Make no mistake, with the appointment this morning of Stephen Harper as chair of the governing board of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. we can forget about the notion the provincial pension management Crown corporation has an arm’s length relationship with the United Conservative Party Government.
Many Albertans may be reassured by Mr. Harper’s appointment. After all, he is Canada’s former prime minister and a respected figure in Alberta’s large Conservative political subculture.
But this would be a serious mistake.
Mr. Harper remains an active political figure and far-right ideological advocate in his roles as éminence grise of the Conservative Party of Canada and leader of the Munich-based neoliberal internationale, formally and tendentiously known as International Democrat Union.
Mr. Harper is the originator and first advocate, for heaven’s sake, of the dangerous idea that Alberta should pull out of the Canada Pension Plan and establish an Alberta pension to subsidize the rapidly sunsetting fossil fuel industry and make a tinpot gesture of sovereignty at the Liberals in Ottawa.
Ideologically or politically, there is no light between Mr. Harper and Premier Danielle Smith.
It can be safely assumed that this applies to Ms. Smith’s dream of taking over more than half of the Canada Pension Plan and having AIMCo manage the funds to support politically motivated investments.
So when Ms. Smith said in this morning’s news release – hardly necessary because BNN Bloomberg scooped the government on its own story on Nov. 12 – that “we’re incredibly fortunate that Mr. Harper has agreed to take on this leadership role with AIMCo,” the we in that sentence must be taken to mean the UCP, not the people of Alberta.
“His appointment, and that of the rest of the board, are a strong step forward in giving all Albertans confidence in the long-term sustainability and success of AIMCo,” she also said, which is only true insofar as anyone can be persuaded by the former PM’s celebrity that he is a good and steady hand on the tiller.
“I am confident that the former prime minister and his board colleagues will provide the necessary oversight and direction to AIMCo’s management to ensure AIMCo is strategically well-positioned for long-term success,” Finance Minister Nate Horner said in his canned quote.
Again, this is only likely to be true if you assume long-term success is defined as investing in a declining industry responsible for serious worldwide pollution, and perhaps in companies that develop technologies used in continuing crimes of war and occupation abroad. Of course, as chair of the board, Mr. Harper won’t be making AIMCo’s investments – but he will obviously be in a powerful position to influence just what investment decisions are made.
He may also be in a strong position to influence a future federal Conservative government led by one of his proteges to help Alberta pull out of the CPP against the interests of Canadians throughout the country.
For his part, Mr. Harper spoke the truth when he stated in his press release quote that “over several decades, Canadian pensions have earned a global reputation thanks to professional operations, upstanding ethics and prudent risk management.” The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is shining example of that well-deserved reputation.
However, if you believe Mr. Harper’s coda to that statement – “I have accepted the role of board chair because I want to see AIMCo further embody these values and to positively contribute to this culture” – you may be interested in investing in the High Level Bridge across the North Saskatchewan River.
Mr. Harper also noted he will be taking on the board role in a pro bono capacity. This is not much comfort, considering the things he has worked for throughout his career, and is bound to continue to support.
The news release also notes that three former members of the AIMCo board, which was dumped in its entirety by Mr. Horner on Nov. 7, have been returned to their previous roles. One of them, Jason Montemurro, was criticized at the time of his original appointment last spring for his lack of pension experience. However, he has been a regular donor to the UCP and has provided an enthusiastic public endorsement of UCP legislation.
The others are wealthy Calgary developer Navjeet “Bob” Singh Dhillon and James Keohane, president and CEO of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension from 2011 to 2020.
The release also said Treasury Board and Finance Deputy Minister Kate White will now also become a permanent AIMCo board member “and will not be compensated for this role.” A more accurate way to express the change might be that the DM has had the AIMCo board position added to her duties, for which she is amply compensated.
Reaction from the Opposition NDP was muted, focusing on Mr. Harper’s lack of experience in pension management – which is arguably not a necessity for a board chair.
But NDP Finance Critic Court Ellingson acknowledged that the real problem with the appointment is that despite his retirement from federal politics, the former PM remains a politician.
