Thursday, February 15, 2007
Did Harper make the comments on purpose?
When I first heard the story about Prime Minister Harper's comments on the judiciary, I thought there were two possible reasons why he made them. Either it was a mistake and a slip, or it was a desire to focus attention on the issue of law-and-order.
Well, judging by the fact that Harper was using every opportunity in question period today to paint the opposition as being soft on crime, it looks like he may have made the original comments by design.
As much as the left might think that the pristine independence of the judiciary is at stake here — which it isn't — Canadians probably care more about judges letting criminals get off easy than they do about judicial selection committees. I mean, it's probably not even close.
Harper is clearly using the topic of law-and-order as a wedge issue leading to a possible election campaign. That he's doing it partly on the back of the judiciary is the risk he seems willing to take.
