Of Borrowing From Other's Playbooks

The more I see, the more convinced I become that the current CPC is getting coached from Washington. Far too many of Harper's tactics have wound up looking like they came from the George W. Bush school of governance.

Whether that was Harper's highly orchestrated "Inspire the Troops" trip to Afghanistan, trying to muzzle/control the media access to his government, or how Harper is treating Ontario's Dalton McGuinty.

If you look at it through the lens of Washington, that's basically how BushCo treated both Chretien and Martin. They ignored them, and did everything they could to make it difficult for the Liberal government of the day to make any progress with issues between Canada and the US. The effort was basically partisan in nature - it boils down to a childish unwillingness to discuss issues with the other parties involved.

McGuinty isn't a big-C conservative, (I'm not even sure he's a small-c conservative - I don't know much about him other than the odd bit I read in The Globe and Mail) Regardless of that, when Harper makes it quite clear that he's uninterested in working with McGuinty, and then turns around and makes exactly the opposite noises towards Quebec's Charest, you have to know that there's something fishy afoot.

The Conservatives think that Ontario is likely to elect a Conservative government next election, and therefore they can ignore it in the meantime. They know damn good and well that they have to be seen to make a significant difference in Quebec, or they'll lose the gains they made last election.

Hopefully, Ontario voters will be a little more canny about this than - say Alberta voters - and see this sham for what it is. Marginalizing Ontario is politically foolish, acting like you don't care about Ontario is not just foolish in Canada, it's bad strategy.

Taking your playbook from the US is not smart planning, no matter what Brian Mulroney may claim. (Especially not when the role model you are borrowing from is in a tailspin, dropping below the lowest ratings that Richard Nixon suffered!)

It would be nice to see the Conservatives present something that looked like a practical view of Canada and policy in Canada. Instead, they are so focused on looking southwards, that they don't seem to be able to recognize what's happening there, much less how Canada will ultimately see their disingenuous games.