Shamelessly stealing an idea from my colleague, John Doyle, who cleverly assembled his list of the most irritating people on television in 2009, here is the Ottawa Notebook’s view of the most irritating politicians or political operatives of the year.
A disclaimer: we don’t dislike these people; we don’t think they do a terrible job. Rather, in certain instances, we find them annoying (and in some cases you’ll find me annoying). We’ll let John kick it off…
1. Michael Ignatieff. Mr. Doyle picked the Liberal Leader as his 9th most irritating TV-related personality for his appearance in Narnia – those silly political ads in which he was featured in a forest-like setting explaining who he was. The ads were meant to introduce Mr. Ignatieff to Canada and counter the Conservative “just visiting” ads. Says Mr. Doyle: “The opinion polls told the rest of the story.” We agree.
2. Pierre Poilievre. The 30-year-old Conservative MP and parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister is toy terrier-like, constantly yipping and yapping at the opposition and never, ever wavering from his talking points. The baby-faced politician is often used as the government’s attack dog. And so toxic can he be (and he is effective for the Tories) that when he was named as one of the government representatives on the special Liberal/Conservative committee on employment insurance reform last summer, the Liberals knew the committee was doomed. They were correct.
Meanwhile, my colleague, Jeffrey Simpson, has nominated Mr. Poilievre as a member of the “frat pack” – a take-off on the former Liberal Rat Pack, who rattled the Mulroney government.
3. John Baird. The Transport Minister is also a Simpson-nominated “frat pack” member. Mr. Simpson describes the rhetoric of Mr. Baird as “perfervid.” He writes that the Conservative communications strategy is one of “unrelenting partisanship and obsessive control of information.”
Mr. Baird has filled in at Question Period for the much-travelled Prime Minister. His sanctimony of late in praising the Canadian troops as he defends the government against charges of dropping the ball on the Afghan prisoner detainee issue earn him a top “irritating politician” spot. Again, he is a very competent politician and good at what he does; he is just so annoying as he does it.
4. Rick Hillier. The former chief of defence staff has been in the news this year with the release of his biography, which has been characterized as very light and unreflective for someone in such a senior position. A Hillier friend says that you have to “cut through so much ego” to get to the real person. But he wins people over with his “aw-shucks” demeanour.
He recently appeared before the special parliamentary committee investigating the Afghan detainee issue. In testimony he was dismissive of charges of torture made by senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin. Mr. Colvin has since pushed back, saying that it’s “implausible” that Mr. Hillier would have not known how Afghans treat prisoners.
5. Gordon Campbell. Relax. Laugh. Enjoy yourself. The B.C. Premier, in this approaching Olympic year, is just too serious. A policy wonk, he needs someone to tickle his toes as he readies himself to greet the world in February.
6. Mark Carney. The Bank of Canada Governor is full of predictions. But we say: Just fix the economy, already.
7. Liberals on Twitter. Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh tweeted part of the proceedings of an in-camera Commons committee meeting and was forced to apologize. Toronto-area Liberal MP Michelle Simson tweeted a fat joke about Tory MP Dean Del Mastro during a committee hearing. Not surprisingly, he was hurt.
8. Martin Cauchon. Slightly prima-dona-ish, the former Liberal cabinet minister got his way in Quebec as leader Michael Ignatieff undid a few moves so Mr. Cauchon could run in the Montreal riding of Outremont. Mr. Ignatieff’s Quebec lieutenant, Denis Coderre, resigned his post and his critic’s position over the decision.
9. Environmental protesters. They hung out on the roof of the West Block, unfurling a banner to protest the weak leadership from Canada on the issue of climate change. Other environmental activists disrupted Question Period, shouting from the Commons gallery. Stunts are so cliché.
10. The NDP caucus. Jack Layton and his MPs made a cottage industry of berating the Liberals for propping up the Harper minority government – they had a cake when the Ignatieff Liberals supported the government for the 50th time – but did an about-face by supporting the government last fall when their backs were pushed to the wall. They did this after the Liberals vowed to bring the Conservatives down. Mr. Layton and his MPs said Canadians didn’t want an election. They were right – but right can be irritating, too.
(Photo: The Liberal Leader and his wife, Suzanna Zsohar, on their 2009 Christmas card.)
