Rodney Weston Says That Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day Were Wrong

Rodney Opposes Stockwell Day's Plan:

On August 3, 2000; James Brooke wrote in the New York Times under the heading: Rightist Shocks Canadians By Flirting With Separatists:

With newspapers reporting ''informal negotiations'' between his party, the Canadian Alliance, and the Bloc Quebecois, whose stated goal is to make Quebec an independent nation, Mr. Day refused to rule out teaming up with the Bloc in a coalition after general elections, expected next spring, in order to dislodge the governing Liberals.

''An unholy alliance with people who don't believe in the country,'' fumed Allan Rock, Canada's health minister, and an aspirant for leadership one day of the Liberals ... Stephane Dion, the leader of the Liberal government's unity drive, said, ''It's playing with Canada, and you don't play with your country.''

At the time, Conrad Black, the man behind Stockwell Day's success, was livid:

In an interview on Tuesday [with the NYT], Conrad Black, chairman of The National Post, said the strategy would not work. ''It makes it too easy for the Liberals to represent him as a separatist fellow traveler, ambiguous about the future of the country.''

In Trevor W. Harrison's book; Requiem for a lightweight: Stockwell Day and the Image of Politics, he discusses the controversy.

"Day repeatedly journeyed to Quebec ... During August and September, Day stepped up these efforts, going even further to suggest the Alliance party welcome Quebec separatists and might even consider forming a national coalition government with the Bloc Quebecois .... But Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said he wanted nothing to do with Day whose values (re: gay rights, abortion, youth justice) Duceppe described as "inspired by the United States..."

(Mr. Harrison lists as sources two newspaper articles: "The Report, August 28, 2000" and "Bloc leader denounces Day's ideas" Edmonton Journal August 14, 2000.)

During all the uproar on the Hill over the legitimate 2008 coalition, Daniel LeBlanc unearthed documents that gave proof of the Day/Separatist coalition attempt:

The separatist Bloc Québécois was part of secret plotting in 2000 to join a formal coalition with the two parties that now make up Stephen Harper's government, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail. The scheme, designed to propel current Conservative minister Stockwell Day to power, undermines the Harper government's line this week that it would never sign a deal like the current one between the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Bloc.

When confronted with this in the House of Commons (Mr. Duceppe even had the lawyer's letter), Stocky denied it of course, suggesting that it would be against his DNA to make a deal with separatists. The DNA part is right, because Day's father was very anti-Francophone. In several letters to close personal friend Doug Christie, he confirms his contempt.

And talk about separatists. Doug Christie has been trying to use his separatist party, the Western Block, to push for the Western provinces to leave Confederation. It used to be called the Western Concept Party and Stocky's father, Stock Sr., once ran as a candidate for the WCP. DNA indeed.

And remember, Jason Kenney was Stockwell Day's right hand flunkie at the time, so he would have been part of this.

Rodney Opposes Stephen Harper's Plan:

On December 11, 2009, in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, former Harper insider Tom Flanagan discussed coalitions with Frances Russell:

The author of Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power, managed the Conservative 2004 and 2006 election campaigns. But he insisted he "wasn't a part" of a coalition proposal made by then Official Opposition leader Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe in September 2004 that would have included the Bloc as a full partner.

Harper and the other two party leaders drafted a letter to the Governor General pointing out they had a majority and stating "this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options" before dissolving parliament.

'That would have included the Bloc as a full partner'. Not just to support confidence motions, as the 2008 coalition would have done.

Of course, Stephen Harper has never really been a federalist and in a speech he made to the National Citizens Coalition, when he was the Reform Party MP for Calgary West, reveals that he would much rather see a loose federal government, than a united Canada.

“Whether Canada ends up as one national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion.”

And let's not forget his Belgian model speech during the 2004 election campaign, that made reporters think he was nuts. He wanted to divide Canada up by ethnicity.

Stephen Harper would continue to push the coalition idea, while opposition leader against Paul Martin, prompting Martin to accuse him of being in bed with separatists.

Rodney Weston: Short Memory or no History Buff?

Everything I've read about this St. John MP clearly shows that he is not really a politician, so much as a trained seal for Harper and his minions. The Reform leadership says "bark Rodney", and he stands up, claps his little hands together and immediately bellows; : "arph, arph, arph"

Kady O'Malley was live blogging the comedy of errors announcement in St. John's last fall, and had this to say:

Okay, this is weird: the PM just wrapped up his speech, and handed the floor over to Rodney Weston, the rookie Conservative MP who beat out Paul Zed by a mere sliver of vote share last time around, and who is now delivering a vaguely embarrassing paeon to the prime minister’s brilliant leadership. That was — sort of painful to watch, although he really seemed to mean it.

And in the House of Commons when the opposition was trying to get answers about the Afghan Detainee issue and the walking caricature John Baird was up, our Rodney decided it was time for a little grade school skit:

“Why will the government not just simply support a public inquiry,” Mr. Layton asked. “There is a vote today on this. Is the government going to vote against making the truth... [at this point he was cut off].”

Mr. Baird did not answer his question. And while he was under fire from the opposition, the government attack dog had an easy time answering a lob ball from his colleague, Rodney Weston. The Saint John MP noted that today is the first anniversary of the “reckless coalition” that tried to “overturn” the election results from just two months before.

“Could the Minister of Transport … please remind the House of all the measures that we have introduced to help Canadians?” Mr. Baird had no trouble with that one: “When Canadians saw the leader of the Liberal Party sign a pledge, a letter to the Governor-General supporting a coalition, they went to the streets and protested.

“Thank goodness that did not happen. We have Canada’s economic action plan,” he said. As Mr. Baird answered the question, former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, the would-be head of that coalition, listened with his head in hand before giving a dismissive wave and a mock “blah, blah, blah.”

Of course the marches were organized by the Conservative Party and the so-called Action Plan is proving to be nothing more than a publicity stunt. But thanks for playing Rod.

Obviously, since the 2008 coalition attempt had the least involvement with the Bloc, Weston must find Stockwell Day's 2000 agreement, and Stephen Harper's 2004 agreement, extremely reckless.

But if that's the case, why is he protesting in St. John?

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA? IS RODNEY WESTON REALLY THE BEST CHOICE FOR ST. JOHN?