The Conservatives on Monday abruptly put an end to questions about the Liberal government’s ethical woes after it was revealed interim leader Rona Ambrose vacationed in the Caribbean on a billionaire’s yacht at the same time she was blasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his own lavish holiday.
Bigly.
Rona Ambrose didn’t break any rules; PM Hair-Boy did.
If Tories can’t muster the intestinal fortitude to take down this government, it’s time for a new party.
If Tories can’t think beyond the invitation to the costs for attending, they’re going to need a new party. WTF was she thinking???
Trudeau came clean after he was caught, not during or before.
Rona cannot simply fork over taxpayer money to old family friends to the tune of millions.
Road apples to oranges.
What an incredibly stupid thing to do. This is one of many reasons I no longer donate to the Conservatives. Just another batch of pigs at the trough. Approved or not, the optics completely took away any political advantage they had. All for a couple weeks on a yacht. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I really hope Bernier gets in, but I’m not sure it’s going to change the political culture of thinking getting elected is akin to winning 6/49. Term limits? I don’t know. Seems they all get afflicted with Posh Spice syndrome.
Rona Ambrose isn’t getting favours from Islamist or Chinese businessmen.
If her actions were wrong, it’s time for the recently reinstalled ethics commissioner to demand that the rules be changed.
This is all a distraction from Trudeau’s unending corruption.
The optics, at least, or the smell, indicate that there is a swamp needing draining.
“Rona Ambrose didn’t break any rules; PM Hair-Boy did. …”
Same country, different rules.
Those of you sticking up for Rona need to stop rooting for Team Blue just because it’s Team Blue. Evidently she’s just as conservative as everyone else seems to be. This is what 21st Century “conservatism” amounts to: arguing over who gets a place at the trough and who doesn’t. Unless they’re willing to pull pins on grenades like Trump has been…but I digress.
Start thinking Canada First and not “if only we had X as Prime Minister, everything will be better!” 60% of Canadians voted left and you think this nation is salvageable? Totally nuts.
Naturally.
No one in the House of Commons wants the checks and balances it sorely needs.
Nevertheless, I hold that this is a distraction from Trudeau’s unending quest to be the most corrupt @$$hole in Canadian parliamentary history. If this gets swept under the rug, we shall be up a certain creek that shall remain nameless for the moment.
This doesn’t much change how I already felt about Ambrose.
The optics are incredibly bad, however rumour is that Rona pre-emptively sought the Ethics Commissioners opinion to see if this was OK. After an investigation, she was cleared to go. Also, she controls no monies that can be sent to the billionaire in question – unlike the simpleton.
Regardless, this is incredibly POOR optics. WTF is with these politicians? Are they that stupid and/or out of touch with regular folks that – even though it was approved – would imply this is a strategic move for someone who wishes to be PM? While nothing untoward was done by Rona, the fact remains that too many parallels can be drawn from this.
Man, the stupid just burns…
Someone found a non-story on a slow news day and ran with it to take the heat off Potato before he became a baked potato.
Meanwhile look what The Boy Blunder has been up to in the last few days. With his popularity sinking, he’s decided to get busy. Possibly raising the retirement age to 67, selling off airports, giving loans to Bombardier, restoring and broadening the Court Challenges program, not ruling out taxation of health and dental benefits. And the Canadian media are lobbying again hoping for some handouts. Hang on to your wallets folks. The next budget will be a killer. Liberals have finally realized that they don’t have any money. Guess who is going to pay.
none of the retards who are running for leadership is prepared to do what is necessary to turn the ship 180 degrees. I’ll sit the next election out like i have the past two. Why waste the 1/2 hr it takes to place an X? Nothing will change.
Our economy is headed for the dumpster regardless. There is no escape from what these criminals of all parties have done.
“…Road apples to oranges.”
Same country, different rules.
“Rona Ambrose isn’t getting favours from Islamist or Chinese businessmen. …”
Same country, different rules.
Good Grief Rona! You stupid stupid woman.
Rona is why I have not given a cent to the Conservative Party since they lost to that pothead.
Absolutely right on all counts, R.Ed Neck
Not as unethical as Fluff Boy, (no gov’t $ in her control) but incredibly stupid and out of touch.
The people who installed Rona as interim leader are the same people who drove the Conservative Party into the ditch during the last election.
Just remember that when they come a begging.
I guess this is what 4 years of womyn’s studies does to your brain.
Who paid?
In politics perception is reality.
Ambrose handled this like a rank amateur. If this incident represents her political instincts… there is little hope. She need to apologize to the caucus.
Embarrassing.
Big difference! She does not have the power to give away multi millions as our drama teacher did to his holiday host!
