In all of the furor over Emerson, Stephen Harper has been very calm and subdued in his response. His new minister seems all alone in facing the fury of his constituants and a press working overtime to push fallout from Paul Martin’s campaign strategy onto his doorstep.
Now, I’m just an artist in Saskatchewan, and not no fancy schmancy insider pundit on the Hill, so you’re best to take everything I say with a grain of salt. But nonetheless – events over the last few days in the Canadian body politic keep taking me back to my days as a kid.
There’s no way to sneak up on a gopher colony – they have sentinels posted watching in all directions, so I’d walk onto the pock-marked prairie in plain view. The alarm whistles would echo in an overlapping series of piercing blasts, and dozens of rodents would fly across the prairie and dive to safety underground.
I’d lay downwind in the short dry grass where I could sight as many holes as possible within range of the .22, and quietly listen to the meadowlarks for a while.
Then, after a minute or so had passed, I’d whistle.
Like a gopher, that is.
And wait for the heads to poke up.
Beautiful!
Well did you get him? & if you did we have a little white rodent close by that said 6 more weeks. We got over 50cm of snow in 2days after that & he has gone into hiding.
Now that we know that the Softwood Lumber Deal was already settled back in November and the only reason Canadians are unaware of this is because Mr. Emerson convinced the Liberal party into keeping it quiet so the Liberals could use Bush against Harper in the election,
Harper had one of three options:
1) He could keep it quiet and announce a settlement in about 3 months and take full credit.
2) He could expose the Liberal hypocrisy and tell Canadians that the Liberals used Bush during the election knowing a deal had been reached.
3) Harper could score political points by grabbing a Liberal MP � Emerson � and state how much Canada needed such an MP in cabinet. Then in 3 months when Canadians learned of the Softwood Lumber Deal Harper could be seen as making a smart move by bringing Emerson into Cabinet while showing up the Liberals.
Problem is Harper would then have to go along with the Liberal Hypocrisy about Bush being unwilling to deal. Harper would have to agree to go on national TV and talk about how much Emerson is needed to solve this lumber problem while knowing full well the deal is already done.
In other words, Harper would have to embrace the Liberal Hypocrisy and use it as a means to score points for himself and against the Liberals. Of course the only real problem is that Harper would have to agree to go along with the Liberal Government practice of lying to Canadians � it appears that he is willing to do this.
Now that it is in the open – Harper is hiding.
Click link to hold Conservatives accountable
Kate, I’ve read with interest the many takes on Emerson’s switch, yours, Angrys, Wells, and AC. I am and have been a Conservative supporter for over 30 years and I really think that in Stephen Harper and many of his caucus we have the best opportunity ever to advance democracy and principles in our institutions.
Well I’m really torn over this, I have after much reflection decided I’m really sad that this occurred, and that we are defending it. I believe that principle matters above all..the statement that “they did it” or “it’s always been done” does not make it right.
Ask yourself this, under what circumstances would you accept becoming a member of the Liberal bloggers group..they had higher hit rates? I don’t think so..you have your beliefs and principles and you stand behind them.
Anyhow, jsut my thoughts, I really enjoy your blog.
This Emerson story has the same legs as the story about the US shooting the car out from underneath our diplomat in Iraq.
Put yourself in that car… watching the guns swing around and start to track you… and you keep driving like you are on the QE parkway. I still shake my head at that attempt to manufacture a diplomatic problem for the new government.
Who’s doing the hunting Kate? You or Harper?
I’m sacred to poke my head up in this thread but I have to make an appearance and say…
Whoa, Gary McHale. I couldn’t follow that at all. Could you try again because you have me confused.
Dear Dale, and Others,
I wouldn’t presume to answer for Kate, who will, should she chose, arc over the keyboard like a pianist doing Bach.
I would however like to say this to you and others concerned about Emerson and Fortier.
All you people, who are shitting over Senate reform and Democratic process, relax.
