The Stephen Harper Senate Appointment Poll

Political Animal 86 Comments

What Will Be The Consequence Of Harper’s 18 Senate Appointments?
Election of the First American Prime Minister
It will go down in history as “The Day Canada Was Saved From Senator May”
If you think the average Canadian ponders the issue of Senate appointments for more than 3 minutes a decade, you’re dreaming in technicolor
  
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86 Replies to “The Stephen Harper Senate Appointment Poll”

  3. FREEPED! It’s true, I voted #3. Being the All Powerful Phantom, my web vote counts as 10,000 “normal” votes.
    But still, the Senate doesn’t actually -do- anything at all. Their entire power is they can send a bill back to the House. That’s it. If the House sends it back to them three times they have to pass it.

  4. Whether or not patronage appointments to an unelected memory of old europe concern Canadians is beside the point.
    It’s arbitrary and lame.
    These Cons are no different from the Libranos.

  5. I think this would be a great time to announce senate elections. Once the precedent is set, it would be difficult for future governments to go back to appointments.

  6. The same? I don’t remember the Liberals introducing senate reform…
    I suppose some would prefer Senator May,hand in hand with 4 Bloc senators..

  7. The mantra of Harper changing his mind is in full swing over at the CBC and the G&M. The official line of the day is that he promised Senate reform, and now is making patronage appointmnets.
    If the Liberals and the NDP had not blocked Senate Reform, and many other initiatives promised in election campaigns, there’d be no need for these appointments. Instead, the Liberals cause a problem, and then pin it on Harper. This has been their major tactic.
    Frankly, the federal political scene has been so destabilised by the antics of the power-hungry Opposition and the deluded NDP losers that I doubt whether we will have a stable government for some years. So more and more power will actually flow to the civil service. As that is, at the senior level, largely populated by francophones—thanks to Chretien’s manipulations—we will have a de facto Bloc/unelected Quebecers government.
    If you think alienation in the West is a problem, wait until Ontarians wake up to what is really going on in this country, courtesy of the elites of Toronto and Montreal.

  8. The provinces didn’t get off their asses soon enough – and they certainly had time to do so. So, it’s the least offensive solution when one considers the alternative…

  9. Rabbit, great idea. Give them the ability to defeat legislation too. Look what just happened in the US Senate, they defeated the Big 3 bail out that sailed through the Congress. Frickin’ unions wouldn’t bend an inch, Senators said “Ok then, no soup for you!”.
    I’d like to see that here. Gridlock is a -good- thing. It means they can’t do anything stupid.

  10. Elizabeth May is the most insufferable politician this country ever has, or ever will produce. She tops Sheila Copps, the Bush doll stomper, Danny Williams, everyone.

  11. I voted #3 because the senate is hidden from the public’s eye. Maybe we should start posting what they actually do for Canada. Myself, I have not thought of the senate until it’s mentioned here or the the ‘msm news’ as it was mentioned last night on ‘ctv’. They are calling ‘plumb appointments’, ‘retirement for life jobs’ and mentioned they had a light work load ’73 days?’. Maybe they are union.

  12. On the upshot, Harper can get a bunch of cash back to loyal party bagmen and partisan hacks without having to appoint them through the normal process.
    Just faster and more efficient.

  14. They are called PLUM appointments, expressing desirability and sweetness, not PLUMB appointments intoning levelness.

  15. Re: Option #3, I don’t think the average Canadian gives much thought to the equalization formula, either, but a couple of years ago, it was an absolute outrage that the Liberals wouldn’t give a fair deal to Saskatchewan, according to Harper and his MPs from the province.
    Of course, the pledge to remedy the outrage on equalization lasted no longer than the pledges to do something on fixed election dates, Senate patronage, etc., etc.
    Once they’d served their purpose of whipping up emotion, these promises were dropped, and the issues relegated to the category of “things ordinary Canadians don’t spend time thinking about” when Harper’s inevitable backtracking occurred.
    In truth, the real technicolour dreamers are the people who still believe Harper when he says he’s taking a principled stand on an important issue.
    To their Charlie Brown, he’s Lucy, putting that football in place just one more time, primed for a kick, promising that this time, he really means to go through with it.
    And then, Whoopsie!

