Is John Baird, the government’s dean of damage control, the team’s most artful dodger, running out of tricks?
Is the Eddie Haskell (“Leave it to Beaver” fame) of Canadian politics losing his way?
“That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing, Mrs. Cleaver,” Eddie used to say. Just like J.B., he was an ingratiator non-pareil.
But for the Conservatives’ clown prince, it’s been a tough season. Last week it was revealed that Baird had urged HRSDC Minister Diane Finley to overrule her department officials to help secure a $1-million grant for a project run by Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn, who claims Baird is a “dear friend.” It was the type of thing the Tories used to go berserk over when they were up against the Chretien Liberals.
This week Baird, our foreign affairs minister, got in hot water from his own Conservative team. He botched an answer in the Commons on why the government killed the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. Baird said it was because the roundtable brought forward too many reports supporting a carbon tax. Baird, who appointed many members to the Roundtable, was saying in so many words that the Conservatives were only willing to hear what they wanted to hear. Environment Minister Peter Kent was called upon to straighten things out. Usually Baird serves as rescuer, not as the rescued.
Earlier it was revealed that Baird was involved in the $50-million G8 funding scam, as reported by the auditor general, that landed Tony Clement in the soup. Baird, at the time the minister for transport and infrastructure, admitted to authorizing the reallocation of the money — which critics labeled a political slush fund — under a different expenditure category in presenting it to Parliament. When questioned, Baird said he allowed the border fund to be used based on advice from department officials and that he stands by his decision.
“The Border Infrastructure Fund was topped up. Money that was designed for border infrastructure was not diverted from improvements to border security or mobility, it was merely a delivery mechanism.”
Baird is still a favourite of the prime minister’s. He has been called (by me) the Tory team’s most valuable player. He’s getting done what the PM wants him to do at foreign affairs and he is not about to have to run off and get new gold-embossed business cards printed — ones which are all in English and with the name of the place he works — the Lester Pearson building — deleted, Pearson having been a Liberal.
But his credibility has taken a hit and being such a key player for the Conservatives, it’s bad news for them.
Baird is one of the few Tories with a sense of humour. Humour goes a long way in politics and it has seen this minister through many landmines. His shtick in the Commons is to don his dancing slippers and launch into spirited diatribes of bluff, buffoonery and b.s. that serve to defuse whatever controversy he is handling.
Outside the chamber the defuser-in-chief follows it up by becoming the Haskell-like flatterer. He courts opposition critics with a friendly grin and cooperative spirit and they walk saying “Hey how I can I stay angry at this guy?”
Baird’s taken some criticism for Clementgate, for his fossil awards and communications lockdown at environment, for the little business card fiasco, for his absurd claims that the government is the most transparent of all time. Being the artful dodger, nothing’s really stuck. But at some point people might start thinking they’ve been taken for one too many rides by the song and dance man.
In his defence, it need be said that he has been loaded down with so many responsibilities by the PM that mistakes have been inevitable. When ministers get in trouble, the government often will not show enough integrity to have said ministers stand up and defend themselves. Harper tosses the responsibility over to Baird. He can’t be expected to pirouette to safety every time.
He’s a quick study, sometimes too quick and he operates for the most part — as seen with his take on the National Roundtable — in an ideological straitjacket.
In the complex portfolio of foreign affairs, an overabundance of certitude can be a dangerous thing. Baird went so far this week as to compare his principled style of leadership in foreign affairs with that of Mackenzie King. As Allan Levine shows in the most recent biography of King, the Liberal prime minister was more inclined toward the opposite. “Our attitude is not one of unconditional isolation,” King is quoted as saying in a typical observation, “nor is it one of unconditional surrender.”
In a recent speech, Joe Clark, who gained considerable respect as a foreign minister in the Mulroney era, issued a subtle warning against those who are too ready to court conflict. Praising the multiculturalism under past Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments, he said Canada’s skill at building partnerships and respect should be the distinguishing credential. Governments, he said, are paying more attention to threats than they are to solutions. Clark didn’t mention Baird but appeared to have him in mind.
