Word: harper
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...scandal, says former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, "I can't see anybody in that Parliament voting against that in principle." The bill's final form, though, will have to take into account the recommendations in Justice John Gomery's second report, due this week--a point reiterated by Harper at his first postelection press conference...
...center" has been redefined by Harper's win. The popularity of such Conservative campaign pledges as strengthening the military and reducing the gst from 7% to 5% suggests that the mainstream has already shifted rightward. As in other Western industrial powers, traditional support in Canada for government social spending is now tempered by worries about high taxes, devalued retirement portfolios and personal financial security--particularly in the bulging boomer generation whose oldest members are entering their 60s. Canada's center-left political parties have taken note of the trend: the Boxing Day shooting in Toronto left even the New Democrats...
...N.D.P. or Bloc Quebecois. But according to Ottawa pollster Frank Graves of EKOS Research, Canadians are increasingly inclined to take a gourmet approach to politics--picking policies that suit their shifting tastes, regardless of ideology. "More and more people don't want a political label," says Graves. And if Harper can manage government well over the expected short life of the next Parliament, they may be ready to reward him with majority support for a made-in-Canada conservative vision...
...West Is In Oil-rich Alberta is already a major driver of Canada's economy. With the ascent of a western-based Prime Minister, the region may now play a far larger role in driving national politics. The Harper government will be power-packed with influential Albertans, many of them (like the Prime Minister-designate) graduates or acolytes of the University of Calgary's libertarian political-science department. Westerners have been dreaming of such access for decades. "We're moving from the kids' table of Confederation to sit with the adults," gloats Western Standard publisher Levant...
...Alberta does not represent the entire west. British Columbia pointedly elected five fewer Conservatives to Ottawa this month than it did in 2004, and its longstanding competition with Alberta may spell trouble for Harper's government. Even some Albertans wonder whether they may end up regretting their upturn in political fortune. Alberta commentator Ted Byfield fears that the province's fierce sense of self-reliance will be weakened under a Harper government that expects the province to subordinate its resources to the national interest and allows its wealth to "drain" away to other provinces with little in return--especially...