On unnecessary secrets

Cowboys for Social Reponsibility discusses Harper's latest plan to avoid any press scrutiny of his Cabinet. But the most interesting aspect of the story may be in the source which made the information available online:

Regrettably, the story is not available online.

Fortunately, however, a Conservative MP's office (that of Garry Breitkreuz) routinely breaks copyright to provide full text articles to the public, anti-gun control, Canadian Firearms Digest.

It's hard to see any motivation for Breitkreuz to promulgate the story other than frustration at seeing Harper becoming far more secretive than his predecessor now that he holds power. And it wouldn't be surprising to see him frustrated, since Breitkreuz has been rather critical of government secrecy with respect to the gun registry, and introduced his own bill to try to ensure some oversight of matters which previously fell under Cabinet confidence. Indeed, it would be the height of hypocrisy for him to now try to promote Cabinet secrecy now that his party is in power. Which leads to the conclusion that Breitkreuz is not just unhappy with Harper, but sufficiently so to spread stories which will undermine Harper's public standing.

Now, if there's another explanation for Breitkreuz making the article public, I'm curious to hear it. But it appears to me that even the most die-hard Con can't believe that an attempt to silence Cabinet ministers represents something worth publicizing as a positive step...particularly from somebody who's rightfully criticized excessive secrecy in the past.

This story may thus be one more indication of a widening fissure between Harper and the Reformist elements which form a huge chunk of his core support. And if Harper is indeed losing the base (in large enough numbers to include sitting MPs) in his effort to keep on message, that could be a far larger story in the long run than a mere continuation of the policy of keeping his Cabinet quiet.