Michael Warren writes that Stephen Harper is rapidly approaching the moment where he will have to choose between himself and his party:
The events that unfold in front of him in the months ahead hold little hope of vindication. His unlikely version of the Senate scandal will either completely collapse or remain in haunting limbo.
Harper’s defence is that he didn’t know about the political scheming that’s swirled around him for a year. If he had, he would have stopped it.
But for many Canadians that’s not an acceptable ethical standard.
Even if he didn’t know, he should have. It’s his office. It’s his chief of staff, Nigel Wright, who is accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust by the RCMP. It’s his appointed Senators, Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau who disgraced themselves and were removed from the Upper House.
If he acts only for himself, he'll drag his party down with him:
He thinks he can cling to his narrow ethical standard of “I didn’t know” and continue to stonewall his way through this crisis. He can’t. He and his party are being judged by a much broader standard of behaviour.
And, even if he resigns, there are many legal battles ahead:
If charges are laid against Wright and any of the named Senators — which seems probable — it could mean years of criminal trials.
They will be media spectacles. Those accused and the witnesses called (possibly even Harper), will have to give their account of events under oath — for the first time. The resulting revelations will serve to reactivate the current atmosphere of clear and present danger for the Conservatives up to and including the next election.
That said, Harper's resignation may be too little too late. The Privy Council Office reports that they have discovered Benjamin Perrin's deleted emails. The worst is yet to come.
19 comments:
Owen, most people who work in either the private or public sector knows that when it comes to misconduct, the "I didn't know" defence doesn't hold much credence. The story does boil down to the ethical aspect as the most obvious out of harper's desperation is simply that if he didn't know, why not?
That was the standard he held the previous government to, waterboy. If it were another prime minister from another party, he would be livid.
As it stands, he hopes it will all go away.
.. situational ethics ? Or bouts of madness ? ..
Harper Herd values are Canada's values ..
What ? ! ?
.. far far away from 'seizing the moment..' or the opportunity.. is a genetically flawed & depraved bovine imperious herd grazing & shitting in the House called Parliament.. with Bell Cow Harper
The herders and stable boys n girls are us..
ie .. the rest of Canada..
We put them there, keep them, pet them & feed them and at some point, clean up after them ..
Some sort of insane national 4-H club activity
Pathetic, destructive, nation erosion ..
the cattle are controlling us...
Moo - Canada
Who will Steve choose? Lessee now. Persecution complex, sociopath with narcisstic traits. Oh I know! he will choose himself, naturally.
He is an unhappy man and is hellbent to inflict his misery on others.
He doesn't care about Canada except to turn it into his weird Libertarian playground for his buddies like the Koch Brothers. So why would he care about his own party?
Conveniently, he was at a dinner, croaking out the oldies for the enamoured and brainwashed Jewish Lobbyists who fawn over him because of his "I love Israel the most--unconditionally--this much" crap, while the Benjamin Perrin emails are coming to light.
He still has to beat a Trudeau, he still has to take Mount-Royal, Papa Trudeau's old riding. As well as other such conquests, he ain't finished with his path of destruction.
Besides, some journalist pointed out that even if he were to leave sooner rather than later, the interim is rumoured that would Jimbo Flaherty. Ugh!
More importantly, the new leader would be another Kim Campbell.
Harper seems to have no scruples about throwing people under the bus, CK. I wouldn't be surprised if he felt the same way about his party -- because he thinks of it as HIS party.
Try as he will, he just can't get out of the trap he set for himself.
At some point, salamander, we can only hope that Canadians get sick of swamping out the barn.
Even though this Star article makes it clear that Harper should resign, the writer (who is a conservative) is foolish enough to postulate a) that the Conservative economic policies have been "credible" and b) that Harper has consciously fostered good people to take his place.
Both contentions are laughable. Instead, Harper's economic policies have been a disaster that has permanently damaged this country, and he has made a conscious effort NOT to keep anyone around him who is a credible politician to take his place. If the Cons want to avoid electoral disaster they better look outside the Cabinet to people not tainted by this Cabal's hate centred political style.
I have no faith whatever that these "recovered" emails are original.
They will have been cleansed to ensure nothing sticks to Harper.
Wright, Perrin et al are willingly flinging themselves under the bus for this sociopathic cult leader and the country will be expected to do the same.
It will be interesting to see if anything is redacted from the emails, Dana.
If they've been cleansed, we are in deep, deep trouble.
I agree, Kirby, that there is no one within the caucus who can credibly take the reins. Harper has carefully disposed of potential rivals.
A credible leader will have to come from without, not from within.
Sounds like a lot of wishful thinking to me, Owen. Only two things might pry Harper from his throne: if he's identified as a conspirator by the RCMP or if JT opens up a substantial and lasting lead in the polls. Either of those could be influenced by the Tory insurgents or Duffy for that matter. He's said to have handed over only about 200-pages of his 800-pages of documents.
