The latest, stark example of such behaviour: Conservatives have been phoning people in Liberal MP Irwin Cotler's Mount Royal riding, suggesting to voters Cotler is leaving politics, and asking if they'd support a Conservative in the riding.
The 61-year-old veteran MP, a one-time federal minister of justice and attorney-general, a Yale University graduate who has taught at Harvard, a respected lawyer and human rights activist, a past president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, says he has no intention of retiring.
That leads to the conclusion the Conservatives' phone campaign is simply a political dirty trick, which is now backfiring due to media exposure.
Federal nastiness was again on display when it was revealed last week that Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands and leader of the Green party, was unable to get accreditation from Ottawa to attend the Durban conference on climate change.
Absurdly, May was accredited through the government of Papua New Guinea, enabling her to attend official meetings in South Africa.
Megan Leslie (Halifax) and Kirsty Duncan (Etobicoke North), environment critics for the New Democrats and Liberals respectively, had also been seeking accreditation, unsuccessfully.
Both New Democrats and Liberals traditionally have been part of the climate conference delegations from Canada.
In recent weeks, Opposition MPs have complained bitterly about a repeated use of closure by the Conservative government as it moves to get several bills passed by the Commons before the Christmas break.
With a majority in both the Commons and Senate, the Harper government now is free to pass whatever legislation it chooses. So it's hard to understand why the government has so constrained the opposition when the only real power left to those par-ties is that of parliamentary debate.
The government also has looked mean in its response to the Attawapiskat crisis, in northern Ontario.
Harper is being widely criticized for his preoccupation with accountability, ordering a third-party financial manager to review the beleaguered reserve's ledger books.
This is an entirely responsible and appropriate response, aimed at giving assurance to Canadians their tax dollars are being properly managed.
But the prime minister has failed to also convey his caring about the horrendous living conditions that even young children are being exposed to in that destitute community.
Harper has displayed a long-standing meanness in sponsoring attack ads that aim to destroy the reputation of the country's opposition leaders.
Conservatives haven't been sponsoring such ads of late. But that's only because both the Liberals and New Democrats are in the process of deciding who their future leaders will be.
Liberals certainly don't expect a change from past practice; the third-place party is raising money for a special fund that will enable them to fight back with their own advertising campaigns.
Harper, whose party has received sufficient votes to make him prime minister no fewer than three times, is widely viewed by Canadians a good manager running a competent government.
Polls consistently show respondents believe he is, by far, the best leader on offer with the best vision for Canada.
In other words, Harper - with his majority government - can afford to lower his partisan guard during the remainder of his third term. If he lowered his meanie quotient, chances are fair that he'd boost his popular standing.
Origin
Source: Vancouver Sun
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