Two votes tonight, and we all bolted from the House when they were over, just after 7 o’clock. I ducked out through the curtains behind the Speaker’s chair, into a back hallway, down the stairs and out the rear door of the Centre Block – the most inelegant orifice of the building, where lots of staffers and secretive MPs duck out for a smoke.
I’d dumped my car in a small lot behind the Library of Parliament, overlooking the river and the federal government buildings in Gatineau, which was called Hull the last time I worked here. Tonight the prime minister’s motorcade was hiding out here, and I could tell by the beefy RCMP plainsclothers cops that the PM was just steps behind me.
In case you are wondering, the horsemen provide him with a security detail that appears to be state of the art. The PM has a bullet-proof black Cadillac, which is protected front and rear by a couple of black police sedans with detachable red flashers on the roof, which are in turn protected by one or two full-size SUVs, presumably stuffed with electronics. The cars move in a tight and quick convoy, often along Ottawa streets cleared of traffic by leapfrogging city motorcycle cops. Lead vehicles signal to those in the rear by means of coloured lights in the back windows, as they race forward. It’s quite the vision. People just in from Red Deer and Wolfville to look at the tulips, love videotaping the streaking spectacle.
But tonight, the scene was a little different. Paul Martin has somehow managed to out-sprint everyone after the vote, and was already standing at the trunk of his limousine outside the back door, just a few feet from the PM’s idling entourage. Between Martin and the back of my car was a gaggle of high school kids – maybe 30 of them – looping along, until one girl spotted Paul and cried out, “Oh my Gaaawd – it’s Martin!â€
The gang descended and, to his credit, the former prime minister and Liberal leader abandoned his car and briefcase, and waded in to shake hands and give hugs. The RCMP guys waiting for Stephen Harper looked increasingly uptight. I was tempted to tell the kids to hang in, because the prime minister was about to come out of that unlikely door, but gave up that thought. It was Martin’s moment. Politics is cruel enough.
So, yeah, we won the vote. Handsomely, with the support of the separatists, which was a good thing because a loss would mean I’d be driving back to Halton tonight to haul election signs out of my garage. Despite this being a narrow minority government, there is absolutely no sense of urgency, panic, misgiving or foreboding. The PM seems completely calm, and his cabinet acts like they will be driven around Parliament Hill forever. In caucus there is no talk of election readiness or the threat of defeat. Winning votes is taken for granted (except by the whip), and there’s a clear sense the Conservatives own this place.
That could be because the Liberals are clearly unfocussed, unorganized and in the middle of a leadership contest with a bizarre number of players. It could be the polls, which show Canadians are still giving us a huge chance. Could be the budget with its popular tax cuts. Or it could be simpler than that – it was time for a change. Everybody knew it. And it ain’t nearly time yet for a change back. Now former Liberal cabinet ministers ride the little green buses that shuttle MPs between buildings, looking out at the clean black cars and their drivers waiting for the new crop of ministers to emerge from their stone castle. Must hurt.
Sure, it’s bizarre, but this is Ottawa. Symbolism is everything around this place. The trappings of power. Titles. The media attention.
Good example today, of course, as the cameras and reporters lay in wait for Maurice Vellacott, the low-key Saskatchewan MP who was expected to be dumped from his job as a committee chairman for comments he made on the weekend criticizing the Supreme Court. This guy was a marked man all day, and the feeding frenzy mounted by the hour. Shortly after lunch, the CBC was camped on the sidewalk outside his office and by 1:30 pm, two hours before the committee meeting that would have turned into a Gong Show execution, he quit via press release. That, however, did not stop the public attacks which took place in QP, or the media frenzy that surrounded his empty seat when the committee finally met to elect a new chairman.
Vellacott may have deserved to lose his job – I will let others make that decision since I’ve only met him once (yesterday) – but it was still a ridiculous spectacle. The amount of energy expended on this man, by media and rabid MPs, was astonishing. And at the end of the day, not a thing was changed that actually affected Canadians. We just kind of spit away a few hours because it was a spectacle. Some guy’s head on a stake at the barricade.
Politics, like I said, is cruel enough. And Vellacott doesn’t even have groupies.
48 comments ↓
Alright, 1 down. Who’s next? In a way, I feel a little sorry for Maurice as he will go down in the books as the first to fall. Hope Rona’s not the next one, cause she’s easy to look at and makes for great window dressing during QP. Let’s keep her around for awhile.
I used to have a whole lot of respect for you Garth but posts like this reinforce my growing distaste for you and your party.
