Terror, Trials, and Tests

This week in Canadian Politics has been fascinating. Most recent has been the argument between Stephen Harper and the LIberal Party over the renewal of anti-terror laws. Those laws, which the Liberals themselves enacted, and did so while wrapped in the Canadian flag, are suddenly so un-Canadian that they cannot be renewed.

At least, so sayeth Stephane Dion and the Liberals.

Ok, well most of the Liberals.

Some of the liberals?

Dion is getting a lot of flack from his own party on this issue. His stance is more than apillte unpopular.

We all know how Harper likes to divide and conquer. He sees a wedge issue here. He smells blood. The liberals are reversing themselves, and Dion will look ineffective no matter what. Either Dion will create friction within his caucus or he will cave to his caucus, giving Harper the chance to exploit Dion's perceived lack of leadership ability.

And then there is the issue of the changes to how justices are appointed. The Conservatives want to give Law Enforcement agencies a say in the appointment process. It is seen as a move to promote the Conservative "Law and Order" agenda.

The Liberals seem to think this is an attack on an independent judiciary. Frankly, I don't see how this can compromise the independence of the judiciary anymore than the PM appointing Supreme Court justices. In the U.S., judges are blatantly partisan, and yet this is not viewed as a compromise of judiciary independence.

But then, the way recent Liberal governments handled supposedly independent enquiries, and dealt with protesters, they are perhaps not the best ones to defend democracy.

Then there is the Air-India investigation. Who would have thought it would take this long to get some answers? Not I. But that issue, coupled with the question of judicial appointments, is what gave rise to Harper trying to read a newspaper article into the Record of he House of Commons.
In it, the Father-In-Law of a Liberal MP is named as being questioned in the whole Air India affair.

The Liberals were incensed, saying this was a smear against the MP. Actually it was not. It was a smear against the Liberal Party. It was an attempt to show that the Liberals have a vested interest in the status quo. It protects, possibly, the electoral prospects of one of their members.

Now, personally, I think that's a stretch. At the same time, it gives the Conservatives more leverage in getting the Anti-Terror provisions renewed.

Once again, Harper smelled blood, and he went for it.

Much to my surprise, Harper is turning out to be a very decisive, strong leader, and a somewhat ruthless partisan politician.

He is very Trudeauesque in that way.

And that brings me to Justin Trudeau. The man is unquestionably charismatic, and definitely has star power. He is articulate, and intelligent. He is also green as grass politically, and, I think wisely, plans to test the waters in the next federal election, which should be sometime this year.

If he wins, and performs well, you could very well see another potential leadership fight in the Liberal Party, especially if the Liberals lose. Justin's timing is great for Justin. It may be less so for the Liberal Party.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Local MP Diane Finley was criticized in the House of Commons for what at least one Liberal apparently felt was gratuitous use of limousines.

Said Liberal, it would seem, was unaware that Mrs. Finley suffers from a rare disease that, at present, makes her an unsafe driver. Mrs. Finley refused to use her condition as a reason in the House. Perhaps she wanted to spare the Liberal some embarrassment. Perhaps she just wand to maintain some sense of dignity in the midst of what is doubtless a humbling set of circumstances.

Mrs. Finley was simply being responsible to the other drivers on the road.

In politics, as in so much else, no good deed goes unpunished.

This is no way for the Liberals to improve their sagging fortunes.

Kyoto Quagmire

So this past week the Opposition forced passage of a Bill, which, if enacted as law, would require the Conservative Government to table a plan to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets within 60 days of said passage.

Bully for them.

And really, I mean "Bully."

The Opposition Parties are acting like bullies in this situation. They are throwing their weight around, making threats, and, ultimately, accomplishing nothing positive.

The thought that the Opposition wishes to propagate is that to be anti-Kyoto is to be anti-environment. That is of course nonsense; one can have a high view of the environment without having a high view of the Kyoto Accord. The problem though is that it is distinctly more difficult to sound environmentally friendly while opposing Kyoto. It is just harder to sound positive when you are being painted as being in opposition to something. So the Opposition has a good chance of making the Conservatives look bad.

And really this is what it is all about. The Opposition Parties (with the possible exception of the NDP) are not really doing this for the sake of actual environmental concern; they want only to score a few political points. As far as that plan goes, this is a pretty cute move. The Opposition gets to paint itself as defender of the environment without actually taking on any responsibility. They basically said to the Conservative Government: "We'll make you deal with it and then clean up after you."

The plan has the biggest potential for the Liberals ( The NDP are not realistic threats to form a government). By that though I mean that this plan has the biggest potential for political good or ill for the Liberals. The best case scenario for them is that the Bill passes into law, with the Conservatives being unable to make the deadline. That would effectively give the Liberals the means to fight a spring election on a single issue that the Conservatives could not win, having lost credibility as a party interested in preserving the environment.

However there are other possibilities that are absolutely atrocious for the Liberals. One is that the Conservatives could come up with a plan of their own to meet or surpass Kyoto Targets in terms of overall reductions, but not in the Kyoto time frame. Or, they could come up with a plan to met Kyoto in full, but along with it prepare an economic impact statement. This would have the effect of pointing out that the Liberals wish to destroy the economy under the guise of preserving the planet, something they could have avoided by doing anything at all during their previous 13 years in power. In either case the Liberals' rhetoric of climate care would be shown for a sham. They would lose credibility, and the Conservatives would win a single issue election.

And let's face it, the Liberals have to have a single issue election. They cannot run on their own record, or Dion's. The Conservative record has been good enough to not be exploited as a weakness. The Conservatives have made a few little errors, but the Liberals need them to make a big one. They are hoping to force such a an error with this bill on Kyoto. They are hoping to steal electoral initiative away from the Harper Conservatives.

Stealing is what bullies do best.

And So It Begins

Time to stretch out a bit. I comment a great deal on things theological. Another thing I have an interest in is politics. Time to make some comments. Later.