[FONT="]"Has there ever been a Canadian election which started so miserably – no one wanted it; continued so tediously - and then turned into a caldron of amazing stories: Bloc Quebecois fallen to dust and irrelevance; the NDP rise, the cane and the surge; the demolition of the Liberals – Ignatieff’s utter defeat – candidates who campaigned in Las Vegas and won in Quebec. (Almost as good as campaigning in Quebec and winning in Vegas.)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]So many dramatic stories – that they overshadowed and crowded out the greater story of a fundamental realignment of Canadian politics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]It is more than worth recalling that Preston Manning – one of the great political and intellectual forces of modern Canadian times – started all this. Far earlier than others Manning saw the weaknesses of the Liberal party; he – correctly – pushed for a place for the West at the national table; and he had the courage and foresight to start a political movement that in 20 years (with some changes) has displaced the natural governing party, and forged new realities for Canadian politics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Manning should be recognized for this: like another leader he never got to see what he most made possible.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Then there’s the story of Stephen Harper himself. He has done political wizardry here. From the rocky and unstable platform of successive minority governments he has not only held on: he has the majority. It was in his moment that the Bloc Quebecois self-immolated, vanished in a puff of smoke of its own irrelevancy. He has 70 plus seats in Ontario, which just over a decade ago – three times – elected at least 100 Liberals. Harper has pursued the party of giants like Pearson and Trudeau into near oblivion.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]He’s almost an anti-Obama. He excites real animosity. He has an almost Mulroney-esque capacity for exciting oversized anger – even contempt from his opponents. But for all the scorn he has had to take, from those who like to think him just dumb and mean – he’s out maneuvered all the “smarter” people in the room.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]With little of the politician’s gifts – neither Trudeau’s charisma, Chrétien’s folksy impersonations – Layton’s “ordinary guy” approach – it is the reserved and stern Harper who has the majority and representation from coast to coast to coast.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]But Harper’s larger achievement builds on Manning’s: his arrival at majority fulfills that pledge of the early days – remember: “the West wants in.” The West is not only “in” and at the table. It owns the table. That’s a real accomplishment – the dissatisfactions of the Western provinces were a real and dangerous fault line in this country.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]None of the other stories of Monday night – however fascinating and dramatic – are as significant.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
On two fronts – Quebec and the West – the dynamics of alienation and separatism have been very severely checked – and the least “natural” politician of a generation, Stephen Harper, is now its most successful. Whether you support him or not – that’s really impressive.[/FONT]"
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
Rex Murphy: Preston Manning’s great achievement | Full Comment | National Post
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]National Post[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]So many dramatic stories – that they overshadowed and crowded out the greater story of a fundamental realignment of Canadian politics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]It is more than worth recalling that Preston Manning – one of the great political and intellectual forces of modern Canadian times – started all this. Far earlier than others Manning saw the weaknesses of the Liberal party; he – correctly – pushed for a place for the West at the national table; and he had the courage and foresight to start a political movement that in 20 years (with some changes) has displaced the natural governing party, and forged new realities for Canadian politics.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Manning should be recognized for this: like another leader he never got to see what he most made possible.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Then there’s the story of Stephen Harper himself. He has done political wizardry here. From the rocky and unstable platform of successive minority governments he has not only held on: he has the majority. It was in his moment that the Bloc Quebecois self-immolated, vanished in a puff of smoke of its own irrelevancy. He has 70 plus seats in Ontario, which just over a decade ago – three times – elected at least 100 Liberals. Harper has pursued the party of giants like Pearson and Trudeau into near oblivion.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]He’s almost an anti-Obama. He excites real animosity. He has an almost Mulroney-esque capacity for exciting oversized anger – even contempt from his opponents. But for all the scorn he has had to take, from those who like to think him just dumb and mean – he’s out maneuvered all the “smarter” people in the room.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]With little of the politician’s gifts – neither Trudeau’s charisma, Chrétien’s folksy impersonations – Layton’s “ordinary guy” approach – it is the reserved and stern Harper who has the majority and representation from coast to coast to coast.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]But Harper’s larger achievement builds on Manning’s: his arrival at majority fulfills that pledge of the early days – remember: “the West wants in.” The West is not only “in” and at the table. It owns the table. That’s a real accomplishment – the dissatisfactions of the Western provinces were a real and dangerous fault line in this country.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]None of the other stories of Monday night – however fascinating and dramatic – are as significant.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
On two fronts – Quebec and the West – the dynamics of alienation and separatism have been very severely checked – and the least “natural” politician of a generation, Stephen Harper, is now its most successful. Whether you support him or not – that’s really impressive.[/FONT]"
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
Rex Murphy: Preston Manning’s great achievement | Full Comment | National Post
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]National Post[/FONT]