More From Canada's "GNU Government"

A few weeks ago, I noted that Harper was explicitly excluding opposition MPs from the delegation to Bali - a rather significant breach of parliamentary tradition, and a crass attempt to prevent the opposition from having any ammunition to throw at him. (Besides being the most secretive PM since Brian Mulroney - hardly a stellar recommendation).

Today, we find out that some of Harper's Business buddies have joined the Bali delegation:

Two companies from Ottawa, where Environment Minister John Baird is an MP, have been allowed to join Canada's official delegation to the climate-change conference, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

A major oil and gas producer, EnCana Corp. of Calgary, was also permitted to join the delegation.

By joining the Canadian delegation, the corporations could influence Canada's position at the Bali conference, where about 190 countries are trying to hammer out a new agreement to replace the Kyoto accord to solve the global-warming crisis.

I'm outraged at the two-faced nature of this sequence. Essentially, Harper lied through his teeth about there not being room for opposition politicians, and instead chose to pull in a group of his allies.

Clearly Mr. Harper fails to comprehend that the Opposition is as much a part of the government as he is. As the recent marathon debates in the Alberta legislature have demonstrated, the opposition parties often serve to ensure that the government acts in the best interests of the people. Further, the opposition is styled "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" for good reason - the governing party does not govern by divine right or any other mystical privilege. The opposition should be an active participant in the government.

Unfortunately for Canada, Mr. Harper seems to either be unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, his own weaknesses. Instead, he continues to play the games of petty partisanship to fulfil his own lust for power.