Truth Finally Catches Up To Harper

Just as Harper counts on a coffee-shop consensus to support policies built on shaky premises, his growing chorus of critics depends on simplicity – and repetition – to sway public opinion. In that way, popular campaign pledges become acid first dripping and now pouring on the credibility of a Prime Minister force-fitting easy promises into tough government choices. Of course Harper was wrong to tell voters what they wanted to hear on income trusts and the Atlantic Accord. Along with forgotten aid pledges to a too-easily forgotten continent, these are flawed pieces of public policy Liberals left behind. One took so long to decide that investor speculation sparked an election-distorting RCMP probe. The other made nonsense of an arcane equalization formula that's part of the national glue. It's equally evident three Conservatives and an NDP premier are right that a promise was broken, as are well-heeled lobbyists arguing for those hurt by Harper's investment reversal. To apparent effect, they are urging voters who believed Harper in the last election not to repeat the mistake. In a way, that's amusing. As Harper confirmed yesterday with his so-sue-us comment, political obligations are now so ethereal that even those solemnly sworn have roughly the weight and essence of intestinal gas. In another, it's disturbing. By labelling deception as spin, politicians presumably honest in private life have somehow convinced themselves that situational ethics are acceptable in public. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/224275 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 13, 2007]

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