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

Mid-afternoon in Guergis

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, April 16, 2010 3:40pm - 70 Comments

Dominic LeBlanc says the government didn’t act fast enough to guard the cabinet. The Globe tries to sort out exactly what the ethics commissioner was asked or told. Libby Davies formally asks the ethics commission to investigate. Mark Holland formally asks the lobbying commissioner to investigate. Mr. Gillani’s spokesman talks to the CBC. Doug Bell notes that spokesman is also a dog photographer. Alison Crawford notes the difference between “credible” and “serious and credible” allegations. The Prime Minister of New Zealand surmises that salaciousness is universal. Mr. Jaffer is scheduled to appear before a parliamentary committee next week. And the Ontario Provincial Police union wants to know why the charges against Mr. Jaffer were dropped.

Tags: Brian Kilgore, Dominic LeBlanc, Helena Guergis, John Key, Libby Davies, Mark Holland, Nazim Gillani, New Zealand, OPP, Rahim Jaffer

More by Aaron Wherry

http://intensedebate.com/people/Democracy_dog Democracy_dog

Wow, that's interesting. The Ontario Provincial Police union is demanding to know why the charges against Jaffer were dropped? What right do they have to question the ruling of the provincial Attorney General? The union should not be playing politics like this, they know full well charges are dropped every day against people at the discretion of judges.

Hey Karl, go get a textbook on government, and skip to the chapter about the executive, legislative, and judicial levels of government. And then shut up.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

The union has the right as a body that represents OPP officers. They have responsibilities to their members and can exercise free speech.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok Sean

Because the official story essentially blames the cops for bungling the case, While I normally don't like to see the police unions getting political, I think in this case their desire to push back a bit is somewhat understandable.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Democracy_dog Democracy_dog

Of course I expect the cops (union) to "sit on their hands." It's not their place to stick their heads into what is essentially a political bunfight.

Does the union issue a press release for every joe that gets let off that they think should have been charged? No. Ipso Facto, they are becoming involved in politics and violating the separation of powers.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SamDavies SamDavies

This because "every joe" has not gotten similar coverage where the cops have been blamed for "bungling".
They are simply defending their conduct in this matter, which has been put in the limelight. There is nothing wrong with this.
http://intensedebate.com/people/LynnTO LynnTO

No, they're defending their members from bogus misconduct allegations.

Sigh

The problem seems to be that they don't know whether the allegations are bogus or not. According to the CBC, the police were never told what it was they were supposed to have done to cause the dropping of the charges. In that light, it seems like a pretty reasonable request.

Jan

Well, I guess if Harper can attack the Parole Board we're playing by new rules.

burlivespipe

If we had a PM who stood up and took responsibility for his actions, then maybe others would follow his example. Instead, we get a PM who deflects, denies and pulls out a lawsuit to close down discussion.
Looks like the police union is just following his example.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Democracy_dog Democracy_dog

Well I guess the Macleans administrators didn't really get much traction with their plea for civility…

MacLean's Regular

Well, the commenters who politely pointed out the glaring weaknesses of your original argument didn't get your attention, so I imagine they're giving that little bit of shock therapy a pass.
s. keeling

In many quarters these days, that would be considered the height of civility. “Ass” was the only (so called) profanity in it.

I do agree with your sentiment, however. Here’s hoping we see campaigns in support of spelling accuracy and proofreading as well (sorry, my personal bugaboo).

OT, it’s interesting how many sites I’ve seen recently pleading for less trollism and combativeness, and more non-partisan logical discussion (cf. arstechnica, among others).

Here’s hoping.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Democracy_dog Democracy_dog

I'm not holding my breath! Although I guess if you've ever sat and watched Question Period it's a similar experience, and they're running the country…

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok Sean

@Concerned: Find a way to express yourself without resorting to insults, or stay off these boards. kthks

MacLean's Regular

Who made you the forum police?

If MacLean's (and anyone else) is that concerned about civility, they should do something about the appalling cesspools of hate and racism that follow each and every one of Mark Steyn's posts.

