Funnel clouds

There's been plenty said already about the Cons' employee extortion plan. But it's worth remembering the context of the Cons' attempt to funnel staffers' salaries into party coffers.

First, the Cons have gone out of their way to emphasize their advantage over Canada's other political parties in cash on hand. Which signals that the push for staffer contributions can't even be mitigated by declaring them a genuine attempt to meet a need for the Cons themselves.

Second, it (as usual) seems fair to assume that the Cons are being at least somewhat more careful about public perceptions with a tenuous minority than they'd be if they ever managed to exercise majority power. As problematic as it already is for them to be seeking kickbacks from their senior staffers, the smaller extortion plan can only signal a larger Con intention to turn public servants into part of their fund-raising machine generally.

And that suspicion fits particularly well with the Cons' broken promises on public service accountability. Remember that the opposition parties rejected Gwyn Morgan as chair of the Cons' public appointments commission precisely because of his Con fund-raising connections. Now, all indications are that if they can't have one of their fund-raisers in charge, the Cons are unwilling to let any commission cut into their ability to make appointments on solely political grounds - which only increases the likelihood that party contributions will be seen as a job requirement.

Once again, the Cons are only offering the slightest hint at what might be in store if Deceivin' Stephen didn't face the risk of being brought down at any moment - or if the Cons ever had to pursue money from their staffers out of need rather than greed. But even that relatively small first step offers Canadians plenty of reason to want to remove the Cons from power.