Stephen Harper, Super Genius

Scott Feschuk on the strategic brilliance of our PM

by Scott Feschuk on Thursday, June 18, 2009 7:03am - 67 Comments

Stephen Harper, Super Genius There are moments when we have no choice but to acknowledge the strategic brilliance of Stephen Harper.

I refer not to the Prime Minister’s negotiations with Michael Ignatieff, who mistakes process for progress the way Al Pacino mistakes SHOUTING for acting, but rather to this line from today’s Toronto Star story: … Harper said his nominees will include Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley, one of her senior officials and an MP still to be selected.

Genius. Genius.

Harper is taking his time to pick the MP who will fill that one last spot. That last spot on a six-member bipartisan panel to debate Employment Insurance reform. Debate it allllllllllll summer long. Debate it all summer long with Marlene Jennings. Painstaking research, consultation and deliberation for the whollllllllllle summer. Summer – the good season, the only one that’s pretty much guaranteed not to be winter, the one with fishing poles and beers and outsideness.

Is there a more effective way of ensuring, for a day or two at least, that no member of your caucus will ask you for anything, approach you in any way, make eye contact with you, be caught dead within your field of vision, allow the synapses of their brain to work in co-operation to form even a fleeting mental image of you, or dare get out from under the bed? An MP comes within 20 feet and all Harper needs to do is say: “Oh, you’re here about serving on the EI panel…?”

At last, some peace and quiet. Enough time to pound out another seven or eight words in that hockey book. Thanks, Michael.

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  • Pamela Achurch

    And once again, the loser is Joe Canadian.

  • J B

    Maureen, you sound like a very bitter person against higher education. Obama and his wife are both graduates from Harvard law school at the top of their class. They did not have any problem to find rewarding employment in their field. You seem to insinuate that is o.k for half of our MP's that will legislate laws and so on not to have a higher education; as long they read the bible…..

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/FVerhoeven FVerhoeven

      That Bible thing is a low shot, J B.

      And did you know that firing off low shots in a debate points in directions of lack of competent counter argument? Or lazyness (generally speaking, "off"course).

  • Linda

    How much of this nonsense can one take?????

    The panel was a way for Mr. Ignatieff to save face and get the heck out of the way. He has now just become annoying. He could care less about EI.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/FVerhoeven FVerhoeven

    and where did Maureen go???

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/FVerhoeven FVerhoeven

    He might very care about EI, I will give Ignatieff that much. But he could have acted differently. He (and his party) could have indicated in the House, that they would like to see this and that included or addded into the government plans or else they would defeat the government. The Libs had ample time to put forth proposals in the House concerning what they deemed necesssary to be included. Then all parties could have voted that into as an amendment. At least it would have been done in the House, where such things belong. All this huffing and puffing outside of the House to upstage a PM is arrogancy beyond limits. Shame on him.

  • J.B

    F.Verhoeven; you are absolutly correct about the Bible tthing it was a low blow and I apologize to Maureen.Iam a bleeding heart Democrat……

  • Joe from to

    Genius is the image of harper not just playing games with the opposition but keeping his own needy people at bay. Bring on those fishing poles and beer and Georgian Bay outsideness.

  • J.B

    Scott F; Stephen Harper a manipulator yes but not a super genious in case you do not know any genious here a few…Albert Eintein, Stephen William Hawking,James D Watsons Francis Crick

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