The highlight of Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper’s totally lackluster performance as leader of the official opposition had to been when the Liberal’s budget was voted upon. Harper’s idea of opposition surfaced within hours of the budget having been tabled in the House. He smiled and immediately proclaimed it to be a "conservative budget" (perhaps he meant a capital "C" Conservative budget in which case he might have been totally accurate). Despite the fact that the budget was heavy on social spending and didn’t contain too much that a real conservative would like, the opposition leader praised it anyway. He loved the increase in military spending, despite the fact that most of the monies, similar to other expenditures, are earmarked to be spent a few years from now when it is unlikely that the current minority government will still be in place.
When it came time for the voting, Harper’s conduct went from the shameful to the absurd. The Conservatives introduced a motion that criticized government spending on Kyoto and the gun registry. Then the more politically astute Bloc Quebecois hinted that they might support the motion. Uh oh! The motion could pass and bring down the government. So Harper had some members of his caucus not show up for the vote to ensure that their motion would be defeated. as that great american philosopher Yogi Berra might say, only in Canada.
The coup de grace of the Tory budget shenanigans came when the main budget was to be voted on. Harper had his entire caucus abstain from the vote, a first for a political party in Canadian parliamentary history.
The abstentions accomplished two things. It made Paul Martin to at least appear to be a strong leader; something Paul and his handlers have always had problems doing on their own. Secondly, the Tories’ actions allowed NDP far leftist leader Jack Layton appear downright statesmanlike. Layton said after the budget vote that people don’t send MPs to Parliament to abstain; they send them there to take positions and vote on them. It is pretty hard for even Layton’s harshest critics to disagree with that statement.
Stephen Harper got into this ridiculous sideshow almost immediately after the budget was tabled in the House of Commons. He pronounced that it was a "conservative budget" and said right off the bat that his party would support it. Yes, it did contain such things as increased military spending and teeny tiny tax cuts that Conservatives could support. But the budget also contained large chunks of money allocated to Kyoto and for the government to now finally play the role of nanny to the country’s children. Spending on such items as the Kyoto accord and daycare seemed perfectly fine to Stephen Harper. When Harper later regained his senses and started to criticize some aspects of the budget, his statements rang hollow. So you don’t like some parts of the budget; what are you going to do about it? Oh, you already told us--nothing.
Stephen Harper had a good reputation as a policy wonk and backroom boy, but he lacks the political skills that are necessary to be even a mediocre opposition leader. It seems opposing the Liberals; getting down in the nitty gritty is somewhat beneath him.
Starting with the last election campaign, Paul Martin has done everything he could to demonize Harper and the Conservatives; to show that they are not only wrong but un-Canadian. Martin’s purpose was to persuade disenchanted Liberals and soft supporters of other political parties to vote Liberal. It almost seems like Stephen Harper has bought the Liberal party line that conservatism is wrong and un-Canadian. Harper has yet to learn that conservatives gain and keep power when they clearly enunciate a conservative vision (Thatcher, Reagan, George W. Bush, Mike Harris, Ralph Klein), not when they move to the middle.
an entire party, the official opposition no less, abstaining on a crucial vote constituted a sad day in our history. as the Toronto Sun opined in an editorial, the democratic deficit in this country is due, at least in part, to the weakness of the opposition.
Congratulations, Paul! That majority is looking good.