More and more, people are seeing the bald mendacity of the Harper regime. Despite their claims of electoral probity and refusal to use U.S. firms in their campaigning, it turns out that 14 Conservative (will the claim be made that they were rogues?) did exactly that by signing on with Front Porch Strategies, a well-connected Republican company during last year’s election campaign; one of them was the offensively pugnacious Dean Del Maestro, who has done a fine acting job feigning indignation over what he calls Liberal and NDP smears in the House of Commons. Interestingly, but hardly surprisingly, one of the events orchestrated by the company for Del Maestro turned into a smear campaign against Michael Ignatief.
The Star also reports how the Conservatives use the resources of the powerful Conservative global organization, the International Democratic Union (IDU), a coalition of member parties including the U.S. Republicans, the Canadian and U.K. Conservative parties and, in the Australia, the centre-right Liberals.
Perhaps of even greater note is the fact that Senator Doug (in-and-out-Conservative crimes) Finley is a deputy chair at IDU.
What is that old saying? If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas. Clearly, corporate entities need to vet their clients more carefully.
This affair, besides the alarming nature of it all, is providing a fascinating and relieving look at how the Conservative political machine works. I had never heard of the International Democratic Union before. Is this the new normal in Canadian politics, that we must make our parties multinational and streamline our values? And being the governing party in Canada, is it not a conflict of interest for the Conservatives to be affiliated with IDU? The government is supposed to work for Canadians, not foreign demands. It's impossible to believe that Cons would have access to the resources of the IDU without fulfilling some commitments, the wishes of the Canadian people not withstanding.
ReplyDeleteTerry, I suspect that if we every get to the bottom of this cesspool, we will find that the Harper Conservatives have made all kinds of unholy alliances in their lust for power.
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