Tories’ slips are starting to show
Conservatives’ entitlement culture laid bare
If hogs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side, quipped American novelist Orson Scott Card.
I’m not so sure. Voters are not pigs, and at some point, they abandon politicians they feel are in it for themselves, no matter how much slop comes their way.
My sense is the Harper Conservatives are getting perilously close to irritating people who have been prepared to overlook previous excesses.
If an election were held tomorrow, the Conservatives would probably win. But we’re five months away from the vote and polls suggest nearly one in three voters has malleable loyalties (an Abacus Data poll found 10 per cent have a mild preference for continuity; 19 per cent are inclined to prefer change but don’t feel strongly about it).
The election hinges on what motivates those voters. The Conservatives believe that sprinkling taxpayers’ money across the country like opiate will buy them preference, if not allegiance.
This is a parliamentary break-week in an election year. As such, Conservative MPs have fanned out across the country reciting the scari- est words in the English language — “We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
By mid-morning Wednesday, nine of them had handed out $81 million in pork. Sun Media’s David Akin tracks government spending announcements and his data reveal that, before Wednesday, the government had committed $427 million this month in 51 announcements — 30 of which funnelled money into Conservative ridings.
There are clearly worthy causes out there. What churl would deny the seniors at the Pioneer Club of Lac Du Bonnet, Man., $16,232 for new flooring, so they can play floor curling and bingo?
But the federal faucet is gushing cash indiscriminately — at least, if there is any discrimination, it is focused on the recipient riding.
The case for the defence is that all governments exploit the formidable power of in- cumbency. But the Conservatives have crossed the line on multiple fronts.
Reports have emerged about the “Canada 150” infrastructure fund being gerrymandered so that the Conservatives can make multiple announcements during the election campaign.
The $150-million fund for Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations is open to up to 1,800 proposals but the deadline for expressions of interest is the end of May, even though the program was only launched last Friday by Stephen Harper.
The most egregious affront to the democratic process is the continued abuse of public money for partisan ends.
Treasury Board guidelines say government should “inform the public about policies, programs, services and initiatives in an accountable, non-partisan fashion that is consistent with the principles of Canadian parliamentary democracy and ministerial responsibility.”
Neither Pierre Poilievre’s “vanity video” nor Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s narcissistic “24/7” travelogue qualify.
The government claims that its Economic Action Plan ads meet Treasury Board criteria, since it is alerting Canadians to new programs. But they clearly promote the governing party’s partisan political interests, which makes them unfair and undemocratic. They should be illegal.
At certain points in their near-10-year rule, the Conservatives have riled voters but managed to rein in their sense of entitlement in time to avert rebellion.
Bev Oda’s $16 orange juice at the Savoy was like a grenade dropped in the Conservative heartland, but it was successfully defused by her resignation. Similarly, Helena Guergis’s temper tantrum at Charlottetown Airport, caught on cellphone, suggested a government that might have lost its moorings, as did Gerald Keddy’s giant government of Canada cheque, with a Conservative logo replacing the maple leaf.
But time and again, Harper has managed to stop short of aggravating those detached voters whose indifference he relies upon.
As he told the Conservative faithful at the party’s 2011 convention, his is not a “party of entitlement.” “We understand we serve at the pleasure of the Canadian people,” he said.
Yet the complacency he warned against has set in. Oldfashioned governing party hubris has always been the Harperites’ potential downfall. The prime minister got away with it in 2008, and again in 2011, largely because of the lack of credible alternatives.
But 2015 is shaping up to be a different story. If voters perceive Harper is putting his party’s interests ahead of theirs, they may decide it’s time to clean out the political pigsty.
We understand we serve at the pleasure of the Canadian people