Patronage: The Gift that Keeps On Giving

It's not as if the Cons' promise to adhere to the rules of the Accountability Act even prior to the acts implementation hadn't been ripped to shreds already. But PMS is apparently out to see just how much patronage he can get away with in the meantime, making over three dozen oversight-free appointments just before a new public appointments commission is due to arrive on the scene:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper slipped through a rash of Conservative patronage appointments after the pre-Christmas exodus from Parliament Hill...

NDP MP Pat Martin was furious about the rush of patronage appointments, noting Harper's new public appointments commission is to take effect on New Year's Day under the much-vaunted Public Accountability Act.

"This is really crass and insulting to the new process they promised to respect," said Martin. "The appointments commission was supposed to mark the end of patronage pork-barrelling."

Martin said Harper may have intentionally filled some of the postings before the deadline for the new appointments panel because "they may not have survived the scrutiny of an independent review."...

Though the round of more than 40 appointments included professional appointments and at least one prominent Liberal former MP Roy MacLaren as an internal trade panellist along with McDougall it was sprinkled liberally with Conservatives.

The article points out at least 8 new appointees with prominent Con ties - meaning that there's certainly a large element of Harper giving a massive holiday gift to well-connected Cons.

But even political affiliation is only a secondary issue compared to Harper's public display of contempt toward the oversight process which they used to claim was needed. And with the Cons going out of their way to sidestep the principles which led them to power, there's no reason for Canadians to trust that they'll follow through on any new set of promises going into another election.

(h/t to Walkswithcoffee.)