What's The Big Deal, Part Two
So Harper appoints to Cabinet two people who weren't elected as Conservatives. One was a Liberal, one didn't run in the election at all and will be appoited to the Senate in order to be able to take a cabinet seat.
The hue and cry over Martin giving cabinet seats to Stronach and Brison was not that he gave them seats, but that he gave them seats in order to make sure that legislation would pass. David Emerson won't make much difference to voting numbers in the Commons. Conservatives were more annoyed at Stronach and Brison than Martin. BS seemed to have sour grapes after losing the party leadership campaign, and perhaps switched parties to take a run elsewhere (watch for it at a Liberal convention near you). Layton, Harris and Duceppe watch your backs. There's more than two parties in this fair land and Belinda knows it!
Is there a double standard? Perhaps. But something to ponder here. Why did Harper do it? Parliament isn't in session, so it can't be the same kind of vote-buying move that Martin found necessary. Perhaps there are positive sings here. Neither Montreal and Vancouver elected a Conservative MP. But Harper wants a cabinet minister from each of the major cities. Apparently regardless if that city happened to elect someone from his party. This could be (and probably is) a way to entice voters to vote Conservative next time around. It could also be a sign that cities will be important ot this government, which could be important as most people happen to live in one. Maybe it's a good thing that the cabinet is made up of people who the Prime Minister feels are best for the job, regardless of party affiliation.
Now, some people have complained that Emerson wasn't elected as a Conservative and wouldn't have won as a Conservative in his riding. Unless you are a resiednt of Vancouver-Kingsway, it doesn't matter. The Liberal party has claimed that Emerson, as a Conservative would have lost to whoever the Liberal candidate might have been. This is based on the number of Votes Emerson received. If they're right, then both Stronach and Brison should have lost their seats after switching parties instead of winning. Thus suggesting that the candidate is more important than the party they belong to. Which means Emerson would have won.
Fortier's a different matter. Most people would rather have cabinet ministers be people elected to office in the first place. However, Chretien set the precedent for this (though offhand I can't remember if it was Stephane Dion or Pierre Pettigrew...maybe it was both). The better thing to do would seem to be to run Fortier in a by-election somewhere. But is it? Can there be a silver lining here? If Fortier gets appointed to the Senate, thus satisfying the consitituional rerquirements for cabinet appointments, won't it be nice to see a Senator in action somewhere other than the Corel Centre (or whatever it calls itself this week)? Perhaps he'll be a role model for work ethic for other Senators.
Now, if the NDP wants to complain about things, that's fine. Liberals should keep quiet. Harper appears to be following the example of both Chretien and Martin. Canadians gave the Liberals enough votes for over 100 seats, so they must be okay with the Liberal way of things and perhaps shouldn't complain about it too much. But perhaps the other Martin cabinet members are just jealous that Emerson is the only Liberal left on the governing side.
The hue and cry over Martin giving cabinet seats to Stronach and Brison was not that he gave them seats, but that he gave them seats in order to make sure that legislation would pass. David Emerson won't make much difference to voting numbers in the Commons. Conservatives were more annoyed at Stronach and Brison than Martin. BS seemed to have sour grapes after losing the party leadership campaign, and perhaps switched parties to take a run elsewhere (watch for it at a Liberal convention near you). Layton, Harris and Duceppe watch your backs. There's more than two parties in this fair land and Belinda knows it!
Is there a double standard? Perhaps. But something to ponder here. Why did Harper do it? Parliament isn't in session, so it can't be the same kind of vote-buying move that Martin found necessary. Perhaps there are positive sings here. Neither Montreal and Vancouver elected a Conservative MP. But Harper wants a cabinet minister from each of the major cities. Apparently regardless if that city happened to elect someone from his party. This could be (and probably is) a way to entice voters to vote Conservative next time around. It could also be a sign that cities will be important ot this government, which could be important as most people happen to live in one. Maybe it's a good thing that the cabinet is made up of people who the Prime Minister feels are best for the job, regardless of party affiliation.
Now, some people have complained that Emerson wasn't elected as a Conservative and wouldn't have won as a Conservative in his riding. Unless you are a resiednt of Vancouver-Kingsway, it doesn't matter. The Liberal party has claimed that Emerson, as a Conservative would have lost to whoever the Liberal candidate might have been. This is based on the number of Votes Emerson received. If they're right, then both Stronach and Brison should have lost their seats after switching parties instead of winning. Thus suggesting that the candidate is more important than the party they belong to. Which means Emerson would have won.
Fortier's a different matter. Most people would rather have cabinet ministers be people elected to office in the first place. However, Chretien set the precedent for this (though offhand I can't remember if it was Stephane Dion or Pierre Pettigrew...maybe it was both). The better thing to do would seem to be to run Fortier in a by-election somewhere. But is it? Can there be a silver lining here? If Fortier gets appointed to the Senate, thus satisfying the consitituional rerquirements for cabinet appointments, won't it be nice to see a Senator in action somewhere other than the Corel Centre (or whatever it calls itself this week)? Perhaps he'll be a role model for work ethic for other Senators.
Now, if the NDP wants to complain about things, that's fine. Liberals should keep quiet. Harper appears to be following the example of both Chretien and Martin. Canadians gave the Liberals enough votes for over 100 seats, so they must be okay with the Liberal way of things and perhaps shouldn't complain about it too much. But perhaps the other Martin cabinet members are just jealous that Emerson is the only Liberal left on the governing side.
posted by MyMaidMary | 9:55 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home