Where is Harper ?

[Michael Hardner]

Is it just me or is shy Steven Harper still avoiding the glare of the cameras ?

Throughout this sponsorship scandal I have seen much more of Peter McKay than I have of the opposition leader. This doesn't bode well for hopes for a CPC breakthrough this spring.

Please post here if you've sighted him.

[August1991]

I noticed the same thing and was curious.

I think Martin is like Clark. After leaving a place, his ratings go down. Both guys confuse movement with progress. The Tories have realized this and have let Martin take as much rope as he wants.

But don't get me wrong, the Liberals are not Martin. These guys, Lapierre and the rest, are something.

We now have an old fashioned 50 day campaign, and not the 36 day modern Electoral Act campaign. Watch for TV debate negotiations soon. I suspect that this campaign will be unlike anything in Canadian history.

Pacific Scandal meets TV.

[playfullfellow]

I suspect that this campaign will be unlike anything in Canadian history.

From what I see in the papers and hear on the radio, I think this election will be just a repeat of the last one. The Liberals will try to scare monger Canadians again that if they vote for Harper, our healthcare system will get dumped, social programs will be decimated and our troops will be sent off to fight in any war the US engages in. They did the same things to Stockwell and they figure it will work again with Harper. I think the debates could get rather interesting if all party leaders actually talk policies instead of slinging the mud.

[maplesyrup]

Mchael.....I agree, first Joe Who, and now Stephen Where? It's like Harper has fallen off a log or something, and actually quite a lot of the Conservative supporters are worried by this bizarre vanishing behaviour. Apparently this is not the first time Harper has pulled this stunt.

I think I know the reason for it though. If Harper is around and available, he will be querried by the media about what he really represents, and I don't think Harper really wants to go there. He thinks incorrectly that he can win on the back of this supposed "sponsorship scandal", but he is in for a rude awakening.

[August1991]

From what I see in the papers and hear on the radio, I think this election will be just a repeat of the last one.

I think you are wrong. Martin is not Chretien, and Harper is not Day.

Chretien had an instinctive feel for French Canada and a learned feel for English Canada. I saw him in action on both sides.

Martin has no feel. English or French. His touch, believe me, is not working here. But the Liberal Party is still something (smart ambition, at minimum).

(Rent the CBC double DVD about Trudeau and watch the CBC documentary extra on one side about the 1968 Liberal Convention. Martin's Dad is almost Martin now - just more ambition, less sense.)

This Federal Election will be very interesting to watch. And I think that it will be very important. (Maybe I'm wrong.)

[maplesyrup]

PM to hold Harper accountable for "everything he has said"

Even though the election writ hasn't been dropped yet, Prime Minister Paul Martin dropped the gauntlet in question period today by issuing a warning to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper that everything he has said in the past may come back to haunt him.

Martin's comments came after a fiery exchange in question period in which Harper criticized the prime minister for blaming bureaucrats and his predecessor, Jean Chretien, for the sponsorship mess.

"Will the prime minister admit if he wanted the job, should he not take accountability for it?" Harper asked.

Martin responded by offering the House a sneak preview of what the Liberals hope the coming election campaign will be.

"If the leader of the opposition wants to talk about accountability I certainly hope that he's prepared to be accountable for everything he has said over the course of the last eight years," the PM said, as cheers from the Liberal benches drowned out the end of his sentence.

This is exactly where Harper is going to run into trouble - his past.

[August1991]

Words are one thing. Actions another. What did Harper say? What did Martin do?

MS, these are opening salvos.

In fact, we are watching democracy in action - something denied to places like Jordan, Palestine and China. It is wonderful because we will somehow collectively decide. It is Canada in question. The truth will out. (Black Dog believes all this is manipulated.)

I'm curious to watch, and see how the NDP will play a role. (I suspect it will not be a small role.) The NDP represents many English Canadians.

Manipulated? Can anyone of us now predict where this several million, collective conversation will lead? (Well, I am sure that we will all accept the end result with respect.)

Does anyone here believe that we Canadians will not decide collectively our own fate? Whaddya think BlackDog?

BlackDog, will the US get involved in our election and ensure it gets the dollars it wants? (Sorry, dumb question. The US already has our cash/oil/coal/stuff/country and because of the Americans, we're innocent victims living in dire ignorance and poverty like many in South American flavellas.)

[maplesyrup]

Michael....your timing is impeccable.

