Harper's downfall: Venom and corruption

[jacee]

I think we've had enough! Sweaters and kittens won't help anymore.

As a political strategist, Harper's manipulative and contemptuous of most Canadians.

As an economist, he's continued the Tory tradition of running up debt and deficits and lying about it.

Harper refuses to tell us where Ministers spent our $3.1b. (Pork barrels perhaps?)

Under his watch, corruption is rampant.

It's just nasty.

andrew-coyne-the-economy-is-in-good-shape-so-why-is-support-for-the-conservatives-slumping

Secretive,controlling,manipulative,crude, autocratic,vicious,unprincipled,untrustworthy, paranoid Even by the standards of Canadian politics,its quite the performance.

Weve had some thuggish or dishonest governments in the past,even some corrupt ones,but never one quite so determined to arouse the publics hostility,to so little apparent purpose. Their policy legacy may prove short-lived,but it will be hard to erase the stamp of the Nasty Party.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/canada/canadian-politics/blog.html?b=fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/05/14/michael-den-tandt-harper-needs-to-swap-trash-talk-for-serious-conversations-with-canadians

Yet its as though the PMO has gone perfectly deaf not only to the opposition,to media critics,or to the majority of Canadians who are not partisans,but to the Conservatives own internal,reasonable voices. To some in the Tory caucus call them the emerging,silent minority it is beginning to dawn that the strategy of trash Trudeau,everywhere and always holds risk. It isnt brain surgery. When your opponents most effective knock against you is that youre too negative,and you respond with over-the-top venom,you strengthen his hand. Trudeau has only to not cooperate in other words play a cautious game,saying less,not more and he cannot help but come out ahead.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/tag/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/15/if-i-had-90000-twitter-users-lambaste-mike-duffy-in-the-tune-of-a-barenaked-ladies-song&pubdate=2013-05-18&t=canadian-senate

#IfIHad90000 I could by 22 plots of land for $4,000 and gift them to future property-less Senators in provinces they may or may not live in

Kevin O'Donnell (@ODonnell_K) May 15,2013

#IfIHad90000 Id have one of Canadas search & rescue helicopters pick me & my pals up to go fishing

Liam Lahey (@LiamLahey) May 15, 2013

#IfIHad90000 I'd buy a you a green strategy (but not a real green strategy, that's cruel to Canada's status as energy superpower)

Jason Markusoff (@markusoff) May 15, 2013

.@ODonnell_K @mbpowell "I'd buy you an exotic pet project,like an F35,or gazebo" #IfIHad90000

John Francis (@johnefrancis) May 15, 2013

mike-duffy-returns-to-political-broadcasting-with-scandalous-story-about-senator-duffy

When it gets this outrageous, ya just gotta laugh.

Edited May 18, 2013 by jacee

[Smallc]

I don't care about the venom...but the corruption is becoming too much. 2015 can't come soon enough.

[Argus]

Corruption? Phhht. Cheating on their expenses is the responsibility of those who do the cheating. But the Senate is the senate, and they've probably been doing this forever. If he's guilty of anything here (and he is) it's not being more careful about who he appoints. And I don't just mean the Senate. A number of his appointments have turned out to be classless idiots.

But I can remember the Trudeau/Mulroney/Chretien days where so many government contracts went to friends of those in power, often at over inflated prices. Tens and hundreds of million wasted. Not to mention the waste of money in self-serving political promotional games (not that the tories have been completely innocent there either). And let's not get into big cash payments, as in Chretien and Mulroney.

A few senators padding their expense claims just doesn't measure up.

But he really needs to fire whoever vets his appointments. That they're friendly to the party isn't enough. They need to have a reputation for personal integrity (which evidently the media types don't posses),

[waldo]

But he really needs to fire whoever vets his appointments. That they're friendly to the party isn't enough. They need to have a reputation for personal integrity (which evidently the media types don't posses)

Harper has NO responsibility for appointments? None? He's completely not involved and divorced entirely from appointment candidates and choice decisions? Really?

[Smallc]

Corruption? Phhht. Cheating on their expenses is the responsibility of those who do the cheating.

Harper should be vetting these people. He's obviously doing a poor job.

