Professionalism and the lack thereof

One of the things that I cautioned true believers prior to the vote was that they should water down their expectations of Harper. Based on what I've seen over the course of my political involvement and subsequent career - a lot less than some others have, but still considerable - one of the things that struck me was the fact that the Liberals just knew how to do "it" better than the Tories did.

Here's a small example. Earlier in the spring, there was a minor controversy over the closing of RCMP border detachments in Quebec and the restaffing of those officers to posts in Montreal and other Quebec urban centres. This raised a few eyebrows in Quebec. Along come the Tories, with their unilingual junior Public Safety critic from Alberta, who gets a chance to ask a question in the House maybe once a month, and they have him ask the former DPM a question in English about redeployments of RCMP officers in Quebec.

It's that kind of stuff that defines the Tory disease. And now, after week one, we have the following, courtesy of CTV:

Just how bad were Harper's first five days in office? Let us count the ways:

- Emerson's stunning defection to Harper's cabinet two weeks after he was elected as a Liberal outraged even many Tory stalwarts, who had supported legislation banning such party-switching. "I expected some of the superficial criticism I've seen," Harper responded to the Vancouver Sun, the rhetorical equivalent of waving a red flag in front of a bull. Since then, Emerson's work on the softwood lumber file has been questioned, he's contemplated quitting politics and his cabinet reward has formally been referred to Parliament's ethics commissioner by the NDP.
- Michael Fortier, the unelected Conservative campaign co-chairman who was elevated to cabinet and given a Senate appointment, told reporters he hadn't run for office because he didn't feel like it.
- Gordon O'Connor, the new defence minister, is being challenged because of his past work as a military procurement lobbyist. His new job will put him in charge of massive spending on military procurement.
- Ted Menzies, the affable Alberta MP, was made parliamentary secretary for the francophonie and official languages, although he speaks no French.
- Ontario MP Garth Turner, a former cabinet minister in the Brian Mulroney government, spoke openly about his disdain for Emerson's floor-crossing and was called on the carpet by Harper -- only to write about the dressing down on his web site. Turner now plans to introduce a private member's bill calling for floor-crossers to face voters in byelections.

There was also the matter of MPs slipping en masse out back doors to avoid reporters after their first national caucus meeting; a cabinet session at Meech Lake that left the national media huddled on a wind-swept highway seeking comment from ministers in limousines that didn't stop; and at least two significant phone calls -- one between Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and another between Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and the U.S. secretary of state -- about which the government provided no information.

Not coincidentally, the party is reportedly having trouble finding experienced people to staff key positions.

This stuff reeks of amateur hour. This is why I'm not active in politics anymore. By definition, if you are a Tory, you have to drink the Kool-Aid of people who simply don't have their shit together and more importantly don't even realize it. And if you are a Liberal, you have to countenance arrogance, corruption and a complete lack of scruples and principles.

What a mess.