Whatever it takes

The latest controversy in Canadian politics is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper (referred to as PMSH for short in some blogs) suggested yesterday that the Liberals are reluctant to extend anti-terrorism measures because the father-in-law of Liberal MP Navdeep Bains is on the list of people that could be questioned about the 1985 Air India disaster. (The Globe and the Star have reports on this story.)

Harper tried to read the text of a Vancouver Sun article on the subject, but was immediately drowned out by the Liberals, who were accusing him of being willing to tarnish the Bains family's reputation in order to play partisan politics.

In other news, Canada's judges are concerned that the Conservatives' method of appointing judges is biased towards their law-and-order agenda. According to the Globe, a majority of the members of the advisory committees that deal with judicial appointments have been appointed by the Tory government. Harper's response to the judges' criticism was to say, "We do not want the judicial appointments process to become a private club of judges and lawyers. That is why we included voices as diverse as victims and the police." (One could argue, of course, that crime victims and police are most likely to favour tougher sentencing laws.)

Everybody has an opinion, so here's mine. When Harper was elected a year ago, I was prepared to wait and see - perhaps he would actually be willing to be more of a moderate than he was in his National Citizens Coalition days. Now, I'm convinced that he has not changed. He acts as if he is fighting a war, with the enemy being leftists, liberals, or anyone who disagrees with his radical conservative views. For this reason, he is prepared to do whatever it takes to gain and hold power. He wants to change the face of Canada, even though most Canadians don't agree with him. For this reason, he should not be allowed to get the majority government he so desperately hungers for.

(What Canada really wants is a Liberal-style government without the Liberals. But that option, sadly, is not available: Brian Mulroney killed the old Progressive Conservative Party, and the Reform Party ate it.)