So it goes with Tory hacks, just show up and do what you’re told. Where isn’t too important, why isn’t too important either. You just have to do it, for whatever your interests may be. It may be power, it may be money, it may even be a combination of the two. Some of the Top Players in the federal Conservative Cabinet have a history of being tools in different jurisdictions. I mainly speak of Tony Clement, John Baird and Jim Flaherty. Of course there’s likely more, but these ones are the most prevalent.
The thing these people all have in common they come from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party, and served under Mike Harris in Queen’s Park, where they were all tools. They had high up positions then, and they have high-up positions now. They must of served Harris well, or else their patronage placements wouldn’t be so stable.
Under Mike Harris, things were very similar on a provincial level as things are now on at a federal level. The Mike Harris Progressive Conservatives made the Premier unaccountably and extremely powerful. It was called the “centre” as decisions had to be approved or made through the Premier’s office (there were even feuds between Cabinet Ministers the Premier, when they took an initiative that wasn’t fully supported by Mike Harris, and Mike Harris often won). Autonomy of PC MPs was very little, to none. The Mike Harris Tories were so authoritarian and autocratic that they wouldn’t even let their own party members (Cabinet Ministers included) see a particular bill until the night before it was introduced, yet they were expected to defend it.
Federally, the Prime Minister is legislatively king, with his majority. Things has to be approved by the PMO, and all major decisions are passed on from that centre to their party to thoughtlessly pass, support and vehemently defend. Occasionally, but rarely, you’ll see a member in their party try to do something different, usually unsuccessfully. The opposition is immaterial, and the Ruling Party often limits debates and discussion – much like the Harris PCs in Ontario. The autocratic executive control from the PM is well documented.
Without the loyalty of party members, the control would be impossible to maintain. Through threats, they parties keep their more reluctant members, but there’s those who are very fine with just doing what they’re told. Tony Clement, John Baird and Jim Flaherty are these zealous and terrible people. They were tools in the Cabinent under Mike Harris, and they’re tools now under Harper.