[The_Squid]

Harper should be vetting these people. He's obviously doing a poor job.

Or these are the people he wants... They just keep getting caught. His chief of staff tries to cover it up, but also got caught....

[jacee]

Corruption? Phhht. Cheating on their expenses is the responsibility of those who do the cheating. But the Senate is the senate, and they've probably been doing this forever. If he's guilty of anything here (and he is) it's not being more careful about who he appoints. And I don't just mean the Senate. A number of his appointments have turned out to be classless idiots.

But I can remember the Trudeau/Mulroney/Chretien days where so many government contracts went to friends of those in power, often at over inflated prices. Tens and hundreds of million wasted. Not to mention the waste of money in self-serving political promotional games (not that the tories have been completely innocent there either). And let's not get into big cash payments, as in Chretien and Mulroney.

A few senators padding their expense claims just doesn't measure up.

But he really needs to fire whoever vets his appointments. That they're friendly to the party isn't enough. They need to have a reputation for personal integrity (which evidently the media types don't posses),

LibCon ... ConLib ... doesn't matter who's corruption's the story of the day.

Point is it's our money ... they work for us.

And maybe ... just maybe ... we're not going to accept it from either party any more.

[WWWTT]

Harper by no means is a good strategist!

He should have seen this senate scandal coming miles away!

In the past,the liberals and the progressive conservatives did not really criticize the senate(exeption being Mulroney and ironically Harper).

And this was for good reason.Because both these parties have appointed sitting senators!

That is a no brainer.

Harper should have realized that it is a dangerous game to criticize the senate because of the reality of where he would be upon winning minority,then majority governments.

He should have also realized that the NDP have no senators,therefore have absolutely nothing to lose in criticizing them!

WWWTT

[scribblet]

Harper should be vetting these people. He's obviously doing a poor job.

Does the PM vet them all himself? Duffy has always been a respected journalist and also Pamela Wallin, I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Cheating on expenses is hardly government corruption, but it would be a good time now bring up the Constitution and address major changes.

[Smallc]

Cheating on expenses is hardly government corruption,

I would disagree.

[scribblet]

I would disagree.

Okay than. I disagree about the venom too, haven't seen any, in fact most venom I see doesn't come from Harper.

Not sure if this is the right thread, but it is time to look a triple E senate.

If we were to abolish the Senate, then our H of C whose membership is based on population, would be dominated by Southern Ontario and St. Lawrence Valley

Note that the US Senate elects just two senators per state and it's system of checks and balances has served it well. The worst excesses have come when the House, the Senate and the presidency are all controlled by the same party.

In theory the Senate is supposed to safeguard the interests of the regions from the overwhelming vote of the large population centres which is why the old Reform Party was so keen on Senate reforms that would make it elected, equal and effective. Without even our democratically crippled Senate there would be no voice or backstop for the West, Atlantica or the hinterlands.

[Smallc]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but it is time to look a triple E senate.

If we were to abolish the Senate, then our H of C whose membership is based on population, would be dominated by Southern Ontario and St. Lawrence Valley

Neither of those things is the answer. The US Senate is the very last model we should strive towards.

[Argus]

Harper has NO responsibility for appointments? None? He's completely not involved and divorced entirely from appointment candidates and choice decisions? Really?

Clearly, comprehension is not among your higher skills.

[Argus]

Harper should be vetting these people. He's obviously doing a poor job.

Oh please. The PM doesn't vet any of his appointments. None have, nor ever will. You want the PM to be doing credit checks? Security checks? Interviews with friends and relatives? Background investigations?

He's presented with lists of names and told why he should approve them. That's the way it's always been and always will be for Harper and every other PM to come.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Argus

[Argus]

Neither of those things is the answer. The US Senate is the very last model we should strive towards.

Talking of corruption... hey, want a bill changed, want a change in the tax code, want special exemptions from laws and regulations, just grease a few palms and they'll see it gets done.

[Smallc]

Oh please. The PM doesn't vet any of his appointments.

His office, his responsibility. It all rests with him.

