It's Broke? Fix It
So then, if we ascertained something of a certainty in the Guergis/Jaffer affair it is that the current guidelines with respect to lobbying are not quite up to par. With respect, more specifically, to former Members of Parliament making personal use of their former entitlements to insider knowledge held by few, thus representing a valuable marketing commodity. The government recognizes this is a matter that requires attention.
Treasury Board President, Stockwell Day has a solution. Registered lobbyists will be expected to disclose details of all communications with any MP or senator and in the process make it abundantly clear, as a legal obligation, what the objective of their lobbying is. That may not completely address that very singular situation of a Cabinet Minister misusing her public office to benefit her unprincipled, lobby-unregistered spouse, but it is a start.
What's this? The Leader of the Official Opposition, he who has been screeching bloody murder blaming the government for failure to detect one of its minister's malfunctioning office, holds to the notion that this is completely unnecessary...?! Oh. It might have the unintended effect of harming the entitlements of those in public office who might wish to take advantage of ....
There go the usual hysterical ravings: "They're the people accused of influence peddling. They're the people accused of lobbying. They're the people accused of breaking their own rules, of exploiting the holes in their own legislation", screeches Michael Ignatieff. Well, Mikey, no, not quite; they are the people accused ... by you, Sir. This tentative move with its potential to cure part of the ills is a response to your accusations, Sir.
You say you and your party are unwilling to "forget the politics here". Why Sir, these are your politics, this is your game, is it not? Most certainly it is. Memory faulting you? Any other physical symptoms of systemic collapse, Sir? Why, then, do you state that you "won't play that kind of game"? Which game do you prefer?
Oh right, the game of under-cutting the prime minister's sensitivity of inclusion, seeking input from his political adversaries with respect to a new Governor-General. That was interesting, root-tooting for Michaelle Jean's re-investment in the role. You're just full of good ideas, aren't you?
The latest, about government ensuring that high-speed Internet be available everywhere fell kinda flat, didn't it? But all ports will do in the storm you're fomenting, since the Afghan-prisoner event wasn't the perfect one you were hoping for.
It must have been a horrendous let-down to discover that not one of Mr. Jaffer's prospective projects succeeded in receiving federal funds. Damn! Sometimes prodigiously-hopeful efforts just don't bear the fruit they should.
And now look what you've done, old sod. If all MPs, senators and political staff are assigned as public office holders under the Lobbying Act, they'll have you to thank for that five-year hiatus after their term ends before they can begin lobbying; by then will their entree have become stale, do you think....?
Treasury Board President, Stockwell Day has a solution. Registered lobbyists will be expected to disclose details of all communications with any MP or senator and in the process make it abundantly clear, as a legal obligation, what the objective of their lobbying is. That may not completely address that very singular situation of a Cabinet Minister misusing her public office to benefit her unprincipled, lobby-unregistered spouse, but it is a start.
What's this? The Leader of the Official Opposition, he who has been screeching bloody murder blaming the government for failure to detect one of its minister's malfunctioning office, holds to the notion that this is completely unnecessary...?! Oh. It might have the unintended effect of harming the entitlements of those in public office who might wish to take advantage of ....
There go the usual hysterical ravings: "They're the people accused of influence peddling. They're the people accused of lobbying. They're the people accused of breaking their own rules, of exploiting the holes in their own legislation", screeches Michael Ignatieff. Well, Mikey, no, not quite; they are the people accused ... by you, Sir. This tentative move with its potential to cure part of the ills is a response to your accusations, Sir.
You say you and your party are unwilling to "forget the politics here". Why Sir, these are your politics, this is your game, is it not? Most certainly it is. Memory faulting you? Any other physical symptoms of systemic collapse, Sir? Why, then, do you state that you "won't play that kind of game"? Which game do you prefer?
Oh right, the game of under-cutting the prime minister's sensitivity of inclusion, seeking input from his political adversaries with respect to a new Governor-General. That was interesting, root-tooting for Michaelle Jean's re-investment in the role. You're just full of good ideas, aren't you?
The latest, about government ensuring that high-speed Internet be available everywhere fell kinda flat, didn't it? But all ports will do in the storm you're fomenting, since the Afghan-prisoner event wasn't the perfect one you were hoping for.
It must have been a horrendous let-down to discover that not one of Mr. Jaffer's prospective projects succeeded in receiving federal funds. Damn! Sometimes prodigiously-hopeful efforts just don't bear the fruit they should.
And now look what you've done, old sod. If all MPs, senators and political staff are assigned as public office holders under the Lobbying Act, they'll have you to thank for that five-year hiatus after their term ends before they can begin lobbying; by then will their entree have become stale, do you think....?
posted by Pieface | 7:12 PM
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