Stephen Harper's Desperate Rush to War

He's spent the last few days licking his wounds after he was caught deliberately fanning the flames of racism, and was hit by a wave of revulsion.

And no doubt he's been knocking back a few to try to forget what's happening to the economy. 

Because that makes HIM feel sick, or makes all the voices in his head start screaming at the same time.

But now he's back on his feet, he's inflamed with energy of the desperate, and he's rushing off or lurching off to WAR. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet with the head of NATO Monday to discuss terror threats facing the military alliance as the government prepares this week to launch a longer military mission against Islamic State extremists.

The head of NATO has been recruited to kick off his War Week with a bang. The PMO is beating its hollow drums furiously.

“(Harper) and NATO secretary general are expected to raise the growing phenomena of foreign fighters, the direct threat ISIL poses to Canada and alliance member security, and the imperative that allied nations must confront and degrade this threat head-on,” said a senior source familiar with the meeting.

“Canada will not sit on the sidelines against this clear and present threat to our own security. We will confront it to protect our citizens and we will continue to work with the coalition and allies to undermine ISIL’s ability to launch terrorist operations against our countries,” the source said.

Great Strong Leader has a new/nouveau reason to expand our operations and pass his police state bill C-51.

Add your name to support @pmharper’s strong leadership: http://t.co/DGGQM91Blx #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/ssYasyuvsI
— Conservative Party (@CPC_HQ) March 22, 2015

He must protect our constitutional rights from the Jihadists who would destroy them. 

Unlike himself.

And of course he must protect us from Justin Trudeau...



Because that's what it's really all about. Using the war as a wedge issue, to pleasure his chicken hawk base and attack his opponents.

And the good news? All this posturing may buff up his feathers a bit, but it shouldn't win the Cons many votes. 

For Stephen Harper, this week’s debate on extending the mission to combat the Islamic State is like pushing a button that lights an applause sign across half the political spectrum. But the issue itself isn’t likely to drive voters on election day – so the way the leaders handle the issue will be more telling than their party’s vote.

Extending the mission isn't as popular as simply supporting it.  

While there are twice as many Canadians who support the mission as oppose it (54 per cent to 28 per cent), it’s far closer when they’re asked whether they want to extend the mission – 56 per cent want to see Parliament extend the mission, but 44 per cent don’t.

And the opposition should find it easier to defend the idea of a humanitarian mission, by pointing out that we could have played a bigger role in the war against ISIS by helping this army of desperate refugees.



Than we ever could by using six planes that aren't really needed to bomb ISIS positions, and are just there to provide political cover for the Americans.

But we didn't, and so much for our Canadian values. 

But of course the best news is that Harper and his Cons wouldn't be so worked up if they weren't desperate. The Fear Factor is fading. The scandals are closing in on them. 

In two weeks Mike Duffy will remind everyone of Harper's rotten judgment. Today it will be Patrick Brazeau.

And to make matter even worse Great Economist Leader's job creation record is now so disastrous. 

Year-over-year employment growth in Canada has been below 1 per cent for 15 months in a row, the longest stretch below that mark for annual job gains, outside of recessions, in almost 40 years of record-keeping.

It's in the Guinness Book of Records, in the section reserved for gross incompetence.



Oil prices are tanking, so is the loonie.

And even some well known Cons are criticizing Harper's porky income splitting plan or calling it "socialism for the wealthy." 



It seems Stephen Harper can't even get people who used to work for him to get behind income splitting. The late Finance Minister Jim Flaherty expressed his concerns last year, saying the scheme needed a rethink because "there are some people who benefit and lots of people who don't in that world of income splitting."

Now former Harper speech writer Michael Taube has taken to the Toronto Sun to speak out against the scheme: "When you really think about income splitting, it’s the equivalent of state-run socialism for the wealthy. A few of us will shift income to get a tax credit directly from the government, paid for by taxpayers."

Which should just about finish off what's left of Harper's economic credentials.

So whatever things look like now, the war will be just a distraction.

The economy will be the main issue, his scandals will do him great damage.

He can posture all he likes, he can scream, he can call decent people traitors.

But the odds are stacked against him, and he is going down...



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