Federal Conservatives Unraveling?

Is this the beginning of the end for the federal Conservative party as it currently sits? Is this going to be the start of calls made quietly for Harper to step down and have a new leader for the next election?

Having met Mr. Harper and finding him a very sincere person I think it may be time for the conservative movement to look for a successor. Although getting no kudos from the left leaning media for guiding Canada through some very rough waters the past 5 years or so, Prime Minister Harper has done a great job. Our country is strong coming out of the world wide recession that still grips most of Europe and our neighbours to the south. Though not helped by provincial governments here, looking at you BC, Quebec and Ontario! Were it not for these three governments fighting anything the Harper government put forth to move our country forward I think we may have been in an even better position than we currently are.

So, what do we need in a new leader? Well, one that is more open to the media for starters! You know that any conservative leader will be vilified via the media, you still need to be able to get your message across and let the voters decide who to believe. So a more outgoing leader is a must in my opinion.

Our next leader should also work on transparency within government and stick to it, meaning if we elect you to clean up government, do so! This is where this conservative party has failed us. We want a clean, lean government and they have failed to provide us with one.

Cut spending, our next leader needs to sign onto deep cuts in government spending. We do not need the federal government creating an economy with spending. Mr. Harper buckled under pressure by the EU and President Obama to turn the taps on and spend out of recession. Although not going as far as some would have liked I feel we spent and continue to spend too much.

Our next leader should start to move the Canadian economy away from depending on resources and into the new era of technology. We need to foster growth in this industry as it is the way of the future and we currently are being left behind. We need to entice companies to set up her, develop here, we need to have our universities involved in the science, we need more in order to remain relevant in the world. Our dependence on resources as a major driver of the economy although has served us well in the past should not be looked at as a leader in our future. Most resources are finite and if we do not move on to a more technology based economy I fear for our nation's future. Our next leader should call on companies, universities, provinces and more to invest, foster and make our nation attractive for businesses to come to Canada, this is the future.

Our new leader must tackle immigration as well. Our immigration system is so flawed that a complete tear down may be required. We have provinces(Alberta & Saskatchewan) that desperately need immigrants but are being handcuffed by the federal limits. While provinces such ad Ontario, Quebec and BC have much higher unemployment numbers and continue to take in their quota of immigrants. Either raise the quota for the provinces that need more or have an overall quota for all of Canada and limit areas with higher unemployment. Makes sense doesn't it? I mean do provinces with over 7% unemployemnt and much large under-empoyment rates really need to bring in more immigrants while other provinces are crying for help, help that would drive growth across the nation and help out the "have not" provinces?

Is it time for a new leader, I think it is, but feel Harper is content trying his hand at the next election. This I feel will be a terrible mistake and hand the country over to Trudeau who has proven time and time again that he is not a person capable of leading a nation.

Dismayed Conservatives confront news that MP Brent Rathgeber has quit Harper’s caucus

 

 

BY MIKE DE SOUZA & MICHAEL WOODS, POSTMEDIA NEWS JUNE 6, 2013 11:08 AM

 

 

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Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber

Photograph by: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick , Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Alberta MP Brent Rathgeber’s decision to quit the federal Conservative caucus over what he believes is a lack of commitment to transparency by the government left his Tory colleagues in turmoil Thursday.

Several said they were disappointed by the news. Rathgeber announced his decision late Wednesday, saying the government was trying to dilute a private member’s bill he has introduced on financial disclosure of senior public service salaries. He fears the government is not living up to its own rhetoric on transparency and openness in government.

Conservative government whip Gordon O’Connor disagreed, saying Rathgeber would have to explain himself.

“We are open and transparent,” O’Connor said. “We provide all the financial information. Every day we explain what we’re doing. We have announcements here all the time. There’s no secrets going on. People know what’s going on in the government.”

Some Conservative MPs, including John Williamson, a New Brunswick MP and former head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation which supports more transparency, declined to comment.

Ontario Tory MP Larry Miller said he had supported the intent of a financial transparency bill for public servants that Rathgeber has been trying to have passed, but had concerns it could actually drive up wages of some senior government officials.

“At the same time, if his bill was totally gutted, which it sounds like that’s what he’s ticked off about, then I have some concerns. But until I actually see what came out of the committee or whatever, I can’t really comment,” said Miller.

