Mackay vs Casey
Act I: Where young Peter assails the virtue of the gentle fox in the first question period of the fall session of Parliament
Peter MacKay’s nasty verbal onslaught upon poor, old, excommunicated Nova Scotia M.P. Bill Casey in the House of Commons didn’t sit well with either old Tories or many Nova Scotians. The verbal volcanism, from a piqued Peter, occurred when old Bill asked a simple question about whether or not the “new” Atlantic Accord agreement, hammered out the other week and broadcast on national TV before a bemused and cherubic Premier Rodney MacDonald and a triumphant (dare I say Chamberlainesque?) Peter Mackay was going to be committed to paper, to a signed contract.
When Mackay deflected, Casey said that “this is a $25-billion contract and if that doesn’t qualify for a signed contract then I don’t know what does.”
Angrily, Mackay replied to the House: “I know he (Bill Casey) is very concerned about the details and also very concerned about his own personal situation. We just wish that he would work a little bit more productively in the interests of Nova Scotians and put his own personal crusade aside and accept what is good for this province.”
Nova Scotia Liberal MP Scott Brison echoed the view of many of my radio show callers when he countered that “It is Peter Mackay, not Bill Casey, who has put his personal interest ahead of Nova Scotia.”
What are the facts? Well, Peter has his job, his party, his portfolio, and his staff and Bill Casey has a sign hanging over his doorway and has to print his own business cards. Personal motivation is the last thing that motivated Bill Casey.
It is this element of mean-spiritedness with Stephen Harper squinting into the cameras like Clint Eastwood when discussing Bill Casey and Peter Mackay’s performance yesterday that seem odd, almost something beyond the Conservatives own self-restraint – that they cannot help themselves.
What Casey’s foes fail to realize is that the more they demonize him, act like jilted lovers, and look to destroy him and cast aspersions upon his straight-forward country logic and unassailable character, the greater is his standing and his cause – his David to the Tory Goliath.
As I have mentioned in a previous blog posting, trying to diminish Bill Casey is a zero-sum game. In fact, you lose points when you pick on him.
For some reason, no one gets it – or the Tory indignant sense is too great.
It’s only going to get worse; soon Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will be campaigning in support of Bill Casey in his riding to annoy the Conservatives; he may even support Green Party Leader Elizabeth May against Peter Mackay himself in the riding of Central Nova (you’ve read it hear first). Politics makes strange bedfellows. And our relationship with Peter Mackay, here in Nova Scotia, is an odd one.
While Peter is married to Nova Scotia, Stephen Harper, according to many, seems to be his mistress. And she gets all the candy.
October 19th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Could not agree more, I note that Gerald keddy has been quite quiet, perhaps he sees how this could be the end of his own career as his riding was tenuous at best already. If Danny comes over here and jumps in, Peter I believe will still hold his seat but it will be a battle. The consequences of peter’s actions, however, could cost Keddy his and thus the party he thinks he is protecting, further, the consequences could go to NB( a stretch I know) as media coverage and sympathy in atlantic Canada for the cause of Casey grows and disdain for the party that did it also grows.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Well don’t just stand there, Call 911, Peter just shot himself in the foot, while he had it in his mouth no less. If Peter is married to Nova Scotia get ready for a trip to the divorce court, he is cheating on you, He is backstabing his fellow Nova Scotian, but this in not the first time. Look at what he did to a fellow Progresitive Consertive during the fight to save the P.C. a few years ago.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Peter MacKay is what we call a real politician, can’t be trusted and lies through his teeth. He will go far in the conservative party. These are the type of people Harper likes to surround himself with, yes men with no values or ethics. The unfortunate thing is there isn’t anyone else to vote for. Liberals are a bust and NDP are selling out our military and all the hard work they are doing. If we treated politicians the way the NDP are treating the work of our military they would all be fired because where is the evidence of anything getting accomplished in Ottawa. The Green party is a flavor of the week but won’t last because they are a one issue party. I would love to have the opportunity to vote “Non of the above” and have it count as a vote of protest to see what the total of votes would be.