Angry in the Great White North

From Chantal Hebert's column:

By moving a government motion to recognize that Quebecers form a nation within a united Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stepped in to extinguish a fire that threatened to turn Quebec into federalist scorched earth in the next election.

He has pulled the rug from under the Bloc Quebecois, depriving that party of a major club with which to beat the Conservatives and indeed all federalist candidates in the next campaign.

Harper's decision to present his own motion has pre-empted those scenarios. But it is bound to have surprised and indeed stunned many Canadians. Polls show that there is no more appetite to formally recognize Quebec's national character in the rest of Canada today than there was at the time of the Meech Lake accord.

But with the NDP and a strong section of the Liberal caucus on side, the Prime Minister has reason to believe that the issue is largely neutralized and that, once the shock wears off, he will get credit for helping Quebec federalists dodge a bullet rather than stand accused of putting Canada's unity in harm's way.

From Don Martin:

Rather than allow separatists to seize the initiative to elevate their province into a national designation, Harper launched a pre-emptive strike of strategic brilliance, at least in the short term.

I've now officially given up underestimating the Prime Minister's ability to shock and awe with unexpected positions that catch his opponents and the media off guard and leave everybody reeling back on their heels with jaws dropped.

The grim face of interim leader Bill Graham and sagging shoulders on the Liberal bench even as they struggled to their feet to give Harper a standing ovation told the story of a party beaten to the punch and whacked in the head.

The glum look on Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe's red face was also worth the price of a Commons admission. His chance to boost Quebec resentment against the Liberals and put Harper in a deadly python squeeze in the next election evaporated minutes after the Prime Minister started speaking from his presidential-like podium.

From this story by Allan Woods and Juliet O'Neill in the National Post:

The Prime Minister outlined the motion in a passionate speech to MPs following Question Period, leaving the Bloc Quebecois outraged. The unexpected Conservative move undercut Bloc plans to ask the Commons today to recognize the predominately French-speaking province as a "nation" with no conditions attached.

Bloc MPs, who control a majority of the federal seats from Quebec, were sullen as the Prime Minister outlined his counterattack to their motion, which Mr. Harper described as a "clumsy tactic" to advance the goal of establishing Quebec as a separate country.

But Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe became red in the face, and his tone increasingly sharp, as he delivered his defiant response in the Commons. "We are what we are," he said. "Full stop."

Not everyone is impressed, in particular Andrew Coyne, but then the criticism is on the relative risks inherent in this move.

But what I'm struck by is this notion that Stephen Harper is exceeding expectations. Just how low are our expectations for a Prime Minister? Has the short run of Paul Martin as Prime Minister dramatically lowered our opinion of what makes a decent prime minister? I would have thought that we would demand that our top politicians be flexible and nimble, able to deal with moves from the opposition and counter them with astute and intelligent politicking instead of resorting the selling cabinet seats for votes.

From his visit to the troops in Kandahar to his performance at the Francophonie to the appointment of a Liberal MP, Wajid Khan, as his advisor on the Middle East to addition of a Green Party member and former candidate, David Chernushenko, to the government's advisory body on environmental issues, Stephen Harper has shown over and over and over again that principle comes before politics.

Yet each time it happens, the press is shocked and surprised. I suppose the effect of 13 years of Liberal Party rule is going to be hard to erase.

Of all the potential benefits that this country will enjoy from an extended spell of Conservative government -- more personal freedoms, lower taxes, a vigorous presence on the world stage, a vibrant economy based on entrepeneurial success instead of government largesse -- this might be the most important. That Canadians are reminded that our electoral process ought to be selecting the best this country has to offer, and not just the wiliest (Jean Chretien) or the richest (Paul Martin). Unless you demand the best and expect the best, you are likely never to get the best.

We're very fortunate to have gotten better than we deserve in Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. Let's not waste this opportunity. We ought to be getting used to smart and agile governance guided by principles and not by deals. If we reset our expectations to a higher level, it might be a long time before we suffer from incompetent and corrupt government again.