Rathgeber tweeted his decision to sit as an independent from  the Conservative caucus after the governing party rewrote his legislation designed to improve transparency about federal records and information.

“My decision to resign from the CPC caucus is because of the government’s lack of commitment to transparency and open government,” the Edmonton MP wrote on his Twitter account late Wednesday.

Thursday morning, in an extensive blog post, he called it the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

My decision to resign from the CPC Caucus is because of the Government’s lack of commitment to transparency and open government.

— Brent Rathgeber, MP (@brentrathgeber) June 6, 2013

The government had just voted major changes to his bill, which would be similar to “sunshine” laws in some provinces by requiring highly paid public servants to disclose their salaries at federal departments and agencies as well as Crown corporations such as the CBC. The Conservatives amended it so that the minimum salary that would trigger public disclosures would be more than $444,000, not the $188,000 level Rathgeber proposed.

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office confirmed via Twitter that Rathgeber had resigned from caucus, and said the MP should resign from the House of Commons. “The people of Edmonton-St. Albert elected a Conservative Member of Parliament. Mr. Rathgeber should resign and run in a by-election,” Andrew MacDougall wrote.

The people of Edmonton-St. Albert elected a Conservative Member of Parliament. Mr. Rathgeber should resign and run in a by-election. (2/2) — Andrew MacDougall (@PMO_MacDougall) June 6, 2013

“It really smacks of hypocrisy,” Rathgeber told the CBC, referring to MacDougall’s comments. “It’s a little rich.” He pointed to the example of David Emerson, who quit the Liberal caucus after the 2006 election to join the Tories. The Conservatives did not suggest he should run in a byelection.

In his blog entry posted, entitled “I Stand Alone,” Rathgeber outlined the rationale for his decision.

“Clearly, the Government’s decision not to support my Private Member’s Bill on CBC and Public Sector disclosure and transparency in Committee was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back; however, this decision and my comfort level in caucus has been evolving for at least a year.”

“Recent allegations concerning expense scandals and the Government’s response has been extremely troubling. I joined the Reform/conservative movements because I thought we were somehow different, a band of Ottawa outsiders riding into town to clean the place up, promoting open government and accountability.  I barely recognize ourselves, and worse I fear that we have morphed into what we once mocked.

“My constituents demand better.  My constituents simply do not care what somebody, who they hope will never become Prime Minister, did or didn’t do seventeen years ago. They do care, however, about the relations between a sitting Senator and Langevin Block (PMO).  For a government that was elected on a platform of accountability, my constituents are gravely disappointed.

“I still support and greatly respect the Prime Minister; I continue to question the decisions and actions of many of his advisors.  I will continue to support the government generally, but not unequivocally.  I will deploy my independent vote on a case by case, issue by issue basis.

“I can only compromise so much before I begin to not recognize myself.  I no longer recognize much of the party that I joined and whose principles (at least on paper), I still believe in.  Accordingly, since I can no longer stand with them, I must now stand alone.”

Tory MP Mark Warawa responded to Rathgeber’s announcement via Twitter on Wednesday, saying, “Brent, you are a man of integrity and will be missed.”

@brentrathgeber Brent, you are a man of integrity and will be missed.

— Mark Warawa (@MPmarkwarawa) June 6, 2013

Two days before the amendments to his bill were made, Rathgeber had recommended a sweeping review of existing laws granting people access to government records, saying that Canada is a “laggard” in making information available to taxpayers.

He made the comments this week as a parliamentary committee continued its review of the private member’s bill which would expand the existing federal access to information law.

NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said Thursday that the resignation from Tory caucus shows that Conservatives, who had come to change Ottawa, were being changed themselves. He also said some Tory MPs are privately complaining that they no longer have the freedom to speak freely without permission from the prime minister, and are warning opposition members to be careful they don’t suffer the same fate.

But Miller rejected Rathgeber’s suggestions that the Conservative party had changed.

“That’s totally wrong,” Miller said. “I’m sure that Brent said some things when he was not in very good humour and that’s fine. But I totally disagree with that and that’s all I’m going to say.”

NDP leader Tom Mulcair said Rathgeber’s frustration was part of a pattern of behaviour with the Harper government that incuded recent events in the Senate.

“That’s the reality of Ottawa. These are people who got themselves elected on a promise of transparency and accountability.

