Newfoundland Premier Paul Davis was not happy after his meeting last week with Stephen Harper. "It really solidifies that you can’t trust the federal government, you can’t trust Stephen Harper’s government," he said. "We bargained in good faith. We believed that we had an agreement in place, that we had a deal set."
Davis sounded eerily like another premier from Newfoundland, Danny Williams. Michael Harris writes:
Former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams, once believed he had a deal that would allow his province to keep its offshore oil revenues while still being eligible for full equalization payments from Ottawa. When Stephen Harper changed that arrangement, Williams went on the war path. With the full backing of the premier’s office, word spread across Newfoundland and Labrador — vote for anybody but Harper at the ballot box.
And then there was Harper's alteration of the Atlantic Accord. When Bill Casey met with Harper, he discovered that the agreement meant what Stephen Harper said it meant:
Casey visited the prime minister personally, armed with legal opinions from the justice department confirming that the deal had been changed and that it was illegal.
“Harper swept the opinions off his desk and said that the words meant what he said they meant. He said that I had never been with the program,” Casey told me.
Jack Layton said he discovered early on that you couldn't take the prime minister at his word. That, Harris writes, is what the next election will be all about: Stephen Harper's word.
10 comments:
Harper I'm beginning to think is a puritan megalomaniac with religious overtones...
Definitely religious overtones, Mogs.
“Harper swept the opinions off his desk and said that the words meant what he said they meant."
Spoken like the cruel egomanical martinet that he is, Owen.
I'm told, Lorne, that -- some time ago -- he informed his security detail that he makes the rules.
I am the Law. I make the rules. By the time I get through with this country? You won't recognize it.
Those are the only true words, Harper has ever uttered.
I agree, Anon. They tell you exactly what and who he thinks matter.
Harper:
Judge Dredd without even a Lawbook to govern him. I've lost track of the number of times I've heard/read something about Harper saying he is the law, or some variant of it, and I get Stallone's voice going in the back of my head "I AM the Law!"
I have no doubt he believes that, Scotian. He's reached the point where he appears to suffer from some kind of psychosis.
The issue with Premier Davis is about the CETA causing job losses in Newfoundland. The Fed Govt said it would compensate Newfoundland, with tax payer money.
The Harper government has no trouble using taxpayer money for advertising, Hugh. But I'm sure you've noticed that they don't like spending previously approved funds -- for Veterans -- if it will help them reach a balanced budget.
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