Sam Hamad has never impressed as one of the brighter beacons on the Quebec political landscape.
His sudden need to grab his golf clubs and head down to Florida showed a lack of political judgment.
Let’s be clear: Hamad is only under investigation.
He has not been found guilty of ethical violations in revealing privileged contract information to a disgraced former Liberal bagman.
The CAQ came up with the best take with a Where’s Waldo spoof on Hamad’s disappearance.
But just getting up and leaving for a round of golf or two and leaving the premier and the Liberal cabinet holding the bag is beyond the pale.
This is the same Sam Hamad who lasted about a year as Quebec Transport Minister.
As Minister, he refused to make public engineering studies on the crumbling Mercier Bridge.
We wouldn’t understand them, he said.
The day of the Ville Marie Expressway collapse in July 2011, amid all the rubble and the near tragedy, he said ”if a bridge or a road is open in Quebec it is safe.“
We all knew it just wasn’t true.
Driving on Quebec roads and bridges is always a crapshoot.
Two years and counting
The Quebec Liberals were elected two years ago this week.
Quebecers breathed a collective sigh of relief after the nightmare of the Marois regime.
But there are danger signs for the Liberals.
PKP has picked up his game and the Couillard Liberals are haunted by the ghosts of governments and fundraising past with arrests of former cabinet ministers -- and who knows, there may be more to come.
It needs to develop better communication, better strategy and must be beyond reproach
The biggest challenge in the next two years will be with voter perception that they don’t appear clean. Perception, as you know, is everything in politics.
Villanueva has had enough chances
Dany Villanueva was given another chance by Canada and it may be chance he did not deserve.
Villanueva achieved notoriety when police tried to arrest him in a park.
Police shot and killed his brother Fredy.
Dany was to be deported but the the immigration board decided against deportation to his native Honduras because it judged his life would be at risk
Villanueva was facing deportation after pleading guilty to a 2006 armed robbery.
He was acquitted on another armed robbery charge in 2011.
He was told to stay out of trouble but now he faces drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.
You would think that being given a second chance would have made all the difference. Obviously the immigration board will need to take a second look.
Obviously some things never change.
Where is the team of yore?
As a casual hockey fan, I don’t have many explanations for the season from hell which mercifully comes to an end this weekend.
But I will leave the analysis of the entrails to others with far more knowledge, but I do know that for far too long the Canadiens have been a team that lives in the past.
They do market the past and do nostalgia better than anyone.
But there is a new generation of fans that weren’t even born the last time the team won a championship.
The glory days happened a very long time ago.
All we can do is hope that somehow they can find their game again lead by PK, Carey, and Brendan and just maybe we can start uttering those words once again: Ca sent la coupe.
