This Man Should Be Prime Minister...

[sir_springer]

By comparison, both Harris and Martin are, at best, average.

In my 35 years of watching federally politics, I can honestly say that I have not ever seen a more gifted leader than is this man.

And if you're paying attention, you'll notice that some of the pundits are starting to realise just how smart and capable he really is. F'rinstance, check out Susan Riley's commentary in the Ottawa Citizen from yesterday.

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Stephen Harper

By STEPHEN HARPER

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Last week, federal Tory leader Peter MacKay and I signed an agreement in principle to create a new political party, the Conservative Party of Canada. The agreement fulfills a dream that has animated many conservatives for more than 35 years.

In 1967, Alberta Social Credit premier Ernest Manning wrote a book called Political Realignment, the first thoughtful attempt to deal with an ineffective five-party system in federal politics. Premier Manning's proposal to merge the Progressive Conservatives and the federal Social Credit Party was largely forgotten after the latter party disappeared. Yet the failure to reconcile conservative divisions ensured their eventual resurgence in 1987 with the formation of the Reform Party of Canada.

In the late 1990s, Reform leader Preston Manning, son of the former Alberta premier, tried to bring together conservatives from across the country. Although the process was not as successful as he had hoped, its accomplishments were far from trivial. A great many Ontario Tories, both federal and provincial, as well as disaffected Quebec federalists joined the ranks of the Canadian Alliance. This new agreement in principle reached between the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives marks the final step.

What are those divisions among conservatives that have taken so long to overcome? One is the well-known distinction between "fiscal conservatives," stressing market economics and individual freedom, and "social conservatives," emphasizing traditional values and personal responsibility. Such differences, however, exist in conservative parties all over the world without creating permanent rifts.

Canada's constitutional disputes have been more divisive for conservatives but tend to arise only in certain eras, as they did during the Meech Lake and Charlottetown debates that raged from 1987 to 1992. That those debates are now in the past makes it easier for conservatives to get together in the present.

In today's climate, the most persistent and relevant division pits the institutional loyalty and elitism of the Tory tradition against the grassroots populism of parties such as Social Credit and Reform.

Being aware of these divisions, we were prepared to make significant compromises with the PCs, and we did. We made those compromises from a position of strength because we have rebuilt the Canadian Alliance in membership, organization, finances and caucus unity.

What we have not compromised is our belief that the new party must be structured to ensure democratic accountability and grassroots control over the party's personnel and policies. Conservative values will always include the marketplace and business, family and faith, criminal justice and national defence. When these principles need to be tempered, it should be through the concerns of grassroots Canadians expressed in the democratic process, not through adoption of Liberal or New Democratic Party policies.

Ultimately, more policies will unite than divide the new Conservative Party. Most Canadian conservatives, regardless of which party they have traditionally supported, are committed to free enterprise and free trade; fiscal responsibility, with lower taxes and aggressive debt repayment; social responsibility, with strong families and sustainable social programs and personal responsibility under the rule of law, with reform of the justice system. As well, most conservatives support international engagement with an emphasis on strong national defence, supporting our friends and allies, promoting democracy and human rights, and practical democratic reforms to give Canadians greater control of their government.

Observers who would not support a conservative party in any case will undoubtedly argue that such ideas represent a "hard right" agenda. It has become the liberal norm to dismiss all conservatism as divisive and extreme. In spite of such nay-saying, Canadian politics have nevertheless undergone a remarkable shift in the past 15 years, when balanced budgets and tax cuts were seen as part of a "far right" agenda, to now, when they are generally accepted as common sense.

In the short term, this agreement alters the political landscape for the next general election. It immediately puts an end to Liberal sweeps in Ontario -- the only basis on which they have won three consecutive majority governments. In the longer term, this agreement means that Canadian conservatives will finally have a single, principled national party to call home.

I am genuinely excited by what Peter MacKay and I have set in motion. In this agreement, both parties win. But more importantly, so do the Canadian people. To my own party's membership, I say this: The Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance changed Canadian politics in a positive and remarkable fashion over the last decade and a half. Now, as a strong partner in the new Conservative Party of Canada, we are set to reform Canadian politics for the better once again.

Stephen Harper is Leader of the Canadian AllianceParty.

[sir_springer]

"Considering all that I have accomplished with the CA, if I made it look too easy for you..."

Stephen Harper, roughly quoted, in response to Craig Oliver on Question Period when it was suggested that Harper doesn't display that burning desire for leadership.

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Following are the exact reasons why Stephen Harper should, and must, lead this new party...and therein why no one else can:

There is this reality about human nature: people are inspired when they see someone take a supposed champion apart like a cheap puzzle.

Paul Martin is the veritable Muhamed Ali of the Canadian political scene.

Thus, like in a Rocky movie, whoever takes him apart is the undisputed champion, and thus worthy of the PMO.

The leader of this new party has to be capable of exactly this, and no less.

For any less simply will NOT cut it on election day.

This coming election will be won by Martin by literal default...unless the Conservative Party puts forward a leader that can demonstrate that he is smarter and thus, more capable, than is Martin.

Merely pulling even, at best, will result in a minority Liberal government.

With this truth in mind, therefore...

The leader of the Conservative Party must be, not just as smart, but SMARTER than Paul Martin.

The leader of the CP must not be merely as good as Paul Martin, but BETTER than Martin.

I want to see some leading who is, in the minimum, potentially as ruthless as need be in order to beat the Liberals at their own game.

He must be relentless, he must be shrewd, he must be devistatingly acute and articulate.

He must be fearless, and certain.

He must know "conservative" policy and objectives inside out, forward and backward, and, if need be, able to recite them in his sleep.

He must be, figuratively speaking, a master chess player, able to plan 6 moves in advance, yet flexible enough to alter his course on a moments notice and in immediate response to the moment at hand.

He must be able to control his troops, having all of them reading off the same page as him throughout, allowing for no loose cannons misfiring into their own lines.

He must be experienced with the ways of Ottawa, the eastern media, and federal politics.

Being a "nice" guy simply will not cut it.

The Liberals eat "nice" guys for breakfast, and crap them out again before lunch.

Being able to mouth policy simply will not cut it.

The Liberals will turn anyone not intimately solid on policy inside and out, and dump them on the roadside like so much garbage leftover from a Rotten Ronny's lunch.

We do NOT have time for rookies.

Whoever wins this race will, probably within two weeks, find themselves headlong into a federal election.

There will be NO break-in period, no learning curve, no training wheels supplied with the job.

This will not be a popularity contest...for if we are stupid enough to contest Martin on this ground, he will win a popularity contest in a blink, certainly against Mike Harris.

This will be won by whoever can literally kick the crap out of Paul Martin on Paul Martin's intellectual level.

Paul Martin will devour Mike Harris. He will spit out Prentice like ten minute old flavorless gum. He will humiliate MacKay with embarassing aplomb.

There is only man in Canadian politics that can face Paul Martin at his level, and kick his sorry ass.

There is only one man in Canadian politics that meets...and even exceeds...the criteria I have set out above.

(No, Pell, it sure as hell ain't Jack Laydown. )

I predict that Harper will first decimate Mike Harris for the leadership of the new CP...if Harris even runs, which I propose is increasingly doubtful. He's got it far too good where he is now.

And on election night, the talk will be about Stephen Harper...

And how no one saw nor appreciated this man's remarkable and stunning political prowess and talent.

And so it begins.