MP James Moore: the importance of knowing him - really

Did you know that the MP James Moore doubles as an un-Canadian nobody?  A few years ago, early in his career as Minister of so-called Canadian Heritage, Moore said NOTHING against the proposal to put a cell tower in Port Coquitlam’s cemetery, where Terry Fox is buried.  This truth is made ever more significant by the fact that the cemetery rests in Moore’s own riding.   Where was our Minister of Heritage? Maybe federal government representatives are not supposed to have character.

Then look to Minister Moore’s accomplishments a few months ago before he was conveniently shuffled out of Canadian Heritage, so to speak.  The CBC, thanks to Moore  - and thanks to yet another omnibus bill - is now officially bereft of editorial independence from the federal government.  Freedom of the press does not exist in our national public broadcaster, making Canada unique among Western ‘democratic’ countries.  Sounds un-Canadian to me. Plus accountability is down the drain because Moore no longer has the same portfolio.

Now he is Minister of Industry, and maybe Moore was eyeing that position all along, which is possibly why he did not defend a “local” cemetery from a cell tower.  But there is more.  He has since raised the ire of Rogers, Bell and Telus – and their unions - by preparing to grant U.S. giant Verizon a sweet heart deal, in particular better access to more wireless spectrum.  Spectrum is needed to increase network speed, and Verizon can bid on half of what is available, more than the other Canadian wireless networks which as a result will become less attractive to customers in the future.  Sounds un-Canadian to me.

There is another common thread.  Moore serves an authoritarian PM suffering from ego-logic. In other words we know that Moore verges on being a nobody, just like the poorly qualified Senators appointed by Harper, or the newly appointed Parliamentary Budget Officer, who has spent the last 27 years as a librarian. It really pays to know nothing in this government.

 

On top of this parliament is prorogued once again, and there is no chance for public debate: nobodies also get to say nothing.  While other nations discuss war and peace, Canada sits in silence, as if Parliament were a cell tower in a cemetery sending out nothing to nobody.

In effect the Conservative Caucus is like a filing cabinet: each has their ready supply of answers.  Ideology is delivered by PMO central command – and there is no need to think things through.  No brains are required for these nobodies.  Maybe Moore will wake up some day, or fall off script, when he realizes that the country is no longer Canada.