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Tories get high marks they often don't deserve
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| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Edited | Monsieur Oct 08, 2009 07:38am |
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| Category | Opinion |
| Author | James Travers |
| News Date | Thursday, October 8, 2009 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | That dynamic is most evident in one of the issues that matter most. Opinion polls routinely find Canadians most comfortable letting Harper manage the economy.
Apart from having studied economics, there's little in the Prime Minister's history to justify that confidence. Wild Conservative spending and ineffectual, if politically popular, GST cuts made short work of an inherited $13 billion surplus. Harper and his finance minister first misread the recession and then misled the country on the inevitability of deficits.
Perhaps more remarkably, the Prime Minister and ruling party get passing grades on the environment. In fact, a bad Canadian record under Liberals has become shamefully worse under Conservatives. Almost as troubling, by so obviously dragging its feet on climate change the Harper government is damaging this country's reputation for progressive global stewardship.
However much able economic and environmental management should matter, they don't seem to matter enough to overcome the hunger for leadership. It's as if voters, weary of serial elections and frustrated by partisan games, have wilfully suspended their disbelief and parked their support in what feels like the safest place. |
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