Care to explain that for the audience? — Garth
Huh? Comfortable? Just last night I got a call from a Stephen Harper supporter. Most likely from his Constituency office, or from the Party Office (if it exists) Thanking me for my vote of support during the election (Gord O’Connor). Then she asked (sounding much like a collection agent) if I would continue to show my support for the party by donating a “small” amount of $120.. $90 of which would be re-imbursed as a tax credit next month.
I would have loved to.. but at the time I just couldn’t. I asked for a raincheck and if I could do so on my own time, and she said yes.
It all sounded very much like campaign mode. She even stated that this money would go towards “defeating the Liberals in the next election”.
I had to flip on CTV NewsNet after I hung up to see if I had missed something!!
I think you guys are in it for the “long haul”.. Your doing a great job..
Garth you have to be loving this go round in parliament. I see you being frequently interviewed on TV. You are getting far more attention than any of the other Conservative members which I would think must have something to do with Harper putting the muzzle on them while I assume you told him to piss off. Good on you Garth. Keep up the good work.
Garth, I’be been following this for the last couple of days and still don’t get it. I can’t honestly say that I’ve agreed with even yourself on all occasions, but it’s never been when you’ve discussed what is an apparent truth. Well, the first Conservative budget in thirteen years has been passed. Not a bad day overall.
The PM has a bullet-proof black Cadillac, which is protected front and rear by a couple of block police sedans with detachable red flashers on the roof, which are in turn protected by one or two full-size SUVs, presumably stuffed with electronics.
That all seems rather excessive just to protect the PM from getting a pie in the face.
And at the end of the day, not a thing was changed that actually affected Canadians.
I beg to differ. Aboriginals in this country are no longer represented by a man who thinks it’s just fine and dandy if cops dump them on the outskirts of town so they’ll freeze to death.
He has but one groupie. Jim Pankiw.
I’ve been censored! You deleted my post! I wrote about getting a campaign style call from a Stephen Harper supporter and you canned me! Wow. This can’t be you. Someone must be hacking into your site and reviewing the comments before you get to read them.
It wasn’t anything bad. I didn’t mind the call. They called me asking if I’d make a donation of $120 to the party with a tax credit of 90 dollars next month. I can’t afford it at tis time, and stated so, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Does this mean your in election mode? I guess your always in election mode, eh?
Whaaaaat are you talking about? No post was deleted. — Garth
Adam,
I’ve seen my posts disappear for a time as well. I think they remain up for a few minutes immediately after uploading then disappear into a queue for moderation.
Exactly. Deletions are rare indeed! — Garth
Does anybody realize that the two police officers that Mr. Vellacott was trying to help give a voice to were themselves Aboriginals?
Check it out – first confirmation that the gst cut is going to end up in builders’ pockets, rather than the average middle class Canadian:
http://www.buildinghomes.ca/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1757
No wonder Peter Gilgan was happy to do the dog & pony show about the gst cut in the budget. Think how much he’ll get from this if Mattamy does the same! What a shame that Harper’s big tax cut won’t be going where he said. Guess we woulda been better with the Liberals’ cut.
Hey, Mike, this is crap. Nothing in your link above proves the GST rate will not be reduced to each and every buyer signing on after May 2nd. The very competitive home building industry is fully committed to passing this savings along and I am sick of hearing the same conspiratorial Canadian-victim talk that I did in 1991 when this tax came in. Wrong then, wrong now. It is painfully simple for a purchaser to determine clearly what the level of GST is, and ensure the new, lower rate is in effect. Grow up. — Garth
So what’s your point Maria. Two aboriginal cops driving another aboriginal out into the country to freeze to death is OK?
Explain. Sure.
You’re gloating. Aside from the general bad taste that leaves in one’s mouth, what are you gloating about? That you’re courting the sepratists or that your alieniating Ontarians? The only thing you should be happy about is if your government is improving things for Canadians. It’s not. I’ll be paying more in taxes next year than I did this year and I read in the paper that envionmental groups are asking the hood ornament that is Rona Ambrose to exit the Kyoto agreement because the gov’t has no intention of even trying to fulfill it’s committments (which other signatories seem to be well on the way to meeting). Meanwhile we’re adding 23,000 troops to the payroll so that Harper and now McKay can ride Huey’s all around Afganistan and scream into the wind, “Mission Accomplished, Baby!”
If we get out of Kyoto and don’t have to send billions of $$$ to foreign nations in this stupid credit scheme then we will all be better off.
Read the editorial in today’s (Thurs.) Toronto Sun titled “Judging the Judges.
