Monday, July 19, 2021

JUXTAPOSE!

In defending 24-year-old Ben Harper's $671,000 annual salary as an advisor to Jason Kenney, supporters cream themselves over his post-secondary education:

Christine Myatt, a spokesperson for the Office of the Premier, says he was hired "based on his professional credentials."

"He holds both a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) and Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University, and is pursuing his Masters of Economics from Columbia University - one of the world’s premier institutes of higher learning," she wrote in a statement to CTV News.

"Mr. Harper’s education and background in economics is an asset as we work to implement the Alberta Recovery Plan and get our province back on track."

In denigrating Justin Trudeau, the very same people point to Trudeau's bachelor of arts degree in literature from McGill University and bachelor of education degree from the University of British Columbia, and sniff:

"He's just a drama teacher and snowboard instructor."

See how that works?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The M.A. from Columbia might be one of those "pay to play" master's degrees anyways. Economics departments especially are like puppy mills. They admit a ton of students, but only accept a few for fully-funded PhDs. Ivy League schools (and UChicago in economics) can do this do to their prestige.

Anyhow, the Columbia M.A. (still unfinished) might not be as impressive as it sounds.

CC said...

More to the point, taking courses in economics does not give one a "background in economics." This is the same horseshit as when Stephen Harper -- with nothing more than a Master's in Economics -- was touted as a "trained economist."

The question that should be asked of that air-headed twonk Christine Myatt should be, "So, with all the possible accomplished candidates that would have valuable experience with the economy of Alberta and Western Canada, you chose ... someone still taking courses in New York?"

thwap said...

He'll be making more money than his dad.

MgS said...

Frankly this whole idiocy around Ben Harper wouldn't piss me off so much if conservatives like Kenney and others hadn't spent so much time and energy attacking ... you know ... education.

It couldn't be a bigger irritant for them to be waving around the academic accomplishments of Spawn of Darth Harper as a statement of ability when they've spent so much time denigrating those of us who hold degrees for being "ivory tower types with no real world experience".