Harperland by Lawrence Martin

Author:Lawrence Martin [Martin, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Executive Power, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780670065172
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2010-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Election Turmoil

In the summer of 2008, as the party leaders criss-crossed the country stirring up apathy, political momentum was hard to find. Ever since Harper’s election in January 2006, the standings of all parties had been static. The public was unenthusiastic about the leaders, the parties, politics itself. The leaders offered intelligence and erudition but were bereft of anything remotely resembling charm. With Harper and Dion, the absence of style, personality, anything to elevate them, was striking. In the past, at least one of the two major federal party leaders carried some sort of allure, whether it was the biblical rancour of Diefenbaker, the élan of Trudeau, the debonair blarney of Mulroney, or the grit of the little guy from Shawinigan. The colourlessness of Dion and Harper was that much more pronounced by comparison. It left voters even more tuned out than usual.

At the midway point of 2008, the minority Parliament had endured for two and a half years, and few expected it to function much longer. With all signs pointing to an economic downturn, pundits assumed that Prime Minister Harper would want to get to the polls before the snow fell. But the timing of a general election presented him with an unusual dilemma. In May 2007, his government had passed, with reluctant opposition support, a bill setting fixed election dates every four years. The idea was to take away the incumbent party’s ability to call an election at the moment most favourable to it. Since Harper was now the incumbent, this initiative appeared selfless, like something he was doing as a favour to the other players.

Under the legislation, the date for the next election was set for October 19, 2009. As Rob Nicholson, the minister responsible, pointed out, this would be the date “if the government is able to retain the confidence of the House until then.” In a minority Parliament, of course, the government could well be defeated before that date. But the legislation appeared to exclude the possibility of Harper’s triggering an election of his own accord. Such a move would be in defiance of his lawmaking.

There were signs, however, that the Conservatives were in a defiant mood. In early August, the national campaign director, Doug Finley, staged a confrontation at an ethics committee hearing into his party’s controversial spending in the 2006 election. Finley was scheduled to testify on the Wednesday of the week beginning August 10. But he apparently had other plans for that day and so decided to show up two days earlier. Paul Szabo, the Liberal committee chair, informed him that since other witnesses were slated to appear, he could not be accommodated. But Finley was not one to take no for an answer. “I want to appear now,” he told the chair. Szabo repeatedly asked him to leave, but Finley wouldn’t budge. Finally, Szabo looked over to the clerk of the committee and told him, “There’s a burly security guard outside the door. Bring him in and get this guy out of the room.

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