The firing of Bill Stairs as communications director for Prime Minister Harper just days after the latter’s swearing-in must surely be one of the most rapid on record.

As opposition leader calling for change, Harper became something of a media darling during the election campaign. That the honeymoon hasn’t lasted long is pretty evident from the media spotlight on the Emerson crossover, a senate appointment of a non- MP from Quebec and other about-faces.

Oddly enough, Stairs was Peter McKay’s communications director when McKay was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party before joining forces with Harper. Judging from our new Foreign Minister’s past and present records Stairs couldn’t have had much of a talent for that job, either.

At a time when the fate of the Canadian hostages in Iraq was unknown, McKay’s reckless assurance to the families of their well-being appears to have been based solely on McKay’s imagination. Thank God the hostages were eventually rescued. One wonders what further masterstrokes of diplomacy we might expect from or new minister for Foreign Affairs.

Oh, well, it might have been worse. Stockwell Day in Foreign Affairs, for example.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 1st, 2006 at 3:48 am and is filed under TV Commentaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.