“Danielle Smith and the UCP are turning AIMCo into a political entity rather than preserving it as an arms-length organization, and the consequences of this will be significant,” Mr. Ellingson said. “This move sends a horrific message to Albertans and investors that even organizations with immense fiduciary responsibilities are not immune to political interference from the UCP.”
Moreover, when they see what was done to the previous board, he asked, “What top person in financial management is going to want to come to come and work for AIMCo now?”
In a letter to Premier Smith sent shortly before Mr. Harper’s appointment was announced, Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan and several public sector union leaders argued their members deserve representation on AIMCo’s board.
The letter also called for public sector pension plans to have the right to choose who manages their funds. “They should have the right to leave AIMCo and find other investment managers if they are not satisfied with AIMCo’s performance or the direction being set by its board or its management team. It’s time to stop holding Alberta workers and retirees hostage.”
NOTE: This post has been updated since it was published.
UCP calls Lethbridge-West by-election – right before Christmas
Also yesterday, the UCP set the date of the symbolically important Lethbridge-West by-election – right on the doorstep of Christmas.
Setting the by-election date for Dec. 18 makes no sense except as a vote-suppression measure, in particular in the hopes that NDP-leaning University of Lethbridge students will be home somewhere else for the holidays.
At the moment there are only two declared candidates, the NDP’s Rob Miyashiro, a former Lethbridge city councillor, and the UCP’s John Middleton-Hope, a sitting Lethbridge councillor.
Well between no doubt some political pressure and probably a great deal of flattery to stroke his ego, the UCP has managed entice the former PM into this position whose credibility the UCP has seriously damaged. I believe he will come to regret this.
I had thought Harper’s judgment was better than this, but like the current PM seems to be doing, Harper also stubbornly stayed around too long helping now secure a almost a decade in power for a party he supposedly despised. So maybe his judgment is not so great after all.
No doubt the UCP was desperate to find someone credible to fix the mess they created and I suppose they had few other choices as their usual go to person Preston Manning is now way past retirement age. But Harper will also only make it worse by turning what should be an independent body into a very high profile political one with his addition, so the scrutiny will remain on them and him.
I can’t imagine that the unions who were forced into this pension plan will be happy with this news. So I suspect when their contracts come up for bargaining, leaving this pension plan will now move up a lot on their list of demands. Also, if Alberta still intends to pursue replacing the CPP, Harper could end up in direct confrontation with the likely next PM, his fellow CPC member Poilievre. This sure would not be pretty for party unity.
Perhaps Harper was getting bored sitting at home consulting or he wanted a bit more money than his Federal pension provided, but he should know better than to get caught up in the whack a doodle politics of the UCP and Smith. His reputation as a former PM will be diminished as a result of this. Despite the pressure and flattery, he really should have just said no.
re: Unions leaving provincial pension plans
This brings up the mental image of our beloved government explaining why it is OK for Alberta to leave the CPP, but not OK for a union to leave the provincial pension plan.
Bob, you nailed it. The UCP hypocrisy knows no bounds.
People need to ask themselves: what will PP do with a majority? The power of a premier or PM with a majority is effectively unlimited, except by conventional constraints of being a functioning adult and decent human being: constraints upon which modern “Conservative” parties have pounced with the fury of a wild beast, and left bleeding in a ditch.
I don’t disagree with your comments. However, I will note that the government hasn’t said that AIMCo would be the potential investor for the APP funds.
Joe: Not in yesterday’s statements. However, it has been said in the past, although, with many comments to moderate and Google not working as well as it did once upon a time, I am not going to be able to prove it tonight. DJC
Two things strike me about this.
First, the board of AIMCo under Steve offers a very nice replacement for all those Senate sinecure appointments that ‘conservatives’ have missed since the reformed and effective Senate selection process the Liberals have put in place. A working and effective Senate will be one of their more enduring legacies if it can be protected from future Reform governments. But right now it leaves a lot of people like Kenney having to shill for law offices to make the ends meet (in the manner to which they have become accustomed).
