Pass the Hat

The Globe has a story on how much money different Tory MPs have donated to the Conservative Party over the past year. James Moore has given more than any other Conservative MP to his own party. So clearly just writing a cheque doesn't guarantee you a Cabinet spot. Apparently, neither does being an extremely bright and talented MP. But I digress.

Apparently, there has been some "displeasure" over the fact that 18 Cabinet Ministers haven't donated cash to their own party this year. Luckily, after asking some questions in the right places, I've come up with the top 8 excuses by Tory Cabinet Ministers for not donating to the party:


8. Lost all my money in that income trust flip-flop.

7. Stockwell Day: "Already donated to get the Big Valley Creation Museum started".

6. Gordon O'Connor: "I did donate money. What? I didn't. General Hillier said I did."

5. Made an "in kind" donation by giving Stephen Harper fashion advice.

4. To be honest, I don't do anything unless explicitly instructed to do it from the PMO. I'm afraid to even order a donut on my own.

3. Tony Clement: "Now that Belinda's a Liberal, I've had to finish paying off my own leadership campaign debt."

2. John Baird: "After thirteen long years of Liberal corruption...I'm sorry - what was the question again?"

1. Felt it could be better spent donating it to the Stephane Dion leadership campaign.

I'll Take that Bet!

KINGSTON, OTTAWA -- A defiant Gordon O'Connor said yesterday he has no intention of quitting as Defence Minister, and warned his critics not to assume he is about to turfed from the portfolio in a widely expected cabinet shuffle.

"I can assure you of one thing: I'm not retiring and I'm not resigning," Mr. O'Connor told reporters at a military conference in Kingston. "And if you want to run a pool, go ahead. You're going to lose."

I'll put 20$ down on August 10th in the pool!

Great Moments in Spin III

OK, that's provincial and municipal. Time for federal:

The leaders reacted harshly after the Commons question period where Harper challenged the credibility of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion because he hasn't served in the military, and took a shot at deputy leader Michael Ignatieff because he lived outside the country for three decades.

"I will just say it is true I have never served in the Armed Forces," Harper replied when Ignatieff noted that Harper had not served in the military either. "I consider that an experience in my life that I have missed, but I can say I have always lived and worked and paid my taxes in this country."

[...]

When Dion pressed O'Connor to voluntarily resign since the prime minister "doesn't have the courage" to fire him, Harper defended the retired brigadier-general as he has in the past, by emphasizing O'Connor served in the military for 32 years.

"And when the leader of the opposition is able to stand in uniform and serve his country, then I will care about his opinion of the performance of the minister of national defence," Harper added.

Other rules for when you are allowed to criticize Canada's New Government:



-Only first nations people can question Jim Prentice's performance at Indian Affairs


-Only doctors may cast doubt on Tony Clement's vision for Health Care


-Only MPs with personal stylists can criticize the Prime Minister

What's My Line?

Andrew Coyne has a funny take on the government's ever evolving position on the monitoring of Afghan detainees. For those looking for the specific facts, I present them in an easy to understand chronological order. If you understand the following, MENSA should be calling within the next few days.


2006-early 2007: Gordon O'Connor maintains that the Red Cross are monitoring transferred detainees and reporting their findings to Canada.

March 8: Gordon O'Connor admits that the Red Cross does not inform Canada of the treatment of detainees captured by Canadian troops and transferred to Afghan authorities.

March 19: Gordon O'Connor apologizes for misleading the House.

April 23: Amid calls for his resignation, Gordon O'Connor defends himself by "telling Commons that a recent agreement with the human rights commission of Afghanistan guaranteed any detainee abuses would be reported."

April 24: A front page Globe story reveals that "the Harper government knew from its own officials that prisoners held by Afghan security forces faced the possibility of torture, abuse and extrajudicial killing." It shows that many of this information had been blacked out in documents.
April 25: The government maintains that it is the AIHRC and not any Canadian organizations who monitor detainees.

April 25: AIHRC says that "we couldn't go there [to the prisons]".

April 25: Gordon O'Connor's elevator scrum reveals that Canada has struck a deal with Afghanistan to allow Canadian officials to monitor detainees "any time they wanted".

April 25 (later): Peter MacKay is first told of this deal by journalists.

April 26: In QP, Stephen Harper says that there is no signed deal.

April 27: Stockwell Day says that Corrections Canada has made 15 17 trips to prisons to monitor detainees, saying they are there "to see if there are cases of torture".

April 28: "Urging an end to the "political circus" over Afghan detainees, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada says no Canadians, including corrections officers, have monitored treatment of prisoners turned over by Canadian military forces."

April 29: Stockwell Day tells Question Period that there have been no specific accusations by detainees of torture.

May 1: Stockwell Day says that Correctional Services Canada had been told by 2 detainees that they had been tortured.

May 1: The opposition parties decide to move on to far more important issues - the captaincy of Shane Doan to Team Canada. Stephane Dion calls the Tory silence "shocking", Ducceppe criticized Harper for not taking a stand on the issue, and Jack Layton said Doan's captaincy would "cast a shadow" on the team. Elizabeth May says the choice of Doan was akin to Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis.

May 2: Foreign Affairs complains that they were not consulted on Hillier's 2005 detainee deal.

May 3: Rick Hillier concedes that "perhaps [the deal he signed] was no sufficient"

May 3: The Canadian ambassador signs a new detainee deal.

Defense Pool

If you're like me and your hockey pool isn't going great, why not try your luck at the "Gordon O'Connor shuffle pool". Simply pick who the next Minister of Defense will be and when the shuffle will occur and I will use some arbitrary method to pick a winner.

And if you think Harper is a big Tammy Wynette fan and will stand by his man on this one, well then, feel free to pick 2014 for the shuffle...or pick a Liberal to be the next Minister of Defense.