Harper’s Blatant Erosion of Ethics
Dr.
Bikram Lamba
Just the other day, I woke up in cold sweat. In my dream I saw myself taking a walk and having reached the noble edifice 24 Sussex Drive, saw a strange note framed at the door:
“
Here lives our august leader,
Whose words no one relies on.
He
never says a foolish thing
And never does a wise one”
I shuddered at this adaptation of popular saying about King Charles II, but it was only a dream. I thought of him as the leader who came in a shining armor, clothed figuratively in pristine white spotless costume and thundered at the corrupt Liberals. He promised an era of unalloyed ethics and honesty. He promised an administration that would bring the kingdom of heaven on earth. And within hours of taking over, he came out in his true colors, the colors of being unethical, of being a self-server, with utter disregard for honesty and ethics. Ethics were, for him, a stepping-stone to attain power, and once he had power, he has cast the concept of honesty and ethics to the darkest dungeon. He is none other than our smiling evangelical Prime Minister Stephan Harper. Having harped on the notion of abiding by ethics; he found it better to not to practise the concept. Verily power does corrupt; and absolute power does so absolutely that he is set on road to perdition.
He reminds of the tin-pot despots who want committed judiciary; he wants committed ethics commissioner; whose concept of ethics matches that of Harper. Look at the details of the promises Stephen Harper broke on his first day as Prime Minister when he released his new Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders. The promises were all contained in the “Federal Accountability Act” section of the election platform of Conservative Party. And on February 6th when the new Cabinet was introduced PMO officials claimed that the changes made to the Code were among many measures the new Prime Minister had implemented immediately because they did not require legislation to be implemented. Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party pledged before and during the election campaign to close five loopholes in the Code. All five loopholes have been left open in the new Code.
The first promise Harper broke was the promise to apply the Code to all ministerial staff and unpaid ministerial advisers. In fact, changes made in this part of the Code increase the number of part-timers and unpaid advisers who would not be covered by most of the requirements in the Code.
The second broken promise was the failure to extend to five years the cooling-off period before Cabinet ministers, the ministerial staff, and senior public servants can become lobbyists after leaving office. In fact, unless Cabinet ministers put ministerial staff on a list, the staff person will be allowed, as they were already, to become a lobbyist one year after they leave their staff position.
The
Prime Minister’s Office was also dishonest about the failure to keep
this commitment in the February 6, 2006 news release it issued. The
“Backgrounder” of the release, under the heading “Reinforcing
Government Accountability”, made the false claim that the revisions to
the Code: “include a
five-year ban on former ministers, ministerial staff and senior public
servants from acting as lobbyists to the Government of Canada, a ban which
cannot be waived or reduced by the Ethics Commissioner.”
As the
weeks tick down toward the opening of Parliament, Stephen Harper continues
to cede ground to ethics. The latest addition is his confrontation with
the Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro’s investigation into
David Emerson’s ship-jump to the Tories just days after being re-elected
as a Liberal in his Vancouver riding.
I must congratulate the NDP MP Peter Julian, one of three MPs to
call for the investigation, for his warning that refusing to cooperate is
a “a bold slap in the face to Canadian voters” while Liberal MP Wayne
Easter took issue with Harper’s communications director’s assertion
that Shapiro is simply a “Liberal appointee.” A spokesman for Shapiro
said the ethics commissioner’s office has received no indication that
Harper would not cooperate.
An
the plot further thickens. Harper
is planning to dump Shapiro and has already approached possible
replacements including former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, who moved a motion
of non-confidence in Shapiro last spring.
Broadbent, who retired from politics to be with his ill
wife, said it was not the right time for him to take the job.
Any
attempt to oust Shapiro before his term expires in 2009 could prove
politically tricky for Harper. Shapiro was appointed as the first
independent ethics commissioner in 2004 after a series of criticisms were
levelled against the impartiality of the ethics counsellor, a position
appointed at the sole discretion of the prime minister (while Shapiro's
appointment was subject to scrutiny by a parliamentary committee).
Dictatorial attitude
The Ethical Commisssioner is naturally and justifiably revolted by the antics and unethical attititude of Harper. A defiant federal ethics commissioner has vowed to stay on the job, even as Stephen Harper admitted he tried to replace him immediately after he became prime minister. Bernard Shapiro's decision to investigate Harper's recruitment of former Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson has now escalated into a full-blown face-off between the ethics commissioner and the prime minister. Harper attempted to recast the confrontation as a constitutional issue rather than an ethical question during a news conference Tuesday. Harper said Shapiro has no authority to dictate his cabinet choices. "The power to make cabinet appointments is a power that resides in the office of the prime minister as the highest democratically elected official in the country," Harper said after a cabinet meeting.” This prime minister has no intention of ceding that jurisdiction in any way, shape or form to any government official.”
This is ridiculous and untenable. An Ethics Commissioner is not a government official in this strict sense. He is not accountable to the executive, as all government officials are. He is answerable only to the parliament that represents the whole nation.
The thinking of Harper is warped and egocentric. He is delusional about his being a permanent fixture. Such people who suffer from Peter pan complex gradually tend to be dictatorial, as Hitler was. They forget the power of people might suffer them for some time; but this is just a transient phase that might have marks of being permanent , but the reality is different. This is all the more in a society that is essentially honest and democratic, as Canada is. Harper would be committing political hara-kiri in case he goes ahead with his plan to axe the Ethical Commissioner, only because his honesty makes Harper uncomfortable. Let no one forget that Shapiro was appointed as the independent Ethics Commissioner in 2004, after a series were laid against the Ethics Counselor, who was always a Prime Minister appointee. The first independent Commissioner, appointed by and responsible to the parliament makes an honest effort to implement ethical concepts and faces the wrath of the Prime Minister. What a shame for the Prime Minister to scuttle the independence of the Ethics Commissioner, only because Harper himself is unethical.
Possibly our new Prime Minister is a reincarnation of Louis XIV who said: “ I am the State”. Mr. Harper, take care, the concept of papal infallibility does not extend to you, nor can you don the mantle of the medieval kings who proclaimed “ divine rights”. You are an elected prime Minister, and you were elected on a platform of maintaining ethical values. Adhere to them, or be prepared to be thrown on the dunghill of political oblivion.
Dr. Bikram Lamba is a management consultant, writer and a public speaker. He can be contacted at torconsult@rogers.com.
Ph. 905 8484205.
