Thursday, May 29, 2008

Munsinger Deux

L'Affair Bernier's Briefs, as I think I will hereafter call it, has certainly proven to be a far sexier scandal than Cadscam, the In & Out scandal, or even Mulroney-Schreiber. It was front page news for the third consecutive day in Canada, and has been grabbing international headlines, including a front page story in Italy.

The latest highlights:

1. The Liberals are alleging that CSIS met with Harper about Bernier and Couillard weeks ago.

2. The NDP are alleging that Bernier carelessly left his briefing files out on an airplane.

3. Don Martin floats the bizarre theory that Bernier was "set up" (to take the blame, not with Couillard).

4. Chris Selly at Macleans is trying out "the leave-behind affair" as a possible name for the scandal. He also finds this gem of an article from Peter Worthington:
"Supposedly, the cabinet documents contained data about Afghanistan. Big deal," Peter Worthington scoffs in the Toronto Sun. "It's a challenge to imagine anything about our role in Afghanistan that could be damaging."


5. The Globe has the latest Cabinet Shuffle speculation, indicating it will be a "small" shuffle then talking about the need to replace Bernier, Toews, Emerson (at Trade), and Guergis, while promoting Jason Kenney, a Quebec MP or two, James Moore, and James Rajotte. Which is just cruel to the last two - why get their hopes up yet again, only to have Harper crush them?

Labels: , ,

posted by calgarygrit at 9:02 a.m.

15 Comments:

  • Chris Selly at Macleans is trying out "the leave-behind affair" as a possible name for the scandal.

    Hey, that weasel Selley is stealing my material.

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 11:15 a.m.  

  • Stock Day for Foreign Affairs! Boy that would be fun.

    Glad to see Stephen is making his cabinet more anglo and upping the men in the cabinet (men as you know have been sorely under-represented.)

    Can't wait to see who he adds from Quebec to the cabinet. The remaining Quebec conservatives are all verifiable nut jobs that will make for some interesting headlines.

    My friends, this is the begining of the end of poor Stephen. The tide is turning the Conservatives are revealing to Canadians they can not govern and don't have the bench to govern.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:54 a.m.  

  • Whooee! I'm calling it the "Biker Babe Bungle". I like "L'Affair Bernier's Briefs" too. Good one.

    JB

    By Blogger JimBobby, at 12:10 p.m.  

  • 1. The Liberals are wrong. CSIS publicly admitted they never were involved. More Liberal lies being spun with the help of their friendly media buddies.

    2. Given Dawn Black's history of dredging up scandal, I doubt her claims have much cred. And besides, why didn't she speak up sooner?

    3. Don Martin is crazy.

    3 (4?). Stupid name. And until it's proven otherwise, Worthington is as right as anybody else.

    By Blogger sir john a., at 12:20 p.m.  

  • It was initially "cleavage-gate" which was just lame. I do like "bed bug scandal" too...but that really only works if her bed was bugged, which is debatable. Or maybe the "foreign affairs affair".

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 12:42 p.m.  

  • My friends, this is the begining of the end of poor Stephen. The tide is turning the Conservatives are revealing to Canadians they can not govern and don't have the bench to govern. - rob c

    I say we call an election!!!!!! who's with me? Anybody? Anybody?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:26 p.m.  

  • Let’s give FM stephan harper a few month to blunder around.

    The acting FM has just had a meeting in Italy with Berlusconi. The PMO reported after the meeting that the Italians would allow their troops in Afghanistan to operate in the war zone. However, that has changed today to ‘considering’ the proposal.

    You know what’s wrong? Harper doesn’t speak Italian. Or, he doesn’t recognize a polite ‘no’. Or, he doesn’t ask our diplomats what they thought Berlusconi said.

    The harperites are in growing disarray. Even a guy like dion could beat them, if dion has the guts to make a move.

    By Blogger JimTan, at 4:23 p.m.  

  • The "weekend at Bernier's" scandal works for me.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:17 p.m.  

  • Meanwhile, in the real world, Steffi is getting advice from Tony Blair on his "Carbon Tax the Crap Out of Canadians" electoral platform.

    The same day the the UK has major power outages and truckers close down major rods in protest over Blair's carbon taxes.

    Excellent timing Steffi, excellent.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:42 p.m.  

  • I say we call an election!!!!!! who's with me? Anybody? Anybody?

    I'm with you on that.

    By Blogger Möbius, at 8:19 p.m.  

  • I am MUCH more concerned with the possibility that the most confidential national security matters imaginable (CSIS meetings with the Prime Minister) are being leaked to Opposition MPs who hold a level of security clearance to be confirmed by interested media and bloggers.

    And it doesn't appear the least bit plausible that the leak came from the PMO.

    By Blogger Paul, at 9:13 p.m.  

  • James Moore=Rachael Marsden...any questions

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:49 p.m.  

  • I could see Moore getting upped. Doubtful Rajotte gets promoted. James R. has known for a long time that he's *never* getting into cabinet with Harper as PM.

    I don't know where Laghi and Taber have been getting their inside info on this one, but Harper really doesn't like Rajotte...

    By Blogger Burt, at 1:02 a.m.  

  • The odds on dion becoming PM just keep improving.

    Smiling Jim Flaherty came out of a meeting with provincial ministers. He spoke of the optimism in the room (?). He’ going to drop the ball because he is merely going to let the central bank drop rates.

    One more down quarter and Canada is officially in a recession, before the States.

    Manufacturing slow-down stalls economy
    First quarter decline is the first since 2003

    Canwest News Service

    Friday, May 30, 2008
    OTTAWA - Canada's economy shrank 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 from a year earlier - marking hte first decline in nearly five years - as the manufacturing sector continued to weaken, Statistics Canada said Friday.
    That's down from 0.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2007, the federal agency said. In March alone, the country's gross domestic product declined by 0.2 per cent, following a 0.3 per cent contraction the previous month.
    Most economists had expected the GDP to rise by about 0.4 per cent in the first quarter and be flat in March.
    "The economy, which had started to lose momentum in the second half of 2007 as exports declined, stalled in the first quarter due to widespread cutbacks in manufacturing, most notably in motor vehicles," the agency said.
    "In addition, weather disruptions hampered economic activity in the quarter."
    The drop in GDP could point to another interest rate cut in June by the Bank of Canada in an effort to stimulate the economy.

    By Blogger JimTan, at 1:03 p.m.  

  • I think it should be called "In-and-out too" because it works on so many levels.

    By Blogger Robert, at 6:33 p.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home