The economy is sagging, the loonie sinking, the Senate scandal reviving and Nanos polling shows growing support for regime change after 10 polarizing years of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Confronted by that hostile messaging mess, the short-panted minions in Conservative party headquarters have devised a uniquely bizarre campaign strategy.
The Canadian voter, they’ve decided, needs more Stephen Harper.
Not just a little campaign extension leading to the October 19 vote, as if there’s some Harper personality quirk the voters have yet to discover or embrace.
Now that Harper has officially launched the campaign, it will double the 37-day campaign minimum to 80 days of uninterrupted political hucksterism, which will double taxpayer subsidies to the political parties and substantially boost Elections Canada expenses.
And for what? To appease voter demands for a longer stretch of promissory fibs, enemy exaggerations and rival smears?
Not a chance, particularly at a time when most real-life Canadians are soaking up the sun, not immersing themselves in campaign noise or happily welcoming candidates on their doorstep .
The only advantage to the Conservatives is monetary, allowing them to unleash a torrent of negative ads against NDP Leader Tom Mulcair or favorite target Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau from overflowing campaign warchests, while limiting third-party attacks against their government record.
But will anyone pay attention before Labour Day? It’s doubtful. And will insufficient funds deter the NDP or the Liberals from borrowing the cash to level the playing field? Nope.
Besides, it triggers a prolonged headache for Harper who, if usual campaign protocols apply, will face national media inquisitions six days a week, including demands for his reaction to former staffers parading through the witness stand at Mike Duffy’s trial.
Harper would undoubtedly prefer a daily root canal.
What’s worse, this call officially neutralizes his prime ministerial power to blanket the country with taxpayer money. Once the writ drops, those costly funding photo-ops must stop and his ministers are prevented from announcing policies.
Frankly, it doesn’t appear to make sense to use the middle of a long weekend at the peak vacation time of the year for Harper to deliver his most anticipated announcement of the year.
But it never pays to underestimate the shrewd caginess of this prime minister. He has dedicated a major part of this majority mandate to making sure 2011’s result wasn’t a one-off fluke.
What looks like a bozo eruption now could become effusive praise for an electoral genius in mid-October if his curious sense of timing tick downs to a second majority mandate.
