Has this campaign really been a referendum on Stephen Harper as prime minister of Canada? Are Canadians responding to the so-called wedge issue of the niqab, or have they been pushed too far on identity politics? And when the dust settles, who will be left standing?
To help answer those questions, The West Block‘s Tom Clark turned to three people who have gotten out of the political game to a large extent and are now watching this campaign unfold from the sidelines: former Conservative MP, House leader and Tory whip Jay Hill; former deputy NDP leader and NDP House leader Libby Davies; and former member of the Liberal caucus and now “Senate-Liberal” Senator Jim Munson.
According to Munson, the central ballot-box question will, for many Canadians, be “should Stephen Harper stay or go?”
“We all like to talk about the economy and jobs which it should have been about that, but after nine years in power … it is about the man,” Munson said.
“At this particular point, it’s almost visceral, people don’t explain themselves that well (in terms of) why they don’t like Mr. Harper, but it’s got to a point (where) it is about change.”
Davies agreed, saying she feels Canadians are ready to oust Harper, and that Tom Mulcair will still be left standing after the votes are counted, in spite of falling back into third-party position in the polls. For Munson, however, that seems unlikely.
“There’ll be only one man standing on Monday night and that’ll be Justin Trudeau,” he quipped.
The panel also tackled the question of negative advertising and wedge-issue politics during the long campaign, with Hill saying his former party, in going after Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and focusing on issues of cultural identity like the niqab, is doing what it knows is effective.
“The reality is that negative campaigning, if can call it that, is effective. People know that, campaigns know that, leaders know that, but there has to be an element of truth to it …. I mean there has to be credibility to what they’re saying for it to move people in the polls, to change their desire to vote a certain way.”
Davies said that for her, things went too far in this race.
“It’s become a lot deeper and it’s very disturbing,” she said.
“I think what we saw on the niqab for example, it’s really a divisive kind of politics. It’s pitting people against each other. It’s them and us, and I feel that in this particular instance, Mr. Harper, he really exploits people’s fears, it does become a culture war and it has huge implications … But I do think Canadians react very badly to that. They don’t like it, but then again, as you point out, the evidence shows us that apparently negative advertising does work, but it seems to me that it is more of a creeping sort of Americanism that’s coming into our politics, and I think most Canadians don’t like to see that happening.”
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