This will be my first real rant other than the introduction I left here this morning. An since this is my first rant it will be considerably difficult to start off on some political rant from Feb. 9 (my sister's birthday, by the way) without out any context leading up to it or any previous information given. So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to assume, and we all know how this may end up, that the reader (aka. you) has a basic understanding of Canadian politics. And by basic, I mean basic. If you're still trying to find out who won the election or sitting there saying, "what election?" then this is not the place for you. If you know who our newly elected prime minister is, what the major political parties are in Canada, what they're about, and who their leaders are you should be just fine.
And also, before I get started on whatever it is that flows from my fingers I decided you should all know just a little bit about who I am. Like I said before, I am a second-year political science and law student at Dalhousie University. I have a part time job working at a movie theatre as a food service supervisor and I love all sports. Sunday was one of the best days ever because I had a huge Superbowl party at my house and my Pittsburgh Steelers won their fifth title. I am very patriotic and the fact the Olympics start tomorrow makes me very happy to be Canadian. I don't care what sport they happen to be showing on TV whether its hockey, luge, or figure skating I will cheer on Team Canada the best I can. Why, you may ask? Because Canada is the best damn country in the entire world and we are all lucky to be living here. I am also excited that we have a new government in power and I am very interested to see what they can and will do for Canada. Some people are very skeptical of Stephen Harper and are afraid of what he might do to our country but I am here to say that whatever he does will be for the better and if you don't believe me then just wait until he gets the ball rolling. I will be the first person to tell you of some great move he makes to push our country forward but at the same time I will be the first person to get on his back criticizing a dumb move that he may make.
Now to recap and respond to some issues of the past week.
Monday, February 6th
On Monday we saw the swearing in of our newly elected prime minister and his appointed cabinet. This symbolizes a new change in government and along with it we saw some interesting surprises. David Emerson, elected MP, crossed the floor just days after the election and it saw him go from Minister of Industry in a Martin government to Minister of International Trade in a Harper government. We also saw Harper appoint Michael Fortier appointed as Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Fortier is not an elected MP nor did he run in the last election. He is Harper's campaign manager and Harper appointed him to the Senate until the next election comes around. Obviously, this has caused great controversy amongst all people no matter what party they support and I will address this issue a little later.
As for the rest of Harper's cabinet I believe that the quality of the cabinet is overshadowed by the criticism given to these two appointments. People like Stockwell Day and Peter MacKay were given posts of Public Safety and Foreign Affais, respectively. Tony Clement as Minister of Health and Gordon O'Connor for national defence. The coveted financial post now belongs to Jim Flaherty. It doesn't stop here. Harper has picked a very well-rounded cabinet and I am waiting to see what the results of this will mean for our future.
Tuesday, February 7th
Tuesday saw all of the criticism for the Emerson and Fortier appointments continue to boil and again overshadow the positive ideals that newly appointed cabinet ministers were focusing on. Vic Toews, the new Minister of Justice, set out his priorities such as raising the age of consent and changing our gun control laws. But of course no one hears about these things because there is so much attention given to what have turned into two very controversial appointments.
People are demanding that Emerson run in a by-election and criticize Harper for making such an appointment. But to these people I say this: Emerson is a blue Liberal. He has opposed Liberal decisions such as that of the softwood lumber dispute when the Liberals were ready to settle for less than what he wanted. People say he misrepresented his constituents and that he acting out of self-interest but I believe he is acting out of the best interests for his constituents and not the other way around. Put yourself in the position of someone in Emerson's riding. Would you rather have your representative an active member of the government in cabinet with an important portfolio such as International Trade who is actually making a difference in Ottawa or would you rather have an Liberal MP sitting in opposition taht may or may not have anything to do with what is going on. It's your choice and in my opinion only one answer.
The other appointment was that of Michael Fortier, Stephen Harper's Conservative leadership campaign manager and federal election campaign co-manager. This would I have a hard time wrapping my head around. While a whole-heartedly agree with Emerson's move a have a difficult time even understanding the logic behind this one. Harper puts Fortier in the position of Minister of Public Works but he is not an elected MP or a senator or anything really. Harper says that he needed a minister to represent Montreal and since no Conservative candidate was able to win in Montreal he chose Fortier. While this may seem understandable at first why not just appoint an existing senator from Montreal instead and possibly avoid much of the criticism. Harper appointed Fortier to the Senate for the time being and says that he will run in the next federal election and resign as senator. I will accept it but I just don't understand it. I will leave it at that.
Wednesday, February 8th
Further speculation continued yesterday into Harper's cabinet appointees Emerson and Fortier and the Liberal riding association in Emerson's riding demanded that he pay back $97,000 in donations. This may be the right step for the riding association to take. Put yourself in their position. You choose Emerson as your Liberal candidate and support him throughout the election and he wins. Then, two weeks later he jumps ship to the Conservatives. No whether or not it is in the best interests of your constituents is out of the question. You supported him and he ditched you, I'd be pissed too. It is hard to determine whether he should repay the donations to the Liberals or not. Were the donations meant to be for Emerson, the person we want in Ottawa representing us or for Emerson, the Liberal candidate that happens to be running in our riding. It is probably a combination of both which makes it very hard to judge. I don't think the money will be paid back nor do I think that it should (at least not all of it).
