The Downside Of Minority Government

JFK said that no matter how well intentioned or how dedicated or how intelligent a politician might be he will eventually sink to the level of mediocrity that surrounds him and IMHO that is what is happening to Stephen Harper. He got off to a good start but like the editorial points out his performance is diminishing and he seems to be more interested in getting elected rather than being his own man.

I don't want Harper to be happy....I want him to kick ass and put some excitement back into the political arena.

The National Post's Assessment

EDITORIAL: Harper must have a better year

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he enjoys being prime minister. It shows.

He's a born leader, indicated by his record one year into a minority government.

Harper delivered on four of five key pledges -- cutting the GST, the accountability act, the child care benefit and toughening criminal laws.

Through his dramatic first foreign trip to visit our front line troops in Kandahar and his solid support for our military, Harper has shown that Canada will no longer be a boring scold on the world stage, but a real participant.

From being one of the first nations on Earth to cut off funds to the terrorist Hamas government, to recognizing Israel's right to defend itself in its war with Hezbollah, Harper has demonstrated Canada stands on the side of freedom, against terrorism.

Others complain Harper lacks "nuance". We applaud him for his moral clarity.

In 12 months, Harper has cleaned up 12 years worth of Liberal messes.

- An apology to Maher Arar and compensation for his shameful treatment by the RCMP.

- A successful resolution of the softwood lumber issue and a mature relationship with the U.S., allowing lots of room for real disagreements.

- An apology and compensation to Chinese Canadians for the head tax.

- Cutting the $950 landing fee for immigrants in half.

- Giving Quebec its own seat at UNESCO meetings.

- Forcing the separatists to recognize Quebec as a nation "within Canada."

Finally, true to his word, Harper held a free vote on whether to reopen the issue of same-sex marriage.

To be sure, there's also lots to criticize.

- Harper has not yet delivered a promised wait-times guarantee for patients.

- He broke his election promise not to tax income trusts, causing huge investment losses for many seniors.

- His Clean Air Act was a bust because while the Conservatives had the right sound bite -- that we need a made-in-Canada environment policy, not Kyoto-lite -- it turns out that was all they had.

- Harper's appointments of Grit turncoat David Emerson and unelected Tory strategist Michael Fortier to cabinet were sheer hypocrisy, given how much the Tories had complained about Belinda Stronach's earlier defection.

- Harper hasn't fixed the fiscal imbalance and has failed to explain why Ottawa is running big surpluses while health care is on life support.

- The needs of cities have been mostly ignored.

- The Conservatives have fallen into the "politics as usual" trap of sneaky patronage appointments and political interference in the awarding of huge military contracts.

If we wanted that, we could have re-elected Liberals.

Overall, Harper has had more positives than negatives in his first year. But if he wants a majority government he'll have to do better.