Jay Hill To Step Down

Statement here.

I must say, Hill always came across as quietly competent. I've been reading his column for years looking for instances of dumbness, but never found too many. You read him and you got the government line. Straight up.

Jay Hill: Prorogation Is NOT Vacation Cuz You Should See My Meeting Schedule

As Government House Leader, I will be working tirelessly with my Cabinet colleagues in preparation for the re-opening of Parliament. Cabinet and Treasury Board meetings are still being held on a regular basis.

So a job that could have been completed for January 25th gets stretched out over another two months. Parkinson's Law.

I will also be spending this time meeting with stakeholders and business representatives to discuss the priorities they envision for the months and years ahead.

Typical Corp-speak. Teamstorming to leverage the synchronicities, and all that.

Tory Leadership To Go On "Listening Tour"

From Government whip Jay Hill's column today:

Over the next several weeks, our Government will be undertaking a cross-country tour, meeting with Canadians as we enter Phase II of Canada’s Economic Action Plan and leading up to the Throne Speech on March 3rd and the federal Budget on March 4th.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and a number of my other Cabinet colleagues, including myself, will be meeting with and hearing from Canadian families, homeowners, workers, business-owners and industries across the country about how best to meet our economic goals.

Paul Wells wrote yesterday about the various means by which Harper's Tories intended to co-opt Liberal strategy, but he doesn't mention Iggy's much derided plan for a "listening tour", so I am thinking this has been cobbled together rather hastily to demonstrate that yes indeed the government is "working for Canadians". Consider this quote from the Tory website (dated January 02,2010), which contrasts Iggy's gallivanting with the steady, stay at home Harper and co.:

As Michael Ignatieff travels the country promising lavish new spending, the result such reckless policies would be higher taxes for everyone.

Our Conservative Government will remain committed to responsible economic leadership by continuing to carry out Canada’s Economic Action Plan. We will always work in the best interest of Canadians, their families and our economy.

But that was then and this is now, right?

Incidentally, last Kady night posted an interesting analysis of the recent EKO poll results. One bit stood out:

Regionally, Atlantic Canadians were more likely to characterize themselves as "strongly opposed" [to prorogation] than denizens of any other province...

Not surprising, when you think of it. This is a region of the country that has long been derided by Western Conservatives (including Mr. Harper himself in an earlier incarnation) for being lazy no-goods, and now you've got a gov. straight outta Calgary that's awarded itself a three month vacation. That's gotta grate. Bums from out West, anyone?

The Party Line In Its Purest Form

From Tory Whip Jay Hill: Power Hungry Iggy Threatens Economic Instability.

Bill C-31: "Streamlining" Police Intimidation

From government whip Jay Hill:

Last week, on behalf of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, I introduced Bill C-31. This legislation [...] proposes to streamline the identification process in police stations, allowing the fingerprinting and photographing of persons in “lawful” custody who have not yet been charged or convicted of specific offences.

Read that one again. You haven't been charged. Maybe you never are. Yet the police have your prints and mugshot.

The relevant text is here.

PS. This piece from the Niagara Falls Review claims that:

According to the Conservatives, the change would only apply to serious crimes like murder, kidnapping and sexual assault.

Well, specifically, they apply to any "indictable" offence. Not that it makes a difference.

More Pork

Jay Hill shovels Eastern $$$s out of the back of his pickup truck with a pitchfork! Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge, and The Village of Pouce Coupe win big!

Meanwhile, Andrew Coyne contemplates ending it all: "It wasn't supposed to be like this! We're supposed to be Conservatives, goddamn it!"

Reading Jay Hill

Tory Whip Jay Hill has always kept a tight hand his weekly column, to the point where almost nothing appears in it that is not 100% government line. So, presumably, the following is now part of the government line:

With the exception of the NDP, the opposition parties are cooperating with our Government to get the budget passed...

Given this, Mr. Hill's assessment is clearly false, so I wonder what is the point of singling out the NDP while giving the Bloc a pass? Another random Quebec friendly shift?

Jay Hill: Expect Cuts

In the meantime, Ministers and their departments and staff are already in the midst of intensive activity, review and analysis with the ongoing objective of enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and services. Canadians elected us with the expectation that we would look for savings wherever we can to ensure fiscal integrity in government through difficult economic times.

