On Sunday, September 7, 2008 Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled the pin and called Canada’s 40th General Election. Canadians will cast their votes on October 14, 2008. The conservative minority government was the second longest minority government in Canadian history. This is quite amazing since both Harper and the opposition parties were trying to get an election going only a few weeks after Harper was elected Prime Minister. Stephen Harper apparently became impatient with opposition failures to bring down his minority government and brought it to an end with his own call for an election.
NDP leader Jack Layton has been arguing that Harper quit his job and that he (Layton) is applying for it. Well Jack you may as well apply to head up the Fraser Institute because your chances of succeeding would be about the same. The NDP should just give up on federal politics since they have no hope of forming government. Harper may have given up his job, but be assured it is temporary. Harper’s move to call an election will very likely secure his position as Canada’s next Prime Minister after October 14, 2008. He is in majority territory right now and the conservatives are likely to get stronger as the campaign heads toward Election Day.
Dion is dead out of the gate and will soon learn the true meaning of here today and gone tomorrow. That having been said Dion is far more likeable on a personal basis than Harper can ever hope to be and further he hasn’t yet followed Harper’s lead of feeding Cheerios to children.
Harper seems obsessed with proving he is a family man and how much he loves his children. Why is it that he now seems so pressed to prove to us that he is soft and cuddly and loving and caring? Well I could tell you, but I won’t. You figure it out it’s your vote. When was the last time you heard a female candidate trying to prove she is a family woman in an election campaign? You got it they don’t have to.
Harper called this election because in his view parliament wasn’t working and the government couldn’t govern. Well, they passed 65 pieces of legislation and Harper is now apparently the biggest spending Prime Minister in Canadian history. The opposition is supposed to be the guardians of the public purse and they failed miserably. Parliament seemed to be working for Harper and he made that point when he spoke in Regina when he listed a litany of conservative promises they had delivered while working in a minority government position.
This election is not about the voters or what is good for Canadians it is all about Stephen Harper securing a four year mandate for his conservative party to serve in government with a majority. Harper is without doubt the sharpest knife in the drawer and he will get a majority government on October 14, 2008. There will be some serious cutting over the next four years and only time will tell how well it will serve Canadian voters and Canada as a nation.
