Harper announced his cabinet today after being sworn in as Canada's new Prime Minister. A CBC news article uses the word "surprise" in its title, but I'm not surprised by the actions described.
Rewind to a year ago... Belinda Stronach jumps to the Liberal party to accept an offer as a cabinet minister - also giving the Liberals the one extra vote they need in a confidence vote. This was Harper's reaction to Stronach's move (CBC article):
"I could see this coming," Harper said, adding that he felt "a sense of relief" that Stronach had left before the beginning of a general election campaign and not during one.
"There's no grand principle involved in this decision, just ambition," Harper said.
He said he recently told his wife that he "thought it had become obvious to Belinda that her leadership ambitions would not be reached in this party regardless of whether or not we won the next election."
Harper added that as a result of expressing that belief to Stronach, "I expected to have problems."
But he said it is Stronach who will now have problems – when she faces the voters in her riding of Newmarket-Aurora.
"This will ultimately negatively affect Belinda Stronach's chances of being re-elected," he said.
Now, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper has lured David Emerson, a man just now elected as a Liberal in Vancouver, to become a Conservative in his cabinet. Nice work.
THEN, on the issue of elected officials, one of the items in Harper's platform was senate reform. So, 2 weeks after being elected, Harper gives an unelected individual a cabinet position. Nice Work again.
I don't necessarily disagree with party hopping and giving unelected people cabinet positions. The thing is that P.M. Harper did, at one point speak out quite strongly against it.
Keep up the good work dude.
5 comments:
Yes there were a few eyebrows raised on those two moves....even by me. If I was do defend (which isn't easy) the Senate guy is only going one term and then will step down to run in an election. For the record this isn't the first time this has happened as you can see by this story in the Globe and Mail: Harper defends surprise cabinet picks
The Liberal moving over to the Conservatives? I'm not too sure what I think about that one. Perhaps it was a payback for the Stronach switch?
I read his defense of it. The fact is that if Martin had done this, Harper would have had a fit. His words on the issue prior to this don't match his actions.
The biggest problem I see is that he isn't willing to say: you know what, I was wrong. When Stronach crossed the floor, that wasn't a bad thing. He's not even being accountable to his own words. I don't believe a word he says.
My my Zaak...thats a pretty big paintbrush you got there....
If you're referring to "I don't believe a word he says," I must say that I can't really recant on it. When he delivers on a promise that I believe is for the good of Canada, then I will say "you know what, I was wrong." Until then - zero confidence.
But it's OK if the Liberals do that? The Liberals made more promises than Jesus but hasn't deliverd many. There whole 1993 platform was to Scrap the GST!!
We do need someone who will do what he/she says he/she will do. On that I agree.
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