And second, that Steve is doing this work pro bono, just from the goodness of his heart. (Yes, I know, sometimes these things just write themselves. When has he ever done anything he didn’t profit from?)
I am so looking forward to having an abandoned oil well named in my honour (and becoming my responsibility) by AIMCo as part of my investment into Alberta’s future. /s
“When has he ever done anything he didn’t profit from?” … and as far as “from the goodness of his heart”, whence did he get one?
Paul: I can one up you. I have part of an abandoned pipeline. The bitter part is neither of us had any choice in having the thing forced on us. 40 years later we have never received a dime of payment, and the excavation ruined the sub-soil drainage patterns on that quarter section. But we got off lucky compared to some of our neighbours.
Occasionally I read opinion pieces on the Journal or Herald if my therapist says I’m too happy. A Mr. Staples of the former organ wrote that Madam Première fired the AIMCO board because some felt that it was becoming TOO progressive, specifically in the DEI and ESG areas. He inferred that both initiatives were THE cause of increased staffing numbers and deficits. He then threw in a gratuitous racist comment about “foreigners” not speaking gud eengleesh. So, besides the obvious question about the Journal’s standards and independence, we are left with the concern that a few thousand Albertans will accept his delusions as gospel.
My favourite thing about that “column” is the odious tweet he linked by some pathetic nerd saying the AIMcO board should be staffed with “alphas”. Yeah that’s the average albertan, maga pilled Joe Rogan losers who think they’re “alphas”. Go away.
We really do live in the worst time-line.
“Sic semper tyrannis”
et
“Rosa fera delenda est”
Rosa ferra terra delenda est, no? DJC
Or if you will.. Ne nothi te deorsum! Let’s dance for the faces of madness! https://youtu.be/388xSovlKII?t=1
I can’t even. I have no words. Sickens and saddens me to the core. Harper. Holy s..t…I feel like giving up.
For his part, Mr. Harper spoke the truth when he stated in his press release quote that “over several decades, Canadian pensions have earned a global reputation thanks to professional operations, upstanding ethics and prudent risk management.”
And now we can expect a concerted effort by conservatives, high and low, to destroy that reputation.
Private consultations with the heroic conservative archetype Orban will be a high priority, no doubt, because the business of money making and money keeping is serious for all self enriching grifters and it must be conducted in an appropriate serious business like manner, “in which complex corrupt networks are professionally designed and managed by the very top of the political elite.”
Or, more bluntly, “If the Premier stacks the deck with UCP lackeys, who in turn advocate an Alberta-first investment mandate, the true purpose for last Thursday’s purge will be clear. The Premier is poised to raid the cookie jar. There’s a very real possibility the money funding retirement for thousands of Albertans will soon be invested in the United Conservative Party’s pet projects.”
https://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/2024/11/alberta-has-gotten-itself-in-real.html
As well, it would appear that, “Former PM is a partner at firm that includes some of the world’s top former intelligence executives”, makes bought and sold many times over Harper a “deep state” operative, on top of everything else.
If I were anybody with a connection present or possibly coming to the AIMCO orbit I would be altogether alarmed. The running of a pension fund is complex. Unskilled ill trained puffery experts will, no doubt lose substantial sums on ill considered ventures. God help Alberta.
Started researching the CPP today, for obvious reasons.
And first result is … I am not that worried anymore.
Why?
1. A province wanting to leave has to give 3 years notice.
Smith is up for election May of 27. Pretty good chance she would lose an election based on her hare brained APP.
Even if she weasels on the fixed date election law and pushes to May of 28, still can’t see the clown party government getting their feces compacted by May of 25, in time to meet 3 year notice before facing reelection.
2. Two years after giving notice, the exiting province MUST present a comprehensive provincial alternative.
The specific details of how detailed the alternative must be are not laid out in the CPP Act. That will highly probably mean a Supreme Court case, which would almost certainly result in the court giving the federal government a deadline to change the act. So the provincial election date comes into play again.
And here’s the real kicker, the point that tells me Smith hasn’t done her homework again (a la “oops, I actually can’t grant pardons”) – the CPP also has an amending formula.
