Friday, October 30, 2009 8:32 AM
Mackenzie K. Harper
Norman Spector
Perusing the front page of my morning read, I find a power dispute pitting Québec and New Brunswick against Newfoundland, with Nova Scotia in the middle. And a climate-change report that’s not going down well in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the big losers of what may be coming down the pipe.
In fact, scanning papers from across the country, it appears that the only thing that unites us today, regardless of the province in which we live, is a bloody mess at clinics as Canadians line up to be vaccinated against swine flu. And, even on this one, I note in Le Devoir that the Charest government had to rebuff a PQ attack yesterday by noting that “Quebec has received 22.18 per cent of the Canadian supply, which roughly corresponds to its 23 per cent share of the Canadian population.”
Can you imagine being in an election campaign now? I can’t. And that we are not is due to Stephen Harper having outmanoeuvred Michael Ignatieff. And later, notwithstanding widespread speculation that the Prime Minister would provoke an election, having had the sagacity to hold his fire.
In a country as difficult to govern as Canada, the proven formula for success is prudence and caution. Or, as F.R. Scott wrote poetically but rather mockingly of Mackenzie King:
“Do nothing by halves
Which can be done by quarters.”
Is it any wonder that Mr. Harper — notwithstanding pressures by the opposition and the media — is playing his climate change cards close to his chest? And does anyone think that Ottawa will get between Premier Danny Williams and Hydro-Québec? Indeed, on this one, I’m betting that Michael Ignatieff will give a big kiss-off to any Newfoundland MP who demands that the Liberals stand up for Newfoundland. As to Jack Layton, I’ll wager that he won’t be returning any phone calls from Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, even if Nova Scotia power is next on the acquisition list.
A year ago, it was widely predicted that the election of Barack Obama would be the beginning of the end for Stephen Harper. Instead, while Mr. Obama has suffered the steepest drop of any president in Gallup poll history, Mr. Harper has been climbing in public opinion. Which suggests that the U.S. president, too, could have learned something from a fellow Harvard-man. And, by the reference to that august institution, I certainly don’t mean Michael Ignatieff.
