A message worth repeating

I'm a bit surprised that none of the federal opposition parties has yet picked up on the Cons' habit of grabbing media attention for their own ads by putting together and promoting a compilation of stories and commentary about Harper's lies, secrecy and broken promises. But if any of them plan on doing so, Randall Denley once again offers up exactly the kind of message which they should be looking to include:

Although I follow the federal government closely, I couldn't tell you a single inspirational national goal Harper has identified. In fact, it seems his only goal is re-election.

Rather than point the country in the right direction and encourage Canadians to achieve, Harper runs a grim command-and-control regime that wouldn't be out of place in the Kremlin. Even the most innocuous information is ruled secret, even the most straightforward question ducked. One could argue that Harper's attempt to micromanage the government and his insistence that most everything come through his office is the opposite of leadership. Far from empowering Canadians to act, our PM isn't even empowering his own cabinet.

Toughness might be one characteristic of a leader, but if that's all you've got you'd better hope you're leading a dictatorship. At times, Harper seems to be under the mistaken impression that he is.