Barrel Strength

In the wake of the 2006 election I reminded my colleagues that Stephen Harper had seized a beach head and so had to undertake what that manoeuvre demands: secure the perimeter, organize supply lines and stockpile supplies for the eventual breakout. While too slow for some, his incrementalist approach realized those goals.

Today’s victory resembles the Battle of Kursk. At first glance it too may not seem so clear-cut a win but its aftermath will be as equally decisive as that earlier battle. The spine of the Liberal Party has been broken, as was that of the Heer. Their finances are depleted, their leadership demoralized and with their retreat into pockets of Metro Toronto and the Atlantic provinces, their conflation of Liberal values with Canadian values has been exposed as a myth. The Liberal national “brand” is deteriorating into a boutique label.

The sumo pundits will effuse endlessly over the missed possibilities in this campaign  but they cannot deny that Stephen Harper has made vast progress in pushing back a formidable and ruthless political apparatus. Now we must see to it that the Liberals are kept on the path to an endgame.