Conservative who served Dief shares his view of the future
Calgary South Centre MP Lee Richardson and I go back some 35 years to the days when he was executive assistant to former prime minister John Diefenbaker and then chief of staff to premier Peter Lougheed.
Later, Richardson, now 58, was deputy chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney, and also parliamentary secretary for transport and communications.
Richardson has chalked up more political experience and hands-on knowledge of how the parliamentary system works—or should work—than any other Alberta MP.
So you might guess he’s cautiously optimistic the trend is moving towards the Conservatives as we edge towards election day Jan. 23.
“Increasingly, I sense voters want a ‘cleansing’ of the political system,” he said.
“Decent people really want to see some integrity in government. Hardworking Canadians are so tired of scandals and disillusionment. Men and women want to be able to trust their government again.”
How right you are, Lee.
He continues: “Common sense people increasingly appear to be grasping the relationship between the ‘liberalization’ of ethics and morals and the decay of values in our society.”
Well, if the 52 gang-linked murders in Toronto last year—double the previous year—hasn’t shattered complacency it’s hard to see what can.
He perceives that even—finally—in Ontario voters are now thinking deeply about whether they should continue to vote for a Liberal government that has been mired in controversy for more than a decade or give Stephen Harper’s fresh new Conservatives a chance.
“This election may turn out to be not a choice between the right and the left, but between right or wrong.”
Well, I tell Lee, if it comes down to that the line is drawn starkly—Martin’s disgraced Liberals will be gone.
We chat about Liberal scandal atop Liberal scandal.
Right now, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating allegations of a leak from Ralph Goodale’s department that may have made insider traders stacks of money over the finance minister’s sudden change of heart not to tax income trusts.
This new investigation prods voters minds not to forget Justice John Gomery’s investigation into AdScam and the laundering of taxpayers’ money into the bank accounts of Liberal-linked advertising and public relations firms.
Within AdScam—apart from the money directly laundered into Liberal party coffers in Quebec—a forensic study failed to find where an astounding $40 million of the money allocated to the $332 million sponsorship scandal went.
But then, we still don’t have answers to human resources minister Jane Stewart’s bogus job-creation plan that apparently didn’t create a single longterm job.
Except for Liberal insiders.
Richardson asks: “How did the gun registry bill add up to $2 billion? How much of that $2 billion ended up in Liberal advertising, public relations or polling firms?”
A heck of a lot, I’d guess.
Suggests Lee: “The Liberals aren’t desperately trying to hang to power simply because they like power—and to keep their hands on the taxpayers’ money—but because they know if they lose the election a lot of skeletons will come tumbling out of their closest.”
Pithily, he says: “Once a Harper government starts going through the Jean Chretien/Paul Martin governments’ books and revealing to the taxpayers’ what has been going on we’ll be seeing a lot of former cabinet ministers, MPs, Liberal bureaucrats and Liberal party insiders jumping off the MacDonald-Cartier Bridge.”
Yes, let’s hope we’ll see justice done to those who have so besmirched their public duty.
In future, Harper’s tough federal accountability act will certainly prevent the abuses we have seen during the Chretien/Martin era.
I ask Richardson, considering his experience, what cabinet portfolio he’d like to be offered by Harper after Jan. 23 if the Conservatives do win the election.
But he demurs, saying only he hopes to put his experience to use in a Harper government.
“Whether I’m in the cabinet or not is Stephen’s decision. I’m going to serve my constituents, my party, and hopefully a new government no matter what.”
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