A strange and as-yet-unexplained dichotomy defined the departures from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet of John Baird and Peter MacKay, both senior ministers.
Mr. Baird left quickly, his departure even taking aides by surprise. It was said that he had been intending for a long time to leave for the private sector, in which case it was odd that he had been nominated to run again, and that he seems not to have given the Prime Minister much of a heads-up.
Mr. Harper replied to Mr. Baird's departure in what could only be described as a perfunctory manner: some pleasant comments in the House of Commons.
By contrast, Mr. Harper knew of Mr. MacKay's intentions well before the two appeared together in Stellarton, N.S. Seldom has Mr. Harper lavished such praise on anyone in public, practically describing Mr. MacKay as a new father of Confederation.
Prime ministers' schedules, especially if they are campaigning almost full-time as Mr. Harper has been doing, are set well in advance. So the Stellarton love-in must have been orchestrated long before it happened, in comparison with the apparently hurried Baird departure.
You can make of the two situations what you wish, but leaving aside the differences in method and timing, taken together they underscore a deeper trend: that the Conservative Party is not renewing itself.
Mr. Baird and Mr. MacKay were senior ministers. Mr. Baird had joined the Harper party from the right-wing Mike Harris/Ernie Eves party in Ontario. Mr. MacKay had abandoned the Progressive Conservative Party he briefly led to yield himself up to the new Conservative Party. Mr. Baird did not have to shift ideological positions; Mr. MacKay did, becoming as a Harper minister a faithful exponent of some policies that would have made Progressive Conservatives weep.
Both were front-benchers with some profile. Now that they are gone, the cabinet looks even weaker than before and Mr. Harper even more lonely and commanding with his overwhelming power.
A party long in office, whatever its stripe, faces the challenge of warding off the most mortal political threat of all: time for a change. Therefore, long-governing parties often try strategies to convince wary voters that they still have energy, new ideas and fresh blood.
The Prime Minister, as party leader, tries actively, either himself or through his aides, to recruit impressive newcomers to convey a sense of renewal. At least a few of these newcomers, ideally, should have a profile beyond their town or city, so that people across the country sense change.
Except for several impressive candidates recruited by the Conservatives in Quebec, the party looks very much as it has for some years. Undoubtedly, there will be some effective individuals running as Conservatives locally who in due course, if elected, could climb the political ladder. Most of them will start at or near the bottom.
You could argue that all parties confront the challenge of recruiting people of seasoned accomplishment with profiles beyond their corner of the country, for who, these days, would want to enter politics? Obviously, some people of real substance still wish to do so, but their numbers are dwindling.
In the Conservatives' case, how many people of stellar accomplishment in business or law would want to enter a party where everything is scripted and where even senior ministers are told what to say, and how and when to say it? If you have run a business or appeared successfully in court, would you want this sort of life?
Or, if your party lost but you won, who of great accomplishment would want to throw it over for the uncertain pleasures of sitting in opposition, where your capacity to influence government decisions is next to nil? You might like the sound of your own voice echoing through a largely empty Commons during debate, or hear the cheers of your party colleagues in Question Period, but would most people of accomplishment trade jobs for this?
Perhaps the Conservatives' failure to recruit people of real substance is part of something more systemic in politics. Politically, it is more imperative for a long-in-the-tooth governing party to look like it is renewing itself. That is not happening in the Harper party despite a large number of Conservative MPs who are not running again, including Mr. Baird and Mr. MacKay.