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Hannah Thibedeau's report gladdened my heart this morning as she detailed the events behind federal Conservative M.P. Brent Rathgeber's decision to leave the Harper caucus over changes to his private member's bill that would have required the public disclosure of all the expenses and salaries of highly paid public service workers. This, coupled with recent Conservative backbencher discontent over their muzzling, gives at least some faint hope for a brighter future on the Canadian political landscape.

This comes on the heels of a damning indictment from the right-wing Canadian Taxpayers Federation prompted by Harper's failure to meet its expectations of fiscal ruthlessness, as reported in today's Star by Thomas Walkon.

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Stephen Harper's most loyal supporters are deserting him. Tom Walkom writes in The Toronto Star:

The latest stress point is a damning critique of Harper’s economic policy by the head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a right-of-centre organization that is usually friendly to, if not always onside with, the federal Conservative government.
Entitled “Judging Harper by his own fiscal standards,” the essay by Gregory Thomas, federal director of the low-tax advocacy group, appeared in this week’s Globe and Mail.
It clinically but ruthlessly takes apart Harper’s economic record.
It's a record that leaves Harper's base increasingly furious:

The federal budget? Still not balanced. The federal debt? Up by almost one-third since Harper took office. The tax system? More complicated than ever.
Unemployment is higher since Harper took office, Thomas writes. But more to the point, he says, fundamental reforms promised by the Conservative leader have failed to materialize.
Harper pledged to end subsidies for business. The subsidies have grown. He challenged the equalization system that sends money from Alberta to poorer provinces like Quebec. The system continues.
It's no secret that progressives loathe Harper. But, when the people who enabled you start to grumble loudly, you'd better watch your back. Peter Penashue is gone. Shelley Glover and James Bezan are up for suspension for also exceeding campaign spending limits. And this morning comes word that Brent Rathgeber has resigned from the Conservative caucus.  The Harper majority is slowly disappearing. And, of course, there is the Wright-Duffy debacle.

Never one to endure political defeat, I wouldn't be surprised if the prime minister is considering other career options.

Welcome Con MPs Devinder Shory, James Bezan, and Shelly Glover to the growing family scandal of Steve's Parade of Perps with Perks.  

Devinder Shory, Calgary Northeast, accused of providing legal work that supported allegedly fraudulent mortgages in at least five straw-buyer cases of more than $3.7 million:
Promised a payment of up to $8,000, hundreds of straw buyers, mostly new immigrants, allowed their names to be used to obtain falsely inflated mortgages on over 200 properties. When the straw buyers could not pay up, the bank would foreclose and the "masterminds" would walk away, wiring proceeds from the alleged fraud to Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. [T]he Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association (ALIA) has agreed to pay $9.2 million to BMO to settle the case on behalf of all 17 lawyers named in the suit."Two years after the election, Elections Canada is still waiting for campaign expenses compliance from Con MPs James Bezan and law 'n order gal Shelly Glover regarding documents that put them over the top of their allowed amounts ... just like veteran Perp with Perks Peter Penashue in Labrador. Both Glover and Bezan have filed court applications to prevent their being barred from the House by EC's Marc Mayrand while Con Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton wrangles their cases.

Running out of room and the month is yet young ... I'm going to have to start setting out benches at the back for the next batch to stand on.
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Oh no. Poor Stephen Harper. He just can't get a break from that horrible senate scandal. 

As if having the hand of Pamela Wallin coming at him in his dreams, making it look like a sex scandal, wasn't bad enough eh? 


Today he had to admit that when he personally examined Pammy's expenses and declared them "satisfactory."

He might have spoken too soon. 
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