Not a prosecutable conflict of interest, but lets be realistic – it’a definitely influence peddling. Why else would a billionaire energy mogul hook up a politician with a free cruise on their yacht? Ambrose is just another politician – we need to keep looking.
The ONLY remedy for this kind of CORRUPTION … is to elect a BILLIONAIRE ! (see Donald Trump)
Then the oligarchs will seize power DIRECTLY … rather than by PURCHASING candidates. Trump on the other hand keeps indicating that he is ONLY interested in doing the WILL OF THE PEOPLE … so he may very well become a truly benevolent oligarch.
Would it be too much to ask for ONE set of rules in favour of the taxpayer?
I know – silly.
Somebody please enlighten me. When an opposition politician with no control whatsoever over tax payer funds goes on vacation who should decide what is appropriate? Would it have been acceptable if the yacht was smaller? Should it now be a statutory requirement that all friends of politicians be vetted by ….who? No no you can’t talk to them…they have “too much” money. Who gets to decide how much is “too much”? The next time a successful person of means approaches on a busy street should all politicians hurriedly cross the street to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest? Such pettiness folks.
boy this thread brings out the stupid real good. Ambrose’s action and Potatoes are not even close to being the same, full stop. I would like one of you genius’s to tell me what is the $$$$$ limit of a person Ambrose is “allowed ” to socialize with. What is also important is, who else was there with Turdoo when he was with the aga khan’t
For some reason, the letters CSA spring forcibly to mind.
Oh For Fsck Sake. Why hasn’t someone else seen it this way?
If they go on questionable ‘vacations’ that make them look greasy:
— Both Trudeau and Ambrose are Canadian citizens. They are free to associate as they wish.
— Both Trudeau and Ambrose are elected, sitting MP’s. They should answer to their constituents.
— Both Trudeau and Ambrose are their respective party leaders. That is a party problem.
— Trudeau holds the Office of Prime Minister in the Government of Canada. Ambrose is not part of the current Government.
I care if the Prime Minister of the Government of Canada takes this type of trip.
There is no equivalence.
The optics are terrible . Perception is reality . With the type of coverage Harper got for going to hockey game , there is no excuse for not knowing better . And they wonder why I am not opening my check book .
I’m just curious, has the owner of the yacht in question given any funds to the conservative party or organized any fund raisers where the attendees where charged an exhorbitant fee to rub shoulders with conservative MP’s?
No?
Does the owner of said vessel even have a name?
I think that as a matter of fairness we need to know what government funding could have been influenced and if the owner of said yacht has any business with the government that Ambrose could have influenced. Let us not hold back, let us demand that the media dig deep and find out these pertinent details that would determine if there was any wrong doing.
For the record, Trump doesn’t say bigly. He says “big league.”
Not a fan of Ambrose here but what am I missing?
She was up front and cleared by the etics commish…PM Junior tried to hide his excursion.
I see a difference.
Bigger difference: she’s Conservative, he’s Liberal. Same country, different rules.
“…There is no equivalence.”
As I said, same country, not equivalent rules.
Nice hair though. Just not ready.
She’s following in the boy blunders footsteps
Yeah JT is PM.
Rona is placeholder.
Murray Edwards is boat owner, and CNRL pardner.
Do alternate fax sound better?
All politicos need to be ethics trained and subject to public service Treasury Board rules for claiming expenses, MPs and Senators. Case closed.
Miss Ambrose is an MP no a Prime Minister, she only has to adhere to conflict of interest laws. So why did the rest of the MP’s stop questioning Turdo re trip. Keep up with the questions Conservatives of Turdo and his trip, this could get really interesting the air needs clearing!!
O’Leary should jump on this with both feet if he wants to separate himself from the pack.
Silly Ambrose,surely she knows by now, it is only illegal when a conservative does it.
Laws are for the little people.
There is an awful lot of information missing here.
Who was she sailing with?
What benefits does said party get from taxpayers of Canada?
After Reform hatred,Harper Derangement Syndrome…why are our so called conservatives so stupid?
The Media is totally in the tank for the Parasites of Canada, hell they even registered to campaign against Conservatives last election.
You do not negotiate with such fools, you destroy them.
Trump is the model of how to “accommodate” the Media Party.
The paying public is fully aware of our Presstitutes, but most Poly-Ticks lack the guts to represent their constituents.
Canada has no conservatives, only lesser parasites, as we sink into bankruptcy.
Then the dependents of this fine socialist paradise will attack their feeders,as their “right”to live without thought or effort.
And they will be right,it is our fault they are lazy and useless.
This is all a smokescreen to distract from the fact that Trudeau did exactly what his vaunted carbon tax is meant to discourage. The purpose of the carbon tax is to impede the average Canadian family’s ability to enjoy a winter vacation in a warm, sunny place, among many other things. Obviously, believing that global warming is an existential crisis is no impediment to Dear Leader’s need to get away from the masses, huddled against the cold as they are.
