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Jaded Tories thinking wistfully about a future without Harper

CALGARY — Stephen Harper knows what is going on – he is going on. By the end of his current mandate, he will have been Prime Minister for nearly a decade and overtaken Brian Mulroney to become Canada’s sixth longest serving leader, with Jean Chrétien’s 10 years and 38 days firmly in his sights.

But, curiously, delegates at the Conservative Party’s policy convention were less fascinated by Mr. Harper’s longevity project than the Prime Minister appears to be.

“I was surprised by how many people were talking about what comes next,” said one senior Conservative.

Alan Heisey, a delegate from Toronto, said he feels Mr. Harper has had “seven good years but he is approaching, somewhere along the line, the end. Another two or three years and that will be good.”

Mr. Heisey said he is concerned about Mr. Harper’s “presidential style.” “I don’t want to worship the party leader – I’m a big fan of parliament.”

This was fairly typical of the mood. There is no appetite to oust the Prime Minister. Potential aspirants to his office were noticeably quiescent, with the exception of the passionate defence of Mr. Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, by ministers Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay.

Delegates seemed to believe Mr. Harper’s explanation of events surrounding the Senate scandal.

But their faith in the judgment of the Prime Minister and the people around him has been shaken by recent events.

There is also a palpable weariness at the command and control style that so quickly defines as enemies anyone who disagrees with the word handed down from the Prime Minister’s Office – or, as in the case of Mr. Wright, those who become an inconvenience.

The opposition parties have already clipped the line from Mr. Harper’s keynote speech in which he said he “couldn’t care less” about those who disagree with him. “That’s not leadership, that’s division,” said Liberal MP, Joyce Murray, who was at the convention.

The prime directive of the convention organizers was to do no harm to a Conservative brand that has been badly tarnished in recent weeks.

From that point of view, is was mission accomplished. The policy and constitution resolutions were marched through the hall with the precision of a May Day parade in Red Square.

Both the pro-life and pro-choice wings of the party could claim a measure of victory after the adoption of a resolution opposing gender selection – the former because the issue reached the floor and was adopted; the latter because it did not specifically refer to pregnancy termination.

But there was a realization on all sides that an increasingly remote Prime Minister does not take direction well, even from his own core supporters. The gender selection resolution will be ignored, as one suspects, will be the anti-union “right to work” resolutions (the government’s relations with the trade unions that build pipelines and infrastructure are cozy and private sector union-bashing is seen as a distraction at the moment).

To use the old PG Wodehouse line, if the mass of delegates were not disgruntled, they were also far from gruntled.

It would be wrong to say that delegates spent the weekend wringing their hands about the future of their party and its leadership. For many, the party operates as a political service club and conventions are a chance to network and see old friends.

Some delegates said they were impressed by the energy Mr. Harper showed in delivering his Friday night speech, and pointed to the economic successes, particularly the signing of the free trade deal with the European Union.

But, to use the old PG Wodehouse line, if the mass of delegates were not disgruntled, they were also far from gruntled.

Mr. Harper was invulnerable following his majority victory in 2011. There remains a residual sense of gratitude for his achievement of uniting the two legacy parties and leading them to the promised land.

But it is fair to say a good number feel jaded by the way he has conducted himself since – and are thinking wistfully of a future without him.