Stairway to the Senate: lose an election as MP

There's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for

Led Zepplin
Stairway to Heaven

It's a great system if you can make it work. Harper froths at the mouth that he insists on an elected Senate and who does he appoint? People who can't get elected.

So... Harper believes to support his views he will appoint Conservative/Reform/Alliance ex-candidates who were rejected by the electorate in their bids to represent Commons ridings. Instead of elected senators, we get a steadily increasing list of electoral failures finding their way into Parliament. Harper's democracy.

Now, you must read BCer in Toronto.

From the chamber of sober second thought

Senator Mike Duffy, formerly of Corporate Television Vehicle™, has figured out what's wrong with modern journalism :

"When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced," Duffy was quoted from his speech in yesterday’s issue of the Amherst Daily News. "That school doesn’t exist any more. Kids who go to King’s, or the other schools across the country, are taught from two main texts."

According to the Senator of Extra Pudding, those two main texts polluting young minds are : "Noam Chomsky and critical thinking"

Critical thinking. Oh, the horror.

Harpocrisy : Lying in state

After years of listening to Harper and NaPo denounce the Libs for stacking the Senate with their cronies, NaPo's rousing defence of Harper stacking the Senate with his cronies is pretty amusing :

National Post editorial board: In defence of Stephen Harper's senators
"The alternative was for Mr. Harper to play by different rules than the opposition parties ever will if they get back into office..."

I had rather thought that was the whole point.

The Emperor Strikes Back

What is Emperor Steve fooling around with in his pocket this time?
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Oooh - it's the nine new Senators he appointed yesterday.
That makes 27 Cons he's appointed in less than a year, bringing his posse in the Senate up to 46 out 0f a total of 105.
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G&M : "At an event in Quebec City, the Prime Minister said he had to nominate unelected Conservative supporters to the Senate to ensure that his government, which won a minority last year, gets its legislation approved."
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This latest batch of pocket warmers include some Con Party presidents and backroom operatives, Steve's communications aide from the PMO ... plus a hockey analyst who remarked yesterday that his appointment meant he was "going to have to start following [federal politics]" now.
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Oh not necessarily ...

'Ya Just Can't Believe steve . . . .

Others more informed and educated than I on Canadian politics will no doubt give excellent commentary and analysis on harper's Senate appointments today.

To point out one glaring untruth in the press release from the Prime Minister's Office, however, check this out:

Harper said in the news release that the vacancies had to be filled “in order for the Senate to transact legitimate government business.”

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Senate an integral part of Parliament? And, with the Parliament prorogued at stevie's request, just what the hell is the "legitimate government business" stevie's referring to?

Question for those more educated on Canadian government than I: Can the Governor General refuse to confirm harper's nominations based on the fact that Parliament is prorogued ? ? ? ?

Perhaps a bouquet of daisies

Harper might have to do a bit of groveling if he wants the Senate to bail him out.

The Liberal leader in the Senate says the Harper government should apologize for denigrating the upper chamber it's now imploring to kill a costly private member's bill aimed at providing tax benefits to parents saving for their children's education.

"I'm waiting for the dozen roses and a little word of apology for not appreciating the good work that's being done," Celine Hervieux-Payette joked in an interview Saturday.

Don't expect that any time soon.

Hervieux-Payette promised the Liberal-dominated Senate will give open-minded, sober consideration to the bill - both its merits and its potential impact on the government's bottom line - even though some senators may not be inclined to do any favours for a government that has maligned them as lazy, unaccountable, unelected, partisan hacks.

"There might be some who would like to take revenge, I agree, but this is not my style," she told The Canadian Press.

"We're there to serve Canadians and we're there to do a good job."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are appealing to the Senate to kill a private member's bill that quietly passed the House of Commons last week over the minority government's objections. The bill, initiated by Liberal MP Dan McTeague, would allow parents to contribute up to $5,000 annually for each child to a Registered Education Savings Plan - and deduct the amount from their income taxes.

The Tories warn the costly idea could push the country's books back into deficit. The RESP program is estimated to cost as much as $2 billion per year - more than the razor-thin surplus projected for next year by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Not to put too fine a point on it but the reputation of the Senate is not a soaring example of assiduity. Nevertheless, the dilemma faced by the Harper government is a situation of its own making.

Now Harper's own nastiness is simply biting him back.

Just last week, Michael Fortier, whom Harper appointed to the Senate so that he could serve as his Public Works minister, questioned the relevance of the upper chamber. He criticized the partisan nature of the Senate appointees and suggested he's become a convert to the the cause of abolition.

