According to some insiders, ex-Minister Michael Chong was not completely above-board with the PM, and kept his cards close to his chest until the last minute. This contradicts Chong's story that he kept Harper well apprised of his concerns. There is also a dispute about how much the PM kept Chong in the loop ahead of time.
Chantel Hebert seems to feel that Michael Chong's resignation was unnecessary. In her article, "Party Must Look to the Future" she notes:
If ex-intergovernmental affairs minister Michael Chong had spent a bit more time listening to his Liberal colleagues from Quebec over the course of the parliamentary debate that led to the overwhelming endorsement of the motion Monday night, he might have remained in Stephen Harper's cabinet.
(Both Star links are available off the main page. As you know, Star links hate me. Hopefully the new Blogger will be better.)
And yet the discussion continues about what "nation" and "Québécois" mean. Unfortunately, I don't think this story is over yet.
23 comments:
Tories Challenge Chong's Account here.
Chantel Hebert here.
Joanne,
the story isn't over yet. That's not a bad thing. Right now, this resolution has put a significant long-term problem in the seppie camp. But, say a few practical things like "fiscal imbalance" were cleaned up in December. That would make the problem immediate and catastrophic for the seppies.
But, say a few practical things like "fiscal imbalance" were cleaned up in December.
Good point, Chucker! And some strong action on the environment file wouldn't hurt either.
I think we Conservative bloggers need to start explaining how Kyoto is nothing more than a word.
It's almost a religion with them. Let's expose the flaws.
Toronto Star links never work for me either, so I just stopped linking to them.
As to Chong, the Post had a story with quotes from a Chong "friend" (link below). No doubt the PMO was displeased with that and this is their response.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=4b5572db-b64b-49f1-a455-e83ea0d72047
I'd be very interested in hearing some insight about Kyoto. I know so little about it other than it's a word thrown around accusingly to paint the Conservatives as anti-trees-and-clean-air. "What about Kyoto?" they say in an apocolyptic tone of voice as they wag their fingers.
Toronto Star links never work for me either, so I just stopped linking to them. Whew! Thank you, Joan! I thought it was just me.
"What about Kyoto?" they say in an apocolyptic tone of voice as they wag their fingers. Steph, that's it exactly. I bet they don't even really understand it.
To be honest, I find it confusing myself, but here is a simplified explanation, and I encourage anyone who is more knowledgable on the subject to please enlighten us all:
The Kyoto Protocol is well documented at Wikipedia. My understanding is that Canada cannot meet its targets of lowering Greenhouse Gas Emissions, so we purchase credits from developing countries as a penalty. How is that helping us at home?
When countries like the U.S. have not ratified the agreement but still manage to do better than Canada reducing GHG, you have to wonder.
re: linking to the star...
joanne: i've had problems also. if you use the "compose" mode when preparing your posts, you'll have problems.
check out your links in "edit html".you'll often find that the "a href" tag is repeated twice thereby making the html code useless. if you simply remove what has been repeated using the edit mode, bingo, link should work. hope it helps although i suspect you secretly like having your torstar links fail.. ;) -jeff
Aha! Thanks, Jeff! I'll give that a shot next time. I noticed when I checked html of the failed links that I'd see some strange code in there - usually I saw the phrase "amp" several times in the tag, but I never noticed the duplicate "a href" tag.
I wonder why this only happens with Torstar links. Do you suppose they do it on purpose? It's bad enough having to quote the Star but then the links act up on you as well!
;)
the important thing about Quebec's love of Kyoto:
our power is generated from a source that will never be impinged by Kyoto. If anything, GHG reduction is a boon to Hydro-Quebec.
but, a quick survey of traffic hour shows that Montrealers are just as selfish as anyone else when it comes to clogging our highways with single passenger cars.
I think this (resignation) is a tempest in a tea pot......lots of jabbering going on about something of little consequence.....
There are bigger fish to fry!
OFF TOPIC ....Chucker....
One of the things that got Renee Levesque a lot of support back in '77 ...was that he was going to make sure that the Crown Corp Hydro Quebec would become a "Nationalised" resource under the PQ's sovereignty plan.....he meant of course that the Utility and it's customers would pay NO federal taxes ( unless they were in Ontario or New Brunswick) and follow NO Canadian regulations or trade agreements.
What most of the Quebec supporters never realized was that he meant to sell power to the US customers at a very low rate ( even lower than by existing rules) not lower their own rates.
pgp - thanks for that nugget of nausea. the PQ never fail to amaze me (in a scary "they really believe that crap?" kind of way).
