Draft Brian Tobin

[jbg]

Now that I think about it, Clark was from High River but he was elected as PM in Edson, west of Edmonton. He was forced to move his seat.

Clark is Canada's Jimmy Carter.

No surprise. They served at the same time, and took similarly timid approaches to making changes that were needed. Reagan broke the grip here, Harper's now doing it there.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

There seems to be a whole lot of praise for Harper going on in this forum. Lets look at the record for a minute and see what he has done to earn this kind of respect.

Harper wins election on November 28 2005. Parliment opens 39th session April 3 2006. It took four months just to organize his victorious party and show up for work.

Twenty-22 Bills proposed in the House of Commons during 39th Parliment Spring session. Only three receive Royal Assent.

C-8 An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the public service of Canada for the financial year ending March 31, 2007

The President of the Treasury Board, The Hon. John Baird

Royal Assent (May 11, 2006)

C-13 An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on May 2, 2006

The Minister of Finance, The Hon. James Michael (Jim) Flaherty

Royal Assent (June 22, 2006)

C-15 An Act to amend the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, The Hon. Charles (Chuck) Strahl

Royal Assent (June 22, 2006)

Between April 3 and June 23 the government takes 43 days off and works 60 days. Intersting number because in total it took an average of more than 60 working days to pass each bill in this Parlimentary session.

So at least in Parliment Harper accomplished very little. According to the Prime Minister this is what he has done;

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1223

• Passed through the House of Commons the Federal Accountability Act – the most sweeping anti-corruption legislation in Canada’s history;

• Lowered taxes for all Canadians;

• Introduced legislation to crack down on street-racing and gun and gang crime;

• Introduced the Universal Child Care Program, which will provide direct financial assistance to all Canadian families, as well as create real child care spaces;

• Enhanced Canada’s leadership role on the international stage by extending the mission in Afghanistan; and

• Ushered in a new era of open federalism, as evidenced by the recent agreement between the Government and Quebec that established a formal role for the province at UNESCO.

While the record is one thing, even it can be spun to produce results!

At any rate it is safe to say that what was accomplished fell far short of the overall workload. So much so that if he was working for somebody on civy street he may have been fired.

[jbg]

For a minority governmnent, not a bad track record. How much did Martin accomplish? Or for that matter Chrétien? In what time period?

[August1991]

Harper wins election on November 28 2005. Parliment opens 39th session April 3 2006. It took four months just to organize his victorious party and show up for work.

The Tories were elected on 28 January 2006, not in November 2005. "Showing up for work" does not mean sitting in the House of Commons.