The public’s distrust of Stephen Harper poses dilemma for Conservatives

Trust — or the lack of it — can make or break a political career. In Quebec, corruption allegations recently made at the Charbonneau Commission took down the mayors of Laval and Montreal. In Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty resigned last month, at the same time that his government faced growing public anger over the cancellation of two power plants, ostensibly for political gain. While none of these allegations have been proven, once trust is perceived to be lost, for a politician there’s often nowhere to go but down — and out.

Which is why the federal government should be concerned about the results of the 2012 AmericasBarometer. The survey of 40,971 people in 26 countries measures people’s trust in their politicians and institutions. It reveals that only 16 per cent of the 1,500 Canadians polled place “a lot of trust” in Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Keith Neuman of Environics, which did the Canadian portion of the survey, was quoted by the Globe and Mail on November 12 as saying, “In an international context, Harper has a lower level of trust than almost every other national leader in the hemisphere.” Worse yet, he added that, “Canada hasn’t made any progress [on a number of key rankings] in recent years, and it has lost a bit of ground on others in the last few years. The gap with other countries is smaller than it was before.”

The context makes this even more disturbing. Since this survey was started six years ago, many other nations in the Americas have had trust issues with their leaders that should make our Prime Minister look like a boy scout. In 2006, Mexico’s president, Felipe Caderon, came to power in an election which featured voting irregularities, recounts, and, hours before the new president’s inauguration, a fistfight between politicians of rival parties. The following year former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori received his first conviction for illegal search and seizure; he was subsequently convicted of human rights violations and embezzlement and got 25 years in prison. More recently, in 2012 Haiti’s president Michel Martelly made headlines for allegedly taking kickbacks on reconstruction projects following that country’s devastating earthquake.

Of course, relativity is important. Unlike voters in many other countries, Canadians aren’t used to major political scandal. In the last 50 years, we’ve had the Munsinger Affair, the Airbus Affair, Shawinigate, and the Julie Couillard Affair (a.k.a. Bikergate), but only one big kahuna, the Sponsorship Scandal of 2003. We are thus probably more likely to hold our leaders to a higher standard than countries where rampant corruption is the norm.

But why the decline since 2006? There are several possible answers.

First, the current government came in that year with high expectations on the ethics front, which were ultimately not fulfilled. Despite the passage of the Accountability Act, several high profile politicos have crossed the staffer-lobbyist divide. Expenses scandals, like the Oda Orange Juice affair, kept cropping up. Meanwhile, the government’s much-touted whistleblower program was revealed to have no teeth.

Second, from 2005-2011, the Harper Tories were in a minority situation. To survive, they had to play a shrewd tactical game, using all the Parliamentary levers available, including prorogation. Even after winning a majority, the government trotted out a series of omnibus bills, designed to play legislative catch-up for two minority mandates, but which only make the Tories look like bullies.

Third, Canadian political culture has become a lot nastier in the past few years. Attack ads have become the norm, and the Conservatives have become very good at them. The Tories have also become embroiled in two scandals involving questionable and/or illegal campaign practices: the In and Out Scandal, which saw the party pay over $230,000 in fines for violating spending laws, and the Robocall voter suppression scandal, which continues to be investigated by the RCMP and Elections Canada.

Is the news for Mr. Harper all bad? Perhaps internationally, but not when you measure him against his domestic rivals. Another poll done by Nanos Research in October revealed that Mr. Harper still scores ahead of Thomas Mulcair and Liberal-leader-in-waiting Justin Trudeau in trust on both taxes and trade, though not on protecting the environment.

What can the Tories do to restore trust? That’s less clear. The government tried ethics legislation, which hasn’t had a major effect, and the Environics survey reveals no great desire for overhauling our political system. In the end, it may depend more on the voter, and our willingness to reward trustworthy politicians — and punish those who betray our trust.

Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Tasha Kheiriddin