Our Ignorance is Harper's bliss.

Mendelson Joe 

In an article today about Mendelson Joe in the Globe and Mail,  I was reminded of conversations  I have regularly with Georges about the sorry state of democracy in Canada.  This usually follows a rant about the Harper Government's disregard for democracy and the Machiavellian method he uses to maintain power.


Our displeasure isn't reserved solely for Mr. Harper.  Without the constant internal bickering and leadership vacuum of the Liberal Party, the nationalistic mandate of the Bloc and the shin kicking of Joe Layton, Harper wouldn't be getting away with it.  In the meantime, he plays the Cheshire "fox"  grinning over an unruly hen house.

I'm old enough to remember Mendelson Joe's career as a performer in the seventies and was surprised to read that he was a card-carrying Progressive Conservative working for Prairie populist David Orchard in the 2003 leadership race won by Peter MacKay.

Harper and Jaffer: before the love was gone!

“I was betrayed by Peter MacKay,” he says, referring to the deal between MacKay and Orchard in which MacKay promised, if he became leader with Orchard’s backing, not to seek a union with the Canadian Alliance. The deal was eventually broken when the PCs joined the new Conservative Party with Harper as its leader.

It seems every night on the news there is another example of how the Conservatives treat Parliament with contempt.  Whether it's showing complete disrespect for Sheila Fraser, proroguing Parliament (twice),  or spending over a billion dollars on a "ego" summit, the Conservatives know that they can get  away with it because we just don't care.

"If the G8 accomplishes anything, it will be to force Canadians to reflect upon themselves and their country . There's an opportunity here to realize that the real problem here in Canada is them.  If they’d show the enthusiasm for government that they have for hockey, they’d explore the betrayals, they’d expose the lies and the broken promises.”

RMR: Rick's Rant - Parliament and the Need to be Informed