Shut Up And Listen 218

The Death Of Stephen Harper, Political Retard

How does one rise to the leadership of the second most powerful political party in the country and be so utterly incompetent when it comes to politics? This past week, the entire nation was witness to the political death of Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservatives as he lost a powerful member of the party to the rival Liberals and then was defeated in his attempt to force an election via a confidence vote in the House of Commons. The saddest part wasn't that he lost, but that it was his to lose and it was he who lost it. Both the defection of Belinda Stronach and the failure to defeat the government were nobody's fault but his.

His first mistake was made way back before the election last year when he insisted on running his own choice candidate in BC instead of Chuck Cadman, who then ran as an independent and won his riding. Right there, Harper had lost a seat all by himself. He made a decision and it was a stupid one. Since then, Cadman has, for the most part, voted with the Conservatives, because he does agree with them politically. But then this past Thursday, at the confidence vote, what did Cadman do? Why, he voted with the government and helped force a tie where the Speaker broke it by voting with the Liberals and NDP. Of course, it would be simplistic to think that Cadman voted that way just to stick it to Harper as he claimed that he was voting as his constituents wanted (as most Canadians did not want an election despite despising the Liberal government). I do think there was a private pleasure in fucking over Harper though, but that could just be me imposing my vindictive nature upon Cadman.

Harper's second mistake was pushing for an election so strongly after Paul Martin addressed the nation in late April. Before that, the Tories had a solid eight- to ten-point lead over the Liberals in the polls, and then after, that lead disappeared so that the Liberals have a two-point lead. Harper's mistake was to ignore the fact that there were two relevant polls, not the one he chose to pay attention to. The other poll showed that a large majority of Canadians want to wait until the Gomery Commission delivers its report on the Liberal's role in the sponsorship scandal before having an election, even if that means waiting until January; a poll that definitely should not have been ignored considering the fact that the Tories had, at most, around forty-percent support, while that poll had a sixty- to seventy-percent range.

And this leads to Tuesday where the entire political community in Canada all sat up at the same time and said, "What the fuck?" Belinda Stronach, former Conservative leadership candidate and current high profile member of the Tories, had left that party and joined the Liberals two days before a scheduled confidence vote over an amendment to the budget. Many accused Stronach of just being a political opportunist (yes, because she's alone when it comes to that), but she argued that her decision came down to fundamental differences over party policy on social issues like gay marriage and abortion, the Tories' alliance with the Bloc Québécois, a separatist party, and her treatment at the hands of Stephen Harper. Apparently, last week, he had a meeting with Stronach where he made it quite clear that she had better tow the party line when it came to major issues or else. Well, I guess he got his response on Tuesday.

So, come to Thursday and the confidence vote is a tie, causing the Speaker to cast the deciding vote, which by convention meant that the Speaker would vote with the government, and Stephen Harper's political career began its death right there and then, at around 6:15 pm EST on Thursday May 19, 2005. There won't be an election and Harper looks like a fool.

One can only hope that this is the wake-up call that the Conservatives need to realise that they won't be successful with Stephen Harper as their leader. It's not just the fact that he's a "political retard," as I call him, but also because Canadians don't like Stephen Harper. The Tories need to realise that there is a basic leaning in this nation to the left. Canada is a socialist nation at its core, and thus the Conservative Party needs to learn that there is only so far right that it can lean. When it comes to socially based issues like gay marriage, Canada will always be a nation that pushes forward, which obviously goes against the basic idea of a "conservative" party, but they need to realise that they can't take that too far without quickly becoming the NDP of the right. See, that was the advantage of having a Progressive Conservative Party and an Alliance Party. That way, the right had two parties: a reasonable, centrist one, and an extreme, far right one. Is it any wonder that when the leader of the extreme one becomes the leader of the unified party that most people are scared shitless of what this guy is going to do?

The Tories would be smart to get a jump on getting rid of Harper as soon as possible and replace him with the current deputy leader of the Tories and former leader of the PCs, Peter MacKay. He already has credibility as leader of the PCs as one who is much more moderate than Harper, and you add in the sympathy factor because of the Stronach fiasco (Stronach and MacKay were dating apparently up until very recently). Stronach may have helped destroy Harper and break MacKay's heart, but she also put the Tories in a position to be a much stronger party with MacKay at the helm.

All of that aside, Stephen Harper has basically lost an unlosable situation. There were outside factors, obviously, but when it comes down to it, Harper lost it, and this isn't the first time. But, if the Tories are smart, it will be the last time.