Stephan needs a majority, and this is definitely the part of the path he needs to follow. If you as a Conservative expect Harper to wave some sort of magic wand to fix the issues we have in Alberta and BC regarding representation, or in the nation for that matter, you need to take a cold shower and sniff the reality flower, cause it took 150 years to wind up with this seriously fucked up situation, and it�s not going to get solved in 2 years.
I�ll get back to the representation issue, lets talk about something more immediately important first. Namely the Pacific Portfolio…
This is about money.
Money we make, money we need, money we want to make, and tax�s that will come from somewhere, and that somewhere is you and I, or business. I pick business
When you pull a $20 dollar bill out of your pocket, do you consider it a Liberal $20, or a Conservative $20?
My point exactly.
The Pacific Portfolio stands above partisanship. Who gives a shit what side of the fence you sit on politically, because the Pacific Portfolio is about money folks. It�s about money I�m going to make, your going to make, your kids are going to make� etc.
The Pacific Portfolio is about addressing softwood lumber, US/Canada fishing rights, increased access to better harbor facilities, pipelines to transport oil and gas, Asian trade, opening the South Pacific, getting chummier with Australia and New Zealand.
In three words: It�s about Money!
It is in my mind (and most likely the minds of every major oil producer in Alberta) the single most important project undertaken in the last 50 years for the nation as a whole.
Its scale in importance rivals the creation of a coast to coast railway or the seaway… it’s that big.
Economically, the Pacific Portfolio is going to save Quebec and Ontario’s collective ass when their manufacturing sectors completely tank. It’s going to provide access to Asian markets on a scale we can’t even appreciate yet. This is important to Canada in ways I doubt most Canadians, except perhaps economists (Hmm� what�s Stephens background?) understand.
Remember this and remember it well, Rome was the greatest civilization that ever existed, and it lasted over 1000 years. The US is the greatest civilization of the 2nd millenium, and it�s going to be lucky if it can survive to be 500 years old.
We do 90% of our trade with the US, and when it tanks, so do we. The path to Asia is so important to us it defies explanation. We need to diversify our trade yesterday, and we are just getting around to it. Trade with China, India, the Pacific Rim in general must become our overriding focus for the next 25 years, or we are screwed.
So in a word, fuck James Moore, and any other Tory or Liberal or NDP MP for that matter, who might have a problem with our new Trade Minister.
Emerson knows what is going on, he’s been involved from the start, and frankly, he’s a damn smart guy, be he Liberal, Tory, or a Martian. He placement will insure the forward momentum of this project.
I will also add that these appointments, Emerson in particular, show the type of individual leading the country.
Stephan did what he did for himself no doubt, but also for the nation as a whole. He is pragmatic and sees the bigger picture. Martin never did anything that wasn’t for Martin, and if it happened to do something for someone else… well lucky for them.
I’d rather be unpopular and do the right thing, than be popular and do the wrong thing.
The Cabinet that Harper just put together is a stroke of genius, and positions him early in the game to strike hard and fast for a majority in the next election. Since reform of electoral process requires the provinces and initiation of the amending formula for the Constitution… it automatically demands negotiation.
Only an idiot (you know, like Joe Clark) would try to begin to reform the electoral process with a minority.
Sit back, and watch the scariest chess player you’ll ever know do what he does best, come back from the dead. Look, if he’s screws it all up, we don’t vote for him. It’s not that hard to figure out.
We owe Stephen the chance to succeed. I don’t want him to fail, but we gave him the rope, lets see whether he hangs himself, or lasso’ a solution that will fundamentally, and profoundly, change this nation forever.
I think he’s already started that process, but in the end I think you have to expect Stephen to be a little Machiavellian to achieve our dreams.
You placed all of your faith in Stephen and the Party to oust a criminal government, and the guy’s been PM for a week, and already Cons are “worried”, “frightened”, “betrayed”.
How about considering giving him a little more of your faith for a while. Give him a chance to show you that he’s not going to screw you over. You been asked for a lot already as voters, but is another 6 months to a year such a big deal in a battle that hasn’t even really begun yet?
Me, I’m saving myself for the real fight, the real revo… I mean evolution that this country has to go through.
