Stepen Harper, ’skilled tactician’: The Economist
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- Britain’s The Economist believes Stephen Harper’s Conservative club may actually fail in its bid to achieve a majority following the forthcoming election.
Worse, “His poll lead has been cut by almost half” and, “Unless he bucks the trend he could even lose power.”
Harper, “comes over as a bloodless control freak,” but actually, he’s a, “hardworking, and a skilled parliamentary tactician” who, “governs a rather successful country that needs incremental improvement, not a revolution,” says the article.
Be that as it may, “the hopes of Stephen Harper … of endowing his minority government with a parliamentary majority at a general election on October 14th may end up being dashed,” says the influential magazine.
His decision to call the election initially looked shrewd. Then, “the Wall Street panic got going” and, “Canadians began to worry that Mr Harper was not doing enough to protect them.”
In office he’s, “tried to woo eastern Canada, dropping his previous opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and recognising French-speaking Quebec as a ‘nation within a united Canada’,” says The Economist, going on »»»
But his inner oilman has won out when it comes to the environment, an important issue in a country that is both a heavy carbon-emitter and especially vulnerable to climate change. Stéphane Dion, the Liberal leader, bravely proposes a carbon tax, which he claims would be revenue-neutral. Simply to rubbish this as a “crazy” idea that would “screw everybody”, as Mr Harper has done, shows a disappointing lack of leadership, and is grounds enough to deny the Conservatives a majority. In fact another minority Conservative government would not be a bad result for Canada: neither of the main party leaders has done enough to persuade Canadians that they deserve untrammelled power.
Says the article, “If the voters go further and eject Mr Harper, that, sadly, will not be because they have been convinced by the cerebral Mr Dion’s worthy carbon tax. It will be because the opposition — a gang of four, comprising the socialist New Democrats, the separatist Bloc Québécois and the rising Green Party as well as the Liberals — has succeeded in panicking the voters on the economy.”
Nonetheless, “in a sinking world, Canada is something of a cork,”says the post.
“Its well-regulated banks are solid. Growth has slowed but not stopped. The big worry is the fear that an American recession will drag Canada down with it.”
Finally, “Harper says, rightly enough, that his government has taken prudent measures to help Canada weather a storm it cannot duck: he has offered tax cuts and selective aid to help vulnerable manufacturing towns.
“But it is his seeming non-reaction to what is so far a non-crisis that looks likely to deny him the majority he was seeking, and could even let in the opposition.”
The Economist – The fear factor, October 9, 2008
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