So said Michael Wilson of Garth Turner. Mr. Wilson used to be Canada's finance minister, and was more recently the Canadian ambassador to Washington. Mr. Turner was a member of Parliament, Minister of Revenue at one time, and, so far as I know, the only M.P. to lose his job for writing a blog.
Mr. Turner got drummed out of the Conservative caucus for telling the truth, as he saw it, about his colleagues, particularly the mean and mean-spirited Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) under whom he served. He was regarded as something of a loose cannon, not a team player, dontcha know. That's not acceptable to the King of Control-Freakery.
Turner details his experiences with Mr. Harpoon and his colleagues in a new book called Sheeple: Caucus Confidential in Stephen Harper's Ottawa (Key Porter, 2009). It's shamelessly self-serving, but worth a quick read. Here's what Turner has to say about his former party and his former boss.
The mainstream, modern, and moderate Conservative party that many people voted for last time is anything but. In reality, its caucus room is permeated with a kind of old-time religious fervour completely at odds with contemporary Canada. Worse, true power is not even being exercised by the people you elect, but by unaccountable backroomers who have the ear of an iron-spined prime minister consumed with gaining more power in the next vote.
The people who populate Canada's [Conservative] Government promised one thing and have delivered another. They preached openness and have closed their ranks. They promised transparency yet operate in secret. They said they'd be accountable yet have no interest in listening. They said they'd be tolerant yet punish dissenters.
The prime minister is a man who knows what he wants and is working hard to achieve it. Self-motivated and self-sufficient, he does not ask for advice from those the voters sent to Ottawa, simply because it's not required. For him, democracy's only messy when it's uncontrolled.
This was written before Harper shut down Parliament for the second time in a year. Mr. Turner would no doubt say "I warned you!"
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