Harper scores with the spectre of yet another election
By Harvey Oberfeld
The mistake most people make in rating election debates is they assume all the candidates start as equals. But unless they’re all neophites, that is simply not true: one is already the Prime Minister or Premier or Mayor–and it’s up to the others to knock him/her of the top perch.
It was a good debate, very civilized, but Harper did not fall.
I thought Gilles Duceppe had one of the best lines: noting Stephen Harper’s response to a viewer’s question was the first time he had taken a question from an ordinary Canadian during this campaign. LOL! Terrific!
Jack Layton also scored several strong points:
The NDP Leader nailed Harper by accusing him of becoming, in power, the type of politician/leader he had opposed in his earlier opposition years. And he castigated the Prime Minister for packing the Senate with Tory friends and failed candidates “some of whom are up on fraud charges.” Ouch!
And I thought Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff did better than many would have expected:
Ignatieff repeatedly ripped into Harper’s disrespect for Parliament and democracy, shutting down it and anything else he can’t control, as well as losing Canada’s chance for a seat on the UN Security Council and blowing $2 Billion on the G-8 Summit, complete with $50 million in porkbarrel spending in the Tory riding of Muskoka. Not bad at all.
But I think Harper drove home the strongest message to voters, not with his defence of the Tory government’s record or promises, but with a warning repeated several times:
Harper’s most effective line, in my opinion, was a prediction: unless he gets a majority, Canadians will likely be going to the polls AGAIN in a couple of years. Ugh! ANOTHER $300 million? I could almost hear voters across the country reeling in horror.
A week from now, most of the comments, points scored during the debate will be forgotten. Maybe even earlier.
But I predict Harper’s spectre of yet another election coming in another year ot two will carry far … right into the voting booth.
Harvey Oberfeld is a blogger and retired journalist. This column originally appeared in his blog, Keeping It Real. Reprinted with permission.
