Stephen Harper has an aversion to Parliament. When the House of Commons sits, he and his ministers have to answer questions. The body language of the Prime Minister and his ministers, and their surly, disrespectful attitude to those on the other side of the aisle tells the story.
The styles vary. When Harper stands up to answer a question, he does up his jacket in the manner of a butcher securing his apron before he gives an animal the chop. Peter MacKay adopts an unctuous manner at the start of an answer and concludes by sliming an opponent. John Baird bullies and spews contempt. And Jason Kenney plays the jackal, preferring to sink his teeth into dead meat left behind by the others. He’s the one who claimed that York University is such a hotbed of anti-semitism that what goes on there can be compared to “pogroms”. As the grandson of a rabbi who has taught there for the past 38 years, I guess I’m lucky I’m still alive.
The members of the Conservative cabinet are not very bright guys. And they don’t see why they should have to be subjected to cross-examination. Replying to critics is not their strong suit. When the questioning gets too hot as it did before Christmas on the Afghan prisoner abuse issue they don’t shoot the messengers, they just shut them up.
By the time the House rose the Conservatives were dropping in the polls to about 36 per cent, down from the 40 per cent range they occupied about six weeks earlier, and down from their score in the 2008 election. The favourite narrative of the supine mainstream media that Harper is a brilliant political strategist, headed for a majority in the next election, was a little patchy by the time the pundits were going out for eggnog in early December.
Harper does have one golden rule. When the going gets tough, prorogue the House. He did it a year ago to avoid the certain defeat of his government in the Commons. This year he’s done it to get the parliamentary committee investigating the torture scandal off his back.
Before Parliament reconvenes with a new Speech from the Throne on March 3, the Vancouver Olympic Games will have showcased Canada to the world, with Harper playing the genial (for him) host. His strategists believe that this will repair the reputation the nation earned at Copenhagen, as the “colossal fossil”. By then, as well, these geniuses are confident that the ugly tableau of cover-up, the smearing of Richard Colvin and the constant changing of the government story on the prisoner abuse scandal, will have faded from memory.
Stephen Harper likes to think of himself as the manly leader of a sporting nation. Perhaps in the reflected glow of gold medals, the Prime Minister will acquire the warmth he lacks within to endear him to the forty per cent of Canadians he needs to win a majority in an election in 2010.
Harper would not be the first leader in history prepared to enhance his own power by hiding the savaging of his country’s system of government behind the laurels of young athletes.
A year ago, the Prime Minister was prepared to mislead his fellow citizens about the essence of our system of government---the requirement that the ministers of the crown must enjoy the backing of the majority of the members of the House of Commons---to retain power. To stay at the helm, he was quite happy to delude Canadians into believing that the PM is directly elected and that the members of parliament from Quebec aren’t quite equal to the others.
When the history of this era is written years from now, the story is likely to be that of a not very talented gang with values distant from those of the Canadian mainstream, holding onto office longer than they should have because the opposition couldn’t figure out how to unite to deal with them. Some will bear more responsibility for this sorry state of affairs than others.
Just don’t blame the large majority of Canadians who continue to have the sense to reject Harper and his boys, medals notwithstanding. Yes, Canadians care about the economy, the environment, and the prisoner abuse scandal. They are concerned about the reputation of their country in the rest of the world. Give them a way to rid themselves of Harper in the next election and the people will do the rest.
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15 comments:
Great article, as usual.
I'm glad you pointed out that the pundits see Harper as a brilliant tactician. I find it amazing that these published morons can keep repeating that. He only seems "brilliant" because the opposition has been so consistently weak that it allows Harper to get away with all his anti-democratic tricks. And the two times he has actually found his government on the verge of real defeat, he has used prorogation. The fact that all these pundits can actually see every single "brilliant" move by Harper is evidence enough that Harper's political plays are visible to all.
It's also amazing how a number of these pundits are simultaneously angered by Harper's current prorogation but saying that Canadians don't really care too much about the torture scandal. This is obviously nonsense. It has real legs, but those legs have now been axed by Harper.
I hope there will be one Canadian athlete who is willing to stick their finger in Harper's eye when Harper tries to grandstand at the Vancouver Olympics.
Misrepresentation of a system of government by someone outside it can be passed off as ignorance, but if this country's prime minister (first among equals, but Harper can't quite grasp that concept) deliberately misrepresents it to Canadian citizens, that sounds like an indictable offence to me. We haven't had a good treason trial in Canada for a while.
