Glen McGregor reports that Stephen Harper will skip Flora MacDonald's funeral:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not attend the funeral of former external affairs minister Flora MacDonald, a pioneering political figure credited with leading the advance of women in modern Canadian conservative politics.
Instead, Status of Women Minister Kellie Leitch will represent the government at the service on Sunday — the day, according to a CBC report circulating Wednesday, that Harper will ask the governor general to dissolve parliament and kick off the federal election campaign.
A lot of other people will be attending:
Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Joe Clark, who made MacDonald his external affairs minister in 1979, is returning from summer holidays in the United States to speak at the service.
Former PC senator Lowell Murray, also a cabinet minister under Clark, will speak, and former PC MP David MacDonald will officiate. There is speculation that former prime minister Brian Mulroney will also attend.
You'll notice that these folks are all Progressive Conservatives. MacDonald, like Clark, warned against the Reform takeover of the party. Perhaps that's why Harper acknowledged her passing with a curt tweet which mis-spelled her name.
Harper's reaction merely confirms that there never was a place in his party for Progressive Conservatives. And it shows yet again that he really is a nasty piece of work.
