We cats have been biding our time, not leaping to comment on the excellent op-ed that appeared in Sunday's New York Times about how totally awful Stephen Harper is.
Who's that? you ask. Answer: Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, who for the last nine years has turned the True North from an admired model of openness, tolerance and democracy to... something not so much. From abolishing the long-gun registry to wiping out the long-form census, Harper has been bent on making Canada more insular, less neighborly, and decidedly less informed about what its government is doing.
But will fed-up Canadians be able to toss Harper come October 19, or will the non-Conservative vote be split between the NDP and the Liberals, allowing the Tories to live to see another day? We cats sincerely hope not, but with Quebec as the wild card, things could be close.
And then, goodness gracious, this appeared: The Canadian Senate expenses scandal has suddenly burst forth anew with fresh ties to the Prime Minister's office. It's a little complicated, but suffice to say that checks that shouldn't have been written were, and people close to Harper lied about it. Since slimy finances were exactly the issue that helped propel the Tories to power over the Liberals back in 2006, we assume (and hope) that the Canadian version of Republican hypocrisy will come home to roost.
So we're glad to have allowed the Times piece to marinate a bit, so that we could take 48 hours to relax, reflect and ruminate on Canada's near-decade of Tory rule. But our opinion hasn't changed. Stephen Harper has been a disaster. Not just because we disagree with every policy move he's made, and not just because we still suspect him of having Karl Rove on speed-dial, but for the worst thing he's ever done: sully the Canadian brand. We cats HISS.
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