Da Legal Stuff...
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Now, with that out of the way...Let's Web Talk.
Reports Suggest Stockwell Day Hiding Illegal Firearms at his Ottawa Residence.
Jim Flaherty Stole Funds from Toronto Banking Consortium in the 1990’s
Stephen Harper Caught in Intimate Affair with Under Age Neighbor.
None of the preceding headlines are real of course, but they say so much about the self serving position taken by Canada’s governing party when it comes to the actions of former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier.
For very good reason there are laws against possessing illegal weapons, bank fraud and sexual interference with a minor. There are also very good reasons why laws are in place when it comes to protecting classified government documents.
Why then does the Harper government refuse to call for a formal police investigation and continue to insist that the actions of Maxime Bernier are little more than a political gaffe? Why does the PM brush aside the fact that someone in Mr. Bernier’s sensitive position had an intimate relationship with a person directly connected to organized crime figures? Why, unlike the startling headlines above are Bernier’s actions touted as a “private matter”?
Would it be a private matter if the Finance Minister were indeed found to have committed a theft in the past, the Public Safety Minister broke Canada’s gun laws or the PM took part in an illicit affair with a minor? Of course it wouldn’t. Neither is it a private matter when someone with access to sensitive documents leaves them in the home of a “connected” person for over a month. There are laws against just that sort of activity.
Between the Bernier screw up in Afghanistan, NAFTA gate, the Chuck Cadman affair, the flip flop on income trusts, Jim Flaherty’s attack on the Ontario government, Bernier’s security breach and the Conservative’s stonewalling over every last one of those situations Canada’s governing party has gone from being seen as a calculating, controlling, but focused, group to a laughing stock across the Country. A Parliamentary version of the Three Stooges or the Apple Dumpling Gang.
When the Liberal party was under the gun over the Quebec sponsorship scandal they were rightfully recognized as corrupt and manipulating but they never, not even at their darkest hour, were seen as being comedic in their ineptness. In this respect Stephen Harper has reached a new low generally reserved for the likes of George Bush in the U.S.
There is nothing as deadly for a political party than becoming a laughing stock. As the butt of countless jokes the Conservative party has entered into uncharted territory in Canadian politics and as their comedic value continues to grow any public respect they possessed will fall accordingly.
It may have taken more than two years for the true character of the federal Conservative Party to show itself but it seems the truth is finally beginning to surface, no matter how hard the PM tries to throw a cloak of silence over it.
The long delayed resignation of Canada’s Foreign Minister, Maxime Bernier clearly shows the pathetically small talent pool Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to choose from inside his party. It also shows that the PM would rather have fight to protect the job of a mediocre, or totally incompetent, Minister rather than relinquish the sort of totalitarian control he exerts over the government of Canada.
Bernier left his position this week after it came to light that he had left classified government documents at the home of a former girlfriend who has been reported to have direct ties with organized crime.
The incident came to light after several previous gaffs by the minister that included a public demand of the sovereign government in Afghanistan to remove the governor of Kandahar province from office and announcing his intention to use a Canadian military aircraft for foreign relief efforts but discovered there wasn’t one available.
Although it will doubtlessly get the lion’s share of media attention, the resignation of Minister Bernier is not the real story that needs to be reported. The real story in this is the reason why the resignation of this Minister was not asked for far earlier. On the surface it appears to be a story of ministerial incompetence but it is also a story of an incompetence that is only surpassed by the clear lack of judgment and blind ambition of Canada’s Prime Minister.
For months the opposition parties have pummeled Stephen Harper with questions related to Bernier’s ability to do his job and the security concerns he posed in the sensitive foreign affairs role. For just as long Stephen Harper brushed those concerns aside and went on the attack against the opposition members who asked questions on the issue.
In taking this dismissive approach to such a serious situation Stephen Harper inadvertently exposed his true motives for keeping Bernier in the role. Harper exhibited a level of poor judgment that should never be tolerated in a Prime Minister and proved that his political aspirations in Quebec, Bernier’s home province, and his burning need to completely control every aspect of governing Canada are the driving force behind his actions.
Canada’s Prime Minister sees himself as being more like a U.S. president than a Canadian PM. In reality the PM is simply the top minister within the nation. The entire cabinet is supposed to manage the interests of the Country, not one man. Stephen Harper does not see it that way.
Instead of elected officials leading Canada, as the system intends, Mr. Harper has surrounded himself with a hand full of cronies inside his office who are actually running Canada without ever being elected or ever being answerable in any way to the Canadian public.
The government of Canada today has very little to differentiate it from the leadership of the former Soviet Union. Closed door decisions, tight control of press coverage, elected officials turned into impotent figureheads, bureaucrats fired for doing their jobs and the public kept in the dark while being led in a direction that is at the sole discretion of one man, whether they like it or not.
In Canada, democracy appears dead and the smoking gun rests in the hands of one man, Stephen Harper.
Over the coming days the opposition parties in Ottawa and the press corps will no doubt want to know exactly which sort of documents were left exposed by the former minister and whether national security was ever at risk. Based on what we've seen of Stephen Harper to this point in his regime I'm willing to bet he'll claim he can't discuss the documents because they're classified.
Only in Canada.
