Prepare For Operation Bull Shit

Dimitri Soudas, sometime soon: "The election will be on April 5th. The evil coalition used mind control to get our fundraiser to say March 29th, just to embarrass the Prime Minister. We never had any intention to call an election that day. The coalition has left us no choice, but to ignore the fixed election date law (again), by engaging in these dirty tricks. Thank you".

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Ya, Right

Kevin Gaudet, federal director of the Taxpayers Federation, said support for ending government funding for political parties is by no means an endorsement of the Tories. Pull the other one. It has bells on it.

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Is Royson James Serious?

From today's fish wrap, Mr. James blames bureaucrats for the wild gyrations taking place on city council:

In such an environment, citizens should be able to depend on city staff for clear and credible accounts of which services are essential and which are frills. Instead, what we have too often is a policy position trumpeted by staff under one regime and reversed by the same staff under a new regime. In other words, too many of the city’s bureaucrats are influenced by politics, not policy.

This, it seems to me, turns public service on its head. In our tradition, the politicians decide policy and the public service give advice and carry out the orders of the politicians. So, yes, the public service can and will produce any plan to fit any policy from those who govern, regardless of which political group is in charge. The civil servants are not "influenced" by politics, they are simply doing their jobs, by following the will of their masters.

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Oink, Oink

Ok Blogging Tories, I read today that your beloved government wants to give some pork to Quebec City, but knows that if it does so, it will offend its western enablers. So, its solution seems to be to pay off the west, with pork of its own. My question to you is, the Conservatives are different from the Liberals how? Is it that they throw pork at you as well as Quebec, or that their pork is slow cooked, rather than oven baked? I would be fascinated to hear your ideas.

Oh, and as an added bonus, read this. It sounds like the Conservatives are promising Quebecers money, in exchange for votes. Again, how is this different from the Liberals? And, I thought we were entering a period of fiscal restraint? Where is this government largesse going to come from?

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Monday Random Musical Interlude

I don't need a reason, other than I like it.

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Harper Is Canada. Canada Is Harper?

The transformation of Stephen Harper into a downmarket Pierre Trudeau is now complete. This is shaping up as Harper's "The Land is Strong" election.

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On Legacies

If you want to know the legacy of Stephen Harper don't look to the pundits, look to the news section. Harper's main legacy is making policy on-the-fly, based on personal prejudices and gut feelings. That isn't a bad thing necessarily, but when it is combined with a paranoid worldview (which Harper has in spades, or why destroy the census), it leads to outcomes that are not good for Canada nor Canadians.

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