Harper takes the long road home
Prime Minister has time to change tactics if things start to go south
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has decreed an election period as long as Pinocchio’s nose. Besides handing the Conservatives a major money advantage, this makes it easier for Harper to switch campaign tactics if Alberta politics start breaking out all over Canada.
Alberta has an NDP government partly because of timing. The four- week campaign that ended May 5 was just long enough for Albertans to work themselves into a fine fury at Premier Jim Prentice’s Progressive Conservatives.
Prentice would surely have loved another two weeks to yank his wildly misguided campaign back into reality.
The voters could have cooled down a bit. Rachel Notley, now the NDP premier, might finally have made a mistake. But the PC campaign was still travelling full speed when it hit the brick wall of election day.
Perhaps mindful of this, Harper hasn’t just given himself breathing room — he’s got space for gasping, wheezing and resuscitation.
The Conservatives can work two or even three distinct campaign strategies during the slog to Oct. 19. They could ditch the Russian scare, pump up spending promises, get Harper and his band a gig fronting Taylor Swift. There’s plenty of time to tempt, soothe and distract a distinctly uneasy electorate.
Because Harper is taking his chances, that’s for sure.
Like Prentice, he’s messing with the spirit of an election law without actually breaking it. The premier didn’t think this would be much of an issue, but it annoyed Albertans from the first day, and the anger built rather than eased over the campaign.
The PC offence was a technical dodging of the legal requirement to hold the election in 2016, not 2015. Harper is sticking with the proper date, but decreeing a stretch of foreplay that will be hugely expensive for both taxpayers and the parties.
Already one hears the same complaints Prentice provoked; it’s not fair, it’s undemocratic, he can’t get away with that. Few people seem delighted with this eternal campaign.
Modern communications make an 11- week campaign an absurdity. Canadian politicians didn’t need that much time when they shouted their speeches from trains and horses.
The Conservatives are also justly nervous the Alberta upheaval will spread across the land. Notley’s rise at least shows it’s possible.
When the provincial campaign started, the PCs couldn’t conceive in their worst nightmares they would ever lose to the New Democrats. The belief was widely shared by Albertans; although 70 per cent of people wanted
Already one hears the same complaints Prentice provoked; it’s not fair, it’s undemocratic, he can’t get away with that. Few people seem delighted with this eternal campaign.
change, only half that many thought it could happen.
Two main factors propelled the victory: the wild rage at the PCs and the growing realization that Notley was an appealing, talented, unpretentious leader.
The NDP also offered serious policies for the smouldering underclass of highly educated but underemployed young people who staff the coffee shops and malls with little hope of advancement.
Many of those people rose up and voted for the first time. One woman of about 30 was typical: born and raised in Alberta, she said she’d never voted because she didn’t believe the government could ever be defeated.
Suddenly she saw the PCs were vulnerable. So she voted for the party that seemed to recognize her existence: the NDP.
From Vancouver to Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and beyond, people like her could also make the difference in the federal campaign — if they can be convinced there’s a chance to defeat the Conservatives, and then pick a