Stephen Harper was installed as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister today. An he reneged on two principles he campaigned on and which have been integral to his quest for power before the Cabinet swearing ceremony was completed.
Harper has long criticised MPs who switch parties and maintained they should resign their seats and stand for re-election before crossing the floor. So how does he explain inviting a Liberal MP elected 14 days ago to join the Conservative Party in return for a place at the Cabinet table. Voters in David Emerson's riding are rightly indignant and entitled to remind Harper of his support for the right to recall MPs!
In a second broken promise, Harper, who has maintained he would never appoint Senators who had not been elected in their provinces, appointed a new party organiser from Quebec to the Senate to serve as Minister of Public Works - even more stunning since that is the department that was at the centre of the previous government's patronage scandal!
Time will tell how Canadians react to this hypocrisy but it is an astounding move for a new Prime Minister on his first day to cast aside two such fundamental principles.
