Anger erupts over PMO’S ‘enemies’ list
Echoes of Watergate-era Nixon’s list
Comparisons with the Nixon administration and Watergate are being raised following revelations the Conservative government ordered “enemy” lists compiled in advance of this week’s cabinet shuffle.
The Prime Minister’s Office sent an email to Conservative ministerial aides on July 4 asking to develop lists of troublesome bureaucrats as well as “friend and enemy stakeholders” for incoming ministers and their staff.
The PMO has refused to comment on the controversy, which erupted after emails outlining the order were leaked to media outlets by an unidentified source on Monday, the same day as the federal cabinet shuffle.
Postmedia News has confirmed through several sources that the emails are authentic, although it was unclear whether the lists were actually created and distributed to new ministers after the shuffle.
The order was considered controversial from the beginning, one insider said, prompting an immediate pushback from some corners and contributing to the decision not to compile a list of “bureaucrats that can’t take no (or yes) for an answer.”
Some also reportedly questioned the wisdom of putting the order down in writing for fear it could be leaked and prompt the type of controversy that has, in fact, erupted.
Former environment minister Peter Kent, now a Conservative backbencher, told Postmedia News that he was not aware of any such request from the PMO.
He added it makes perfect sense for an incoming minister to be briefed on those organizations and interest groups he or she can expect to interact with on the new file.
But Kent said “friend and enemy” language is not only “juvenile,” but hearkens to former U.S. president Richard Nixon’s so-called “enemies list,” which was revealed during the Watergate scandal.
“That was the nomenclature used by Nixon,” he said. “His political horizon was divided very starkly into friends and enemies. The use of the word ‘ enemies list,’ for those of us of a certain generation, it evokes nothing less than thoughts of Nixon and Watergate.”
Independent MP Brent Rathgeber, who resigned from the Conservative caucus in June, described the existence of such lists as “inappropriate” and contributing to the “dysfunctional workplace” that Ottawa has become.
However, he said he was not surprised the order was issued, given the “very young, very hyper-partisan individuals” in the PMO “who see the world in black and white.”
“Just the language I think is very, very troubling,” Rathgeber said. “We can have respectful discussions and disagree with each other without resorting to name-calling or vilification by referring to somebody as an ‘enemy.’”
This isn’t the first time the conduct and competence of the staff in Harper’s office have been under the microscope since Nigel Wright resigned as the prime minister’s chief of staff in May for cutting a personal cheque to Sen. Mike Duffy.
They were also outed for trying to distribute documents to media in secret about paid speeches Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made before he was elected to Parliament, and reportedly deployed phoney protesters to disrupt a Trudeau news conference on Parliament Hill last month.
“Stop Mulcair” signs were also distributed to cabinet ministers in what some saw as an amateurish stunt designed to poke fun at NDP Leader Tom Mulcair after he failed to stop his vehicle for Parliament Hill security.
The Conservatives have also in the past made their refusal to engage with some groups and organizations, such as unions and civil society groups, a point of pride.
But observers and critics say the creation of “enemy” lists is more troubling, as it vilifies those whose opinions differ from the Tories, which they say contributes to the usversus-them attitude that has stymied dialogue and debate since the Conservatives took power.
“They don’t view us as citizens with strongly held opinions that come from places of principle,” said Council of Canadians executive director Garry Neil.
“They view us as eco-terrorists. They see us as standing with the child pornographers. I mean that’s the way they view politics.”