[Hudson Jones]

I like this guy. He'll clean up Ottawa:

[silver72]

Harper is the PM. he wanted the job and he said he was going to clean up Ottawa but he's spread more dirt with scams and schemes than even Mulroney! I doubt , he'll go down in history as a good PM, he'll just go down. He has to responsibility for all the things at are going on within the government, he appointed these people. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/stephen-harper-held-accountable-senate-scandals-055519081.html

[jacee]

Oh please. The PM doesn't vet any of his appointments. None have, nor ever will. You want the PM to be doing credit checks? Security checks? Interviews with friends and relatives? Background investigations?

He's presented with lists of names and told why he should approve them. That's the way it's always been and always will be for Harper and every other PM to come.

I suppose you are right: Appointees are likely chosen by the Conservative party elite for their party fundraising abilities.

I wouldn't accuse Harper of corruption for personal gain - like Duffy and Wallin. I think that would be distasteful to him, and I expect he's shocked that they'd do it. I doubt it would occur to him to vet for that.

Diversion of public funds for political gain, however, I think is right up his alley.

And until I hear details of how the unaccounted for $3.1b was spent on anti-terrorism and public security, I'm assuming it only bought political gain.

[ReeferMadness]

Harper must be the biggest hypocrite ever. He came into power promising to clean up the system and has run one of the most scandal-ridden administrations in history.

[Hudson Jones]

He's a hack:

opposition leader Stephen Harper who told then-Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien that "we don't support any Senate appointments," called the Senate a "dumping ground for the favoured cronies of the prime minister" and said "Canadians ... are ashamed the prime minister continues the disgraceful, undemocratic appointment of undemocratic Liberals to the undemocratic Senate to pass all-too-often undemocratic legislation."

Sadly, when Harper became prime minister, he continued the "disgraceful, undemocratic appointments" this time with "undemocratic" Conservatives. To date, 58 in total.

As explained by The Hill Times, he's appointed several former party staffers:

- Doug Finley: National campaign director in 2006 and 2008

- Don Plett: Former president of Conservative Party Council

- Carolyn Stewart Olsen: Former press secretary to the prime minister

- Stephen Greene: Former chief of staff to Preston Manning

- Irving Gerstein: The Conservative Party's chief fundraiser

He has also appointed failed Conservative candidates such as Claude Carignan, Josee Verner and Larry Smith. He's appointed visible minority candidates who seem to be expected to fundraise for the party within the ethnic communities. There's David Braley who, interestingly, donated $30,000 to Harper's leadership campaign in 2004. And then, of course, there's Duffy and Wallin. Some suggest that Duffy was chosen as a reward for publicly shaming then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion during the 2008 election.

Wallin, like Duffy, is an active fundraiser for the party.

Link

[Argus]

Harper must be the biggest hypocrite ever. He came into power promising to clean up the system and has run one of the most scandal-ridden administrations in history.

I don't think you actually know what a scandal is...

[ReeferMadness]

I don't think you actually know what a scandal is...

Oh, I see. It was all so clear when it was the Chretien Liberals under fire. Nobody had to look up the word scandal in the dictionary. But things have changed. Now, scandal has become such a complicated word.

It isn't Harper's fault that some of the people he appointed were cheating the government for expense money and his own Chief of Staff was caught trying to help cover it up. Is that your contention? Harper's not a crook, he's just a bumbling idiot???

Maybe someone could ask him how things are going cleaning up the system on Parliament Hill.

Edited May 19, 2013 by ReeferMadness

[jacee]

I don't think you actually know what a scandal is...

A scandal is Harper failing to account to the taxpayers for $3.1b spent by Ministers, probably in political patronage and payoffs.

That's a LOT of briefcases of golfballs! .

[ironstone]

I don't care about the venom...but the corruption is becoming too much. 2015 can't come soon enough.

So can you say unequivocally that the Harper government has surpassed the previous Liberals in terms of the amount of corruption?

Pork barreling yes,Senators(all parties)fudging expenses yes,things that drive me crazy like most of you.But have you seen anything to equal the Sponsorship program,cash filled envelopes etc?

This government is not perfect by a long shot,but the alternatives scare the hell out of me.A spoiled millionaire playboy or Thomas "my lips are sealed!" Mulcair.