I can't watch the Cons or listen to them speak any more. Their hypocrisy is enraging and nauseating.
I hope that this period doesn't go on too much longer. They've done so much damage as it is. It takes so much longer to build up something good than to tear it down.
As for Jason Kenney, he is a disturbed and disturbing bigot - perfect choice for a citizenship and immigration minister. Politicization of anti-semitism is dangerous. It's amazing how this lot can turn willful ignorance and a lack of higher education into a virtue.
I can now appreciate how the majority of Americans who did not vote for Dubya Bush felt when the public face of their country did not represent them at all.
On someone else's blog, I joking made a prediction that if Harper's party achieves a majority of the seats in the next election, he will introduce a "Canada Freedom Act" where those who violate the freedoms of others will be punished. One must guess who could be free and who could be punished. Welcome to the Harper alter-universe.
I don’t usually reply to posts but I will in this case. I’ve been experiencing this very same problem with a new WordPress installation of mine. I’ve spent weeks calibrating and getting it ready when all of a sudden… I cannot delete any content. It’s a workaround that, although isn’t perfect, does the trick so thanks! I really hope this problem gets solved properly asap.
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Hi...
Visiting from Indonesia,
Happy New Year 2010, have a nice day.
Good article Mr. Laxer.
Something almost unknown is that in December the Liberals (Judy Sgro et al) were tabling a bill calling for an inquiry over the use of Agent Orange in CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick. While I'm not saying this was the sole reason Harper stymied Parliament I am saying it probably figured along with all the other scandals he has muffled.
Take this example of what will come out in an inquiry, just one of dozens and not even the worst. In May 1963 a Colonel Casto of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps was directing crop destruction missions in Vietnam. In December 1963, now promoted to head of Fort Detrick's chemical warfare division (it wasn't actually called that but I consider Plant Sciences to be a euphonism), Col. Casto was in CFB Gagetown directing the plans for the 1964 brush control program. In July 1964 58,350 US gallons of a 50:50 mixture of 2,4-D & 2,4,5-T mixed with oil were sprayed on nearly 10,000 acres of the base. This was the year previous to the debut of Agent Orange in Vietnam, by the way. What resulted was the complete decimation of farms and market gardens in an area nearly 30 kilometers in diameter. To give some idea of the scale of this disaster the Crown had to pay $250,000 in compensation, a huge amount back then.
Had Canada just witnessed its first full field-test of a chemical warfare weapon? Only an inquiry will tell.
I've been looking all over for this!
Thanks.
Mr. Harper should be heartily ashamed of himself proroguing the government while our young men and women continue to risk their lives in Afghanistan. Would it not be nice if they could prorogue the war and come home to spend time with their loved ones instead of risking their lives over there?
The fault, dear Professor, lies not in the PM, but in our parliamentarians. When then General Hillier had the impudence to demand that Parliament rubber stamp the Manley report and the Afghan mission, did any one of our MPs demand his resignation? No. That’s not the Canadian way. When the Governor General displayed appallingly bad judgment letting the PM prorogue Parliament and flee a vote of non-confidence, did any MP demand that she be sacked? Is any party recommending that the GG be stripped – you’ll pardon the expression – of the power to dissolve or prorogue? No. That’s not the Canadian way. And when a parade of diplomats, generals and former generals filed past the Parliamentary committee investigating the Canadian government’s collusion in the Afghan government’s violations of the Geneva Convention rules regarding POWs, was any one of them cross-examined? No, that’s not the Canadian way. No, they were greeted with embarrassing deference and lobbed easy-to-answer questions. So when the PM treats Parliament like a dog does a fire hydrant, he is merely following a tradition that began with Mackenzie King and gained momentum with Prime Minister Fuddle Duddle. That, dear Professor, is the Canadian way!
As a former student, the last thing I would do would be to dismiss your thoughts as the ramblings of an old man!
Anonymous @7:53am almost makes several excellent points, but his conclusions lack focus. The fact is that the examples of Parliamentary cowardice he cites occurred precisely because the "Canadian way" is now so rarely taken by our élites and not because the Canadian way is, itself, corrupt and craven.
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There is obviously so much to know about all this. You have made good points in all areas
You have work at all this news; you are doing a great job!
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