Tag: 2011 Canadian Politics

Odd but interesting column by Wente this week in The Glob, the Old and Stale, the Blobby Male… I’ll be here all week, try the liver:

To tell the truth, I don’t agree with all of Mr. Harper’s policies myself. (e.g., the niqab.) But it seems obvious to me that his government is far more in touch with mainstream Canadians than all those critics who accuse him of abandoning the mainstream. He’s worse than an extremist – he’s a populist. Or else he has duped and terrorized the masses so effectively that they are powerless to resist. Kind of like you-know-who.

Sure he is liked. He is also increasingly irrelevant. The retraction of the Feds from the exercise of their own powers combined with confirmation that they cannot dabble in provincial powers has left Mr. Harper as the king of very little. Sure, he has added back the “Royal” to the separate wings of the armed forces but, as a recent chat with a committed military officer reminded me, pretty much only as a matter of branding even if welcome. Nothing has changed in the continued sensible and increased integration of our military as a single fighting force. And, sure, he likes to pay attention to the Arctic more than places where a lot of people live but as that is the only mandated geographic area of Federal administration one would assume he might. And, sure, he like to talk about a balanced budget and spending prudently but one day he might try to pull it off as his Liberal predecessors did.

Mr. Harper believes in a weak limited national government, which is his right, but that means he himself is made weaker, less relevant to the national discourse. For now, we are paying more attention to ourselves as Canadians expressed through our provincial and municipal policies and operations. And why not? We have many layers of meaning, we Canadians. When Harper is replaced the focus will change. What an utterly boring legacy he has mapped out for himself.

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It is pretty obvious that the Prime Minister has a plan but it is interesting to note what isn’t there:

The Liberals embraced the Charter, the flag, peacekeeping and multiculturalism. Now, the Harper Tories are pursuing symbols and areas ignored by the Grits – the Arctic, the military, national sports and especially the monarchy, according to senior Tories. For Mr. Harper and his Conservatives, the payoffs could be great: a new pride in the country, an ability to shape the view of new Canadians and, politically, the potential to marginalize the Official Opposition NDP, who could be forced more and more to defend Quebec’s interests against all others. Quebeckers are not as supportive of national symbols and the monarchy as is the rest of Canada.

I happed to be rereading George Grant’s Lament for A Nation, the 2005 reissue of the 1965 book – or rather Andrew Potter’s extensive introduction as I sort of nodded off last evening before I got any further. I took course from Grant and, as a King’s Man, got to socialize with the guy over beers like other small college profs. Just remembered that he smoked all the way through class. Good guy.

Anyway, his lament was the end of the conservative era. But what he described as conservatism was dramatically different from what we know today: plenty of state institutional intervention in the economy, anti-libertarian, pro-heritage and pro-respect. The sort of thing still seen in Maritime Canadian politics and, in large chunks but not others, utterly different from Harper’s plan. Because Harper’s plan is actually liberal, progressive.

He wants to make something out of nothing. To create a new national order. He pledges to reassert the importance of the military then takes a billion out of the budget. He expects the largely population-free Arctic to be an important symbol but as it is a place few will visit which has other traditions and characteristics than where most Canadians live, it is a foreign land. He wants us to focus on sports – but only the ones we win at – like short track speed skating or ski dance, not the ones we actually like to play and which keep us fit… like soccer, softball or curling.

So what to make of it? Not traditional, not really conservative and not really authentic. Shallow, temporary and, in the long term, unsatisfactory. Good luck to you.

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