The Conservatives don't have a secret agenda - about 2 weeks later

On February 12, I blogged on how 10 working days after Tommy Flanagan, the Eminence Grease of the Conservative Party, had an editorial in the G&M outlining how they should use law and order legislation as confidence measures and "run them straight at the Liberals"; Van Loan announced outrageous proposals to spy on Canadians internet use.  Then it is all quiet on that front.

And then I find on the Conservative Television Network website that (my emphasis in bold):

The federal government is expected to unveil new legislation Thursday that will include an automatic first-degree murder charge for any gang-related killings, CTV News has learned.

...

Public Safety Minster Peter Van Loan, who has called the Lower Mainland "the gang capital of Canada," set the stage for the proposed legislation on Monday.

"The wave of gang killings in British Columbia right now is driven by criminal organizations that all function on the drug trade," he said.

"It is the drug trade that's at the core of that violence, that's making those communities unsafe and that's why we need to give police the tools they need in the form of mandatory prison sentences for drug crimes."

There you go, pete.  Scare the base and shake them up so the change falls out of their pockets.  If I am not mistaken, Thursday is February 26.  Two weeks (again 10 working days) after the internet snooping announcement. The Conservatives likely aren't overly serious about this.  Just as they are unlikely to risk inflaming the electorate over internet privacy issues.  They are, however, eager to rile up the ConZombies for fundraising purposes.  It will be interesting to see what happens on March 12.  The strict periodicity speaks to a lack of imagination but what else would we expect from this bunch?

At every step along the journey as the Reform Party morphed into the Alliance and finally deformed itself into the Conservative, every vestige of the grassroots movement that spawned it all has been abandoned except for the fundraising model.  The Conservative Party now serves as a shell to feed its own bureaucracy.  It is not about governing.  It is not about policy.  It exists to raise money to perpetuate the Party and provide salaries for the Ryan Sparrows of the world.  That Canada has to struggle through this crisis with a non-government in charge is a concomitant tragedy.

The matter of Flanagan's willingness to telegraph his moves speaks to arrogance, plain and simple.  The Harpovians are religious so they must know this one: Pride goeth before a fall.

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