Today, the Toronto Star's Jim Travers has an op-ed that pretty much says what we progressives have been saying: CNG is not so new anymore. And some of the mistakes it's making are starting to catch up to it. If this was a majority situation, PMS could sit pretty for four years. Like Mulroney was able to in the 1980s when there were conflict of interest allegations, tainted tuna and a Cabinet member visiting a strip club in Germany. By the time 1988 rolled around, people had mostly forgotten about those and focused on free trade.
But Harper has a minority, and the current scandal about prisoners captured in Afghanistan being turned over so they can be tortured -- even if the transfer is to Afghans, not to Gitmo -- is the tip of the iceberg. Gord O'Connor already had bad will when he betrayed the Liberals on Day One. And it's true no minister can keep track of every single action of every underlink, but if we're fighting terrorism overseas to prevent it here the least we can demand is that our hosts abide by some basic and internationally accepted rules.
Including the Geneva Conventions, which like the US the current government refuses to abide by.
Add to that $400 million in public works contracts that appear to have been untendered or rushed through the process and it makes Sponsorgate look like the Teddy Bears Picnic. We can't question the minister in charge, one Michael Fortier, because he's in the Senate and not the House of Commons. Is it a coincidence that the very minister who signs pension and public service paycheques can't be held accountable? Is this part of Harper's grand design to consolidate power into a pseudo-dictatorship? We don't know, because we can't find out.
Martin may not have been perfect but when the advertising scandal landed on his lap, he took full responsibility even if he was outside the loop at the time. That's what a real leader does.
Like Dubya, however, Harper believes he's pure in heart and doesn't make mistakes -- doesn't even sin in fact. Anyone who runs a country with that kind of attitude deserves to be trounced. Hopefully the jig will be up soon and people will realize that plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Scandals will always be a part of political life. It's how we deal with them that defines a leader from a wannabe.
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