And now, one of the most conservative Prime Ministers to lead Canada in generations, if not in all of its history, has scooped the left-wing Liberal party and even the national French-Canadian party, the Bloc Quebecois. (Aside from the Tory government's major challenger, the Liberal Party, Canada's parliament also has a large representation of a quirky national party, which was until the most recent election, the second-largest political party, and thus the "Loyal Opposition," despite having a platform which essentially calls for secession of Quebec.) So there was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, making a play for Quebec 7.5 million Canadians with an unprecedented statement recognizing Quebec as a nation." In Canadian politics, there is hardly a more sensitive issue. Harper has brilliantly out-flanked his main opposition, semi-celeb Liberal party leadership contender, Harvard Professor, Michael Ignatieff.

And for those of you are distant observers of Canada's politics like me, how about this for a teaser? Am I dreaming?

He is a young man so handsome even men turn to stare as he passes. He has the charming, shy smile of his father but not the father's almost debilitating shyness. He has his mother Margaret's thick black and curling hair. Some who like him say he has his mother's warmth and his father's drive; some who do not like him say he got his mother's brains and his father's arrogance. Everyone, on the other hand, seems to have an opinion...
Victorious or vacuous?
Airhead or future head?
He has just brought a one-hour lecture to a close by turning a question-and-answer session into a game of Simon Says. He has had so many questions that, in an effort to ease into a conclusion, he has asked the final questioners to stand and go through something rather more suited to Grade 5, which he once taught, than the university population that has packed the hall, and he has had them play the game until only one question is left. It is not, mercifully, the one that he cannot avoid, the one that trails him about the country like an outstanding warrant: “When will you run for office?”

The crowd this evening loves him. The son who delivered that memorable eulogy at his father's funeral — the open-hearted emotion so admired by many, the “Friends, Romans, countrymen” theme so dismissed by others — has become an effective and often moving public speaker.
For an hour he stood, not a note in hand, and spoke passionately about education and teaching and the environment. Ignoring the podium, he stood, jacket open, at the front of the stage, his stance missing only the hitched thumbs to remind everyone of [his father]'s “gunslinger” pose. The hints are constant, the shadow never far from the spotlight. The voice. The eyes. The way he sometimes shrugs and cups his hand. way women quicken in his presence.

And he's jumping into national politics. A dynasty at 24 Sussex? Philosopher Kings?
Return to BLOG here.