MacKay vs O'Connor as MND (merged)

[3rd Herd]

I think McKay is smart enough to listen to Hillier, powerful enough to pull in more kit for the troops, and charismatic enough to avoid alot of the 'Foot in Mouth' problems O'Connor suffered from.   I think its a great move, as O'Connor took alot of the flak from various Afghanistan issues and then moved on (bit of a scapegoat move), leaving McKay and Hillier free and clear to do their jobs. 

No he was not smart enough to have avoided other physically related problems with certain "Belinda"

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Yup, it will take a while for me to totally forget [forgive?] the public moping he did "After Belinda"[ hereafter known as AB].

 

[Shadowolf]

My opinion is Belinda is nothing but a spoiled rich girl looking for power, whether through her current boyfriend or by buying her way into the top echelon of whatever she thinks the party of the day is.   And Peter McKay's comment relating her to a certain animal companion.... he squirmed his way out of that without too much trouble.  

Watch and shoot on his performance, I guess.  

 

[observor 69]

I can't see the appointment of Mackay making any change in the Harper government's policy toward Afghanistan.
Whether MacKay can sell the policy better or more successfully than O'Connor remains to be seen.
As Min. of Foreign Affairs MacKay already was deeply involved in the Afghanistan issue, meeting NATO partners and frequent visits to Afghanistan.
His french is so so according to the media so his affect on Quebec's support of the mission in Afghan is doubtful.
Bottom line ....status quo.

 

[stegner]

Not wanting to dimish Gordon O'Connor, but did he not have the luxury of coming in at the right time?  Were the acquisitions entirely his doing or were they merely inevitable?  Would even a Liberal government made these purchases? 

By the way,  Peter Mackay used to work for the German arms manufacturer Thyssen Henschel in Germany.  http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/013/  I believe his father Elmer Mackay along with Karlheinz Schreiber attempted to get a Thyssen factory built in Canada.

 

[George Wallace]

By the way,  Peter Mackay used to work for the German arms manufacturer Thyssen Henschel in Germany.  http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/013/ 

So?  What company or job have you held?  What will you say about it, should you enter politics later in life?

I believe his father Elmer Mackay along with Karlheinz Schreiber attempted to get a Thyssen factory built in Canada.

His father was the MP for that Riding as stated in the article: 

PC Elmer MacKay, Peter MacKay's father, won the 1971 byelection and then won four general elections. He was appointed minister of regional economic expansion in the Joe Clark government and resigned in 1983 to create a vacancy for new Tory Leader Brian Mulroney.

Elmer MacKay won again in 1984 and 1988. He served as solicitor general, minister of national revenue, minister of public works, minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

What member of Parliament hasn't tried to get jobs created in his Riding?

 

[stegner]

I am not saying it is a bad thing- in fact it is good it will help him understand the procurement process.  Good on his father too for trying to get a factory also.  Never hurts to have a defence minister that speaks german.

 

[GUNS]

O'Connor was in the right position at the wrong time.

A nonmilitary MND is a good mix with a CDS such as Hillier.
The MND would have to rely on the CDS to put current military deployments into perspective.

A ex-military MND(General to boot), is not a good mix in my opinion.
As all soldiers know, once a soldier, always a soldier.
O'Connor may have had a hard time separating his military past with his political future.
Give the man credit, the CF is far better off now than years ago.

As much as I respect the man and what he has done for the CF.
Image is everything in politics,
O'Connor was and will always be just a soldier.
IMHO.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

O'Connor was and will always be just a soldier.
IMHO.

Which is much more a compliment than it sounds...............

 

[Cloud Cover]

I read overall the Quebec vote:

Mr. Bernier's appointment from Industry to Foreign Affairs is seen by insiders as part of a larger emphasis by Mr. Harper on global economic productivity.

Mr. Bernier, 44, was instrumental in outlining the new softwood lumber agreement with the United States, and helped launch new Conservative attack ads against the Liberals.

It's a major step up on to the world stage for the member from Beauce, Que., who entered federal politics less than two years ago.

- Bev Oda has been demoted from Heritage to Minister of International Co-operation-Not bilingul, had issues giving money to Quebec in regard to various Hertiage and Social events, sponsorship anyone.

- Josée Verner moves from International Co-operation to Heritage.-see above

-But with only 14 women in his caucus, Mr. Harper has struggled to offset the gender gap at the cabinet table.- What happened to the "best person"

As for O'Conner that was a done deal.

Inside scoop on Bernier is that he was tagged on the inside as "problem" minister by CSIS, the RCMP and the CSE. Citing privacy concerns, he has been holding up any progress on the lawful access (internet intercept) legislation in Canada because the industries tasked to implement it fell under his portfolio. Look for new lawful access legislation to come this fall from the government. The bill reintroduced by Marlene Jennings as part of Dion's law enforcement strategy caught Harper and Day by surprise and embarrassed the government by making them look like they were protecting online perversion.