Who they hobnobbed with while on vacation is immaterial, and lots know it. Choosing a vacation with the carbon footprint of a small town after dumping a national carbon tax on the citizenry is THE issue. Focusing on the billionaires is the distraction.
It has to do with their different positions. A PM having a lavish holiday with the rich an famous is a problem from the point of view of possible favours being granted in exchange for $$ — or just influence happening that is beyond what ordinary taxpayers can do. Rona is not the government and she personally will not lead the government in the next election. I do not see the problem in her case. This is more like Tom Mulcair meeting (or vacationing) with some union leader. Who cares?
Maybe he was on his own yacht and claimed the expense of going there on his income tax. Same shit load-different wagon. Every businessman including me has done it. The reward for gambling with your financial future and co-incidentally creating jobs for the faint hearted.
“It has to do with their different positions. …”
Yes, same country, different rules for their different positions. One has a position representing the Media Party, the other is a Conservative.
She did nothing wrong. Framing by our communist media doesn’t change that fact. Why are the conservatives backing off and allowing media to make them their bitch?
Because they have been trained and conditioned by the media.
The most important lesson the Conservatives should take from Donald Trump’s campaign in the U.S.A. is to confront, stand up to, and bypass the media. They shouldn’t copy his policies or his style, just that example of finding ways to communicate directly with the people.
I don’t know why Rona was on that Yacht. Maybe she is having a relationship with a guy and she was just chillin’ out! She did confirm to the rules set forth by the Ethics Commissioner’s office.
The Globe and Mail wrote: ”The Ethics Commissioner’s office confirmed no inquiry into Ms. Ambrose’s trip has been launched.”
In any event, Kevin O’Leary is about to level the playing field between the CPP and the Liberals.
Just for fun google CNRL ethics. PDF on their website.
http://www.cnrl.com/upload/media_element/624/01/cnrl-code-of-conduct.pdf
Anyone want to take a guess why CNRL doesn’t want their employees accepting gifts? Why would we be OK with OUR employees accepting gifts?
Rona Ambrose may not have much control over policy right now, but maybe she will in the future. I believe Hillary Clinton made quite the career out of scooping up loot on the supposition she would be in a position to reward her donors at some point in the future.
Carry on.
One big difference, Justin claims to believe in the global warming scam and is imposing a carbon dioxide tax, which should have precluded any such vacation. Rona doesn’t.
Not that is will make any difference to the media.
The article is a hit piece intended to blunt the Conservatives at a time when Mr. Boxing Champ is on the ropes and looking out of gas, to be sure, and it appears to be true that Ms. Ambrose did not contravene the House ethics rules (to that extent, she’s lucky).
And that’s the very best that can be said about this stunt: the finer points of the differences between Mr. Trudeau, Jr.’s behaviour and Ms. Ambrose’s behaviour might make us feel better, but they will be lost on most of the public, in my view. Which is all the article really needed to achieve to inflict damage on the Conservatives.
It goes down hill from there. The information we are provided does not indicate that ethical considerations were top of mind for Ms. Ambrose, only consulting as she did with the Ethics Commissioner (EC) two days before the end of her vacation and only six days after the Trudeau, Jr./Aga Khan story broke. Her behaviour would have been more defensible, if not convincing, if she’d consulted the
EC, received clearance and disclosed, in general terms, what she intended to do prior to doing it.
And the response of the Conservatives in Parliament, changing as they did their important line of attack against the Liberals, suggests self-interest as their motivation rather than the public interest. The public interest would have been served — and can only be served, now — by Ms. Ambrose admitting her mistake publicly and stepping aside as interim leader, and the Conservatives resuming their attack on the basis of a demonstrated higher standard of conduct on their part. That’s akin to what Mulroney did when he apologized for making jokes about patronage, which set up his famous response to Mr. Turner in the 1984 English-language leaders debate, which ushered in the period of Conservative competitiveness in national elections (I am quite aware of Mr. Mulroney’s behaviour subsequent to that, so I don’t need to be reminded). The video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlBiGylBzLo
Nothing bugs conservatives/Conservative supporters more than Liberals (or anybody else) using public office and the public purse as their own personal slush fund for self-enrichment/benefit and for perpetual electoral-advantage seeking, or any other such ethical lapses. Ms. Ambrose surely has to know this. It bugs me bigly that these politicians always seem to be grifting after something or other: if you want to go on a Caribbean vacation, pay for it yourself. Everybody else has to. And it’s not like they’re not well compensated for what they do.
One would also think that the Mike Duffy fiasco would have been instructive: he didn’t do anything criminal, apparently, but he sure managed to make the Tories like look idiots in front of their own supporters.
.