I can't say if [Patricia Haasbeek] is in any way qualified for this job but her husband is about as connected to the Conservative party as you can get and it has all the earmarks of political patronage pork,'' said NDP ethics critic Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre). "Vic's pattern is taking the high moral ground but then doing everything he criticized others of doing while he was in opposition and then some,'' [Anita Neville] said. "It's unfortunate that the opposition would be critical of a woman who is so clearly qualified and who was chosen through an independent process through the parole board,'' [Mike Storeshaw] said.
As a former provincial cabinet minister, [Judy Wasylycia-Leis] knows that patronage can be a valuable and justifiable tool. In Ottawa, she and the rest of the NDP caucus are free to criticize the government of the day because, well, they haven't formed government at the federal level and don't look like they're going to any time soon. Apart from opposition politicians indulging in attacks of convenience, the greatest howl about patronage seems to come from members of the general public who aren't on anybody's list as candidates for a patronage appointment. There is no escaping the fact that not all patronage appointments pass the smell test. Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision in 2002 to name disgraced cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano as Canada's ambassador to Denmark was a ...
Patronage became odious, at least in part, because of the high-profile televised debate between Brian Mulroney and John Turner preceding the general election of 1984. Mr. Mulroney pictured all patronage as a great evil that must be eradicated -- until, of course he became prime minister and in charge of the patronage package. In that famous debate, which set the tone for the election that followed, Mr. Turner virtually conceded that patronage was sinful when he publicly stated that he was forced to agree to a lengthy list of appointees prepared on behalf of his predecessor, Pierre Trudeau. It was a foolish concession. Mr. Turner should have defended the judicious use of patronage and the many capable names on the Trudeau list.
Case in point: witness the ire directed by opposition MPs and some media outlets at federal Treasury Board president and Manitoba Conservative MP Vic Toews.
ON the face of it, the wife of an aide to federal cabinet minister Vic Toews is qualified, indeed, to sit on the National Parole Board. An experienced probation officer, Patricia Haasbeek should bring to parole board hearings some insight to the criminal mind. But there are lots of similarly qualified Canadians out there. Ms. Haasbeek is politically connected. Her appointment, and others made recently by the [Stephen Harper] government, puts paid to the Tories' campaign ruse that they would take rampant partisanship out of federal patronage.
If a political party championed the right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy, it would be a betrayal to its electors if it then appointed as a judge a person who championed the right to life. Conversely, United States President George W. Bush, who promised to uphold the right to life, would be downright corrupt if he then appointed as a Supreme Court judge someone who believed in a woman's freedom of choice. Whether [Vic Toews] should be appointed or not does not depend on his being a man who is not linked with the governing party. It should depend simply on whether or not he is qualified to serve. Based on this criterion, the appointment of Toews cannot be criticized. He served as a prominent counsel for the provincial government and was involved extensively in litigation. He was a p...
[Vic Toews] repeatedly lambasted the Liberal party for appointing judges with strong Liberal ties, including in November 2004 when a former chief of staff to then Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler got a judge's seat. Sources suggest Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants Toews to step down because of concerns about issues in his personal life -- he's currently in the midst of a divorce. An appointment to the bench makes sense because of Toews' background as a former Crown prosecutor in Brandon and lawyer for the Manitoba government. Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen and Tory national president Don Plett are both said to be interested in taking a run for Toews' seat. Toews won [Provencher] in 2006 with two-thirds of the vote.
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