It's encouraging to read this morning, (The Globe and Mail and National Post) that the negative commentary, on David Emerson's defection to the CPC and on Stephen Harper's possible strategic error in appointing Emerson to Cabinet, continues to gain momentum. The "honeymoon" for the Harper administration is described as slipping into "negative momentum" 25 minutes before taking office as a result of the revelation by CTV that Emerson had crossed the floor in return for a Cabinet seat.
The Liberal association in Vancouver-Kingsway is demanding the return of the $97,000 it spent on Emerson's election campaign last month and the demands for him to resign and try to get re-elected in a by-election continue to grow in number. Even new Senator Fortier, the other controversial Cabinet appointee, went on record yesterday as saying he still does not support crossing the floor and that there should be a by-election whenever someone does so. Many Conservative backbenchers are squirming as Harper reneged on his campaign commitment to "ethical reform".
The consensus opinion is that Canadians chose the Conservative alternative on January 23rd primarily because of Harper's promise of a more ethical government. Harper squandered that advantage before he even took office and now, weakened, the media and his opponents have the opening they were looking for.
Aside from the ethics package, Harper wants to move quickly with his child-care payment but now the provinces, who prefer the current federal program of transfer payments to the provinces, see a vulnerability they can exploit.
The media are also reporting that Emerson, a former forestry industry executive in BC, scuppered a deal to resolve the outstanding softwood lumber/free trade dispute with the USA while he was a Liberal cabinet minister under Paul Martin and now will be carrying the "deal" forward as a Conservative minister! It appears there may be a lot of mud flying around for more than a couple of days.
