EM, I have been reading this exciting events unfolding. It is the end for Harper. I don't think there is anymore turning back. Now, this is democracy in fair play. Very interesting indeed, but soon we will be having a new government. It caught Harper off-guard and instantlt humbled him like a bulldog squeezed by the b..ls.
I am Peter-Rhaina Gwokto and I approve this message. _____ Remember: "Even a small dog can piss on a tall building" Jim Hightower http://lakitgum.wordpress.com <http://lakitgum.wordpress.com/> _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mulindwa Edward Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 5:43 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: [Ugnet] THE HUMBLING OF A PRIME MINISTER The humbling of a Prime Minister LAWRENCE MARTIN >From Monday's Globe and Mail December 1, 2008 at 12:11 AM EST Elizabeth May tells a story from the televised election debates. The rules stipulated that leaders were allowed to bring in blank paper for note-taking. I'm seated next to Stephen Harper, the Green Party Leader recalls, swearing she isn't imagining things, and I look down on his little table. His paper isn't blank. He's got all these notes, already prepared. It was like to hell with the rules. I do what I want. That was then. This is now. Now, a domineering Prime Minister known for running a minority like he has won a landslide is on bended knee, petitioning for survival. In a matter of days Mr. Harper has recanted on his plan to withdraw public funding for political parties, has disavowed his intent to eliminate the right of public servants to strike, has moved up the timing of his budget and moved back the timing of a confidence vote. The sight of him semi-prostrate before the likes of Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton is not something many would have believed. He hasn't done the full revocation yet. He hasn't come forward with a plan for major stimulus in the budget, as opposition parties demand. That could come later this week. But whatever the outcome of the current crisis, one thing is clear: This is a Prime Minister who is getting his comeuppance. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. He isn't dead, but he is mightily humbled. History won't forget these days.Many of us thought he might be changing his ways. I'd written countless columns about his autocratic tactics, but thought that with his election win in October we were seeing a new Stephen Harper, that he was more relaxed and secure. He made some impressive personnel changes and seemed to be displaying a little more bipartisanship. But his opting to play power-monger politics in the midst of a global economic crisis last week showed there was little change. It confirmed the worst suspicions. Having dug himself into this chasm, the Prime Minister is now making the right moves especially if he signals more economic stimulus in trying to dig himself out. He had little choice, given the scathing media reaction, to eat crow on his economic update. With his pullback, he now leaves the opposition parties with less ammunition. He makes it look like they are the ones who, with their continued coalition-plotting, are engaged in a power grab. The opposition will argue that the PM's intent was clear, that he doesn't deserve a second chance, that he cannot be trusted and that, indeed, he did have a hidden agenda, it being total political control via his party non-funding plan. Mr. Harper did not reveal the funding reform plan or some of the other measures in his election campaign or in his Throne Speech. They were inserted at the last minute in the update. He once denounced Joe Clark for losing his 1979 minority on the basis of a gasoline tax that the Tory leader had not campaigned on. You can be principled without being stupid, Mr. Harper said of Mr. Clark. But last week Mr. Harper proceeded to do a similar thing. The PM also told everyone he was familiar with the mistakes leaders made in the Great Depression of the 1930s belt-tightening instead of stimulus. Mysteriously he didn't heed it, at least not in his economic statement. If defeated on a non-confidence motion, he will hope the Governor-General allows him to fight an election. He might wish before seeing her to retract his attempt to pressure her. He said Friday that Mr. Dion does not have the right to take power without an election. This is blatantly wrong. The Opposition leader does, in fact, have the constitutional right in a minority government and the Governor-General has the authority to confer it. Up until now, the Prime Minister has been able to get away with his strong-arm tactics, his disavowing of his own election law being another recent example. But the economic update did much to expose the essence of him. My suspicion is that we don't know the half of what went on in his first term and that if there were more journalistic inquiry the extent of his attempts to put a stranglehold on the system would be found to be startling. Last week, a bureaucrat with close ties to the PMO, said Mr. Harper has told colleagues, When I'm hiring someone, I want to see fear in their eyes. It may be an apocryphal story, but like Ms. May's, it seems to fit the mould. In any case, the fear isn't in the eyes of others now. It's in his own. The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
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