Stephen who? Phantom of the Ottawa

Stephen Harper was elected leader of the Conservative Party on March 20, a Saturday. He received ample coverage in the Sunday and Monday press. Then he receded onto the moors like a grey mist. The central Canadian media, fixated on the Liberals, have given him scant notice ever since. They have turned Stephen Harper into Stephen Vapour.

As a consequence, the new Conservatives, teeming with inertia, have generated little enthusiasm, leaving the impression (likely an illusion) that the Liberals can win yet another election by default.

One might be hard pressed to find precedence for our Leader of the Opposition's disappearing act. Take, for example, the print media. Five newspapers appear on my doorstep each morning: The Globe, The National Post, The Ottawa Citizen, La Presse and The Sun. In the month and a half since he was elected leader, the Harper name has not appeared once in a front-page headline in four of them.

The Conservative boss man has been upstaged by everything from the Dalai Lama to bird flu. In the fifth paper, his name did make a solo front-page headline appearance. It was when Joe Clark, a candidate for the posting of consul-general in Los Angeles, hammered him as being a worse choice for prime minister than Paul Martin.

[playfullfellow]

Reports say the ads were prepared for Liberal brass, but that no decision has been made on whether they will actually be used.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Z04_00aharper0505.lasso

I think you are wrong. Martin is not Chretien, and Harper is not Day

This is just what I see and hear on the news. The articles does say that the decision has not been made yet whether to use the fear-mongering ads. I guess it will come down to how scared the Liberals are of Harper and if they want to air their own policies first or try to win the election and then air their policies, if they have any.

[Hjalmar]

I think I know the reason for it though. If Harper is around and available, he will be querried by the media about what he really represents, and I don't think Harper really wants to go there.

What kind of a leader are you looking for maplesyrup? .. one that's constantly in the media eye showing off like Jack Layton? I take substance over charisma any day, but Layton doesn't even have charisma.

This is exactly where Harper is going to run into trouble - his past.

What past are you referring to? he's a newby.

When it comes to a good grasp in economics, keen business smarts and good money sense I believe both Stephen Harper and Paul Martin have it. And I can tell you that anyone with these qualifications certainly wouldn't be running as leader of a rump party such as the NDP. Doesn't that tell you something? Jack Layton has no money sense whatsoever.

Trudeau had no sense of economics nor business smarts either and he kept winning elections on charisma alone but Layton doesn't even have that going for him.

[Goldie]

In response to, where is Harper?

Near as I can tell he is working the grassroots and does respond through Media releases. The media doesn't run with it because there is no fun in a refuted claim of extremism.

Those who can get past the CBC\Globe filter can see calm, cool, logical responses from Harper on any issue.

The media won't be able to downplay the truth come election time. It seems the only way to get his message to Canadians is paid advertisement and that is money better spent during the last week of the election.

A prize fighter shouldn't be on TV every day blabbing about his opponent. Gloves come up when the bell rings or in this case when the writ is dropped.

[Michael Hardner]

A prize fighter shouldn't be on TV every day blabbing about his opponent. Gloves come up when the bell rings or in this case when the writ is dropped.

I was speaking to someone today who said the same thing - that the CPC is keeping Harper in the background until the election is called so that he can be discovered afresh when it matters.

If that's the case, then it's all about the timing - and Paul Martin holds the stopwatch. Uh.... well, you get the gist of it...

[August1991]

I don't know if this is calculated Tory strategy but I think Martin is hanging himself.

Remember how they used to say, a few months (weeks?) ago, that the Liberal Party didn't exist? It was the "Team Martin".

The AdScam thingy would hurt the Liberals but Martin was different. Martin had integrity. Remember "rebranding"?

Heck, do you remember those Liberal ads with Martin at the table talking to ordinary Canadians?

Do you remember the Federal budget?

How about the trip to Washington?

Harper has every reason to be silent now. When Canadians (Ontario voters) focus on who to vote for, Harper must present himself well. It will be his to win, or lose.

[playfullfellow]

Harper has every reason to be silent now. When Canadians (Ontario voters) focus on who to vote for, Harper must present himself well. It will be his to win, or lose.

I think this point is very well stated. I also think that Harpers silince may be a case of let's sit back and see where the Liberals are going with all of this. Come out of the corner a few times, throw a couple of jabs just to let the crowd know you are still in the fight and then save your strength for the final round. Harper will have to be extremely careful in what frays he gets into in the next little while and not be led into a cat fight like the Liberals did to Stockwell. The Liberals are good at provoking fights that may confuse the voters. Martin and his team are well seasoned and know how to put on a good show.