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.
Pallister, Harper and Election Lists In mid-February, MP Brian Pallister announced what a number of us expected Ð that he would stay in federal politics and not run for the provincial Tory leadership. The tallest MP in the House of Commons at 6'8", Brian had a serious look at competing in the province since the November annual meeting, and would have been a very formidable candidate. Indeed his considering running obviously scared off many almost sure candidates, as even my favourite candidate, Ron Schuler, would not have likely run if Brian was in the race. Pallister gave a number of personal reasons for staying in Ottawa and hinted at a lukewarm response to his candidacy (it didn't seem lukewarm to this writer). He seemed surprised and disturbed by the press response to his leaving the Feds after just winning a massive majority in his riding Ð the old song about deceiving his voters and costing the taxpayers a bundle for a by-election. The critics never mentioned that a lot of Liberals left federal politics to get juicy appointments by Chretien and Martin, with few complaints about the costs. Personally, Pallister would have been foolish to leave his federal seat, as he will be elected forever, would have taken a massive pay cut, and lost his lucrative pension. It has been well reported that MPs get $144,300 a year. Plus nearly $260,000 for offices and staff. Plus $20,000 in Ottawa expenses. And 128 air flights a year anywhere in the country. Compare this with the $72,000 annual salary of a Manitoba MLA. Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed surprised at the negative press reaction to his David Emerson appointment. But he should realize that it is fueled by an Eastern press corps used to getting perks from the Liberals along with the self-serving NDP, mainly from B.C. Harper solidly defends Emerson, as he should, and of course is hoping that the talented International Trade Minister will do a good job as expected. Some of his other early appointments did not receive a lot of negative comments. One that appears to be a good move was the appointment of Michael Wilson as the new Ambassador to the U.S. Readers will remember Wilson as the Mulroney finance minister who negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has caused the big budget surpluses today and of course the much-hated but big money-making GST. In some reports, Wilson was accused of having big budget deficits, which is technically true. But he had no choice, inheriting a massive deficit of nearly $40 billion from the Trudeau Liberals in 1984, with interest rates of over 20 per cent. When he left office in 1993, there was a surplus and the deficit had been reduced 30 per cent. Wilson is well thought of in America, and hopefully will be able to repair our damaged relationship with our huge trading partner. A good appointment by Stephen Harper! A second interesting appointment is the replacement of gun registration genius Allan Rock, who had been dropped from the Martin cabinet but appointed as our ambassador to the U.N. Rock did not resign as he should have when Harper took over, so the career diplomat replacing him will have to wait until July. Rock, who did a lot of damage in his various cabinet jobs, has announced he won't be seeking the Liberal leadership Ð too bad! Let's hope he doesn't do the country any more harm between now and July. What is this column's "Election List" heading all about? This of course is the voter's list, which is sort of permanent in Canada. You get on the voter's list through filing your income tax, and stay on it. The problem is that new voters and those who don't pay or file tax returns are not on the list and need to be sworn in at the polls. According to a DR.O. in a Saskatchewan riding, there was chaos in the latest federal vote not just in her riding, but others as well. People who had moved were still allowed to vote, and huge numbers had to be sworn in. She claims that the government has to do a proper enumeration to find out who belongs where. This system may explain why some polls in northern ridings had more people vote than were on the lists. More to come. Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
