The pro-Conservative ads are on the radio. The pro-Conservative visuals are on TV.

The federal election isn’t slated until next October. Yet still . . . .

To watch Prime Minister Stephen Harper is to see a politician in full campaign mode. Harper’s actions are always political. But these days they are political with a new intensity.

By all precedent, and after nine years of Conservative rule, voters should be heartily sick of this government. That is just the way of the world.

But the fates are gathering in Harper’s favour. In particular, the murder of two Canadian soldiers on home soil has provided cover and justification for his decision to join the U.S. war in Iraq against Islamic State radicals.

Patriotism is powerful tonic. The wanton killing of W.O. Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo reignited the militant side of Canadian patriotism, a side that — following the disaster of the Afghan War — had been in abeyance.

The prime minister understands this well. It explains his decision to abruptly interrupt a long-planned trip to China in order to make a cameo appearance at Ottawa’s Remembrance Day services Tuesday.

To miss the chance of publicly honoring military sacrifice would have been to miss a crucial political opportunity.

Now that the ceremony is over, it is equally politically important that he return to the other side of the world.

The prime minister is slated to fly to New Zealand and from there to Australia for a G20 economic summit.

In real terms, it is not clear that either visit will accomplish much. But politically, both venues will give the prime minister a chance to perform for the home audience.

He will be able to portray himself to voters at home as a world statesman working tirelessly on the economic issues central to Canadian lives.

He will also be warmly welcomed by the conservative prime ministers of those two countries, Australia’s Tony Abbot and New Zealand’s John Key.

Like Harper, both leaders have sent troops to Iraq. Like Harper, both are planning to beef up national security laws at home.

Following his swing through the Antipodes, Harper will be able to return home and reinforce his message to voters that, on issues of national security, the opposition parties are hopelessly out of sync with Canada’s allies.

When Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats and Justin Trudeau’s Liberals voted against Harper’s plan to join the Iraq air war last month, their move was politically shrewd. War-weary voters were not convinced that it was Canada’s job to take on militants in far-away Iraq.

Now, in light of the murders in Ottawa and Quebec, the politics of this war have become more fluid.

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This is lucky for Harper.

His strong point had been the economy. But here, Canada is no longer leading the pack.

Although the official unemployment rate has fallen to 6.5 per cent, the slump is far from over. Good jobs are hard to find, particularly for the young. In many sectors, wage increases are below the rate of inflation.

The U.S. economy is reviving. But U.S. wage growth — crucial to Canadian exporters — is not.

More worrisome is the slide in world oil prices. Should lower prices hold, Alberta’s tar sands will be dealt a formidable blow by next fall — with ripple effects throughout the country.

All of this conspires to favour an early election. Harper is clearly keeping that option open.

His announcement that he will increase the baby bonus is a classic example of bribing voters with their own money. To ensure Canadians understand who is bringing them these cheques, the government is running non-stop ads that trumpet the new goodies.

The effort appears to be working. Over most of the year, Trudeau consistently outpolled Harper in popularity. Yet in the latest Nanos tracking poll, the two were in a statistical tie.

Militant patriotism, or what the Americans call “waving the bloody shirt,” is a powerful political force. So are government cheques. Combined, the two can be irresistible.

Thomas Walkom’s column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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