Cabinet rift? MacKay defies Harper:
CTV News has learned a weekend letter on the Atlantic Accord dispute has left Prime Minister Stephen Harper facing a major cabinet split.
Sources say that Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay feels blindsided by the letter to the editor published Saturday that inflamed matters.
Insiders say that Sandra Buckler, the prime minister's communications director, instructed MacKay to sign the letter, which rejected any side deals with Nova Scotia.
MacKay, a Nova Scotia MP and the senior minister for Atlantic Canada, refused, say sources. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signed the letter.
Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, reports that MacKay is trying to broker a deal with MacDonald and convince Harper that if he doesn't compromise, he could pay a high political price.
Ouch.
7 comments:
Wow! Captain Bligh is in trouble!
Wow, the Alberta Conservatives are talking about starting a new Reform party because Harper's Cons are too "liberal", and the conservatives out east are starting to show divisions...
This is getting fun.
It is getting fun. Before long, the 'united right' might be a thing of the past.
Stranger and stranger... It seems Harpor is wedged into a corner of stubbornness and bluffery that only a contortionist could appreciate. Did you catch him on TV when he said 'we honour our agreements?' And challenging NS and Nflders to take his gov't to court would appear to be a dangerous call -- I think some wise lawyer should be contacting those stakeholders of the Kelowna and Kyoto accords right now!
Yet, while Harpor refuses to live up to the content of the Atlantic accord -- which was to give have-not provinces NS & Nfld the rights and profits from their booming resources, allowing them the chance to catch up in other areas, he stands back and tells Big Oil that they can keep on raping and pillaging northern Alberta without any responsibility or encumberance -- any doubt who's names on that list of secret donors to his leadership run?
I was hoping MacKay would go down with the ship, so May could mop up what's left of the Tory poop deck.
I suspect that MacKay is feeling marginalized here. He is a cabinet outsider and recognize that his influence is being undermined by the duo of Flaherty and Baird.
Why was MacKay not at the G8 summit? Baird went with Harper while loverboy Pete returned after the Foreign Ministers meeting and was present for the second reading vote!!! MacKay had the perfect excuse of skipping the vote and he was there desperately pleading for Bill Casey.
Whooee! I figger MacKay's maybe regrettin' climbin' inta bed with the HarpoonTossers. He's been odd man out since day one an' his credibility just keeps gettin' worse'n'worse. He's sure got hisself between a rock an' a hard place but I'll bet toonies to timbits he votes with King Steve and against Nova Scotia.
I reckon it's a lose-lose situation fer ol' Petey. Him walkin' around with a big "L" on his forehead probbly ain't gonna help much when he comes up against Lizzie May. Yeow! Shakespearean overtones, sez I.
JB
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