Saturday, April 23, 2016

Regret Is Everywhere



Kellie Leitch tearfully regretted this week that she had had anything to do with the "barbaric practices" snitch line. And, when Mike Duffy ran afoul of Stephen Harper, he too regretted his decision to go to work for the man:

“The sad truth is I allowed myself to be intimidated into doing what I knew in my heart was wrong out of a fear of losing my job and out of a misguided sense of loyalty,” Duffy told his fellow senators.
“… This kind of politics is not why I came to the Senate of Canada. It’s not why millions of Canadians voted for the Conservative party. It’s not the Canadian way.” 

Among Conservatives these days, regret is everywhere. It's interesting that no one admitted to any poor choices before the Harper government came crashing down. Susan Delacourt writes:

What would have been better, even Leitch and Duffy would probably agree now, is if these Conservatives had expressed their aversion to this brand of politics before it stopped working for them.
It’s pretty easy to be regretful in defeat; it’s far more difficult, but also more courageous, to speak up when you’re in a position to stop bad behaviour in its tracks. 

Only one member of the caucus -- Michael Chong -- resigned on a matter of principle. Yet he, too, stuck with the boss. Some former Conservatives -- like Bill Casey -- took Harper on, paid a heavy price, and were eventually vindicated. But, all told, they were never a very courageous lot. They are, however, regretful.


12 comments:

Lorne said...

The only thing Leitch is sorry about, in my view, Owen, is the fact that her cowardly and immoral participation in hate-mongering may very well cost her the leadership of the party that her naked ambition has led her to vie for.

Owen Gray said...

Her silence on the export of asbestos, Lorne, was a clear indication that personal ambition mattered more to her than professional ethics. The tears look like crocodile tears.

Marie Snyder said...

I once invited my MP to talk to my class and he brought Leitch along. Like almost all politicians I invite, she didn't ever truly answer a student's question, but on top of that, her far right views were frightening. She was the Minister of the Status of Women at the time and she was opposed to dropping the tax on feminine hygiene products because women shouldn't be allowed special privileges. WTF? She had two ministries (Labour too); obviously one of Harper's favourites.

Owen Gray said...

Academically, she's supposed to be pretty bright, Marie. But, like lots of doctors, she appears to have no bedside manner.

Steve said...

Has there ever been a worse launch to a leadership. All the cons have to know that Canadians will never forget their Haper surrenders.

Owen Gray said...

Any former member of Harper's caucus faces the same hurdle, Steve. The stain won't wash away.

The Mound of Sound said...


I think old Tories like Leitch are tarred by their own actions and also by their service and servitude to the now thoroughly disgraced and discredited controller, Harper. When Leitch flew into her weep-fest, it reminded me of nothing so much as the "good German" defence. "I was only following orders. I had no idea things were that bad. If I had only known." Yeah, right.

I'm hopeful, Owen, that the Duffy political show trial, will be enough to trigger some post mortem on the Harper government and the role the RCMP played in its service. Harper took the notion of an imperial prime minister to obscene lengths and it led to entirely predictable excesses. Somehow we need to find a means to ensure that one man can no longer seize control and manipulate to his partisan political interests the public service, the armed forces and the national police apparatus.

We held on thanks to a brilliant piece of constitutional legislation introduced by a prime minister long past and a courageous Supreme Court. We need to appreciate that we and our democracy had actually been forced back to our very last line of defence.

Owen Gray said...

If it were not for the Charter, Mound, we would be lost. Perhaps that's what's at the root of Harper's visceral hatred of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Unknown said...

What an amazingly mature and astute observation from 15yr. old Anne Frank. I lived in Amsterdam and have visited the "The Anne Frank House." It was a very profound experience. Thx. for posting this quote.

The kind of people such as Kelly Leitch that would not just follow Harper, but be completely obedient to him, are people who have abandoned independent thought and are without a moral compass. The Duffy trial and verdict reveals the corrupt lengths this amoral Con. government went to in trying to deceive Canadians. Wright and friends showed how inhumane, brutally ruthless and intimidating they could be in their ongoing harassment and threats directed at Duffy. They were, true to their nature, acting like a gang of thugs. The difference was, last night, that I got to read step by step of this thugish behaviour in Mounds posting of the Judges verdict. I'm sure many Canadians are also reading it. Wright was like a Mafia front man, doing his bosses bidding. Some of us have known for sometime about Harper and his crews hateful and cruel behaviour to others, but to actually see it laid out before us in a systematic ongoing attack against a completely innocent man, was truly disturbing. There was no let up for Duffy. One can only imagine, if Harper had won the election, the incredible pain and suffering that their tip lines targeted victims, Muslims, would have endured. Kelly Leitch in announcing the launch of this tip line revealed her complete immersion into the dark, tyrannical world of Stephen Harper.

The Mound of Sound said...

The comment I left earlier led me to launch into an expose of the role played by the RCMP throughout the Duffy scandal, how they cherry picked evidence and ignored the clear information they had to hand to come up with their bizarre conclusions and how they've been exposed by Justice Vaillancourt's findings.

Owen Gray said...

There have been suspicions since the first election that brought Harper to power -- when the Mounties investigated Ralph Goodale -- that the RCMP had a special relationship with Harper, Mound. Vaillancourt's decision has done nothing to dampen those suspicions.

Owen Gray said...

It's interesting that both Leitch and Wright are reputed to be very bright. If anything, Pam, they prove that highly intelligent people are just as susceptible to corruption as the rest of us mere mortals.