Is Harper a Machiavellian Chessmaster whose "Grand Plan for our Betterment", we are too simple to appreciate? or, is he simply a Boneheaded Bully?
As additional support for the smart-alec title:
Dec 19/08 Nat Post
By the seat of his pants? John Ivison
In response to Mr Steve Paikin's, Kingston Whig Standard piece Dec 6th/08
Bob Rae is going for the Conservative-toppling hat trick
First Half of this Disappeared an hour or so ago.
Summary of first attempt (in case it fails to reappear)
Dear Mr Paikin, W-S Editors, & my fellow Canadians who know something is wrong, but cannot quite put their finger on what it is,
Bob Rae and Bill Davis are irrelevant.
PUBLISHED on ENSIGN WEB News Dec 9/08
Stephen Harper has admitted failure as PM - he gave up in Sept and asked for an election in the face of his own fixed date legislation. Now he tries to bamboozle the Governor General with delaying tactics, and mis-interpretations of the Constitution and History (.... what next STATISTICS??) -simply to avoid a vote on Non-confidence!
Prior Bad Advice, accepted by the GG -the 2008 election proved useless.
If ever an Opposition Coalition was to be considered -it was then ... to fulfill the balance of the fixed term ... after all Harper admitted he couldn't govern, but everything/everyone else thought things we OK.
Now (after saying it so often, that he himself believes he 'won' the election) he acts like a Majority PM & gets rightly stoned by the (majority of seats) opposition for his arrogance.
He was chastised by the voters on Oct 14 -we HAD an opportunity to give him a majority then, and chose NOT TO DO SO (NB a particularly strong message in the absence of a real opponent)... ... his Fiscal Update tactics and subsequent about-face and attack behaviours are insults to that "non-mandate", exceedingly-appropriate decision of the voters AND an insult to the public's duly elected House representatives.
To again give Bad Advice (to Prorogue rather than face the music on Monday the 8th) is blatant self-serving and self-defending (nevermind setting a bad precedent for future house-scuffles).
The outcome is only delayed ... unless he can let time, reality and infighting convince the opponents to scuttle their own warships or unless Harper can 'Benedict Stronach/Brison' a few Libs with Cabinet posts (as Martin Jr did to him) to shore up his numbers ... he's cooked in early Feb 2009.
As an economist, I am sure Harper can count to 308, but as a military strategist he's been reading the wrong books . (aside, whose school of economics is Harper's primary influence?- we should ask him if 'twas always thus? as well)
Very few Cdns want an election (the ace up Harper's sleeve) BUT absolutely no one wants the 3-stooges ...
If the coalition are given gov't by the GG (and when they blow it as they inevitably will) then, i)the GG as a person looks stupid & unfit for granting those 3 stooges the opportunity and ii)the GG's office looks irrelevant (in addition to being thought an anachronism to those who know NO history AND have NEVER READ the BNA) and iii) Harper wins a majority-out-of-desperation in a landslide ..... woe betide us. Here comes Firewall Steve and the 'Provincialist First' Majorette demolition team.
The prorogue is the second, recent Bad advice accepted by our lovely & virtually isolated GovGen (much like a just-arrived, Brit-appointed GG might have been in the 1870-1944 period).
The Framers here and over home anticipated such an occurrence and provided the GG (possessor of the Queen-in-Council's full Authority within Canada) with a Privy Council - a permanent, ultra Cabinet to advise the newbie on local affairs and to be a permanent supervisory body - est to watch that the short-term, self-serving plebs in the house of commoners didn't steal all the money for their friends or promise it to the voters to sustain themselves in office (oops).
Our current GG (and all GG's since 1940) has NOT had the benefit of the advice and Institutional Wisdom of this independent Council of GrandMothers (Iroquois Confederacy parallel term)because control of the Privy Council was usurped by Wm L M King under cover or wartime expediency - and never returned!!
The PM should resign for giving such bad advice a) in the first place because its so blatantly self-serving and defiant to the reality of the next House vote and b) without giving the GG the institutional resources to respond on behalf of the Greater Public Good ie how about an All the Talents war-style, emergency-style cabinet 50% CPC, 25% Lib, 15% Ndp & 10% BQ ?
