AT Issue : Vaughan

Calling All Liberal MP's and Senators

Yes, dear caucus I am speaking to you. Today, a day when I had hoped to see outrage at how the Harper government abused power in the most blatant manner possible in the Senate, I saw the weakest complaint imaginable in Question Period and then nary a sound....crickets in fact.

Oh wait, I did hear a little something. It was a plaintive, drip, drip, drip...look at me, I want to be important but don't have the courage to tell you my name, leaker, who ran to Jane Taber to tell all what was meant to be debated behind closed doors.

If you are not ashamed, let me tell you...we who normally support the party, are. Your self serving nonsense neither serves you, because you are a coward who won't allow Jane to tell us who you are, nor does it serve the party and Canada as a whole.

You seem to be someone inclined to keeping Harper in place. That's fine, but let me be the first to escort you across the aisle and let's be done with it.

Do I sound angry? You bet I am. I have never suffered fools gladly and in this case, where democracy and the future direction of the country are involved, believe me, you do not even merit the moniker of 'fool'.

I want to be clear. I am all for dissent within a party. I think healthy debate is not only good but necessary and I get that Afghanistan is contentious, but if you aren't able to debate it amongst yourselves, or maybe poor baby, you weren't heard, running to Jane has not helped you and yours in the past and it won't in the future.

Do us all a favour. Resign. Those who quote you as a source won't be happy, but trust me, the rest of us will be thrilled.

We Will Remember

It Does Get Better

If you don't know what that means, I invite you to google the line and support the campaign.

That said, I was happy to see this today:



Participate however you can, including spreading the message.

Principle versus Perfidy

Don Martin wrote an interesting piece today on Jim Prentice. In it he speaks to the respect Prentice earned among all, in the House of Commons. He briefly outlines his journey in the world of politics and points to some accomplishments that I suspect many have forgotten.

While the article is a good read, one passage in particular caught my eye.

...., there were times when Prentice appeared uncomfortable with the government's direction and would commit the Conservative equivalent of treason by ignoring a PMO command.

When approached as industry minister by senior political operatives demanding he end the mandatory long-form census, for example, he told them to take a hike.

Approached by senior political operatives? Nah...couldn't be. After all, Tony Clement has been nattering on for months about how he decided to change the long-form mandatory census based on complaints concerning an intrusion of privacy. There was nothing political about it, he insisted.

What absolute BS. We've always known that it was an idea concocted by a political party determined to eliminate that which they deemed worked against their doctrine and while that, in and of itself doesn't seem so unusual, when you consider that much of their social policy relies on convincing the public of a non-existent danger or threat, you can understand why eliminating facts that contradict their imaginary worldview, was important.

Lawrence Martin, in his book Harperland, notes that the Conservative Party was/is obsessed with the public service. The animosity that Harper held for the bureaucracy rivaled that which he felt for the Liberal party itself and far surpassed any such feeling exhibited by previous Conservative PM's. With that in mind, is it any wonder that Tony Clement chose the party line over logic and the advice offered by Statistics Canada? Is it surprising that senior bureaucrats are either humiliated, dismissed or forced to resign when they stand up for reason?

Unlike Jim Prentice, who didn't ignore reason and was a principled man, Clement spends his time calculating political points and driving the party line, even if it runs counter to conventional wisdom. Who he appealed to is still a mystery, save those few diehards who don't understand the issue and/or would agree with and argue for this government, no matter what policy it put forward.

Clement is doing irreparable damage to our county's reputation and it's ability to set sound policy in the future. He is unapologetic and content to put forward dishonest rationale that even the town idiot would ridicule.

I didn't agree with everything Jim Prentice did while he was in cabinet, but at least I could respect the man.