Conservative leader Stephen Harper strayed away Sunday from explaining why voters should trust him personally with the power of a majority government, preferring instead to put the focus on the success of his Tory party.Murray Dobbin is Preparing for HarpergeddonBut making preparations for a Harper majority are not enough:
But what about preparing for another Harper minority? Getting serious now, there are genuine signs that Harper is planning to create a constitutional crisis should the opposition parties do what every thinking Canadian opposed to Harper hopes they will do: defeat Harper at the first opportunity and form a government that actually represents a majority of the voters (and non-voters, too).And James Laxer is wondering why Harper is considering himself the champion of national unity. He never wanted national unity before. In fact, he championed the opposite:
Harper’s arrogance on the issue of who gets to govern is breathtaking and he strongly hints that he will not step down without a very nasty fight, one that could create a constitutional crisis involving every federal institution including the Supreme Court of Canada.
Now we’ve seen everything---Stephen Harper, who only a few years ago counseled Albertans to build “firewalls” around their province to protect it from Canada, has proclaimed himself the indispensable champion of national unity. Without him at the helm of a majority government, this one-time quasi-Alberta separatist would have us believe there will be no one to protect the country from a new round of sovereignist upheaval in Quebec.Vote and vote wisely.
In fact, I’d be surprised if Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois didn't regard a Harper majority government as one of the essential “winning conditions” for a sovereignty referendum should she succeed in becoming premier of Quebec in the next provincial election. The PQ is well ahead of Jean Charest’s hapless Liberals in the polls, but an election does not need to be called for two and a half years.