Finally, an explanation.

[c9]

I have been shaking my head in wonder at the behaviour of the federal government recently -- constantly attacking Ontario's recently-reelected-with-a-majority government, whining about their choices in the budget, etc -- and I really couldn't figure it out. Most blog posts seemed to indicate similar questions, usually along the lines of "What's Harper's game?"

Sadly, the game is just that he's a child, says Paul Wells. This makes a lot more sense than thinking he's out to govern Ontario by press conference, I think.

Comments

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=396713

The National Post has an interesting take on this. Ontario is one of those provinces that doesn't have oil reserves to keep it flying during the approaching recession. That is, assuming that this approaching U.S. recession takes Canada down, it is likely that Ontario is going to feel it worse than any other province.

People look to the federal government to make the right economic choices to avoid a recession. What Harper appears to be doing is preemptively shifting the blame to the Ontario government so that if Ontario's economy tanks along with the U.S. economy, Harper can point to the province, and pretend the the federal government did everything it could.

I wonder how many people in the Conservative party have come to realize just what a psychopath they have running things. I expect any day now for the party to send an R2 unit to Alberta with a holographic message: "Help us Preston Manning. You're our only hope." That's how bad I imagine things are.

[c9.livejournal.com]

It's so transparent, too. If Harper had his cabinet members walk into *any* other province to say these sort of things, they'd be run out of town and the papers (especially in Alberta) would tear him up! Of course, he clearly doesn't have the guts since the other provinces will get him his majority if he can manage to keep them.

Plus, he's a huge "provincial jurisdiction" person. If Chretien or Martin had pulled this stunt, he'd be threatening to sue the Liberal Party (oops, too late on that one) within hours.

*sigh* I'm glad we don't have enough serious problems for the Prime Minister to work on. Imagine if he was actually busy?

[(Anonymous)]

I've been meaning to ask this in my blog, but this is a better place:

Does the Conservative party constantly inundate Ontarians with flyers making outlandish, obviously false claims about the opposition? They do New Brunswickers, and it's bloody annoying. I don't remember ever seeing so much negative literature (or any, really) before the last federal election.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

That was me.

[c9.livejournal.com]

I live in Jack Layton's riding. The federal Tories wouldn't spend a dime here if they could avoid it. But New Brunswick is seen as totally winnable, especially with Andy Scott retiring! Different tactics for different provinces -- plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

The idea that NB is totally winnable is deeply depressing.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Struggling useless Liberal leader, no NDP support... sad, but it's always been true. NB is pretty PC-friendly territory. The Tories are really just the right wing of the PCs, so a stumbling opposition means it's right back to the 80s.

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

I'm in John Baird's riding. He keeps on sending 'questionnaires' with ridiculous questions asking "Do you prefer a 5% or 7% GST." He's obviously trying to combine looking like a concerned MP who cares about what his constituents think with flaunting the few popular things the Conservatives are doing. It's so transparent though, it makes him look patronizing.

[c9.livejournal.com]

It's too bad Baird's a big mo and friendly in real life (to hear a friend who worked for him tell it), cause he really doesn't put across that impression *anywhere* in public life.

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

I love how on CTV Newsnet, the ad for Mike Duffy's political show has Baird saying how Duffy pulled him out of his shell. We can blame Mike Duffy for Baird's attitude, which is fine with me, because I can't stand Mike Duffy. (His show was only watchable when he was on sick-leave, and Jane Taber took over.)

His sexuality is kind of obvious too. I mean, why else would Harper trust him to always be his wife's date. I'm drooling in anticipation of McGreevey-esque chauffeur stories from Baird.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Yes! Those are the same lame flyers we get here; no surprise they use the same playbook wherever they think it will work. "Transparent" and "patronizing" are exactly the right words. There's no substance, no policy or facts -- just spin and disingenuous slogans. It's all vaguely American.

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

OMG. It's a conspiracy. A vast, right-wing conspiracy!

I expect though that most people are intelligent enough to see it for what it is and be offended by it.

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

Yeah we get the same thing here in our Conservative riding.