You know, two weeks ago, I would have been willing to bet that Harper was going to manage to hoodwink the Canadian people enough to win the majority he has lusted after and that Dion would do well to elect a handful of MPs. How quickly things can change.
Here we are two weeks later, two debates and world markets in a tailspin, it looks like Harper will not get his majority and if the current trend continues, he may even end up where he belongs — in the Official Opposition. The last part is a bit of a longshot but then so was Harper being held to a minority two weeks ago.
Yesterday Harper had balls enough to muse about how “Prime Minister Dion” sounds in an effort to scare people away from that prospect. He needs to be careful, that might start to roll of people’s tongues a lot easier than he wants. At best Dion could only pull off a minority government but would put Harper at minimum into the Official Opposition benches, if we got real lucky maybe not even there.
He and his band of bullies jumped all over Dion’s confusion during an interview in English about what he would have already done were he Prime Minister now. They claim that just proves that Dion is not a leader who can think on his feet, bullshit. My native tongue is English and as far as I know, I don’t have a hearing problem but I have had times when I could be pretty slow on the uptake on a question asked of me. Usually I’m thinking in one direction and the person asking is coming from another direction.
Dion had the grace to accept his mistake, acknowledge it and move on. Harper’s usual response is to be disingenious in how he answers which isn’t usually a direct answer at all. That phrase of his “Let’s be clear” prefacing such responses is usually followed with anything but clarity. Being able to bambozzle interviewers with bafflegab doesn’t a leader make either but Harper manages to get away with it. Their latching onto the Dion lapse is nothing but grasping at last minute straws.
I suspect I’m not the only voter who is appalled at the willingness of someone wanting my vote as Prime Minister of this country take his assault on the character of his opposition to such a low brow level. Dion’s right, Harper has no class.
Dion has been asked if he would delay implementing his Green Shift due to the economic situation. He’s indicated that he wouldn’t which in some ways is a bit worrying on first thought. On second thought, it is change and change is always worrying. If the countries which have carbon tax are doing well economically, maybe Dion has a point that the change of direction will help the economy.
That musing aside, the bottom line is that even if Dion attained a minority government on Tuesday the Conservatives and the NDP would likely be able to block any attempt to make the changes during the term of the minority. Canadians wont have the opportunity to know if the Liberal proposals would work. Harper will be working damn hard to make sure of that.
Although, should Harper get once more reduced to a minority, especially if he fails heavily in Quebec which it looks like he will, he may have a hard time holding onto leadership of his own party. His failure to connect with and resonate with the majority of ordinary Canadians will have the grassroots of the party giving his leadership a hard look. They wont be missing the fact that the only reason he’s a contender for power at all is because the left is split in 3-4 directions
notice: The content of this post contains my opinions and my right to express them. I will respect your right to express your opinion in the comments as long as you’re not abusive and you respect my right to my opinion.
