'Conservative Patronage' ... So Much Better Than 'Liberal Patronage' ... Stephen Harper
“Stephen Harper once denounced this system as the Prime Minister rewarding his “buddies,” but while in office has been uninterested in changing the system. Instead he has continued to appoint party insiders and supporters at a frenzied pace, even to the Senate, which he once demanded be fully democratized through elected Senators with term limits.
Since the May 2011 general election, he has even appointed several losing candidates to the Senate, so that they could have a seat in Parliament anyways after being denied one by the public.”
David Akin
Sixth Estate Blog
The giveaway is the Senate. Harper may be the first prime minister to appoint only those of his own party to the upper house. Earlier pm's clearly favoured their own but not to the exclusion of real talent from other parties.
Posted by The Mound of Sound | 3:08 pm, August 15, 2012