The Harper conservatives may be leading in the polls, but they are also leading in some very significant mistakes beginning even before the election was called. The conservative government spent billions of taxpayers’ money to buy votes in the lead up to the election call. This is the very thing Harper has always argued against when he was in opposition. It’s called pork barrel politics and Harper is as good as it gets at this kind of careless spending and abuse of tax dollars.
Then there is the matter of some very important MP’s that have chosen not to run again. They use the argument that they want to spend more time with their families. As a good friend of mine argued does it mean that all the candidates running in this election want to spend less time with their families.
The conservatives have not cleared the courts on allegations that they over spent Election Canada guidelines in the 2006 election campaign. They have spent millions of party funds in the lead up to the election, which is apparently not subject to election spending.
Then there is the matter of their communications staffer who has been removed from the campaign and the massive War Room bunker the liberals refer to as the fear factory. The staffer (Sparrow) gaffed when he authorized an ad wherein a puffin (bird) was shown pooping on the shoulder of liberal leader Stéphane Dion on a conservative Internet site. You can see the relationship between Sparrow, bird and shit. Sparrow got the axe after making the claim that the father of a deceased Canadian soldier criticized the conservatives because he was a liberal. Make no mistake the conservatives have some nasty people on their campaign.
Then Harper made the announcement a day before the 9/11 anniversary that Canada would be pulling out of Afghanistan by 2011 and leaving only a handful of soldiers in that war torn country. This was a mistake in the middle of an election campaign after threats from the Taliban that Canadians should be careful how they vote in this election and that they have stepped up threats against our Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. This is just what the Taliban wanted to hear. Since when do you communicate to your enemy when you intend to surrender and leave all that has been fought for over the last ten years? When and how you leave a war zone is as important as when and how you get into a war. This is Harper’s worst mistake during this election campaign and it should cost him votes. Harper has always loudly proclaimed how we should support our troops in Afghanistan and now he announces they will be coming home just to support his bid to be Canada’s Prime Minister after this election. Sacrificing our military and all they have fought and died for in the name of politics is rather disgusting.
Yes, the Harper conservatives have made the most mistakes to date in this election campaign, but will it make any difference? That will be your decision on Election Day.