Let me put it another way. Google the words “rove rope-a-dope”
All this hand ringing is of no use.
Lets just see what transpires in the coming months with what PMSH and his cabinet can acomplish.
6 months from now we may be happy or sad.
Gary, have you heard enough of this to make that conclusion? Have you heard from everyone involved? Have you heard all of the evidence? Or are you just making your own assumptions and telling yourself what a great judge, jury and executioner you are? If you were serving on a jury for, let’s say extortion, and all you have heard is testimony from the CEO and some disgtruntled employees, would you then say, ” That’s enough, he’s lying, he did it.” or, do wait until you have heard enough to make a rational decision? If, of course, you are listening to the MSM then you might as well throw away the key.
Great comment, William.
Heh, there’s going to be a lotta crow choked down.
Watch for the Conservatives to come back from their retreat a lot happier than when they went;)
If you haven’t read Garth Turner’s blog lately, you should.
And industry has come out to say that there was no deal “ready to sign” so the Liberals are just blowing smoke & the MSM are busy trying for a contact high.
William that was beautifully put.
All I can say is that anyone who continues to gripe about this has got a major pole lodged up his ass with little chance of it’s removal.
We vented about Belinda and in the end it meant nothing other than what we learned about Belinda.
Just STFU and give it time to watch what Emerson can or can’t do and Stephen Harper for that matter.
Get a life for crying out loud.
great post William.
sober second thought and all that stuff.
Its good to know there is a precentage of the population,… however small that thinks things through (or even allows them to develop) before passing knee-jerk judgement on what will happen and how it is a travesty in their eyes.
In 6 months we’ll see what happens… Harper may be the savior or the goat, but atleast allow him to try before condeming him for a single act.
Its a bit early to be passing sentence or praising Harper over this deal. The dust hasn’t even settled fully yet. I’m not sure if that’s what Kate meant by her gopher jumping metaphor but it seems to fit.
If you want to hang Harper I’d wait for him to give you a substantial length of rope first (right wing mavericks have a good track record in this regard). If you want to praise his genius you may want to make sure he actually did a smart thing first.
You know what really get’s me is that alot of pundits are ready to tar & feather HARPER & string EMERSON up & this after only 1week. PAUL MARTIN kept from the public that he PAYED OFF DINGWALL ($417K+)3 DAYS Before the Election!! Anything said about it, NOTTA &^%$^* THING. We also saw our tax money STOLEN from us to support a political party(ADSCAM)& anybody going or in jail “NO”, yet the big deal about Harper & Emerson. So this is bigger than outright “THEFT OF TAXPAYER MONEY” Tar & feather all you want I voted to rid this country of 12yrs liberal corruption, What Harper did is nothing compared to the prior, I stand by my vote, I will continue to back PM HARPER. So if you want to continue to trash & bash I will take from that, it’s ok to steal for entitlement’s. Sorry Kate I just get so frustrated over this manure talk!
Thank you, William!
William,
Outstanding…..
James Moore should consider himself lucky to become PSec to a guy like Fortier. He will learn a lot and get a lot of airtime in the HoC. He would be out of his league in matters that go outside of the borders.
We should be thrilled by how many “young ‘uns” PMSH made PSecs. I hope they are not “gophers”. PMSH has also set up Rona Ambrose on a path to become Canada’s first elected female PM and I’m sure she realizes it. Environment is a tough nut with all the moonbats that cling around it.
What was done, was unethical. How it turns out is irrelevent.
No one has condemned Harper Barcs. I don’t think I’ve heard a single person ask for his resignation. Come on. People are calling him a hypocrite. So far, he’s shown that to be true. In fact, that’s the only thing he’s done. You’re whinning about it, trying to defend the indefensible, and really, doing little else besides fanning the flames. The best thing you could do to defend faultless leader, is “STFU”.
Kate: I see a whole lot of liberal gophers popping up their heads and saying byelections should be mandatory for floor crossers. Only Maria Minna came out when 40 CPC MPs hollered that with the NDP.
I see a conservative caucus united in supporting Emerson, but thinking very seriously about mandating byelections going forward.
