Harper Unloads the Best

MP Garth Turner was cut from the PC cabinet to-day. The ostensible reason is criticizing the PM and other members on his ‘blog’. It was also noised that he was responsible for publishing ‘classified’ materials. But overall nobody is really talking- except Turner, that is. Mr Harper is employing his ‘see no, hear no, speak no’ public image, again.

So it looks like he’s holding onto his ‘doofi’ and dumping , probably, the only sentient member of the Caucus - let alone the party. Flaherty and that guy from Ontario with the bad dentures were ‘doofi’ when they worked for Mr. Harris ‘common senseless revolution’ and would like to spread that joy to the whole country. In a nutshell most people see a refund of $350 in income taxes and an aggregate increase of $1000 in fees, rates and other forms of taxes. Look what they did with the sales tax - you pay 1% less for crap you buy and your income tax goes up. Who saved there ? The guys who buy or lease a new ‘Escalade’ every year through their ‘business’ ( the same guys who find a way to pay little, or no, income tax anyway). Who got boned ? Mostly those who have no interest in voting Conservative.

Turner has been around for a long time. For a Conservative, he’s refreshingly honest. He seems to be intelligent as well and isn’t particularly gripped by any political philosophy. Like most of the rest of us, there are some things he likes and that seem sensible - like income tax reform (long overdue). And there are some things that he believes to be stupid, or counterproductive like he gay marriage review, and he says so. He’s not the sort of guy to mince words so I’m sure Harper and Caucus got to hear about this stuff well before it showed up as a blog post. But Mr. H seems to be on a ‘mission from God’ and ain’t nobody going to argue with the Prophet.

I don’t agree with Garth on the marriage issue. I think a ‘free vote’ is next best to a plebiscite. Defining what marriage is, is far more important than any party plank. If there is one thing prime Minister Harper should pursue, it’s that. But Turner’s got more good ideas than bad ones, and that’s why it’s particularly bad that the party is dumping him.

The Greens are interested and Kyoto is one of Garth’s interests. Given the choice between another four years with Mr. Inscrutable and the fast-Eddie types he trusts so much, and the 'Whiz Kid of Harvard' as liberal leader, methinks meself to be turning Green - and it ain’t with envy. The Greens almost won, here, last time out!