  16. So far rumours that the coalition was dividing up the public purse and all of the yummy appointments had this:
    6 BLOC Senators (It is the Queen’s Upper House – who would they swear allegiance to? Heh.)
    Ed Broadbent as Senator (even though the NDP wants to abolish the Senate – they changed their mind when they had the power to appoint it seems)
    Elizabeth May as Senator then made Environment MInister (bye bye Alberta/Sask economy)
    That’s only 8 senate seats we heard of – no doublt the bribery is going on still behind the scenes by the coalition for the other 10 vacancies.
    I am sure there are a few CBC and CTC cronies and maybe a Toronto Star editor or two.
    And, what are the names of the power cabal of Liberal lawyers who reached into the United States to tap Iggy as their new saviour in 2005?
    I’m sure rewards are needed for them to.

  17. The hypocritical bleating from opposition and their media cheerleaders is laughable.
    Their idea of a broken promise is where Harper didn’t do what they think he should have meant when he promised this or that. The fabricate quotes, such as “I will never (never, never, never) change taxation of income trusts.”
    It’s total BS for the most part. Perhaps the outrage over Senate appointments is that the cablaolition have plans to fill those vanancies themselves, with Bloc, or Lizzie May, or whatetever stupid deal they made, that they haven’t bother to tell the great unwashed about.
    Get it straight moonbat coalition; your dream is dead. If Ignatieff is stupid enough to go along with you, thus be joined with you, there will be dissolution and an election. It will be your fault, in the public’s eye, and a two party system will reappear in federal Canadian politics.
    I say bring it on. Harper, though he won’t admit it, would love to face the Liberals, with Harper majority now the electoral comfort zone, with NDP indistinguishable from them, where the fantasy of adding together their votes will be exposed. Ignatieff, who has never led anything in his life (ooooh, he wrote books and ran seminars though), actually having to make a decision, a policy, and egad, an actual platform.
    Liberals accusing Conservatives of breaking promises, now that’s rich. We should compare their respective records of “keeping” promises. That’s not possible unless someone can find a Liberal promise that was actually kept.
    The opposition Keystone cops show continues, with a new buffoon heading it.

  18. The expected appointment “scandal” will last in the minds of average canadian voters about as long as the separatist controlled coalition scandal. The average canadian voter has an extremely short attention span.

  19. Typical hypocrisy from the MSM. They slag Harper for considering the very appointments they themselves have wet dreams about…

  21. Just caught John Gormley reading the last of the email you sent him, Kate. Can you put it up here, so that we can read the whole thing?

  22. I’m sure the Senate strategy of the coalition and their media supporters is as follows:
    Step 1 : Block all efforts by Harper to reform the Senate.
    Step 2: When the Libs regain power at some point in the future distribute the large number of open Senate seats like lollipops to the faithful. Perfect!!!
    (Harper did what he had to do. It was more realistic than ideal. Note post by Maria at 11:44am.)

  23. No. 2. Lizzie May has got to be the most annoying creature on the face of this earth, and should not be allowed anywhere near power, for the country’s safety.

  24. Tories filled 25 positions day after fiscal update
    TIM NAUMETZ
    The Canadian Press
    December 12, 2008 at 5:36 AM EST
    OTTAWA — The Harper government approved 25 appointments to federal pension tribunals and employment insurance boards a day after it tabled an economic statement that nearly led to its defeat in the House of Commons.
    Government records show the appointments, all to agencies that are used as traditional patronage rewards for party faithful, went through cabinet on Friday, Nov. 28….”
    We don’t really have to worry about the Senate anyhow. It’s only 18 plum patronage appointments. There are more than 5,000 directly controlled positions int he civil service that are appointed by the PMO.
    Harper just passed the 2,000 mark – without any independent vetting.
    Nice to be a Con on the inside right now…

  25. From the email Gormley quoted, as requested;
    “…media spends too much time in the company of other media, which is why bloggers have such an advantage. We spend most of our time in the company of real people.”
    Someone asked my position? Look, I’m exponentially more plugged into the grunts and twitches of Canadian politics than the average person, and even I don’t care what he does with the Senate.

