'm not sure I expected to see the entire party behave like a bunch of goons.

The problem is, not many Canadians see this stuff. More's the pity.