Will Stephen Harper Resign Before 2015?

Well last night I shared one of my favourite dreams with you eh?

The one where the crazed alien Stephen Harper, battered beyond recognition by scandal, suddenly decides to quit.

And I said how encouraged I was to see some big shots in the MSM also musing about whether he might resign before the next election.

Only to have Paul Wells, the faithful keeper of the Harper flame, come along today and pour water over his colleagues, and the whole idea. 

For these reasons and others, I suspect we’ll have Stephen Harper around for a while yet. Whatever trouble the Conservative Party is in, it will be in worse trouble if he quits. And to a greater extent than most leaders, Harper’s pride is bound up with the long-term success of his party: if he left the leadership and the Conservatives were routed, he would take this, not as proof of his irreplaceable greatness, but as evidence that he’d failed to construct a durable conservative political movement. So I won’t be writing my Farewell-Harper(?) column anytime soon.

And who knows, Wells might be right. Harper will try to cling to power like a flea clings to a dog. His party would be hurt by his sudden departure. Great Ugly Leader's delusions of grandeur are as large as he is small.

And of course a lot depends on the performance of the opposition, the state of the economy, and the voices in Harper's head.

But I also think Wells underestimates the damage all those scandals are doing to Great Ugly Leader's already tarnished image. How they are reinforcing a common narrative: Harper is secretive, he lies a lot, and he cannot be trusted. Or how much those scandals are hitting home.

For a Conservative it was not a pretty sight. People were visibly annoyed and followed every exchange. Heads were shaking as the Prime Minister answered Mulcair. Clearly people didn’t believe his answers and they didn’t like what they were hearing. His pushbacks on what Mulcair might have known years ago didn’t go over well at all, even invoking some muttering from a few in the type of language that can’t be printed here.

I don't think Wells understands just how tired and fed up so many Canadians are of this hypocritical burned out Con regime that would pose as crimebusters, while sheltering wealthy tax dodgers.

Tax watchdog groups say Canada is resisting efforts by Cameron and G8 countries on a couple of measures that would further combat tax evasion, including identifying the true owners of offshore accounts and shell companies by disclosing what’s called beneficial ownership information.

Or impose austerity on others, while living it up like hogs, or charging us for stuff to make them look pretty.

A Conservative MP claimed election expenses that included hundreds of dollars for repeat visits to a hair and nail salons, skin care and grooming products, and even whitening toothpaste.

I don't think Wells understands how many Canadians are sick to death of the very sight of Stephen Harper and his grubby Con pals...



How disgusted they are by the kind of man he is and the company he keeps. How angry they are at all the terrible things he has done to this country and its democracy. How much they hate him with every bone in their bodies. And how determined they are to defeat him in the next election.

For no decent Canadian can ever accept to be governed by such a corrupt regime, or such a depraved leader. And not to demand better, would make us as bad as they are.

Paul Wells may not understand any of that. For him it may be just a cynical game, where moral outrage counts for nothing. Or maybe he really does see himself as the faithful keeper of Harper's flame. I don't know.

But what I do know is that flame is finally flickering.

Harper has never been so vulnerable.

The scandals have diminished him.

And one way or the other.

This shabby movie is almost over...



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