Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Rae on Harper's centralization

Bob Rae, trying to contrast his free-wheeling style (he is quite the charmer) with Harper's dictatorial authoritarianism, has predicted that Harper's attempts to run everything from the top-down will fail spectacularly. Says Rae, "It can't be done. Effective governments can't be run that way."

If I were Harper I'd heed the warning. I mean, who knows more about governments failing spectacularly than Bob Rae?

But seriously, what's funny about this whole control freak spectacle is that it's the exact opposite of what Harper has been fighting for since his days as a Reformer. Remember, larger role for MPs, more citizen involvement, etc.? Oh well.

1 Comments:

At 4/26/2006 3:18 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's the same deal as Martin. They talk big when they think that it won't matter: i.e. when they have a majority. It's easy to have free votes when your government isn't actually on the line.

(Which is why the Americans do it.)

When you're in a minority situation, every vote counts; and when you're desperately trying to keep the backbenchers and cabinet ministers from blurting something stupid, control counts even more.

Of course, Rae's right... but let's not tell Harper that, mmkay?

 

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