Will Prime Minister Harper himself be thrown under the bus?
Monday, November 4, 2013 @ 3:44 AM
By Peter Ewart
These are curious times in federal politics. Prime Minister Harper boasted a few years ago to a right wing U.S. think tank that “you won’t recognize Canada when I’m through with it.” To accomplish this, he has established what many believe is a virtual dictatorship run out of the PMO. But all that aside, will Harper stay in power long enough to realize his boast?
In regards to the uproarious senate scandal that has occupied the news, many things have happened recently. But one piece of information is particularly interesting. And that is Harper’s change in tune regarding Nigel Wright, his former chief of staff.
Wright got into trouble last Spring for apparently writing a personal cheque for $90,000 to Senator Mike Duffy to pay for his improperly claimed living expenses. At that time, Harper announced that Nigel Wright had resigned his chief of staff post. He praised Wright for his “tremendous contribution” to the government and claimed that Wright “believed he was acting in the public interest” when he, “acting alone,” gave the money to Duffy. Harper, of course, absolutely denied any knowledge of Wright’s action, and claimed that no one else in his office knew about it.
But Harper’s verdict on Wright appeared to have changed significantly just a few days ago. Now Harper claims that Wright was dismissed. And furthermore, that Wright was guilty of “deception.” Harper was also forced to acknowledge that “a few others” in his office were also aware of Wright’s payment to Duffy. Some news reports claim that these few others could amount to as many as 13 staffers and lawyers in and around the PMO.
Many Canadians remain skeptical of Harper’s assertion that he knew nothing of the $90,000 payment to Duffy. Harper is known to be a notorious micro-manager and rules the PMO with an iron hand. Is it credible that neither Wright nor the “13 others” in his office would have informed him of the payment, given the senate controversy that was raging?
That question aside, there is another issue. Why would Prime Minister Harper so drastically change his tune about Nigel Wright? Wright was a golden boy from the Toronto business elite with longstanding credentials in Conservative Party circles. Yet now, Harper appears to be throwing him under the bus and defaming him, which surely would not be welcomed by Wright who might be facing criminal charges.
Harper is known for being a master of the pre-emptive strike against those who oppose him. Is Harper’s claim of “deception,” a pre-emptive strike against the credibility of Wright?
Could it have anything to do with the fact that Wright has apparently been talking with police, and that he may be saying some things about the whole affair that Harper does not like? As the English pundit and writer of the 18th Century, Samuel Johnson, once said: “When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.” What might Nigel Wright’s mind be concentrated on these days? What dark little secrets may he hold?
And what about the others in the PMO who may be called to testify under oath? What will be on their minds? And what are their secrets? That, of course, is the trouble when a political party begins eating its own. Especially when the feasting may have just begun.
To add to the intrigue were the statements made by cabinet ministers Jason Kenney and Peter Mackay. In contrast to Harper’s defamation and dismissal of Wright, Kenney described him as an extraordinarily capable person with “high ethical standards” who had made an “uncharacteristic lapse of judgment.” Peter Mackay chimed in to say that Wright was a very principled and honest individual.
Both of these cabinet ministers couldn’t help but have known that their statements were in marked contrast to those of the Prime Minister’s and would be reported as such. Are they distancing themselves from the Prime Minister in order to stake out possible leadership runs that could happen sooner rather than later?
Some will argue that neither the Conservative Party nor the corporate and state elite would ever throw Harper under the bus. But that is exactly what the Conservative Party in Britain did to “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher a few decades ago.
As the old saying goes, those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Comments
This story is like an onion and at the center of it is Harper’s abuse of the Senate appointments to push ideological partisan politics with his Senate team members on the Senate budget.
The greed in the expenses only exposed the conniving nature of Harpers willingness to abuse his right as Prime Minister to appoint provincial senators.
The throwing under the bus of any conservative that can lead tracks back to Harper, and his disdain for truthfully answering any questions on the subject in the Parliament, are symptoms of a man that can not be trusted, not by Canadians, nor by those he uses as his minions.
I think the first thing that needs to happen is all these characters need to go through a legally binding process where they have to testify under oath. Let the chips fall where they may. Take accountability and if it exposes another layer that drills down to the heart of Harpers evasions then so be it. If the man continues his intransigence, then I don’t see how Canadians could anymore allow him to run this country unaccountable to anyone.
