This time next year

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Fall election after all?
Walt's prediction: December 31st will see Harpoon still in office, thanks to the fecklessness of the gutless Grits.

Now, four months later, you can chalk up another bang-on prediction for Walt. Lifetime percentage .994.

After a lot of sabre-rattling in the fall, Ignatieff and his ever-changing team of advisers discovered -- surprise, surprise! -- that the Canadian people really didn't want an election, even if it meant being stuck for the rest of the year with Smarmy Steve Harper and his coterie of toadies.

Through a mix of Liberal weakness, Tory brutishness and sheer luck, Mr. Harpoon seems at the moment to have power grasped firmly in his talons. He has steamrollered the opposition. Run right over them. Harper's coercing the Governor-General into proroguing Parliament -- he didn't even bother to go and see Her Jeanness, just phoned -- is merely the latest bruising bodycheck.

Indeed, Harper looks to be on course to become the most successful Conservative prime minister since Sir John Eh. But wait. As John Diefenbaker said, "It's a long road that has no ashcans." [What does that mean? ed.]

Walt fearlessly predicts that by this time next year, someone else will be Prime Minister of Canada. It may not be Afghanistan that does him in, although it should be. Perhaps the opposition can succeed in pinning the blame for the HST on the federal government. Or it could be the Tories' desire to change leaders before another election, in hopes of finding someone who can lead them to a majority.

But hear me, Harper is neither invulnerable nor invincible. Look for his authoritarian regime to fall by this time next year. Then and only then will I wish Canadians a happy new year!

Footnote 1: Click here to read "Harper's dark democracy creates dangerous legacy" , excellent analysis of the Harper regime by James Travers, national affairs columnist for the Toronto Star.

Footnote 2: Am I the only one who really hates the official portrait of Call Me Steve, embedded above? That cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk makes me want to hit him right on his big long nose.