Tell Us a Story, Mr. Harper

Five years into his tenure, if the prime minister has a vision for Canada he's keeping it a secret.

Five years after coming to power Stephen Harper needs a new story to tell, writes the National Post’s Robert Fulford. He thinks that the prime minister has lost control of his narrative and allowed the Liberals to successfully sell Canadians the idea that he has a hidden agenda. The image of Harper as “a suspicious character, a kind of stealth Tory, waiting in the bushes for his chance to strike” could prevent him from ever winning a coveted majority government, Fulford wagers. This is a common observation these days, but what’s interesting about Fulford’s piece is that it points out that while the Conservatives are often portrayed as Ottawa’s mudslingers, the persistence of the “hidden agenda” narrative shows the Liberals “are nevertheless more adept at negative sloganizing and story-telling. The Conservatives would like to develop an equally crisp, emotional narrative covering Michael Ignatieff but … [t]heir new TV commercials, made public this week, demonstrate that they are working on a few old ideas.”

Harper is “out of script,” writes the Montreal Gazette’s L. Ian MacDonald. While his first term in office was characterized by the prime minister following through on specific promises like cutting the GST and doling out $100 daycare cheques, MacDonald says his second term has been “event-driven.” Events like the parliamentary crisis, the long-form census debate, and the Great Recession have kept Harper busy with details, and “with the exception of Arctic sovereignty, a longer-term strategy articulating a vision of Canada has been notably missing.” MacDonald says that “Harper easily passes the test of competence,” but it will be his ability to think big in the coming year or two that will determined whether he will be remembered as a transformational prime minister like Lester Pearson, or a transactional one like, say, Sir Mackenzie Bowell. To us in The Mark Newsroom, MacDonald’s characterization of Harper as a small picture man is apt, but we think it’s likely he’s already avoided the fate of being remembered as a minor figure by steering Canada through the recession relatively unscathed, which is no small feat.