You know what they say - you reap what you sow.
Harper's Conservatives, impatient with democracy and fixated on winning at all costs have pushed the already stretched envelop of acceptable campaign behaviour to the limits. Bribing a dying man, lying about the Constitution, patently false robocalls, firing whistleblowers and attacking via words, ads and cut funding anyone who disagrees with them has become par for the course.
The message has been clear from day one - either you're with them, or you're against them, and therefore against Canada. That includes the elected members of the Opposition Parties, civil servants, and a growing list of organizations and individuals both domestic and foreign.
If you don't want to be bullied, get out of their way.
Here's the fundamental problem with creating a culture so fixated on aggression, animosity and doing whatever it takes to win. That mentality can't but sift down to the people on your team, who will follow the lead set by their leader.
After all, this is the approach the PMO wants, right? Fight tooth-and-nail for what you want, no sympathy, no mercy. Look at the way they attack their own Budget Officer or even a Supreme Court Justice.
Surely an elected MP, already part of the empire, is entitled to do what she pleases on the backs of unelected wannabes?
Fight makes right, doesn't it? It always has in Harper's Canada.
Which brings Harper into a quagmire of his own design; his own caucus is aping internally what he has done to Parliament, the Civil Service and countless other groups externally.
I feel no sympathy for Harper, as this was an inevitable by-product of his top-down, autocratic style of leadership. I do, however, empathize with him.
If only he'd made the effort to commit a little sociology, all this could have been avoided.
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