2/3 of the provinces (ie 7), representing 2/3 of the population (ie 66%). For comparison, the constitutional amendment formula is 7 provinces and 50%.
Does anyone remember Meech Lake & Charlottetown? So now we have outright refusal by the rest of the country, taking 2 or 3 years to come in – which brings in provincial election date again.
3. At the clown party’s stage managed town halls on the APP, with hand picked participants, her own trained seal base told her to go pound sand.
She ignores that at her own peril. Of course, Ditzy Dani has established precedent of stupid political decisions, so her getting a Kenney railroading from her base in re the APP is possible.
So my conclusion: any serious move to an APP is going to founder on one or more of: provincial election dates, her own party, or a supreme court decision & outright refusal by the rest of Canada.
Gerald: Danielle Smith is a well known liar, and she lies frequently. She wasn’t forthright with the provincial pension plan in 2023, when Alberta had a provincial election, because she didn’t want to see her political history repeat itself. Twelve years ago, Danielle Smith was the leader of the Wildrose, and and she was touting the benefits of a provincial pension plan. Voters were not so kind to that idea, and her aspirations for becoming premier were dashed. Whatever aspirations she has, while she is the premier of Alberta, cannot be gotten without her being dishonest. Danielle Smith has delayed the next provincial election in Alberta with a wildfire excuse. She is absolutely hungry for power. The only way that the UCP will get defeated in the next provincial election is if more of the electorate smartens up and dumps them.
Given how close the last election really was – 5 clown party seats in Calgary were won by less than an aggregate of couple thousand votes. That’s how close the NDP came, even after her lies.
Personally, I think she is doomed to repeat her own history. Her past behaviors indicate she is mostly incapable of learning, as she is blinded by her rose colored ideological spectacles. She will try to ram through an APP. Her own base & the rest of the country will say “hells NO”.
Only thing I am unsure of is the timing & means of her expulsion from office. Early via insurrection by her own party (like Kenney’s fate) or late via repudiation in a general election (like after her floor crossing debacle)?
She has forgotten a basic political fact: screw with people’s pensions and they will punish you. Middle ager’s vote with their wallets. Seniors vote in general, and are more likely to be politically active & vocal.
Honestly this is my read of Trashcan Dani, but how long must we wait ?
Bend over Alberta here comes pro bono
Apologies Dave … it was just there.
Cheap at twice the price!
Excellent! Super Dave Osborne would approve.
The same ConServative who did not want Canadians to get their pension for another 2 years is in charge of Alberta pension. This is typical U Crazy P.
Didn’t I say right here that the UCP would call the Lethbridge-West byelection when students would be gone during December break? So predictable.
As for Mr. Harper:
https://breachmedia.ca/stephen-harper-awz-ventures-surveillance-tech-israel/
This appointment has had legitimate concerns raised about it, and rightfully so. It will be a pitiful thing when pensioners in Alberta can’t have a proper retirement. Given what Stephen Harper’s record was with the life savings on many Canadians, to the tune of $35 billion being instantly lost, and never to be recovered, I wouldn’t trust him, no matter what the role he has been given here. With the UCP, I can trust them as far as I can throw them. In that up and coming by-election, voters in that riding better send the UCP a message, by voting the NDP candidate in.
Harper and the other names, gee what could go wrong there. Now if this is the pension money of the provincial government workers one would think they would have a say in how it is managed. So what if the 4 stooges who don’t have the necessary experience, put the pension fund into a deficit? People retire and there isn’t any money in the fund to pay their pensions? Do they get to sue the provincial government or do they sue the people who administered the plan.
For a pension plan to work well the plan needs to have varied investments. Putting all the money into oil/gas companies, gee what could go wrong?
In B.C. we just got through a bit of a storm. One area received winds of 170ks an hr.
This summer B.C. and Alberta will most likely go through more forest fires and this pension plan wants to invest in oil/gas???
