LARRY..MOE..&..CURLY

 

As In:  Patrick, Mike and Pamela

When I was younger …okay much younger, I used to watch the Three Stooges on television.  It drove my mother crazy … I can still hear her say “Keith how can you watch such drivel”.

My answer was always the same…’I find them funny’.

I find Patty, Mikey and Pammy just as funny.

Here we have three characters given the appointment of a lifetime – to the Senate of Canada – no real work and RESPECT from the great unwashed …i.e. those who pay for the Stooges’ inflated salaries and for their considerable perks such as free travel passes for rail and air.

You would think that would be more than sufficient compensation for them …but no… the three have been caught with their collective hands in the taxpayers’ pockets grasping for more.

This is all sad of course and in this they do not resemble the famous three comedians.

No, the funny part – indeed the hilarious part – is that they are all appealing for ‘due process’ before their perks are taken away from them.

Where was the due process for the lowly taxpayer as they padded their expense accounts? 

So to watch them beg for justice is a bit rich.

But surprisingly, many are falling for their collective charade – some even want them totally pardoned – others, would be content to have them go on paid leave.  And good luck getting of that pay back when the eventual findings go against them –as they will, since the only issue now outstanding is the scale of their greed.

And the guy who defends the right to have taxpayer monies respected – our Prime Minister, is vilified in some quarters – most notably the left leaning media – for being too mean spirited.

It is to laugh out loud.

But there is something in all of this that is forgotten.

We are not dealing with common criminals or the falsely accused – who granted, would be entitled to the Rule of Law and all it can offer.

Rather, we are dealing with Politicians – where optics is in many respects more important than the truth itself.

Robert Stanfield – the best Prime Minister Canada never had – lost out many say because he was caught on camera eating a banana.

Joe Who – lost his luggage – and never lived it down.

Politics is not ordinary life – much depends on perception – for instance if a Party has members who are viewed as being too extreme – for the benefit of the rest – a Leader needs to distance the Party from them.

If you have members who are viewed as being too extravagant with the taxpayer’s dime – they too need to be cut loose a.s.a.p. for fear that the rest will end up being tarred with the same brush – e.g. Bev Oda and her $16 glass of orange juice.

Bevy did not receive ‘due process’ but as a politician, she got her just desserts.

When it comes to humour, the original Three Stooges are amateurs when up against the likes of Patty, Mikey and Pammy. But the three disgraced Senators are not alone – I suspect many of the Senate colleagues are shaken in their boots for fear that their own returns will sooner or late be exposed for audit.

Given the tears of laughter generated by the Senate Three – just imagine the hilarity that would result if up to 100 of their co-frares were also implicated. 

That said, long time readers will know my opinion of the Senate – a place for Hacks, Flacks and Ne’re-Do- Wells.

Patty, Mikey and Pammy have lived up to my low expectations of them.

And while our media is transfixed with their antics, the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight – McGuinty / Wynne et al continue fleecing Ontarians out of Billions of Dollars.

The laughter continues and as the original three would have said…

YUK, YUK.

As I see it…

“K.D. Galagher’

 

Who Speaks For Canada?

 

Answer – it is the Canadian Cabinet along with her Majesty…the latter in more of a ceremonial sense.

How many voices does the Cabinet have?

But one.

The principle of Cabinet Solidarity is engrained in our Constitutional Monarchy system of Government.

So what gives with Denis Lebel, Federal Minister of Infrastructure, Communities, and Intergovernmental Affairs saying this past Monday that he is okay with Quebec separating on the basis of a bare majority – that is to say 50% plus 1 vote?

Does that not contradict the position of Prime Minister Harper and the rest of Cabinet?

It most certainly does – in fact Canada’s Cabinet is on record as recognizing a referendum result that is clear – which presumably would not entail a simple majority of 50% plus 1 -  and in that regard is in keeping with the Clarity Act which calls for “a clear majority” result.