Not too surprising, I guess. But, given the new rhetoric of moderation out of Hill and the CPoC I don't expect these will be large enough to 1) stir up any more than modest outrage, or 2) do much good.

Yeah, But the CRA Never Kicked In My Door

Tory whip Jay Hill emits the government line in his column last Thursday:

I believe it rather timely today, the deadline for Canadians to file their income taxes, to demonstrate how the elections financing dispute between Elections Canada and the Conservative Party is just like a disagreement you may have with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

All the elements of the great conspiracy theory are in place: everything was legal, no documents were withheld, Elections Canada broke its own rules, and so forth.

What I wonder most about is this statement:

Elections Canada didn’t bother to notify any Conservative officials or their legal team that they wanted additional documents.

Surely EC must have detailed records of exactly what they requested when. If this is a lie, you would think that it is one easily uncovered.

Jay Hill, Then And Now

From today's Prince George Citizen:

Prince George-Peace River MP Jay Hill says he's surprised and disappointed at Stephane Dion's decision to not bring down the minority Conservative government over the throne speech.

"It's not a very principled reaction I would suggest," Hill said from Ottawa

Jay Hill's weekly column, Sept. 27th:

The underlying myth in this debate about whether there will be an election this fall is that the Conservative Government must attract the support of at least one of the opposition parties to survive. They’re wrong. There is another option.

Conservatives set an historical precedent when we abstained from voting on the Liberal’s 2005 budget, allowing Paul Martin’s minority government to survive. At that time, our leader Stephen Harper said there were many aspects of that budget we fundamentally couldn’t vote to support. Yet, we respected the will of Canadians which strongly indicated they didn’t want an election.

Mr. Dion, as leader of the Official Opposition, could take the same, responsible course of action now. Canada’s economy is performing very well. Unemployment is at its lowest in 32 years. Taxes are down. Consumer spending remains robust and Canada is regaining its good reputation on the international stage thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Harper.

You don't get a more pure form of contradiction than that.

A Tory Offers Some Advice

From his September 27th column, Tory whip Jay Hill offers the Libs some advice:

The underlying myth in this debate about whether there will be an election this fall is that the Conservative Government must attract the support of at least one of the opposition parties to survive. They’re wrong. There is another option.

Conservatives set an historical precedent when we abstained from voting on the Liberal’s 2005 budget, allowing Paul Martin’s minority government to survive. At that time, our leader Stephen Harper said there were many aspects of that budget we fundamentally couldn’t vote to support. Yet, we respected the will of Canadians which strongly indicated they didn’t want an election.

Mr. Dion, as leader of the Official Opposition, could take the same, responsible course of action now. Canada’s economy is performing very well. Unemployment is at its lowest in 32 years. Taxes are down. Consumer spending remains robust and Canada is regaining its good reputation on the international stage thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Harper.

Instructing his Liberal caucus to abstain from the vote on the Throne Speech is a lifeline that Mr. Dion may wish to grasp … and, more importantly, one that will save Canadians from an unwanted, unnecessary and expensive trip to the polls.

Interesting in that he got there a day ahead of this guy.

I am still torn on the notion of Dion's bringing down the government over October's throne speech, and the fact that the "enemy" is suggesting an abstention does not make this idea any more palatable. But, on the other hand:

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Liberal Party at the moment, I suspect the outcome of a Spring election will be another (probably Tory) minority. There is nothing in the polls that makes me think that the Libs have plunged in support among the general populace (outside of Quebec) to anywhere near the extent that the morale of their hard-core supporters has suffered. And there is nothing to suggest that the Tories have suddenly become more lovable. Furthermore, since last year's budget was as goody filled as a Spring budget will likely be, and it got them nowhere, there is no reason to think that a replay will give the Tories their "winning conditions".

There is also the fact that it will look as though the Liberals have dropped another election into a busy election season. It will not play well in Atlantic Canada if Dion forces Newfoundlanders to pay attention to two elections simultaneously and it won't play well in Ontario if we have to start thinking Federal election a week after the Ontario version has wrapped up. The accusation will be (as Hill points out) that the Liberal party is putting its own best interests ahead of the nations'. And in this case the claim will have more than a bit of truth to it.

