Well, certainly Harper has made his share of headlines since winning a January election by the narrowest of margins.
Contributing editor Stephen Handelman writes that the prime minister who was "once dismissed as a doctrinaire backroom tactician with no experience in government has emerged as a warrior in power."
Handelman says Harper defied conventional wisdom about how to lead a minority government — "very, very cautiously" — instead pushing through "bold" changes, including:
* Slashing more than $1 billion in federal programs.
* Reshuffling the federal bureaucracy.
* Reopening the wounds of the national unity debate by supporting Quebec's right to declare itself a "nation."
At the same time, Handelman says, Harper introduced legislation that set a new standard of accountability for federal politicians, extended Canada's military mission in Afghanistan and negotiated an end to a long-simmering trade wrangle with the U.S. over softwood exports.
Let's see, almost all of Harper's "accomplishments" are notable for the fact that they didn't involve legislation.
Harper's done everything he can "under the covers" - by the fiat of executive policy, not by actual legislation for the most part. Only a handful of Conservative sponsored bills have made it through parliament to date.
Most of Harper's works have been divisive in nature, designed to foster squabbling and reignite old enmities - to divide the country along ethnic, religious and regional grounds - all in an effort to advance his anti-nationalist view of Canada.
His program cuts have reignited the gender wars of past decades; they implicitly affect women and minorities the most. His most recent meddling with the Senate can only be described as "Meech lite", revisiting the era of Mulroney induced separatism in Quebec. His comments on the environment, and general stance has reopened the "Alberta versus Ontario" rift.
Looking at his legislation and foreign affairs, the Softwood Lumber scam keeps getting smellier by the day; we learned more about his attendance at APEC this fall from foreign governments than our own - indicating a leader who is both secretive and authoritarian. Harper's approach to both his own caucus (expelling dissidents), and dismissiveness of Canadian's needing to know what their government is doing is appalling.
"If Harper wins the majority he craves, in the election expected sometime next year, he may yet turn out to be the most transformational leader since Trudeau," the magazine says.
Harper doesn't crave a majority - he lusts after power, for the wrong reasons.
As for being transformative, Time's prognostication might be correct - but it doesn't represent a Canada that I want to see.
2 comments:
"...almost all of Harper's "accomplishments" are notable for the fact that they didn't involve legislation."
From Macleans Sept 13, 2006:
"Ron Covais is in a hurry. The president of the Americas for defence giant Lockheed Martin, and a former Pentagon adviser to Dick Cheney, he's one of a cherry-picked group of executives who were whisked to Cancún in March by the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, and asked to come up with a plan for taking North American integration beyond NAFTA. Covais figures they've got less than two years of political will to make it happen. That's when the Bush administration exits, and "The clock will stop if the Harper minority government falls or a new government is elected."
"We've decided not to recommend any things that would require legislative changes," says Covais. "Because we won't get anywhere."
Figures - the scum on the top of a swamp is often multi-layered.
Post a Comment