Now to recap and respond to some issues of the past week.
Monday, February 6th
On Monday we saw the swearing in of our newly elected prime minister and his appointed cabinet. This symbolizes a new change in government and along with it we saw some interesting surprises. David Emerson, elected MP, crossed the floor just days after the election and it saw him go from Minister of Industry in a Martin government to Minister of International Trade in a Harper government. We also saw Harper appoint Michael Fortier appointed as Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Fortier is not an elected MP nor did he run in the last election. He is Harper's campaign manager and Harper appointed him to the Senate until the next election comes around. Obviously, this has caused great controversy amongst all people no matter what party they support and I will address this issue a little later.
As for the rest of Harper's cabinet I believe that the quality of the cabinet is overshadowed by the criticism given to these two appointments. People like Stockwell Day and Peter MacKay were given posts of Public Safety and Foreign Affais, respectively. Tony Clement as Minister of Health and Gordon O'Connor for national defence. The coveted financial post now belongs to Jim Flaherty. It doesn't stop here. Harper has picked a very well-rounded cabinet and I am waiting to see what the results of this will mean for our future.
Tuesday, February 7th
Tuesday saw all of the criticism for the Emerson and Fortier appointments continue to boil and again overshadow the positive ideals that newly appointed cabinet ministers were focusing on. Vic Toews, the new Minister of Justice, set out his priorities such as raising the age of consent and changing our gun control laws. But of course no one hears about these things because there is so much attention given to what have turned into two very controversial appointments.
People are demanding that Emerson run in a by-election and criticize Harper for making such an appointment. But to these people I say this: Emerson is a blue Liberal. He has opposed Liberal decisions such as that of the softwood lumber dispute when the Liberals were ready to settle for less than what he wanted. People say he misrepresented his constituents and that he acting out of self-interest but I believe he is acting out of the best interests for his constituents and not the other way around. Put yourself in the position of someone in Emerson's riding. Would you rather have your representative an active member of the government in cabinet with an important portfolio such as International Trade who is actually making a difference in Ottawa or would you rather have an Liberal MP sitting in opposition taht may or may not have anything to do with what is going on. It's your choice and in my opinion only one answer.
The other appointment was that of Michael Fortier, Stephen Harper's Conservative leadership campaign manager and federal election campaign co-manager. This would I have a hard time wrapping my head around. While a whole-heartedly agree with Emerson's move a have a difficult time even understanding the logic behind this one. Harper puts Fortier in the position of Minister of Public Works but he is not an elected MP or a senator or anything really. Harper says that he needed a minister to represent Montreal and since no Conservative candidate was able to win in Montreal he chose Fortier. While this may seem understandable at first why not just appoint an existing senator from Montreal instead and possibly avoid much of the criticism. Harper appointed Fortier to the Senate for the time being and says that he will run in the next federal election and resign as senator. I will accept it but I just don't understand it. I will leave it at that.
Wednesday, February 8th
Further speculation continued yesterday into Harper's cabinet appointees Emerson and Fortier and the Liberal riding association in Emerson's riding demanded that he pay back $97,000 in donations. This may be the right step for the riding association to take. Put yourself in their position. You choose Emerson as your Liberal candidate and support him throughout the election and he wins. Then, two weeks later he jumps ship to the Conservatives. No whether or not it is in the best interests of your constituents is out of the question. You supported him and he ditched you, I'd be pissed too. It is hard to determine whether he should repay the donations to the Liberals or not. Were the donations meant to be for Emerson, the person we want in Ottawa representing us or for Emerson, the Liberal candidate that happens to be running in our riding. It is probably a combination of both which makes it very hard to judge. I don't think the money will be paid back nor do I think that it should (at least not all of it).
Well, that's all for now. More on this week's events a little later when I have a little more time. And I think I've heard enough about Harper's cabinet for now.
- DCM
Comments
If you don't end up becoming a lawyer, you could be a journalist!
I think Emerson SHOULD give the money back to the Liberals. The people in his riding voted for him as a Liberal, this election was based very much on if you wanted the Liberals, Conservatives, or NDP in. It was not based on WHO the person in your riding was. We all know that, Mr. McKay!!!!
It will be an interesting eighteen months ahead!
I wonder where you pull the 18 month number out of your head. What happens in 18 months because if you think that 18 months is all the conservative government has you've been mistaken. 3 years minimum is my prediction there Ms. Collins.
oh dear Lord, help us now!
Darcey, I do not think that the NDP are going to vote with the Conservatives... so even though the two of them make up half the seats... we will not see any agreements.
We'll see very few bills passed over the next while ( eighteen months )
:-)
There are numerous reasons why the Conservative government we see now will last much longer than 18 months and so much so that it may just be the focus of my next entry. But for now I will leave you with this. None of the parties can afford another election in the near future and none of them want one. Two elections already in 18 months have drained the party coffers far enough. The Liberals definitely don't want to go to the polls anytime soon because they don't have a leader, the Bloc don't because they're afraid of losing more seats than they already have.