Yes, because the environment will get cleaned up if just take care of our little bit. NO!
It’s not just polution that’s the problem, it’s that fact that we’re sharing the globe. Heat up a ballon and watch what happens to the skin, it gets thinner and thinner until it breaks.
Short-sightedness seems to be a hallmark of the convservative thinker.
Look at the Chinese, they have a 100 year plan. We should have one too.
Hey William,
you might want to read the latest indicators (they are called polls) showing the Conservatives’ approval rating skyrocketing across Canada, but especially in Quebec.
Harper is easily the greatest solution to seperatism this country has seen in over a decade.
With support hovering around 40% in both Quebec and Ontario, one wonders what the numbers would be if we removed the Liberal (paid-off) strongholds of Montreal and Toronto from the voting.
Canadians are happy, better off, and continue to support the CPC agenda.
Had to share the following with everyone:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=32f3fd13-98eb-4000-aba8-8b9e6c1f059a&k=95552
Great article by Warren Kinsella. Thought it was appropriate with all the ‘Nazi’ references various posters here have used recently. I think Mr. Kinsella makes a good point, don’t you? Interesting how all his examples are of Liberal MPs… Maybe he’s just holding a grudge, but I’m thinking he found it hard to find other examples.
Vallacot may be the scapegoat for Emerson. There are still a lot of Canadians who haven’t given up on getting rid of Emerson via by-election.
CS, North Bay
“The very competitive home building industry is fully committed to passing this savings along… …Grow up… ”
Bullshit. The homebuilding industry in Halton competes for labour and developable land, not customers. Despite the increase in mortgage rates, home prices continue to rise. If the gst cut spurs demand, prices rise more. At least one builder (Starlane) has confirmed that they won’t be lowering prices. I defy you to find a set of price sheets from any major builder in the area, Mattamy included, from before and after the gst announcement, that show a reduction.
You campaigned on the effectiveness of this gst cut – why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and prove that it’s going to the homebuyer?
And perhaps “grow up” isn’t the best way to sign off on a response to a constituent…
Really? I’d love to see credible data on which signatories are “well on their way” to meeting Kyoto targets.
Dear poor misguided enviromentilists relax I have good news for you, everything you hear about the enviroment is BS. One volcano spues out more polution than any man can. So cheer up only commies are pushing the enviromental agenda.
Well, since the Liberals forced Vallocott to resign over his remarks on the Supreme Court justice, do you think that Bill Graham should step down over his comparison of the softwood deal – comparing Mr. Harper and Mr. Bush to Chamberlain and Hitler?
He disrespected both offices – that of the PM’s and another country’s President? AND – he minimized the Holocaust!
I think the there should be push to have Bill Graham to publically apologize and step down.
K2,
Me too.. Not to mention, I’d also like to see a list of those countried that will meet their targets only as a result of decline/stagnation in population growth.
So you’re saying you don’t believe the climatolgists?
Just stop using toilet paper and crawl back into the trees monkeyboy where you can fling feces at the other low foreheads who deny the facts of climate change.
Private business will not save the environment and neither will tax breaks.
Get your head out of the sand.
So save the environment then, but don’t give billions of our dollars to other countries in some stupid carbon exchange program. Take those billions and actually use them in this country. Anything wrong with that?
100 year commie Chinese plans, don’t make me laugh…
I can’t believe you are arguing against the basic facts of the universe William. The world…. is FLAT! Everyone knows it. Our top scientists all confirm it. All the evidence says it’s true. Why do you bury your hand in the sand and deny the flatness???
All sarcasm aside… there’s more we DON’T know about the world’s climate than we do know. And even if the scientists to say that pollution is only to blame (and they’re about half of them) all Kyoto will do is allow the worst polluters (the developing world) to buy clean air credits that Canada and other 1st world nations will have to pay through the nose for. That’s NOT a solution. Nor is crippling our industries for artificial goals that are completely unattainable.
Tell ya what… lead by example Will. Park your car on blocks. Stop heating your house. Refuse to buy clothes or processed foods that require energy to produce. Oh is that too much? Wait there’s more! For every time you flush your poop you gotta pay a buck to the guy down the street who’s using an outhouse. Reasonable? Suuuuure it is.
Head in the sand? look around there is less polution now than ever more trees too. Climate change is BS too, how come when ever you hear of record temps, records are being broke that are 100 years old before there was any automobiles? PS: burn that garbage instead of trucking it all over the country. Don’t recommend recycling either cheaper to burn it or bury it.Man I love this forum Garth.
