Stephen Harper is exactly where he wants to be – top dick on the world stage.
Notice I didn’t say top dog. Cuz, he’s not. That title goes to U.S. president Barack Obama.
But where the global forces of conservatism are concerned, Harper, the disciple of Bush and spawn of former Aussie PM John Howard, is the new standard bearer of the right, the brash enfant terrible.
To what can we attribute this new brashness? Harper, or Canada, just happens to be sitting on the world’s largest deposits of oil in the tar sands, all of a sudden made more important by the BP spill in the Gulf. There’s also the Arctic to explore.
Canada’s century? For better or worse.
I’m still trying to get my head around the fake lake and billion-dollar-plus price tag for G20 security.
Is the PM slipping, allowing hubris to creep into his usually conservative way of thinking, or just getting sloppy?
How he’s managed to hang onto power for this long is a marvel for many, but not really considering the non-opposition he’s been blessed with on the other side of the House. The Harvard professor recruited by the Liberals to be PM has turned out to be one big dud.
At this rate, you can’t blame Harper for starting to believe the headlines he’s garnering the world over for steering Canada’s economy into less of a hole than the other G8 powerhouses.
Although the PM’s newfound celebrity on the world stage, for those still looking for work in Canuckistan and the multitudes swimming in credit card debt, the PM is on the wrong side of the bank tax issue. The UK, France and Germany have announced a levy to recoup billions in bailout money and soften the blow for taxpayers in the event of another economic meltdown. Canada’s balking, along with Australia. They see the move as punative towards the banks – despite the record profits.
On the environmental front, Canada is also at odds with the rest of the world. Ditto for funding for maternal health in developing countries and foreign aid. You name it, good ole Canada’s agin the prevailing tide of world opinion.
Does this mean we won’t be getting out of Afghanistan next year as scheduled?
Our more muscular foreign policy would seem to indicate so. Harper’s certainly got something up his sleeve. There have already been hints of Canadian forces staying on in Afghanistan beyond the Tory’s self-imposed deadline, but in a development role – probably in return for U.S. commitments to buy tar sands oil.
Funny, really. Remember how we all howled when Stevie boy first took the world stage on that first trip to Afghanistan, looking like some poor tourist in bad Tilley’s who’d lost his way?
We were embarrassed for him then. Most Canadians are still, only for different reasons now that his head has gotten so big. World, meet Stephen Harper, the ugly Canadian. [rssbreak]
