Abortion and the death penalty.
Two hot button topics. Two topics Stephen Harper has tried scrupulously to avoid since becoming prime minister.
During the past few days, however, those two topics have burst to the fore as backbench Conservative MPs and senators have started to speak out in a way they haven’t for the past six years.
Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost, a social Conservative, publicly denounced the “ironclad” grip the Prime Minister’s Office has had on the right of MPs to speak their minds. Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth is freely talking about his initiative to review the definition of who is legally a human – a move some see as an attempt to re-open the debate on abortion.
Wednesday, Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu’s comments about capital punishment were reported internationally after he mused about giving murderers a length of rope in their cells and allowing them to decide what to do with it.
While Boisvenu, whose own daughter was murdered, later withdrew his suggestion that murderers commit suicide, his statement did not withdraw his comment that capital punishment should be an option for some killers like Clifford Olson who were beyond rehabilitation.
Harper has said there are times where he personally thinks capital punishment is appropriate but he has maintained his government will not revisit either abortion or capital punishment.
Nevertheless, the comments by members of Harper’s own caucus have some observers wondering. Some question whether Harper’s near total control of his caucus is slipping as backbenchers who have come to the realization they aren’t going to get into cabinet tire of issues they care about not being addressed. Others, point to the comments as proof the government has had a hidden social conservative agenda all along and is trying to reopen issues like abortion and capital punishment “through the back door.”
One veteran Conservative aide who traded anonymity for candour, said recent staff changes in the prime minister’s office may be contributing to MPs feeling freer to speak out.
In the past, the PMO had people like former communications directors Dimitri Soudas, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and Sandra Buckler, former chief of staff Ian Brodie, or issues management head Jenni Byrne who wouldn’t hesitate to “be a prick” and haul an MP on the carpet if they made any public comments that were offside with the government’s message of the day, he said.
“All the pricks are gone. … I suspect that is what is at the heart of this.”
With the departure of Soudas, nobody has stepped into the breach and is willing to “grab someone by the balls,” said the aide.
“Soudas is gone. As much as he could be a little martinet, he did the job. … He was up all hours of the night calling people and doing what had to be done to keep people from going off the reservation.”
Some opposition strategists question whether the sorties are an attempt to distract Canadians from other issues that could be more damaging to the government — for example, the prospect of future cuts to old age pensions or the government’s strategic and operating review.
Veteran Conservatives, however, warn against reading too much into the recent comments about abortion and the death penalty.
Tom Flanagan, a former top aide to Harper, said it is crucial to distinguish between what caucus members say and what the government does.
“Mr. Harper continues to stay away from these topics, but for 20 years has consistently defended the right of private members to speak out on issues,” he explained. “Maybe that means they won’t get into cabinet, but that’s the choice they make.”
Tim Powers, vice-president of Summa Strategies and a longtime Conservative strategist, said some MPs may feel freer to speak their minds now that the Conservatives have formed a majority government, but they don’t dictate the government’s policy.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it in terms of what will actually happen because the prime minister has been clear on the issues that those three … have raised — he’s not opening them, he’s not going to open them any time soon.”
Geoff Norquay, a principal with Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a former director of communications to Harper, bristles at the suggestion the comments by the MPs and Boisvenu mean abortion or capital punishment are back on the table.
“Nothing has changed and it means absolutely nothing. The abortion debate and the capital punishment debate in this country are over. We need to get over reading too much into the fact that elected representatives will continue to express their views on these issues.”
Original Article
Source: iPolitics
Author: Elizabeth Thompson
Two hot button topics. Two topics Stephen Harper has tried scrupulously to avoid since becoming prime minister.
During the past few days, however, those two topics have burst to the fore as backbench Conservative MPs and senators have started to speak out in a way they haven’t for the past six years.
Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost, a social Conservative, publicly denounced the “ironclad” grip the Prime Minister’s Office has had on the right of MPs to speak their minds. Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth is freely talking about his initiative to review the definition of who is legally a human – a move some see as an attempt to re-open the debate on abortion.
Wednesday, Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu’s comments about capital punishment were reported internationally after he mused about giving murderers a length of rope in their cells and allowing them to decide what to do with it.
While Boisvenu, whose own daughter was murdered, later withdrew his suggestion that murderers commit suicide, his statement did not withdraw his comment that capital punishment should be an option for some killers like Clifford Olson who were beyond rehabilitation.
Harper has said there are times where he personally thinks capital punishment is appropriate but he has maintained his government will not revisit either abortion or capital punishment.
Nevertheless, the comments by members of Harper’s own caucus have some observers wondering. Some question whether Harper’s near total control of his caucus is slipping as backbenchers who have come to the realization they aren’t going to get into cabinet tire of issues they care about not being addressed. Others, point to the comments as proof the government has had a hidden social conservative agenda all along and is trying to reopen issues like abortion and capital punishment “through the back door.”
One veteran Conservative aide who traded anonymity for candour, said recent staff changes in the prime minister’s office may be contributing to MPs feeling freer to speak out.
In the past, the PMO had people like former communications directors Dimitri Soudas, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and Sandra Buckler, former chief of staff Ian Brodie, or issues management head Jenni Byrne who wouldn’t hesitate to “be a prick” and haul an MP on the carpet if they made any public comments that were offside with the government’s message of the day, he said.
“All the pricks are gone. … I suspect that is what is at the heart of this.”
With the departure of Soudas, nobody has stepped into the breach and is willing to “grab someone by the balls,” said the aide.
“Soudas is gone. As much as he could be a little martinet, he did the job. … He was up all hours of the night calling people and doing what had to be done to keep people from going off the reservation.”
Some opposition strategists question whether the sorties are an attempt to distract Canadians from other issues that could be more damaging to the government — for example, the prospect of future cuts to old age pensions or the government’s strategic and operating review.
Veteran Conservatives, however, warn against reading too much into the recent comments about abortion and the death penalty.
Tom Flanagan, a former top aide to Harper, said it is crucial to distinguish between what caucus members say and what the government does.
“Mr. Harper continues to stay away from these topics, but for 20 years has consistently defended the right of private members to speak out on issues,” he explained. “Maybe that means they won’t get into cabinet, but that’s the choice they make.”
Tim Powers, vice-president of Summa Strategies and a longtime Conservative strategist, said some MPs may feel freer to speak their minds now that the Conservatives have formed a majority government, but they don’t dictate the government’s policy.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it in terms of what will actually happen because the prime minister has been clear on the issues that those three … have raised — he’s not opening them, he’s not going to open them any time soon.”
Geoff Norquay, a principal with Earnscliffe Strategy Group and a former director of communications to Harper, bristles at the suggestion the comments by the MPs and Boisvenu mean abortion or capital punishment are back on the table.
“Nothing has changed and it means absolutely nothing. The abortion debate and the capital punishment debate in this country are over. We need to get over reading too much into the fact that elected representatives will continue to express their views on these issues.”
Original Article
Source: iPolitics
Author: Elizabeth Thompson
No comments:
Post a Comment