Prime Minister Harper Above the Law?

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
It would appear, with recent events, that the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, M.P., P.C., the Prime Minister of Canada, seems to think that perhaps he is not subject to the Statutes of Canada or the regulations that govern the House of Commons and its administration.

Today, the Honourable Wayne Easter, M.P., the Member for Malpeque, and Agriculture Critic for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition held a press conference today in relation to the recent agreement of the Ethics Commissioner, Doctor Bernard Shapiro to investigate the conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the crossing of the Honourable David Emerson, the Minister of International Trade.

In an affront to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister has attempted to replace the Commissioner on his own initiative — in the opinion of the Critic, "showing utter contempt for the Parliamentary process." Moreover, his recent attempts to circumvent the Commissioner are in violation of what would be his own Federal Accountability Act which, in his own words, "will prevent the Prime Minister from overruling the Ethics Commissioner on whether the Prime Minister or an official is in violation of the conflict of interest code."

The Web site for the Liberal Party of Canada said:
A Conservative spokesperson responded to the news by publicly stating they will not cooperate with the Ethics Commissioner’s investigation, claiming the investigation is just a “partisan attack” and that the Ethics Commissioner is a “Liberal appointee.”

Dr. Shapiro’s appointment was reviewed by an all-party parliamentary committee and approved by a resolution of the House of Commons. Not a single member of the Conservative caucus is on the record as having opposed Dr. Shapiro’s appointment.

Click here to read the entire article, in English.
Cliquetez içi pour lire l'article entier, en français.


:arrow: Media

Click here to view the first clip from the press conference.
Click here to view the second clip from the press conference.

:!: (Caution) The media links above are to streaming media services. The media-in-question is the property of the Liberal Party of Canada and should not be reproduced without the express written permission of the party.
:?: Sources
Click here for the Web site of the Liberal Party of Canada.
 

Jersay

House Member
Dec 1, 2005
4,837
2
38
Independent Palestine
The Conservatives, and Harper in general are just evil sneaky *censored* who want to seize power through authoratative means or not. They are even contravening their own Accountability Act.

They are crap and should be removed from power as quickly as humanly possible.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
It would appear that the Right Honourable Prime Minister, M.P., P.C., the Prime Minister of Canada, could be putting himself into more danger than perhaps he intends. Pat Martin, M.P., the Member for Winnipeg Centre and Government and Operations Critic for the New Democratic Party of Canada is threatening to move that the Prime Minister be found in contempt if he continues to obstruct the efforts of the Ethics Commissioner.

Pat Martin said:
Opposition MPs blasted Stephen Harper on Thursday for his refusal to co-operate with the federal ethics commissioner, with one MP threatening to hold the prime minister in contempt.

"Let's not mince words. The prime minister is being an absolute hypocrite over this whole issue," NDP MP Pat Martin said on Thursday in Ottawa.

"If he won't comply with the ethics commissioner's inquiry, I'd be prepared to table a motion to see the prime minister in contempt."

Click here to read the entire article.
:?: Sources
Click here for the Web site of the CBC.
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
8,366
3
38
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/03/emerson_060303.html

But the PMO accused Shapiro of having a double standard when it comes to investigating Conservative MPs. It noted that he refused to investigate Liberal Tony Valeri's landholdings during the election campaign on the grounds the commissioner couldn't act between sittings of Parliament.

Based on that decision, the PMO is arguing that Shapiro has no business investigating something that happened in between the dissolution of the last Parliament and the commencement of the next one.

Shapiro has been criticized in the past. Former NDP MP Ed Broadbent accused him of having "extraordinarily serious credibility problems" after a series of questionable reports last year.

And he argued that it's the prime minister, and not the ethics commissioner, who chooses cabinet ministers.
 

iamcanadian

Electoral Member
Nov 30, 2005
730
0
16
www.expose-ontario.org
The only people docuemnted to be above the law are the senior Government employees.

Justice John Gomery said Tuesday that some bureaucrats who “disregard the law” through mismanagement don’t appear to suffer any consequences such as losing their jobs.

Gomery told a Treasury Board official at the sponsorship inquiry he couldn’t find any evidence in the Financial Administration Act allowing managers to weed out bad seeds in the bureaucracy.

“Sometimes you get people who just, more or less deliberately, disregard the law,” the judge told Stephen Wallace, a top official at the Treasury Board secretariat.

“There have been, it seems to me, well-documented instances of mismanagement . . . and I didn’t see that they had any consequences on the employment of anybody.

“What happens if you find somebody who’s just a bad apple?”

Wallace said managers in fact have the power to suspend, demote or fire employees who break internal rules.

But he acknowledged that power isn’t always exercised.

“Consistent understanding and ability to use these tools is not evident across the system.”

Wallace added police and the courts, not internal rules, are best-equipped to deal with bureaucrats who cross the line and break the law.

But Gomery didn’t appear satisfied. “It takes a major scandal to get the police involved,” he said. “It is not in the nature of the public service to call in the police.”
 

Mogz

Council Member
Jan 26, 2006
1,254
1
38
Edmonton
RE: Prime Minister Harper

Why should Harper give a shit about the ethics commission? What did it ever do against the Liberals who walked off with millions of tax dollars? Oh right, nothing, yeah a real great organization to be respected. :roll:

P.S.

I love how the Liberals can take MILLIONS from the Canadian people...yet these morons still vote for the Liberal party. Yes, anyone that voted Liberal is a moron. Not for political reasons, but for the simple fact that they stole your money and you tried to vote them back in to power.
 

Finder

House Member
Dec 18, 2005
3,786
0
36
Toronto
www.mytimenow.net


http://www.ndp.ca/themes/ndp/images/en/2006-03-01-Emerson.jpg

Here this is a good one. go to the link above or just go to www.ndp.ca (not sure how long they will have it up directly on there homepage.) but it should make Conservatives, liberals and new democrats mad.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
201
63
RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
Re: RE: Prime Minister Harper

Mogz said:
Why should Harper give a shit about the ethics commission? What did it ever do against the Liberals who walked off with millions of tax dollars? Oh right, nothing, yeah a real great organization to be respected. :roll:

P.S.

I love how the Liberals can take MILLIONS from the Canadian people...yet these morons still vote for the Liberal party. Yes, anyone that voted Liberal is a moron. Not for political reasons, but for the simple fact that they stole your money and you tried to vote them back in to power.

So you voted con eh, well I,ll be reviewing your records,you might be a tad bit to stupid to be in my armed forces.