I notice a trend where Harper falls back on the argument that he can excuse his intransigence because he was elected as a conservative and therefor it is legit to be a partisan and give no quarters to his ‘enemies’. He seems to elevate his right to partisanship above that of acting as a Prime Minister of all of Canada and the consensus building that would require. His less then 40% majority he seems to feel entitles him to 100% partisan power.
I think Harper has already changed Canada from what we would recognize as Canadian values only 10-years ago. Whether its our international policy, spy partnership with Israel (ie blackmail ops), embargo on the UN, environmental policy, social policy, fiscal policy, and in the general conduct of our elections and subsequent parliaments. Canada has changed a lot for the worse under Harper and yet most people don’t even realize this because Harper is a master of game theory where he uses political rhetoric as a weapon… and then abandons any promise that could slow down his accumulation of more power for himself. I believe Harper is man that believes in nothing, but that which will further empower him when the time is right for him.. I think this whole senate scandal undermines Harper by exposing him for who he really is.
My God, Eagle, if all that were the case Harper’s behaving just like a typical ‘Liberal’ Prime Minister would. And just look at how long old MacKenzie King lasted, not to mention the Lib’s darling Pierre himself, using exactly the same tactics. Just like them, Harper may never be really ‘liked’ by the majority of Canadians, but come next election they’ll put him back in again. Why? Because his opponents are worse, and the direction they’d go has been tried. And failed, in recent public memory.
“Will Prime Minister Harper himself be thrown under the bus?”
The anti-Harperites (like Peter Ewart) can dream, but the answer to the question is “no”.
That is all.
Leaders often resign to try to save the party from annihilation at the polls. No need for a bus. That is all.
Harper is not going anywhere. This Senate fiasco is big news for the media, (especially the CBC who hates the Conservatives because they always cut their budgets) however in the big scheme of things it means nothing.
At best you would have to determine who is not telling the truth.
a. Harper
b. Wright
c. Duffy
In any event in these types of situations for any political party, the focus is to do damage control, which is what is taking place here.
We do not need to concern ourselves about any NDP Senators being involved, because as far as I know no NDP’R has ever been appointed to the Senate. Hmmmmm.
I would suggest that most Canadians do not understand the issue, nor do they care to.
Would the Prime Minister fire Nigel Wright if Nigel had information that would be detrimental to his office and the Conservative Party. More likely Nigel made a wrong decision, and is paying the price.
Perhaps (with any luck) this non-story will be over and done with by weeks end.
Keep dreaming PrinceGeorge. As Palopu said, Harper isn’t going anywhere for a long time.
There are allot of very powerful people embroiled in this situation and it would be foolish to think that they are all willing to relinquish their power and standing on behalf of one man whom they may or may not agree with. Self preservation is a highly powerful motive, possibly the most powerful in fact.
JB, I am dreaming about a day when we have truthful honest politicians, especially in the highest office! It is a high standard but you seem accept this low standard (apparently it is good enough for you) so everything is fine as far as you are concerned!
Be happy!
I agree with Ben and NMG.
To think that someone sitting at the side of the Prime Minister, giving advice and assistance to the highest political position in the land is going to throw that power and prestige away for the purpose of unilaterally bailing out the Senate’s sorry version of Humpty Dumpty is absurd.
Secondly, as evidenced repeatedly in any direction one might turn, it apparently doesn’t matter one little lick whether politicians get caught lying. They put on their teflon overcoat, stick to the 100% denial program, ride out the storm and carry on with an Ain’t no flies on me attitude.
There is no culpability, no accountability, no responsibility. There is no honor. Unless you have the smoking gun you have nothing and they walk. It is now the common practice in what used to be one of the most honorable and respected countries on this rotting (politically speaking) globe.
PG: “JB, I am dreaming about a day when we have truthful honest politicians, especially in the highest office! It is a high standard but you seem accept this low standard (apparently it is good enough for you) so everything is fine as far as you are concerned!
Be happy! “
I agree. Be happy! Compared to the rest of the world, I think our government is pretty darn good. We have amongst the world’s best standards of living. We’re pretty lucky to be living here, and our first world problems pale to many people in many countries.
That being said, the government will never be perfect or to everyone’s satisfaction. That goal is unattainable. So, once again, be happy!
One of the reasons we were one of the most honorable and respected Countries in the world was because we said we were.
