THINKING LIKE HARPER

Stephen Harper is secretive about his religious beliefs and religiously motivated actions. But when I consider our Prime Minister’s political motivations for making the decisions he makes, I go on my hunches. After all, a hunch is an educated guess gleaned from careful observation. And my hunch is that the awarding of the eight billion dollar ship building contract to BC was a direct political decision by Stephen Harper.
But didn’t Harper go to great pains to remove himself entirely from the bidding process so that there could be no accusations of political tampering? Didn’t he practically shout to the world that only the bureaucrats, his underlings, were in charge of the appointments and that he personally had nothing to do with the choosing? I think Mr. Harper doeth protest too much of his innocence, and that in hoping to ward off any possible questioning concerning the selection process, he raises doubts. At least in my mind. It is well known that Mr. Harper is a control freak. That he tastes his own words as well as the words of his cabinet members and others in his government several jillion times before uttering them (only a slight exaggeration) is common knowledge, and that all important and even trivial decisions are made by him.
So why would Mr. Harper leave such an important political decision, fraught with passion and potential election fall out to his underlings? In my opinion, the decision to award BC with one of the ship building contracts came from Mr. Harper himself.
But so what, you may ask, even if it’s true Harper made the decision himself? BC got the ship building contract and that’s all that matters. I agree, in the short run. Jobs are paramount. But in the long run, as my thesis (hunch) is that our Prime Minister doth protest too much over the purity of the selecting process, the question is…why would he chose BC over Quebec?

Well, let’s see, if I was Harper, given his mind set and beliefs, I would be somewhat worried about the NDP forming the next provincial government in BC. An NDP win would jeopardize Harper’s plans for an increased Conservative presence in BC. And while the revitalization of the ship yards may help Christy Clark in the immediate future, down the road it will help the Conservatives even more.

I think Harper believes that if Christy Clark wins, by the following election the province will be in such a mess the Conservatives can remind citizens that it was a Conservative government that brought a revitalized ship building industry to BC. And the resources in BC for a Conservative win are already there. My hunch is that this goal was the main reason Stockwell Day decided not to run again for the Conservatives and came back to BC. Stockwell Day, like Stephen Harper, is a fundamentalist Christian, believer in Armageddon and the Rapture, along with BC billionaire and fellow Christian fundamentalist Jimmy Pattison. Lots of religious and political clout here. But I am happy for the ship building jobs. Very happy. Maybe things will look up for a number of people.