Friday, November 04, 2005

Vote for me and I'll go away

Much as I like to criticize Harper and company, this is a stroke of political genius:
In another part of his speech Friday, the Conservative leader also hinted that unlike former prime minister Jean Chrétien, who was a prominent target of blame in Gomery's report, he would not be a multiple-term prime minister.

Harper spoke about how admirable he finds it when people run for office, make a difference and then return to their normal lives.

"That is how I want my time in public office to be," Harper said. "I'm here to do a job. I'm not here to join a club. I'm not here to buy into a lifestyle."

Now, the article isn't entirely clear as to the definitions of "multiple" and "term"...and anybody who's seen the original text of the speech can feel free to clarify. But consider the possibility that "multiple" could mean "more than one", and "term" could mean "election in which Harper is elected as PM".

Under those definitions, Harper's promise would dictate that if he were to win a minority government in the post-Gomery election and have it collapse within a matter of months, he'd have completed his term in office and wouldn't keep running for the PM position.

Given the choice to rebuke the Liberals yet at the same time avoid any substantial implementation of Conservative policy, I suspect a good number of Canadians would take that opportunity. And getting rid of Harper at the end of that term would only be a bonus. Meaning that this may be the first good reason people have had to vote for the Cons since the party formed.

No comments:

Post a Comment