Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Could Northern Gateway be Stephen Harper's Final Act?



No sooner had I finished my last post, about Stephen Harper's decision to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline, when I was struck by a sudden happy thought.

Could that be his final act? Could that be his final gift to Alberta? And could he be planning to resign, before construction begins, and the shit hits the fan?

So he can get the credit for the idea, and not be blamed for the bloodbath.

But sadly that moment of euphoria didn't last long eh? 

Because along came the guy who wrote Harperland to puncture that happy thought. 

Given the Ontario election result, the chances that Stephen Harper will step down have just shot up, a veteran Conservative insider was telling me. “Odds have gone from about one in 20,” he chuckled, “to about one in 10.” That sounds about right. While it makes so much sense from so many points of view for the Prime Minister to realize that almost a decade in power is enough, no one expects him to do anything about it.

Because Lawrence Martin is probably right, logic dictates that he should resign while he's still ahead. Or still standing.

Hardly anyone is talking about it, but these and many other considerations suggest Mr. Harper should be seriously contemplating his future. It’s possible he can recoup enough of his support to score a minority victory next year. But where would that get him? Opposition parties would soon gang up to send that minority packing. As for the chance of Mr. Harper’s winning another majority, odds are not much better than for his stepping down.

Does he really want to risk the fate of so many other power-drunk leaders who overstayed their welcome and paid the price? Does he really want to face the possibility of the ultimate humiliation – a defeat by a Trudeau?


But he is power-drunk, his judgement is corrupted, he's come to believe his own propaganda, believe that he IS the Conservative Party.  

And that he can bend reality to his will, defy the toll of time, and reinvent himself again...



And of course none of his cowed Cons dare challenge his deranged version of reality. 

And his toadies in the PMO only tell him what he wants to hear.

Because he created them in his monstrous image, he is their Big Daddy, and for them he can do no wrong...



So he'll probably end up missing his cue, like clinical psychopaths so often do, who never know when to leave or where to draw the line. And like criminals so often do, end up screwing HIMSELF.

The logic of it all suggests the Prime Minister should call a leadership convention for this fall, orchestrate a smooth transition and collect the praises of Tories across the land. 

But in the cauldron of power, one person’s sense of logic is not another’s. Instead, logic is sacrificed to ambition, to the eminence of high office. Toadies surround the commander, telling him what he wants to hear. There are too many hurdles to seeing things objectively. It makes the odds of Mr. Harper’s leaving no better than one in 10.

And you know what? Although I was briefly deflated to see the odds that he might depart this fall still so depressingly slim. Although not impossible.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that's probably just as well. And that if it's OK for the toadies, it's OK for me too.

For I'd hate to see Lord Harp sail off into the horizon, or into the relative safety of the Fraser Institute, before all the chickens came home to roost.

You know, the sordid Senate scandal, the sagging economy, the Bruce Carson trial with the former escort, Jason Kenney's insatiable ambition. And of course his desperate plan to shove an oily pipeline through the heart, or up the ass of British Columbia, without the consent of its citizens.

So let him stick it out, let him be defeated, and humiliated.

Let him take his party down with him.

May his pipeline show be warmly received.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be the focus of newly intense protests whenever he shows up in B.C. due to his cabinet’s Northern Gateway decision, a provincial native leader says. 

“There’s been a lot of chatter about that today. Given the fact that, in our view, Harper has declared war on British Columbians and First Nations, he will absolutely not be welcome into this province in the future,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip told reporters during a major anti-Gateway rally in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday night.

May it prove to be his final act.

May his awakening be brutal.

And his downfall be a hard one...



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16 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:55 AM

    He has an AGENDA>>>>>>Don't kid yourself!

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    1. hi anon...yes I know he has an agenda, and I also know he wants to move up the list of longest serving Prime Ministers. But at a certain point he should be seeing the writing on the wall and trying to save the furniture as we save in Quebec. So I still would not rule out a resignation. But the latest he can do that is in the fall, so we should know exactly what he's up to in a few months...

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  2. It sucks to be Stevie. Stevie (aka Mr. Slither) didn't have a choice. Thanks to Obama parking Keystone XL, while the Goppers self-destruct, the gang that got the Tar Patch GOTTA get Plan B on the road, so Stevie's run out of time. Problem is, the final, stick-it-up-your-ass go-ahead is not for maybe 2 years — and the election is 14 months or so away. So it's going to be an election issue. Bye-bye Stevie, Tar Sands oligarchs, we might let you have a pipeline East, aka Plan C, but it's gonna cost ya . . .

    It sucks to be Stevie. OUR MISSION: to ensure that it continues to suck to be Stevie . . . it may help if you think of it as an art form . . .

    I would suggest a public "shaming" of the Enbridge Board of Directors and senior Enbridge executive officers. One of the younger computer adepts should attend to this on social media. It's what the economists used to call "moral suasion". Peaceful, too — not like setting fire to a tire on the President's front lawn or some other act of truculence . . .

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    1. Anonymous10:08 PM

      "the election is 14 months or so away . . . "
      Unless he prorogues Parliament AGAIN!!!

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    2. hi Edstock....you're absolutely right, the window is closing, he's stuck in the Tar Patch, and it will be an election issue. The MSM is as usual trying to portray Harper as a political genius, by making it sound like he can polish that turd into a diamond. And because he has the mighty propaganda machine of Big Oil behind him,making it sound like Canada's prosperity depends on Big Oil, when it's only about 15% of the economy, he will try to use it as a wedge issue. Which is why it is very very important that argument be countered by the one I mentioned in the post: the Oil Sands are only creating jobs in Alberta, while everywhere else in Canada the job picture is grim and getting grimmer by the day. The Cons favoured Alberta over the rest of us, and they're flooding the country with foreign workers to steal the few jobs we have. Hey, this is Canada eh? Everyone into the corner and let your fists and elbows do the talking... ;)

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    3. hi anon 10:08...you're right he could prorogue Parliament again, but the greatest threat is that he could call an early election, on sums manufactured excuse, before the opposition parties are ready for one....

