Harper's Honeymoon is over

When the Liberals lost I accepted the defeat. The Liberals campaign was a disaster and all Canadians wanted change. The best way many hoped to clean up the government was to change it. Three prominent themes of a new Conservative government were no briding MP's with cabinet posts, elected senators, and a more transparent Public Works department.

The first day David Emerson defects two weeks to the day after winning the election. His reason:

"I fundamentally went through the thought processes many times over, and came to the conclusion I can be more helpful to the people of my riding, the people of my city, the people of my province and the people of my country doing this, as opposed to being in opposition and trying to become a powerful political partisan which I have never been," Emerson said.

If Emerson wanted to serve as a cabinet minister in whatever government attained power, he should have run as an independent. But that would have been too honest and showed voters Emerson's true side. He hungers for power and has no concrete political values.

Now really making the Liberals forget about their advertising campaign Harper named a new public works minister. He didn't even run in the election and was APPOINTED to the senate. I can really see why Harper left the Reform party. It was a little too populist for his elitist beliefs. But I have no doubt Harper will appoint "elected" senators to the senate. Alberta senators in waiting will be appointed because they ran in a "fair" election designed solely by the provincial government and all the candidates support only one federal party. Clean, transparent government.

This Montreal cabinet minister represents Public Works. Very few portfolios are going to generate more questions in Question Period. But luckily for the conservatives nobody will be answering them because the cabinet minister will be hiding in the senate.

What about the whole Belinda thing? She is certain to be the frontrunner to lead the Liberals because compared to her former conservative counterparts she is a pillar of integrity. She served for about a year under the conservative banner she ran under. She left because:

"After difficult reflections, I reached a conclusion. I cannot exaggerate how hard this was for me. The political crisis affecting Canada is too risky and dangerous for blind partisanship. I watch and listen and feel that the interests of individuals or parties are being placed above the national interest. The country must come first" Belinda Stronach

Belinda crashed heads with conservatives because she supported a youth wing in the party and same-sex marriage. (When has Emerson crashed heads with the Liberals?)

"I don't approve of lining up with the Bloc ... the consequences of an election in Quebec at this time could have serious consequences down the road." Belinda Stronach

Stronach played a vital role for Canadian unity last May. By preventing an election it stopped the Bloc from running in an election when they were at their strongest. By delaying it to the winter the Liberals were able to maintain the seats in the Montreal area and the Conservatives won 10 seats in Quebec alone. (That wouldn't have happened six months ago).

At that time of Belinda's defection Harper said:

"We don't go out of our way to romance MPs to get them to cross the floor. Liberals will do anything to win.

"We are trying to create a principled party where people act in a principled way, and obviously we're fairly cautious about encouraging party jumping, because that's the kind of thing that generates cynicism.

"And frankly, when someone jumps, once you're not sure you can trust them the next time, so I would always handle that with an extraordinary degree of caution."

And Harper surely didn't "romance MP's" in Emerson's case:

"During the last parliament as I sat across from the government benches, I was consistently impressed with David Emerson"

"He is a man of great intelligence, a man with a stellar record in the private sector, who is clearly committed to public service.

"I asked Emerson to join Canada's new government and he accepted. For this I am grateful and I know Minister Emerson looks forward to continuing to serve the people of British Columbia and all new Canadians in the next parliament."

Now for the parting shot from Belinda's defection.

"I regret to say that I do not believe the party leader is truly sensitive to the needs of each part of the country and just how big and complex Canada really is," Stronach said of Harper.

In Retrospective: Belinda was right about waiting to fight the Bloc, Stephen Harper pursued a MP (even though six months he said he wouldn't). Also on his first day he appointed an unelected senator to serve as his Public Works minister. (He can't answer H of C questions in the senate.) Stephen Harper probably also believes he will serve longer than Joe Clark.

"I've never really noticed complexity to be Belinda's strong point," Stephen Harper

Whose the dipstick now!