The Great Communicator

After a long hiatus, Bob Rae is back to blogging - in the voice of Stephen Harper. Seriously. This morning, deadpan, Rae posted a letter he says he got through Access to Information - from the PM to the president of Tim Horton's.

The letter praises the decision to fire an employee for giving away a Timbit, because "it's really just the beginning of the end."

It also contains some communication advice for any negative fallout: "Stick by your original plan. The bad publicity will come and go. Don't answer questions. Attack the questioner. Challenge their credibility. Smear Coffee Time."

UPDATE: The blog entry has been "disappeared." Apparently Rae's sense of humour isn't universally shared and he voluntarily took it down after someone didn't find his fake letter funny. It's one thing, I guess, to call Tim Horton's cruel and heartless for firing an employee, but it's just going too far to compare the doughnut empire to the Harper regime.

A week ends, none too soon

It's hard to pick just one low point of political rhetoric this week -- though the Prime Minister reviving his old ‘anti-Semite’ smears against Liberal MPs definitely qualifies. For those who missed it, Harper's comments came in a radio interview, in which he talked about how "...anti-Israel sentiment, really [can be] just...a thinly disguised veil for good old fashioned anti-Semitism."

Then Harper said: "I am disturbed that there are some elements in our political system, there are even some members of Parliament...some that were willing to cater to that kind of opinion."

Harper must have felt this worked when he first dragged out the allegation in 2006.

Pulling the smear out again this week, on the occasion of Israel's 60th anniversary as a nation, seems a little much.

But there was one, rare high point in an otherwise below-the-belt week in Canada's bleak political discourse. It came yesterday when Bill Blaikie, the longest-serving MP in the Commons, and the Deputy Speaker, shut down an inane, "in,out" chanting routine that Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre has been using in the Commons with mixed effect. (Actually, here in the office, we've been having some fun watching the trouble he's having getting backbenchers to chant in harmony with him. It's like watching choreography for the unco-ordinated.)

Here's what happened today:

Mr. Pierre Poilievre (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I have systematically demonstrated that the Liberals participated in a program of in and out. They did this to get around national spending limits and to amplify their taxpayer-funded Elections Canada return.

On July 8, 2004, the Liberal Party transferred to Beth Phinney's local campaign $5,000. On July 9, 2004, Beth Phinney's local campaign transferred to the Liberal Party $5,000.

(ed note: And here the chant begins....) Five thousand in, five thousand out; in, out--

The Deputy Speaker: Order. Any more chanting like that, some people will find themselves just out.

Amen and TGIF.

No love lost

There was a real siege feeling around the Hill today after Question Period. Maybe it was because of bikers in the news. Maybe because there's nothing much happening here but nastiness, meanness and more nastiness.

But never mind about me trying to describe it -- this transcript of a scrum with the Conservatives' chief government whip, Jay Hill, says it all. The questions are from various reporters, trying to get something out of Hill before he slammed the door on them at his office just off the Commons' foyer.

Jay Hill: I don't discuss what takes place at the Board of Internal Economy.

Question: Why, isn't that public money, isn't that public money Mr. Hill?

Question: Are you guys proud of your behaviour in there today?

Question: (inaudible) isn't that public money Mr. Hill? Isn't that public money Mr. Hill?

Jay Hill: Are you proud of your questions?

Question: Yeah. Are you proud of your behaviour? Are you, are you proud of your questions?

Question: So you're doing what you just did in there. You're going to browbeat

Question: What's wrong in asking you a question? We can't ask you questions?

Question: You're trying to browbeat, browbeat, browbeat people?

Question: Isn't that public money in this budget? Isn't that my money?

And there, the scrum abruptly ends with a slammed door. Is it summer-break time yet?

Copps weighs in on Clinton's uphill battle

Yesterday, I noted that Hillary Clinton is not the first woman -- or last, probably -- to keep fighting on in a political race with the odds stacked against her. I noted that it happened in 2003 with Sheila Copps and again in 2006, with Martha Hall-Findlay.

Copps graciously has offered some thoughts on the subject. Here they are, verbatim:

I think the issue is much deeper, not to diminish the last woman standing angle. Why is Hillary even in this position? She has received incredibly biased coverage because let's face it: For all of our claims to a lock on democracy we in North America have difficulty with women in leadership roles. Sexism is still unfortunately rampant. Hence most political watchers don't understand the significance of a Hillary loss to the continuing disillusionment of political women.

Harper revs up damage control

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO Maxime Bernier arrives to be sworn in as foreign affairs minister last August accompanied by Julie Couillard.

There was quite the scramble here in the last half hour, when we learned that Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanted to pronounce himself on the controversy over Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, who has also dated Hells Angels bikers.

Apparently, Harper wanted to make this rare foray before the microphones to label the opposition leaders as "gossipy, old busybodies." Seriously.

So we can all stand down. Though it's known that Bernier was warned only a few weeks ago that he'd be out of cabinet after one more gaffe like this, he's lived to fight another day.

