Who cares if he appointed them to the senate.  It’s apples and oranges.   We don’t yet elect senate members, so it really doesn’t matter, and this is laying the groundwork for reform.

Jon is right – it doesn’t matter who PM Harper appoints to the Senate – it is going to change whether the provinces and Opposition forces are for or against.  The Prime Minister has been softening up the public for years about changing the Senate.  The time has arrived.  Embrace the 21st century and get with it already.  Cheers. 

Since this PM is the only one who has tried to reform the Senate and got little co-operation from the provinces to put them on the ballot, he’s doing what it takes to get legislation passed to accomplish the job.

These appointments are not out of line with the present system, it’s the only way it can be done. It should serve to get people on board and support the changes PM Harper has long advocated.
It’s got to be a slow news period with all the kerfuffle over Senate appointments and the House hasn’t even reconvened with the new MAJORITY government at the helm.

Since this PM is the only one who has tried to reform the Senate and got little co-operation from the provinces to put them on the ballot, he’s doing what it takes to get legislation passed to accomplish the job.

These appointments are not out of line with the present system, it’s the only way it can be done. It should serve to get people on board and support the changes PM Harper has long advocated.
It’s got to be a slow news period with all the kerfuffle over Senate appointments and the House hasn’t even reconvened with the new MAJORITY government at the helm.

 ”I’ve heard that strategic review may extend beyond 5% per department to eliminate the deficit earlier.”

the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly will be dismantled by 2012, hopefully those administration costs will be cut by 100%

Minister Oda can keep slashing and hacking at those CIDA special interest groups, and that spending accounts for $3.4 Billion per year…. A Senate committee recommended the entire department be abolished (2007?), maybe it can be now.

Now that we are moving to retraining in Afghanistan, with very little equiptment and only 1/3 the troops,  should be a fair chunk of that budget cut. 

 I could care less who Harper appoints to the Senate. However, I do believe he does have a strategy and as Taylor suggests it is to make the Senate so reviled that when he does put forward changes the provinces, the opposition and Canadians generally will support those changes. Lets remember the changes will be modest and will not be the realization of the Triple E Senate. That would require a constitutional amendment. In the meantime the media, the critics and the opposition have a bone to chew while Harper gets down to reducing the size of government and the bureaucracy.

If I’m not mistaken, the Senate could enact a bill to modify it’s self.
Then the house could/would pass it.
This way the Constitution wouldn’t need to be reopened.
But I might be wrong.

If I’m not mistaken, the Senate could enact a bill to modify it’s self.
Then the house could/would pass it.
This way the Constitution wouldn’t need to be reopened.
But I might be wrong.

My understanding is that yes some minor changes can be implemented i.e. term limits with the approval of the senate but any major restructuring/abolition would require the consent of the provinces. Like you I may be wrong but this is my understanding. 

Ah… boomerang senators. I guess we’re just fresh out of qualified and deserving Canadians who are willing to rubber-stamp the CPC agenda.

Kudos to you Stephen (and also Rex Murphy)  for calling a turd a turd. 

It may have been a smelly turd but the fact is it is Harper’s decision. We can whine and bellyache but the fact is he needs those that will support his reforms.  We have so many more important things to fix in the country that this is just a minor irritant. However, as usual the media are in high dungeon. No one cares other than we political junkies. Whine away. 

(the word is dudgeon, sir)

Are you saying that the CPC couldn’t find 3 otherwise worthy people to appoint to Senate who would be sufficiently pliable? I mean it’s not like the senate dropouts who didn’t manage to win a seat are left in the cold. They have their pensions, and could have been thrown any number of plums.

… but we’re just discussing the smell, not the actual turd, which is that no matter how those ex senators did in the election, their senate seats were guaranteed. Even the Liberals hadn’t come up with that scam…

it is Harper’s decision

… yes it certainly smells like one of his.

(the word is dudgeon, sir)

Are you saying that the CPC couldn’t find 3 otherwise worthy people to appoint to Senate who would be sufficiently pliable? I mean it’s not like the senate dropouts who didn’t manage to win a seat are left in the cold. They have their pensions, and could have been thrown any number of plums.

… but we’re just discussing the smell, not the actual turd, which is that no matter how those ex senators did in the election, their senate seats were guaranteed. Even the Liberals hadn’t come up with that scam…

it is Harper’s decision

… yes it certainly smells like one of his.

Sorry I misspelled the word dudgeon. Thanks for the correction.

Do I like how this whole thing was handled? No. However, he wanted to make sure he had Senators in place by June 2nd when chairs are determined for the various senate committees. The only way to get any and I mean any change is to ensure that there is a majority of senators who support his reforms. Whether its three failed candidates or some other no names who get appointed I could care less. The whole senate is a dysfunctional body and it is badly in need of reform or outright abolition.

One point I would make. If we abolish the Senate then in a minority parliament the opposition could gang up on the government and pass legislation if there is no senate. I don’t feel very comfortable having the likes of Layton/Ignatieff and Duceppe passing legislation when they have no accountability as to whether it is good or bad and in the best interest of the country. 