Valpy in the G &M reports that Harper had Lynch (holding the combo-office of Clerk of the Privy Council AND Secretary of the Cabinet) ie the combined resources of the Gov't-of-the-day + the entire Public Service, while the GG had the secretary and an outside, (but accustomed to lots of contract work with gov't agencies)fee-based, expert-lawyer.
In response to the indignities of Mr Harper towards the person and Office, mercy will be offered (but only because any alternative leader is so much MORE lacking)
Ms Jean must stand on the Constitution, on the Letters Patent of 1947 and address the Rt Hon Chap thusly:
#1 Harper must be reminded that he is the QUEEN's servant and as such in Canada he is the GovGen's servant, he must honour his Oath to the Queen (who represents the best interests of the Crown which (certainly HAD Better) represents the best interests of the Canadian people.
#2 Harper must be told to rescind the 1940 Order in Council that usurped the Privy Council from the Executive (ss.9-16) and placed it in Mackenzie Kings Legislative hands (upside down, inmates running the asylum).Thereby returning the Council of Grandmothers to its Constitutional origins, re-instating the Public Service as servants of the Public thru the GG and no longer servants of the (often arbitrary and selfish) gov't of the day.
#3 Harper must be told that he (or somebody else of the GG's choosing) must finish this 4yr Fixed dates term in a All-the-Talents cabinet of proportionate to the Party-based seats in the House (and independents if they can amass min 1% seat total) - we don't need elections until this world-wide economic and monetary mess is over or at least on the mend. Our Constitution also allows for special term extensions in times of war - to me this mess is as bad as any war)
#4 The new cabinet will proceed to debate a new format for selecting the GG - my suggestion is by election at large every-other Gen election, using a single-transferable ballot, with the term commencing 365 days after the Writs are returned. Once elected the GG will have a mandate to supervise the operations from a pan-Canadian perspective and long-term view. Once elected the Bills and policies will still originate from the Legislative Order, but they'll have to pass Executive scrutiny or be 'reserved' for Royal Assent after approval by general referendum
I submit, that these types of ideas are where the discussion should be centring.
--
Robert Ede,
Dec 7/08
Dec 19/08 Nat Post
By the seat of his pants? John Ivison
In response to Mr Steve Paikin's, Kingston Whig Standard piece Dec 6th/08
Bob Rae is going for the Conservative-toppling hat trick
First Half of this Disappeared an hour or so ago.
Summary of first attempt (in case it fails to reappear)
Dear Mr Paikin, W-S Editors, & my fellow Canadians who know something is wrong, but cannot quite put their finger on what it is,
Bob Rae and Bill Davis are irrelevant.
PUBLISHED on ENSIGN WEB News Dec 9/08
Stephen Harper has admitted failure as PM - he gave up in Sept and asked for an election in the face of his own fixed date legislation. Now he tries to bamboozle the Governor General with delaying tactics, and mis-interpretations of the Constitution and History (.... what next STATISTICS??) -simply to avoid a vote on Non-confidence!
Prior Bad Advice, accepted by the GG -the 2008 election proved useless.
If ever an Opposition Coalition was to be considered -it was then ... to fulfill the balance of the fixed term ... after all Harper admitted he couldn't govern, but everything/everyone else thought things we OK.
Now (after saying it so often, that he himself believes he 'won' the election) he acts like a Majority PM & gets rightly stoned by the (majority of seats) opposition for his arrogance.
He was chastised by the voters on Oct 14 -we HAD an opportunity to give him a majority then, and chose NOT TO DO SO (NB a particularly strong message in the absence of a real opponent)... ... his Fiscal Update tactics and subsequent about-face and attack behaviours are insults to that "non-mandate", exceedingly-appropriate decision of the voters AND an insult to the public's duly elected House representatives.
To again give Bad Advice (to Prorogue rather than face the music on Monday the 8th) is blatant self-serving and self-defending (nevermind setting a bad precedent for future house-scuffles).
The outcome is only delayed ... unless he can let time, reality and infighting convince the opponents to scuttle their own warships or unless Harper can 'Benedict Stronach/Brison' a few Libs with Cabinet posts (as Martin Jr did to him) to shore up his numbers ... he's cooked in early Feb 2009.
