Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called an October election and it will be interesting to see if he can lead his party to another majority government.
My preliminary thought is that a Harper led minority government is going to be his best case scenario.
Many Conservative MPs have opted not to run in October, which tells me they see the writing on the wall. Many readers of this column think I’m a dark blue Conservative, but that’s just not the case. I prefer to call it as I see it and while I tend to lean Conservative, Harper has been in power a long time and with that comes corruption.
We have seen it with the Chretien Liberals and we saw it with the Mulroney Conservatives before that.
To me, Harper would have given his party a much better chance at winning again if he had announced several months ago that he was stepping aside for a new face. I think people want change, but I also don’t get the sense that Thomas Mulcair (his people are really trying to push him as ‘Tom’ because it’s more personable) or Justin Trudeau carry the necessary political moxy to put Harper away.
Harper still carries an aura about him that makes me think he just would know what to do in situations of crisis, whereas Trudeau wouldn’t have a hot clue and there is no telling what further damage Mulcair might do.
The early polls show Mulcair has a shot, but if you look at various provinces who have an NDP government in control, the economy isn’t as prosperous as it could be and in places like Ontario, the economy is a complete mess.
I worry about Canada’s future in an NDP-led government, yet I can’t endorse Trudeau and I don’t blame anyone for wanting to make a change away from Harper either.
Nice person mentions this week to: Jamie Brockman, Amanda Chambers, Beth Castle, Adam Stuart, and Greg Litvanyi.
