The Conservatives were hypocrites when they were in government. Now they are hypocrites in opposition. Consider the journey interim leader Rona Ambrose has taken. Michael Harris writes:
Now, Rona has asked for a pre-budget meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Does she want to offer him advice on how to run budgetary deficits? Does she want to show him how to hide the bad stuff in an omnibus bill? Whatever the reason, Rona now believes in the government should consult the Opposition Leader. Where was the outreach when Rona’s bunch ruled the roost? The only thing Stephen Harper ever consulted was his navel.
Then there’s Rona’s volte face on a royal commission into missing and murdered aboriginal women. While in power, she was dead against the idea, just like Steve. Now that Steve has taken to hanging out incognito in Vegas and Fort Myers, Rona’s compassion needle is jumping like a Geiger counter at Fukushima.
During the Harper Occupation, when Ambrose was health minister, marijuana was the devil’s weed. Minister Ambrose made it a moral and “scientific” issue: no legal doobies on her watch, and no support for municipally-run marijuana dispensaries either. Otherwise, all the kids would be stoned before they got to finger-painting.
The Cons put our money where their mouths were — all $7 million of it. They spent the numbers off the credit card on an anti-marijuana-legalization drive, pimping out Health Canada in the process. It was, of course, really just an anti-Justin Trudeau campaign — and people noticed.
And those members of the caucus who are rumoured to be applying for the permanent job all have pasts that make it difficult to believe any change of heart they may confess to:
[Peter] MacKay led his previous party into oblivion through the merger with the Canadian Alliance. Progressive Conservatives like David Orchard have not forgotten how that happened.
The past has such a long reach. How does Pierre Poilievre live down the cash-for-kids gambit, or his partisan-inspired Fair Elections Act, the Harper government’s non-answer to robocalls?
How does Erin O’Toole champion the cause of veterans when his government closed down their service centers and told them they were a bunch of union dupes?
I ask you, how does Kellie Leitch run for leader after standing beside Chris Alexander in front of a sign that said, “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices”?
They are a collection of Lady Macbeths. No matter how hard they scrub, that Harper stain won't be washed clean.
6 comments:
As much as anything else, these Conservative positions suggest a party without constructive ideas.
Even as government, Anon, they were the Party of No.
Absolute scum. The worst government in the history of Canada. Complete contempt for the very basics of democratic government. Contemptuous of human rights. Thieves.
Anyone who voted for these criminals, anyone who will vote for them in the future, is either an ignoramus or as debased as they are.
.. Harris certainly rips strips off just a few of the likely suspects.. but in fairness they're all just practicing what Stephen Harper took to rapturous levels of achievment .. ie Political Speech.. You may recall the Harper Government legal beagles lecturing the Courts while advancing Harper's fable that Canada owed no moral obligation to wounded military Veterans.. especially those bringing a Class Action Lawsuit. I believe the bizarre gist of their motions were Promises by Political Leaders were 'just political speech' and not to be taken as anthing of any consequence or meaning... and therefore the Lawsuit was frivolous and vexing to the Prime Minister and should be dismissed toute suite yer Honor ..
In reality, Harper became fearless about simply ignoring what he said one to the other. His real legacy is advancing the principle that nobody will bother to keep track of the everchanging story.. and if they do So What? Another fable will be sprung the next day & another merry chase by a few stubborn journalists might be fun. This is a Prime Minister who recently said publicly that 'I never said Missing Indigenous Women are really not on my radar'. Nobody can keep up with his wondrous tales of the Duffy - Nigel Wright - PMO Scandal including the wonderfully crafted vagueness of 'I had no knowledge of these things' .. What? 'things' ? That's so damn specific its stunning. Perhaps he was referring to how his breakfast was served?
So the likely suspects are just trudging the Harper trail, unconcerned, indeed mightily unburdened by any concept of 'Practice What You Screetch' .. and highly practiced at fluffing lazy Mainstream Media and simply ignoring any serious journalist with an endless variety of glib deflections. After all.. soon there won't be any serious journalists.. like the caribou, wild salmon & boreal wolf they're headed to extinction. 'Regretful' they'll intone.. like Peter Kent on legislating that poisoning Alberta's wolves with airdropped strychnine laced baits was 'sound wildlife management'
If the polls are right, thwap, 30% of Canadians continue to support these folks.
They tried to erase the record, salamander -- Canada's organizational memory. And they nearly succeeded. They may yet succeed, given our increasing number of unemployed journalists.
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