Silly Little Country

Who is this Boy?

Four or five years ago I would have laughingly dismissed Stephen Harper as a slightly bizarre side story. Could I have been more wrong?

Sheila Copps (a former Liberal cabinet member) outlines some of his great plays of the last week.

While the PM may face stiff opposition when it comes to big-picture issues like the environment and Afghanistan, his handling of the little picture is impeccable. And in political parlance, one picture is worth a thousand votes.

And Douglas Fisher, a former NDP member of the House, characterizes nicely what makes him so refreshing as a Canadian Prime Minister in the recent past.

The tough-minded among his partisan enemies think Harper is doing well because he so quickly and directly demonstrated that he is boss. He is in charge -- of himself, his ministry, and his caucus. He openly follows a strategy of keeping the ball rolling, making progress on his undertakings without moaning about the difficulties posed by a shortage of MPs.

At the time I refer to above, my view was that we could feel good about our leadership when Paul Martin took the helm. To put it mildy, this did not work out, and it still stuns me today that this most unlikely leader, Stephen Harper as he seemed to me then, has been doing such a remarkable job.

I think in my life I have voted only once for a local Consrevative candidate - Keith Norton, when I lived in Kingston (those who know history knows this would not be a normal Conservative vote). Harper's enormous achievement right now is measured in the fact that my basic assumption is that I will waste a vote in my riding next time for his party.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 8:06 AM