OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE TWO FACES:

OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE TWO FACES: Sometimes, you just have to laugh. Take the latest teeth-gnashing antics from the opposition Liberals and NDP in Ottawa, upset at the prospect that Prime Minister Stephen Harper might fill the current two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Canada with – dare we say it – conservative-minded judges. Say it ain’t so, Stephen. While it’s true that for most of the court’s history, Liberal governments have rewarded liberal-minded judges with these appointments, that’s apparently different. After all, liberal-minded people are good people; conservative-minded people are dangerous. Surely you understand that. Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler understands it. So does NDP MP Joe Comartin who, along with Cotler, represent the two opposition voices on the five-member closed door selection committee (the other three are Tories) named by Harper to vet Supreme Court recommendations... You really have to wonder sometimes how politicians who have been using their power to promote like-minded people – as all politicians do, incidentally – can really expect to be taken seriously when they call for “nonpolitical” appointments. Fact is, there’s no reason at all why politics shouldn’t be involved, as long as the person is otherwise qualified. It’s one thing to appoint a person to a job based solely on his or her politics. It’s quite another thing to appoint political friendlies as long as their other qualifications fit the requirements for the job. Some opposition politicians in Ottawa were apparently worried even more because Harper chose Manitoba Tory MP Candice Hoeppner to chair the committee set up to vet Supreme Court candidates. Hoeppner, you may know, led a prolonged Parliamentary battle during the Tory minority years against the unpopular – and obscenely wasteful and useless – long-gun registry, a position which makes her in line with the thinking of the majority of Canadians but badly out of step with elected Liberal and NDP politicians. Stay tuned. The opposition hypocrisy wheel has just begun to turn on this one. (By columnist Claire Hoy – Orangeville Citizen – August 18, 2011)