Conservative Government Spring Report Card

It’s been about three months since the Federal election. I always like holding a politician’s feet to the fire, so since it's April and before we move too far into the current federal mandate, maybe we should all take some time and try grading the Conservatives on exactly how they’ve been doing so far.

I'll go first.

Being from Newfoundland and Labrador I figured I’d start my own personal report card by looking at some key local issues:

Military:

Making the airbase at 5 Wing Goose a military requirement is still in the works but no troops assigned: Grade A

Public Safety:

Re-instating the Gander weather office announced: Grade A+

Fisheries:

1 - Progress on stopping foreign overfishing/custodial management, insignificant: Grade E

2 - Development of a cod stocks recovery plan, no movement: Grade F

3 - Helping fishing communities survive through an early retirement program, no movement: Grade F

There you go. Over all from a local Newfoundland and Labrador perspective I give the Conservatives a C. Not great but not a failing grade either.

OK, on a national level, let’s look at the kind of progress the Conservative’s have made on the priorities outlined in the throne speech, which has since been modified and was accepted in a backroom deal on Parliament hill by the way. The revised version now includes several Liberal initiatives which the leaders of all parties agreed to accept without a vote in the House, likely to slip the changes past the general public while they were all having a big nap.

By the way, I know everyone talks about the speech containing the Conservative’s five priorities but if you count them there are actually more. Let’s not hold that against them though. We all know keeping track of numbers, staying within budgets, reporting accurate figures to the public or anything to do with numbers really, is not normally a government’s strong suit. Why should the Conservatives be any different?

Anyway, back to the topic:

Government Accountability: I’ve expanded on this one because some of the promises made during the election, such as senate reform, were not identified as priorities in the speech but relate directly to accountability in my opinion. Just so you know):

Accountability Act – Several necessary changes, but many weak ones especially in the areas of lobbying control and freedom of information. The new offices and positions the act will create will be costly and will bring with them miles of confusing red tape;

Senate reform - has been put so far back in the closet even Preston Manning can’t find it in there;

Appointment of a Senator - One of Canada’s newest Minister’s and Senator was not elected but appointed and is in no way accountable to the electorate;

Buying a member? - An elected Liberal member was enticed to cross the floor when the Conservatives dangled the carrot of a cabinet position in front of his nose. At least this one was elected but most of his riding wants their ballot back;

Freedom of the press - has been limited by not allowing them to have access to Ministers on the upper floors of the Hill;

Committee Chairs - will now be hand picked by Harper rather than selected by secret ballot;
Amendments to the Throne Speech sneaked past the public (figured that one was worth mentioning again).

Grade: E

(I would have given them an F but there are a few good things in the Accountability Act and with all of the secrecy on the hill these days I couldn’t enough evidence to pin the failing grade on them.)

2. GST reductions: The first cut planned for the upcoming budget: Grade A+

3. Getting tough on crime: No major movement to date but still on the agenda. It’s still early in the game so I’ll go easy on this one: Grade B -

4. Child-care: $1200 a year to go into budget as promised, however promised tax credits to encourage the building of new child care spaces will not appear in the budget: Grade: D

5. The fiscal imbalance: Sorry, Harper campaigned on this one but he now says it just isn’t one of his top priorities: Grade F

6. Medical wait times or the wait time guarantee: Like crime management, there has been very little if any movement on this file yet but its still early so I’ll go easy: Grade B -

7. Developing stronger ties with the U.S:

a. Vacationed and toured with George Bush in Mexico;
b. Increased military presence in Afghanistan so U.S. troops could cycle out;
c. Hasn’t pushed the softwood lumber issue to any real degree;
d. Foreign Affairs Minister met with Condeleza Rice;
e. Sold out Newfoundland Premier in the press in order to placate U.S. oil interests.

Grade: A+

In addition to the publicly announced programs identified above, the government also intends to do legislation reviews of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Bank Act. Two things make me very nervous about these reviews. The first is that these specific items are being reviewed by a Conservative government and second is that these specific items are being reviewed by a Conservative government.

Based on the Harper’s record so far, hopefully the result of these reviews won’t see:

The tearing up of pollution and dumping regulations for big industry;

U.S. forces on Canadian streets to “protect” us from the Terrorists that are on American streets; and,

A flurry of bank mergers leading to monopolization and eventually a situation where every $5.00 I put into the bank costs me $5.50 in service fees. Although I might be mistaken on this one, I’m pretty sure that’s happening already.

Nationally I give the Harper government a grade of B. It would have been a D but he performed so well in the area of improving ties with the U.S. that I had to bump him up a couple of notches. I’m just not sure it that’s a good thing or not.

Taking into account the Local grade of C and the National grade of B and by weighing them based on various factors including:

The level of priority each item has for me personally (Local 10, national 10) Hey, I didn’t say it had to make sense;

My wasted time at the computer typing this up (2 hours);

The number of Tim Horton’s coffee consumed to keep me awake while I did the research and analysis (8); and,

How Harper has been registering on my personal bull S&*T meter lately (not good, really not good).

Based on all of that I have arrived at a final score of: F-

Once again, it would have been more like a D – but that U.S. butt kissing thing is really ticking me off so I cut two full grades. I know, I added a couple of grades earlier on for that specific item but it’s all a matter of context. Besides there are two reasons I feel comfortable doing something like that. One, Everything Ottawa gives the Canadians with one hand it takes away with the other so why shouldn’t I. Two, it’s my article, my grading scale and besides I feel like it.