Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Mea culpa

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, October 16, 2009 2:29pm - 20 Comments

Conservative MP Bruce Stanton twitters his feelings on the partisan use of giant novelty cheques.

stanton_brucemp I can see the reasons why other attributes to the MP on the big cheque are also wrong. These are public investments.

stanton_brucemp You won’t see any such references on big cheques here in the future, including today at the CDC.

Stanton is among those cited by the Liberals for improper self-congratulation.

Tags: Bruce Stanton, cheques, government advertising, infrastructure, political advertising, stimulus

More by Aaron Wherry

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

He's to be commended. So much better than, "I had nothing to do with it, it was a staffer" or "What, I don't see any reference to the Conservative Party on the Conservative Party cheque" or "But the Liberals did it, too!"
Jesse

The Liberals did do it too, lots of times and Jean Chretien made the point that it was OK because they were the government and they were getting stuff done for Canadians.

I agree with Jean Chretien. Time for the opposition MPs to stop whining and like PM Harper said today "get out there and make stuff happen".

Why aren't they helping municipalities and stakeholder groups fill out applications for funding ? Why aren't they prioritizing and making recomendations ? Why aren't they looking for private sector partners on behalf of their riding ?

Why aren't they working with the government to get this stimulus plan out the door instead of making the tactical decision that they would just vote no and not be a part of anything positive and try to score points by coming up with no ideas, not helping, and being negative ?

Time to fire the opposition MPs. They've done nothing to help their local communities in these trying times!
Dakota

I see lots of crying by the Liberals, but little in the way of actual doing anything constructive for Canadians.

Maybe if they weren’t the official cheer leaders of the recession people would be more inclined to listen to their complaints.

kcm

Gag! Disgusting!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Sorry Jesse, maybe you weren't aware. Harper's government doesn't listen to opposition MPs, even if they're elected. That's why they needed Michael Fortier for Montreal, remember?

Not to mention this gem:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/sto…

Jesse

Opposition members make no effort to contact government ministers. Period.

Jack Layton has called Stephen Harper twice this year. Ignatieff once I believe. Opposition MPs pretend to be precious darlings and claim that its Harper's job to win them over, for him to reach out to them, for him to work towards keeping the confidence of the house.

Sorry, that's not the way things are done anymore. Harper is busy running the country. Either get on board or don't. And if enough MPs don't then fine Harper will take it to the people.

These MPs have made their choice to not cooperate with the government. That's fine but their ridings are suffering from their incompetence. Time to fire the opposition MPs!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Habitant Habitant

That's absolutely disgusting…. It is essentially usurping our democratic process.

Do you know when this was published (I can't seem to find the date of the article anywhere on that page)?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

End of August, 2007. If you grab the opening paragraph of the article and google it, you can see the pick-up and reaction on the non-conservative blogs at the time.

http://skinnydips.blogspot.com Skinny Dipper

Who is the prime minister of the Cheque Republic?

Stephen Harper.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

"Opposition members" translates into "Party leaders" while "government ministers" translates into "Stephen Harper"?

How about Joe Volpe communicating with Lawrence Cannon, just as an example. And no "I did not read that report" is not a legitimate excuse–either for you OR Cannon.

Jesse

Party leaders are by definition opposition members, at least according to our traditions.

Obviously.

But they were actually seperate but related thoughts, hence the start of a new paragraph.

Nice try though I guess ? You were going for snarky ?? Sorry, maybe it'll work out better next time.

kcm

You seem to be under the misaprehension that this is a majority Tory govt. It's arrogance like yours that has prevented Harper from getting a majority. Maybe he'll get one; maybe he wont. But until he does it's a minority parliament . Try not to get ahead of yourself.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

First of all, all party leaders are NOT opposition members. Do you remember that guy, plays the piano, who is our Prime Minister? He is also the leader of a party.

Secondly, way to completely ignore the calling of your bluff.

However, I will admit to taking your post as one whole, rather than two separate thoughts, for which I do apologize.

Jesse

Wow, a splice of a splice. I didn't think you would be taking this one so seriously!

Nitpicking a nitpick.

I suppose you're right. However, I don't think of Harper as a party leader. I think of him as the Prime Minister of Canada.

And what's the bluff ? Its well known that the opposition makes no effort to talk to the Conservatives. The atmosphere has been poisoned since the coalition.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

Your confusing "makes no effort to talk to" with "consistently get no response"

As I pointed out with the example of Joe Volpe and Lawrence Cannon. The half-dozen or so attempts by Volpe, little or no response by Cannon. There are other examples as well, here's a positive one, with Aglukkaq and her colleagues across the aisle.

I know it ruins your narrative, but there it is. Opposition members DO communicate with ministers. Even opposition leaders talk to Harper, although he seems to view these discussions as a waste of time and doesn't even attempt to listen (according to Layton, anyway). I do agree with the poisoned atmosphere.
Jesse

Layton talked to Harper once over the summer on the invitation of the prime minister. Ignatieff made no effort because he decided he wanted to bring down the gov't.

Minister Aglukkaw is a great example! She's met Bennet and Wasceli…(not even gonna attempt to spell it) and kept them informed about the swine flu. Its one of the few times the opposition has actually reached out.

I'm not familiar with the story behind Volpe although a handful of incidents is beside the point.

Yes, there are still a handful of opposition MPs who are doing their job and doing it well.

I will certainly give you that. But on the general point that opposition MPs have failed miserably it still stands.

Bottom line – opposition MPs have NOT reached out to the Harper Conservatives at all.
Holly Stick

He's not the Prime Minister of Canada, he's the Prime Minister of a select group of conservative voters. He's too small-minded to lead a whole country.

wilson

And so why is there not a government issue, stardized cardboard cheque for photo-op purposes?
wilson

stardized? ..standardized

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

Yeah, why isn't there? Do you have any contacts, Wilson, that you can suggest such a thing to one who might get it up the chain? That's a very good idea you had there.