I don't think Harper is considering resignation, Mound. At least not yet. At this point he's simply delusional.
But events -- and his own party -- might make it clear that he is persona non grata.
Well, yes...
Anyone with reasonable knowledge of a computer knows that ultimately you can delete information permanently off the hard drive but it's not any easy task let alone something done in everyday practice unless you are in security related organizations. Most delete data can be reclaimed.
So this suggests several things to me that the Privy Council is finally releasing Perrin's emails because;
1) Perhaps it was considered to have them disappear, others (lawyers, advisors, etc.) were consulted, hence the shifty time lag from when the documents were requested, the immediate denial that they existed and hence the late release and apology. Because the consulted quickly realised that there were many copies of said emails about and eventually would turn up so to deny their existence would be a fruitless approach and possibly harmful approach > obstruction.
2) Which leads me to believe that if there were many copies the Prime Minister himself would be privy to something as illegal and important to the Harper Government as this, 'falling on ones own sword' so to speak. It is stupendous beyond belief that Harper did not know and if not are we to believe then, that there is a second black and covert government operating right under Herr Harpers nose? I should think not, but in that case there is even more reason to turf the guy, giving up Canadian sovereignty to a band of zealot idealist criminals who would commit any crime and subsequent criminal cover-up not to be exposed. This would be Harpers treason if the later is true, treason can be accomplished wittingly or unwittingly simply by purposefully turning a blind eye.
3) Also people in government may be sick and tired of lying and deceiving the public to protect Harper and his dirt-bag cronies that stick with him like flies on shit even though he is blowing all to hell the party he almost singlehandedly created. Blind loyalty can be dangerous to ones own well-being as I believe many cons won't make it through the next election as we Canadians grow weary of their grade school tactics and criminal behaviour.
CONTINUED...
4) If you hire a lawyer he works for you and not behind your back, you are privy to his/her doings unless you specifically ask to be kept in the dark. This in itself would speak volumes that Harper then was fully aware that illegalities were going on to which he purposefully blinded himself to, see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil. Which brings Harper to an immense moral dilemma if he is indeed as religious as has been purported. That church going behaviour must have been little more than a smoke screen. Smoke and mirrors, cheating lying and deceiving is what Mr. Harper will be remembered for and destroying the Canada that made it so popular amongst its former citizens and friends in the rest of the world. Now we are lumped in with the Americans as untrustworthy and shitty neighbours in the world no longer to be trusted or admired. Harper backed out on Kyoto, he purposely gutted environmental policies, most oversight into environmental affairs/issues, social services, medicare and oversight into 'the harper government' things we as a society have striven to build over decades, he tore down in a couple of years. He even helped the Americans spy on our allies whilst in Ontario in a summit meeting, he is allowing a bill to go through parliament which would make search and seizure of any computer in Canada legal with nothing more than suspicion. Well hell Harper boy, I have plenty of suspicion about what's on the computers that you use or can accesses, I want to see a full disclosure of what's on those hard drives and servers and while we're at it lets get the full con computer disclosure to see what eavesdropping and illegal spying we have been subjected to as citizens, no perhaps prisoner/slaves, of Canada. If they had enough info in the con database to know who to call that would not be voting con in the 2011 election, what other info do they have? Everything including the color of your underwear I'm guessing!
When Harper ensconces himself with criminals and behind an RCMP cover so you and I can't voice our objections of his policies and only Harper worshippers are allowed to attend his speeches and rallies it becomes obvious that we no longer have a functioning democracy. Further to that no dissent, or very little is allowed in parliament even.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLfbp-HEylU&list=PLZymMbxQFO7FwgXFC-ms82bEPOHyiJMq2&index=2
This link now more than ever: "Dear Steve it's time to leave" from the song at the link, very apropos! After all Steve loves to tinkle on the piano and try to croon.
Mogs
Thanks for the link, Mogs. If Harper goes, it will not be of his own choosing.
Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini were all Dictators too. They too were sociopaths each one, devoid of a conscious. Once they gained power, they were impossible to dislodge. All of them had, very similar personalities.
Harper is no different than those, dictators of yesteryear. Not as extreme, but still a very similar personality. All of them had gigantic ego's. So does Harper.
Therefore, Harper will refuse to resign. Harper will pull a Robert Ford. I have no idea why, Harper's team still supports him? They are just as bad he is. Calandra should be banished from the House. He reminds me of Goebbels, with his ranting and raving.
Harper's ego is formidable, Anon. Until that is pierced, he won't go.
to decide between himself and the party may not be possible for him. he most likely considers himself the party. he may consider deciding for himself that this will be the only way to save the party. that no one else can do it.
it may help if you are delusional, because the man does not strike me as one who plays with a full deck.
Like you, e.a.f., I'm not sure Harper can make that distinction. He seems to be very self absorbed.
For him, I doubt the choice is cut and dried.
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