The Harper GovernmentTM has, for as long as I can remember, been leading with its chin on the question of open government and accountability.
Progressive observers have gone into more detail than we need to recount here about its sleazy authoritarian character, its pathetic attempts at misdirection and distraction, its contempt for civil society, its propensity for smearing and punishing its critics, its obsession with message control, its pathological penchant for secrecy, and its continuing attempts to undermine and destroy the infrastructure of democratic governance.
In the last couple of weeks, The Harper GovernmentTM has stepped so deeply in the dog shit that it's simply inconceivable (yes, Inigo, I know what that word means!) to think that some of it wouldn't stick this time. Political fundraising on parliamentary letterhead. Election-finance laws broken. Contempt for Parliament. Not to mention petty, childish stunts like making off with podiums.
In short, The Harper GovernmentTM has given the opposition a whole barrel full of sticks to beat it with. So, as Steve V puts it:
Is there a better time to release a democratic reform package, any other reforms on accountability and/or transparency? Particularly after last week, is it possible to get any more traction than this exact moment?
So where's the strategy? Where are the talking points? Why, in short, aren't the Liberals and the NDP hammering Harper and his minions over this 24/7? Here's a terrific opportunity to demonstrate that they're not utterly tone-deaf, politically inept, and unable to keep from tripping all over their own private parts, and, well ...
[crickets]
I'm not suggesting that we delude ourselves into thinking we'll actually see some substantive reform, let alone serious efforts to repair the damage, but ... one thing at a time.
(Crickets from soundbible.com)
I don't want to be rude or obvious, but that's a pretty big and distant strategy for the Liberals.
ReplyDeleteIgnatieff was talking about funding public spaces (arenas for the fatcats) in Quebec the other day!! After Canadians already hammered the Cons for doing that. Is he dropped off from a spaceship every morning, because I don't think he actually lives here.