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what price frame?

This Magazine Staff

Given the obscene mess that is federal politics in Canada, it is tempting to take very little of what goes on in Ottawa at all seriously. But when it comes to getting my head around this story, I have to keep pausing to pick my jaw up off the floor.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Conservatives set out to frame the Health Minister and the PMO. Gurmant Grewal engaged the government in negotiations to sell his vote in Parliament, taped the proceedings, then hung on to the tapes for almost two weeks after releasing a ten minute “incriminating” snippet. Then they released versions of the tapes that some dozen independent experts assert have been edited and spliced.
All of this with the approval of Stephen Harper.
WTF?
If this is indeed what has happened, this is an unbelieveable exercise in perfidy that dwarfs (I’m clearly searching for words here — where’s a poet when you need one) anything the Libs have done, including the sponsorship scandal.
Two further consequences, if, indeed, this is what happened:
1. Andrew Coyne’s credibility as a commentator on national affairs is shot all to hell.
2. The Conservatives should — and will — remain out of power for a generation to come.
Maybe Belinda is smarter than I thought.
UPDATE: Whoops — sorry to step on Degen’s post on the same topic. That’s what happenes when you don’t “refresh” your browser. He indirectly asks an interesting question: given the crapola, why are the NDP stuck at 20% in the polls?

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