I'm betting that Harper wanted to utter the "busybodies" line himself in Question Period, which starts in about a half hour, but he doesn't want to field the Bernier questions on national TV. The Prime Minister tends to only get on his feet to reply to questions from opposition leaders, and sometimes not even then.

A Conservative told me  this week that Harper likes to supply attack lines to cabinet ministers and has been known to chide them after Question Period if they miss an obvious opening to slam a Liberal.

Update: I wonder if Harper feared he was being a "gossipy, old busybody" or not minding his own business  when he had this to say about the defection of Belinda Stronach to the Liberals in May 2005?

"I think Peter is taking this pretty hard, as you could imagine,"  Harper said.

or

"If she has such a high opinion of Peter MacKay, I would venture today after my discussion with him, she has an awfully tough way of conveying that to him."

(For those who have amnesia or were perhaps travelling in the space shuttle at the time, Harper was tut-tutting over how Stronach broke the heart of her then-boyfriend, Peter MacKay, when she left the Conservative party.)

 

Get well soon

It is being reported - and debated - in other quarters of the blogosphere (sorry, we'll let you find the links yourselves).

Yes, it seems to be true - the Prime Minister's communications director, Sandra Buckler, has undergone surgery this week associated with thyroid cancer.

The Star would just like to say at this point that we wish Ms. Buckler the speediest of recoveries and all the best for a happy, healthy return to work.

It isn't easy being green

There's a new environment commissioner.

His name is Scott Vaughan, and we wish him the best of luck.

First of all, it's no easy task to be a so-called independent commissioner in Ottawa these days. Just ask Linda Keen, the former nuclear-safety commissioner, or Marc Mayrand, the current Elections Canada commissioner, or even Graham Fraser, the official languages commissioner. (a hat tip here to Inkless Wells)

Or maybe Vaughan might want to seek some guidance from his new comrade in arms, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser. She hit the news last week when she complained about prospective Privy Council interference in her job -- the same thing the other Fraser, Graham, was criticizing.

Or maybe Vaughan should just keep his own counsel.

Vaughan may be in a tighter spot than the other commissioners. Not only will he have to protect his independence from the government - he may have to watch himself with the Auditor-General too. There is a long-running dispute over whether the environment commissioner is really a separate entity or just a junior partner to the Auditor-General. That dispute was at the root of the departure of the last environment commissioner, Johanne Gelinas. Apparently Fraser thought Gelinas was too much of an "advocate" and not enough of an auditor.

Some people, correctly or incorrectly, said that this whole thing boiled down to jealousy of attention - an occupational hazard in the capital at the best of times.

Whatever, it probably means that Vaughan should lie low. That's what all sensible bureaucrats do in Ottawa these days.

What would Sheila do?

Canadians think of themselves as followers of U.S. political trends. But as a matter of fact, there are Canadian precedents for Hillary Clinton's tenaciousness in the presidential race - especially as the lone, female candidate.

In 2003, recall, no one seemed to understand why Sheila Copps was staying in the Liberal leadership race, given Paul Martin's lock on victory.

In 2006, Liberal leadership candidate Martha Hall-Findlay hung on to the bitter end, even though it was clear she had no hopes of winning. She was the only woman in the race by the time the convention rolled around at the end of that year.

Perhaps Clinton might want to check in with Copps and Hall-Findlay for advice about whether to keep toughing it out - as the only woman, up against insurmountable odds.

The results here have been mixed.

Copps, as it turns out, wasn't rewarded for her persistence, having to wage a losing fight for her own Hamilton riding in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 leadership.

Hall-Findlay has fared a little better. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion appointed her as the candidate in Willowdale, which she won in a March by-election.

24 Sussex crumbling

Canada's Auditor-General confirmed today that 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister's official residence, is, well, a dump.

That's not news, though, to participants in the annual Doors Open Ottawa tour, or viewers of Rick Mercer's comedy show.

When Paul Martin occupied 24 Sussex a few years ago, his wife, Sheila, decided to include 24 Sussex among the grand old residences that annually open their doors to give architectural and heritage enthusiasts a closer look at the properties.

The Ottawa Citizen sent a columnist to do a bit of reconnaissance on the house, and she reported that the house was turning into a drafty old relic.

That prompted Mercer to stage this hilarious bit, in which he and the then-prime-minister headed to Canadian Tire and weather-sealed the windows themselves.

That Mercer/Martin repair may have to do for now. Apparently, though the Auditor General says that the house should be vacant for a year to get the proper renovations. But the Harper family has no intention of vacating in the near future, they said through a spokesperson.

 

 

Who CAIRS about access to information?

Of passing interest is why Prime Minister Stephen Harper keeps saying that the Coordination of Access to Information Requests System (CAIRS) - which has been killed by his government - was set up by the Liberals.

Here's a 2002-03 report from the Information Commissioner, specifically stating that CAIRS was set up in 1989.

Sure, that was nearly 20 years ago, but I'm pretty sure a Conservative government ruled Canada at the time.