This looks to me like our caucus vs. theirs and our leaderships committment to free votes vs. theirs, and our supporters willingness to disagree vs. theirs.
By my scorecard we are winning whether or not Harper made a mistake (he certainly did not break a promise)
Rove-Rope-a-dope. Never even considered that angle. Don’t pay terribly close attention though. Not unless the article starts with “Chairman of the Federal Reserve”… That’s the true ruler of the US. The rest are just temporary hacks keeping seats warm.
The Fortier thing is much easier. The gophers are gonna get their heads blown off. The elected Senate just moved up on the calendar.
You used a .22 to shoot them in their holes?
Wow. We always had to use binder twine and snare ’em. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure it was a way to keep my brother and me out of our aunt and uncle’s hair for an afternoon.
But at the end of the day, when we had one or two, that’s when we tacked them up to the barn – and shot ’em with the .22.
He also set up DA to be the first female finance minister. Cabinet grows with a government.
Eloquently and passionately stated William. Thanks for that….
Kate – you nailed it – PMSH did not go from being the guy who would never win to winnining (albeit a minority) with 10 seats in a province that laughed at the mention of a Conservative MP coming from that province.
He is – after all – from Alberta where we have a great many of them there gophers and even have a gopher museum!!!!!
William, I’m in business in BC, have been for 15 years (Alberta previously) and believe me when I say I’m a capitalist and free trade advocate. I agree with you that the Pacific initiatives are critical to both our regional and national economy. And I did not say that i was no longer going to be supportive of the CPC or Harper, I like most of us look forward to having a strong majority to undo the myriad number of disasters foisted upon us the past few years.
I’ve also met with Mr Emerson (we do a lot of business with Canfor) and agree that he’s an extremely intelligent man.
That said, the way this was handled still smells. There are many intelligent business savvy experienced members of Stephens caucus, but if David was deemed to be the right guy, why not change how we do things. Make him a special advocate on this file, have him sit as an independant until the next (hell its only going to be 18-24 months) election..optics are important..my wife, who hates politics and pays hardly any attention to it, came home from work on Monday evening (the owners there are friends and conservative supporters) and said “I understand your guy is as sleazy as the last guy”
That is important..it’s being said in many places..and the next election is not that far off..I hope it goes away but fear it will not.
I think I finally get your gopher analogy. I ain’t unusually bright or quick but sometimes the light comes on.
Harper does the Senate thing and the Floor-crossing thing and gets the LPC and the NDP all fired up.
Now the other guys are in the gunsights when the topic comes up for real change.
Or I still don’t get it 🙂
“He is – after all – from Alberta where we have a great many of them there gophers and even have a gopher museum!!!!!”
PMSH is from – Alberta?????? He said he was from the Maritimes/Toronto/Calgary!!!!! Could it be he lied to us?????? Oh no!!!!!!!!
You get a lot more gophers with forcite! Then it doesn’t matter of they’re yipping at you or hiding out…they all get the same treatment. ;-
Kate,
I neither understand Harper’s ploy nor
your Zen-like parable of an explanation of it.
When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in Medicine Hat on the weekends. Friend ran a small horse ranch and hobby farm (if you can call 4 hectares a hobby farm) east of the city.
We used to get .5 cents for a gopher tail, $20 bucks for a badger pelt, and $140 for a Coyote pelt. Government Bounty for pest control.
Paid for a hell of a lot a beer.
Didn’t do much for the Coyote population though… Badgers were to mean for a .22, needed a .30 cal. for them. Otherwise you’d just piss em’ off.
Bullets were pretty pricy for a kid back then, so you had to learn to hit what you aimed at. We used to use Trudeau/Lib. party posters stolen from his last campaign as targets.
Must have killed PT a hundred times with a single head shot straight between the eyes.
Ah… the good ol’ days.
…you’re a wise woman kate.
😉
cheers
tom
There are two geniuses at work, Harper @PMO and Kate @ SDA.
It is always a relief to visit and read the wisdom at SDA.