Something that the environmentalists never seem to mention is that the earth is still recovering from the most recent ice age.
It’s supposed to be warming up! How much of the current average temperature increase is due to industrialized society as opposed to good ol’ Mother Nature is debatable but the warming trend is a natural fluctuation in the earth’s long term climate cycle.
Will,
You should read the work done by some scientists here in Canada. It was published sometime last year, I believe. Basically, they showed how the classic ‘hockey stick’ shaped temperature increases predicted by various models (and in particular those shown at the UN and Kyoto discussions) are fatally flawed. They generated sets of random data (using a Monte Carlo analysis type approach) and fed it in to the model in question. Guess what? The same ‘hockey stick’ shape resulted. Seems like a flawed and biased model to me. I think you’ve seen too many hollywood movies and have accepted junk science as fact.
There is some information on this here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1320342/posts
and further information is here:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~rmckitri/research/trc.html
Wes
Well, there’s certainly enough hot air on this blog to increase the earth’s temperature. Let’s keep this discussion going until we really need the warmth, such as December.
Let me gets this straight. You’re perfectly willing to use all the science that has benefited you (internal combustion, gunpowder, gravity, paper, EVERYTHING) but when every scientist with even a couple neurons left to rup together says global climate change is real and the most potent threat to our present health and our future inhabitation of this planet you’re willing to listen to politians and corporations?
Real smart.
And this morning I read that Harper wants the second phase of Kyoto to be voluntary (Like that’s worked in the states) and he wants it to be more leniant while the rest of the signatories are asking that it be more stringent. Last and defintely not least Rona Ambrose, who is the chair at this latest meeting, will not even being staying for the whole conference. She’s the environment minister with ZERO budget, what else has she to do.
This lack of vision is embarassing, especially in light of the financial benefits that are open to the country that actively funds and supports climate research and green energy technology.
And this notion that it’s the environment or us is just ridiculous. Use the brain that your poor redneck mother gave you. Conservation alone, as California proved during the gas crisis and later in the 80’s, can account for as much as a 16% drop in required energy resources. That’s without spending a dollar, in fact, it’s saving dollars.
Speaking of dollars, how about we take the 1.5 Billion that goes into the oil patch every year and give it to the M. of the Environment. So, in light of the fact that the oil patch has helped us increase emmission by 35% we are FUNDING these guys over and above their record profits. Where’s the white and the monacle Mr. Blowfeld?
It’s simply the absolute absence of reason.
And Gary, 100 years ago we had an industrial revolution where everything was run on coal and the population and trade exploded. History/Science, it may be new to you but to anyone whose read more than the sports section it’s old news.
William cheer up look outside at the green trees the sunshine, the lakes are getting cleaner ( everybody used to flush their poop directly into the water) there is no global warming. So smile and forget worrying about the enviroment.Worry more about high taxes and too much government regulation.
I get a real kick out of those caring envirowackos who go grocery shopping with their green boxes, they have to buy plastic bags to line their garbage pails while we just use the free empty grocery bags. Why do you have to be stupid to be an enviromentilist and always pay extra.
Look a little deeper than what you can see with you own eyes. If you live you in Halton or Milton (an address Garth knows well) you HAVE to have a water softener because either the water you get from the lake is so heavily chlorinated that it stains
clothes and kills pet fish or you’re dealing with heavily mineralized water (talk to anyone with kidney stones about how bad this can be for you) and calcium coats everything the water touches. Nevermind the drinking water which most people either truck in 18L bottles or have a reverse osmosis system put in. Just because it takes a little while for the microscopic bacteria and calcium deposits to build up doens’t mean their not there. If that’s your policy then why not just juggle bean bags of unranium pellets. You can see radiation so it must not be problem, although I think the people who live near chernobyl make advise against the idea.
The good news is that because the cons refuse to properly fund education it won’t be long before our kids are taking grade 8 math exams for their grade 12 graduation (see news in US last night) and then none of them will have the ability to conceive of a concept like global climate change or ever understand it.
I don’t mind the taxes where they are. In fact, according to all right thinking economists around the world we should be dropping income tax further and raising a tax like the GST to 10-15%. I much prefer the idea of paying heavy taxes on purhases rather than being taxed on what I earn. The GST cut is the triumph of resolve over reason.
The cons environmental policy is the abandonment of reason. *volunary* targets are what you have by default.
