In Other Words

This week may bring the fall of Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government and a possible federal general election in Canada. You can probably guess my opinion of the "Harper Government™". Here are some other voices.

"… Ignatieff, not a latter-day Nelson Mandela or Angela Merkel, is going to lead the Grits into the next election, whenever it comes. We owe it to ourselves finally to take him seriously."

"As Mr. Trudeau said when the press got on his case, 'Consider the alternative.' And so we thought of poor Bob Stanfield and Joe Clark. And Trudeau lost an election and won four, and served some 15 years as PM. As we should have given Harper his chance – and trust me, we've seen as good as it gets from this cold, mildly paranoid, mean-spirited and visionless man – the most viable alternative now deserves its chance."

"If Harper were kind and competent, there'd be no election talk." (David Olive, in his Everybody's Business blog for the Toronto Star)

"The Cons have laboured mightily to craft an Everyman persona for Stephen Harper. They've expended a few fortunes to convince you hockey rinks and Tim Hortons franchises are the summit of all Canuck wisdom — and it is Harper alone who loves it there.

Pardon me, but that's horsecrap. If anyone can produce a single undoctored photograph of Stephen Harper lined up for a double-double at a Tim Hortons prior to the 2004 election campaign, we'll happily post it in this space and issue the requisite mea culpa. But they can't. The Tim Hortons thing, like every other political affectation that preceded it, is the invention of boys in the backroom. It's BS. Ipso facto, he doesn't connect.

Ignatieff? To his credit, at least he doesn't pretend Timmys is the new Lourdes, with apparitions of Mackenzie King and Lester Pearson hovering above the doughnuts, imparting wisdom. He's John Kerry, and he knows it.

The question, then, isn't who will win the next election. It's this: Why is the choice between two men we feel don't know us, or even particularly like us?

Why is the choice between two men who don't connect?" (Warren Kinsella, in a column in the Ottawa Sun)

"While I guess while others may feel a bit squeamish about our PM ordering double-doubles and dipped donuts while the world, literally, moved on without him, I, for one, am grateful. The leader of our country has chosen to re-announce a three-month-old decision by a donut company instead of taking part in a conversation at the United Nations. In so doing, he's given me a whole bunch of fodder for research about how politicians see us now as shoppers/eaters now instead of educated citizens. Thanks, PM." (Susan Delacourt in her blog for the Toronto Star on the occasion of Stephen Harper passing up a United Nations conference to attend a Tim Hortons ribbon cutting)