Six months ago today every Canadian with even an ounce of patriotism in their veins put an end to the sleaze-driven, scandal-riddled Jean Chretien/Paul Martin era.
Assessing the past six months, and harking back across some four decades of political journalism, I have not seen an individual move as deftly into the prime minister’s office as Stephen Harper, nor newly-installed members perform as well as those of the current Conservative cabinet.
A former MP—and cabinet minister—from Brian Mulroney’s first term in office ventured even Mulroney’s team hit a few initial bumps before finding its footing.
Harper and his team, he perceived, moved into office as if they had been skilled practitioners for years.
Harper immediately held out the hand of friendship to U.S. President George W. Bush and was just as immediately rewarded with a solution of the decade-long softwood lumber hassle, winning Canadians
80 cents on the dollar.
A lopsided victory overwhelmingly in our favour.
Just imagine had Harper been prime minister during the mad cow disease crisis—which also cost Canadian cattlemen and packinghouses $5 billion in losses—how quickly that would have been solved.
One current Conservative MP confesses Harper astonishes him by his depth of knowledge of all policy files. The prime minister seemingly knows the files as well as the cabinet ministers who hold them.
Quick assessments on some cabinet ministers:
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty quickly delivered on his election promises.
The GST is down to 6%, cheques for the $1,200-a-year child care subsidy are rolling out.
There’s the $1,000 annual tax credit for everyone who works to cover basic costs of just getting to the job and picking up tools.
Plus a dozen and more other cuts and credits to make life financially easier.
The tax-and-gouge days of the Chretien/Martin Liberals regimes are gone for good.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, detested by the Liberal-Left types on the CBC, Toronto (Red) Star and Globe and Mail, launched Canada into a new era of supporting valiant little Israel.
We were the first country to halt funds going to the Palestinian Authority after the terrorist group Hamas took it over.
Since then, other countries, including the U.S., have followed.
MacKay has built up a strong relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor has not only boosted the annual budget of the military, he has announcement procurement plans to immediately buy
$15-billion worth of “big ticket” items for our Armed Forces.
There’s more muscle to come, too, for our beleaguered troops, so frequently betrayed by the loathsome Liberals.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was swift to put the Tamil Tigers on the list of banned terrorist groups, noting Martin had coddled these individuals.
Together with MacKay and O’Connor, he has also moved with alacrity to fight terrorism on all fronts and protect our nation’s citizens.
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has left no doubt she is not going to let ignorant advocates of the fraudulent Kyoto Protocol close down Canadian industry, transfer millions of our jobs to Third World nations, and waste billions of our tax dollars ‘buying’ credits from other nations.
We’ll likely join the U.S., Australia and Japan in the sensible—and achievable—Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice was handed a $5 billion problem. He quickly killed the Liberals’ outrageous election-eve Kelowna Accord, and is shifting the focus on aboriginal affairs away from grand words and big schemes—that said nothing, but cost more and more money—to results.
He’s building houses and providing clean drinking water, rather than spending our money on activists, lawyers and lobbyists.
And guess what—no riots against his cuts or new directions.
Immigration Minister Monte Solberg has a minefield of a portfolio. But no explosion so far.
He’s led the charge against human trafficking and sex slavery, to which the Grits turned a blind eye.
Then there’s Jason Kenney. While not actually in the cabinet, he’s Parliamentary Secretary to the prime minister.
Fluently bilingual, he stands in for Harper when Harper is not in the House of Commons and defends government policy.
Some attest Kenney is the best debater in the Commons in years.
My friends, the Liberals are in a hole, and we’re on a roll.
- Suzuki playing gutter politics - Sunday March 4, 2007 at 10:41 am
- Grit record terror-ible - Tuesday February 27, 2007 at 9:51 am
- Britain’s Blair takes tumble - Sunday February 18, 2007 at 10:53 am
