If you’re wondering why Canadians aren’t rising up in furious protest, it’s at least worth considering that, despite your very best efforts, they are simply not as angry as you assumed they were.

It is almost painful, sometimes, to behold the “stay the course” mentality that is so bizarrely pervasive among Canadian progressives intent on besting Stephen Harper and his Conservatives. “If we keep telling people how scary this man is,” the theory seems to go, “surely people will eventually realize.”

Gerald Caplan’s Friday-afternoon moan over at the other place, about the lack of unity among Mr. Harper’s many millions of purple-faced opponents, is something of a genre classic. And it is alarmingly representative of what some very intelligent people seem to think.

“[A]ccording to the most recent polls, only 32 per cent of the Canadian public now supports [Harper's] government,” Mr. Caplan writes. “He won his majority last May with just under 40 per cent of the vote. So he has already lost close to one-quarter of that support. Yet though he lacks the approval of the large majority of Canadians, Mr. Harper functions virtually without constraint.”

A Harris-Decima poll does indeed have the Tories at 32%. More or less concurrently, Angus Reid pegged Conservative voting intention at 39%, which is basically what the Tories pulled in the election.

Never mind that, though. What’s begging for napalm here is this pernicious idea that there is something literally dodgy about the Harper government.

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When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets China’s President Hu Jintao in Beijing next week, it will be a meeting between a growing, newly confident power and one that is unsure of itself and its place in the world. Harper heads the confident power. Hu stands atop a vast chaos, a seething, heaving economy of plunderers that keeps the plundered at bay through an army of spies and thugs, of thieves that pirate the West’s designs and innovations, and of military adventurers who threaten to seize property and resources from nearly all its neighbours.

In aid of its territorial claims against its neighbours, China’s military – the world’s largest after the U.S.— has been growing rapidly and, most believe, surreptitiously — some estimates, such as from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, have had China underreporting military spending by a factor of five. Under this onslaught, Vietnam fears for its Spratly Islands, Japan for the Senkaku Islands, Taiwan for itself.

As remarkably, China’s official accounts show it to spend even more keeping its citizens in check — it calls this “social stability maintenance” — than on its military. Spending on social stability, which includes police, jails, and an elaborate domestic surveillance system that tracks citizens, has been increasing at a blistering rate – almost 14% in the current year. As with military spending, many believe the Chinese government is understating these expenses, too, to hide the shame of needing to crack down on a populace that holds it in contempt, that increasingly mocks its ham-handed stupidity, and that increasingly confronts it.

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See Also:

Worried India Shifts Defense Focus To China

Some objectives can be achieved in the shorter term. Some are for the long game.

With the Obama administration’s rejection of Keystone XL pipeline, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have shown resolve in speeding up the Asian energy market-diversification process. China is a key component of this effort, so Harper is under pressure to take home tangible results from his meetings with the Chinese leaders.

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Harper used the stage at the World Economic Forum to take dead aim at the European debt crisis, castigating allies for taking wealth as a given and living way above their means until the wheels fell off.

He was critical of the developed world — including the U.S. — for complacency and failing to plan for the future to avoid the economic storm churning the global economy.

Harper said Canada would continue to follow its own path to create the prosperity to ensure the next generation is not left out, “regardless of what direction other western nations may choose.”

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See Also:

Prime Minister Harper unveils grand plan to reshape Canada

Exporting oil to Asia is a national priority: Harper

‘Major transformations’ coming to Canada’s pension system, Harper tells Davos

“Shock and Awe”:

1:13 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Harper reaches the age of major-ity

1:15 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Harper’s retirement agenda set to open up the battle lines

1:19 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Ottawa $9 billion ahead of last year’s pace in reducing size of deficit

1:21 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Why Stephen Harper might invade Iran

1:23 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 – Bickering better not lead us into a health-care funding crisis

1:27 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — RCAF to get only five test choppers as manufacturer faces $80 million fine

1:30 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 – Canada: Our home and UN land

1:34 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Cuts, cuts, more cuts

1:36 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Harper wins when voters snooze

1:46 pm EST, January 27th, 2012 — Demand for constitutional reform only builds

Among his messages:

• Europe must finally get its debt-ridden house in order, or the economic contagion could sweep around the world and cause a recession.
• Capitalism, despite criticism, is still the best way to create prosperity — but must be bolstered through proper regulations.
• Canada is keen to “diversify” its trading relationships throughout the world — particularly in growing economies such as Asia — and is keen to seal a free trade deal this year with Europe.
• The Canadian energy sector is looking for customers worldwide, not just in the United States.

Harper leaves Tuesday night for Davos, Switzerland, where he will attend the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering which dates back to 1971.

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Paul Wells on why unlocking Alberta’s vast petroleum riches will be anything but easy

In hindsight, Stephen Harper’s new fight against the world’s oil sands detractors was a long time coming. Last November in Vancouver, the Prime Minister gave a local television interview in which he warned that “significant American interests” would be “trying to line up against the Northern Gateway project,” Enbridge’s proposed $3.5-billion double pipeline from near Edmonton to a new port at Kitimat, B.C.

