Brent RathgeberThe entire system of checks and balances inside the Ottawa Bubble completely broke down. It is possible that a culture of moral indifference and general incompetence exists inside Langevin Block. If so, that culture was nurtured under this Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is responsible constitutionally for the operation, ethical standards and general competence of his own office. He is the PM in PMO.Either the Prime Minister’s honesty or his competence as a manager of his own office is under siege. At this point, it is far from clear to me which scenario is worse.
Member of Parliament for Edmonton-St. Albert
Toronto Star
RON MACLEAN
Well Don, there's been a lot going on
DON CHERRY
Tell me about it
RON MACLEAN
..and it seems now for you and me, too.
DON CHERRY
Tell me about it.
RON MACLEAN
So before we get to the hectic action in the House of Commons and the Senate, let's talk about Rogers getting Hockey Night in Canada for the next decade..
DON CHERRY
Well HNIC is a great institution created by the CBC, and though I know there are business reasons for making a change, I just hope that all the collected experience of the last 60 years doesn't get lost in translation.
RON MACLEAN
I think a lot of us are hoping that. Is it sixty years?
DON CHERRY
Foster Hewitt ... 1953
RON MACLEAN
Coach's Corner doesn't go back that far, however.
DON CHERRY
Just seems like it.
RON MACLEAN
So here's the money question. How do you see the future of Coach's Corner?
DON CHERRY
We'll have to hang 'em up some time, but meanwhile I'm not worried. Now that I'm pretty much up to speed on Twitter and the other antisocial media..
RON MACLEAN
That's a joke, right?
DON CHERRY
...not really, no, but I see a real chance for us to go freelance, get ourselves a YouTube channel, and we could have Coach's Corner as often as we felt like it, see how many advertisers are interested. We could even do the Olympics.
RON MACLEAN
Wouldn't the Olympics have something to say about that?
DON CHERRY
They'd try, but I'd like to see what would happen. It'd be commentary on the Olympics, no different from any other sports journalism that doesn't pay the IOC. It's free speech.
RON MACLEAN
This is boggling. Grapes becoming a political activist.
DON CHERRY
All sorts of people have been outraged at my politics before, nothing new there.
RON MACLEAN
Well it's boggling me and my immediate plans for the future..
DON CHERRY
We'll talk...
RON MACLEAN
So now let's get to the House of Commons where all sorts of opposition questions are getting all sorts of answers, none of the answers having much to do with the questions.
DON CHERRY
Yeah, well we talked about this before. In the British House of Commons the Speaker can inject discipline into the debate and shut people up. Our current Speaker doesn't think he has this power, and certainly doesn't have it through the Standing Orders...
RON MACLEAN
As Bercow does.
DON CHERRY
Right. In a perfect world the Harpers of the world would have respect for the institution of parliamentary democracy, but in fact the Harpers of the world treat the House of Commons and the Senate as tools to be manipulated and avoided in their attempt to return to feudalism.
RON MACLEAN
Not respect.
DON CHERRY
Exactly, there's no respect. This is where The Code comes in.
RON MACLEAN
You're suggesting there should be party enforcers and front bench-clearing brawls?
DON CHERRY
Something's gotta happen. Like Bruce Anderson said on "At Issue", the message from the insiders in Harper's government is "We're perfect and you're scum." That's contempt, and if the Speaker can't or won't control the game somebody's gonna stand up to the abuse. The House of Commons has to do its job.
RON MACLEAN
A lot of people would say this government's strength is competence.
DON CHERRY
I keep hearing it, it's a joke.
RON MACLEAN
Really?
DON CHERRY
What has this government accomplished? I mean accomplished at all?
RON MACLEAN
There's abolishing the long-gun registry.
DON CHERRY
Right, and reducing the GST 1%..
RON MACLEAN
And then eliminating the required long form census..
DON CHERRY
You're getting my point. They've eliminated things that were useful, and reduced the GST in a politically attractive but realistically insane pretense of tax reduction. Then there's all the things they screwed up.
RON MACLEAN
Like?
DON CHERRY
Like... 1. Lecturing China on human rights and then discovering they had to suck up to China when it was a little late.
2. The F-35. Let's leave it at that.
3. The whole Afghan detainee mess in which Rob Nicholson obstructed justice to interfere with the Military Police Complaints Commission, among many of other examples of trying to operate in secret.
4. Taking bad care of Afghan vets while jumping on NATO bandwagons to bomb things.
5. Proroguing the House of Commons to avoid political responsibility.
6. Trashing the Palestinians and then being crushed in a bid to be elected to the Security Council.
7. Failure to see the pipeline disaster coming.
8. Politicizing the civil service.
9. Muzzling of scientists
10. Bundling together of unrelated legislation in an attempt to avoid reasonable debate.
11. Holding committee meetings in secret to avoid public accountability.
12. Non-cooperation with Parliamentary Budget Office that it created...
...want more?
RON MACLEAN
That'll do for now, but you think the way to deal with this is dropping gloves in the Commons?
DON CHERRY
Like I say, if the Speaker can't control the House, the House will have to control itself.
RON MACLEAN
Well, on that mind-bending image we'll have to say that's it for tonight on House of Commons Night in Canada.
DON CHERRY
Whaddya think of the YouTube idea?
RON MACLEAN
I'm liking it. It'll be the power of the Free Market. I can't see them doing Hockey Day in Canada without us.
DON CHERRY
Also, they won't have any fashion sense.
