Stephen Poloz, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, says that the economic numbers in the first quarter of this year will be "atrocious" -- something that Stephen Harper knows full well. Therefore, Crawford Killian writes:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a guy who reportedly cowered in a closet while the guns roared in the hallway, has collected his wits and mapped out a whole new course to a new majority with admirable speed. By parlaying one mentally ill drug addict into a terrorist threat, he created the embryo of a Canadian police state in Bill C-51. Meanwhile, riding on the slipstream of the Americans' attacks on the Islamic State, he has found an unrelated casus belli, a cause for war, just as George W. Bush did after 9/11.
So seven months (or less) before the next election, Harper is a war prime minister like Mackenzie King -- effectively bulletproof for the duration. And the duration is likely to last through next fall and perhaps to 2020.
Harper claims that he is operating from a moral imperative. But his imperative is entirely political:
How else could he sell himself to the voters? He's touted himself as the guardian of our economic interests, while running up our deficits and promising a balanced budget real soon now. As viceroy of the Oil Patch, he bet the country on exporting expensive oil, and now the Oil Patch is drowning in its own product. We get endless warnings about a housing bubble, job growth has been at record lows for over a year, and the available jobs are crappy part-time ones.
With no end in sight, the economic downturn would demolish Harper and the Conservatives in the next election. But with a sanitary, low-casualty, far-away war to distract people, and Bill C-51 to silence critics, he might just scare enough voters into giving him four more years of the same -- while also running up as big a deficit as he likes.
His election strategy is entirely transparent. He is The Amazing Transparent Man.
10 comments:
Well well Owen we all know by now Harper is worse than a used car salesman at a dogie lot don't we?
He sucks big time...
Mogs Moglio
That should be clear to everyone by now, Mogs.
Debt keeps growing, so the economy is not allowed to slow down.
I just find it hard to believe Owen that Canadians would believe his war rhetoric and as a consequence vote him back in.I just don't buy it. Maybe I'm naive.
The economy didn't work out the way Harper said it would, Hugh. Perhaps he didn't know what he was talking about.
You're not naive, Pam. But, if the polls are right, there are a lot of Canadians out there who are.
.. Crawford Killian appears to be the only writer who has said that Stephen Harper owes his political life to the Ottawa gunman. Actually I have suggested the PM owes his political life and any tattered remains of a legacy to the murder of Cpl Cirillo ..
Same deal.. of course.. tho I prefer crediting the supreme unarmed sacrifice of Cpl Cirillo rather than the armed addled madness of Bibeau. Without the murder, the story would be a mad dog shot to doll rags and our PM hiding in a broom closet afterwards.
I have also tried to point out to Crawford & other analysts, that in the face of a complete collective memory lapse of every single person within the Conservative caucus that fateful & incredibly historic day.. Canadians still are in the dark.
Yes.. we have a vague smoky mythy mystery.. fractured and failed collective memories, primarily that of Tony Clement who bolted with other MP's to hide upstairs.. & claimed he ran right into the firefight. Bits of anecdotes from MP's and Harper himself telling CBC he shared the frightening sound of the 10 second firefight with his caucus.. tho he had a special understanding due to his 'training'
We have no idea what aides were present, to steer him into the closet. No Ray Novak? Not a single MP can recall seeing Harper leave the podium during or after the 10 second barrage.. or how the very distant initial shots affected anyone in the room.
Amazing.. one of the most historic moments in Canadian history.. driving Bill C-51 and an extended war in Syria against ISIS or ISIL or the jihadis.. and out of approx 200 rapt, elected MP's and aides, watching and listening to the PM at the time.. none recall a damn thing.. Seriously ? Or is this whipped memory?
Oh .. yes, I forgot.. one MP recalls surprise at seeing Harper emerge from the closet.. 20 minutes or so later.. His career prospects must be very very dim .... .......
Harper has been very good at hiding, salamander -- from facts, from responsibility, from the truth.
And now we learn that neither the public nor our parliamentarians will know the cost of said war, never mind the effect of same on that wonderful balanced budget that has not been tabled. What a great 'economist' and supporter of democratic principals our 'fearless leader' is!
The aversion to truth among these folks is pathological, Rural.
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