Gomery disappointed in Harper

[elevennevele]

Remember this guy?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080130.wgom0130/BNStory/National/home


Gomery disappointed in Harper

JIM BROWN

Canadian Press

January 30, 2008 at 7:57 PM EST

OTTAWA — The man who investigated the sponsorship scandal says Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to have abandoned any commitment he once had to transparent government in favour of a top-down style that centralizes power in his own hands.

John Gomery, in a wide-ranging interview marking the second anniversary of his final report, expressed dismay that the federal Conservatives have ignored his key recommendations for reform.

“I have to tell you, I'm very disappointed,” Mr. Gomery said from the farm in Havelock, Que., where he now lives in retirement.

“I worked so hard, and I got other people to work hard, and we gave very serious thought to what we were recommending. I thought it deserved a debate.”

Instead, said the former judge, most of the political and bureaucratic changes he proposed fell into a “black hole” of indifference or were rejected out of hand.

His verdict on the Harper government is harsh: “They were glad to see the end of the commission (of inquiry), and they'd like me to disappear. . . . I'm a pain, I'm a bit of a menace.”

Ironically, it was Mr. Gomery's scathing indictment of the previous Liberal government that was widely credited with paving the road to Tory power in the 2006 election.

In his first report in November 2005, Mr. Gomery concluded that millions of taxpayer dollars had been skimmed by Liberal-friendly ad agencies, and some of the cash had flowed back to the party in under-the-table kickbacks.

Though he found no personal wrongdoing by Jean Chrétien, he held the Liberal prime minister politically responsible for letting things go off the rails — a finding that so incensed Mr. Chrétien he went to court to try to quash it.

Mr. Gomery followed up with a second report — released two years ago this Friday — in which he offered a recipe for changing the way business is done in Ottawa.

Among other things, he called for:

— An end to the prime minister's exclusive power to appoint deputy ministers, the senior bureaucrats in every federal department.

— Curbing the authority of the Clerk of the Privy Council, the prime minister's bureaucratic right-hand man.

— More money and staff for the Commons public accounts committee to boost its role as watchdog over government spending.

The overall goal was to reverse a growing trend — decades in the making — toward centralization of power in the hands of the prime minister and his inner circle, a situation that critics saw as an invitation to the abuse of power.

It was a goal that Mr. Harper appeared to share when he was in opposition, says Mr. Gomery. But since he took power “there's more concentration of power in the Prime Minister's Office than we've ever had before, which is quite remarkable in a minority government, but he's pulled it off.”

Mr. Gomery also points to the Tory failure to revamp the Access to Information Act to make it easier for journalists and other citizens to pry documentation from the bureaucracy.

“The government was saying at the time (of the report) that transparency was very important and that they wanted to improve transparency. In practice it's been an exact reverse.”

 

[elevennevele]

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/canadian-politics/71538-tories-way-ahead-poll-shows.html

That's pretty grim and very wrong. I know from first hand experience in both parties, that the people in the party do in general actually want what's best for the country both the conservatives and the liberals, I'll even go as far as to say the NDP, even though it seems the whole party is suffering from some collective form of Asperger's Syndrome.

The party, or the public which supports the party? Also what is good for the country from the perspective of the individual can be totally different regardless of intentions or tactics.

When it comes to the Harper Conservatives compared to ANY of the other parties, there are significant ideological differences. The notion of muzzling the scientific community, of passing a bill that allows the government to pull financial aid for any film or television show that it deems offensive beyond our existing broadcasting laws or rating systems which amounts to practically to government censorship, they've tried to muzzle the media with questioning this government, etc. etc.

Rather than truly engage the issue and seek out solution regarding those who under our handling with the war effort were being tortured, the government took the bizarre position of trying to cover it up from the very beginning until the eve of a federal court hearing.

This is the party that in the face of the sponsorship scandal campaigned on open, transparent and accountable government. What a complete farce. Harper is even on tape showing complete knowledge of a financial offer being made to Cadman by his people prior to a crucial vote. He still won't give the public information as to what really went on. Just like the NAFTA issue with leaking information. Oh, but careful with what words you choose or Harper will sue you rather than prove innocence by actually coming clean. That is what Mulroney did to us and we paid him a couple million when we know now he did have financial dealing with Schreiber. How long did that take for us to find out that truth? And Harper was just in the process of re-writing Mulroney as a Canadian hero.

There is no secret agenda to have to figure out with this government. Harper continues time and time again to show his true colours and if the opposition leader wasn't so poor at tackling the message of so many of these various issues and making Canadians seriously aware of them this government would have been toast long ago.

So is the Harper Conservatives trying to do what is best for the country or their agenda?

This is just me quickly throwing bunch of articles down to show exactly what I mean. It's not like I want to spend my day filling this forum which source material. The pattern of this government with regards to the issues is very apparent. One does not have to guess what their agenda is. This is what they've managed to get away with a minority government and they have been trying to do so below the radar.

The fact that the opposition has allowed them to get this far without better alerting the Canadian Public has me totally miffed. Take this selection of issues and ask the average Canadian what they know about them. I'll bet little to none because that is the reaction I get.

Science adviser to Ottawa stunned by termination

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080202.science02/BNStory/National/home

Environment Canada 'muzzles' scientists' dealings with media

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=55e49c18-cb8d-45dd-a2d3-22dc0f053f18

Harper government gives science a raw deal, journal Nature says

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080222.wscience22/BNStory/National/home


Information office lays off Tory critic

CAMPBELL CLARK

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

May 29, 2007 at 4:20 AM EDT

OTTAWA — The tough-minded point man in the office of Canada's Information Commissioner has quietly been let go only months after he was a leading voice in criticisms of the Conservative government.

Alan Leadbeater, for years the second in command in the office responsible for protecting Canadians' right to know, was laid off two weeks ago in a reorganization under new commissioner Robert Marleau.

The move has raised fears that Mr. Leadbeater was let go because he was a key spokesman for former commissioner John Reid's sharp criticism of the Tories for abandoning promises to strengthen access-to-information laws. Observers say they are concerned that the watchdog is being tamed.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070529.winfo29/BNStory/National/home


Tories plan to withhold funding for 'offensive' productions

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080228.wheritage28/BNStory/Entertainment/home


Detainees Tortured

The Harper government quietly stopped transferring prisoners into Afghan custody months ago after compelling evidence of torture was discovered, the government admitted Wednesday on the eve of a federal court hearing.

The government kept the its decision under wraps, even as it prepared to fight rights groups seeking a halt to transfers and as it tried to drum up public support for extending Canada's commitment to wage war on the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.


Not to mentioned this government's earlier response to the critics was to release a 200 page manual to disrupt commons committees dealing with this very issue.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080123.wkoring0123/BNStory/Afghanistan/home


Harper defends firing of nuclear watchdog head

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080117.wharperisotope0117/BNStory/National/home


Civil liberties groups fear erosion of privacy rights
Carly Weeks, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007

OTTAWA -- The federal government revealed late Wednesday it will open up previously closed-door consultations it has been holding on plans to force Internet service providers to turn customers' personal information over to police without a court order.


http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=378b169e-036d-4ea8-9aba-8f10d7a570d6&k=77186

 

[Cobalt_Kid]

Hate to say I told you so, but this is exactly what I've been saying since I started posting here. We're watching the dismemberment of the institutions that give us control over our elected leaders and few people seem to notice let alone care. Canadians are going to have only themselves to blame when they wake up one day and find only one party on the election ballot, don't think it won't happen? ask yourself how a minority government can get away with so much with so little resistance. Then think of the consequences of a conservative majority government, what little control there is over Harpers agenda will effectively cease to exist.