by Geoffrey Stevens
“Little Things Mean a Lot,” as Kitty Kallen sang in the sappy love song that topped the Billboard chart for nine weeks back in 1954. (Blow me a kiss from across the room/ Say I look nice when I'm not. … Arghh!) Treacly though the song is, the sentiment ought to be a mantra for Canadian political leaders in 2013.
by Geoffrey Stevens
It may seem like yesterday, but it was 40 years ago this summer that the notorious Watergate scandal burst on our consciousness.
by Geoffrey Stevens
The Senate expenses scandal — starring Duff, Pam, Nigel, Stephen and all the lesser lights — may be fine political theatre. But it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans — or loonies.
This is penny-ante stuff, a drop in the old Ottawa bucket. So Mike Duffy collected $90,000-odd in housing allowances, and Nigel Wright tried to save Old Duff’s butt by paying the piper, with or without (we’re not sure yet) telling his boss, the prime minister. It looks as though Duffy also did some double-dipping on his expenses. But if that’s fraud, it’s petty fraud.
by Geoffrey Stevens
Confession, they say, is good for the soul. With that in mind, I will make a confession: I am a media lickspittle. A lickspittle, according to the dictionary, is not a nice thing to be; it means “a contemptible, fawning person; a servile flatterer or toady.”
Let me hasten to add, I am not the only toady in these parts. Thanks to Senator Marjory LeBreton, Stephen Harper’s leader in the upper house, we now know that the capital, and indeed the country, are infested by lickspittles.
by Geoffrey Stevens
“I don't know whether to laugh or cry”
- retired House of Commons law clerk Rob Walsh, on the Mike Duffy/Nigel Wright Senate expenses uproar, CBC-TV, May 17.
Politicians don’t like it when people get really mad at them. Anger creates political damage. But they like it far less when people start laughing at them. Humour can destroy politicians and their careers. Witness former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, an honourable man who never recovered after Stephen Harper (with significant help from Mike Duffy, then a broadcaster) got the country laughing at him in the 2008 election.
Today, it seems to me, the Harper government is in peril of being dragged across that line between anger and laughter.
by Geoffrey Stevens
Watching parliamentary democracy at work can be harrowing. During an election, party leaders and their confederates present competing visions (or, more prosaically, platforms) for the electorate to consider. But once the election is over, smart winners don’t simply impose their visions. They have to negotiate with the Opposition.
Smart leaders remember that elections are not decided by partisans (Tim Hudak take note). Core supporters are important, but elections are won or lost on the votes of “loose fish” – uncommitted or lightly affiliated voters – who swim around at election time. More important, smart winners understand that they have not been elected solely to cater to their core; they understand that people who did not (and might never) vote for them are entitled to the same consideration from the government as its partisans.
by Geoffrey Stevens
Who says Canadian politics is dull? In Southern Ontario, we are witnessing three fascinating political battles. At Queen’s Park, Premier Kathleen Wynne is fighting for survival. Last week’s budget bought her Liberals some time, enough to get through the summer, I think, and probably the fall. My guess is she won’t make it – or want to make it – past next spring’s budget.
In Ottawa, the Liberal party, perceived to be moribund following three general election defeats, is struggling to return to life under Justin Trudeau, its fifth leader (including interim Bob Rae) in seven years. It’s beginning to look as though the Liberals will manage to self-resuscitate.
by Geoffrey Stevens
Premier Kathleen Wynne’s retreaded Liberal government will bring down its budget on Thursday — her first since taking over at Queen’s Park in February — and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. We may not know until Wednesday or even Thursday. As of today, there’s probably a 35-40 percent chance that Wynne’s negotiations with NDP leader Andrea Horwath will fail. If they do, the minority Liberal government will fall within days, and Ontarians will be sent to the polls in June.
by Geoffrey Stevens
Out in computerland, they talk a lot about “hitting the reset button.” This term implies getting rid of all the bad stuff that went before, correcting mistakes and starting over again. A new beginning, you might say.
The expression has crept into politics. The Harper government promised to “hit the reset button” on plans to spend — what? — $40 or $50 billion on F-35 fighter aircraft. The government has not said what, if anything, has happened in the months since it ostensibly hit the reset button. Perhaps the bright lights in the Department of National Defence are still laboring 24/7 to wrap their heads around the awkward concept that there are more suitable aircraft available at a (much) more reasonable cost.
by Geoffrey Stevens
One of the most iconic scenes in American cinema comes from the 1955 Billy Wilder film, The Seven Year Itch. It shows Marilyn Monroe, the love interest in the film, standing on a Lexington Avenue subway grate, trying to hold down the billowing skirt of her sexy white dress.
What does this have to do with Stephen Harper, you may ask? Well, maybe a bit.
