Wretched sitting already being washed away
By way of divine intervention, Stephen Harper caught a big break when the floods in southern Alberta forced the Conservatives to postpone their policy convention that was supposed to be held in Calgary the weekend before last.
The postponement of the convention for at least 90 days allows Harper to push the re-set button over the summer, without first having to appear in front of his own supporters and explain himself over the ethical screw-ups of the last few months.
There’s no way of knowing what he would have said in his convention keynote. It’s clear what he should have said — the buck stops here. A Harry Truman moment. Even in the Conservative party, no one wants to hear how disappointed he is in other people, most of whom he himself appointed. Any prime minister should take responsibility for what goes on in his own government, particularly in his own office.
It’s not for nothing that Harper’s signature piece of legislation is the Federal Accountability Act of 2006. Transparency and accountability are core attributes of the Conservative brand, and Harper’s own. The Tories and the prime minister have taken a hit on that in the Senate shenanigans of the last several months.
Leaving behind the most wretched parliamentary sitting in memory, Harper also stands to benefit from the government springing into action to assist flood victims from Calgary to High River, from deploying troops to cutting red tape on financial aid. This is what government is supposed to do at a time like this, and the feds, along with provincial and municipal authorities, have responded in a timely and efficient manner.
As for the brave and intrepid response of Albertans, it’s clear that Mother Nature picked on the wrong people. As Harper put it in his Canada Day speech on Parliament Hill, Albertans have shown “resilience and heart.” Exactly right. The Stampede goes on, “hell or high water.”
The Alberta floods have also brought out the best in other Canadians, who have shown impressive solidarity and generosity. Harper again got it right on Parliament Hill when he spoke of Canada as “a land of hope in a sea of uncertainty.”
Every summer recess provides a respite, a cooling of parliamentary passions and posturing. And every crisis presents an opportunity for government to manage through it. This summer may provide Harper with both a seasonal and an exceptional opportunity to recover from a deep midterm slump, which is a curse of majority governments.
In his Parliament Hill speech, voters saw another side of Harper, someone who appeared caring as well as competent, someone with a sense of the country as opposed to someone just running it.
But in terms of taking care of business, it’s not unlike the off season in hockey, where management decides who to re-sign and who to release, while the players attend their barbecues and golf tournaments.
In this metaphor of the coming cabinet shuffle, Harper is management, and the Conservative caucus are the players. And just as general managers are limited by the salary cap, Harper is constrained by the usual considerations of regional, linguistic and gender balance.
Given the extent of the government’s troubles, this can’t be a minor shuffle, but needs to be a major one that will signal generational change and give the Conservative cabinet a new look.
The question is, who’s prepared to move on, and who’s ready to move up?
Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield has already asked to be relieved of his post because of his recent diagnosis with cancer. That opens up a New Brunswick cabinet seat that could be filled by someone like John Williamson or Rob Moore.
And the worst kept secret in Ottawa is that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews would like to be appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal. As a former justice minister at both the provincial and federal level, he’s more than qualified and Harper shouldn’t hesitate to appoint him despite having said in the past that he wouldn’t name someone from the House directly to the bench. Get over it. And that would open a second Manitoba cabinet seat, perhaps for Candice Bergen, who has paid her dues on the backbench since 2008.
While this government is beginning to show its age on the front bench, it’s quite deep in talent from the next generation along the third row, including the likes of Chris Alexander, Michelle Rempel and Kellie Leitch. Not to mention House Finance Committee chair James Rajotte, who could finally get his chance from Alberta after the surprising announcement by the universally well-liked junior finance minister Ted Menzies, that he won’t be running again.
Harper had asked anyone who didn’t want to run again in 2015 to say so before the shuffle and Menzies, ever the team player, stepped up. Anyone else? It would make the cabinet shuffle much easier for Harper if he didn’t have to throw anyone under the bus.