PM’s a genius
[I was going to post tomorrow on this very issue but, to my chagrin, Calgary Sun columnist Link Byfield beat me to it. Even worse, he did it better. So rather than give you my version, here’s Link’s column from Friday’s Calgary Sun in its entirety. Hey, when you can’t say it best, leave it to someone else who can…]
Friday, May 19, 2006
Harper plays opposition foibles with finesse of a chessmaster
By Link Byfield
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to enjoy the aggressive stick-handling style of our new Calgary prime minister.
Though short-handed in Parliament, Team Harper is scoring so many goals, you’d almost think they came from Edmonton.
On Tuesday, for example, they won the Gwyn Morgan play. A truly awesome goal.
The Conservatives had promised to install a new commission to ensure the people who get those six-figure patronage jobs we read so much about — of which there are many hundreds — actually know how to do them.
You might recall how many Liberal ex-ministers and PMO smoothies were paid off with cushy crown sinecures by Chretien and Martin.
It stank, and Harper promised to end it.
His new Crown appointments commission would consist of four accomplished Canadians working for free.
That’s right, for the good of the country.
It would include the Iranian-born land developer from Vancouver who founded Future Shops, a former Liberal cabinet minister from Toronto, a Montreal businesswoman and tennis star, and Calgarian Gwyn Morgan as chairman.
Morgan, 60, is the one-time Alberta farm kid who, in building the biggest independent oil company in Canada, also built a platinum reputation for honesty and fair play.
Not that Ottawa always wants honesty.
In a December speech to the Fraser Institute, Morgan noted Canada’s multicultural and immigration policies are importing and perpetuating a serious criminal gang problem, and solutions must be found.
He mentioned specifically Jamaicans, Asians and “other ethnic groups.”
Which might be OK to say in Cowtown, but it’s way too insensitive for the Opposition majority on the Commons government operations committee.
In the ugliest confrontation Parliament has witnessed since the sponsorship committee hearings two years ago, Morgan was asked, more or less, if he thought a racist like himself was “suited” to decide federal patronage appointments.
His mild reassurances were not accepted, and his nomination was rejected six votes to five.
And this is where Harper’s tactical brilliance shines.
Instead of sucking up and proposing instead some forgotten chairman of the CBC or the like, as the Opposition expected, Harper’s candidates promptly withdrew their offer of free service, enabling Harper to say, fine, we’ll do business by the old rules until Canadians give us the majority we need to do what must be done.
In other words, the Opposition scored, but against itself.
By trying foolishly to paint Gwyn Morgan a racist, they only succeeded in protecting a corrupt appointment system and giving the Conservatives election ammunition.
What Morgan said to the Fraser Institute about criminal gangs can be heard in every coffee row in this country.
My own Vancouver sister-in-law from mainland China, land of the snakeheads and Triad gangs, was astonished it was even an issue.
The Liberals and NDP lose ground every time they open their mouths — by defending a gun registry that doesn’t work; by opposing our fight against religious fascism in Afghanistan; and by pretending Kyoto is either necessary or possible.
The world is passing these politicians by, living in their little bubble — their little hobbit-like, time-warp fantasy world which refuses to recognize unpleasant realities.
Such as the fact that in wars, which are sometimes necessary, soldiers get killed.
Such as the fact criminals don’t register guns.
Such as the fact the cost of government has reduced our country to 18th in the world productivity race, and that public expectations are now wildly beyond our capacity to pay.
Harper isn’t really playing hockey, it’s more like chess.
He thinks three moves ahead and attacks only points where the public agrees with him and not the Opposition.
I predict his next move will be to reform the Senate.
The man is a genius.
