[LINK] "Binns lands plum patronage job in Boston"

[rfmcdonald]

Doug Saunders at Twitter shared the news that Pat Binns, former premier of Prince Edward Island from 1996 to 2007 as leader of the Progressive Conservative party, has not only been Canada's ambassador to Ireland for the past three years but is now Canada's Consul-General in Canada's Boston consulate. This article says everything about the way that Canada's diplomatic corps, at its very top, is as unprofessional as the United States'.

The tradition continues: This morning, the Harper government (through the department of foreign affairs) announced that former PEI Premier Pat Binns has been awarded a plum diplomatic appointment. He becomes consul-general of Boston. Binns became PEI premier in 1996 and served 11 years in that role. He ran for election again in 2007 but was trounced by the Opposition Liberals led by Robert Ghiz. Binns didn't have to wait long for something new to do. Three months later, in August of 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government announced that Binns would become ambassador to Ireland. Binns replaced a career diplomat. At the time, federal Liberals blasted Harper over the appointment, accusing him of being a hypocrite because he had always been critical of Liberal patronage.

In any event, Binns is coming back to North America to a city with strong Irish roots. He will replace another political appointee as consul-general in Boston -- Neil LeBlanc. He was appointed to the post in the summer of 2006. LeBlanc is a former Conservative politician and was Nova Scotia finance minister. In that case, Liberals were aghast but the government defended the appointment by saying that LeBlanc had lived in Boston as a child and had many "connections" in the area.

The Island's links with the "Boston States" have historically been strong. Nevertheless.