The quote of the day is definitely from Stephen Harper about Bruce Carson’s fraud convictions: “I did not know about these revelations that we’re finding out today. I don’t know why I did not know.”
Anyone who doubts Carson’s importance in Harper’s team should definitely read Lawrence Martin’s “Harperland”. He’s all over the book.
In this light, I think Harper’s quote about Brian Mulroney might be of interest (pg. 73 of Harperland):
The quote of the day is definitely from Stephen Harper about Bruce Carson’s fraud convictions: “I did not know about these revelations that we’re finding out today. I don’t know why I did not know.”
Anyone who doubts Carson’s importance in Harper’s team should definitely read Lawrence Martin’s “Harperland”. He’s all over the book.
In this light, I think Harper’s quote about Brian Mulroney might be of interest (pg. 73 of Harperland):
“In 1991, with Reform in the ascendancy, he said of Mulroney, ‘The man has a pettiness and a credibility problem that is so large that it’s tough for voters to support him even when he does things that may benefit their region or benefit them personally. He really is an anathema.'”
The Harper people back in November used a procedural trick in the Senate, waiting until enough Senators were absent, to kill the fairly weak climate bill that had been on the table. “Harperland” describes how the environment minister Harper appointed to take Canada out of Kyoto, Rona Ambrose, got in over her head – preventing an Environment Canada employee (Mark Tushingham) from reading from his novel and five months in facing a motion to be forced to resign (pg. 75). Harper loaned her some organizational muscle at that point, in the form of – wait for it – Bruce Carson!
“Bruce Carson, the snior policy adviser, was sitting around talking hockey with Harper in a suite at the Chateau Frontenac when the subject switched to the beleaguered environment minister. Noting that Ambrose was without a chief of staff, Carson suggested he spend his afternoons at her shop, helping to put together a green alternative. The PM gave the go-ahead, and Carson got to work with Ambrose on a plan while she tried to fight off the tree huggers.”
Next: Harperland on foreign policy (Lebanon 2006 and the Afghan detainees… also in the news today)
