People in glass houses should not throw stones.

Remember that fellow Stephen Harper yanging about the federal sponsorship program that was run out of the Department of Public Works. Remember his charges of corruption in connection with that program. Remember Mr. Harper’s promise of more accountability.

In fact he promised an Accountability Act as his first order of business in the new Parliament. Remember his rants against an appointed Senate. Remember his sermons about integrity in government.

Ah shucks, he’s gone and spoiled everything. The first thing he does as Prime Minister is appoint a non-elected person as Minister of Public Works, someone who will not be accountable to either electors or Parliament. Then he appoints the same guy to the Senate. Michael Fortier, the new Minister of Public Works, a lawyer and financier was President of the Conservative Party during the nineties.

He was co-chairman of Stephen Harper’s leadership campaign in 2003 and then co-chair of the 2004 and 2006 election campaigns for Stephen Harper. It appears that Fortier’s political credentials override Harper’s principle of accountability. It appears that Harper’s promise of an elected Senate was little more than an election promise, something to be broken when expedient.

In Mr. Harper’s world, credentials must be more important than the judgment of voters because the next thing he does is snatch a Vancouver Liberal, still warm from his time in the Liberal Cabinet and plunk him into his Conservative Cabinet. What kind of a guy gets himself elected as a Liberal and then a few days later accepts an offer to become a Conservative cabinet minister. Integrity and accountability certainly didn’t play a role in his decision.

The people of Vancouver-Kingsway thought they had elected a Liberal to represent them in Ottawa. They were betrayed by a man who justifies his decision by saying he was always a small “c” Liberal. The voters of Vancouver Kingsway gave 18% of their vote to the Conservatives, 43% to the Liberals and 33% to the NDP.

The Liberals want their money back and rightly so. Emerson should resign and run as a Conservative in a by-election. It would be the right thing to do.

Continuing with matters of accountability, we see a former Brigadier General in the Canadian Forces appointed as Minister of Defense. Now some might suggest that’s like throwing a fox into a henhouse but hey that’s not significant when you realize that General O’Connor’s post-military vocation was to serve as a lobbyist representing various businesses (like the infamous Airbus Industrie of Mulroney fame) to the Department of Defense.

Unlike Fortier, O’Connor has been elected to Parliament but one might be tempted to ask how an ex-lobbyist will deal with his former business client(s) as Minister of Defense when it/they seek contracts to build fighter jets. The Prime Minister will surely want to keep a close eye on this one.

Going further down the list, I see three former Mike Harris cabinet ministers in Mr. Harper’s cabinet. You remember Mike Harris’ “common sense revolution” in Ontario. After cutting more than $8 billion from government spending and billions more in taxes, his government left behind a $6 billion deficit and the Walkerton water tragedy.

One of the Harris boys will be our new Minister of Finance; one will be President of Treasury Board and the other Minister of Health. Hard to see how our healthcare system will get more funds from these guys. They should be a great help in reducing patient waiting times.

Next, we have Albertan and former Energy Critic Rona Ambrose appointed as Minister of the Environment. She’s a former Conservative energy critic. Her role in Environment will be to disengage Canada from the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse gas emissions and then build a federal-provincial made in Canada alternative.

Ms. Ambrose made national headlines a year ago with a remark she directed at hockey great Ken Dryden. Mr. Dryden was introducing the Liberal’s national Childcare program when Ms. Ambrose shouted "working women want to make their own choices, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do".

The Conservative platform promised a $1200 a year payment to parents. It also promised to honour the Liberal’s Childcare program but only for one year. Earlier this week, Maureen McTeer, wife of former Conservative Prime Minister Joe Clark argued in a national newspaper for retention of the Liberal’s Childcare program. Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec wants the Harper Government to extend the Liberal Childcare agreement for Quebec.

Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario says me too. To be credible and accountable to his Conservative voters, Mr. Harper has no choice, but to honour his promises, even if it upsets the provinces. What will that mean for national unity?

There was a touch of brilliance in Peter MacKay’s appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister in charge of ACOA.

The Foreign Affairs portfolio will take him out of the Country and make him less of a day-to-day threat to Harper’s leadership. When MacKay is out of the Country, his ACOA responsibilities will be assumed by two Parliamentary Secretaries, one a former member of the Reform /Alliance Party from Calgary and the other a lawyer and professor from Niagara Falls, Ontario who has served on Parliamentary Committees dealing with Human Resources and Employment Insurance. Between the two of them, they should be able to SAP the workings of ACOA.

People were just getting comfortable with Mr. Harper when suddenly he creates a series of situations that contradict the ethos of accountability that Conservatives embraced during the recent election campaign.

At some point, the Conservative Prime Minister might want to spend some time with Webster’s dictionary. To be accountable, is to accept the obligation to bear the consequences for failure to perform as expected. As the self-proclaimed champion of accountability he has so far failed to walk the talk.

Mr. Harper’s glass house of accountability has already been cracked by his tossing of only a few stones.