For pgp:
FYI
http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/bios/godbout.htm
«In 1944, the Godbout government nationalised the Beauharnois Light and Heat Power Company, one of the largest in the province and servicing Montreal. With it, Godbout created Hydro Quebec. To the new state company, all of the ungranted water reserves of the province were ceded. Thus, the future belonged to Hydro-Quebec. It should be noted that Duplessis made no further additions to Hydro-Quebec and that the network remained largely in private hands until the nationalisation of the Quiet Revolution period.»
http://pedia.counsellingresource.com/openpedia/Hydro-Quebec
«Hydro-Québec was originally created by Premier Adélard Godbout on April 14, 1944 in a partial nationalization of electricity companies around Montreal, notably Montreal Light, Heat and Power Company. The full name was "Quebec Hydro-Electric Commission", but the name Hydro-Québec soon came into use. ...
During the Quiet Revolution, the remaining 11 privately owned electricity companies in Quebec were nationalized, greatly expanding Hydro-Québec into its modern form. The nationalization was completed under the initiative of René Lévesque, Minister of Hydroelectric Resources and Public Works in the Liberal government of Jean Lesage. (1963?)»
Hydro-Quebec, by flooding millions of acres of treed forest land has probably done as much damage to the Canadian environment as most other entities. Somehow we have over-looked or forgotten the value of trees and other fauna in purifying the air we breathe. If flooding on a similar scale took place anywhere but in Quebec there would have been an uprising of the Canadian population. A sad state!!
Mike, how ironic! I would love to hear a Quebecois environmentalist respond to that one!!
Gabby, what exactly was the "Quiet Revolution"? I've heard that phrase before but never quite understood it.
Joanne,
From Wikipedia:
The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) was the 1960s period of rapid change in Quebec, Canada.
Quebec's "Quiet Revolution" was characterized by:
• The rapid and effective secularization of society;
• The creation of an État-Providence (welfare state);
• A transformation of the national identity among Francophone Quebecers (from Canadien français to the term Québécois).
The changes were the result of many important transformations within Quebec society. Among those often cited are:
• Massive investments in the public education system;
• Creation of a Ministry of Education;
• Unionization of the civil service;
• Provincial government measures meant to increase Quebecers' control over the province's economy;
• Nationalization of electricity production and distribution.
If you want to read more go to:
http://tinyurl.com/bdvzu
Thanks, Gabby. Fascinating.
The rapid and effective secularization of society;
Rapid or rabid? ;)
Seriously though, I wonder if it was a backlash against the strict Catholicism and control of the Church from earlier times.
Perhaps the time has come for the pendulum to swing back to centre.
absolutely. one of the disappointment of Charest was he campaigned on a 2nd quiet revolution.
we rejected the Catholic Church (which acted like tyrants, to be sure) but replaced them with a new religion where the priests are separatists and union bosses.
this insanity has led us to a situation where Quebec has major structural challenges facing it in the next 15 years.
PGP wants no taxation of seniors pensions - a laudible initiative.
But in Quebec, this is impossible. Young people will refuse to shoulder the immense fiscal burden imposed on them by the generation now ready to collect its pensions after having spent like drunken sailors in Bangkok.
Awesome Gabby in QC....
I had not realized that Quebec had completed the "Nationalization" before the PQ attained power!
Makes me wonder why the rhetoric from Renee got so much attention back in the day!
Joanne,
"Seriously though, I wonder if it was a backlash against the strict Catholicism and control of the Church from earlier times."
You're right. But, as with everything in life, there has to be moderation. From absolute control from the Church (although some people dispute that), we've swung the other way, trying to efface the contributions made by the religious communities.
Take our hospitals as an example. When the religious communities ran them, you could eat off the floor, they were that clean. And now? Well, you must have heard some of the horror stories. Same thing with our schools.
"In everything the middle course is best: all things in excess bring trouble to men."
- Plautus
P.S. I loved your comment elsewhere about why Belinda didn't dye her hair pink to match the Liberal pink book.
I loved your comment elsewhere about why Belinda didn't dye her hair pink to match the Liberal pink book.
lol! That was on Stephen Taylor's blog. BTW, that's where I read your comments which inspired me to write today's post!
we rejected the Catholic Church (which acted like tyrants, to be sure) but replaced them with a new religion where the priests are separatists and union bosses.
Chucker, very insightful. I think I recall Lucien Bouchard pointing out recently that Quebec is headed for trouble if it keeps going in this direction; forming a culture of dependency.
pgp,
"Makes me wonder why the rhetoric from Renee got so much attention back in the day!"
Well, the nationalist/sovereignist movement didn't begin with Rene Levesque. He just crystallized the ideas of the movement and was able to garner support.
I don't know whether a historical novel written by Micheline Lachance called "Lady Cartier" has been translated into English. The Lady Cartier in the title refers to the wife of Georges-Etienne Cartier, one of the Fathers of Confederation.
If not in translation, and you read French, I recommend it. A pleasant way to learn some history. I dreaded Canadian History, having to learn about Family Compacts, which to this day I don't know what they were. Now a family like Cartier's I could understand ...
http://tinyurl.com/yljfsk
yeah, its too bad we demonize Bouchard because me thinks he's going to be a major, major headache for the seppies (he already is of course) and should be given some respect to air "not stupid" views. (He is, afterall, politically a conservative).
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