Industry acts in the best interests of its stockholders and no one else. Daycare and the environment are not in the cards. Do you think a factory is going to voluntarily refurbish its generator until the last possible moment because co-generation will save it money over the next 20 years and improve the environment when they have to get this quarter’s profits up?
I don’t. I bring my own cloth bags. And when I do go to the corner store and I get the plastic bags I recycle them.
90% of our garbarge is either recycled or composted. I throw out maybe a small bag a week of actuall garbage and that’s for a family of three.
I pay less, not extra.
Your position is just so silly. The more power generation that comes from renewable sources the lower the price is which means you have to subsidise business less and they can turn those savings around to grow.
William take a walk out in nature it will do you a lot of good> very relaxing. try to be calm everything is Ok with the enviroment.
No blue boxes at my house no yucky green ones either!
One more thing William I noticed you mentioned cuts to education. There should be no public education, why should my neighbors have to pay for my kids education? Well they don’t I spend $7000 a year on private education just to keep them away from the socialist public education system. PRIVITIZE healthcare and education and we would be all better off.
William:
I don’t have the time to disect your entire post but if I may deal with just two of your points…..
If your water has a high mineral content it is because nature made it that way. If it is chlorinated that’s because your local water treatment facility added the chlorine. Neither problem can be laid at the feet of the Conservative government.
And, I believe public school funding is primarily a provincial matter.
Gary, you’re obviously trolling. It’s certaily instructive that you’d rather mock than understand the situation. You need to move to the states and become a bushmerican, it has everything you want and loose gun laws as well. Have fun paying for the gun shot wounds your kids will get on the way too and from their sub-standard school.
Al, all the money comes from the same pot. Not enough money to go around means not enough money to go around. If the province has more money to pay teachers then they won’t be loosing them to other jobs were they get better pay and more respect.
As for the water. The excesive chlorination shock that the lake water receives is in direct proportion to the amount bacteria in the lake in large part due to the waste that hits the lake everyday (including air pollution).
And I notice yesterday in QP that Ms. Ambrose still thinks the transit tax credit is an climate change plan. She must be sharing notes with the minister in charge of the family suppliment… oh pardon me, universal child care benefit.
I don’t know how anyone can look at the current budget and see anything but a open bribe to voters. The conservatives have made us a hostage to fortune with this budget and I can only hope that the next government will be able to reverse the damage.
MR Hane how long have you been a government worker? Let me guess> school teacher.
YOu wanted stats. From question period yesterday. Shame on you Garth for not jumping in and quoting these:
” Looking at our climate change allies, the U.K. for example has already surpassed its Kyoto target of 12.5% reduction and is on track to reduce by 23% to 25% by 2010, all the while maintaining a 1.7% growth rate in GDP in 2005. Germany has reduced its emissions by 18.5%. I have not travelled to Europe lately, but I believe people’s homes there still function properly. They still drive cars and ride trains. Heathrow Airport in Britain has not shut down and they have not switched to horse-drawn carriages on the autobahn. Therefore, I believe the minister is exaggerating her point considerably.”
Nope. I’m a private contractor for the army. We do modifcations to the C-7.
Pretty, pretty Rona. She makes such a cute backdrop for the PM during QP. But the poor lass doesn’t have a clue on things environmental. Maybe the PM could make her the new ‘Minister of Looking Good’. And then she could advise him on the proper accessories to go with that adorable Village People cowboy look he likes to sport occasionally.
Nopw that Harpo and his cadre of neo-con morons has pissed off the entire country it is only a matter of months until the cons are back where they belong .
This so-called budget written by the Cirque de Soleil as it is all smoke and mirrors and Harpo’s sucking up/off the separtists in hopes of copping a majority of their seats has sealed his doom .
The fact that Harpo is taking his marching oreders from a Republican pollster Luntz is a major tip off as to the direction the all moron party is taking .
Get out while the getting is good Garth.
You will be humiliated in the next election. Guaranteed .
William:
OK. You got me on the chlorination but I still think you should post on McGuinty’s blog if you want to carp about education in Ontario.
Will,
Did you bother to read the links I posted? This research is by Canadian scientists, not “politicians and corporations”. I don’t think you should be so narrow minded. One should always consider the possibility that they are incorrect.
Plus who are you quoting above from question period? Was it a scientist? Do you believe them? Did you bother to ask yourself why the countried mentioned are meeting the targets? Is it by chance or because they did something? Why is it that the US has a better greenhouse gas record than Canada (it terms of greenhouse emission increases), and it isn’t even signed up to the kyoto accord!
Let’s bring some reason to the debate as opposed to NDP style rhetoric.