SAY IT AIN’T SO, STEPHEN
Prime Minister Harper was supposed to be the champion of Canadians who believe in things like small government and fiscal prudence—they are now in shock
Watching Prime Minister Stephen Harper govern these days is a lot like watching an old episode of The Twilight Zone. Just picture it. First the eerie music: Doo da doo doo, Doo da doo doo, Doo da doo doo. Then a black and white Rod Serling appears; he’s standing in front of the House of Commons, cigarette in hand, and says something like: “You’re travelling through a Canadian political dimension, a dimension of minority governments and cynical ambitions, a dimension where Stephen Harper, a one-time, socialism-hating, conservative ideologue transforms himself into a free spending, deficit creating, big government-loving Liberal.” Wow, talk about your ironic, twist endings.
Mind you, I doubt even Rod Serling could have dreamed up a scenario as bizarre as the one that’s currently unfolding in Ottawa. Who would have thought that Prime Minister Harper, the former Reform MP, the noted fiscal hawk, the man who once led the right-wing National Citizens Coalition, would ever be the one who would recklessly plunge Canada into a sea of red ink? Yet, that’s exactly what happened on Jan. 27, when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled the federal government’s budget, a budget loaded down with spending splurges, bailouts and massive deficits. So much for the notion of fiscal conservatism.
It’s no wonder, Canada’s conservative community, those Canadians who actually believe in things like minimal government and balanced budgets and fiscal prudence, are currently in a state of shock. Stephen Harper was supposed to be their champion. He was the guy who was going to roll back the state, make government smaller and usher in a new conservative Canada. They expected Mr. Harper to be Canada’s Ronald Reagan, what they got instead was Bob Rae.
As conservative author Tasha Kheiriddin recently told the media, “There’s a lot of feeling of betrayal. We don’t need a second Liberal party.” Of course, Ms. Kheiriddin and other Canadian conservatives should not be too surprised by Mr. Harper’s spend-happy budget. After all, the Harper Tories sold their ideological soul a long time ago. In fact, they never were a truly conservative party.
Consider that even before the Jan. 27 budget, government program spending under Prime Minister Harper increased by an average of 7.2 per cent per year, which meant he was spending money faster than even his Liberal predecessor, Paul Martin. And like the Liberals before them, the Harper Tories were certainly not above pouring billions of tax dollars into places like Quebec, if they thought it might win them a few extra votes. Nor has the Conservative government ever implemented meaningful, broad-based, deep tax cuts, or reformed our government-monopoly health-care system, or reined in the censoring Human Rights Commissions.In short, the Tories have done precious little to advance any sort of conservative agenda.
Of course, Harper defenders will point out that it’s difficult to execute conservative policies when you lead a minority government. Certainly that’s true. But minority or no minority, Mr. Harper could have at least used his position as prime minister to extol and promote the virtues of smaller government and freer markets. But he never did. Why? Because Mr. Harper and his strategists believe the only way for Conservatives to win elections is to act and talk like Liberals. Or to put it another way, the prime minister was willing to sacrifice his principles for the sake of political expediency.
That’s why during the 2008 federal election the Conservatives didn’t even try to present Canadians with conservative vision for the country. Instead, the Conservative election strategy was built around one idea: Liberal leader Stéphane Dion was a wimp, whereas Mr. Harper was strong. And compared to Mr. Dion, Mr. Harper was strong. That’s why for the last three years he could basically govern like he had a majority, taunting the cowering Liberals to bring down his government. But now things are different. Ever since the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition nearly toppled his government late last year, Mr. Harper has become the political equivalent of a 98-pound weakling. The arrogance is gone; the days of bullying the Opposition are over; the prime minister is in full retreat.
Yet Mr. Harper’s desire to keep his job remains as strong as ever, which is why he will now willingly kowtow to the man who controls his government’s fate, new Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. If Mr. Ignatieff says jump, Mr. Harper will say how high on his way up. Kowtowing, by the way, is remarkably easy if you have no guiding principles. Just look at how readily and eagerly the prime minister enacted a Liberal-pleasing budget that went against everything Conservatives are supposed to stand for. And don’t kid yourself, that budget was not about kick-starting the economy or providing a fiscal stimulus or fighting the recession—it was about one thing and one thing only, ensuring the Tories keep power. This is why we can expect the Tories to introduce more Liberal-pleasing initiatives in the weeks and months ahead.
Eventually, of course, when it suits his timetable, Mr. Ignatieff will force an election which Mr. Harper will likely lose. So the Tories who jettisoned their principles for power, will ultimately end up with neither. As Rod Serling might say, that’s just the kind of thing you would expect to happen in the Twilight Zone. Doo da doo doo, Doo da doo doo, Doo da doo doo.
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