Ever since I was in Elementary school, back in 2006 when Stephen Harper was elected Prime Minister, my Dad would say, “Harper is an idiot!” Since then I’ve graduated High School, am in my fourth year of University (I took a year off) and am expected to graduate next summer. I’ve learned the ‘why’ behind what my dad says, though I disagree with him. An idiot he is not. I can also now understand his frustration when I first retorted with “Well you voted for him!” Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister Canadians deserved, but not the one we need right now.

We’ve now seen Harper go through four elections as PM, through several minority governments and one full Four year majority term. I should say I was among those happy with the 2011 Federal Election Results. I had just voted in my first election, ‘the tanned monopoly guy’ had just gotten his first opposition after fighting so hard with his party for a long time. Even the Greens got a seat in the house, and “we finally got a majority government” This would be the opportunity for The Conservatives to shut my dad up by pulling through some actual change. And what do we have to show for it?

Nine years and eight months into his leadership, we aren’t going to get to know Harper anymore than we already have. He’s sang and played for us [insert clip of him singing and playing] and his tune remains the same. He’s an expert at deflecting his opponents and stays on point. The same point he’s been driving home since the last election: “Stay the course!” The questions Canadians should be asking themselves are: What course are we on? Where are we from when we started? And is this the right direction? His political party’s strategy, however ethically questionable [Robocalls, Contempt, multiple parliament prorogues and early postponement including this election] is still legally sound. Wait out the political storm, silencing and ignoring critics and naysayers, journalists and rival politicians [“nobody believes you”] and remain on message while pounding your war chest; the use of limitless coffers, and attack ads. Conservatives historically kick ass more than all the other parties when it comes to raising funds.

Historically though Canadians and politicians get bored after a decade. At ten years former PM Jean Chretien retired, Brian Mulroney close to nine before him, and more recently Dalton McGuinty. Change is refreshing, and politicians are like diapers. They should be changed frequently and for the same reasons. To put it less perversely it is an evolution, hopefully representing improvement. Although that improvement isn’t always fairly represented.

In terms of representation Harper is painted as having a facade. His opponents for years have laboured his secret agenda. On the surface he seems polite, awkward, whatever the poles deem as a typically Canadian. Some colleagues of mine liken his upfront behaviour as robotic, fitfully linked to his often cold, calculating professional manner matching in his icy blue eyes. Seriously check out his recent Peter Mansbridge interview after the article to decide what you think for yourself.

‘And yet you voted for him!’, as our electoral system reminds us. A system that has been called out again and again for its basic-ness and simplicity. It was once suggested by Harper before he was elected PM and now his rivals, to change the electoral system in order to be more proportional to Canadian voters. [There are some 30 new seats up for grabs this election to increase the fair distribution of votes.] Harper’s Conservatives are maintaining their steady position with a platform that tests the patience of Canadians. There are no new bold ideas in play here. More of the same ‘play it safe’ attitude. Which might be considered smart if the economy was in great shape. Dubbed as being in a technical recession after two quarters of non growth, the dollar is $0.76 and oil is $45.54, but don’t be alarmed! If you vote for someone else however, it would be a real disaster!

Except that’s bullshit and it wouldn’t be. As much as politicians like to create a scary picture our government doesn’t work that way. Even more so than it is now if we were to elect someone new that one person alone cannot have enough influence to bring down the entire country, there are responsible people they have to answer to, and people they have to work with to get there. The way our system of government is set up now with a Conservative majority, Harper and Harper alone has the ability to do that. But that’s only after ten years of influencing and building up relationships. The Ottawa-Vanier riding on which University of Ottawa sits has been historically liberal. Wouldn’t it be cool if students decided to fuck shit up and vote in the Marxist-Leninist party. You can vote for that right now this week even on the University of Ottawa campus The likelihood is that once elected, they would have to play nice and co-operate in order to pass anything through the House of Commons. That’s why we have the party leaders we have now, people who to a certain extent know how to co-operate.

Prime Minister Harper’s closest rival via Legislative Assembly is Official Opposition NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, a long time MP who would like to think he is the best bet to replace him with his strong education knowledge and experiece. He brings gravitas to his words when he speaks, but he isn’t charismatic. The person who has picked up that stick is the often under-estimated/ over-estimated Justin Trudeau, who coasted in on his family name and brings a sense of vitality back to the once scattered Liberals and is battling with them in a close 3 way race. For those with an eye to history it would be either another extension of the Conservative government promising low tax rates and budget cuts, another flip of the Liberal-Conservative coin ongoing since the birth of our nation with the former promising infrastructure investment and increased socialism. And then we have Green Party leader Elizabeth May who has addressed students the only time in this election by claiming her party will abolish tuition. Isn’t that who we should vote for?

If you compare these people to Stephen, there’s a noticeable lack of wow! factor. It was never his style. Ever opportunistic, an idiot he is not. His style is one that began with Pierre Trudeau’s vice grip on parliament policy. One that his heir Justin Trudeau is admittedly trying to upend. In response to the shooting a year ago on Parliament Hill the Conservatives quickly passed controversial Anti-Terrorism Bill C-51. His party has managed to dodge the blocking of the Keystone XL pipeline. Arguably the biggest economic failure of Mr. Harper’s career, what’s now being looked at as a soft environmental win for everyone.

The Conservatives have run a safe skillful campaign, even if it is one of their typically weaker ones so far. Harper does what he does and will continue to do for the rest of his career and is something I admire: completely his own thing. Not to the extent of falling out with several of his own countless party members and not just the ones involved in criminal acts, but rather his nonetheless do-anything style ignorance. He is in the position more than anyone to really swing the hammer right. When he swings the hammer wrong however, it might eventually sink the ship [in this case Canada]. It was a nice consolation how he upped the limit of the Tax Free Savings account to $10,000 as someone who is using it for retirement. But for him someone who has been in this game a long time I struggle to believe he has any end game in mind. After following, familiarizing and knowing his workmanlike routine there’s nothing new for him left to achieve beyond personal gains. Like me playing Risk waiting for everyone else to run out of energy [or money] and go home. A decade of his reign, multiple elections, scandals, a full majority government, there isn’t any agenda left. In his own words he’s done as good of a job as he can do. So there’s no magic long-term strategy that he’s had all this time that he’s suddenly going to pull out as an explainable answer to the economy. He’s had the opportunity to try all of his tricks and here we are— semi-satisfied? It reminds me of a guy I ran into on my block this week. He greeted me, and after short pretending I admitted I didn’t know who he was. He reminded me we went to the same high school several grades removed from each other. I feigned surprise and since I was late for class brushed off and as we headed in opposite directions told him to ‘add me on Facebook.’ He said I already had. It was a mild sad realization then and there that I had used up all the chances of hope remaining in that relationship. He’d be an idiot to believe we’d be having the best of times eventually. Kind of like voting for Harper again.

Tidbits

I’m not too crazy about ‘Steve’ but I think ‘Harper’ is a really pretty name for a girl. It could even be a boy or gender neutral. In its popularity we may be overrun with them by the time I reach Fatherhood.

He is a decent singer and piano player.

He is the tallest of the G20 leaders.

Link to all the other major candidate interviews to prime you for voting: Thomas Mulcair, Justin Trudeau, and Elizabeth May.