As an economist, I am sure Harper can count to 308, but as a military strategist he's been reading the wrong books . (aside, whose school of economics is Harper's primary influence?- we should ask him if 'twas always thus? as well)
Very few Cdns want an election (the ace up Harper's sleeve) BUT absolutely no one wants the 3-stooges ...
If the coalition are given gov't by the GG (and when they blow it as they inevitably will) then, i)the GG as a person looks stupid & unfit for granting those 3 stooges the opportunity and ii)the GG's office looks irrelevant (in addition to being thought an anachronism to those who know NO history AND have NEVER READ the BNA) and iii) Harper wins a majority-out-of-desperation in a landslide ..... woe betide us. Here comes Firewall Steve and the 'Provincialist First' Majorette demolition team.
The prorogue is the second, recent Bad advice accepted by our lovely & virtually isolated GovGen (much like a just-arrived, Brit-appointed GG might have been in the 1870-1944 period).
The Framers here and over home anticipated such an occurrence and provided the GG (possessor of the Queen-in-Council's full Authority within Canada) with a Privy Council - a permanent, ultra Cabinet to advise the newbie on local affairs and to be a permanent supervisory body - est to watch that the short-term, self-serving plebs in the house of commoners didn't steal all the money for their friends or promise it to the voters to sustain themselves in office (oops).
Our current GG (and all GG's since 1940) has NOT had the benefit of the advice and Institutional Wisdom of this independent Council of GrandMothers (Iroquois Confederacy parallel term)because control of the Privy Council was usurped by Wm L M King under cover or wartime expediency - and never returned!!
The PM should resign for giving such bad advice a) in the first place because its so blatantly self-serving and defiant to the reality of the next House vote and b) without giving the GG the institutional resources to respond on behalf of the Greater Public Good ie how about an All the Talents war-style, emergency-style cabinet 50% CPC, 25% Lib, 15% Ndp & 10% BQ ?
Valpy in the G &M reports that Harper had Lynch (holding the combo-office of Clerk of the Privy Council AND Secretary of the Cabinet) ie the combined resources of the Gov't-of-the-day + the entire Public Service, while the GG had the secretary and an outside, (but accustomed to lots of contract work with gov't agencies)fee-based, expert-lawyer.
In response to the indignities of Mr Harper towards the person and Office, mercy will be offered (but only because any alternative leader is so much MORE lacking)
Ms Jean must stand on the Constitution, on the Letters Patent of 1947 and address the Rt Hon Chap thusly:
#1 Harper must be reminded that he is the QUEEN's servant and as such in Canada he is the GovGen's servant, he must honour his Oath to the Queen (who represents the best interests of the Crown which (certainly HAD Better) represents the best interests of the Canadian people.
#2 Harper must be told to rescind the 1940 Order in Council that usurped the Privy Council from the Executive (ss.9-16) and placed it in Mackenzie Kings Legislative hands (upside down, inmates running the asylum).Thereby returning the Council of Grandmothers to its Constitutional origins, re-instating the Public Service as servants of the Public thru the GG and no longer servants of the (often arbitrary and selfish) gov't of the day.
#3 Harper must be told that he (or somebody else of the GG's choosing) must finish this 4yr Fixed dates term in a All-the-Talents cabinet of proportionate to the Party-based seats in the House (and independents if they can amass min 1% seat total) - we don't need elections until this world-wide economic and monetary mess is over or at least on the mend. Our Constitution also allows for special term extensions in times of war - to me this mess is as bad as any war)
#4 The new cabinet will proceed to debate a new format for selecting the GG - my suggestion is by election at large every-other Gen election, using a single-transferable ballot, with the term commencing 365 days after the Writs are returned. Once elected the GG will have a mandate to supervise the operations from a pan-Canadian perspective and long-term view. Once elected the Bills and policies will still originate from the Legislative Order, but they'll have to pass Executive scrutiny or be 'reserved' for Royal Assent after approval by general referendum
I submit, that these types of ideas are where the discussion should be centring.
--
Robert Ede,
Dec 7/08
posted by Walk a Kb or Two in my cassins | 11:04 am
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