I’d just like to start with a note to all readers that Canadians for Accountability now has a Twitter feed. You can find it at http://twitter.com/#!/C4A_NewsComment.
For today’s post, I’d like to comment briefly on a small story that ran last week. It seems that former Conservative minister Lawrence Cannon thinks that Quebec Premier Jean Charest is the best politician his generation. That’s an interesting statement not just because its such a huge and sweeping judgement, but because it says something about
a) how he measures quality, and
b) what he thinks about his former boss, Stephen Harper.
On the first count, Cannon is saying that success in winning elections is the only metric that matters. That might be fine to politicians, but I don’t think many Quebecers feel that way.
Charest has persistently refused to hold a public inquiry into what are very obvious links between construction companies (some controlled by criminal organizations) and government contracting. These connections are probably responsible for the abnormally high costs for infrastructure in the province, and can only be interpreted as corruption.
He cast more suspicion on himself by accepting for many years a second salary from the provincial Liberal Party. He only gave up that extra money (which could come from anywhere like, I don’t know, construction companies) when the public outcry became a liability.
So I don’t think Charest is the best politician of his generation, and I don’t have a high opinion of Cannon for thinking so either.
On the second count, well, I don’t really care much. He obviously doesn’t like Harper too much. But then, who does? He’s not exactly warm and fuzzy. That’s not an insult, either: Pierre Trudeau was cute and cuddly, and wasn’t a very good Prime Minister (in my Western opinion).
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Jean Charest best politician of his generation, Lawrence Cannon says
The Globe and Mail, August 13, 2011
Summary: Former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon says Mr. Charest is an exceptional man and probably the best politician of his generation.
Allison shaw
/ August 23, 2011Federalist Premier Jean Charest wants to see $40 billion dollars worth of FEDERAL real estate transferred to the Canada Lands Company. The Federalist premier is constantly travelling to the United States, Europe and Asia, to encourage the foreign takeover/exploitation of Northern Canada’s timber, mineral resources, water,