Harper's Hail-Mary History

There is no shame in Harperland

As I write this, we are in the final week of Federal Election #42. If we are to believe the polls, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is running in second place behind Justin Trudeau. 

Not that I put much faith in polls mind you. They failed to predict the last B.C. election, two of the last three Alberta elections, the last Quebec election or the "Orange Tide" in 2011. 

But I would bet dollars to donuts that Citizen Stephen is keeping a "weather eye" on the polls. You see, at this stage of the game, it appears highly unlikely that he will grab another "false majority". And with both Justine Trudeau and Tom Mulcair saying there is no way they would prop up a Conservative minority (And equally unlikely that Elizabeth May would support him either), the chances of Harper governing, even with a minority, seem equally improbable. 

Depending on how things play out in Quebec, Steve may be able to get into bed with the Bloc if things are close enough. But that also seems pretty unlikely. 

It would appear that we are looking at the twilight of Stephen Harper. And Stephen himself, sees that same setting sun. 

So we have to ask ourselves, would a power hungry, "win at all costs" kind of guy like Harper just sit back and let nature take it's course when faced with immanent death? Not likely. He will surrender 24 Sussex only under a cloud of tear-gas and a hail of bullets. Harper's own history has demonstrated that fact. Consider:

- In 2004, when Paul Martin was leading his own Liberal minority government and Steve was opposition leader, a potential non-confidence vote in the house of commons was so close, that it came down to one vote. Martin's government hung on the "yea or nay" of one independent M.P., Chuck Cadman.

But Cadman had inoperable cancer. Though he was still able to hold his

Chuck wouldn't take the bribe

seat in the House, his time on earth was rapidly coming to a close. So what did Citizen Stephen do in order to ensure he got his non-confidence vote and a shot at the Prime Minister's residence? He tried to bribe Cadman with a million dollar life insurance policy that named Cadman's  wife as beneficiary. Cadman refused the bribe but nothing ever came of the whole sordid affair.  

 - In 2006, Harper finally got his shot at an election against Martin. It was a close run campaign, much like this current one. In the final stages of that election, the RCMP suspiciously announced it was investigating several Liberal Government personnel, including Finance Minister Ralph Goodale in what became known as the Income Trust Scandal. 

Goodale and the Liberal Party were eventually exonerated in the scandal, but much too late. Harper rode the negative Liberal publicity to his first minority government. Then RCMP Commissioner,Giuliano Zaccardelli, was believed to have been "sympathetic" to the Conservative cause. He never explained the timing of his explosive announcement and was never held to account for it. Harper was Prime Minister by then you see.  

Dion, an decent man but an
easy target for Harper's
hate machine

 - In 2008, when Harper was contesting his second Campaign, also a close run affair, then CTV news journalist Mike Duffy, aired an interview with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion. After promising not to air the first dismal takes of the interview. Duffy broke his promise and what eventually aired, made Dion seem like a bumbling idiot. Many believe that interview was the turning point in the election. Duffy of course, went on to be appointed to the Senate by Citizen Stephan. And Duffy is of course, currently on trial for fraud as a result of his Senate shenanigans.He never answered for the damning interview with Dion.

 - Also in 2008, shortly after winning his second minority government, Harper faced a Palace Revolt by the opposition parties that would have seen him turfed out of office and replaced by a coalition government. So what did Harper do? He prorogued government with the Governor General's blessing and waited out the storm. The coalition dissolved under Harper's relentless negative spin doctoring and he retained power. 

A year later, Harper prorogued Parliament once again to avoid accountability over the Afghan detainee issue. Harper never accounted for the prorogation, nor the potential torture of the detainees. 

 - In 2011, when Harper knew he needed a Majority government in order to implement his ultimate agenda or face expulsion by his own party, we saw the largest case of fraud ever committed in a Canadian Election. The Robo-Calls affair. Despite damning evidence of a coordinated effort to thwart voters seen as hostile to the conservatives through the use of misleading automated phone calls, The Harper Government (as the Canadian Government is now called) never accounted for this misdead either. They went to great lengths to stonewall any and every investigation into the matter and in the end, the only one held to account was a minor Conservative party operative. Harper had his majority and he rapidly and ruthlessly began reshaping Canada in his own image. 

So as demonstarted above, Stephen is not one to run a clean campaign when the stakes are high. And in Harperland, the ends always justify the means and there is no such thing as shame. 

So we have to ask ourselves, with the stakes being just as high in this election - Harper's political life hangs in the balance -  just what trump card does he have up his sleeve?

