The Black Rod

Let's play charades.  We'll start. Four  words. Washing hands. Wringing.  Washing.  Soap. Dirty hands. Dirty. Okay, next word. Stripper pole. Pole. Pole...ish. No.  Start over.  Vote.  Voting.  Ballot. Oh, Pole-itics. Next word. Here. Now. Everywhere?   Map. Man. Manitoba! Dirtiest Politician in Manitoba! GREG SELINGER!!!! Do we win?   No. With Greg Selinger, everbody loses. In less than a week,  the Dipper Follies has become the best show in town, with everyone glued to their radio and television sets for the latest twist and turn. What melodrama!   Five dissident MLA's.  Careers on the line. Stare-downs. Ultimatums. Veilled threats of retaliation.  A resignation expected yesterday, today, tomorrow. Like Scandal, the TV show? No, more like NDP Friends, with Stan Struthers in the Joey role.   The dissidents are called the Rebel Five i...

Erin Selby used to pride herself for being an honest journalist. That was before drinking the NDP kool-aid. These days, as a cabinet minister in Greg Selinger's government, she finds herself sinking deeper and deeper into the quicksand of unethical influence peddling, secret backroom lobbying and slippery moral judgement greased by cheap excuses. Her most recent performance was in front of the Legislature's Estimates committee. She tried to do a dance of seven veils when questioned about the enticement of a free ticket to a Winnipeg Jets game from Red River College. She came up several veils short. She admitted she found the offer of a Jets ticket from Red River President Stephanie Forsyth irresistible. "Yes, I was asked by the president of Red River College if I would go to a Jets game with her, to which I accepted," she said. But it was business, she insisted. A chore that comes with being the Minister of Advanced Education. "One of th...

Exactly one week ago, Finance Minister Stan Struthers was feeling pretty smug. The Opposition thought they had some traction with a scandal involving free tickets to Winnipeg Jets hockey games that the Liquor Control Commission had given to a few cabinet ministers. Struthers was confident the government had squashed the scandal. They had contained the damage to three cabinet ministers, announced that the ticket takers had paid back the cost of their freebies and that the NDP had a policy in the works to prevent MLAs from taking free tickets to any sports events in the future. During Question Period in the Legislature, Struthers spoke with unmitigated scorn at Opposition members who asked questions about the ticket scandal. Mr. Struthers: Well, again, Mr. Speaker, I know it must be frustrating for members opposite when the facts don't back up the narrative that they're trying to get across. I understand that frustration, but the facts of the mat...