Crisis in Canada: A sad and sorry spectacle
Many Canadians will go to bed tonight deeply troubled over what has happened to our country. The promise of our land — of integrity and decency in public life, respect for differences between peoples of goodwill, and common pursuit of our social and economic well-being — has been sorely damaged by the dismal chronology of events that has unfolded over the past two weeks.
Where to begin with a rational analysis of this sad and sorry spectacle?
Prime Minister Harper has gained a six week reprieve before he must face Parliament (on January 27) with a new Throne Speech and a budget. He has promised to use the time to consult with the Opposition and devote himself totally to the preparation of a budget to guide Canada through the greatest economic crisis of the past half-century.
Anyone who believes this, is a good prospect to be sold the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Expect a furious new Tory air war, bombing the Coalition with “socialist” and “separatist” attack ad blockbusters, sowing yet more distrust between French and English, while spreading animosity between East and West.
I have been trying to find a comparison for Mr. Harper’s behavior with other past and present politicians. Not since Richard Nixon and ”Tricky Dicky’s” tapping of the phones of his enemies (like the tapping of the NPD caucus conference call), have we seen such unbridled distortion, misrepresentation, and general political immorality.
As one respondent to the Globe and Mail’s Adam Radwanski put it:
“ I read lots of criticism of Harper, but what has he done wrong, apart from,
The Cadman Affair
The in and out ad scandal (disrepect for parliamentary enquiry)
Calling an illegal election
Spending the election campaign attacking the opposition instead of presenting a party platform
Claiming legitimacy for your platform that was issued days before the ballot date
Recording and publishing the private meeting of another party,
Pitching the East against the West
Closing parliament?”
On the other hand, we are distressed and troubled by the evident inability of Stephane Dion — a fine and decent man — to present a coherent, credible alternative to a government that has lost the confidence not just of Parliament, but of a majority of Canadians.
Mr. Dion’s shockingly poor performance in Question period and the foul-up over his TV response to the Prime Minister’s speech leaves even his most ardent admirers — and I am one — shaking their heads.
Can the Coalition hold together? Can Dion hang on to his short-term leadership? I think there is a stronger case to be made for continuing the coalition, than for the future of Mr. Dion.
However, if Mr. Dion goes down, it will not be because of the attack of the Liberal MP from Toronto, Jim Karygiannis. He’s known as a loose cannon and has no credbility with his fellow MPs.
The Coalition has the opportunity to take a set of decisive steps over the next six weeks to prepare for taking over government. The first should be to organize an Economic Renewal Conference that would bring together Canada’s best minds to address the steps that need to be taken to protect jobs, homes and savimgs in the months ahead.
The second step should be to lay out a series of general policy initiatives that would reassure the country that the Coalition has a plan for going forward. These should be general statements of principle, such as a commitent to prudent fiscal management, economic renewal, short-term deficit financing, and measures to revitalize the auto sector and the forestry industries.
With the Governor General’s approval, the Prime Minister has shut down Parliament at the very time when the country needs urgent action to deal with these matters. There is zero prospect of the Conservative party winning a confidence vote when the House returns at the end of January.
There is one thing that could change all this: Mr. Harper’s resignation. It is time for Conservative MPs to send this man, who brought them to power and then threw it away with a deceitful, mean-spirited and almost psychopathic series of machinations, into the pages of history.
With Mr. Harper, by the way, should go his chief wind bag, John Baird. On national TV this morning, Mr. Baird boasted that the Tories would go “over the heads of Parliamentarians and over the head of the Governor General,” to the people, in their bid to stay in power. There was a time when such talk would have warranted a trip to the executioner’s block.