"

gerry

Why is it that all of our news media have not asked the question of this PI WHO hired him to spy on Jaffer and Guergis or are they scared that it may be the LIbranos

Matlock

… if it were the Liberals, it's a tad silly that they'd then refuse to see him, no?

wilson

Or they already had the information.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Or, did Harper try to set the Liberals up?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Douglass Douglass

Seems more plausible doesn't it.

Matlock

Well if they already had the information, it's a tad silly they sat on it until Harper dismissed her from caucus himself, no?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Fish_30 Al O'Wishes

Yes, it was the Liberals who hired him, just to spy on an ex MP who couldn't hold a Conservative seat in Alberta and his junior minister wife who's whole claim to fame has been looking pretty and yelling at airport workers. Then, when the PI they hired found something, they refused to take his call.

I heard it was the zombie Trudeau, as part of his plan to turn the West into a French Communist land that hates the troops. (Sheesh!)

Jan

This 'blaming the Liberals' and then working backwards to explain it isn't working out that well.

Boethius

This has to be the most poorly thought-out argument yet. Nice try, but back to the conbot war room drawing board with you!

Herb

Mid-afternoon in Guergis? Heck, just a day in the life of this particular Government.

What's not to like if you're a voter waiting to take out the garbage?
Saskboys Homeboy

And then the liberal hoards of malcontents shut out of government and their entitlements began to shout, "slime her, slime her", while the smell of conservative blood filled their nostrils with an intoxicating feeling of superiority.

MacLean's Regular

How can a smell fill the nose with a feeling?

Almost there, but not quite. Rework and resubmit.

wsam

I'm betting shellfish! Those MPs are like tidal pools!
http://battlelight.blogspot.com HitEleven

The Liberals strategy in Question Period was an odd one. Yes, they brought up the infamous letter written by Ms. Guergis. At the same time, they questioned the validity of the testimony offered my Mr. Gillani. Their attacks were rather contradictory.

See clips of QP today that you won't see anywhere else at http://battlelight.blogspot.com.
wilson

the Liberals just followed, the media lead, as usual

Looks like Attarans Afghan Interpreter didn't get it right, eh.
chet

Sooner or later there will be another election. Every day between now and then, is one less day for the Liberals to convince Canadians why they are the "government in waiting".

How telling is it, that Liberals use the precious time for "Bonnie and Clyde" type taunts.

It seems that the sweet candy of the petty partisan sniping is too irresistable for the childlike opposition to pass up in favour of some very healthy, responsible policy for the betternment of all Canadians.

As we get closer to an election, watch the polls continue to widen, as they reflect a real choice that has to be made – one that increasingly appears to be no realistic choice at all.

http://intensedebate.com/people/danby danby

The sniff test?

If the roles were reversed, would OLO Stephen Harper be any less vociferous?
We both know the answer is no

Do you remember when Stephane Dion rose for the first time in QP after his defeat in the federal election and was met with Conservatives catcalls of didn't you used to be someone? Was that petty sniping, or just good ol' bare knuckle politics?

chet

No one expects politics to be free of partisan rancour. But a party has to be more than the stuff of reactionary sniping. And right now, that's all the Liberals are doing: following headline after headline, like a kitten following the fuzzy ball.

No coherent agenda, no real alternative policy. Just the daily gotcha moments, a desperate alternative to real governing in which they believe they are just one scandal away from having the easy keys to power.

So, so far from the once great Liberal machine.
chet

All the while the conservatives have been presiding over the most successful economy in the Western world – by a long shot.

Having successfully captained the SS Canada through the stormiest seas in a generation, there is no reasonable prospect that Canadians will now roll the dice with the current political equivalent of Gilligan that is today's Liberal party.

The polls will widen, and narrow here and there, but come election time, it won't even be close. A massive CPC landslide is in the offing.

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

Please. The only reason they managed to captain the SS Canada through the stormiest seas in a generation is because of Mark Carney and the Coalition that forced him to change his budget from his original plan.

The Harperites deserve absolutely zero credit for Canada's current good state. The good news is that if the upcoming rise in interest rates sends us into a second dip, they'll have no responsibility for that either.
http://intensedebate.com/people/danby danby

I'm not so certain that our recovery is due solely to the stewardship of the Conservative party. The banking safeguards were largely in place, and Mr Harper was dealing with a surplus when elected.
The economic forecasts of the Conservative government have been wildly inaccurate and here is some interesting reading.
Would the Liberals have done better? It's hard to say. Perhaps the minority kept the Conservatives in check.

