The Post-Merger Tribulations Of PM Harper

The numbers in this election tell a very interesting story. Not only did the CPC fail to win a majority; it did not even equal the 135 seats held by the Liberals in their minority government. Even after the BQ cleaved off its usual 50 or so seats the Liberals still hold over 100 seats. The NDP acquired 10 additional seats; and combined, the NDP and Liberals could sink this minority government. Furthermore, the CPC failed once again (it is still largely another incarnation of the Alliance and Reform) to crack vote-rich Ontario, which is the lodestar of political power in this country. The real winners in this election are first and foremost the Canadian electorate who in their collective wisdom and faced with too many undesirable choices have created what is a virtual political stalemate. This election was very much a plebiscite on the merger and the fact that the CPC did not do better means that the Canadian public does not trust the pedigree of this party. If the Canadian electorate set out to punish the feckless Liberals, it also has wisely kept the CPC on a very short leash. The secondary winners are the NDP by gaining ten additional seats, and the BQ has won the dubious right to leverage the questionable federalist convictions of this minority ménage in its favour. Even as this government steps out of the starting gate it stumbles by creating the David Emerson imbroglio. Where the recruiting of Emerson appears a good business deal it is very stupid politics (and dare I say politics is still the name of the game). A really shrewd way of recruiting Emerson would have been for him to appear to languish on the opposition benches for a few months, then have him cross the floor on some fabricated point of principle and then be duly invited to join the cabinet. Nobody would have been the wiser. After a brief furor over one more converting MP, life and Parliament would have moved on. But in life, theatre and politics timing is everything, and the nabobs of nullity decided that Emerson had to be brought on board post-haste. No sooner was the election over than a backroom deal was being brokered. Former Alliance MP John Reynolds was apparently one of the key players. In the wink of an eye Emerson is sworn in as a Conservative cabinet minister. Well, my friends, if there is one thing we Canadians do not like or have any tolerance for, it's backroom deals. Mr. Emerson’s real mistake--and equally so for the PM--for all his purported superior managerial skills, was a lack of patience and cunning. He could have cast off the Liberal curse without tarnishing his peerless reputation or that of his newly adopted party with a sleight of hand; but opted for brazen effrontery. His crossover is further clouded by the as-yet unclear circumstances under which a pending deal on softwood lumber with the US was turfed instead of passed before the election under his ministry. And now Harper and Mulroney do have but one more thing in common--backroom deals. Mulroney earned the enmity of the Canadian public for his backroom dealing and rolling the dice on the constitution: slavishly primitive managerial skills. His veiled hand was also present in the merger of the two parties as obviously the split in the Canadian right was an ongoing embarrassment to him. The merger of the two parties was but another ham-fisted backroom deal. The political tribulations of Stephen Harper are many but it seems one of the most persistent and chronic is a ruinous propensity for backroom deals. The old taskmaster of these deals is still asserting his influence and haunting his successors. Canadian conservatives have yet to learn that democracy has to be up front and in the open. They have a history of shooting themselves in the foot which may be in large part why the Liberals over the years have dominated. Until they at least learn to do their dirty tricks privately their continuity as a tenable political presence is going to be spotty. This merger was really the introduction of a new political entity, a new strain of conservatism once removed from what was a distinctly Canadian strain of conservatism. The practitioners of this new conservatism have been less than candid with Canadians. Before this party is worthy of a real mandate, and not some probationary default victory, it has to clarify its identity and prove itself worthy of governance. If the Liberals have to revitalize themselves, the CPC has to serve its already painful apprenticeship under the watchful eye of an indulgent electorate. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 16, 2006]