If the Prime Minister is not in the daily question period, he has confidence and a comfort level if Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Heritage Minister James Moore or Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is there to cross swords with opposition leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.
But with the temperature turned up in Ottawa over the past two weeks, one of the horsemen has not saddled up.
In Harper’s absence from the daily question period since the Nigel Wright-Mike Duffy scandal erupted, Baird has been on his feet to parry opposition attacks 67 times over three days of Harper’s absence.
Moore has been up 64 times over three different days.
Kenney has been silent and that is more than an inside Ottawa curiosity.
With more open talk in Ottawa whether Harper will lead his party into one more election — talk that right now remains speculation — the performance of this trio in the Senate spending scandal bears scrutiny.
Baird is Harper’s top go-to guy. He enjoys the battle, he delivers the counterattack lines with aplomb and, most notably, he harbours no leadership ambitions.
Moore, the fluently bilingual British Columbian, has played his role as loyal combatant, to mixed results.
He is believed to harbour leadership aspirations and has done those aspirations no favour by doing Harper’s bidding on a scandal that has no upside for anyone playing defence.
But Kenney, on the short list of anyone’s potential leadership aspirants, has so far escaped with none of the Duffy-Wright gum stuck to his shoe.
He is also the most powerful of the trio, with deeper party roots and a better gauge of what the party faithful believes than any minister.
The immigration minister is a product of the old Reform base, is a former president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the only one of the three to represent an Alberta riding, where Conservative MPs are getting an earful from supporters who expected more accountability and vigilance over their tax money.
His spokesperson Ana Curic maintains Kenney has simply not been asked to take his turn in the pit, but he would agree if asked.
There has been no explanation, however, why Kenney has not been asked, other than Harper’s office saying the prime minister usually goes to Baird and Moore first because Kenney is often travelling.
Harper turns to the trio predominantly as his stand-in because of their loyalty, their tenacity and their quick wit, but there is one other crucial criterion.
He or she must be comfortable with the message.
One day this week, Kenney sat in the front bench, his eyes glued to his BlackBerry, refusing to stand or applaud the Baird counterattacks from his colleagues.
His staff say he is so busy, he often uses question period as a time to catch up on his work, so nothing should be read into that.
Tuesday, with his boss back in the House, he was as animated as any on the front bench, rising to his feet as Harper tried to blunt questions from Mulcair and Trudeau.
Any of the ministers can decline the request to stand in for the prime minister, but it is usually only declined if the minister is out of town.
Rare would be the minister who would refuse because of lack of comfort with the message.
But Kenney is a smart politician, a man who knows when to try to jump in front of a crowd, or when to run for cover.
The wheels are falling off the Conservative bus as it heads for the summer break.
The benefactor of the extraordinary Conservative turmoil of recent days is Mulcair, who has had arguably his best two weeks since becoming party leader in 2012.
He has more than a metaphorical spring in his step. He actually cut a bit of a dance step while meeting reporters in the Commons foyer Tuesday.
But Mulcair must enjoy it while he can.
He will get, at best, two more days to confront Harper. The prime minister will not be in the Commons Friday or Monday and next Tuesday he heads to Europe for the G8 summit.
Until the summer break, the best way for a powerful conservative to come out of this unscathed is to be outside the party.
The next best way is to keep his or her mouth shut. Kenney wasn’t available to talk about the Nigel Wright affair Tuesday, his office said.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Tim Harper
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