Parliament resumed this week with a Throne Speech and the re-election of the Speaker. I haven’t felt much like writing about politics for a couple of weeks, but things have been happening and a few deserve comment.
The PM’s maniacal control of the media dominated the news out of Ottawa in the weeks leading up to the resumption of Parliament, as did his presidential airs. The PM and PMO have forbidden Cabinet ministers to talk to reporters, have revealed that the time and place of Cabinet meetings will be secret (to prevent the media staking-out the Parliament Hill) and banned reporters from the 3rd floor of the House of Commons where the PM’s Parliament Hill office and Cabinet rooms are located. The PMO had indicated the PM will meet reporters, at times of his choosing, downstairs outside the Commons’ door and will consider using the press gallery facilities if a podium is installed (The White House style) to replace the existing desk. That, and PMO staffers will select who get to ask questions rather than a press gallery officer. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised; Alberta has used a White House-like set-up, complete with the American style back-drop, for several years. It remains to be seen how long the media will tolerate the PMO’s contempt before they really turn on the PM.
It was surprising, this week, that the PM handled Question Period much better than anyone expected. The Liberal Opposition was not sharp with its questions and the PM was vicious in blaming every problem in the country on 13 years of Liberal government. How long will this play? The McGuinty government in Ontario learned they could only blame the Harris government for a few months before they were expected to be solving problems as well as assigning fault.
Eyes are turning, as well, to the Liberal leadership race. As expected, Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion are in the race – official announcements tomorrow. Bob Rae has joined the Liberal Party and is expected to announce soon. He is backed by his brother and many from Jean Chretien’s staff. Gerard Kennedy resigned as Ontario’s education minister yesterday and will enter the race officially in a week or so. And many others are contemplating going for it. One more dropped out today surprising many: Belinda Stronach will not be a candidate but will work on rebuilding the grassroots party organization. Obviously her lack of French speaking ability was a key factor, but she has shown a skill at building an organization from scratch and that is a skill the party needs badly at the moment. Expect the next drop-out to be Scott Brison, damaged by his poor emailing choices last autumn. The race is wide-open; none of the candidates have the national support, at this moment, to build the kind of mania that would lead to an early ballot victory and most suffer from some serious flaw that can and will be used against them by their opponents and government critics.