The Harper government is facing the reality of undelivered accountability. I think that will play a larger role in the next election. Sheila Fraser looms ahead in the fall.

A landslide? If he couldn't win a majority against Dion, I think talk of a majority now is premature at best.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

I agree that the Conservatives can't take credit for our economic situation, however I think they can certainly take credit for not making it a lot worse (as he Liberals almost certainly would have) by wasting even more money on the "stimulus".
http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

On the alternative.. I think that our economic situation is much worse than it would have been had the Liberals remained in power and kept the books in a surplus position to begin with, not given away a billion dollars to the US lumber industry, and directed the stimulus spending toward long term investments that stand to really help Canada's economic situation get better, such as needed infrastructure repairs and post-secondary education.

And I say so with just as much evidence as you have.
http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

I guess you were expecting Alternative Prime Minister Dion to ignore his platform in the Green Shift that would transform government revenue generation and enhance the socialism experiment in this country.

And I guess you expected that the Coalition of Communists and Traitors(tm) would have acted in opposition to its rhetoric that chided the government for simultaneously having a deficit and not going even deeper into the red ink.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Congratulations on completely missing the point.. that is.. anybody can make crap up based on something that didn't happen.

And Coalition of Communists and Traitors? I guess you feel being duly elected isn't a good enough qualification for being in government if it doesn't agree with Herr myl, hm?
Gary

"Or are you just anti-democratic and would prefer that people don't get to elect their MPs unless they pick the ones that you agree with?"

I guess I'll be on the anti-democratic side that had JUST elected a minority Conservative government not a month before the back room deals for the "coalition" that was NOT on the ballot! TWITT!
http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Actually, Gary, there would have been nothing particularly anti-democratic about the coalition, since that is within the rules of the game, and should always be in the back of the mind in a minority government setting. If we don't like the rules of the game, three is a framework to change them. But that would make a pretty radical alteration to our parliamentary democracy.

Now, the pre-arranged deal among the partners, to express mock outrage over the fiscal update, that was struck even before the FU itself, well, that is best left to the voting public to judge on its own, um, merits.
Gary

The problem I had with the coalition, was not the idea of a coalition per se, but the fact that the Bloc was one of the players. How on earth can we allow that party to help manipulate back room deals when they are not looking after the interests of the rest of us Canadians? Also, what deals did they offer Mrs. May who is not even elected to Parliment?
http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Your problem with it was one of my problems with it, no question. But there was nothing particularly undemocratic about it.

The BQ is a duly constituted federal political party, whose candidates legitimately won election based on a plurality of votes in their respective ridings. So they are there, and we must deal with it. But we can't question their democratic bona fides.

Since the terrorist horrors of four decades ago, and notwithstanding a few firebombing twits, the population of Quebec has ZERO taste for a sovereignty project that is not obtained by the ballot box. That is to the immense credit of the political leaders of the project, and to the people of Quebec themselves.

Now to the (at least) two good folks who saw fit to thumb me down, I cheerfully ask: Was I all wet calling the assemblage of MPs democratic or did I blow it when I poo-poo'd the pre-arranged "spontaneous" multi-partisan horror recoil whose prior arrangement was caught on tape? Perhaps both? Speak up, down-thumbers! Speak up!
http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Dude…

Dion's platform was there for all to read. The crap didn't have to be made up; it just needed to be read. Or did you speed-read past all the plans on how he wanted to redistribute all that confiscated wealth?

And the italicized name was actually a dig at the folks who named it so, but thanks for missing the actual point that I was making about their thoroughly contradictory rhetoric. Perhaps you were in hibernation at the time?

Jan

Shouldn't the morale building be kept to the caucus meetings. It's really wasted on those of us who aren't members of the cult.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

I think that's HMS Canada.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Douglass Douglass

All candy no policy? Well I guess you have been paying too much attention to the taudry headlines, and not enough to the real goings on the last few days. The Liberals have started rolling out their plans for improving the health in Rual Canada.
http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/…

But hey, let's just ignore the facts. Carry on.

chet

part of "rural Canada matters initiative."

