Harper

Prime Minister,

Well, that didn’t go as well as planned now did it? I’ll avoid the “What were you thinking?” speech. We’re here now, and despite our differences you are the Prime Minister for at least a few more days. Canadians depend on their Prime Minister to do the right thing, so I hope you’ll take some advice on this issue.

It’s clear now that the opposition parities are going to vote non-confidence in your government. It’s also clear that the Liberals and the NDP have an official coalition and are going to ask the Governor General to invite them to form the government. What should you do?

If you’re upset about the political crisis going on in Ottawa, don’t blame Stephen Harper.

Well, who am I kidding, of course you should blame Stephen Harper; his inability to resist a chance to poke his adversaries in the eye, regardless of the costs to the country, precipitated this mess. But, Canada’s backward electoral system at the federal level should also be the subject of criticism this week.

The problems with Canada’s first-past-the-post (FPTP) method of electing Members of Parliament are well-known. In last month’s federal election, 62 per cent of Canadians voted against the party that ultimately formed government. As a result, the vast majority of voters, who undeniably lean progressive, ended up with a conservative prime minister.

Canadian democracy is in crisis and it’s largely the media’s fault. The recent federal election campaign demonstrates the extent to which the Canadian media has abdicated its responsibility as the fourth branch of government. There are two possible explanations for this tragedy. Either media coverage reflects the attributes of journalists, or it portrays the attributes of citizens.

Based on the coverage of the federal election, this means that either journalists are superficial, unsophisticated, and lazy, or that Canadians are superficial, unsophisticated, and lazy. Both phenomena are equally troubling. But I’m convinced that the cheap coverage we just witnessed is a reflection on the media rather than the citizenry.

Last week, I said that Canada desperately needs leadership on the economy. I also complained and that Stephen Harper’s lack of concern for our economic well-being and failure to release a platform didn’t instill confidence. On Tuesday, the Conservatives finally produced their plan with less than a week to go before election day.

I’ve studied the economic portions of the Conservative Platform and have come to conclusion that Preston Manning was right when he said that Stephen Harper was like the captain of a ship in “stormy economic seas”. But, far from promising to assuredly navigate the country through the rough waters ahead, the Conservative Platform evokes an image of Harper as a helpless sailor desperately trying to bail water out of his leaky ship.

A close friend of mine who’s an expert in finance just sent me a very disturbing email. Explaining the factors conspiring to hurl North America into a deep recession, he said “we’re so close to Armageddon…I can’t believe it!” I can confirm that every day on Wall Street feels like one step closer to catastrophe. And, despite what Harper says about Canada’s “economic fundamentals”, our country is in deep trouble too.

Yesterday, a group of Canada’s leading economists were united in their warning of a severe and prolonged recession. Canada’s economy could be in decline until the end of 2009 due to the weak U.S. economy, falling oil prices, and lower domestic demand.

Yesterday, in a desperate effort to stop worrying about the prospect of a Conservative majority, I went for run along the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey. Perhaps it was the foul odour of the Hudson River, or the intense rhythm of “Eye of the Tiger” blaring from my IPod, but I just couldn’t rid my mind of these thoughts. Harper was haunting me — what would he do with the power of a majority government?

As I ran some stairs at the Stevens Institute, my thoughts turned to the death penalty. Now I’m not going to argue that Harper will bring back the death penalty in Canada; he’s too savvy to do something so provocative.

Instead, Harper will exploit executive power to implement a pro-capital punishment policy, particularly in the context of foreign affairs. He’ll do it through the backdoor and most Canadians won’t even notice. By the time they do, Canada’s decades-old opposition to capital punishment will be reduced to hypocrisy. Let’s call this plan Death by Stealth.

If Stephen Harper gets a majority government, I’m seriously going to have to re-think my travel plans. I might get detained in a foreign country and the Conservatives might decide, after reading this blog, that I should rot in jail, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of whether my human rights are being violated.

That’s absurd, you say. All Canadians have fundamental rights and the federal government is prepared to go to the mattresses to make sure that they’re respected abroad. So I can relax and enjoy my pina colada. Well, that’s technically true, but the Harper Government has demonstrated that nothing — not even the human rights of Canadian citizens — is beyond politics, meaning that travelling abroad has become a risky propostion.