Well, he won’t be “gone.” Stephen Harper will (I hope) go on to a long and tranquil retirement. He will (just a guess) enjoy time on the board of Barrick Gold or maybe Encana (likely both).
In the meantime, we will have a big job fixing all the wreckage of his nearly ten years in power. Margaret Atwood once said I was a threat to Stephen Harper because I “remember where all the bodies are buried.” I have a comprehensive memory of the litany of abuses, the omnibus bills that wrecked the laws of generations, the unprecedented abuse of power. Today we can add another indictment: PMO stopped the processing of Syrian refugees months ago. That means that every time Chris Alexander replied to my questions and Paul Dewar’s about why Canada had not accepted the 10,000 refugees pledged by his government in January – that whole time, every answer was a deliberate deception. While Parliament was told that Canada was doing all it could, the truth was Canada was not processing refugees. Processing had been stopped due to a direct order of PMO.
What makes me certain Stephen Harper is on his way out (besides the fact that the opposition parties could cooperate to form government should Harper gain a few more seats in a minority parliament)? I am counting on Conservatives. I am counting on people who wanted a government that was respectful of our traditions. I am counting on people who thought they were voting for ethical government. I am counting on them to indict this administration.