The Harper Government

When CP’s Bruce Cheadle isn’t determining the hue and photo content of Government of Canada websites carefully determining whether or not the name and image of the office holder is inappropriately um, representing the office, he’s looking at the Prime Minister’s name on press releases and finding people to label Harper an autocrat.

“The effect of this subtle framing just before an election is to equate government with Harper,” said Rose. “It creates a perception of a natural affinity between one party’s leader and the act of governing.”

The Harper-centric messaging prompted Rose to recall French King Louis XIV and his 17th century divine right of kings: “L’État, c’est moi,” quipped the political scientist. “The state is me.”

But Mel Cappe, a former clerk of the Privy Council, finds nothing amusing in the development.

“It is not the Harper Government,” Cappe said in an interview, tersely enunciating each word. “It is the Government of Canada.

First, Canada Day was too blue for some, then the Economic Action Plan website was too blue and too Harper for Cheadle’s liking.  The Parliamentary Press Gallery mocked the wordmark “Canada’s New Government” when the Tories used in after they were elected in 2006, now “Harper Government” is inappropriate personification!

Nevermind that subtle bias is usually shown against government by affixing the person label.  It is easier to attack a person than a more nebulous concept such as party.  To diminish good news of a government, headlines will credit “Ottawa” for its accomplishments.

But what is appropriate? In government, how do we parse concepts such as the executive (the cabinet), the bureaucracy and Parliament? Certainly Parliament isn’t government, and the bureaucracy only executes the political will of ministers.  So, where does that leave the executive? Since Harper is chief executive of his cabinet and his cabinet governs, is it the Harper government?

And why the sudden outrage? I don’t remember such anger when Paul Martin ran a government:

Paul Martin government announces prudent and ambitious budget

Budget 2004, announced today by the Paul Martin government, is a focused plan of responsible financial management and fiscal prudence that gives tangible shape to the goals presented in the Speech from the Throne.

By definition, the head of state is the GG. The head of government? His name is Stephen Harper.

Tories at 43%?

That’s the stunning result of the latest Ipsos poll showing 43% strength for Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party nationally buoyed by a 45% showing in Ontario.  Also surprising is the Conservative dominance in the east which can be as rare as a [insert folksy Atlantic Canadian expression here].

What does this mean? Stephen Harper must really want an election musn’t he? Our Prime Minister is a strategic one to be sure, but this poll (and other recent ones) suggest that stability has a special place in the hearts of Canadians given their number one issue: the economy.  Michael Ignatieff’s Liberal Party has been taking the stubborn line that they are eager for an election, all while claiming to fight for Canada’s values and for issues that affect Canadians.  Meanwhile Canadians look at this positioning as reckless and self-serving.

Indeed, polls seem to shift against those that take a position of arrogance.  With prorogation, Canadians punished the Prime Minister because the narrative held that the Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament wasn’t simply procedural, it was a ploy — in effect, too cute by half.  When Ignatieff went bellicose with his infamous stand, “Mr. Harper, your time is up”, Canadians reacted by punishing a party moving against the general political mood and national reality.  Were Canadians looking to replace the government, or looking to it to get down to work?

The Liberal Party is a transactional party and when it comes down to it, they are looked upon to make or deny the deal.  Conversely, the NDP is an ideological party.  And we see too that the NDP suffers in the latest Ipsos poll.  While the leftwing base looks upon the NDP to bear true reflection of their values, they now see a party making the deal with a government toxic to its values.  The roles have been reversed, and voters are looking to these parties as having lost their sincerity.

Today in Ontario, one particular element of the Conservative brand is finding its pace and reflecting what voters and partisans alike expect.  Steady progress with deficit and rate of spending reduction is what voters expect of the Conservative brand.  There are no surprises here.  As the top-of-mind issue, Conservative are the cool heads in the room making progress while everyone else is running around trying to burn it all down while blaming the others for holding the gas can.

Entrench Property Rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Tasha Kheiriddin writes in Full Comment on the National Post website,

On February 24, federal MP Scott Reid and Ontario MPP Randy Hillier held a joint press conference to promote the protection of a basic human right: the right to property. The two politicians will be introducing resolutions in their respective legislatures which would entrench constitutional protection to property rights in Ontario – and hopefully spark a move to enact similar protection in the rest of Canada as well.

Here is the press conference,

Here is the CCF’s video announcing the Jaworski’s legal win in their fight to hold the Liberty Summer Seminar on their property,