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  3. Noah Patterson12:20 PM

    I hope he doesn't resign. I want to see his face in electoral defeat.

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    1. hi Noah...well I'm simply APPALLED. How could you allow such base instincts to guide your political thinking? I can hardly imagine thinking that way myself. My Sunday School teacher would be shocked (even more than I shocked her when I was her unwilling captive) and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
      So as I tell all my friends, try to be more like me eh?
      But yeah, as I also said, may the awakening be brutal, and the downfall a hard one...

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  4. Anonymous1:51 PM

    Name me one dictator through the ages that has stepped down, for the good of their country? Harper's ego is just as huge, as all of the other dictators ego's were. I believe Hitler made a law? There were no other parties permitted. Do we really think Harper wouldn't do the same? Of course he would, if he could get away with it. Harper tried to grab control of the Supreme Courts. That would have made Harper supreme dictator of Canada.

    Herr Harper's henchmen have no self respect, decency, honor, ethics nor morals, what-so-ever. They are every bit as vile as Harper is and have to be, to support such as Harper.This is our country and not Harper and his henchmen's country. They are as of traitors to Canada and doing acts of treason against our country.

    Harper step down? Not on your Nelly.

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  5. I think he will declare war on Russia and Iran before he leaves.

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    1. hi Steve...try not to make us all more paranoid than we already are. I've been checking out the faces in the crowds, and we're not a gang of happy campers. I try to explain what's happening in a more reassuring way. I tell people Steve is just trying to push up oil prices, so we can be rich. And just stirring up a little trouble to make the Americans believe they need our bitumen as a matter of survival....

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  6. I mean he is doing everything to he can to determine of Canadians want a democracy or not

    I mean it is up to HM Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11 and the Supreme Court of Canada

    I mean Paul Anka (Longest Day fame Lord Lovat) and his Book I Did it My Way is so enlightening and he won a case against Mohammed Fayd and we must have compassion for them. It is their path. It is between them and GOD/Allah. GOD sustain,defend,save the Queen. Tks

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  7. hi Blue...well I'm not a monarchist, and Lord Lovat was the head of my clan and led the successful commando raid on Dieppe, is unfortunately not around to help us. But I do do agree with the general thrust of your message: Canadians need to decide whether they want to live in a democracy or not....

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  8. Once book that seems to have an uncanny description of people's general characteristics is Suzanne White's Book of Chinese Chance (1976). Some copies are available on Amazon. Harper was born April 30, 1959, which makes him a Pig/Taurus.

    From the book:

    Pig/Taurus (April 21 - May 21)

    "This body of apparently still waters will most probably conrtain an undertow of hidden rage at the world. Because the Pig/Taurus has trouble expressing himself except through deed, all that artless sensuality may bottle itself inside his head. Without proper outlet for his earthly power, an inner struggle for victory over ingenuousness will ensure. Art, literature, culture in all its forms will intrigue and delight the Taurean born under the sign of the Pig. Perhaps he should endeavor to learn to sing and dance in order to lighten his ponderous presentation of self. Pigs cling stubbornly to purity. Taureans are obstiniate on almost any subject. Both signs enjoy mateial comforts and the pleasure of the table. If these subjects are not able to check their tendency for excess, they can become as fat as pigs and pig-headedly stuck in a rut."

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  9. On the surface, Harper's approval of the pipeline "with conditions" is a gift to the NDP, Libs, and Greens for the 2015 election. Did you know Enbridge--not the Energy Board--came up with most of the 209 conditions?

    But who knows what scheme Harper has up his sleeve. Maybe he thinks he can write off the 21 Con MPs and still win the election because of the same reason he won 3 times before--splitting the vote between the opposition parties and come up the middle.

    That's why I'd like to see, as Trudeau suggests, mandatory voting and preferential ballots. The Cons would lose big time if we had mandatory voting because most voters vote for non-Con parties. But Harper doesn't want more people to vote. He wants LESS people to vote. And that's why he brought in the Unfair Elections Act.

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  10. e.a.f.3:08 PM

    He can't declare war on Iran. The U.S.A. and Iraq may need them to deal with ISIS. Russia maybe faced with ISIS also. They have had problems with their Muslim areas and if ISIS is successful in Iraq and it splinters into a number of smaller countries, there will be no stopping the. They currently have about $2Billion in money and assets, control some of the Syrian oil fields/refineries.

    Declare war on Russia, this I'd almost want to see. Harper is simply too much of a coward to have a real war, where he might have to defend himself. With the treatment of Veterans from the last 2 wars, I think Harper may find he doesn't have an Armed Forces to go to war.

    The destruction of Harper. Some of his good pals, might give him a really nice job, but he is thinking something much bigger than the Fraser Institute. Harper wants an international positions with lots of money. He wants "the good life" to continue. Then there is his wife; do you think she wants to go back to Alberta and live the life of some small town has been politicians wife. Not so much.

    No I think we can survive as a country until the next election. Then we can defeat him at the polls and I want to be around to see that. I want to see Harper move out of that nice house. Have some other family move in and then someone else in the leader of the opposition's house. I want to see the cons in last place.

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