The humbling of a Prime Minister
LAWRENCE MARTIN
>From Monday's Globe and Mail
December 1, 2008 at 12:11 AM EST
Elizabeth May tells a story from the televised election debates. The rules
stipulated that leaders were allowed to bring in blank paper for note-taking.
"I'm seated next to Stephen Harper," the Green Party Leader recalls, swearing
she isn't imagining things, "and I look down on his little table. His paper
isn't blank. He's got all these notes, already prepared. It was like to hell
with the rules. I do what I want."
That was then. This is now.
Now, a domineering Prime Minister known for running a minority like he has won
a landslide is on bended knee, petitioning for survival. In a matter of days
Mr. Harper has recanted on his plan to withdraw public funding for political
parties, has disavowed his intent to eliminate the right of public servants to
strike, has moved up the timing of his budget and moved back the timing of a
confidence vote.
The sight of him semi-prostrate before the likes of Stéphane Dion and Jack
Layton is not something many would have believed. He hasn't done the full
revocation yet. He hasn't come forward with a plan for major stimulus in the
budget, as opposition parties demand. That could come later this week. But
whatever the outcome of the current crisis, one thing is clear: This is a Prime
Minister who is getting his comeuppance. You live by the sword, you die by the
sword. He isn't dead, but he is mightily humbled. History won't forget these
days.Many of us thought he might be changing his ways. I'd written countless
columns about his autocratic tactics, but thought that with his election win in
October we were seeing a new Stephen Harper, that he was more relaxed and
secure. He made some impressive personnel changes and seemed to be displaying a
little more bipartisanship. But his opting to play power-monger politics in the
midst of a global economic crisis last week showed there was little change. It
confirmed the worst suspicions.
Having dug himself into this chasm, the Prime Minister is now making the right
moves - especially if he signals more economic stimulus - in trying to dig
himself out. He had little choice, given the scathing media reaction, to eat
crow on his economic update. With his pullback, he now leaves the opposition
parties with less ammunition. He makes it look like they are the ones who, with
their continued coalition-plotting, are engaged in a power grab.
The opposition will argue that the PM's intent was clear, that he doesn't
deserve a second chance, that he cannot be trusted - and that, indeed, he did
have a hidden agenda, it being total political control via his party
non-funding plan. Mr. Harper did not reveal the funding reform plan or some of
the other measures in his election campaign or in his Throne Speech. They were
inserted at the last minute in the update. He once denounced Joe Clark for
losing his 1979 minority on the basis of a gasoline tax that the Tory leader
had not campaigned on. "You can be principled without being stupid," Mr. Harper
said of Mr. Clark. But last week Mr. Harper proceeded to do a similar thing.
The PM also told everyone he was familiar with the mistakes leaders made in the
Great Depression of the 1930s - belt-tightening instead of stimulus.
Mysteriously he didn't heed it, at least not in his economic statement.
If defeated on a non-confidence motion, he will hope the Governor-General
allows him to fight an election. He might wish before seeing her to retract his
attempt to pressure her. He said Friday that Mr. Dion "does not have the right
to take power without an election." This is blatantly wrong. The Opposition
leader does, in fact, have the constitutional right in a minority government
and the Governor-General has the authority to confer it.
Up until now, the Prime Minister has been able to get away with his strong-arm
tactics, his disavowing of his own election law being another recent example.
But the economic update did much to expose the essence of him. My suspicion is
that we don't know the half of what went on in his first term and that if there
were more journalistic inquiry the extent of his attempts to put a stranglehold
on the system would be found to be startling.
Last week, a bureaucrat with close ties to the PMO, said Mr. Harper has told
colleagues, "When I'm hiring someone, I want to see fear in their eyes." It may
be an apocryphal story, but like Ms. May's, it seems to fit the mould. In any
case, the fear isn't in the eyes of others now. It's in his own.
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
[email protected]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
% UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
