Scoring "Some Wins" Against Inept Opposition No Victory

"Any open-minded person writing the history of this government -- whether you support or oppose most of the things they've done -- you'd have to agree they actually have done things.''

True but we have strayed away from the basic tenents of conservatism!

Beneath noise and scandal, Harper scored some wins

Updated Fri. Jun. 20 2008 5:27 PM ET

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- It would be easy, looking back over the last five months, to say that Canada's Parliament was drowned in noise, litigation and scandal.

The Conservative government has had a long, stormy spring, buffeted by scandals great and small, real and debatable, self-engineered or carefully cultivated by an opposition that tasted blood in the water.

Stephen Harper's battle-weary minority limped into the House of Commons' summer break Friday bearing fresh scars from multiple fights:

• The Chuck Cadman bribery allegations, fuelled by Cadman's widow -- herself a Tory candidate -- and by Harper's own words to Cadman's biographer.
• The fight with Elections Canada over election expenses that resulted in an extraordinary RCMP raid on Tory party headquarters.
• Damaging diplomatic leaks on Barack Obama's NAFTA positioning that intruded in the U.S. presidential primaries.
• Tory MP Tom Lukiwski's 16-year-old homophobic videotape and tearful apology.
• Maxime Bernier's disastrous run at Foreign Affairs and his security-rattling personal life.

Yes, the Harper Conservatives could be excused if they felt they'd come fourth in a Commons dart fight. But underneath the flesh wounds, the Conservatives do have something to feel good about.