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The sweater Stephen Harper pulled over his head for a series of commercials at the beginning of this election campaign was supposed to show him as a run-of-the-mill guy. But nervous voters might be forgiven today for wondering whether they're on the same page with a leader who sees great buying opportunities in the carnage that is the current stock market.
In what was the pivotal day of the campaign for Mr. Harper, the Conservative Party Leader threw away the pullover and chose to tell Canadians hard-headed truths yesterday about the economic situation. Yes, it's serious, he said, but Canada is well placed to ride out the storm and voters shouldn't overreact.
In a later news conference, he said there may actually be some bargains to be found as the stock market plunges.
“I'll be the first to admit, I'm not the most emotionally expressive guy,” said Mr. Harper, when asked whether he might want to show more empathy with Canadians becoming increasingly fearful for their economic future.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper waits to take part in a television interview in Toronto Oct. 7, 2008. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)
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“But look, the main thing I think a government has to do at a time like this is not panic. There's a lot of people out there not panicking. I think there's probably a lot of great buying opportunities emerging in the stock market as a consequence of all this panic.”
The Conservative Leader's polling numbers have been slipping since last week, when he told Canadians during the leaders' English language debate that Canadians weren't concerned about their jobs or their houses. It was a comment that Mr. Harper didn't address directly yesterday in what was perhaps his most important speech of the campaign, preferring instead to soothe Canadians by saying his economic policies are the best ones to deal with the coming storm.
The Tories also sent their leader on to a number of interview shows, underscoring that they know they have a problem.
But after the past couple of days, observers are also wondering whether a lack of sensitivity is a portent of future inflexibility.
Would Mr. Harper, for example, change tacks if the economic situation got really bad? Would he better understand that message if Canadians delivered him a minority?
As Mr. Harper heads a small-c conservative government with a philosophy of non-intervention, Canadians would be right to wonder about his plans, said University of Calgary political scientist David Taras.
Mr. Taras said the dilemma facing Mr. Harper is that the anxiety level and demands for action are rising at the same time. “In this emergency, the question is what will the government do, and he doesn't seem to have an answer.”
Moreover, Mr. Harper may have undone several weeks of work and blown a lot of advertising money when he neglected to tell Canadians last week that he feels their pain.
“The first part of the election was to show Canadians he was one of us,” said Mr. Taras.
“Now the questions that voters have is, ‘Is he one of us? Does he get it? Does he understand us?' ”
The flip side of the argument is that, when all is said and done, Mr. Harper believes he will have persuaded Canadians that a prudent Conservative Party is the one that is best suited to sail the ship through turbulent waters.
What he seems to believe is that Canadians don't need to have an empathetic or even likeable guy at the helm if they're confident their leader knows what he's doing.
Pollsters say moderate voters may move back to the Tories if they start to realize that Mr. Harper might lose the election.
But the challenge for Mr. Harper until election day is to convince Canadians that he understands their needs, and will act accordingly when and if times truly get tough.
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