Laughable

Murray Mandryk comments on the bad joke that is the Harper government:

After a couple of days of dealing with communication officials in the Prime Minister's Office, I'm rediscovering the value of a good sense of humour in politics.

For instance, consider this knee-slapper Monday from one of Harper's communication officials to one of my colleagues on the purpose of Harper's visit: "What you see on (the Prime Minister's itinerary) advisory is what we want you to know. If we're not telling you, we don't want you to know."

Laugh? I thought I'd cry. Is it any wonder that Harper wants to escape those dour sourpusses in the Ottawa Press Gallery who obviously can't see the classic comedy of some communication peon in Harper's minority government pretending to be an ill-mannered and/or incompetent Albanian apparatchik? Fortunately we local, regional reporters get it.

But seriously, folks, the real reason why Harper is in Saskatchewan this week must be to reaffirm the federal Conservative 2005 election promise to remove non-renewable resources from the equalization formula.

What else could be the reason for his trip?

Sadly, PMS didn't see fit to switch to a message which would actually put a genuine smile on the faces of Saskatchewan's voters. Instead, he was back to his familiar content-free routine:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says provinces should stayed tuned for proposals on a wide range of federal-provincial matters, including equalization payments.

Speaking in Regina on Wednesday, the prime minister said there'll be ongoing discussions with the provinces over the next year.

"Our plan has been to put forward detailed proposals as we approach the next budget on equalization and a range of federal-provincial fiscal relations," Harper said. "All I can say is stay tuned and we will make proposals on a range of matters, not just equalization."

Critics have suggested the government hasn't moved quickly enough on equalization, but Harper suggested there will be action.

"We're certainly aware of the commitments we made in the 2006 election campaign and our government does pride itself on fulfilling its commitments."

Harper said equalization is a complex issue, but so are health, social policy and infrastructure, and he doesn't want to prejudice the final outcome by speaking too soon.

Now, there is a certain humour in the sheer vagueness and emptiness of Harper's comments as a whole - not to mention the laughably evasive statement about being "aware" of the commitments which Harper now refuses to commit to.

But Saskatchewanians can be forgiven for not wanting to be the butt of Harper's jokes any longer than they have to be. And it may not be long before some of Saskatchewan's Con MPs get rightly pulled from the stage as a result.

Update: Giant Political Mouse has more on why the province's MPs aren't laughing along with PMS.