Stephen Harper is moving back into safe territory.That’s the significance of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s announcement Monday that the Conservative government plans to get tougher on those who sexually abuse children.
The announcement was unusually content-free. Nicholson didn’t say how Ottawa would get tougher. On CBC radio the next day he was equally vague.
But clarity wasn’t the point. The point was to signal to voters that the Conservatives plan to focus more narrowly on crime as they prepare for the expected 2015 election.
Crime and the economy have always been central to the Harper Conservatives. But for a while he had a more ambitious agenda.
The prime minister’s aim, as some of his advisers boasted privately, was to redefine the political landscape in a way that cemented his Conservatives into place as the default governing party.
Like most people, Canadians are a complicated lot whose views don’t fall into neat, left-right categories.
Harper’s strategy was to emphasize those elements of his party’s ideological platform that he believed would resonate strongly with the prevailing Canadian psyche.
That meant playing down some social issues such as gay marriage and abortion — issues that spook just too many voters.
It meant playing up issues on which the Conservatives are traditionally seen as strong, such as crime, tax relief and economic management.
But the Harper Conservatives also moved boldly into new territory.
Their emphasis on military prowess was an attempt to appeal to the powerful emotions of pride and patriotism.
Previous governments had focused on United Nations peacekeeping. Harper focused on war.
The glorification of the War of 1812 was designed to remind Canadians that the country’s very existence stemmed in part from battle.
The Afghan war was pitched as the logical outcome of that history, a national project in which Canadians could come together to fight evil in a far-away land.
Simultaneously, the Conservative government expanded the concept of sound economic management.
No longer did it just mean frugality. To manage this economy, the Harperites said, entire layers of regulation — particularly with regard to the environment — had to be eliminated.
Fish habitat laws might protect fish, the government said. But the very existence of such rules put the economy in mortal danger.
Indeed, the economy took on a life of its own, as something over and above those puny beings who happened to live and work in it.
That individuals might suffer from, say, changes to Employment Insurance rules didn’t matter. What mattered was that overarching entity called “the economy.”
But a funny thing happened along the way. Much of the effort to remake Canada didn’t work.
The Afghan war proved a disaster. Now, as demonstrated by his reluctance to become involved in Mali’s civil war, Harper doesn’t even want to be seen talking about military adventures.
Similarly, the frontal attack on the environment flopped. It sparked massive opposition in British Columbia and aboriginal protests nation-wide.
Government attempts to label environmental critics as the paid agents of foreign socialist billionaires were discounted by all but the most ideologically committed Conservatives.
And so Harper has beaten a tactical retreat to the tried and true. He may still do little to help the environment. But he no longer brags about his inaction.
Instead it’s crime and the economy. The economy and crime.
The formula worked before. The Conservatives hope it will work again.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Thomas Walkom
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