It’s the type of criticism Baird blows away — so long as his act can last — with a huff and puff and an Eddie Haskell smile.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Lawrence Martin
Is the Eddie Haskell (“Leave it to Beaver” fame) of Canadian politics losing his way?
“That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing, Mrs. Cleaver,” Eddie used to say. Just like J.B., he was an ingratiator non-pareil.
But for the Conservatives’ clown prince, it’s been a tough season. Last week it was revealed that Baird had urged HRSDC Minister Diane Finley to overrule her department officials to help secure a $1-million grant for a project run by Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn, who claims Baird is a “dear friend.” It was the type of thing the Tories used to go berserk over when they were up against the Chretien Liberals.
This week Baird, our foreign affairs minister, got in hot water from his own Conservative team. He botched an answer in the Commons on why the government killed the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. Baird said it was because the roundtable brought forward too many reports supporting a carbon tax. Baird, who appointed many members to the Roundtable, was saying in so many words that the Conservatives were only willing to hear what they wanted to hear. Environment Minister Peter Kent was called upon to straighten things out. Usually Baird serves as rescuer, not as the rescued.
Earlier it was revealed that Baird was involved in the $50-million G8 funding scam, as reported by the auditor general, that landed Tony Clement in the soup. Baird, at the time the minister for transport and infrastructure, admitted to authorizing the reallocation of the money — which critics labeled a political slush fund — under a different expenditure category in presenting it to Parliament. When questioned, Baird said he allowed the border fund to be used based on advice from department officials and that he stands by his decision.
“The Border Infrastructure Fund was topped up. Money that was designed for border infrastructure was not diverted from improvements to border security or mobility, it was merely a delivery mechanism.”
Baird is still a favourite of the prime minister’s. He has been called (by me) the Tory team’s most valuable player. He’s getting done what the PM wants him to do at foreign affairs and he is not about to have to run off and get new gold-embossed business cards printed — ones which are all in English and with the name of the place he works — the Lester Pearson building — deleted, Pearson having been a Liberal.
But his credibility has taken a hit and being such a key player for the Conservatives, it’s bad news for them.
Baird is one of the few Tories with a sense of humour. Humour goes a long way in politics and it has seen this minister through many landmines. His shtick in the Commons is to don his dancing slippers and launch into spirited diatribes of bluff, buffoonery and b.s. that serve to defuse whatever controversy he is handling.
Outside the chamber the defuser-in-chief follows it up by becoming the Haskell-like flatterer. He courts opposition critics with a friendly grin and cooperative spirit and they walk saying “Hey how I can I stay angry at this guy?”
Baird’s taken some criticism for Clementgate, for his fossil awards and communications lockdown at environment, for the little business card fiasco, for his absurd claims that the government is the most transparent of all time. Being the artful dodger, nothing’s really stuck. But at some point people might start thinking they’ve been taken for one too many rides by the song and dance man.
In his defence, it need be said that he has been loaded down with so many responsibilities by the PM that mistakes have been inevitable. When ministers get in trouble, the government often will not show enough integrity to have said ministers stand up and defend themselves. Harper tosses the responsibility over to Baird. He can’t be expected to pirouette to safety every time.
He’s a quick study, sometimes too quick and he operates for the most part — as seen with his take on the National Roundtable — in an ideological straitjacket.
In the complex portfolio of foreign affairs, an overabundance of certitude can be a dangerous thing. Baird went so far this week as to compare his principled style of leadership in foreign affairs with that of Mackenzie King. As Allan Levine shows in the most recent biography of King, the Liberal prime minister was more inclined toward the opposite. “Our attitude is not one of unconditional isolation,” King is quoted as saying in a typical observation, “nor is it one of unconditional surrender.”
In a recent speech, Joe Clark, who gained considerable respect as a foreign minister in the Mulroney era, issued a subtle warning against those who are too ready to court conflict. Praising the multiculturalism under past Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments, he said Canada’s skill at building partnerships and respect should be the distinguishing credential. Governments, he said, are paying more attention to threats than they are to solutions. Clark didn’t mention Baird but appeared to have him in mind.
It’s the type of criticism Baird blows away — so long as his act can last — with a huff and puff and an Eddie Haskell smile.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Lawrence Martin
No comments:
Post a Comment