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January 25, 2012

John Snobelen on Ronald Reagan

The Toronto Star reports,

“All three candidates are saying the same thing — it’s kind of just with different levels of vitriol,” said [Snobelen, a] 57-year-old former MPP, seen as the most moderate of the three contestants.

“Reagan’s 11th commandment is not a bad thing to follow,” he said, referring to former U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s party-first axiom that “thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

Snobelen, from the Toronto Sun,

I vividly remember the day when my friend and colleague Rob Sampson resigned as Ontario Minister of Corrections.

The questions surrounding Minister Oda are more sinister than those that confronted Sampson. She is accused of misleading (read … well, you know) Parliament about her role in the defunding of Kairos. The specifics of how (or not) the word not came to be on a document aren’t important. What is important, at least to me, is the notion of what it is to be an honourable member of the government.

The definition of ministerial responsibility is always subject to the judgment of the government of the day. Reasonable people can disagree over where the bar should be set. But honour is a personal matter.

My friend Rob Sampson did the honourable thing. Oda should do the same [and resign].

We’ve seen the 11th commandment broken many times during the GOP debates. And, we’ve seen the Canadian conservative analogue of it broken during this Ontario PC race for PCPO President. But let’s not pretend that one candidate is above it all.

This entry was authored by at 04:05 PM | Tweet this | Comments (2)
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  • http://twitter.com/JamesDBowie James Bowie

    I’m not sure I followed your reasoning.  Snobelen did not invent a story, or even a characterization of Minister Oda’s actions.  In fact, Minister Oda’s actions are not in dispute, and she herself apologized to parliament. 

    It is not clear to me, therefore, how suggesting that Oda should act honourable violates Reagan’s “11th Commandment” to not speak ill of fellow party members.  The ill speaking, done mostly by people like me, had already taken place, and Oda stipulated to its truthfullness, that she did indeed misrepresent the advice of public servants by insterting “not” into an already signed letter from her department.  If anything, I think an honourable resignation would have earned Oda more respect than she currently enjoys, and it would have been in her long-term political interest. 

    Perhaps you can find a better example of something you believe shows Snobelen attacking his own party?

  • Anonymous

    Stephen’s game is called “whack the moderate”.  He wants to see the PR firm of  Ciano & Kouvalis take over the Ontario PCs.