Roadkill in the fast lane
Published Wednesday December 3rd, 2008
Before I launch on the political developments in Ottawa, let me offer this postscript to last week's column on the wasting disease of consumption. The tragic events of Black Friday, the biggest shopping blow-out of the year in the United States, bring another disease to mind: addiction.
A temporary employee at a Long Island, New York Wal-Mart was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers as they shattered the entrance doors to the store in a mad dash to the bargain tables. In a California Toys 'R Us, a dispute between customers ended with a gun pulled and shots fired. These are the desperate acts of addicts, hooked on mostly useless consumer trifles (and for many the very act of shopping), a habit fed by the multi-billion dollar advertising industry and politicians who implore us all to keep shopping no matter what.
Closer to home, a related cautionary tale. In rural Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, a young driver of a car ran down a horse-drawn wagon, killing the 65-year old man holding the reins. Some will say it's dangerous to be on a road designed for cars in anything but a car. Myself, I think we would all be better off in a world that makes room for horse-drawn wagons, literally and figuratively. Life in the fast lane, whether shopping or driving, doesn't get you very far. In the end, we will all look elsewhere for the good life.
Now, to Ottawa where life in the political fast lane has caught up with Stephen Harper. Emboldened by a first term of office in which the opposition Liberals backed down time and again in the face of disagreeable Conservative policies and tactics, his attempt to ram through a right-wing agenda under the cover of economic distress has ended in disaster for his party.
Mr. Harper has been poking a stick at the hornet's nest since he took power in 2006. He has refused to acknowledge his government's minority status and thus the need to gain the confidence of the House in order to govern. He governed as if he had a majority for two and a half years, dependant on the disarray of the opposition Liberals to keep him in power.
A so-called master tactician, Harper picked the deck and dealt the cards as he chose, including flaunting his own fixed election date laws to maximize his advantage. Following the election, he saw an even stronger hand this time around. Despite all the platitudes about a more collegial and co-operative Parliament in these hard economic times, his first opportunity to exercise some rare statesmanship was used instead to deliver the deciding blow to that hornet's nest.
For over two years, Mr. Harper has kept his right-wing economic agenda largely under wraps, trying to win the confidence of middle-ground Canadians. He almost succeeded, but not quite - coming several seats short of a majority. Nevertheless, he decided to exploit the weakened state of the opposition and the economic downturn to begin to deliver regressive government cut-backs and anti-democratic incursions against women's equality, workers' rights and the effective functioning of the opposition. Had he gotten away with it, the next budget would have delivered even more ideologically-driven 'belt-tightening,' a euphemism for shrinking the federal government's role in providing national services and safeguarding the common good.
Mr. Harper assumed, wrongly, that the Liberals had learned nothing from the previous two and a half years. To the contrary, the smart people in that party learned that if you let someone bully you, you will take a beating. The only way to avoid that is to stand your ground and cultivate your potential allies, assembling a force larger than what the bully has mustered.
Instead of working collaboratively to gain the confidence of the House as a smart minority leader should, Harper chose to unload his partisan and ideological baggage, racheting up the bullying while the opponent is down. In so doing, he squandered the opportunity a new mandate gave him to take a more conciliatory approach; he has proven he cannot be trusted. The Liberals have no choice but to stand their ground now; otherwise they risk losing all credibility as an alternative to a Conservative government.
As the Conservatives await an opposition non-confidence motion next Monday, their strategy is to foment a groundswell of public outrage against the take-down of their minority government. Failing that, Mr. Harper may prorogue Parliament on Friday until budget day, January 27th. But this would only delay the inevitable.
Stephen Harper's days appear to be numbered.
Janice Harvey is a freelance columnist and graduate student. She can be reached by e-mail at waweig@nbnet.nb.ca.
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