Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says he called an election Sunday because Parliament had reached a stage where the government had lost any and all support from the opposition, and simply wasn't functioning.
Harper made the comments in an exclusive interview aired Sunday on CTV's Question Period, defending his decision to drop the writ despite fixed election date legislation the Conservatives themselves introduced.
Harper said the spirit of the legislation only applied to majority governments.
"My original idea was to keep this Parliament going as long as we can. I would have liked it to go to October 2009 but I just think realistically we are not there," Harper told Lloyd Robertson, CTV's chief news anchor and senior news editor, in the rare one-on-one interview taped Saturday at Harrington Lake.
"We are at loggerheads with the opposition on every major area of public policy."
Harper said Parliament simply wasn't working and he felt obliged to give Canadians the opportunity to decide who would govern Canada, rather than return to Parliament and go through several weeks of unproductive political wrangling before going to the polls anyway.
"It's time. Everybody around Ottawa knows this Parliament has reached its useful end. The responsible thing is to let the voters decide who they want to have lead the country, who they want to give a mandate to and how they want it to be led. And that's the opportunity they're going to have."
Harper warned Canadians to expect an election campaign rife with personal attacks from the opposition.
"To be really honest, I anticipate a very nasty, kind of personal-attack campaign," he said.
"That's just what I'm anticipating; that's what the opposition has done in the past. I think that whether Canadians agree with what we're doing or not, I don't think they're going to believe the kind of personal attacks and scare tactics that we've seen in the past."
Another minority?
Harper reiterated comments he made earlier, suggesting he doesn't expect to achieve a majority government.
"We have four strong parties each with a solid base of support. The mathematics of any one getting a majority is extremely difficult. But I do believe that if we get a second minority, if we get a second mandate from the Canadian people that puts this government in an extremely strong position."
"But I think it will be a real contest. Anybody who wants to count out the Liberal party in particular -- I don't think the data shows that. The facts, our history, certainly doesn't show that. It will be a real contest."
Softer, gentler Harper
Sitting in an arm chair beside the fireplace at the sprawling lakeside summer residence, Harper appeared relaxed and at ease in the interview, at times speaking about his children and acknowledging that Canadians don't often see his softer, gentler side.
"I think there's still a sense maybe the public doesn't know me well enough, doesn't know what makes my tick," Harper said.
"I'm by nature a bit of a reserved person. I don't think it's a secret that the public side of politics, the cameras, the microphones, are not the reason I got into the business and not the thing I particularly yearn for."
He said his advisors are constantly encouraging him to get out and show Canadians "the Stephen Harper that the caucus and the staff and the various people that work for us have a lot of confidence in."
Staying the course
Harper said this election isn't about big, grandiose ideas. Rather, he said, it's about staying the course and keeping the country on a steady path amid global economic uncertainty.
He described Stephane Dion's "Green Shift" carbon tax plan as a cash grab designed to pay for Liberal spending plans that simply aren't affordable, and pointed to his government as an example of cautious, careful spending.
"This government is operating in a time of global economic trouble. We have the best financial position in the G7, we have the most resilient economy in the G7. At a time when the American economy was losing jobs last month we actually had net job creation," Harper said.
"I think we are managing things pretty well for the times we're in and if we stick to the course we're on, which is what we plan to do, we will come out of this pretty well."
He outlined the following priorities for the Conservatives, if they return to government:
- Maintain a balanced budget and keep the cost of living in check;
- Continue to crack down on crime;
- Strengthen Canada's role on the world stage and the nation's capacity to act;
- Continue to unify the country and push the separatist debate to the background;
- Continue restoring relations with the U.S. regardless of whether the Democrats or Republicans win the election.
"We are fundamentally turning the county in the right direction and that's what we need to keep doing," he said.
Harper concluded the interview by saying his government's focus on the north is one of the things he is most excited about, suggesting jobs are being created for northern Canadians and aboriginals, giving them an opportunity "to participate in their country in a way they never have."
