Harper and Flaherty Connive for Power Fusion and Erupt the House Instead

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is an ass. Harper is an arrogant, foolish, power-hungry ass. We haven't seen such hubris in federal politics since Joe Clark thought he too could run a minority government like a majority.

As a result, he has catapulted the Governor General into a quagmire of decision making: should she accept a coalition that the opposition parties have just about cobbled out, or should she call an election? Suddenly her Constitutional powers will have an impact on this country. And all because Harper rolled the dice once too often in order to strengthen his grip on power and Jim Flaherty wanted to do to Canada what his party did to Ontario and Toronto.

Some are trying to bury what Harper has wrought by howling over the BQ being part of the coalition and reigniting separatist fires. But it's Harper who has consistently done that since he was elected leader of the Conservative party, all in aid of gaining power. (And may I remind folks it was the Progressive Conservative party who begat the BQ.) He gave the Liberals and NDP the idea of using the BQ as a way to gain and maintain power. Furthermore, a coalition is no more illegal than a minority government. It's only because most former minority governments, particularly Lester Pearson's, chose wisely to work with the opposition to lead and bless our country with good legislation that we've rarely seen one. If Harper and Flaherty had not been such strutting cocks and had acted on their post-election noises of co-operation instead, we would not now be facing this dramatic eruption in the House.

Now we are faced with the devil and the devil. Devil #1 wants to focus on fusing power to himself and not on thinking creatively about helping our economy as that might benefit Ontario the most, being as it's the province most affected by the world's financial plunge. And Devil #2 is a coalition that can only work with the help of a party fixated on old ills and getting lots and lots of moolah for one province. And all because Devil #1 couldn't get it through his thick head that Canadians wanted him to govern in concert with the other parties.

When I first saw Harper, I felt he was a middle manager, intent on one thing: getting power. And here we see that he remains so fixated on the getting that he lacks the greatness required of a leader who can steer us ably through the shark waters of changing world power and tanking economies. Instead of drawing to him the best minds so as to devise and enact bold measures, he tinkers with dead ideas such as banning public service strikes and reducing the budget by 0.01% in order to gut the fledgling Green Party and eviscerate the hated Liberals. This is good government?!?

Lastly, to all those pundits tsking tsking over what the world must think about Canada sinking into so-called instability -- as if that's a good reason to not stand up to Harper and Flaherty -- I hear from a friend in England that they're so worried, they're not talking about it.

Comments

Marg said…
I like how this is no talk about the Government tapping the phones! (in the papers I mean)
Anonymous said…
Oh my, I shouldn't read this stuff at work. Laughter betrays the fact that I'm not working...
Marg: you know I was thinking of Nixon when I read how the Conservatives tapped the NDP's teleconference call, but I didn't put two and two together and see that it was the Government. Thanks for making that clear!

LOL Aerodoq! I aim to entertain, always. :)
Greg Ioannou said…
What's surprising to me is just how plain stupid this was. I guess arrogance can blind you. Of course the other parties were going to react to a proposal to strangle them financially! And do you know of anyone that thinks the government's proposal to slash government spending just as a recession starts is a good idea?

What on earth were they thinking? They don't deserve to stay in power.
Greg, I agree! They don't deserve it. He must've thought the Liberals were in such disarray that they'd never vote down that proposal. He forgot about Layton, or that a man tossed overboard by his own party has no fear.
Anonymous said…
I love the coalition solution. It's so democratic, so Canadian.

I also love how Harper accused this coalition agreement of being an "undemocratic" power grab while there are rumours that he'll prorogue Parliament just to avoid being defeated. Because that's real democratic.
Wow, it's real. CBC is streaming live video now about the done coalition. Harper is officially toast. If he prorogues he might as well sign his own firing letter. This will be the stuff of future textbooks, and we get to experience it live.

Ben, it so is Canadian!
Oops forgot to link to streaming video: Coalition on CBC.