Joe Who?

      Does anyone remember the name Joe Clark? No, I'm not talking about the baseball-bat toting principal immortalized some years ago by Morgan Freeman in the film Lean On Me. I'm talking about the former Canadian Prime Minister, the man who on several occasions was 'the go-to' man: when the Conservatives found themselves decapitated, he kept the body alive; when Mulroney was having international troubles, he brought in Clark as foreign minister. He's basically been the steadying hand for the political right in Canada. And now, with the merging of the PCs with the Alliance, now Clark is a man without a party. All of his warnings-- and those of some of the elder 'Red' Tories, including Flora McDonald-- have gone unheeded. Joe, for all his faults, was one of the few Tories who still retained an ounce or two of credibility. There's something ingracious about all this, and this blog has a funny feeling the new 'Conservatives' will soon realize they've given the Liberals a gift: a party of discordant voices to which even a former leader will not be a party. This blog suspects the problems with this merger haven't yet manifest themselves. This blog also wonders: if Clark had brought a baseball bat, maybe a few more delegates would have thought twice about the merger.

      It's a peculiar phenomenon. Most parts of Canada now find themselves in some kind of political shift-- the merger of the Tories and the Alliance, the pending resignation of Jean Chretien and the beginning of the Paul Martin era, provincial disincumbencies-- but in these supposed 'rebirths,' the interesting thing has been the shabby treatment of some well respected figures. Joe Clark has been disregarded by his own party. Dalton McGuinty and his gaggle of Liberals are doing everything they can to minimize the NDP and Howard Hampton (who, although most would never vote for them, most also acknowledged that they're the natural critics, and some say conscience, of government). Paul Martin, thugs in tow, is in the process of organizing a governmental purge of almost Maoist proportions, such that even good (and popular) ministers like John Manley are going while the getting's good. There's sacrificiality in the air. It also suggests, at least to this blog, that there will eventually be repercussions to be felt later. Take a big whiff. The change you smell right now is also the change we'll feel in five or six years.