What's happening in Zimbabwe is a disgrace. Everyone knows that a vicious thug by the name of Robert Mugabe stole the election from Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

But the Harper government doesn't help Canada's reputation when it puts forth new Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson to make the case about a denial of democracy.

In a government news release issued on June 29, Emerson condemned Mugabe's actions as "illigitimate and illegal".

Emerson declared that Canada didn't accept the results:

“The citizens of Zimbabwe have been denied the opportunity to shape their future through free and fair elections, and they remain in constant danger of intimidation, injury and loss of life. Canada does not consider the result of the June 27 election to be, by any reasonable standard of democracy, a credible outcome. This ‘election’ is illegitimate and will not be accepted by the Government of Canada.”

With the exception of Emerson's comments about the danger of intimidation, injury, and loss of life, some of his remarks could just as well be applied to the election in Vancouver Kingsway in January, 2006.

Emerson ran as a Liberal in that campaign. Voters in his riding of Vancouver Kingsway elected him as a Liberal. They didn't vote for a representative of Stephen Harper's Conservative party.

Before Parliament even sat for a day after the election, Emerson had crossed the floor to become a Conservative cabinet minister. If he had originally run as a Conservative, he likely never would have won.

As the old saying goes, those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. And those who make solemn pledges about democracy, even if they're the new minister of foreign affairs, shouldn't be taken seriously by the media if they cross the floor to the winning party immediately after winning a seat in a federal election.