Once again Stephen Harper is about to thumb his nose at the people of Canada.
This time around he’s doing it by casting aside any pretext of senate reform and instead appointing 18 conservative senators to the red chamber.
Not only is this move another example of the sort of two faced politics the Prime Minister is already known for (in Newfoundland and Labrador anyway where he didn't win a single seat last time out), but it’s also a flagrant example of his utter disregard for the will of Parliament itself.
When the Governor General conspired with Mr. Harper to suspend Parliament last week she allowed him to run and hide from a non-confidence vote. That was bad enough but she also left him with no restrictions on his powers even though she has the authority to do so, in the same way as she would if an election campaign were underway.
This has left the Prime Minister with the ability to do as he pleases and to rule Canada as he sees fit even though at the time Parliament was suspended every single opposition MP expressed their loss of confidence in his leadership, down to the person.
As a result 18 of the PM's conservative cronies will be getting a Christmas present consisting of a seat in the senate. A position that includes a hefty salary, a menu of expensive perks, very little work and a position that is considered the ultimate prize in federal circles.
There may be nothing unconstitutional or illegal about what the Prime Minister is doing but it is certainly immoral and deceitful for a lame duck Prime Minister to do this after being elected on a promise of not appointing senators and considering that he would already have been removed from office had he not locked the doors of Parliament to avoid losing power.
Personally I couldn’t care less if the PM fills every seat in the Senate with cigar smoking chimpanzees. What I find most distasteful is Mr. Harper's total lack of moral authority for doing what he is about to do, the fact that he lied about not making these appointments during two election campaigns and most of all, the distinct likelihood that since one Newfoundland and Labrador senate seat is open he will appoint one of biggest sellouts to the people of province, Loyola Hearn or Fabian Manning, to what amounts to the biggest taxpayer funded payoff in the Country.
Come to think of it I do care if the Prime Minister loads up the Senate with cigar smoking chimps. I believe I’d prefer that option.
If either Loyola Hearn or Fabian Manning gets appointed to the Seanate, we, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, should not be silent. We should, in unison, voice our utter disgust to such a move.
ReplyDeleteLet them put their names up for Election to the Senate. If they become Senators in that situation, I will have no qualms whatsoever.
Matter of fact, if these gentlemen were thinking properly, they would be the ones who would propose that angle to the Prime Minister. By doing so they will redeem themselves in the eyes of the electorate of Newfoundland and Labrador. With such a move, if they were elected, I would erase them of my list of 'most disliked' politicians.
Let there be MORALITY ESTABLISHED in both the Provincial and Federal Political Systems, and let it begin with Loyola Hearn and Fabian Manning by refusing to accept patronage through been appointed to the Senate of Canada.
ReplyDeleteIt will never happen. There is no way either of those two would turn down that plum. In fact Fabian Manning is rumored to already be campaigning inside the party to get the seat. (so much for any kind of conscience on his part and I'm confident Hearn is no better).
ReplyDeleteThose two will stay on your list, of that I'm confident.
So Sad to hear!
ReplyDeleteLike I said above, I wouldn't mind if either Messrs. Hearn or Manning redeemed themselves by, instead of asking to be crowned under patronage as a Senator, they spoke to their Prime Minister and sought approval to offer their names on a list for Election to the Senate.
We have to make patronage appointments, as Senators, Ambassadors and Directors, etc. reduntant, since Patronage appointments are the very type of pork-barrelling that kept Newfoundland and Labrador in the poorhouse for 59 years. And, it is, no doubt, the very reason that both those gentlemen toed the party line for their Prime Minister during that Atlantic Accord debacle when the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was hoodwinked out of what it was deserving and what it was promised by Prime Minister Harper.
They knew they didn't have to worry that there were safeguards put in place by the Federal Government, that if they reneged on what was promised to their province, and at the same time, the very reason for which they were elected by the NL electorate, that everything would be okay in the end and they would be looked after forever and ever, because that is exactly the role that the Patronage Plum system provides.
In other words toe the line for for your party no matter how awful it is for your province and you will be looked after with plums from the patronage system until the day you expire.
Messrs. Hearn and Manning please take a stand and stop the destruction of your province. Yes, be the first to do so! At least you will redeem yourselves in the end.
It is never wrong to stand up and make a stance and say We are Sorry, We want to turn a new leaf in Our Lives and that of our province.
So, now if either or both of these gentlemen accept an appointment to the Senate, or any Patronage handout, in reality what they are doing is accepting payment for going against what was best for their province.
