Gimbol's diatribe and screed

Conservative party comments on Dion's shadow

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The Liberals now have 46 critics (up from 43), plus 9 caucus officers, plus 4 extra shadow cabinet committee chairs and 5 vice-chairs, plus 2 Special Advisors and 9 “mentors” to cover a cabinet of only 26 ministers and 5 secretaries of state.

Dion named Scott Brison as his Industry Critic ? who advocated cutting Industry funding during his 2003 leadership campaign: “Eliminating corporate welfare in HRDC and Industry Canada and using that money to dramatically reduce corporate tax rates.” (Scott Brison Leadership Campaign Platform 2003)

Dion named Joe Volpe as his Transport Critic.? This is an interesting choice, given that Volpe raised concerns about Kyoto and the impact it would have on Canadian industry, given its transport implications: "One of the principles we should be looking toward is a position that is uniquely Canadian, taking into consideration the sectoral requirements of all Canadians in this vast territory which is geographically bigger than all of Europe, and much more challenging. It is much more challenging because geographically we have differences in resources and consumption."? (Hansard, December 3, 2002)

Dion named Denis Coderre as his Defence Critic.? How does Coderre feel about Dion’s Afghanistan policies, given that Coderre previously criticized Liberals for playing politics on Afghanistan: Fellow Liberal and Montreal MP Denis Coderre disagreed, saying the time will come later to question Mr. Harper over Afghanistan. "I'm not going to play politics on behalf of the troops," he said. "You call that recognition, so I think it's good." (Ottawa Citizen, September 22, 2006)

Dion named David McGuinty as his (Environment Critic), replacing Liberal MP John Godfrey, who had acknowledged that the Liberals’ Kyoto plan was flawed.?

Dion named Bonnie Brown as his Health Critic, who advocated using the notwithstanding clause to prevent private health care (Toronto Star, January 13, 2006)

Dion named Pablo Rodriguez, who served as LPC(Q) President and worked at a communications company, as his Public Works Critic and Quebec “mentor” Karen Redman was left as Whip by Dion.? Is this the back up demand she mentioned in her e-mail when Dion turned down her request to be named Deputy Leader?

Despite Dion repeated promises to increase the representation of women in politics, Dion has almost no women in key positions.? He dropped Lucienne Robillard as Deputy Leader.? He demoted Ruby Dhalla from the Health file.

posted by gimbol @ 4:41 AM