Stephen Harper is a bully. There is no other word for it; it’s his way or the highway. Alas, poor Rodney did it his (Harper’s) way. How a Progressive Conservative can do business with someone who is to the right of Attila The Hun is mind-blowing.

In fairness, not everything the Prime Minister does is calculating or misleading. His announcement last week on tackling the drug problems currently facing this country had me cheering loudly. I know the evils of  drugs. I lost a son to drug abuse.

Back to the future….

Less than 24 hours after Williams and his Newfoundland Tories swept his province, Harper desperately needed to shift the focus on what was a clear rebuke of himself, his finance minister and the budget they presented last spring. The residents of ‘The Rock’, like most thinking individuals, do not like broken promises. Stephen Harper maintains he did not break his word. Cumberland MP Bill Casey said he did. I’m with Bill Casey.

Unfortunately, Stephen Harper is not. His mean spirited nature shone through when he vehemently assured the press that Mr. Casey would NOT be the Conservative candidate for Cumberland-Colchester in the nest election. Pity.


To underscore their upset, the people of Newfoundland/Labrador didn’t merely speak, they shouted the federal government down.  .

Most Nova Scotians, myself included, want the deal to be for real. The fact remains, the federal government reneged on the Accord (signed  by one of the most honest individuals ever to grace the office of Premier in Nova Scotia, John Hamm), mere months after his Campaign For Fairness brought about the historic agreement. If the feds would change their minds in such a relatively short time, how can we possibly believe that they, or their successors, will honour this commitment 13 years from now?

We cannot.

2.

None of these individuals will be in office in 2020; it will be a different government, comprised of individuals who probably won’t even remember the original debate, let alone the signing of a deal.

What we have at this juncture is two governments exchanging letters of intent. That does not represent an accord - more like a knee-jerk reaction to what had transpired in Newfoundland/Labrador 18 hours earlier.

When the election results were tallied, it could have been turned into a position of great collective strength, whereupon our premier should have stood tall and said  to the prime minister, thanks, but no thanks. We want the Accord as originally agreed upon with the money flowing today, not more than  a decade from now. That is what he promised to do as Leader of the Opposition. That is what he should be duty-bound to do.

He didn’t have to take a Danny Williams stance and promise to slug it out. Diplomacy, tact and determination can be very disarming. I just wish he had stayed the course. Bill Casey must feel a sense of betrayal.

(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist/broadcaster who served for three years as Director of Communications for the Leader of the Opposition)