Harper's Teflon coat thickens

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Teflon coat keeps thickening. Rarely, if ever, have the nation's power elites, from its business community, small and big, to its print, radio and television media, so completely aligned themselves with a government.

Since his majority victory May 2, a triumphalist aura has enveloped the man and his party. Normally circumspect commentators herald the dawning of the Harper Age -- a government destined to be elected and re-elected into the foreseeable future, thanks to its crushing of one foe (the Liberals) and the power elites' hostility towards the only other (the New Democrats.)

The aura of invincibility grew throughout the election campaign. Harper was allowed, virtually unchallenged, to deliberately and repeatedly misrepresent and demonize coalition government, an integral, historic feature of parliamentary democracy which he himself has advocated and even sought to form. He was further allowed, again virtually unchallenged, to treat the media as if Canada were an authoritarian state: his minions picking and choosing which journalists would be allowed to ask him questions, how many, and on what topics.

Three separate events define the arrival of Canada's imperial prime ministership.

The day the majority Harper cabinet was sworn in, a television camera caught a truly astonishing partisan moment. There was Canada's new governor general, David Johnston, jubilantly pumping both arms in the air, hands extended in a high-five, as he strode towards his assembled ministers.

The only real bump in the road to majority occurred mid-campaign when The Canadian Press's Ottawa correspondent Joan Bryden obtained a leaked draft of Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report on the spending of the $50-million G8 summit legacy fund that lavished money on dubious projects in then-industry minister Tony Clement's Muskoka-area riding.

Money originally dedicated to relieving congestion along the Canada-U.S. border some 500 kilometres to the south bought a cornucopia of goodies for the constituency Clement won narrowly in 2008. The projects were chosen by the local "G8 summit and liaison team." It consisted of Clement, Huntsville's mayor, and the general manager of the Deerhurst Resort summit site.

The $274,000 public toilets, $100,000 gazebo, $1.1 million sidewalk and tree upgrades, $194,000 park and $745,000 downtown improvements for three towns, to mention a few, were all 20 to 100 kilometres distant from Deerhurst, not to mention the Canada-U.S. border.

The AG's draft report was scathing. Neither the summit's needs nor the government's conditions were considered. The approval process may have been illegal. And the government was accused of misinforming Parliament.

Fraser's plain language reports on government malfeasance made her a hero to Canadians and, particularly, Opposition critics. Her 2004 audit of the Liberals' $100-million sponsorship program was a turning point in Canadian history, triggering the Liberal party's death spiral. Back in February 2004, she was in full fulmination: "This is just such a blatant misuse of public funds that it is shocking... words escape me... This is so outrageous, what happened here." She said she gets "angry all over again" whenever she re-reads her own report. She even uttered the word "fraud."

In April 2011, not so much. When Bryden's scoop hit on April 12, Fraser not only turned down opposition requests to release her final G8 summit report, she insisted she couldn't issue reports unless Parliament was sitting, a claim retired House of Commons procedural and public accounts committee clerk B. Thomas Hall has refuted and described as "greatly disturbing." She also urged Canadians to base their conclusions solely on her final report, not the leaked version.

That final report, released June 9 by interim Auditor General John Wiersema, did conclude that Harper's government misled Parliament by burying the $50 million for the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund in the Border Infrastructure Fund but made no mention of fraud or illegality. Last week, the RCMP confirmed it is looking into allegations that Clement's Muskoka beautification project amounts to misappropriation of funds. They were made by former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings -- and predictably ridiculed by the Harperites.

One day after the election, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the government will unilaterally abolish the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk without obeying the CWB Act requiring it to consult farmers, not least its farmer-elected board. Despite the CWB's global reputation, annual $5 billion and 1,000 job contribution to the Winnipeg and Manitoba economies, there hasn't been one peep from Winnipeg's business community, city council, or indeed anyone except the National Farmers' Union, the Port of Churchill and Manitoba's provincial government.

Nor should Canadians expect to hear another word about the either the G8 Legacy Fund or the CWB from the Harper regime.

The Teflon coating on the Harperites has hardened to a high gloss.

Frances Russell is a Winnipeg

author and political commentator.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 29, 2011 A13