Why I trust Stephen Harper

There are many places where one can read about Stephen Harper's "amateurism," his strategic mistakes, or his inability to lead.

In fact, if I hadn't experienced, first hand, media's war on Stockwell Day, I would have said that Stephen Harper has gotten the worst media treatment out of all conservative leaders in the history of this country. So it is not a complete surprise to hear some conservatives start questioning Harper's leadership. (Red Tories were always trying to bring him down, but some conservatives are now starting to oppose his leadership.)

Here is, in one sentence, why I trust Stephen Harper: He is smarter than any politician I have ever known.

He is scary smart. This is a guy who sees four or five moves ahead, when the best of us can only see two or three.

For example, back when the new election financing bill was going through everyone was wondering why Harper had pledged his support for it. After all, the measure was not by any means conservative.

At the time I said it was because Harper was a member of the infamous Red Reformer crew. Western Canadians who were centrist Tories in their heart, but had joined the Reform Party out of pure ambition. (A crew co-lead in 1993 by Harper and Jan Brown, the MP from Calgary Southeast.) I thought this was just the Red Reformer in Harper coming out.

Well, it turns out I was wrong.

Harper knew that the new system would leave any future PC Party leader, who would have had campaign debts of his own from the leadership, in a bind. The new leader would be unable to tap into the treasure that had kept the PC's alive- the traditional Tory corporations like Rogers. This, inability to raise the money needed to fight an election, must have been one of the reasons why Pete Mackay agreed to the merger agreement.

He also knew that he may have to undergo a leadership race soon. Since he had a healthy war chest from his own leadership race against Stockwell Day, he would not need to raise much money. Any opponent, on the other hand, would have to raise millions of dollars and may be forced to do so only from individuals. (As it turned out the Conservative Leadership came under the wire by a matter of a few weeks so candidates could raise money under the old rules.) This remains true today. Harper has a war chest so he can fight off any effort to dethrone him while any one who wants to do so would have a very hard time raising the money required.

This is only one example. Other examples can be found going all the way back to 1992. Whether it was his refusal to use the standard Reform Party literature in 1993, his decision to leave the Reform Party, his decision to not run for the PC Party Leadership, and his strategic move to the right before his run for the Alliance leadership.

Anyway, this post has turned out to be a lot longer than I wanted it to be. All I wanted to say to my conservative friends is put your trust in Harper. What he is missing in charisma, he more than makes up for in brains.