The bombshell came on Wednesday around noon, right after Prime Minister Stephen Harper had finished taking questions from reporters.

The media were already cranky. Earlier, they had plucked names out of a hat to determine who among them would be offered up to ask a few questions of the PM in his first post-cabinet shuffle press conference. Typically, Harper’s staff ignored the media list, and came up with one of their own.

But that wasn’t the bombshell, or even remotely surprising — in Harper’s Ottawa, that kind of stuff is standard operating procedure. No, the bombshell came after Harper and his minions had scurried out of the line of fire: “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed three defeated Conservative candidates to the Senate,” The Canadian Press reported in a news bulletin, as jaws dropped across Parliament Hill (and the country). The Sun’s top guy on the Hill, David Akin, immediately tweeted: “Harper puts Larry Smith, Fabian Manning back in Senate. Also appoints Josee Verner.”

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It’s all well and fine for Progressive Conservative boss Tim Hudak to promise, if elected premier on Oct. 6, removal of the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax (HST) from hydro and heating bills.

Hudak would also remove the debt retirement charge from home hydro bills, if elected.

The question is, where will Hudak get the $1.2 billion in lost HST revenues?

And how will the $14.8 billion in hydro debt be paid off?

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It’s worth a read. I disagree that the interim leader should be permitted to use that advantage (staff, money, profile) to turn around and run for the full-time post. But, otherwise, not a bad read:

“We need to settle on a strong interim leader so that the Liberal party can focus its considerable talents and energies on a more crucial task: genuine renewal that will allow us to engage and grow our membership, revamp our party structures and modernize our fund-raising mechanisms. To lead the process, the party should elect co-chairs drawn from both the Liberal caucus and party members -with a mandate to dig deep and consult widely. Ultimately, the group should report to the council of presidents, which is the broadest and most representative grassroots institution within the party.“

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When wee Timmy Hudak can’t even get a good review from my friend and Sun colleague Chris Blizzard, he’s in deep caca. Chris has closely examined Hudak’s pocketbook “plan” of yesterday – and found it rather lacking in detail.

Oh well. At least Timmy was clear about one thing. Two years ago, he promised to “stop the HST in its tracks.”

As of yesterday, he has finally admitted he plans to keep it.

Here’s Chris:

“I went to bed Wednesday night thinking things were quite normal around here.

By Thursday I thought I’d fallen down a rabbit hole and woken up in Wonderland.

The Tories are stealing their election platform from the NDP.

Strange but true.

…the next tricky question for Hudak is how do you pay for it?

The NDP have this in their platform, but say they’ll pay for it by hiking corporate taxes.

Hudak can’t do that. His is the party of business and raising corporate taxes when we’re emerging from a recession would be devastating to the economy…

The Tories had better firm up some numbers by the time they release their platform because that’s too wobbly to take to the bank.“

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September 11, 2009:
“My plan is to stop this tax dead in its tracks.”

May 19, 2011:
Sun reporter: “This means that you accept that the general HST structure is beneficial to Ontario, that it does help business, that was the argument that the Liberals put forward.”

Hudak: “Yeah.”

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“Coming up: Stephen Harper’s really offensive Senate appointments. And, also, how did this man with the bad hair get in here, and why is he now asleep on our bench?”

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“OTTAWA – Bob Rae has decided he won’t take a third shot at becoming permanent leader of the federal Liberal party.

Instead, sources have told The Canadian Press the Toronto MP is about to announce his interest in becoming interim leader until a permanent successor to Michael Ignatieff is chosen some 18 months from now.“

 

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1. HST on hydro: Lost in all the piffle and spin: Timmy is now admitting he will keep the HST, after saying for years that he’d kill it.

2. Debt retirement: Also unaddressed: the “debt retirement fund” was created to retire the billions in debt Hudak’s party created in the first place. Where’s he gonna get the dough, hmmmm?

Looked like there were lemons on the kitchen table where Timmy made his announcement this morning.

Fits.

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…and I’m confident Deb will fix it, too. She fixed the wagons of the Big Pharmacies, but good.

That said, good reporting by the Star.

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Would-be Progressive Conservative candidates are being flatly told to hit the road to make way for hand-picked favourites, the Star has learned.

The latest to get the hook is Ade Olumide, a candidate for the Tory nomination in Ottawa West—Nepean, who was eager to butt heads with Randall Denley, a long-time Ottawa Citizencolumnist personally anointed by Leader Tim Hudak.

“I was informed (Tuesday) night by the president of the Ontario PC Party in writing that I will not be allowed to contest the party nomination in Ottawa West Nepean,” said Olumide, founder of the Ottawa Taxpayer Advocacy Group, in an email Wednesday.

“To my volunteers, members and supporters I say a heart felt thank you; I recognize this news is very disappointing,” said Olumide.

The reign of terror, as one insider called it, comes as the party, which conceivably could form the next Ontario government, searches for candidates for 107 ridings.

Anointing candidates started out as isolated practice but has become common as the Conservatives vie for candidates with name-recognition.

Included in the stable of so-called high-profile candidates is CHCH TV’s Donna Skelly, who was another one to be anointed at the expense of a long-time Conservative party member in Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale.

Several riding association members there quit because of the party meddling.

More here.

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