Canada

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Tories outraged at Harper's potentially fatal fumble

By: Steve Rennie

2/12/2008 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

OTTAWA -- Their blades remain sheathed, but astonished Conservatives are quietly fuming about the tactical blunder they fear could toss them into opposition.

And the blame seems to be landing on the prime minister's doorstep.

Stunned Conservative MPs are barely concealing their outrage. Many are venting their anger in private because of Stephen Harper's iron grip on the party and the uncertain prospects of a coalition of opposition parties.

But while a few blame Harper's new top aide, Guy Giorno, for putting their government on a knife's edge, most lay responsibility for their unprecedented predicament squarely at the feet of the prime minister.

"The prime minister is ultimately his own chief strategist," said one Conservative MP from a western province.

"He got us into this. We need him to get us out."

Asked how he might do that, the MP said, "do whatever it takes."

Most members of cabinet and caucus are reluctant to get into an analysis of what went wrong because they are desperately hoping for or working on some kind of plan that can rescue their government.

But many Conservatives remain perplexed by the timing of an explosive element of their economic plan to end taxpayer subsidies to political parties.

And with the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois now threatening to topple the Tories after only seven weeks in government, angst has set in among some Conservative staffers.

"There's less concern, I think, about how we got here and more concern about how we're going to get out of it," said a Tory strategist.

Sombre-looking Conservatives attended a Christmas party Monday night at a downtown Ottawa hotel. It was certainly a less festive affair than originally thought when the event was planned.

Some within the party blame Giorno for enabling a prime minister whose political instincts tell him to lunge on an exposed Liberal jugular no matter what the consequences.

But those around the Prime Minister's Office have long said the prime minister is his own best strategist.

"At the end of the day, we all know who signed off on it," one Conservative said. "Everybody knows that this is the centre."

Some Tories have quietly suggested Harper himself conceived of and shepherded the party financing ploy to fruition, making it difficult for anyone to oppose the measure without fear.

But there didn't appear to be much dissension within Tory ranks last Wednesday, when journalists standing outside a hastily-called Conservative caucus meeting heard MPs applauding and cheering inside as they were briefed on the content of the fiscal update.

Publicly, the Conservatives have put up a unified front. Tory MPs fanned out across their ridings over the weekend to sell the government's message that a coup d'etat by opposition parties is undemocratic and opportunistic.

The Conservatives also announced they would scrap the party financing plan as well as another contentious element that would take away public service unions' right to strike. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has also hinted a stimulus package is in the works, possibly before the government delivers a rushed budget in late January.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 2, 2008 A4

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