The two faces of Stephen Harper - part B

Oh Steve, we wanted to believe you. You were going to be different - honest - transparent. But alas, you are in the end just another politician.

1) Government was going to be more open and honest. Accountability is a key word. Now the Conservatives are limiting access to Cabinet Ministers and making it harder for the press to report on what the government is doing. Don't worry says Mr Harper. We're honest and we'll tell you what we want to tell you. But you see Steve, we no longer trust you. We might not like the press any more than you do, but believe it or not we now trust them even more than we do you. Even CBC and the Toronto Star. That must hurt but its true.

2) Government was going to work differently. Lobbying by political assistants was simply not going to happen any more. Now two former Conservative assitants, whose bosses are now ministers, have started thier own lobbying firm and are signing up clients who are beating a path to thier door. But!, rationalizes Stevie Wonder (blind to the irony), they were not ministerial assistants and so this is cool. Deposed Liberals can't lobby but good hardworking formerly opposition honest assistants need to make a living and should be allowed to lobby thier now powerful former bosses. Yup, things are different now. The pigs at the trough are now Conservatives rather than Liberals. Apparently we misunderstood.

3) A Conservative MP recently proposed jailing journalists that reported inaccurately. I expect he had a fantasy of strapping certain editorial writers to the rack. He retracted (apparently that's one of the charges that Saddam is up on). Perhaps we should jail stupid and dishonest politicians?? That would take up a fair bit of the additional prison space that the Conservatives are planning to build.