My goodness, they aren't very subtle are they. Part of the "we desperately need some semblance of rural political support initiative."

The Libs are essentially a rump party in downtown Toronto, parts of Montreal and Atlantic Canada. With the suburbs of Toronto starting to go Conservative, you'd think Iggy would focus a little closer to the home base, rather than on the impossible task of gaining in rural Canada.

Then again, when they're down by three touchdowns with a few minutes left, perhaps such hail Marys are their only choice.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

Umm, take another look at the election results my friend. The Toronto suburbs absolutely are not "starting to go Conservative" – unless you consider winning Mississauga-Erindale by 200ish votes and Oak Ridges-Markham by 500ish votes as a harbinger of a Blue Tidal Wave.

The Conservatives won 11 seats in the region (if you want to be VERY generous and consider ridings like Simcoe-Grey or York-Simcoe suburban Toronto…which of course they aren't) while the Liberals won 20 (not including any ridings south of the 401 or west of the 427…which would add another 12 seats to that total).

I know you guys rrrrreallly want to believe that the 'burbs are going blue, but reality is very different from wishes.

Gary

Toronto can have the Leafs and the Liberals!
Both are useless underachievers that go well with the city in general!
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

My dear friend, you are going off-script…frankly I expect better from the SDA crowd.

chet

So to my Liberal freinds here:

Enjoy the sweet candy now, for that trip to the dentist a few months away aint gonna be fun.

MacLean's Regular

The lurid, grandiose (albeit tragically overreaching and inelegant) language of these so-called conservatives really does prove Alan Wolfe's thesis that they are better thought of as modern-day romantics, rather than genuine conservatives.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

ahem…HMCS, no?

sincerely,

the son of a Navy Man ;)

http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Canada? Department of Redundacy Department?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

well it IS the CANADIAN navy ;)
dillon

I just wasted several hours looking uup this magazine's coverage of MinisterBill Graham's affair with an underage male hooker.. Couldn't find anything. Interesting.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

I'm sure Small Dead Animals can satisfy your needs….perhaps you should go back to your knuckledragging friends?

Gary

Do you REALLY think that ANY MSM outlets in Canada would dig into ANY of the Liberals many transgessions? Silly you!
Knuckledragging…………….MY aren't you clever!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

It's true, I *do* like to think myself clever, but it's always nice to have my feelings validated by others.

Why Thank You for the lovely compliment!

Gary

No problem!
It's always a good thing to be understanding and courteous to our developmentally challenged citizens!
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ricard_S_Argent Richard_S_Argent

Now now kind sir, I'm afraid I must object. To say that I breathe the same rarified air as you do is an honour I simply am not worthy of. The gentleman is far too kind in his words.

mike

Don't suppose all the rhetoric about Jaffer and Guergis takes away anything from the Afghan problem. I think she is a sacraficial lamb to take pressure off the inquiry. All this sounds like an old clairol commercial "they told two friend who told two friends" He got lucky, and he probably isn't the only one that has and he won't be the last.
chet

What's remarkable is just how much the partisans truly believe each and every faux scandal to come along will be the ticket to power for the left.

To actually believe that the well being of every man, woman and child in this country, somehow pales in comparison to petty, taudry, personal accusations from a power hungry political partisan class of leftists, speaks volumes as to how desperate the opposition has become.
marcus

instead of putting more people in jail the Torys should try and run the country put more people to work that might work better

http://intensedebate.com/people/sourstud sourstud

Yes, let us employ our criminal class, that'll teach em.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Open_Democracy Open_Democracy

If all 308 MPs were to undergo the kind of media scrutiny that Helena Guergis has undergone in the past 6 weeks, it would be interesting to see what else crawled out from under the rocks.

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/
http://intensedebate.com/people/M_A_N M_A_N

Which is why most MP's (not all, of course) try not to suffer public meltdows that invite a certain predictable level of scrutiny…

Moronic behaviour owns no party membership card…
http://intensedebate.com/people/SamDavies SamDavies

Seriously – You think this would be a good idea? Think of the erosion….