You don’t have to look too closely to notice a pattern in our governing Conservatives. They’re late learners.
On two of the biggest trendlines of our time — global warming and the rise of China — they are among the last to the table.
In South Korea yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated what has been obvious for many years — that Canada must increasingly look to the Asia-Pacific region for opportunities because it is the world’s big growth area. He had come from China where he was scolded by the leadership for taking almost four years to visit.
Soon he will be off to Copenhagen for the UN climate change summit. A week ago, he was at a Commonwealth meeting in Trinidad, where Ottawa’s foot-dragging on that issue was singled out by the UN Secretary General, as well as other leaders.
In Denmark he may surprise us and signal, as he did on trade with China, a new seriousness about the global warming issue. But even if he does, opposition critics have a right to wonder what took so long.
One explanation is Harper was a neophyte in foreign affairs when he became prime minister. His experience had been insular. He faced a steep learning curve. Another was his strong ties to his conservative roots. Conservatives believed Canada’s economic future lay in an ever-closer economic partnership with the United States. As for global warming, they were longtime non-believers, as exemplified by the PM once labelling the Kyoto accord a socialist scheme.
For him and his party to get beyond the old-time religion has been a tough challenge. It was evident, too, in the Tories’ handling of the economy. We recall little more than a year ago when the PM and his finance minister were among the last of the Western leaders to recognize the oncoming recession. They were holding to the view that there would be balanced budgets for years to come, that no great spurt of stimulus funding was necessary. They were then smart enough to abruptly switch course and bring in Keynesian-styled economic strategies that ran against party dogma.
Another breaking-with-dogma test will be on the subject of taxation. To date, the government is holding to the line that, despite a deficit bordering on $60 billion, no new taxes need be introduced to address it and avoid what many economists foresee as a structural deficit.
Conservatives understandably loathe the idea of new taxes but, as on other matters, old beliefs have to be adjusted to fit new circumstance.
Hopefully, the gang that shoots late has learned by now that the adjustments shouldn’t take years to come.
Lawrence Martin is a journalist and author of 10 books who writes about national affairs from Ottawa.