From the days of MacKenzie King, John A MacDonald, etc; we really do not have a good track record when it comes to political parties, or Prime Ministers.
We always float this great idea of Canada being such a great place, nice and shiny and new, however if you scratch the surface, you will find rust.
We certainly have a good Country, and a relatively good political system, however our politicians leave a lot to be desired.
When it comes to knowing Canadian History (of which we have little) Canadians are about as intelligent as the Americans. We flaunt our pseudo intellect, while the Americans are nationalistic and bombastic.
“… however our politicians leave a lot to be desired.”
Right on! There is a lot of room for improvement! Nobody likes to be lied to! What is the truth?
Come on JB, don’t let them get away with anything and everything! They think that we are too stupid to matter, but if we just roll over and put up with all the lying and scheming we are agreeing that indeed we are!
See? First world problems.
As I said, I know our politicians aren’t perfect. However, like government, politics is a messy and complex business that most have no clue about other than what the media spoon feeds them.
It’s all too easy to sit on the sidelines and poke criticisms, but much harder to actually get off the computer and do something about it.
In Senator Lillian Dyck’s words:
I was appointed to the Senate of Canada in the spring of 2005 by former Prime Minister Paul Martin. In my naiveté, I decided to become a New Democratic Party (NDP) senator, but was immediately rejected by the leader of the NDP, Jack Layton.
http://sen.parl.gc.ca/ldyck/html/eng/01home.html
Any politician who would say in public, especially in the USA: âyou wonât recognize Canada when Iâm through with it” has an ego larger than him/herself and is not deserving of being a leader of a national party.
So he had/has a vision for Canada. A vision which would be recognizably different from the existing state of the union.
Does anyone know what that would be? I do not know. Did Harper share it with anyone?
It appears tidbits are to be found in speeches to those who do not live in Canada. Here is an analysis from a speech in Davos, the Whistler of Switzerland.
http://www.ccsd.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=232%3Astephen-harpers-census-and-his-vision-for-canada&catid=44%3Anews&Itemid=172&lang=en
gus: “Any politician who would say in public, especially in the USA: âyou wonât recognize Canada when Iâm through with it” has an ego larger than him/herself and is not deserving of being a leader of a national party.”
Everyone says things that are taken out a context and/or are regretted later. Even your hero, Justin Trudeau has had a few gems in his early career.
We’re losing sight of the problem here. Senators spending taxpayers money like it is their own bottomless piggy bank. Wallin expensed $500,000 and she was only appointed in 2009. That’s a lot of expenses in a few years. Now she’s whining she might lose her health benefits. When was the last time we helped our retiree’s or our war veterans pay their health care premiums on their limited income? Not many of us have workplace pensions anymore.
Wallin and Duffy were well respected reporters on Parliament Hill. They, of all people, should have known better.
The lawyers are now muddying the waters and we are starting to lose sight of the scum at the bottom of the pool. Greedy dishonest senators are the problem. Would any of us working people be granted “due process” if any of us stole from our employer? What would happen if any of uf working types submitted questionable expense accounts? Wallin had been warned and ignored the warnings.
They should be fired with no more haggling and with no perks. Theft is theft.
I’m glad to see there is going to be a retroactive examination of all senate expense accounts. That should have been done annually. Lets clean the corruption up once and for all.
That’s my take on this whole mess.
We’re losing sight of the problem here. Senators spending taxpayers money like it is their own bottomless piggy bank. Wallin expensed $500,000 and she was only appointed in 2009. That’s a lot of expenses in a few years. Now she’s whining she might lose her health benefits. When was the last time we helped our retiree’s or our war veterans pay their health care premiums on their limited income? Not many of us have workplace pensions anymore.
Wallin and Duffy were well respected reporters on Parliament Hill. They, of all people, should have known better.
The lawyers are now muddying the waters and we are starting to lose sight of the scum at the bottom of the pool. Greedy dishonest senators are the problem. Would any of us working people be granted “due process” if any of us stole from our employer? What would happen if any of uf working types submitted questionable expense accounts? Wallin had been warned and ignored the warnings.
They should be fired with no more haggling and with no perks. Theft is theft.
I’m glad to see there is going to be a retroactive examination of all senate expense accounts. That should have been done annually. Lets clean the corruption up once and for all.
That’s my take on this whole mess.
The big problem more than likely will be we probably WILL recognise Canada when Harper is through with it. And it won’t look much different than it ever did.
