Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause and if you are a blue blooded ultra Conservative stalwart his name is Stephen.
Conversely, believe it or not, Steve Clause also visited his gifts on Newfoundland and Labrador this Christmas even after failing to win a single seat in the Province during the last election.
Yes indeed, it also seems Newfoundland and Labrador is the recipient of more than a little of the PM’s Christmas spirit this year (unintended of course).
When it comes to cronyism no better proof of the PM’s spirit of giving can be found than the senate appointment of disgraced Newfoundland and Labrador MP Fabian Manning. A man who had the audacity to sit, laugh and even egg on the Prime Minister in the House of Commons a couple of years ago as the latter publicly ridiculed Manning’s home Province.
Indeed, no better example can be found unless you also look at the Prime Minister’s appointment of CTV’s Mike Duffy, a national political correspondent with more than a little bias toward his ultra conservative friends. A bias that has exposed itself more and more in recent years, especially when interviewing federal Tory friends or when snidely deriding Newfoundland and Labrador Premier, Danny Williams.
Oh well, I guess that’s just the way things work in Ottawa, nothing new under the sun there.
What more would anyone expect from Santa Harper than a long list of patronage appointments after promising to never appoint senators. I guess the spirit of Christmas was just too much for the PM to resist. With plenty of personal time on his hands, having suspended Parliament so he couldn’t be forced to answer to a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons, the pork barrel spirit must have moved him to act.
Never having been a fan of blind partisanship there may be those who will be amazed at what I’m about to say next, but I would like to offer my heart felt congratulations to both Mr. Duffy and Mr. Manning.
At least with both of these men squirreled away inside the dusty old red senate chamber Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, along with Canadians in general, will no longer have to suffer through their partisan, one sided and self serving drivel.
There’s an old saying to the effect that the best way to relegate someone into silent obscurity is to appoint them to the Canadian senate. Looking at these appointments from that perspective perhaps the greatest Christmas gift of all this season has been given by the PM to Newfoundland and Labrador with the appointment of these two individuals.
Always look on the bright side folks. Always look on the bright side.
Merry Chrismas everyone.
Two patronage plum positions bestowed today by the Canadian Parliament, namely senatorship positions, were given out because two men went against Premier Williams and his province, Newfoundland and Labrador.
ReplyDeleteThere was not a show that Mike Duffy did on CTV Hour Long Show that he didn't try to engage someone in a rant against Premier Williams. One or more of his guests even said, "now I told you I didn't want to talk about that subject tonight".
I never, ever saw anyone so hateful and revengeful, as Duffy was towards Newfoundland and Labrador and its Premier.
Now, if that is all it takes to get a Senatorship position for Duffy to crap on Newfoundland and Labrador each night on his, it just goes to show how 'useless' and 'flaky' that Body of Parliament realy is. It is just a holding vehicle for whoever toes the line for the Ruling Party at the time.
I am wondering if Premier Danny has a case against what has happened here? I think this type of corruption against the people of Newfoundland and Labrador can be rebutted some how, I don't know what the avenue would be, but there must be a way to have this treatment which was doled out by Duffy on National TV every evening cleaned-up.
In the meantime, what is this Manning character going to do positive for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador? He was instrumental in seeing $11 Billion dollars, which was supposed to be coming to Newfoundland and Labrador through the Atlantic Accord, over a 13 year period, taken away from the province by voting for and toeing the party line for Ottawa.
THE CORRUPT PATRONAGE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE DISBANDED. IT IS THE TOOL THAT HAS DESTROYED NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR'S CHANCE FOR PARITY IN CANADA OVER THE PAST 60 YEARS.
Who will be the politician that sees that it is disbanded. Personally, I doubt that anyone will because it benefits whichever ruling party is in power, Liberal or Conservative?
It is the people power who will have to see that action stopped, but then again it has benefitted every other province in Canada except Newfoundland and Labrador, so therefore we are not expected to see that action any time soon.
Hey Fabian ,you scum sucking bottwm feeder.I hope you rot in f&$%@# hell for what you did you piece of human garbage.The people of Newfoundland and Labrador will not forget you maggot.
ReplyDeleteClearly appointing Manning was intended to repay him for selling out his province and a chance for Harper to once again show the people of Newfoundland and Labrador his total disdain.
ReplyDeleteWhy else would Harper appoint a man that the people refused to vote for just 3 months ago because they did not want him representing them?
According to the Canadian Press:
"The (federal) government says it's still committed to democratizing the Senate. The new nominees are expected to resign and run for their seats if their province ever introduces elections to the upper chamber."
Now the people need to convince the provincial government to hold a senate election as soon as possible so we can either get that A-hole out of Ottawa once and for all or, if Manning fails to step down, prove the point that both he and Harper are nothing but opportunists without an ounce of morality between them.
THE CORRUPT PATRONAGE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE DISBANDED. IT IS THE TOOL THAT HAS DESTROYED NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR'S CHANCE FOR PARITY IN CANADA OVER THE PAST 60 YEARS.
ReplyDeleteAnd at the same time you defend the honour of dearly offended Premier Williams?
Newsflash, A.P.N.: he is Patronage Central.
I am not only against the Federal Patronage System, which by the way was the biggest destroyer of Newfoundland and Labrador's ability to have amounted into a parity province, but I am also against provincial patronage, as well
ReplyDeleteIf our politicians had been on the ball federally, there were Trillions of dollars given out over the past 60 years in infrastructure, like Military Bases, Federal Regional Offices, Research and Development monies, etc., etc. that Newfoundland and Labrador could have been part of as well.
If our politicians had been honest and focused on the reason for which they were elected in the first place to represent the electorate of Newfoundland and Labrador and so as to enhance the place with an economy from its resources. If they had done what was right there is no way that our natural resources should have gone to other parts of Canada, and in the case of our fish resource the world to enhance economies there.
But our politicians knew that Ottawa had one of the richest Political Patronage Systems in the World, an insurance policy which protected them and to encourage them to toe the line for Ottawa and make things go in the direction that Ottawa wanted them to go in, and there was more to gain personally through toeing the party line for Ottawa than looking out for the people who elected them.
Now that was before Newfoundlanders and Labradorians understood how the whole system worked. But now that we do, in future years, they will not get off so easily as the politicians of the past, by doing the things that they did in the past, and I might add, those of the past who toed the party line and enriched themselves for the sake of Ottawa/Canada and who enjoyed so much of the lime light are scum in our eyes. At least in the eyes of those who o f us who have already caught on to the system. I really think that most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are not quite in tune with the 'Patronage System', since they put so much blind faith in their politicians and they never thought that they would be involved in such a scheme.
The patronage system is corrupt, immoral, dishonest and sickening. These are some of the adjectives that I can think of at the moment to describe that system and the harm it has caused the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the harm which will reverberate though this province for the rest of its history. We will never ever be able to recover from it in the New Economy, which will come after the Depression that the whole world is experiencing at the moment.
YES, THE CORRUPT FEDERAL PATRONAGE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE DISBANDED. IT IS THE TOOL THAT HAS DESTROYED NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR'S CHANCE FOR PARITY IN CANADA OVER THE PAST 60 YEARS. AND IT MUST HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY!
AND YES I AM AGAINST PATRONAGE WHEREVER IT HAPPENS TO BE. MATTERS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED ON MERIT.