 

 

[Bigmac]

    I think Mr O'Connor did a good job as MoD. It is probably the most difficult seat to hold today considering Canada's role in Afghanistan and renewed spending on defense. Unfortunately he just didn't have the political savvy to deal with the negative media and the opposition party members. I agree that Mr Mackay has a little more political backbone but I hope he also listens to the advice from the CDS on military matters. My 2 cents.

 

[GUNS]

Thank you for saying that.
After I re-read what I posted, I was worried that it may be taken the wrong way.
Soldiers are soldiers regardless of rank.

Which is much more a compliment than it sounds...............

 

[retiredgrunt45]

Mr. O'Connor did a fairly good job, I give him the biggest credit for procurring much needed new kit for the troops. We're he lacks is political savvy or a political tongue so to speak. If you watch him speaking with the press, he's not a smooth speaker like Mr. McKay. He tends to ramble and that's were he made his biggest blunders, "foot in the mouth" so to speak.

Mr. McKay is a pretty smooth character, yet again he's been bred and raised in a political family, so i think it just comes naturally to him. He will make a very good MND and I think he and General Hillier will compliment each other very well.

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

Inside scoop on Bernier is that he was tagged on the inside as "problem" minister by CSIS, the RCMP and the CSE. Citing privacy concerns, he has been holding up any progress on the lawful access (internet intercept) legislation in Canada because the industries tasked to implement it fell under his portfolio. Look for new lawful access legislation to come this fall from the government. The bill reintroduced by Marlene Jennings as part of Dion's law enforcement strategy caught Harper and Day by surprise and embarrassed the government by making them look like they were protecting online perversion.

 

um...whose inside scoop?

 

[Quag]

Mr. O'Connor did a fairly good job, I give him the biggest credit for procurring much needed new kit for the troops. We're he lacks is political savvy or a political tongue so to speak. If you watch him speaking with the press, he's not a smooth speaker like Mr. McKay. He tends to ramble and that's were he made his biggest blunders, "foot in the mouth" so to speak.

Mr. McKay is a pretty smooth character, yet again he's been bred and raised in a political family, so i think it just comes naturally to him. He will make a very good MND and I think he and General Hillier will compliment each other very well.

+1 RetiredGrunt.

As experienced as Mr. O'Connor was, what the public needs is a smooth talking, articulate person.  Mr. McKay offers this.  It will be interesting to see if Mr. McKay can transform the public's image and beliefs of the mission in Afghanistan better than Mr. O'Connor's.

All the best Mr. McKay, I stand behind you!

 

[GAP]

Boy CBC and CTV are sure dissing O'Connor.....more of their agenda stuff 

 

[Cloud Cover]

um...whose inside scoop?

Lobbyists ...

 

[DualCore]

O'Connor did nothing wrong, but he did not have the cheerful enthusiastic personality to convince the half-wit pencil-neck info-tainers that they should drop the Paris Hilton story, and the "St Pierre the Divine" version of peacekeeping, and spend some time and money understanding what is a Canadian soldier, and what they doing in Afghanistan. 

MacKay is not a genius in such matters, but whether dealing with the morons at the defense committee asking why a Leopard tank can't be cut into a dozen pieces and delivered to Afghanistan on Bombardier regional jets, or talking to analysts or citizens, etc., he can tell a few jokes and construct his comments into something that they may understand, rather the O'Connor's habit of dismissing the questions and advising that they contact Foreign Affairs or Treasury Board, or ....

MacKay might even have the ability to make speeches that are as media-savvy as Hillier, and not lead to a constitutional crisis every time Hillier hits upon a good sound-bite, because the media half-wits consider a snappy sound-bite and affront to the parliamentary system.  Hillier and MacKay can both speak, and people can debate it, and Harper will make the decisions -- good news all around.

 

[STONEY]

I eagerly await to see how Mackay does in the job. For those who don't live in NS and know of his stand on the Atlantic Accord he may not be very popular here and would have difficulty getting re-elected as he is seen by many to be a traitor to his home province. He has more loyalty to the Party Line than to the people whom he represents. O'conner didn't suffer fools easily hence his problems with the media. Most journalists seem to have passed with flying colors their stupid questions 101 class.

cheers

 

[DirtyDog]

O'Connor was in the right position at the wrong time.

A nonmilitary MND is a good mix with a CDS such as Hillier.
The MND would have to rely on the CDS to put current military deployments into perspective.

A ex-military MND(General to boot), is not a good mix in my opinion.
As all soldiers know, once a soldier, always a soldier.
O'Connor may have had a hard time separating his military past with his political future.
Give the man credit, the CF is far better off now than years ago.

As much as I respect the man and what he has done for the CF.
Image is everything in politics,
O'Connor was and will always be just a soldier.
IMHO.

Yes, but having an ex-CF member in power as MND is relatively good for us (the soldiers) just not particularily for his political career.