Crikey I got Kate’s parable and I’m more used to hunting haggi over here in Scotland! Now if only I could apply same method to Scotland’s Central Belt welfare louts who all vote Labour like good little (but fat) turkeys……
I’m not convinced the Emerson thing was rovian rope a dope, but he can play it that way. Support for byelection just increased in CPC and Liberal circles. Fortier, yes.
It is always a relief to visit and read the wisdom at SDA.
Speaking of which, I trust many here have noted over at Inkless how PWells essentially shot himself in the foot by announcing the “ADS Award”, awarded for commentators who reacted to Emerson more strongly than Belinda!. Love that irony!
Kate: Wells has run up the flag (mostly). He created an ADS award (the reverse of the SDA award) and ended up winning it thanks to MKB. He even works in a joke about failure to link:
As for the ADS award, for making more fuss about Emerson than Stronach, MK Braaten makes an eerily persuasive argument that the winner should be… someone familiar to the Inkless Legions. (Can’t find the link for this; somebody snipped it from Braaten’s blog and sent it to me. Anyone got the link?)
“The day after Belinda Stronach jumped ship to the Liberals, back in May, Journalist Paul Wells wrote on his blog:
“‘One thing that�s important to note is how little regard many Canadians have for partisan consistency. If you think all politicians are low, you don�t put too high a premium on party loyalty. You and I may be appalled when a politician throws over her party for a new date, but we�re geeks. Most people aren�t. I remember travelling with St�phane Dion in small-town Quebec in 1997, when he was regularly being drawn as a rat in La Presse, and most of the ordinary people he saw didn�t know whether he was ‘rouge’ or ‘bleu.’
“However, the day after David Emerson jumped ship to the Conservatives he wrote this:
“‘David Emerson should resign from the House of Commons and run in a by-election. He had two months to decide he was a Conservative and mention this fact to his electors. He forgot. Stephen Harper�s excuses are transparently absurd. ‘It�s not about Liberal or Conservative’? Uh. He ran a Conservative against Emerson.'”
Curses. Foiled again.
Anyone catch this Bourque headline? SURPRISE: FIRST LISTING WHEN YOU GOOGLE KEN DRYDEN
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%22ken+dryden%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
It takes you to Stephen Harper’s Ministry Page. Shows pictures of all the new Ministers. I looked through it for a pic Dryden, nothing (yet). The third Google link is Dryden’s Page, it’s still Liberal Red. Hopefully I won’t wake up some morning and find his picture under the Ministry banner.
Actually when I first read Kate’s gopher analogy, I was thinking that little Kate was Emerson, and gopher sentries squawking was us bloggers and the colony was the Conservative party.
Instead of sneaking around, you walk right into the CPC mist ignoring all the alarm sentries going off. You wait a bit, speak like a Conservative, and then pick them off one by one as they lower their guard – skillfully disseminating and disintegrating the party from within.
Brilliant plan, if I recall my war combat training, one infiltrator is worth 1,000 soldiers
Isn’t that’s what most of us thought BS Belimbo was…a Liberal plant who would report to Martin about Harper’s plans and moves and in the final hour show her true colours?
So you see that’s why I said Kate was wise, because if this does turn out to be a Liberal mole/plant – then you saw it coming here first.
I totally agree with Dale on this situation. I posted earlier that while I trust Harper, I just didn’t like how things transpired. Exactly it was the optics in all this, the big picture.
Why not sit as an independent and get special status to work on the project with a Conservative instead? That way the Conservatives would “seem” to be willing to work with others, and next election he can run as Conservative.
You can’t convince me all those Liberal voters in Vancouver voted for this man because he was a Liberal but at the same you can’t convince me people voted for him because of his personality/smarts.
In other words, people who voted for a Liberal are the ones who really lost…why they’d vote Liberal in the first place is another thing…
I could comment on William’s point everyone is praising, but the fact is regardless of who is in office we will have to deal with Asia eventually. What this doesn’t address is why Emerson crossed in the first place, seeing we now know the Lumber issue was a done deal three weeks prior to elections.
cheers
tom
Interesting about the .22 and the gophers. This prairie guy has fond memories of that as well. Another good technique is a large bucket of water to pour down a hole, while a friend stands by with a baseball bat at the backdoor waiting for the escape.