Perhaps Smith and co. are hoping once PP is elected he will hand over all the federal money they want, but PP may find that difficult to achieve. Who knows if PP will still be leading the Conservatives? There appears to be some “grumblings” amongst the rank and file MPs. Some may be less than happy with PP’s insisting on total control over what they say and its only the party line. Even a small revolt by Conservative M.P.s could be a problem. Perhaps that is why Harper is “back”. To replace PP if he is turfed by his party. What we see of PP on the news, doesn’t appear to be a pleasant person. If he speaks in that manner to M.P.s who knows what can happen. Perhaps Harper wants to be the Bank of Canada chair if PP were to be elected. My take on Harper has always been, not enough experience, too hide bound by his ideas. Any one stupid enough to pass 9 pieces of leg. he had been advised violated the Constitution isn’t the brightest person on the team. \
Now we get put up our feet and see what Smith does next. It would be ever so entertaining to have some one report back on the adventures of Ms. Smith goes to Washington.
FAFO with our CPP, Danielle. The protests will make the convey occupation of Ottawa look like a mean letter-writing campaign in comparison.
“Reaction from the Opposition NDP was muted…”
It’s time for the ANDP to go on a war footing. I’m afraid they’re going to have to take a page out of the Trump playbook and starting yelling simple, easily digestible and alarmist claims from the rooftops on an ongoing basis. The message should be that Albertans are about to lose their pensions (and other things) and they are going to live in tent cities like you see around town. We have to start being as outrageous as the opposition. And do what the Trumpists do…when they are accused of something terrible, don’t avoid it…lean into it. Start flooding the zone with sh*t. Sorry to say this, but these are the stakes nowadays and you don’t bring a stick to a swordfight (metaphorically speaking, of course).
The TBA cult and their ilk don’t care about prudent wealth management, they want their hands on other people’s money. They actually think they are entitled to our money. Let that sink in, voters.
Hair piece Harper, the mail room clerk turned PM and now mega millionaire, has become part of the UCP team forming the kakistocracy of Alberta. When their base of medieval peasants are fuelled by hate, there is no end or limit to the corruption or rot of this den of thieves. I think it’s time to fight fascist hate with visceral hate. Reason doesn’t work with these people.
What if workers whose pensions are managed by AIMCo had voted NDP instead of for the UCP? What if cops, firefighters/first responders, and healthcare workers (nurses, doctors, lab techs), and teachers decided to pay attention to how their pensions are mismanaged, and did something about it?
The working class has been completely brainwashed and is essentially incapable of recognizing their own interests. The ownership class figured out how to convince working people to vote contrary to their needs long ago. The manipulation was turned into an art in the UK when they convinced people to vote for Thatcher and later Blair, and it reached the level of the renaissance masters with Klin-ton and Obummer. It’s fairy tale time, where the economy can be shut down to save people from a respiratory lethal virus that kills almost exclusively nonogenarians in long-term care with diabetes and congestive heart failure while JP Morgan Chase and Citibank get bailed out again, but rolls merrily along with pyramid-scheme shampoo delivered by overnight air freight while we’re told that fossil fuels are going to kill our grand-children. Are you surprised that a system, in which people accept rule by a rent-seeking elite because it’s the best-of-all-possible, has resulted in this level of economic mayhem? Marx was just silly but Tony Robbins really had the answer, didn’t he?
There is no question in my mind as a former Royal Bank Manager that these Reformers are getting ready for Pierre Poilievre to become Prime Minister and they will destroy our Public Healthcare system and force an American Style system down our throats along with a privatization of our Education system and there are enough stupid Canadians who are dumb enough to let them do it. It’s what stupid Americans did isn’t it. The lunatics won the election and they will in Canada also. I have talked to enough senior Germans who told me that’s what to them in Germany with Hitler, he could do nothing wrong, they believed every lie he fed them, just like Putin is doing with the Russian people isn’t it? Canada will be next and we can’t stop it, they out number us 2 to 1 and we can’t afford to support anymore food banks for these idiots, can we?
I dunno Putin probably enjoys the highest approval ratings of any modern leader based on the fact that when he took over Russia was an economic basket case being led around by the nose by the world bank /IMF/USA & now they have the worlds most powerful military and the fourth largest economy, which continues to grow, as opposed to most western nations that are facing economic crisis’.
