To the Editor:
Some people seem surprised by the severe trouble now engulfing the Harper government. But they shouldn't be. This explosion of bad news has been brewing for months; some would say, for years.It's a product of divisive, expedient, hyper-partisan ways of governing.
The first hint appeared on the very first day Mr. Harper took office. Directly contradicting his personal pledge never to appoint Senators, he named Michael Fortier to both the Senate and his Cabinet right on Day-One. Now, 58 appointees later, Stephen Harper holds the record for partisan stacking in the Senate.
But without reaching all the way back to 2006, there's a clear pattern of developing trouble since the last election in 2011 - i.e., since Mr. Harper gained that majority he so coveted.
Among his Ministers there was a growing sense of impunity. As a small precursor of things to come, for example, there was former Minister Bev Oda doctoring documents and claiming her ultra-expensive orange juice, hotels and limos. It took Mr. Harper a long time to provide accountability.
On the policy side, there was arrogance. Despite strong public demands for federal leadership to help rejuvenate medicare, Mr. Harper unilaterally limited federal funding, and walked away from any meaningful role in finding the innovation necessary to make our healthcare system more successful.
In January 2012, in a speech in Switzerland, he bragged about chopping medicare and pledged to do the same to pensions. Just weeks later, for no compelling reason, he restricted Old Age Security - another thing he had previously promised never to do - taking $30,000 from the retirement incomes of Canada's most vulnerable seniors (especially elderly women living alone).
Then came the F-35 stealth fighter-jet fiasco. There was no mission statement for this huge procurement. No open competition. Cost projections ballooned to nearly $50-billion. Both the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor-General described Conservative management of this file as incompetent and dishonest.
Such depictions also applied to Mr. Harper's budget legislation. He rammed through two highly offensive "omnibus" bills, lumping dozens of unrelated issues together for a single vote, coupled with oppressive time-deadlines to stifle debate. Major front-line services were gutted and environmental safeguards were eviscerated.
And all the while, more examples of election tampering kept bubbling to the surface. After five years of stonewalling, the Conservatives were finally charged with serious violations in their "In-and-Out" election financing scam. They had to plead guilty, pay a fine and make restitution. Other serious irregularities are under investigation in Labrador and Peterborough.
And that massive case of illegal voter suppression - which the Federal Court has categorized as "electoral fraud" - beginning with robocalls in the Conservative campaign in Guelph and potentially contaminating more than 200 ridings across the country, is still unresolved.
On and on it goes. All on Mr. Harper's watch. With this as preamble, should anyone be surprised by Duffy, Brazeau and Wallin, and a $90,000 secret deal emanating from the Prime Minister's Office?
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
