A Week In Harper's Headlines

Perhaps this one should be called snatching defeat from the jaws of victory . . .

It has been an interesting week for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. If we had access to the polling numbers we would be very intrigued to see who reacted to precisely which headline.

The week started off with the unveiling of the Conservative Party's much advertised Clean Air Bill, aiming to reduce smog in major urban centres. In theory, this is more directed at Southern Ontario where smog warnings are frequent in the summer. It will all be warmly received in Alberta, since it does look to police the powerful oil and gas industry, a big relief from the days of Kyoto. The Clean Air Bill has been a central plank in the Conservative Party's environmental platform. When Wenzel staffer Bassano del Grappa asked sometime contributor Sean Marchetto his views on the Tory Environmental Policy, Marchetto shook his head, replying that "A Clean Air Bill does not replace a holistic Environmental policy." Marchetto is currently reading George Monbiot's Heat: How to Stop The Planet From Burning, and points out that our own environmental record is far less than stellar.

Harper followed this with an announcement that over half a billion dollars will be spent on the West Coast to enticie more trans-Pacific shipping to use Vancouver-area harbours as their North American point of entry. No reference was made as to how the Clean Air Bill will seek to alleviate the extra tonnage of shipping exhaust.

Than came Wednesday, a day that should have had Conservative election strategists wringing their hands in glee. Liberal party leadership front-runner Michael Ignatieff was caught voicing his opinion that Israel perhaps committed war crimes during their recent conflict with Lebanon. As Ignatieff tied to backpedal saying that "uwarranted human tragedies occurred on both sides" amid calls that he was anti-Israel, Prime Minister Harper entered the fray at the end of the week stating that the Liberal Party of Canada was also the Anti-Israel Party of Canada. Liberal leadership co-hopeful Bob Rae and his Jewish wife, took to a podium and denouced the Canadian Prime Minister as being divisive and hurtful.

While many commentators are claiming that Ignatieff's comments will hurt his leadership chances, we at Wenzel take a slightly more measured look. Yes, pro-Israel factions within the Liberal party are likely to be alienated by his comments, but there is also a somewhat sizeable group of Liberals who have been uncomfortable of Ignatieff's endorsement of Bush's immediate post-9/11 actions and have always felt Ignatieff too be to hawkish. These comments ma have the unintended consequence of demonstrating that Ignatieff's feelings toward the war are more nuanced than jingoistic, and draw him closer to those party members.