Cheri – check the google cache … it was Ken’s page under the former govt’t
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:RicnKbOE8_wJ:pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp%3Fid%3D25+%22ken+dryden%22&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=1
RE: from William Mcdonell:
“The US is the greatest civilization of the 2nd millenium, and it�s going to be lucky if it can survive to be 500 years old.
We do 90% of our trade with the US, and when it tanks, so do we. The path to Asia is so important to us it defies explanation. We need to diversify our trade yesterday, and we are just getting around to it. Trade with China, India, the Pacific Rim in general must become our overriding focus for the next 25 years, or we are screwed.”
This statement makes no sense.
If the USA is going to survive ANOTHER 250 years why must Canada diversify to Asia within the next 25 years or be screwed?.
IMHO, Asia will NEVER buy enough Canadian softwood lumber even if the USA does “tank” in 250 years.
Houses there are not framed like they are in North America.
For the past 250 years Canadians have loudly been proclaiming the future demise of the USA.
Is it just a habit, sorta like nail biting?
Tom,
“What this doesn’t address is why Emerson crossed in the first place, seeing we now know the Lumber issue was a done deal three weeks prior to elections.”
You might want to read some of the latest news.
Also, I think the gophers are more the Liberals, NDP and the MSM. Once they are finished whining about how horrible this all is, it will be spun right back at them and some things that are very broken will stare getting fixed.
With Fortier, there is no way he is running in an election any time soon. What better way to make people start caring about how absurd the Senate is than to turn the lights on to see what really goes on. Senate Question Period has never before become so meaningful.
Is Fortier the water poured down the gopher hole?
That’s sort of the main of my point Tom… I don’t think Emerson did the right thing for his constituancy either, but are we to expect Harper to look a gift horse in the mouth?
Emerson is an ass, but he’s a smart one.
I challenge anyone to show me a better candidate for trade from inside the elected CPC party, than Emerson. The guy’s had lots of time to entrench in the ministry, and to break a new horse is going to cost the country.
I see Harpers sense of humor coming out in all this as well… I don’t see him knocking himself out to help Emerson dodge the press bullets. He gets a nice job, but his life just became the butt of jokes for a couple of years at least. I also doubt Harper forgets the words that spewed from his mouth.
Stephens just being practical. Any guy that can shut up Judy Gallant, Rob Anders, and stick the “I want to be PM too” Peter McKay on a plane to anywhere but here… isn’t sweating it over Emerson.
We are talking about Harper here… this guy has been written off so many times it’s almost hard to keep track, yet he is still standing, and alway’s higher up the shitpile than the last time we thought he was done.
Do you seriously believe for a moment that he hasn’t planned his moves way out ahead of the rest of us. He’s a premier strategist, and Emerson was a quick “I’ll take shit for this but the upside is too good” move. If it gets really shaky, he’ll force Emerson to step down, call a bye-election, and everyone will be happy.
Emerson will win too. Combine the center Libs with the 3rd place tories, and by the time the actual vote occurs, everyone will be happier about the CPC… boom, Emerson takes it.
In the meantime, big trade wins for the Tories, and a laugh at the expense of the Liberals.
It’s a little hypocritical to be villifying Harper for Emerson… nes pas? I agree as to the optics, but as to the political brillance long term… outstanding.
Good one Kate
That first gopher you will be shooting at is a decoy. You ask an interesting question, though; why is Harper quiet? It is because that was part of the plan all along. Emerson is a big boy and new the crap that would come his way before he made the deal. The MSM (and I’m afraid the bloggers) have all fallen for the oldest conservative trick in the world; the smoke sreen. What easier way to get your own house in order than to have all the 2nd guessing comes from the lily pad on the other side of the pond.
I said the US would be “lucky” to survive 500 years.
Personally, at the rate the US is going, they’ll be lucky to last another 50.