...in recent days, a number of key Conservatives in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, and Vancouver have confided to Bourque they envision a late-winter announcement that the PM will step down, triggering a spring leadership convention to choose his successor. A telltale sign is the growing amount of time and energy Harper is spending on the world stage, finding solace in the accolades of his fellow world leaders as his party treads water in national polls back home. Such was the case with a number of his predecessors as they contemplated their own 'best before' dates, including Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, and Jean Chretien. Each, one will recall, was succeeded by a caretaker Prime Minister who quickly succumbed to the opposition at the first available opportunity. Such was the fate of John Turner, Kim Campbell, and Paul Martin, all effective and capable politicians in their day, but each of them left holding the odious bag of public contempt for a party that dared to stay on in power too long. It is thought the suitable successor to play that role would be Jason Kenney, an obvious candidate to take the party into its inevitable hibernation in Opposition. So, to recap, the tea leaves suggest a Harper departure after the much promised 'balanced' budget in Winter 2015, followed by a leadership convention in Spring 2015, and a general election in Fall 2015. Or so it is whispered.
So there you have it.
7 comments:
To be followed by several decades in the political wilderness.
The tea leaves in my cup represent Harper's current PMO. It's occupied by a D-List bunch, a caretaker office at best. There's no A-List talent to be seen and that's hardly the PMO a prime minister needs to lead his party into a general election.
It vaguely resembles the bunker scene in Berlin in 1945 - a brigade of sycophants too naive and unsophisticated that they couldn't even steer Harper clear of his ill-fated scrap with the Chief Justice.
My best Ottawa Tory pal, an insider who goes back to the Stanfield days, believes Harper is 'damaged goods.' He also tells me that Laureen (is that her name) has plans for the near future that don't include hanging around Ottawa.
I'm also told that there are, in Duffy's lawyer's brief, documents that tie Harper directly to the Wright-Duffy affair. And, apparently, Nigel Wright has told all and sundry that, if called to give evidence, he won't lie to spare Harper.
To be followed by several decades in the political wilderness.
From your lips to God's ear.
No one deserves to lose a general election more than Stevie … especially if he loses to anyone named Trudeau. That will be the epitome of karma.
Mound of Sound, very interesting. I wonder if that is why that RCMP charged Duffy for receiving a bribe but didn't charge Wright for giving one.
Also, while I hope for an NDP victory, having the Alberta Harpercons defeated by a man named by Trudeau would be a great consolation prize.
what a coward, he knows he can't make it a third term and he has given the country away. Nothing left to do but to retire in the sun.
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