As far as “senior Germans” you would have to be quite old to talk to anyone that would have been a voter in 33-39, that was nearly ninety years ago now. And, to belabour the point? There was PLENTY of resistance to the Nazis within Germany proper? But German LIBERALS were instrumental in defeating the left (including murder of prominent leftists like Rosa Luxembourg) because Liberalism will always defend capital when the chips are down, and as we all know by now fascism is just the marriage of the state and capital (as defined by Mussolini).
By the by the Nazis also got a ton of support from German, american, and British business. It’s the main reason he was able to mount such an impressive campaign for election, flying all over the country (which hadn’t been done before) as well as an extensive propaganda campaign utilizing loudspeakers etc. who paid for that ? CAPITAL.
Who can say whether or not this presents lessons for us today, but history rhymes if it doesn’t repeat itself and I certainly see some parallels in the rise of the UCP. Foreign funding, positive foreign press (which is what I’m calling POSTMEDIA) co opted liberals, deep Corporate pockets throwing money behind them, anti immigrant and bigoted rhetoric, special penalties for protesters they don’t like…
Maybe it’s not that albertans are just dumb.
Progs and Kons are all reaping what they sowed when they gave in to magical thinking. Putin would have to get up very early in the morning to out-prevaricate his American and British tormentors. The fact that you equate the Russian president with Hitler or Drumpf is proof positive that you’ve swallowed some whoppers. But then again, you acknowledge working for the Royal Bank, an entity that literally established premises in Siberia as part of the failed Canadian effort to colonize part of Russia. We are in the hottest phase of the class war in ninety years and pretty nearly everyone fails to recognize that it’s being waged against them.
I’m a bit late adding this point, but CPP is facing some political pressures of its own that relate to the motivation behind the creation of an Alberta pension plan,
That is growing public discomfort with the reported $22 billion of CPP funds invested in fossil fuel production.
This is a situation all present and future CPP recipients should be grappling with. Don’t let the Alberta pension shenanigans divert us from this issue.
Conservatives seem so proud of this guy.
What did he really do other than muzzling journalists and scientists and his own MPs? After 9 years in power he still had not fixed the deficit and was basically kicked out because everyone was done with him.
After he left the government he became part of the famous Institute for non- liberal democracy and a great friend of Viktor Orban, who by the way no one can stand in Europe. So what is the hysteria about this man?
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
It appears that zombies actually exist.
For where the USA goes, there follows Alberta.
Until it does not work that is!
TB
The partisan neo-right is past the point of learning from its own mistakes. It always knew there wouldn’t ever be enough time to accomplish its ideal agenda. Smith’s UCP has about 31 months yet, but Harper’s CPC offers an illustration that trying to rush a scam often blows the schemer’s cover.
The CPC wasn’t troubled by the facts that it won power by partisan treachery and electoral default—‘the ends justify the means’ or ‘all’s fair in love and war’ or something like that must have been comforting rationale. But it entailed getting its agenda done before the window of opportunity closed—that is, before voters, the majority of whom did not vote CPC, twigged to the party’s treacherous mores, and before the Liberals’ demise proved much exaggerated by Harper who admitted he would be happiest if the “Natural Governing Party of Canada” was exterminated and the ‘art of the possible’ was thence conducted between two partisan extremes, left and right. Call it ‘artificial polarization’ or ‘in Harper’s dreams.’
The most outstanding evidence that the HarperCons suffered from hubris wasn’t their first (and, unbeknownst at the time, their last) majority, as much as they raucously celebrated it as vindication of their two, back-to-back minorities preceding it. No, that was the voters’ doing. But certainly that second minority made squeaking Harper’s centrepiece policy through that closing window much more urgent, and it was entirely Harper’s decision—IMHO misguided by hubris—to presumptuously ignore two monumental SCoC decisions by interpreting them to mean what he wanted instead of what they actually meant: Harper tried to float that “meaningful consultation,” outlined in the 2014 SCoC William (“Tsihlqot’in”) decision concerning disposition of natural resources on traditional indigenous territories without treaties, was legally satisfied by simply notifying several First Nations in BC that the Northern Gateway pipeline was coming through their respective territories—all of them with valid, outstanding sovereign claims (as per the 1997 SCoC “Delgamuukw” decision).