Financially, we’ll still have the same old set-up that represents national Assets as Liabilities, and is still about as divorced from the physical realities of ‘production’ and ‘consumption’ it’s supposed to be an accurate numerical REFLECTION of as it’s always been. If not even more so.
We’ll still be pretending we ‘need’ every shoulder harnessed to the plow, and even more of them, if we can import them from elsewhere.
And that they can come and join us, as we all have to work harder, and longer, ever further into our ‘golden years’ even, or genuine material deprivation, widespread starvation, and a whole host of other assorted economic ills will descend upon the land.
We still won’t deign to ask HOW, in a country whose greater problem is its material ‘surpluses’ rather than its material ‘shortages’, a country where the rate of productivity per man hour worked has been, and is still, growing exponentially, a country where forcing more people to work longer and harder and add further to unsaleable gluts that could easily already overwhelm all the markets we have, here and abroad, if we ever operated our EXISTING ‘plant’ at any more than the average 75% of its rated capacity, or less, that we currently do, is ever going to help us.
No, it’ll be the same old Canada when Steve finally decides to ride off into the sunset, or take a walk in the snow, or whatever PM’s do when their time is up, some time in the decades ahead.
There’ll have been some cosmetic changes, all right. Some of them most welcome and long overdue. Hopefully there’ll be a renewed pride in our REAL heritage as a sovereign ‘Dominion’, with a military that’s proud to display the word ‘Royal’ again in its name where that title has been earned and granted. A country that doesn’t have to pretend it’s something else. Or be a ‘republic’ just because some other country is. Or suckhole around a United Nations as some kind of super world government that can set policies on us in the ‘Big Brother knows best’ manner its functionaries would love.
But as for economic change, well, there’ll be precious little that’s meaningful for most of us for the better. And our only consolation is what Mulcair or Trudeau would do would still be worse.
JB posted: “Even your hero, Justin Trudeau has had a few gems in his early career.”
Now that is interesting….. you qualified it as only in his early career? …
Actually I have not made up my mind whether he would be a hero of mine. His dad was much closer to that status. I really have no hero politicians.
If you can believe it, John Robarts, Ontario PC Premier for 10 years for the 1960’s, was more the type of person I supported. The “rural” universities were built in that era and he stood his ground when it came to relations with the province and the feds.
“Or suckhole around a United Nations as some kind of super world government that can set policies on us in the ‘Big Brother knows best’ manner its functionaries would love.”
How disturbing is it the all the other countries in our neighbourhood called earth do not count, or are not important? The UN is that international body that has achieved great success in the area of keeping us from killing ourselves off through nuclear warfare! it’s been over 70 years since the last world war, and the odd “piss-ant” thinks that is not important.
Wow, just wow!
Good thing this is just opinions being stated here, where even bold statements predicting the future are made. “And for our only consolation is what Mulcair or Trudeau would do would still be worse”.
They would actually have to “break the law” to do worse that this Harper Government is doing. Actually NO, they would have to go beyond breaking the law to do worse that what our current government is doing!
Mulcair and Trudeau are not Rob Fords or Stephen Harpers, and thank God for that!!!
The next world war is already lurking on the horizon, People#1, and there isn’t a single thing the UN can, or ever will, do about it.
The previous two World Wars were preceded by the same kind of international economic warfare that the nations of the world are engaged in today, as they tried to ‘capture’ each others’ markets.
The UN is a farce. It, and its environs, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are a convenient ‘excuse’ for national governments NOT to make the necessary changes ‘financially’ that would correct what’s really wrong in all the industrially developed economies. The UN is all for ‘re-distribution’ in its quest for ‘equality’. But a ‘re-distribution’ of an insufficiency will never a sufficiency make. And what is insufficient is not goods and services , nor our ability to provide more of both, but rather ‘money’ relative to ‘price values’ of those goods and services EXPRESSED in ‘money’.
If none of our political Parties are willing to try to understand or attempt to correct the real problem, better we throw our lot in with our traditional allies, and hope for the best. Harper is the most realistic one to go that route. Rather than pretend we can just stand aside, protected by some polyglot UN, now fortunately useless. For if it were not, it would only strip us of what little is left of our personal freedom to be effective. And few of us would be happy with that.
Socredible wrote: “The next world war is already lurking on the horizon”
So, the first as well as the second never reached the Americas.
Which horizon are you looking at?
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