Month: June 2005

I’m watching CPAC’s broadcast of Question Period and Peter Mackay just stood up and outlined the CTV broadcast and the conflicting accounts of the RCMP commissioner and the PMO concerning an RCMP investigation of Grewal-gate. He went on to ask if the PMO was interfering in the business of the RCMP.

From my post this morning titled “CTV Newsreel – PMO Contradicts Top Mountie”:

RCMP investigation? Dosanjh is under the impression that it’s underway, so does Guiliano Zaccardelli, the RCMP Commissioner. The PMO says, “talk to our more senior RCMP guy, he says there isn’t an investigation”. Huh? Bob Fife seems to look just as confused as I do.

I certainly hope that the Prime Minister isn’t talking about manipulating the Minister of Public Safety through her cabinet job. Is the RCMP the latest institution to experience further corruption by the Liberals? This would be my question in Question Period today. Won’t someone ask this concerned citizen’s question?

Here are Peter Mackay’s questions in Question Period:

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC): The fact, Mr. Speaker, is some did.

Last night CTV television reported that the RCMP had launched an investigation into the corrupt deal making efforts of the Prime Minister. Then the station received a call from the Prime Minister’s Office saying that the RCMP was only reviewing the complaints and further questions would be directed to the RCMP.

How did they know in the PMO, and could the Prime Minister tell us when his communications department became the official spokesperson for the RCMP?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me make it absolutely plain. No one from the Prime Minister’s Office contacted anyone in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC): Mr. Speaker, we will just have to take their word for that. Time will tell. This is very reminiscent of the efforts to interfere with the Ethics Commissioner.

The Globe and Mail reports today that the RCMP said that it was only reviewing the complaint, only after the RCMP spokesperson, Nathalie Deschenes, told the Globe and Mail that an investigation had been launched.

Why was the police investigation suddenly downgraded to a review, and was the Prime Minister once again exercising political interference in an RCMP matter?

If Peter Mackay really asked my question in Question Period, that would make this political geek’s day.

Peter Mackay also had elements of Angry’s analysis in his question yesterday concerning the independence of the Ethics Commissioner.

Actually, as I continue to watch Question Period, Helena Guergis is asking questions along same lines regarding the independence of the Ethics Commissioner, and now Jason Kenney asking about it too.

UPDATE: Here’s the video of Mackay’s questions (check out his last two)

CTV provides extensive online video coverage of Grewal-gate.

RCMP investigation? Dosanjh is under the impression that it’s underway, so does Guiliano Zaccardelli, the RCMP Commissioner. The PMO says, “talk to our more senior RCMP guy, he says there isn’t an investigation”. Huh? Bob Fife seems to look just as confused as I do.

I certainly hope that the Prime Minister isn’t talking about manipulating the Minister of Public Safety through her cabinet job. Is the RCMP the latest institution to experience further corruption by the Liberals? This would be my question in Question Period today. Won’t someone ask this concerned citizen’s question?
RCMP Investigation – Video

Peter Mackay – Get up and answer the question! (sure knows how to make the highlight reel) and then Ujjal Dosanjh squirms.
Mackay and Dosanjh – Video

On Grewal, Rachel Marsden annoys Mike Duffy (and me).
blah, blah, blah – Video

Ambrose, Dhalla, and Chow talk vote buying and Conservative girls’ night in. Ambrose and Chow deliver logic, Dhalla delivers talking points and keeps cutting people off.
White wine and Chinese food – Video

Dep. BC premier under Dosanjh “Shine is coming off of Dosanjh’s reputation”, David Frum – Liberals try to buy Conservatives, got the NDP caucus at a group discount
More on Grewal-gate – Video

The fundamentals of a controlled and focused attack are there. The meting of information in tantalizing media-packaged portions, day after day, the directing of the debate in the Commons around the scandal, and the revelations of surprise special guests in the affair (Dosanjh and Martin).

Conservative strategists are dominating multiple news cycles in a time when released polls reveal that the Canadian public trusts Martin least out of the four party leaders, that Martin would be the most likely to cheat to get ahead, and most importantly (and tragically), that Canadians are losing faith in their democracy. Daily, we hear of the “lack of civility” in the House of Commons and the “real tragedy” of recent events. Never mind the most significant scandal in Canadian history, say Martin and Layton, Gomery has become all but white noise to Canadians. If this is so, not forgetting that Canadians are aware of the corruption, Conservative strategists are focusing this general malaise squarely back upon the Liberals like a laser with these allegations, and now proof beyond a shadow of a doubt, of bribery of the elected members of the opposition by the Prime Minister’s office.

What is the effect?

Canadians know that the Liberals are corrupt, but yet the Liberals still lead in the polls. Thus, Conservatives have started a two-pronged approach to win the future election.

First, and currently, they are quite rightly showing day-by-day, week-by-week, and opportunity-by-opportunity that the Liberals will stoop to any low to retain their grip on power. The Grewal episode is dampening the devastation of the Belinda defection, showing that the billionaire was bought with power and that the defection wasn’t rooted in disagreement with Conservative Party principles. Rather, it is now evident that Belinda bolted simply because the party was sitting on the wrong side of the House at the time. And besides, a limo just isn’t a limo unless it’s of the Cabinet variety. Further, Grewal-gate has the effect of masticating the morale of Liberal voters as more are now unlikely to show up on election day to vote for the Liberal Party of Canada. Of course, this has the opposite effect on Conservative voters who will march to the polls (through a snowstorm in February, no less) to rip Liberal hands off of the reins of power.

Second, Conservatives will be offering a positive plan to the electorate to offer a reason to vote “for” instead of simply “against”. In the past few days, the Conservative Party has prominently featured it’s newly minted (March 2005) policy document on its website.

A recent unscientific poll on the CTV website asks whether the Liberals, Conservatives or both appear in an unflattering light given the Grewal incident. While most pick the Liberals, “both” comes in just behind, and a few pick the Conservatives. While those who picked “Conservative” likely represent partisan Liberals (or the generally unaware), those that picked “both” show that the Conservatives are spending electoral capital on this scandal. Hopefully, for Conservatives, when the dust settles, the balance of the diminished electoral support will favour our party. I advise that it certainly will not unless we bolster the negative campaign with our positive plan for Canadians.