3.09.2011

lawrence martin does the math on harper's tipping point

Lawrence Martin asks, is anyone doing the math? Many of us have been adding up the transgressions of the Harper Government™ for a long time.

To think yesterday's Opposition motion could have been a non-confidence vote. But was not. Was ever an Opposition so lame?

Also, why doesn't this have 20,000 signatures yet?

Lawrence Martin's list:
It’s not the parts that count but the sum of the parts. Which invites the question: Is anyone doing the math?

Just recently, four senior Conservatives (including two senators) were charged with willfully exceeding spending limits in the 2006 campaign that brought the Tories to power. The “in and out” financing scheme came at the same time that Stephen Harper was promising a new era of transparency and accountability.

Just recently, we had the document-altering scandal featuring International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, who appears in the House of Commons for Question Period but refuses to answer questions on the matter.

Just recently, we had new revelations in regard to the government’s so-called integrity commissioner, the one who received 228 whistleblowing complaints and upheld not a single one. She left with a half-a-million-dollar severance package – and a gag order to go with it.

Just recently, we learned that the office of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney used ministerial letterhead to raise money for the Conservative Party. We’ve also seen a contempt of Parliament motion brought against the government for its refusal to disclose basic information on the costs of crime bills and on corporate profits. And we’ve seen the Conservatives release attack ads of such questionable quality that they were withdrawn.

Just recently, The Canadian Press reported that, in the tradition of l’état, c’est moi, the Prime Minister is insisting that “Government of Canada” nomenclature be changed to “the Harper government.” Some wag suggested the PM might want to change his own name – to Stephen Hubris.

Just recently, the PM appointed Tom Pentefountas as vice-chairman of the CRTC. Mr. Pentefountas comes equipped with two qualifications: his close friendship with the PM’s director of communications, and zero experience in telecommunications.

In this same time frame, we’ve seen what happens to those such as diplomat Richard Colvin and others who dare to speak out. At Veterans Affairs, whistleblower Sean Bruyea’s medical and psychiatric records were circulated in an obvious attempt to have him labelled a nutcase.

The recent math is eye-popping. But getting the full picture requires going a little further back. . . .

Read more here. And if you need further reminding, read more here and here.

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