Stephen Harper and the New Happy Harperland

It's been a cold miserable spring that feels more like fall. After the winter from hell.

And it is Harperland. 

Where a depraved would be dictator is trying to buy the next election, turn us into a police state, and lead us into one war after the other.

After running the economy into the ground, and doing his best to torch the planet.

So I must say I was surprised to see that so many Canadians are so happy. 

Move over Pharrell Williams, because we’re happy too. According to a couple of surveys released this week, Canadians are a pretty happy lot.

According to the World Happiness Report, Canada ranks as the 5th happiest country on the planet. Not bad considering there are 158 countries on the list.

And even more shocked to see Stephen Harper looking so happy...



In a crazy sort of way.

Even after what Joe Oliver did to him and his porky tax plan. By suggesting he's prepared to mortgage his even his granddaughter's future, to win the next election.

So I was glad to see that his happy photo-op did end badly.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he wore a red and white Team Canada jersey amid a sea of Winnipeg Jets fans decked out in white because he didn't have a Jets jersey to wear to the playoff game. 

But shortly after the news conference Thursday when he said that, a tweet appeared with a photo of him wearing a white Winnipeg Jets jersey while standing next to Winnipeg South Centre MP Joyce Bateman.

When he was caught lying. Again.

But then maybe John Ivison is right, for once. 

Maybe Harper has read the same poll, and is trying to put on his happy face. 



Most Canadians probably think Stephen Harper smiles when he wakes up in the morning, just to get it over with. Previous elections have seen him campaign as the Eeyore of Canadian politics, spreading gloom and fear about the nightmare voters would endure if they elected a Stéphane Dion, Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton. 

Yet overnight, he seems to have been reborn as Ronald Reagan, a sunny optimist trying to bolster the collective spirits of the nation.

Or pose as Mr Sunshine.

I suspect we have the kernel of a Conservative “hope trumps fear” campaign. It may be counter-intuitive but then how often can you claim the other guys are too risky to give them a shot?

The Conservatives appear to have judged there is austerity fatigue and that people want to feel good about themselves again.

Even if he sounds like Mr Crazy...



“People should be confident about the future,” he said in Winnipeg, on the day it was revealed that employment insurance claims in Alberta rose 30 per cent in February.

But if that is indeed his new strategy all I can say is good luck. 

Because I can't imagine it will work for him.

Not when if he is going to pose as a champion of hope over fear, he's going to need more make-up than even Ol' Duff can slather on him...



Press Progress

Not when he has driven the economy into the ground. And the situation in Alberta couldn't be more desperate. 

The latest numbers on jobless benefits paint a brutal picture for oil-shocked Alberta. Indeed, Statistics Canada said today, these numbers for benefits under Canada’s Employment Insurance program are running up at the ugliest pace since the recession. And it’s going to get worse, observers warn



And he couldn't look more incompetent.

And not when, as Chantale Hebert points out, even his sunny porky budget won't save him. 

With this budget, the Conservatives are hoping to bring back under their tent the voters who supported them four years ago but have since gone missing in the polls. Many of them were Liberal sympathizers unhappy with Michael Ignatieff’s campaign. 

More than a few have come home since Justin Trudeau became party leader. If they voted for Paul Martin or Jean Chrétien in the past, chances are those swing voters still believe in a more activist government than Harper is offering in this bare-cupboard budget.

And of course, not when he's still trying to turn us into a police state, and this is still Harperland...



A grim, dark place where moral depravity reigns, and the Big Lie rules. And even a person like me sometimes feels like giving up.

But the reason I don't is because I told you we would be on this journey together until the day the tyrant is defeated, and I could never break that promise.

And because I know that if Stephen Harper is trying to portray himself as Mr Sunshine he must be REALLY crazy desperate.

And that the sun will rise again.

When this monster is finally gone...



Or vice versa.

And yes, for our sake, and our country's sake.

It can't happen soon enough...

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