Harper got the perfect election he wanted after all: Bloc Quebecois are dead in the water, Liberals are heavily decimated, and now Jack Layton is out of the way (unfortunately replaced with a new leader who previously unbeknownst to the Canadian general public has had separatist ties in the past).
No-one can easily stand up to Harper and his hounds now. We're fucked :(
The Real Wizard · Member since
Nah, don't feel so grim. It's not like his policies and goals died with him !
Who knows, maybe the flag will be passed to his wife. She's probably the most recognizable face in the party at the moment. Regardless, they have four years to get their act together.
inu-liger · Member since
True.
GratefulFan · Member since
inu-liger wrote:
Too right. Anyone who cannot place the ghastly G20 findings by the A.G. (whether in leaked or in official form) above any supposed non-declarations about a certain politician's personal health, is a right damn fool not worthy of even participating in the election voting process in my eyes.
===============================
Okay there! Limiting my points only to the strawman y'all have thrown up, I'll assume you two political scholars are actually referring to the issues with the portion of the AG report relating to the G8 Legacy Fund, and not the section relating to the G20, because that was pretty benign.
First, the audit work wasn't even done until late fall, so the report was still in draft form late in the game and before it could be tabled parliament was dissolved for the election writ. The G8/G20 findings were part of an annual report to parliament, so the report could hardly be released when no parliament was in session. No conspiracy there. Sorry.
Secondly, the draft version that was leaked in the middle of the election that made a huge splash in the media was FAR MORE DEVASTATING than the final report that came out following the election. So the electorate had information to work with that was much more negative that what was eventually formally released. As such Bob's point is rather moot. The leaked report actually prejudiced the government beyond what the facts ultimately warranted. Beyond that, Canadians already know ten times over that Harper is a secretive, sneaky, sometimes dishonest control freak. It apparently doesn't matter all that much to them yet.
Finally, the Legacy Fund was $50 million, of which I think about $46 or $47 million was spent. Let's be pessimistic and say about half of that might have been pork barreling unrelated to the G8. Probably cost the three of us a buck or so a piece. I hope they do it again a few more times, don't you? How many times would you throw a loonie in a hat to reveal the Harper government for what it is?
It is wildly naive to think that lack of transparency and waste involving a few million dollars is somehow more important than events that redrew the political lines to the extent that they were redrawn in this country. The latter was seismic, historic, a trajectory that may even see the effective end of our precious three party system. That's important. Sneaking a comparative pittance through parliament and (maybe) frittering it away in a manner that will be caught within one or two fiscal cycles is, relatively speaking, political peanuts.
