My business partner Satya Das had an interesting observation at the end of the day on Friday. He said one of Martin Luther King's aspirations is being affirmed in Canada. He noted that Rahim Jaffer is being "judged on the content of his character and not the colour of his skin."
This is still a strange situation that gets stranger every day. It is as much about Prime Minister Harper's character these days. Glad to see the Toronto Star and the CBC still have the resources and journalist chops to stay on the story to get us some facts. We are not getting much integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability from our Prime Minister on this matter. That is obvious and very disappointing for Canadians. Citizens should be able to presume these values from our Prime Minister. Anything less is a betrayal of the public's trust. That is not the first time Harper has betrayed the trust of Canadians.
What more does Prime Minister Harper know about Guergis situation that he is not saying? He needs much more substantial evidence than what has been uncovered by media sources so far. Why has Harper stonewalled again? Why is Harper refusing to tell us the truth about what he knows? Why isn't our Prime Minister hading the facts that caused him to kick Guergis out of Cabinet and the Caucus.
Why did Harper try to leave the impression about the seriousness of the situation by saying he "referred" it to the Conflicts of Interest Commissioner and the RCMP. How does the representations of our Prime Minister square with the Commissioner saying she has no Prime Minister referral and no evidence about the concerns from the Prime Minister, except what she has read in the media. OUCH! Is this serious stuff! The most serious concerns of Canadian citizens so far are the misleading statements from Prime Minister Harper. That is the really serious stuff!
Please tell us Mr. Prime Minister that this action was not political and that was based more than sketchy third-party representations from less than credible sources. Please tell us Mr. Prime Minister that you had some substantial evidence to justify targetting Guergis and Jaffer in this way. If all Harper had to make his call to throw Guergis under the bus is what we have been told by investigative media reports, one has to presume Harper's judgment is impaired. This is looking like yet another incident of cover-up, deceit and misleadling politics that tend to prove Harper's character is impaired too. This incident seems to be moving towards being more about power politics and personal vengeance of the Prime Minister than the good of the country...at least from what we know so far. Time to come clean Mr. Prime Minister.
Remember the Harper attack ads on Stephane Dion saying he was not a leader? Seems to me what goes around comes around. We have mounting proof that Harper is not a leader. He is proving to us yet again that his deceptive, reckless and often abusive political style does not align with the values of Canadians.
It is time to terminate this Harper fiasco and failed experiment. We have no peace, disorder and nothing approaching good government. Harper has to go. It is time for an election!
Ken, I absolutely agree.
ReplyDeleteStephen Harper campaigned on transparency and is now running one of the most opaque Canadian governments ever.
He told us that a vote of non-confidence followed by a coalition government was somehow undemocratic so he prorogued parliament (in 2008), yet he had negotiated a coalition with the NDP and Bloc and tried to force out Paul Martin when Mr. Harper was opposition leader.
His idea of an open, democratic government is to produce an internal Conservative party document on how to stymie parliamentary committees.
His idea of accountability is to shut down parliament and deny a duly passed order of Parliament to turn over documents when things get uncomfortable for his government.
Yes, Mr. Harper has to go.
I too agree Ken, that it is time for an election. The Libs have never been weaker, the NDP less relevant, and the Bloc - well, who knows how Quebec thinks other than completely self-interested and to hell with Canada.
ReplyDeleteThe continued steady hand of a decent, intelligent, and capable Harper has provided this country with sound fiscal policy to weather a serious recession from which Canada is emerging first in the world, and a strong military that we are going to need as the world sees a growing Islamic threat. Harper has been a bulwark against the ineptness of Dion and Iggywaffles, the craziness of a Coalition, and however it happened, has avoided pushing Canada into the idiocy of supporting the UN IPCC and the likes of Suzuki in their bid to sink the fiances of the world in combating non-existent man made global warming.
Bring it on and humiliate the LIbs into well-deserved irrelevancy.
Time to come clean Mr. Prime Minister.
ReplyDelete-- Sorry Ken, Harper doesn't do clean!