Editor’s note: As reported earlier, Canada’s government has fallen and a new election is set for May 2. Here’s a take on what happened on the Canadian political scene by Canada’s Owen Grey.)
Prime Minister Harper’s speech in front of Rideau Hall offered Canadians a glimpse into what makes him tick. He completely ignored the non-confidence vote — claiming that it was an under the Peace Tower game — which doesn’t impress Canadians. That’s been his position for the last five years.
Instead of “confidence” Mr. Harper wanted to talk — repeatedly — about “coalition.” It got him out of the hole he dug for himself three years ago — and he believes it will work for him again. Never mind that he proposed exactly the same kind of arrangement in 2004 with the same leaders of the same parties. All of that has gone down the memory hole.
His budget is empty. And he knows that if he costs out the prisons, the jets and the tax cuts, it will blow a huge hole in his deficit reduction targets. Like the second President Bush — who kept two wars off budget — he believes that citizens are lousy mathematicians and frightened children. Both men have followed the Wall Street Model. We have been living, despite the rosy picture Mr. Harper paints, with the consequences.
We shall see if we the people have learned anything over the last three years.
Owen Gray grew up in Montreal, where he received a B. A. from Concordia University. After crossing the border and completing a Master’s degree at the University of North Carolina, he returned to Canada, married, raised a family and taught high school for 32 years. Now retired, he lives — with his wife and youngest son — on the northern shores of Lake Ontario. This is cross posted from his blog Northern Reflections.