Angry in the Great White North
Brilliant? Looks like
Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 01:11 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

In my post on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Afghanistan, I said the following:

I bring this up because with Stephen Harper's brilliantly executed visit to Afghanistan, I see a sign of that sort of division building.

The phrase "brilliantly executed" generated a bit of controversy. You can read opinions in the comments.

I haven't defended my choice of words, in part because I knew I wouldn't have to:

Just weeks ago, most Canadians said they wouldn't personally vote in favour of putting troops in Afghanistan. But a new poll finds a majority of Canadians back the mission even if they don't fully understand it.

The poll conducted by the Strategic Counsel for CTV and The Globe and Mail found that a modest but clear majority of Canadians -- 55 per cent -- now support the decision to send troops to Afghanistan. Only 41 per cent oppose the deployment.

An earlier poll conducted by the Strategic Counsel on Feb. 23 found that 62 per cent of Canadians would opt against sending troops to Afghanistan should a vote be held in Parliament. Only 27 per cent said they would vote in favour of the mission.

Furthermore, 73 per cent of respondents said the decision to send troops to Afghanistan should require parliamentary approval, while 20 per cent said it should not.

Of course, one visit doesn't explain this remarkable shift. But the change happened since February 23, a month after the election, at a time when the Conservatives were settling into government. The cabinet had already been in place for more than two weeks. Ministers were begining to respond to issues coming up in their portfolios, and the media was dutifully reporting and analyzing. This included the message from the Conservative government about their support for the troops and for the mission, and how it plays into the bigger picture of Canada re-asserting her sovereignty and defending her interests, at home and abroad

The poll itself was taken from March 9 through March 12, meaning the effect of Stephen Harper's visit on March 12 could have had a reinforcing effect at the end of the poll.

Now you see why I called the trip "brilliant". Not only was it a bold leadership move for a new prime minister leading a minority government to focus (in a very personal and public way) on an issue that is very controversial, politically, Stephen Harper seems to have picked exactly the right time to make this move.

He did it ahead of the poll. He is leading Canadian opinion, but at the same time, in tune with it. A certain former prime minister was well known for waiting for the polls to come out before deciding what to do.

Now the poll shows some problems. It seems that 70% of the respondents think the Canadian troops are there as peacekeepers. In the formal sense of the word, they are not. Peacekeepers are in place to keep apart two sides who have agreed to a cessation of hostilities. The Taliban have agreed to nothing, and the Canadian troops are in place to support one side over the other. In fact, the Canadians are hunting the Taliban down.

Nevertheless, the positive shift means that further refinement of the message so that Canadians are fully informed is not an impossible task. And with that, a productive and meaningful debate in Parliament can take place, if that's what ends up happening.

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