ReplyDeleteIn other words when they took a stand in Parliament to vote against the legistlation that would have seen their province getting a fairer deal from the Atlantic Accord, some say any where from $10 to $11 Billion over a ten year period, they went again the electorate from their province. They set the province back probably another 60 years from gaining parity with the rest of Canada.
We all know when you compare this province's infrastructure to what the other provinces have, it is far from equitable, and it will take many Billions of dollars to remedy that inequity, the deal which they voted against could very well have put us on equal footing over the 10 year period.
My question is should these Patronage Appointment position be allowed to be bestowed upon our politicians?
It is up to the electorate to decide, in my eyes it is the most CORRUPT SCHEME which ever was devised.
It can only be described as BLACKMAIL, and BLACKMAIL is an offence, I do believe, for the ordinary citizens of the land.
Also how can politicians serve those jobs honesly, when they know that the real reason they won the job in the first place was because they were dishonest and very disloyal to their subjects?
It is no different than what the 'Fish Merchants' did to the electorate of Newfoundland and Labrador, it is more or less a continuance of the corruption and deceitfulness dished out to our people under a similar scheme for now more than 500 years.
From the way I see it patriot these men have been infected by western greed and a lifestyle that is not sustainable. Where are the phone calls and emails to the government? Where is the voice of opposition in Canada to this give away of tax payer dollars? I do not think it is time for senate reform, I believe that it is time in fact to get rid of this house of thieves and stupid political types that feed from the blood sweat and tears of the Newfoundland and Labrador people.
ReplyDeleteThese evil and corrupt men and women will tell you and I that this house is needed for our form of Government to work. If this be the case then I say that our form of government is wrong and it must be changed. Why are we wasting our tax dollars supporting this kind of ignorance racism and total disrespect of the people that pay their salary? Why would the men and women of Newfoundland and Labrador feel it necessary for us as a people to send our resource dollars to a central government that shows this amount of sheer disrespect to a man who has committed his life to make our nation and province a better place to live.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKnxM3Pzc4Y
As the video from U-Tube shows this so called Senator from Canada shows his complete and utter lack of knowledge of our nation and her people .He shows nothing but contempt and disrespect for the people of our province. The blame for all of Newfoundland and Labradors problems were caused by Newfoundlander’s and Labradoreans .The faltering ecomny .The collapse of the fishery. The deal made on the Church Hill Falls agreement, all our fault and, continues to be so, because we elect men and women like Premier Danny Williams to defend and represent us in our democracy.
Yet, as I write this rant to your Blog the Federal government, along with the Provincial Government of Ontario is ready to spend THREE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLARS to save Ontario and its dying auto industry. Will the people of Newfoundland and Labrador benefit from this risky investment when profit is finally made. Will the investment be returned .Will the federal government return those tax dollars back to Newfoundland and Labrador when it’s all said and done.
What I am getting at Patriot is when the federal Government invested in Hibernia, remember what they said. But when we asked for that resource money back, what did the leader of the liberal Party say. “The investment was risky and the people of Canada deserve some payback for taking such a risky investment.” Will those very same hypocrites now say the same thing to Ontario?
2. http://www.theindependent.ca/article.asp?id=270
For what anon, Dec 13, 2008 3:41, has said I couldn’t agree more. What we have done is basically trade one evil form of Government for another. Instead of fish they are now robbing us of our Oil and resources dollars so people in Central Canada can have over paid jobs in auto factories, and the cronies can suck back the taxes stolen from those companies. The outright corruption and greed in Canada is nothing more than a sickness bestowed upon us by Confederation with Canada.
Not to belittle your article Patriot, but having these two clowns appointed to the senate is the last thing we have to worry about in Newfoundland and Labrador. Still it would be nice for these gentlemen to show the true meaning of what it is to be a person from Newfoundland and Labrador by not accepting these bribes. Only time will tell what their character is made of.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wmortgage13/BNStory/Front/home/
ReplyDeleteThe address above contains a must read article in this weekend's Globe and Mail. The reason Ottawa has to put $79 Billion into the Banks. Very little of the $79 Billion covering 40 year mortgage -zero downpayment were lent to build houses in NL. This is surely another way that we are shafted. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will pay dearly for this through their Federal Taxpayers dollars and natural resources. The title of the article is: HOW HIGH RISK MORTGAGES CREPT NORTH
Hey Myles get aload of this.
ReplyDeletehttp://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081215.wrcaisse15/BNStory/Business/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp
And ,Newfoundland and Labrador CANNOT get backing from the federal governement for the largest undeveloped hydro project left in North America.
Never mind the jobs that it would create for thousands of unemployed in the Labrador region of the province.
It's news like this that constantly gives me an upset stomach, to put it mildly.
Calvin