Conservative confidence
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government is doing just fine
By LICIA CORBELLA
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government is doing such a good job, the Liberals have to dream-up phoney Conservative bogeymen in order to attack him and his government.
In an exclusive interview Friday, Harper told the Sun the Darrel Reid affair and the fabricated claims that his government is considering a defence of religions act are examples of straw men the Liberals erected to throw their barbs into because his Conservative government has been so effective there's nothing for the Liberals to legitimately criticize.
He's got a point.
"The Liberals don't have anything to attack the government on so they have to make stuff up," said a relaxed Harper, in his suite at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Calgary.
Harper is referring to the attacks Liberal Leader Bill Graham made in the House of Commons last week against Reid, a newly appointed ministerial assistant to Environment Minister Rona Ambrose.
Graham accused Reid of saying there is a link between the Muslim religion and terrorism.
The next day, Graham was forced to apologize in the House for slandering Reid.
It appears Graham was quoting another person with virtually the same name as Reid, only spelled differently. A big oops. Nevertheless, more air time was given to the smear on the CBC than the apology.
Next, the Liberals went apoplectic, saying the Harper government was planning legislation called the Protection of Religions Act, that would exempt churches and mosques from being prosecuted for refusing to marry same-sex couples.
"It's completely false and just speculation," said Harper, who is spending Thanksgiving in Calgary with family and friends.
"There is no such proposal. The government is very committed to bringing forward a free vote on the marriage issue probably this fall and all this speculation about what we might do afterward is just that -- speculation.
"There have been no cabinet discussions or anything on this."
As for the vote on same-sex marriage, why reopen that can of worms, especially since it's unlikely there will be a reversal to the same-sex marriage law?
"Because we made a commitment," says Harper.
"We're pretty proud so far of doing what we said we were going to do."
In last winter's federal election campaign, he promised to lower the GST by 1% -- that happened on July 1.
He promised parents with young children an allowance that doesn't discriminate on what kind of child-care a family uses. Those cheques are going out monthly.
And he promised to implement democratic reforms and accountability measures.
Ah, but there has been criticism on that front.
Alan Leadbeater, Canada's deputy information commissioner, claims the Conservatives new Accountability Act, which is before the Senate, will actually make accessing government documents more difficult.
"That is completely false," says Harper.
"Even the opposition hasn't proposed any amendments that would correct this problem, because there is not such a problem. The truth is you've got an extreme view in the information commissioner's office that things like journalistic sources should not be protected -- they've got really radical positions that we will not adopt. The bottom line is, this act opens up information, it puts a range of crown corporations and foundations under Access to Information for the first time in history. That is what it does with regards to access to information. All the rest of what they say is completely false and without foundation."
The biggest laugh of the interview came when Harper was questioned about a story that broke a couple of weeks ago, when the Liberals accused the Conservatives of doing what they themselves did for 13 years in power.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is looking into an incident in which government officials discussing topics of media interest shared the name of a journalist who had made a request under the Access to Information Act. That's an apparent violation of the Privacy Act.
"I don't know who asks for information and I'm not sure why it would matter anyway," says Harper. "I mean, why would I care?"
Some people would say it's so you can punish the journalists who ask, he's told.
"I punish them all anyway."
At that, he has a long and sustained laugh, knowing his thorny relationship with the Ottawa Press Gallery has in itself, garnered headlines.
After he stops laughing, he adds, "Look, I don't assume any of them are friends and I assume they'll ask for information -- that's what access is for."
Harper bristles a bit when $17 million in recent cuts to federal adult literacy programs are brought up.
After all, he's asked, who can be against literacy?
"The issue isn't for or against, the issue is about spending money to get results. This government is spending more than $80 million on adult literacy in the next year."
At that, Harper refers to a column written by Winnipeg Sun columnist Tom Brodbeck, that points out the groups that had funding cuts didn't actually help teach people to learn to read, they just do advocacy work. For example, Literacy Partners of Manitoba put out a newsletter but haven't taught even one person how to read.
According to their latest annual report, they had a $353,433 budget last year, in which $134,901 went to salaries and $99,650 on facilities. Just $10,042 was given out in bursaries and the year before that, just $3,793.
Those are the kinds of programs Harper says his government cut -- ineffective ones.
Harper, who was awarded the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service Thursday night, says "I'm really enjoying the job.
"We're making progress and we have a great team," he says referring to his caucus, cabinet and senior civil servants.
He says an unprecedented decision he made while leader of the official opposition to duplicate the government's own processes and disciplines made the transition to power seamless.
But it's clear by how animated he gets that it's Canada's UN-backed mission in Afghanistan he's most passionate about.
"I believe in this mission very intensely," he says.
He points out that before the Taliban regime -- which allowed al-Qaida to train in Afghanistan -- lost power in 2001, thanks to a UN-backed invasion of that country, only 700,000 children were in school and all of them were boys.
"Today, more than seven million children are in school and one-third of them are girls," says Harper.
He continues boasting about how Canada has helped that country hold free elections and how one-quarter of the seats in the Afghan legislature are held by women, an enormous change in a country where, under Taliban rule, women weren't allowed to work or be seen in the company of males who were not relatives.
For a government in power for just eight months, Harper says they've accomplished a lot and intend to accomplish a lot more before the country goes back to the polls.
So, what surprises him most?
"The biggest surprise of being prime minister is how much of my time is taken up with foreign affairs. It's enormous. Everything we do now is global, it's just the nature of the world."
Stephen Harper not only enjoys being a player on that world stage he's impressive and effective, too.
That makes him the biggest Liberal bogeyman of them all -- only he's not make believe.
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