The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A Harper Government "Time for change" was the general assessment of the Jan. 23 vote by nearly all political pundits. The only leader who didn't think so was Paul Martin, who in his last press conference kept repeating how wonderful his government was and how much they had done for Canada. Martin took the Liberals from a strong majority to a minority to opposition in less than two years, but wouldn't speak of the disastrous campaign. In a CTV interview, former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan was upbeat and pleased with her 12-year political career, spent entirely in cabinet, and said frankly that political change is good for a democracy. It looks like a number of Liberal heavy hitters are sensing the party may be in opposition for quite a while, as most of them are declining to run for leader. Who knows who they will get, but the contest will certainly be well down the road unless some outstanding people come forward. The Conservatives are hoping that turncoats Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison go for it. In northern Saskatchewan, Jeremy Harrison, regrettably, did not win, at least so far, but rumours and reports of election fraud continue to emerge. One report claims that voters were offered a raffle on a huge plasma TV if they came out to vote on a remote reserve. Apparently there was over a 90 per cent turnout. This of course is a violation of the Canada Election Act. You cannot offer money or prizes to voters, and the votes would be tossed out, or the election declared invalid, if such acts are found to be true. Let us hope that the rumoured incidents are investigated and the truth discovered for the good of all parties and the democratic process. In a mean-spirited article, before the new government was sworn in, the national reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press wrote of Stephen Harper as a cold fish because he walks his children to school but doesn't hug or kiss them goodbye. This is patently ridiculous. What nine-year-old hockey player wants to be kissed by daddy with the media following? Harper's Calgary buddies claim Stephen is a regular hockey dad who likes to drink a beer, tell jokes and talk hockey. We know as well he is a superior intellect who also loves to talk Conservative policy. A second article discussing the new cabinet appointments dwelled mainly on the so-called problems of David Emerson, Michael Fortier and Manitoba's Vic Toews, the new Minister of Justice and Attorney-General. The article brought up the old story of how Toews was fined by Elections Manitoba for exceeding his spending limits in the 1999 provincial loss. This is not a criminal offense, but supposedly it is an ethical concern, and he shouldn't have been appointed to the Justice portfolio. This is also nonsense, as the campaign manager and chief financial officer are responsible for keeping the finances under control. In the numerous election campaigns that this writer has managed, all expenditures had to be approved in advance by myself and the CFO. The candidates were not involved, as their only concern is to get votes. What Toews did was take all responsibility for the failure of his team as an honourable candidate would do. No one else in the caucus is as qualified as Vic to take over this tough portfolio, and no one in the Commons is any better to bring in the tough and needed changes to criminal laws. The Free Press' national writer, if he keeps his job for a paper that endorsed the Tories, is just showing his Liberal bias, and it is highly unlikely he will ever "exclusively interview" any top Conservatives. When Harper was sworn in, he became the fifth-youngest Conservative PM in history. At 46 years, nine months and eight days, he was slightly older than Manitoba's Arthur Meighen (1920) and Kim Campbell (1993). Meighen was defeated in 1921 mainly because he had vigorously supported conscription in the First World War. He became PM again in 1926 but lost in a few months. Later, in 1932, he became a part of the Bennett government. Who were the two youngest Conservative PMs? Why Joe Clark as the youngest ever and Brian Mulroney in second place. More to come about the new Harper government. (Note: An editing error snuck into last week's column. The second sentence of the second-last paragraph should have read: "The political reality is that the new government will not likely listen to the new Liberal members regarding the CommunityPlex, which The Corner solidly favours.")2/22/2006
