OTTAWA — For all the partisan bickering and political posturing, there was one shining moment in the Ottawa political season that just ended: The residential school apology.
“The one thing I'll tell my grandchildren about is the special moment where the whole House came together and did the right thing,” said NDP Leader Jack Layton. “That was an absolutely powerful moment. And the good thing about it was that all parties came together around it.”
But beyond that, the last eight months of this minority parliament is notable mostly for its longevity. Few politicians or pundits thought that when Stephen Harper was elected prime minister in mid-winter of 2006 his government would make it halfway through 2008 let alone have a decent shot of getting all the way to its legislated end, a fixed election date in the fall of 2009. But it has done that and, by the end of the month, will have become the country's longest-serving minority government.
“What we have achieved over the fall and particularly over the spring, I think it's a remarkable record of achievement,” Harper said late last week during a stop in Huntsville, Ont. “We've achieved objectives which the Opposition vowed to defeat.” [Read the rest of the story]
For what it's worth, Don Martin and I seem to have come to roughly the same conclusions …
From your story, according to Gilles Duceppe:
“We think Quebecers are realizing and seeing the real figure of Stephen Harper who is a man who wants to decide what kind of movies we should see, what kind of books we should read …”
Actually, Stephen Harper is not telling anyone what books to read. Yann Martel, the author of the much-touted “Life of Pi,” is the one who’s telling the PM what to read, with little success I gather.
Here’s a short sample of Martel’s “beautiful” prose:
http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca/
“Who is this man? What makes him tick? No doubt he is *busy*. No doubt he is deluded by that *busyness*. No doubt being Prime Minister fills his entire consideration and froths his sense of *busied* importance to the very brim.”
If anyone’s deluded, it’s Yann Martel, IMO.
In the meantime, throughout the parliamentary session the pundits were reading the tea leaves, trying to divine when an election would be called.
Then, according to Don Martin “It still smells odd, this sexsational caper about a scorned beauty with organized crime links …”
There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding that case, so I’ll add my two cents, for what it’s worth.
I maintain that the Bloc, especially Serge Ménard, who was Quebec Minister of Public Safety (1994-1996; 1998-2002; 2002-2003) under the Parti Québécois, was the best placed to know about the “scorned beauty” and her background, so why did they feign such concern for national security in the HoC? Why couldn’t Ménard have alerted Mr. Bernier and/or the PMO about that possible threat?
Oh, yes, I forgot, it’s best to bring out damaging information when it will be most useful for oneself and one’s party.