  27. ”Harper just passed the 2,000 mark – without any independent vetting.”
    Only 1400 more to go,
    because these are 3 year TERM JOBS on boards,
    not partonage appointments.
    How many Senate seats did the Dippers bargain for in the coalition.
    Can’t tell me Layton said,
    ”we do not want seats in the Senate”

  28. Below is an email to Lorne Gunter earlier today, it’s self explanatory.
    …………………….
    Hey Lorne,
    The current situation in parliament leaves Harper with no other alternative but to fill the vacant senate seats.
    I have drawn up a list for him to nominate not necessarily in order of my preference with one exception and I have put her name at the top of my list.
    Kate McMillan – blogger SDA from Saskatchewan (mensa)
    Gwen Landolt -Real Women – smart conservative lady
    Sandra Buckler – Former Harper aide – very smart
    Carol Skelton – Former Saskatchewan MP (now retired)
    Deborah Gray – Former Reformer – agile mind
    Karen Selick – Libertarian – Family Law – very smart lady
    Christie Blatchford – – Journo extraordinaire
    Connie Fournier – Beleaguered Ontario blogger (Free Dominion)
    Elsie Wayne – Former MP from NB. (age limit may be a problem here)
    Irshad Manji – lesbian Muslim writer – smart cookie
    Barbara Amiel – Journalist – Conservative journalist extraordinaire ( sharp mind)
    Elizabeth Nickson – journo ( accused of plagiarism, but would still make as good or better senator than any current Lib or Red Tory)
    Monte Solberg – Former conservative MP
    Rahim Jaffer – Former conservative MP
    John Reynolds – Former conservative MP
    Ezra Levant – Good guy (freedom fighter)
    Don Cherry – Salt of the earth and then some
    Joe Clark – NAH, just kidding
    I had your name in mind, but after reading your column, you sort of took yourself off the list.
    There are I am sure some excellent conservative women who could fill the eighteen seats, and that is exactly what Harper should do.
    Joe Molnar
    Woodstock, ont.
    Post Script.
    Please not the CC list of this email , Lorne.
    J.
    Post Post Script:
    You will notice I left Greenie Elizabeth May off the list,
    I believe Citoyen Dion ( or even Iggy had her slated as their senate nominee.
    J.

  29. Of course with our wonderful media the Liberals “appoint” Liberals to the senate and Harper “stacks” the senate with Tories.

  31. no matter the wording, 18 bagmen and assorted party hacks just hit a 3 day per week lottery, in the richest patronage appointment jackpot in government.
    Hey, maybe they’ll ask for applications!
    HAW HAW
    Suckers.
    1st, expand the cabinet by 9 then appoint 18 senators. Next, have the executive level of the bureaucracy grow by 5% year over year since 2006.
    Ahh, there. Larger government supported by conservatives.
    Y’all must feel triumphant right now…

  32. “Instead, the Liberals cause a problem, and then pin it on Harper. This has been their major tactic.”
    Ain’t that the truth! Has everyone forgotten the reason why Harper called an election in the first place? It was because it was becoming clear that none of the opposition parties showed any inclination of working with the government, despite Harper giving each one of them an opportunity to do so.

  33. Really hard to believe the opposition and the MSM. Harper tries to reform the appointment process including the senate. The opposition stonewalls it, then cries bloody murder when Harper reverts to the old (and only existing) process to fill the vacancies. And like the ref in WWE, the MSM looks the wrong way. Unbelievable!

  34. The Teach is correct.
    An old Socialist trick. Trudeau did it all the time.
    First they break it.(they are good at it)
    Then claim only they can “fix” it, “help” the people. (which they are poor at)

  35. Not to scoff or anything, but why do you think that this poll should be limited to just Canadians?
    Answer #3 could ordinarily apply down here as well.
    OK, maybe not now, but it used to be true.

  37. The PM has no choice but to go with the system we have to return balance in the Senate to at least give it some semblance of representing the democracy we are. As long as the Senate can delay or refuse to pass Bills passed by the duly elected MP’s in the HOC, we have to assure a level playing field of “partisans”. Right now, the Liberals are playing silly partisan games with their majority in the Senate.
    They may be older but not wiser in that place where they can really cause all sorts of problems for the government in passing Bills. Being mostly Liberal, they never caused any problems for Martin or Chretien’s agendas.
    It’s Harper’s right and obligation to fill those seats and he will. He can also appoint a few more as well, and he should.
    Damn the torpedoes,(Liberls and MSM), full steam ahead!

  38. Simpler explaination
    Who wants to break into a house when there is nothing to steal. All of those appointments was just too tempting a prize.
    You can either increase the costs of an opponent acheiving a goal or reduce the benefit. They both have the same effect.
    Harper has now made the prize of toppling him less attractive than it was before.

