Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Stephen Harper is not a leader

So, Harper announced yesterday that instead of Parliament returning this month he’s going to prorogue Parliament, with Parliament instead re-opening with a Throne Speech October 16th.

Reading Conservative talking points as gospel from his Blackberry, CTV’s Mike Duffy explained this is really all about the Ontario election. Speaking on Newsnet, Duffy sagely told us his Conservative sources have said the PM decided to prorogue so as to not interfere with the Ontario election, since the Feds have so many dealings with Ontario and they didn’t want to get dragged into the election. Yeah, and I’m sure Parliament will prorogue during PEI’s next election too Mike.

That’s a huge load of BS that you shouldn’t have just parroted unchallenged Mike. Since when have provincial elections been a cause to prorogue Parliament? That’s a ridiculous suggestion. Let’s look back into the very recent past…

Harper didn’t prorogue during the Quebec election, did he? No. Not only did he not prorogue, but Parliament sat and Harper passed a budget designed to give Jean Charest an electoral boost. He didn’t get dragged into that provincial election, he dove-in head-first. So, sorry Mike, but you should have called BS on that sad Conservative spin.

Why did Harper prorogue? Because he’s stalled in the polls, has failed to inspire Canadians and desperately needs to give a fresh start to a government lacking in both newness, direction and accomplishment. A little pageantry to distract from the long list of flip-flops and broken promises, and try to give the impression they’re doing something.

What they’re doing though is letting a long list of bills from the last Parliament die. According to the usual Conservative logic, they therefore must be against all those things, right? Among the bills in limbo because of Harper’s need for a fresh coat of paint for his not so new government:

C-7, An Act to amend the National Defence Act
(Conservatives are against National Defence?)

C-10, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (minimum penalties for offences involving firearms) and to make a consequential amendment to another Act
(Conservatives are soft on crime?)

C-22, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (age of protection) and to make consequential amendments to the Criminal Records Act
(Conservatives even softer on crime?)

C-23, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (criminal procedure, language of the accused, sentencing and other amendments)
(Conservatives crazy-soft on crime)

C-27, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (dangerous offenders and recognizance to keep the peace)
(Conservatives megasoft on crime)

C-30, An Act to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the Energy Efficiency Act and the Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act (Canada's Clean Air Act)
(Conservatives soft on the environment)

C-35, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (reverse onus in bail hearings for firearm-related offences) (Holy cow that’s a lot of Conservative softness on crime)

C-43 An Act to provide for consultations with electors on their preferences for appointments to the Senate
(Conservatives stalling on Senate reform)

C-44 An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act
(Conservatives soft on human…nah)

So, according to the usual Conservative logic, the Conservatives are soft on crime, didn’t get it done on the environment and stalling Senate reform.

More proof Stephen Harper is not a leader! And so on, and so forth.

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2 comments:

burlivespipe said...

Its a little disconcerting on how many of the MsM bigwigs buy the CON sh^te without any additives.
Harper has nothing left in his cupboard, he's feeling the rumblings among the grassroots about 'where did our conservative party go?' and desperately needs to force an election. But first, he must wipe clear that teleprompter and pretend like he's got five more priorities, all of which he could have added to the current sitting.
It's all about framing -- he wants to frame Afghanistan right out of the picture, frame the Liberals as big-mean election hungry varmints (hey, who forced the last election?) and frame himself as a 'Do-er'...
And he can read the right on the wall economically. He hasn't helped the situation any, but we're heading into a recession and while he has all kinds of 'recession-like policies' in his little head -- deregulation, axing public service, shaving federal responsibilities etc -- he knows it'll be hard to convince even some of his more faithful people with a brain to support him when his income trust twist has pulled one leg out from the country's economic stability...

bennycon888 said...

Uhh you sir are an idiot, all those bills are titled an act to amend bla bla bla, just because he's amending them doesn't mean he's downgrading them, I like your little comments like (stephen harpers against national defence now?) have you even read what the bills about? if you did surely you tell us a little more about it? and wasn't it pot smoking hippy liberals like you who literally destroyed dnd over the last 13 years?

You sir are quite an il-informed idiot, obviously a political neophyte who's probabally your typical BC pot smoking hippy university student, good luck in life sir, god knows you'll need it.