“They’ll funnel money through environmental groups and others in order to try to slow it down,” Harper told his hosts. “But, as I say, we’ll make sure that the best interests of Canada are protected.”

In early November, U.S. President Barack Obama announced he was putting off final approval of TransCanada’s $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline until after this November’s presidential election. Harper has long viewed Obama as an unsteady ally. Now he’d had enough. “I’m sorry, the damage has been done,” he told CTV before Christmas. “And we’re going to make sure we diversify our energy exports.”

Harper picked the second week of January to kick his game into gear. The government released a letter signed by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, warning of “environmental and other radical groups” seeking to “hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda”—by lining up to speak against the project at the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel environmental hearings.

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Related:

MacDonald: Crack in the Northern Gateway pipe dream

See Also:

CRS report: Congress can require Keystone oil pipeline approval

Editorial: A pipeline gift to China

Malkin: The Land of Obama Make-Believe 

Lowry: “Robbin’ Obama” and his merry band

There has been an astonishing amount of obtuse commentary on Harper, with pundits blithely throwing around terms such as “elected dictator,” “authoritarian,” “demagogue,” and “control freak.” He has been compared to a North Korean communist tyrant and an Italian fascist dictator. And as someone who has known Harper since 1996 (we obviously haven’t spoken much in recent years), I’ve become fed up with these ridiculous assessments of his political ideas and leadership skills. Trust me: I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly with this PM, and most of what you hear and read just ain’t true.

So, I’m going to devote the next two columns to a topic that could be best described as part history, part “inside baseball,” and part personal analysis. My hope is some of the perceptions Canadians have of this PM can be modified – and that Harper’s legacy in Canadian political history will finally be fully understood.

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Already in 2011, a year marked by Harper’s first electoral majority on May 2, the Toronto-born Calgarian who led the reunited Conservative Party of Canada to power in 2006 has topped the time in office of: Nobel Prize-winning Liberal prime minister Lester B. Pearson (1963-68); the country’s first Liberal prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie (1873-78); and Depression-era Conservative prime minister R.B. Bennett (1930-35).

Next Thursday, on Dec. 8, the 52-year-old Harper will complete his 2,132nd day as prime minister — five years, 10 months and two days since he was first sworn in as Canada’s head of government on Feb. 6, 2006.

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"Stephen Harper is a gold standard politician."

The excellent Tim Montgomerie makes the point in a Guardian column today that, having headed a minority government for five years, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last May led his Conservative party to its first majority in two decades. Montgomerie cites this to help his case that David Cameron called it wrong when he decided to ditch conservative ideas for left-wing ones – an argument which I myself have made repeatedly since Cameron was elected party leader.

But Harper deserves attention on his own account. For he is a party leader who appears to have defied political gravity. As a country, Canada is hardly a byword for conservatism: indeed, it is known for its liberal approach to social issues. Yet Harper not only hung on to power for five years as the leader of a minority government but has now pulled off the feat of achieving majority rule.

Part of the explanation is the fact that the opposition Liberal party simply imploded. But the Liberals previously had cause to believe they were the natural party of Canadian government. So what explains this apparent inversion of the natural Canadian order?

Three reasons, and they are closely linked. The first is that — providing a very clear contrast to the Liberals — Harper espoused policies which were free of ideology and connected instead to reality, common sense and people’s lived experience.

Second, Harper’s approach is a principled one, cemented as it is into a clear division between right and wrong, truth and lies and thus standing four-square against the ruinous moral relativism and nihilism of the times.

Third, he has had the courage and backbone to stand up for these principles rather than bending to fashion or intimidation. In short, Harper is a leader not a follower.

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In part because of these advantages, Harper - and thus Canada - has handled the Keystone decision very well indeed so far.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may some day be a key exhibit in political science courses on the importance of periodically changing governing parties. Previously un-touchable topics are now open for debate, reconsideration and change because he and the Conservative party have a different base of sup-port than the former Liberal regime, because the opposition consequently also answers to new forces these days, and because the new governing party doesn’t feel responsible for the status quo.

Take, for example, two related issues in the news these days in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to hold off on approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Harper’s reaction was to talk about the need to reorient Canada’s trade toward Asia, a move that involves pointedly placing a higher priority on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to the West Coast.

This talk of alternate export markets for our fossil fuels led to discussion of changes to some of our agricultural policies, since it also raised the idea of joining the current Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks – something that would surely put on the table Canada’s system of supply management of commodities such as milk and poultry.

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Related:

TransCanada, Nebraska to study Keystone XL pipeline reroute

Agreement to reroute Keystone XL pipeline a ‘good outcome,’ analyst says

U.S. environmentalists vow to continue fight against Keystone XL pipeline

Harper made the comments in an interview broadcast Sunday on the debut of Global TV’s The West Block, a new political affairs show hosted by veteran journalist Tom Clark.

“There’s constitutional responsibilities of all governments to enforce laws and protect people,” Harper said.

“I think the people of Ontario and Quebec expect that their government will work with the federal government to make sure we have safe streets and safe communities.”

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