Mr. Turner isn't a newcomer to politics. He was a Conservative MP under Brian Mulroney from 1988 to 1993 and was revenue minister in Kim Campbell's short-lived government in 1993.
He says he's never seen MPs treated this way.
“There has never been a policy debate where people have lined up at the microphone and been asked for input into a pending policy decision in the national caucus, and that has been a huge difference from my experience in the past, where that is the reason that caucus existed.”
There have been meetings where cabinet ministers presented policies and took questions about them, but there was no debate.
“Why the heck are we here?” Mr. Turner asks in frustration. “We're supposed to be here representing people. We're supposed to be bringing back what the grassroots and the voters are saying in the ridings, and bringing it back for a distillation here in Ottawa to help influence government policy.
“That's what an MP does.”
Last summer, with the war in Lebanon raging, a Tory MP tried to open that subject up for debate. “She was shut down,” Mr. Turner said, adding that Harper later came out with a policy that was strongly pro-Israeli without any discussion by his MPs.
Mr. Turner portrays the government as a rigid, top-down operation, which brooks no dissent and where the Prime Minister's Office holds a tight rein, to the point where Mr. Harper's staff sit in on caucus meetings.
“I've never been in a national caucus before where there are so many PMO staffers. It's quite extraordinary.”
He says Mr. Harper has no time for dissenters, unlike Mr. Mulroney, who stroked and cajoled cantankerous MPs and largely maintained caucus loyalty even while his public support was in fee fall.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061126.wgarth1126/BNStory/National/home
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 29, 2006]
Note: http://www.theglobeandm...
PMO A Fortress Of Solitude, Maverick MP Charges
Posted on Monday, November 27 at 15:01 by 4CanadaContributed By
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Their screwball ideas consider unions, social programs etc. interference with God's plans and with the rich to exercise charity. In their addled brains the poor should accept their fate with humility and wait with patience for handouts from those who have been blessed with riches on divine orders.
Just wait if and when Harpie gets majority to "create wealth"
Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.
So, Michael Chong has resigned from Stephen Harper’s cabinet. He is doing this because he has principles and a moral compass. I have a new respect for the guy and a renewed faith that the mess in Ottawa might - just might - begin to be resolved.<br />
Chong was minister of intergovernmental affairs and, as such, it would be his job to be at the very heart of any motion about to recognize a province, or at least the dominant group in that province, as a nation. But Chong admitted this afternoon after throwing in the towel that PMSH never even consulted him, and yet he is expected tonight at 8 pm - despite his grave reservations about this action - to vote for it.<br />
This, I must say, underscores exactly what I have been saying about the current government and its leader, and my experiences within it. We know MPs are muzzled, not consulted and expected to provide blind support for positions their constituents may disagree with. Now we know he treats cabinet guys exactly the same way……………..<br />
And from Macleans:-<br />
Deeming Quebec motion divisive, cabinet minister splits with Harper and quits<br />
ROBERT RUSSO<br />
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's intergovernmental affairs minister, who was deemed unworthy of advance consultation on the monumental decision to recognize Quebec as a nation, quit his post Monday and attacked his government's move as divisive.<br />
"I believe in one nation, undivided, called Canada," Michael Chong said a few scant hours before a vote on the motion……………………..<br />
His lack of cabinet heft was made clear last week when the prime minister chose to consult with a Liberal - leadership candidate and former intergovernmental affairs minister Stephan Dion - rather than the man responsible for federal-provincial relations in his own cabinet as he prepared the wording for his motion…………………….<br />
The prime minister decreed the vote on the motion a whipped vote for cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries, meaning they had to support it…………….<br />
Full article <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n112755A">http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n112755A</a><br />
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I dont know whos running the country but it sure as hell aint our elected representitives ...... and I have my doubts about it being Harper!<p>---<br>When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp
desires of its citizens is of little or no value.
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Diogenes said:
"I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels."
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Men make plans, and the gods laugh
I'm waiting for a miracle. Have seen a few in my lifetime and remain hopeful, or even confident. I have no idea what may bring it on, but it has to come if humanity wants to survive as human beings and not as animals driven by a ruling class.
Ed Deak.