Conservative Enemies of the State

The Liberals upped their rhetoric on the Conservatives’ mistreatment of watchdogs yesterday by unveiling the “Conservative Enemy of the State” list, which had a snappy little slideshow to go with it. All of it to build the narrative that this is not a government that tolerates dissent, like any other democratic government.

The Conservatives’ comeback? That the Liberals made a bunch of bad appointments, including Alfonso Gagliano in the wake of the sponsorship scandal. Never mind that some of the names on their list were taken out of context (such as with MP Marlene Jennings’ husband’s appointment to the IRB, which I’m quite sure predated her election), but hey, when do facts get in the way of spin?

There are now rumours that the chair of the CRTC is about to find himself on the way out, before his term is up, likely because the government wants the official media arm of The Party to get their Category 1 television licence, even though the CRTC said no. Mind you, this was a bit further than I was expecting. Cabinet has the ability to override CRTC decision (thanks to Brian Mulroney), but to replace the chair outright seems a touch vindictive. And since Cabinet apparently has superior judgment to the CRTC, they now get to weigh in on the Bell-Telus dispute over the National Defence phone system contract.

Speaking of the official media arm of The Party, apparently David Akin is now drinking the Kool-Aid, judging by yesterday’s editorial, which was the biggest suck-up to cabinet ministers I’ve seen in print in ages.

The official media arm of The Party is also continuing their witch-hunt against Judy Sgro with regard to the settlement of her issue with rent payments being deducted. I’ve been told by reliable sources that Sgro didn’t take any per diems for her time in Ottawa as she was entitled to – and why she doesn’t mention this in her defence while being accused of abusing taxpayer dollars I’m not sure, but hey, accusing MPs of wasting money is QMI’s bread-and-butter.

Speaking of reporting on the waste of taxpayer dollars, while I’m perfectly happy to see Conservative MP Shelly Glover taken to task for how much of a waste her attempt to create a moral panic over “veiled travellers” was, I am disturbed by this costing of every time a committee meets in the summer. Is the message from the media now that Parliament costs money so we should – what? Abolish it to save money? Explain to me how that works again.

Aaron Wherry gives us the updated list of those opposed to the census changes.

Canada’s Inuit managed to stall the European Union ban on importing seal products.

And Harper announced payroll jobs in Miramichi, NB, which could replace jobs lost at the firearms registry centre if it’s closed, but the message got muddled in the complexity of the fact that he’s creating positions out there, while simultaneously reducing the overall number of jobs in the public service – or something like that. Way to go communications geniuses in the PMO!