As well,
He must keep voter turnout low because his supporters are more committed and likely to cast a ballot. A flood of new, Trudeau voters will doom him.Given their well-known voter suppression tactics, as well as the provisions of the 'Fair' Elections Act, we can be certain that the Harperites will be indefatigable in their efforts to ensure the above.
He must soften his stand on climate change and the primacy of energy and resource extraction. He is an outlier on the world stage and Canadians know it. Worse for Harper, his jobs-first, environment-second mantra makes him an outlier in his own country, even in the Alberta oilpatch, which realizes a little greening could help get their bitumen to market.The success of the Harper cabal's attempts to 'green' their master, of course, will depend largely on the credulity of the Canadian electorate. One hopes that voters have paid more than scant attention to the ongoing duplicity of Harper on this file.
He must maintain the support of new Canadians who, Conservatives believe, will remain loyal to a government that creates the atmosphere for success, but stays out of their face.This could be Harper's strongest suit, given his bellicose but essentially empty rhetoric on the world stage.
He must again convince Canadians that change is risky, champion his trade deals, and argue that putting the economy in the hands of an untested poseur or a job-killing socialist would bring ruination.Anyone paying attention to the precipitous drop in oil prices should be able to question the myth of Harper as some kind of economic genius, given how he placed almost all of Canada's proverbial eggs in one basket.
Tim Harper ends his piece with some reminders that we all need to carry into the election:
Whether it is the Harper autocracy, his environmental record, his demonizing of opponents, Supreme Court spats, omnibus bills, back-of-the-hand treatment of natives, dictatorial treatment of the premiers, ethical stumbles, treatment of veterans or an unyielding lack of collaboration, the list of grievances against a government verging on 10 years in power adds up.It is those crippling Harper-engineered failures of democracy that all of us have a responsibility to repeatedly remind often amnesiac voters before they go to the polls this October.
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Justin Trudeau almost certainly won't be reminding voters of Harper's missteps. He likely thinks that would be "negative campaigning". I hope I'm wrong about this but I fear that the boy is master of the man.
ReplyDeleteWhile Trudeau might have noble intent here, Dana, it is hard to imagine being able to remain positive when campaigning against the record of a rogue such as Harper. I would suggest that he offer a contrasting picture to distinguish himself from the dark one, but that, of course, is only possible if he has real policies instead of platitudes, policies that are distinct from Harper's.
Delete“It is those crippling Harper-engineered failures of democracy that all of us have a responsibility to repeatedly remind often amnesiac voters before they go to the polls this October. “
ReplyDeleteHaving just started assembling my “Harpers History” series which will commence this Sunday I can say that doing the above is a daunting task given the volume of hits against our democracy by this regime!
An indeed time-consuming task, Rural, but one that I'm sure will be worthwhile. I look forward to reading and tweeting your series!
DeleteHere's the thing: we (well, the sane 65-70% of us) know Harper has to go, but that won't stop Harper from buying all the endorsements via public ad spend with media companies and using voter corruption and tricks to crush opposition parties in 2015.
ReplyDeleteHarper will win.
The ONLY way we can prevent this is to have all opposition leaders sign a declaration stating that once elected, their first act of Parliament will be a change in the electoral system to PR or some other equitable system. That way, Canadians can strategically vote with confidence that this will be the last unfair election.
Also, as insurance, we should have the UN monitor the election.
I like your suggestion, Anon, but i'm afraid I lack faith in the possibility of Mulcair and Trudeau acting in the best interests of the country instead of the best interests of themselves. Their refusal to co-operate through even a kind of informal coalition for this election (e.g., not running candidates in ridings where the other party has the better chance), I believe, attests to that sad fact.
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