He brought in the "Lizzard of Oz", a divisive Australian spin doctor extraordinaire, to breath life into a sagging campaign. Initially, it seemed like Harper had pulled himself out of the fire one more time by use of the "Niqab" issue, thus stoking the xenophobic flames of discontent within a small portion of the Canadian population and diverting attention from his dismal economic record. 

But to a certain extent, this ploy seems to have backfired as we are 

now seeing a much wider debate based on the general issue of "values" - an area where  Harper is at a distinct disadvantage with all but his most loyal base. 

So what will Harper do in his final days in order to ensure his

continued existence? Will it be a terror based event? An arrest? Another dire warning from an alleged extremest group? 

There is also a possibility that, like the Robo-Calls affair, we won't know what ace Harper played until after the election. But rest assured, Harper will not go queitly into the night. He is dying and he needs to play one last Hail Mary. One last desperate, loathsome gasp from a man with no shame.  

So what will Harper's last big play be?

Harper Not The Master Strategist He's Made Out To Be

Is Stephen Harper a true Chess Master
or is he just really good at cheating?

It's been said of Stephen Harper that he always presents as the "smartest man in the room". My question is: "so what does that say about the other people in the room with him"?

Pundits and political observers, despite how they feel about Harper and his style of politics have - to a man or woman- begrudgingly dubbed him the "master strategist", "the consummate chess player". I'm not sure where this myth originated - either from one of Harper's media people or with Harper himself - either is equally likely. Too bad it's just a myth - yet another by-product of the "Harper spin machine". 

The purpose of the myth is, of course, abundantly clear. It goes toward painting an image of the man. That even if he is a cold hearted bastard, he is deserving of respect and admiration- that he is the "Great Navigator", the genius who sees things others can't and that he quite simply, doesn't suffer fools gladly. But of course, that's all hog-wash.

There is nothing to admire in a man who tries to recreate the world in his own image through the well financed use of thuggery, fraud, intimidation and by disemboweling the democratic process. 

A Chess master becomes so by mastering the game, not by rewriting

Harper is certainly a "Man for the Ages" -
The dark ages. 

the rules and by bribing or intimidating officials  and opponents in order to compensate for his own lack ability.  

One only has to look as far as the marketing of what is arguably, Canada's most valuable commodity- Oil. Mr. Harper and his talking heads have repeatedly stated that they want Canada to become an "energy superpower". They of course, mean "Oil" superpower. Other forms of energy simply don't enter into the equation. 

The Government of Harper has done everything in it's power to make it easier for the big oil companies to scour every last molecule of black-scum from Alberta's tar-sands and to get the resulting sludge to market. They have eviscerated laws that protect our delicate environment, said "too fucking bad" about endangered species, silenced  the scientists who could speak to the irreparable damage being done, bullied First-Nations and their treaty rights, sought to discredit anyone who disagrees with their agenda - calling them radicals and un-Canadian, launched multimillion dollar ad campaigns in support of Canada's sewage, they have withdrawn from or sabotaged every international effort to set sustainable limits on green house gasses and they have lied through their teeth about all of it. 

Whenever Harper or his bobble-heads are questioned on their agenda, they don't give legitimate answers. They attack. They try to discredit their adversaries, they give hyper-partisan talking points and when all else fails, they present false facts and political spin. 

The problem for the Oil Moguls now, is that people are rebelling. Citizens, scientists, First Nations, environmental groups and even some politicians of conscience in parts of the world where Harper has no reach, are waking up and saying "hey, what you're doing is wrong". So Canada is left with a wealth of black-goo and struggling to find ways to get it to market. 

"Snake Oil... I mean...
Alberta Oil for sale...CHEAP"!

So now Harper and his brigade of "talking-point regurgitators" are blanketing the globe, posing as snake oil salesmen. The problem is, because of Harper's "strategic" ways of doing business, neither he, nor anyone in his government have any credibility. Nothing they say can be believed. Their lengthy history of  lying and denying have given them all the believability of used car salesmen. And their complete and utter lack of diplomacy and statesmanship on the world stage has earned Canada a reputation as a "rogue nation" and our government has few if any international allies. We are now the pariahs of the Western World . 

Great strategy that Mr. Harper. You behave so badly that no one wants what you're selling, no matter how many millions of dollars of tax payers money you spend trying to sugar-coat your blasphemies. So I ask you oh Greatest of the Great Navigators: "Did you see that coming"?

Can "The Great Navigator"
 really see things we
mere mortals cannot?