More from Michael Harris available More fromavailable here

As the Conservative Party of Canada augers down into a hell-hole of hypocrisy, the spectacle is not without comic relief.

It has been widely observed how some senior Tories have undergone a conversion of sorts on the road to oblivion. Some of these flip-flops are mere head-shakers. Some are Exorcist-grade nasal coffee rockets.

Let us begin gently. Interim Leader Rona Ambrose has clearly modified her views on how a government should treat the non-government side. During Harper-times, the Opposition was consigned to institutional Siberia. Their amendments were ignored, their questions went unanswered and they were routinely deprived of the basic information they needed to do their jobs — just as former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page told us.

Now, Rona has asked for a pre-budget meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Does she want to offer him advice on how to run budgetary deficits? Does she want to show him how to hide the bad stuff in an omnibus bill? Whatever the reason, Rona now believes in the government should consult the Opposition Leader. Where was the outreach when Rona’s bunch ruled the roost? The only thing Stephen Harper ever consulted was his navel.

Then there’s Rona’s volte face on a royal commission into missing and murdered aboriginal women. While in power, she was dead against the idea, just like Steve. Now that Steve has taken to hanging out incognito in Vegas and Fort Myers, Rona’s compassion needle is jumping like a Geiger counter at Fukushima.

During the Harper Occupation, when Ambrose was health minister, marijuana was the devil’s weed. Minister Ambrose made it a moral and “scientific” issue: no legal doobies on her watch, and no support for municipally-run marijuana dispensaries either. Otherwise, all the kids would be stoned before they got to finger-painting.

The Cons put our money where their mouths were — all $7 million of it. They spent the numbers off the credit card on an anti-marijuana-legalization drive, pimping out Health Canada in the process. It was, of course, really just an anti-Justin Trudeau campaign — and people noticed.

Trudeau, then in opposition, had stated his intention to legalize the drug for Canadians eighteen and over if elected. He had also — God save his soul — admitted to taking a toke or two with friends. And he inhaled.

Under Ambrose, Health Canada’s messaging was so nakedly political that none of the main groups representing Canadian doctors — the College of Family Physicians and Surgeons, the Canadian Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada — would endorse it.

Before the last election, the Conservatives raised the ante and lowered the bar in their fight with Trudeau. Their ads, in Chinese and Punjabi, not only warned that Trudeau supported selling drugs to kids, but also backed the establishment of neighborhood brothels. It was all a steaming mound of party headquarters bullshit.

But not everyone was repulsed. Julian Fantino was a big supporter of the Rona Doctrine: ‘Don’t let the Liberals addict the children’ was his message to constituents in Vaughan. They were so impressed with his advice that they gave him some free career advice on October 19.

The past has such a long reach. How does Pierre Poilievre live down the cash-for-kids gambit? How does Erin O’Toole champion the cause of veterans when his government told them they were a bunch of union dupes? I ask you, how does Kellie Leitch run for leader after standing in front of a sign that said, ‘Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices’? The past has such a long reach. How does Pierre Poilievre live down the cash-for-kids gambit? How does Erin O’Toole champion the cause of veterans when his government told them they were a bunch of union dupes? I ask you, how does Kellie Leitch run for leader after standing in front of a sign that said, ‘Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices’?

Which makes it all the stranger now that Rona is channelling her inner hippie — sort of. She made headlines this week with her confused advice to the Trudeau government — to move fast on pot legalization because it will help in the process of regulating pot dispensaries. Or was it, ‘Move fast on regulating pot dispensaries because the kids will soon be knee deep in grass’? Whatever — it’s still a long way from Rona of Green Gables and the perils of reefer madness. What happened to all that “sound public health policy backed by science”?

Rona is not alone in changing her spots. Tony Clement recently asked the Trudeau government to release details of Ottawa’s sordid arms deal with the Saudis — the dudes who see nothing wrong with beheading critics, or wiping out Yemen, but ban chess. There’s only one the problem with Tony’s cry for transparency: this deal was struck by the Harper government … his government. What they kept top secret, Tony now demands the new government makes public.

For heaven sakes, Tony, get someone to do your taxes this year.

The ex-Treasury Board boss also is apparently having confused second thoughts about dumping the long-form census. But lots of people have noted the dubious sincerity here. That’s not what’s funny.

What’s funny is that Tony has never admitted that the PMO forced him to replace the long-form census in the first place. Twice the recommendation for the long-form census went up to the PMO from Statistics Canada; twice it was rejected.

One of the people who signed off on both of those recommendations from the department was former chief statistician Munir Sheikh. Was Tony’s signature on the recommendations too?

Now that Tony admits dumping the long-form census was not a Reach for the Top moment, maybe he’s also ready to reveal that the whole thing was imposed on him by the PMO. One thing is certain: Munir Sheikh never recommended the short form census, as Tony Bologna said at the time.

But did Clement twice recommend the long form census himself? It’s time Tony told the real story of how he used Canada’s former chief statistician for political cover — and ruined Sheikh’s public service career in the process. A public apology wouldn’t hurt either.

But let’s not single out poor Rona and Tony. Almost every leadership candidate whose name is blowing around the jet-stream of gossip surrounding the Conservative leadership is hopelessly compromised by their years of Harper-service.

Despite all the gushers about a Peter MacKay coronation in 2017, his record as a Progressive Conservative is dismal. As justice minister, he couldn’t even amend the marijuana laws to make simple possession a fine instead of a criminal record.

As defence minister he misled the country over the costs of the F-35 fighter jet program. Then he hung his department out to dry when the government couldn’t lie anymore when faced with reports from the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor-General.

As regional minister, he helped turn Conservative support in Atlantic Canada into a doughnut hole in the last election, including the loss of the family seat in Central Nova.

Finally, MacKay led his previous party into oblivion through the merger with the Canadian Alliance. Progressive Conservatives like David Orchard have not forgotten how that happened.

The past has such a long reach. How does Pierre Poilievre live down the cash-for-kids gambit, or his partisan-inspired Fair Elections Act, the Harper government’s non-answer to robocalls?

How does Erin O’Toole champion the cause of veterans when his government closed down their service centers and told them they were a bunch of union dupes?

I ask you, how does Kellie Leitch run for leader after standing beside Chris Alexander in front of a sign that said, “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices”?

True, there was a Canadian flag behind both of them and, yes, they were both sporting poppies. But a snitch line to encourage people to spy on their minority neighbours?

That’s about as Canadian as Stephen Harper. Which is the whole problem.

Michael Harris is a writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws for his “unceasing pursuit of justice for the less fortunate among us.” His nine books include Justice Denied, Unholy Orders, Rare ambition, Lament for an Ocean, and Con Game. His work has sparked four commissions of inquiry, and three of his books have been made into movies. His new book on the Harper majority government, Party of One, is a number one best-seller and has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Literary Award for English-language non-fiction.

Readers can reach the author at [email protected]. Click here to view other columns by Michael Harris.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.