Yes, an abstention will look bad and will attract negative media coverage...for a couple of days. But the situation right now is the political equivalent of trench warfare--it takes tons of effort to gain you an inch. My instinct at the moment is to duck and cover and wait for the latest bombardment to end, which it surely will.

Jay Hill Politicizes Disaster Response

From Prince George Peace River MP (and government whip) Jay's Hill's weekly column:

Think back to the devastating Tsunami in South Asia on Boxing Day 2004. Over 150,000 people were confirmed dead. Another 130,000 were missing and tens of thousands of survivors desperately needed food, medical attention and clean water.

Nations around the world rushed to send personnel, equipment and medical supplies. Canada’s own Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) didn’t arrive on the scene until nearly two weeks later. Why did a supposed “quick response” unit, established to deliver humanitarian assistance and clean water in domestic and international disasters, take so long to arrive? Well, DART had no means to get there.

[...]

Well no more. Last week, just eighteen months after taking office, our Conservative Government delivered on our promise to strengthen Canada’s independent capacity to control our own domestic and foreign policy and to defend our national sovereignty and security. The delivery came in the form of Canada’s first C-17 Globemaster III strategic lift aircraft.

Make no mistake; I am glad we're getting the new aircraft. However, Mr. Hill's characterization of DART as a "rapid response" unit is misleading in the extreme, as Tony Gilles of Lakehead University (an expert on earthquake engineering) wrote in 2004:

DART is not a rapid response emergency search and rescue team (although its engineering unit is certainly capable in this area) and, therefore, it is not the team to send into a disaster area in the hours immediately following such an event. Response in the first 24 hours is critical for rescue operations, and there are many international teams highly skilled in this task and equipped with trained dogs and specialised search devices... As a primary care medical unit, the DART team attends to illness, disease and obstetrics, and the demand for these treatments increases in the weeks after a disaster, whereas the trauma units are winding down their role at this time.

[...]

These same contributions can be expected in Sri Lanka. It has taken a week or more to understand the enormous scale of the disaster in Asia − recall in the first hours a loss of 12,000 lives was reported; now we are facing a loss which may exceed 200,000 − twice the population of Thunder Bay. DART requires a large physical area to establish its base, and its specialised engineering capacity ideally needs to be located near to a primary water treatment facility in order to establish a long-term water supply. It is, therefore, prudent to take time to assess the scope of the disaster and to select carefully the site for the team so that it can have the greatest impact in the longer term towards the recovery of the community.

These words, written in response to the potshots Mr. Hill's Tories were taking in 2004 with reference to DART and the perceived failings of the Liberal government, still ring true today:

It is an unfortunate fact that even in so huge a humanitarian crisis, some news media and politicians seize on the opportunity to politicise the national and international response. Surely partisan politics can be set aside in these circumstances and the focus turn to investigative journalism identifying the needs and the most efficient and effective response strategies? Had these politicians taken time to educate the public on the capacity and role of DART, the apparent delay in its deployment would be better understood by the public. Canadians should take great pride in the contribution that the DART team will make in the current crisis.

So Mr. Hill should can the crap.

(Note: I can no longer find the link to Mr. Gilles original article. Sorry.)

Conservative M.P. Jay Hill: Stephen Taylor Doesn't Exist, and I Am Not A Boob Man

It turns out that Peace River's Conservative M.P Jay Hill does a weekly blogpost on the website of 250 North. Not as transplendantly dorky as Stockwell, he still comes up with the occasional dubious claim. In last week's column, for example, he insisted that:

In Ottawa, it is a well-known fact that if there is NO juicy rumour by noon, someone is sure to start one. The next time you hear or read about some story attributed to a “Tory insider” or “Conservative strategist”, please remember there are no such positions!

Yeah sure, tell that to this guy.

Hill also insisted that Prince Harry had the right to nail as many Calgary barmaids as he pleased, and yet feigned disinterest in their bra sizes.


Averts Eyes in Presence of Boobies!!!