He was almost certainly apprised of the real rules but, as likely, thought he could fool Canadians into believing the matter was still in the realm of partisan politics—something citizens could still vote on. It was a ploy probably learned from BC premier Campbell’s odious 2002 “referendum” which ostensibly sought ‘democratic’ approval of his BC Liberals’ position in treaty negotiation, but only served to confirm that indigenous people were outnumbered 19-t0-1 by non-indigenous British Columbians; it was otherwise a gaggle of misleading questions which suggested, among other things, that the province could trump the “Indian Act” which is irrefutably federal jurisdiction, and could as well introduce treaty negotiation restrictions that had already been ruled unconstitutional by the SCoC. In 2008 Harper tried to deploy the tactic to mislead Canadians that the proposed coalition of Bloc Québécois, Liberal and NDP parties which aimed to topple his second minority was “unconstitutional” because Canadians hadn’t voted their approval—hoping, I guess, that Canadians didn’t know that we never vote to approve this or that part of the Constitution, just like we don’t vote approval of SCoC decisions.
No doubt Harper’s head got even fatter after he successfully bullied the Governor into proroguing the Commons, ultimately saving his government from that pending confidence vote (remind: a government bill had already been tabled) which his party’s minority would surely have lost. Never mind that the unprecedented and outrageous act nearly sparked a constitutional crisis that might have entangled the Queen herself.
But with Enbridge’s pipe-layers waiting impatiently at the BC-Alberta boundary, and with so-called “Numbered Treaties” to the east but no treaties to the west, the “Divide” turned out more “Continental” in legal size than the imaginary line that marks the mountainous height-of-land between the two provinces, Harper’s hubris made him rush to get the pipeline to coveted tidewater before the approaching 2015 federal election much too rash. As it was, the Liberals defeated the HarperCons and his rushed pipeline policy couldn’t withstand inevitable legal challenges which together shit-canned the whole project for short-cutting mandatory environmental assessments and failing to complete “meaningful consultation” with First Nations along the pipeline route, all requirements that might have been done properly had there been enough time.
Neo-right parties now in steep decline are experiencing rush-rash more than ever. Oh, yes, they can gin age-old prejudices—some among the basest humankind has ever invented—to squeak a few more wins, but then they have to get doubly busy trying to ram through an agenda which could only ever dupe voters if applied both stealthily and gradually enough, a luxury they can’t afford as electorates and citizenries everywhere are stressing under mounting challenges which need real political action, not ulteriorly motivated scams.
Now, will the real emperor Stephen Harper please stand up! Uh—on second thought, we can probably wait to see the emperor’s new clothes from a better, less memorable vantage.
Your Voice: Stephen Harper ‘glory days’ weren’t all that glorious (Sept. 26/24)
https://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Your_Voice/Your_Voice_Stephen_Harper_glory_days_weren_t_all_that_glorious/
Alan K. Spiller writes: “The lunatics won the election and they will in Canada also.”
I think the only way to stop Poilievre from becoming PM is for the leaders of the Liberal Party (whether it’s Trudeau or not) and the NDP leader (whether it’s Singh or not) to enter into an actual coalition agreement after the election to share power. Not a “supply-and-confidence agreement”. Big difference.
I recall several years ago an Ottawa political scientist (who was a regular guest on CTV’s Power Play) said that in the paliamentary system worldwide, a coalition government forces two parties to compromise, and passes legislation that the majority of its citizens support.
A quick check shows that Harps is a Board member of at least another half dozen corporations and organizations. So, before any UCP pre-teen pats themselves on the back for thinking we’re getting a good deal because he’s doing it for no cost, the naivete is overwhelming. His other appointments would likely have a significant performance bonus. Maybe the blue team doesn’t prioritize maximizing returns on our investments.
But as always, there is a silver lining. By turning the AIMCO position into a political one, we can all look forward to Rachel Notley or Joe Ceci as the next Board Chair.