Tomorrow's Conservative Slogan Today

Join Stephen Harper's Conservatives - where failure has no consequences.

Deep thought

We'd sure hate to lose this kind of sober second thought.

The reviews are in

Stephen Maher:

The Conservatives, who are keen to promote any story that isn’t about how the economy is falling apart under their watch, seized on the fact that a Liberal senator had introduced this bill, and used it to savage Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. Mr. Ignatieff was quick to tell reporters he supports the seal hunt, but that didn’t stop the Tories from saying repeatedly that he doesn’t.

The Fisheries Department issued a news release Tuesday from recently appointed Newfoundland Tory Senator Fabian Manning: "Sealers need to know that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party want to ban the Canadian seal hunt," which is, I think, pretty much a lie.

And you know it's a bad day for the Cons when Tim Powers can't find a less damaging story to spin.

Not even close

Just so we're clear, the Cons are now admitting that both Gail Shea and Fabian Manning wrongfully used departmental resources for a false partisan attack. Which has three obvious effects:
(a) applying an illegitimate departmental imprimatur to a partisan political shot;
(b) reducing their cost of dispersing the attack due to the discounted rate given to the federal government; and
(c) forcing the public to pay for both the cost of the press release up front, and the staffing involved in carrying out the attack.

But having been called out on their wrongdoing, they're now claiming that they're entitled to do nothing more than partially make up for (c) by paying back the discounted distribution cost. And this while holding nobody - including the cabinet minister and the senator who put their names to the attacks - accountable for the action.

Needless to say, the opposition parties shouldn't stand for the Cons claiming the entitlement to use the federal government's resources as their own personal attack ad department - whether or not they grudgingly pay back part of the cost when caught red-handed. And it'll be essential to make sure that Shea and Manning actually face the music this time lest Harper decide he's best off pushing the limits even further in the future.