This language is admittedly vague but can be argued that it does not allow for the bare majority vote supported by Minister Lebel.

So who speaks of Cabinet in this case?

Lebel or the rest of Cabinet?

A rhetorical question.

But Lebel’s stated position seriously undermines the Federal Cabinet – especially since he is also Harper’s Quebec Lieutenant.

So what to do.

Usually in such serious circumstances the offender is asked to step down from Cabinet.

More often, the offender himself has the integrity to do this without prodding as was done by Michael Chong when he resigned from Cabinet when it decided to recognize Quebec as a distinct nation.

What is obvious here is that Lebel’s personal belief mirrors that of the NDP Party more than it does his own.

If push comes to shove – with Quebec’s independence quest, things are going to get messy and we now know, the separatists have a friend on the inside.

And another reason for Cabinet Solidarity.

It would not be surprising if many of you were not aware of this – given the important Senate disputes occupying the time of our politicians and the media.

Heaven for bid – issues of real concern to our country receive our attention.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

Harper’s Nemesis

 

Mike Duffy.

And the “Duff” will likely take him down.

In all of this, it is passing strange that Stephen Harper – one of Canada’s greatest critics of the Senate, could well end up falling on his sword for appointing Duffy and a few others as Senators.

After all, it was Harper who desperately wanted the Senate to be either an elected body or go the way of the Great Dodo. (The Provinces blocked him in the former while the Liberals stood against him in the latter).

From the very beginning Harper pledged Senate Reform and even promised not to appoint another Senator unless he or she was elected in their province of origin.  When but a couple came forward, he was forced to get into the appointment business since to do otherwise would leave his party’s agenda at the mercy of Liberal Senate Majority.

So from my perspective Prime Minister Harper has the cleanest hands of all when it comes to doing something with the current Senate and its bunch of ne’er-do-well hangers-on. 

That leads me back to the Duff.

Today he came out to blame his female staffer – “suffering from post partum depression” as the reason his accounts were improperly filed.  I am not speaking about his housing expenses – since I concede that there is much ambiguity surrounding that issue.

Rather I am speaking about his apparent charging both the Conservatives and the Senate for his travel expenses at the time of the last election.

I am also referring to his “disabled friend” whom the Duff paid $65k for in the words of that friend “doing nothing”.

Many are coming out now in defence of Duffy saying he is being scapegoated – the same who said just a week earlier that Harper had to get rid of Duffy et al to restore the integrity (?) of the Senate.

You cannot have it both ways – you cannot stand in Harper’s way when he initially set out to reform the Senate and then later demand he jettison certain wayward Senators – and once done – be critical of the doing.  It is absurd. 

It unfortunately, is also the way politics works.

And Mike Duffy knows this fully as well as the fact that one is appointed for political purposes and can be summarily dismissed for those self same purposes.

I suffered a similar fate earlier in my governmental career but I was dumped for the sole fact that I was deemed to be a Tory when a Liberal Government came in.

I digress.

As I have said in an earlier blog – I think Mr. Harper may have slipped up.

He announced soon after it was revealed that he had no prior knowledge that his Chief of Staff had given Duffy the tidy sum of $90k to repay the Senate.  (You remember this – Duffy first telling the media that it was his own money and that he and his wife had decided to voluntarily pay back the Senate etc etc).

As I said in my earlier Blog – I find it difficult to believe that the Prime Minister did not have advanced knowledge of this questionable loan.

I said then and I stand by it, Mr. Harper is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

I fear though that given subsequent revelations that several in his office knew in advance – along with Duffy’s now apparent vindictive attitude, we may be on the verge of a startling revelation.

One that could very well spell the end of Harper’s Prime Ministership.  

It would be too bad since, in all of this, Harper – despite what you may think of him on a personal level – is one of the very few good guys left on the Hill.

And I will tell you something else – if worse does come to worse for Harper – he too knows how the game is played – and I predict he will accept his fate without a whimper.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’