…However, he wanted to make sure he had Senators in place by June 2nd
when chairs are determined for the various senate committees.

To buy that argument, you would first have tobelieve that he couldn’t find 3 suitable candidates by June 2. Bollocks. Like they don’t already have a waiting room full of eager partisans to pick from. Then, you’d also have to believe that he’d risk this precious Senate hammer by asking these “senators” to resign and run as MPs. I mean, omigod… what would have happened if they’d become MPs?!?

Nice try, but no. These guys were cajoled into running with the promise that they’d get their seat back if they lost. Boomerang senators.

Good-bye Canada.  Say hello to the N.A.U.

Off topic

It is illegal to offer a reward and this PM would never do that no matter how badly you may think of him. He is not a crook like some in the Liberal party.

Yes there probably were many people who could have chosen but the fact remains he wanted these three for his own reasons. Frankly that’s all that matters until the system is changed.

You can bitch and bitch but appointing Senators is the right/obligation of the prime minister in power. He waited as long as he could and so he has appointed in order to fill the Senate with those who support Senate reform while at the same time to provide sufficient manpower to allow the Senate to do its work (no matter how useless we may think it is) 

It is illegal to offer a reward and this PM would never do that no
matter how badly you may think of him. He is not a crook like some in
the Liberal party.

Yes there probably were many people he could
have chosen but the fact remains he wanted these three for his own
reasons. Frankly that’s all that matters until the system is changed.

…for Dear Leader’s “own reasons”.  Heh. Your faith and innocence are touching. Also your tenacity in clinging so long to an utterly unsatisfactory excuse.

The simplest explanation is usually the right one. Oh, I’m not saying you’re going to find a typed offer from Harper, or an email from one of the US-based campaign strategists,  but yes, this was obviously a pre-ordained safety net for the boomerang senators.

As our host will also tell you, optics are important too. And as there was only a half-hearted attempt to soft-soap the re-appointments, it’s clear the CPC didn’t think it was worth the effort to sell this as anything other than it is – a backroom deal consummated openly, with little regard for what the press or voters think, cos heck, they gotta majority now.

Obviously I do not accept your belief or assertion that this was cooked up before the election.

However, Harper, as we have learned over the last five years, is his own man and he is going to manage his government as he sees fit. He does not fret about what the media would or is going to say and he certainly knows that the majority of Canadians could care less about process and political strategy.

If this were the case and after all the faux scandals over five years together with all the issues that the media said would be the end of him and his government and all of the torqued headlines over prorogation etc. Harper would have been thrown out on his ass. Canadians weren’t buying it.

Political junkies like you and of course the Harper haters in the press gallery try as they might can’t get anything to stick to him. That’s because the country knows there are many more serious problems that need to be dealt with. You and the rest of the supporters of the opposition parties need to realize that you can whine and complain but over the next four years this prime minister is going to operate his government and manage the country as he sees fit.

It is the Canadian people and only the Canadian people who will determine whether he gets another mandate not some trumped “scandal/issue” where the opposition decides to bring him down. 

Obviously I do not accept your belief or assertion that this was cooked up before the election.

I would expect no more less from a true partisan. Only Liberals are eeevil.  I get that.

…over the next four years [Dear Leader] is going to operate his government and manage the country as he sees fit.

… well, it works in N. Korea, I guess it should work here as well.

 Except that N. Korea doesn’t have elections. ‘Small’ diff.

another small diff – I don’t think people elected the CPC simply so that Harper could “operate his government and manage the country as he sees fit.”  Accountability, that hasn’t gone away, majority or not.

(I was concerned that Saturday’s rapture might have carried you off. I see that’s not the case. I am of course sorry that you weren’t , because this may have implications for your Immortal Soul, nonetheless I’m happy you’re still around here with us. Harper wasn’t raptured either; take solace in that. We’re gonna have more fun down here  than ‘them’ anyways.)

Ah, but the rapture did occur and carried me off and I am speaking to you from on high. If you do not amend your way of thinking you will go where no one wants to go. I have it on great authority

As I said previously in case you  missed it. The Canadian people and only the Canadian people will decide on whether they agree with the direction and the actions of the government. What goes away is the inability of the lefties in the media and the opposition trumpeting up feigned outrage on why the government should be brought down.

So the “rapture” has come and gone. Stephen Harper is still  prime minister and we still have a conservative government. Relax and enjoy the ride. It is going to be an exciting four years for all of us. 

Well, thanks, kenn2, for being happy that I’m still around here with everyone. ‘Kind thought.

The “rapture,” however, is that the CPC now have a majority and, as hollinm says below, the unelected opposition in the media and the disloyal opposition in the HOC won’t be able to trump up and promote faux-scandals every few weeks — or, if they do, they’ll be shadow boxing. That will be bliss.

God is in His heaven — and I’m OK with not being there yet — and all seems right with the world.