Rathgeber has argued his government’s suggestion of a high baseline salary to trigger public disclosure was too high and would only allow for information on salaries of some CEOs at Crown corporations, chairs of boards and commissions or a few judicial appointments, while excluding information on salaries of deputy ministers across government.

Transparency In Government....What A Neat Idea!

Although this is just a ploy by Mr Trudeau to grab some headlines I do think it may be a good idea to have complete transparency within government. I mean should we not know as taxpayers who is spending our money and on what? Just how many Bev Odas and Mike Duffys do we have within our elected officials?

I would like to call on the Harper Government to enact such transparency but also to make all upper and middle government employees fall under the same scrutiny. I would suggest we start at the CBC and work from there. If we want to cut government waste, let's get at it and do the job properly! Within our ministries there is countless billions wasted and I think a government that came to power under with aspirations of cleaning up government should get on with the job and start cleaning. Some will say they have, but let's face it, they really haven't. The conservative government I think has been so scared to be labelled extreme that they have gone soft in the areas that the country elected them for. Government waste needs to stop and stop now! In fact it may be time for the federal government to enact a LEAN program developed by Toyota and generally accepted as the guiding principle for most fortune 500 companies and many government organizations around the world.

From the National Post...

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made the announcement in Ottawa Wednesday, laying out a proposal to boost transparency in government at a time when, he says, questions about Senate expenses have shaken Canadians’ faith in the system. It extends rules that currently apply to cabinet ministers.

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“Over the past weeks, we’ve seen a tremendous level of cynicism increased and a level of disenchantment with both our parliamentary institutions and the people who serve them. It is our sense that the proposals…. are going to go a long way toward restoring Canadians’ confidence in institutions we believe in,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters.

The data will be released quarterly in searchable formats so that people can “search, play with, utilize, share and actually get to the heart of concerns anyone might have,” Mr. Trudeau said. Presently, some Senate expenses, for instance, are published in a series of PDFs that are cumbersome to compare.

Mr. Trudeau has been under fire from Conservatives for defending the Senate, saying it’s to Quebec’s “advantage,” and for not immediately passing a Conservative motion for an audit of all Senate expenses. Senator James Cowan, the Liberal leader in the Senate, said he expects that motion will pass Wednesday.

The Wednesday announcement was interrupted by a small group of roughly one dozen protesters, who appeared to target Mr. Trudeau’s support for the Senate by chanting “Trudeau loves the status quo, what about the average Joe?” Mr. Trudeau stopped his speech, watched them, and then suggested the group was sent by Conservatives.

“One can see why the Conservatives are so worried that the openness and the transparency that the Liberal party is demonstrating and is serious about demonstrating. They want to change the channel, they want to talk about anything else, but we are going to talk about how we’re restoring Canadians’ confidence in the Senate,” he said.

The group of people, all young adults and most of them male, did not identify themselves, and left Parliament Hill once approached by reporters. They declined to say their names, whether they work on the Hill or for the Conservative party. One said he was unemployed. Photos suggest that person is a former employee of the Conservative Resource Group, a research agency serving the Tory caucus. An RCMP officer said the group had no permit but was not asked to leave.

Mr. Trudeau’s move to announce the disclosure of expenses was applauded by former Liberal MP Michelle Simson, who served from 2008 to 2011 and voluntarily disclosed her own. “At last, a party leader leading by example,” Ms. Simson wrote on Twitter, adding: “Shame on all other MPs that don’t follow suit.”

The Liberal proposal also includes a bill, due in the fall, to make the House of Commons’ secretive Board of Internal Economy meetings open to the public in most cases. The Conservatives would have to support that bill for it to pass. Mr. Trudeau also called on the House and Senate boards of economy to work with the Auditor General to develop mandatory performance audits.

Before the announcement, however, Mr. Cowan, the top Liberal Senator, said it’s a “cop-out” to blame rules and that audits would not have caught a $90,000 cheque from the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff to Senator Mike Duffy. “I don’t think the real problem we have here [are] the rules. I think it’s the lack of respect that some people have for the rules. That’s the problem,” he said.

Senator Claude Carignan, a Conservative appointed by Mr. Harper, said the cases of Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy are “exceptions” to the performance of the Senate.

“We are very good senators, we are here to serve citizens and not the inverse,” he said.