Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Ray Heard - Tory Insider

You Heard it here first. Harper, late in the fall, will announce he is not seeking re-election because he knows the best he could do would be to win yet another miserable minority govt. That will force Michael Ignatieff to give the Tories at least six months to pick a new leader. He will be Jim Prentice, whose able Bay St. team has already done the heavy lifting for him without attracting media scrutiny.

Hat Tip - Delacourt

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5 Comments:

  • Doubt it. Harper cares more about power than the greater good. He'll be leader till the bitter end.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:31 p.m.  

  • I hope that isn't true. Harper is doing an amazing job...of destroying conservatism that is.

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 6:49 p.m.  

  • No friggin' way he is leaving before the Vancouver Olympics. He will wait until at least then to bask in the glory of Canada's first gold medals on home soil (none in Montreal or Calgary).

    By Blogger MississaugaPeter, at 9:41 p.m.  

  • The Tories have two problems, neither of which is solved by bringing in Jim Prentice.

    1. Their never-that-strong support in Quebec is gone.
    2. Canada is in a deep recession.

    The notion that Harper is such a divisive bully (or that nice-guy Jim Prentice would change that) that he could never win a majority doesn't have legs. Harper was doing fine until the economy headed south.

    Moreover, any new leader would be coming in at a time of economic recovery. The whole "fresh face" approach would be completely misplaced (in a recovery, you take credit for the recovery). Gore lost in 2000 for that reason, as will Prentice.

    By Blogger french wedding cat, at 12:41 a.m.  

  • While harper is consumed in his thirst for power (and knows not what to do with it, apparently), it's also part of his DNA to be a chicken. Ran out on Preston, sulked sourly after the 2004 election, and then did that prorogation thingy (twice! Hat trick, anybody?) to save his skin. I don't put it past him -- i lived under Bill Bennett's draconian rule in the 1980s, and he ducked out before getting his 'restraint era' comeuppance.

    By Blogger burlivespipe, at 3:01 a.m.  

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