His hands might not be nail scarred, his side not riven, and he has little or no hair to soften the crown of thorns, but Barry Barnett was crucified on Thursday. Hung out to dry by his boss, Rodney MacDonald.
Rodney, just back from the Middle East (Isn’t that where the Hill, Golgotha, is located?), nailed Barry to the cross by publicly stating that the purchase of pee-wee-sized all terrain vehicles was “poorly handled.”
Wow! And Barry believed, up until that moment, that the NDP’s Matt Whynott and whoever the Liberals put up in the next election were his political enemies.
What is interesting in this latest development involving the Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight, is that less than 24 hours before, Barry faced Steve Murphy in a 10-minute interview on the CTV Evening News, and did a creditable job of defending the foolhardy purchase. I’ve already gone on record as strongly disagreeing with the purchase, but giving credit where it is due, the Minister of Health Promotion did make a strong case for the investment.
It wasn’t an easy 10 minutes, but Barry bravely faced the music. He looked like he had dry mouth and, had he known what was coming some 18 hours later, could have said, “I thirst.”
Knowing how government works, methinks the man who should be on the hot seat is the Deputy Minister, Duff Montgomery. Montgomery, for those with short memories, was the government’s point man on the Commonwealth Games debacle.
He also served in the Buchanan government – ah, but that’s another story for another time.
Normally, policy is developed within a department, usually guided by the deputy minister. The minister may or may not be aware of all of the various initiatives, and is usually brought up to speed when it is time to roll it out to the public.
Staff, who live in a bubble, have no feel for the political side, and that is as it should be. The political side should be handled by the minister and his or her executive assistant. The final vetting of the project then comes at cabinet, when a full airing (how it will play to the voters) is given. That is why Rodney MacDonald’s claim that he wasn’t informed about the purchase is so much hogwash. Either that, or Angus MacIsaac, as many of us suspect, really is in charge.
Now comes the big moment, one of those career and life defining decisions. What is Barry Barnett ‘s next move? All of us have crosses to bear, but there isn’t much that weighs more heavily on one’s shoulders than the weight of an unappreciative boss.
By his actions and his words, Rodney was exercising political damage control, and in so doing has badly damaged a minister’s reputation.
Personally, if I were publicly crucified by my boss, I would do a Waylon Jennings and tell him to “Take this job and shove it”, salary, perks and all. A cheap price to pay to salvage one’s dignity.
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and a one-time political junkie)
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