Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has grabbed a lot of headlines with all his talk about forcing an election by introducing a Throne Speech that the liberals can’t accept. The media have used it as hype to excite the country into thinking we are going to have a fall election. They have reported how Harper has outmaneuvered the Dion liberals on Afghanistan and other issues that would force the liberals into voting against the Throne Speech and tripping the country into an election they don’t want.
So yesterday the government introduced the Throne Speech and the conservative government moved to the left and are now clearly in the middle of the political road. That is precisely where the liberals were when the more right wing conservatives defeated the liberals in the last federal election. The result of this strategy will not force an election and the Harper conservatives in the process have alienated many conservatives across the country as they have failed to pay down the national debt, reduce taxes and most important, reduce government spending to the extent expected by conservative minded voters. These were all promises made by Harper when he was in opposition. In the end, it would seem Harper has outmaneuvered himself in his obsession and failed attempt at forcing the liberals into an election.
In my view there will not be a fall election and nor should there be as we would only end up with another minority conservative government. The strategy should be simple for Harper, provide rock solid government with less partisan politics and prove to Canadians that he is worthy of a majority government. Move back to being a moderate conservative government that addresses the key economic issues that conservative voters expected from a conservative government. Harper has failed to deliver on conservative policies and has abandoned conservative principles in his obsession with power. Could it be that this new conservative government, lead by Stephen Harper, has outmaneuvered itself? As a long time conservative, I see them looking more like liberals every day.
To put all this simply, the Harper conservatives should just quit all the fancy stick handling, shoot the damn puck and put it in the net. That will give Harper the majority government he is so desperately seeking.
