New government gets early voter thumbs up

New government gets early voter thumbs up - Yahoo! News Here’s a poll that has me scratching my head. Considering that the only thing the new government has done so far is pick it’s cabinet, and considering that by all accounts it has failed miserably at this, it is suprising that the public have given the Conservatives a 51% approval. I’m not sure how the Conservatives could have actually done a worse job up till now.

Let’s summerize their failings to date. First, the Conservatives campaigned on having an elected senate. Harper immediately went against this by appointed a new senator. To add insult to injury, Harper then appointed the new senator with a cabinet position. Yikes. Furthermore, the Conservatives campaigned on being ethical as compared to the Liberals. Again, Harper instantly went against this by offering an elected Liberal MP with a cabinet position if he crossed the floor to the Conservatives.

Compare this with Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro’s ruling dealing with the allegations that former health minister Ujjal Dosanjh urged then-Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal to cross the floor.

“If Mr. Dosanjh had offered a reward or inducement to Mr. Grewal for crossing the floor at this time, he would have been acting and/or attempting to act in such a way as to improperly further Mr. Grewal’s private interests. Either of these would amount to an extremely serious breach of the Members’ Code [of Conduct],” wrote Mr. Shapiro. As far as I can tell, this is exactly what Harper did in the case of Emerson.