Harper Index
BY Matthew Elliot
Photography by Chris Wattie
From covert cabinet meetings to environmental neglect, in the months since his election, Stephen Harper has been acting more like a commander-in-chief than head of a fragile minority government. Harper Index will watch the Tory regime as it strives to consolidate power. This is part one of what we can only hope will be a very short-lived series.
January 23, 2006: Stephen Harper’s Conservatives elected, forming a minority government with 36.3 percent of the popular vote.
February 6: Vancouver-Kingsway Liberal MP David Emerson crosses the floor to accept a cabinet posting in the new Tory government.
February 6: Unelected Montreal lawyer and businessman Michael Fortier named new public works minister.
February 14: Government cuts aid to Hamas-led Palestinian government.
February 27: Unelected new public works minister Michael Fortier appointed to the Senate.
March 7: Harper restricts access for parliamentary reporters; media members will be denied access to the area around the ministers’ meeting room in the Centre Block—they are told the measure is for their “safety.”
March 28: PM holds first unannounced cabinet meeting, defends the secrecy as a “constitutional thing.”
March 30: BC backbench MP Colin Mayes writes a letter to the editor claiming the public would get “accurate and true information if a few reporters were hauled away to jail,” which he retracts the following day.
April 7: The Globe and Mail reports the government’s intention to reduce programs that target global warming by 80 percent.
April 10: Harper, under pressure from the Opposition, holds a “take-note” session in the House on Canada’s role in Afghanistan, but chooses not to attend.
April 10: Government declares Tamil Tigers a terrorist organization.
April 13: Environment Minister Rona Ambrose prevents Environment Canada scientist Mark Tushingham from speaking publicly about his new book, Hotter Than Hell, a sci-fi novel that deals with climate change.
April 13: Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn quietly announces that 15 programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be “wound down.”
April 19: Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier is reported to have been asked to submit his speeches to the feds for approval in advance.
April 25: Ambrose says Canada will consider joining AP6 “anti-Kyoto” climate change pact, which supports voluntary standards for greenhouse gas emissions.
May 2: First Tory budget highlights include daycare agreements being officially replaced by $1,200 cash for kids; the repudiation of the $5-billion Kelowna Accord; and the richest Canadians get taxes cut, while the bottom earners see theirs raised.
May 15: Ambrose tells UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that Canada will not meet Kyoto targets.
May 24: Harper decides not to talk to the Parliamentary Press Gallery anymore, claiming members hold an “anti-Conservative” view.
June 2: PM announces his intention to re-open same-sex marriage debate with a free vote in the fall.