Ah yes... Mr. Fortier. The promise made and broken by Harper. The Senate was very convenient for both Harper and Fortier then, wasn't it? How is Fortier doing anyway?

Fortier, who has missed all but five of 34 recorded Senate votes since his appointment two years ago, also slagged the work habits of his fellow senators, sneering that they are not Nobel Prize winners.

But I'll wager he collects his pay every month.

"You'd think they could be humble enough to admit they went overboard," Hervieux-Payette said of the Tories.

She said she doesn't expect an apology "for all the crazy things that have been said" but she said the government should at least show respect for the institution and the role that it plays as the chamber of sober second thought.

OK then. Maybe some dandelions.

Apologies: The link to the article quoted is now up.

It's not YOUR senate, Steve.

First we have Harper yapping away about the Senate either accepting his version of reform or face abolition. But, there's no plan. We, the people who will ultimately decide, have not been presented with anything resembling a final configuration of Harper's Senate vision.

Just his "shoot from the lip" bullshit intended to keep his cheerleaders awake and try to lull the rest of into the false belief that he's actually doing something.

What everyone needs to realize, however, is that producing a more effective Senate has been something every prime minister since Pearson has eyed. The problem is, getting it done and still making it palatable to a large majority of the Canadian population.

So, what happened after Harper prattled on today? He got a lesson in constitutional meddling from none other than his newly purchased buddies in the Quebec National Assembly.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is being warned against reforming the Senate without consulting Quebec first,

Wednesday, the three main parties in Quebec unanimously adopted a motion stating that “any changes to the Canadian Senate cannot be done without the consent of the government of Quebec and the National Assembly.”

The Quebec Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Benoît Pelletier argued that the Senate remains a federal-provincial institution created to protect diverse regional interests. Mr. Pelletier insisted that Ottawa cannot under the Canadian Constitution change or abolish the Senate without first adopting a constitutional amendment that would require Quebec's approval.

“In other words what the government of Canada has the intention of doing alone, it cannot do it alone because it affects essential conditions and characteristics…that were essential to Quebec's adherence the Canadian federal compromise,” Mr. Pelletier argued in the National Assembly Wednesday.

Welcome to the Canadian federation you so despise, Steve. You're about to be given a clinic in Canadian constitutional affairs which some of those of who went before you also had to learn the hard way.

Dissension in the Ranks ? ? ? ?

This news is just devastating too bad, isn't it?

From CTV today:

Accord dispute creates dissent in Harper cabinet

Updated Mon. Jun. 11 2007 10:10 PM ET - CTV.ca News Staff

CTV News has learned a weekend letter on the Atlantic Accord dispute has left Prime Minister Stephen Harper facing a major cabinet split.

Sources say that Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay feels blindsided by the letter to the editor published Saturday that inflamed matters.

Insiders say that Sandra Buckler, the prime minister's communications director, instructed MacKay to sign the letter, which rejected any side deals with Nova Scotia.

MacKay, a Nova Scotia MP and the senior minister for Atlantic Canada, refused, say sources. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signed the letter.


And later in the article this scenario:


Liberal senators, who hold a majority, say they might even take up MacDonald's call to defeat the budget.

"If Mr. Harper wants this budget, Mr. Harper is going to have to change this budget," said Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer of Nova Scotia.

Having the Senate vote down the budget would be a vote of non-confidence in the government and an election could result.

"It would be totally irresponsible and it would be unprecedented for the unelected Senate to defeat a budget bill," said Conservative Sen. Marjory LeBreton, the party's house leader.

As we're not experts on the Canadian political process, does this possibility have any validity?

If so, what an intriguing idea . . . .

(Cross-Posted at Moving to Vancouver)

Rapid Senate Reform: Blow it up

I do believe Senator Terry Stratton is counseling a criminal act.

A senior Conservative senator says the dysfunctional upper chamber should be "blown up" because the large Liberal majority, acting too often as judge and jury, has brought the Senate to an all-time low as a political body.

"This is an incestuous place which should be blown up," an exasperated Terry Stratton, who acts as whip for senators on the government side of the red chamber, said in a telephone interview from Winnipeg.

Nasty, nasty, nasty. I think Senator Stratton needs to get back on his medication. It sounds like having a sleeping berth in the red chamber is too much for him.

Now go read The Next Agenda.

Added: Senator Stratton, given his propensity to counsel violent acts against parliament, should encounter some difficulty flying now.