  39. Just disgusted with the lack of balance in the MSM
    could someone set up a Media Watch. Try to keep them honest!!

  40. Just disgusted with the lack of balance in the MSM.
    Could someone set up a Media Watch?
    Try to keep them honest!

  41. I share commenters’ outrage about media coverage. The local CTV affiliate’s supper-time news primed the story of the Senate appointments with an excerpted clip of Pat Martin saying “It’s just a hog-troughing orgy!”
    Was there ever outrage in the MSM when the Liberals were stacking the Senate? No, eh? Bloody weasels and hypocrites and worse.
    Mr. Harper’s desire for an elected Senate will continue to be blocked by the Liberal-stacked Senate, so he has only two choices: a) fill the vacant seats with individuals who will support Senate reform, or b) give a free hand to whoever is in power next — the Libs or a coalition — to further stack the Senate.
    BTW, putting Kate and Ezra (or Rutherford or Blatchford) in the Senate would be an utter waste of talent. It would be like taking Gretzky off the ice back in the day and making him the team’s skate-sharpener.

  42. Liberal senator Wilfred Moore doesn ‘t like Harpers move to fill in 18 vacancies in the senate..no kidding… and just precicely did this senator and the rest of the Liberanos senators do to get this (almost) lifetime appointment?. Does this senator think that if by chance (God forbid) that the unholy alliance will ever take control of the federral government, would not do exectly the same thing as Harper is now doing ??? Don’t make me laugh.. Who appointed the rest of these Liberal ‘grubs’ if it wann’t a Lioberal PM???. Some of the Liberano comments on this blog is absolutely astounding in their stupidity.. The cry-babies’ of the Liberal Party is showing bright and clear…excuse me for a minute until I get a box of ‘kleenex’… What a bunch of JERKS.

  43. Pat Martin saying “It’s just a hog-troughing orgy!”
    How many Senate seats did the Dippers negotiate for in the coalition arrangement?

  44. Stephen at 1:05…
    Excellent analysis! Says it all. I sure don’t have a problem with Harper “stacking” the Senate. At least his appointees won’t be genetically programmed to s**t all over my birthday cake. And, part of the process is to extract from those new appointees a promise to resign when and if elections are held to replace them, so Harper is at least not completely road-blocking Senate reform with these appointments.

  45. I’m a bit late on wading in, so forgive me if this point has not been made.
    Harper would like to move toward an elected senate, but he cannot impose elections on any of the provinces from where the nominations would come from.
    Alberta has elections for senators-in-waiting from which a Prime Minister can fill any vacancies.
    Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall is also for the idea, although those elections would have to be tagged in to the next provincial election.
    Once again, no prime minister can force any province to hold senate elections at the same time provincial elections are held.
    It’s good to see Saskatchewan join the project. At least there are going to be elected senators from two provinces.
    All we need to ask is … why are the other provinces balking at the project? I’m sure they have their reasons.

  46. Steve make John Tory a senator so the Ontario PC’s can move forward.
    John is useless just like the senate.

  47. “Instead, the Liberals cause a problem, and then pin it on Harper. This has been their major tactic.”
    Well put, very consice.
    “No. 2. Lizzie May has got to be the most annoying creature on the face of this earth, and should not be allowed anywhere near power,”… or a tree, …

  49. Recall this high point of Mulroney’s legacy..
    “You had an option, sir. You could have said, ‘I am not going to do it. This is wrong for Canada, and I am not going to ask Canadians to pay the price.’ You had an option, sir–to say ‘no’–and you chose to say ‘yes’ to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party. That sir, if I may say respectfully, that is not good enough for Canadians.”
    Sometimes, you have to be willing to lose power to be entitled to have it.
    Mr. Harper.. you have an option, sir.

  50. Kate, more polls please. Not for the sake of data.
    To make a point, nothing does it better than an example.
    The Media puts a lot of effort (and yes brains) into designing polls that give the (their) desired result. (Vote splitting, loaded questions, ect)
    The MSM (arms of political power) polls have been instrumental in manufacturing “news”. For decades now.
    And here is Peter Mansbridge; “A new public opinion poll is just out and the results are shocking blah blah,
    Ya ? Ever see a list of those polled ? Ever see the raw data ? Ever heard people in the coffee shop dutifully reciting the poll ? Case closed.

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