Andrew Coyne: Canada's stealth prime minister
Even the government's most ambitious plans, such as the simultaneous negotiation of free trade treaties with virtually every major trade bloc in the world, or its top-to-bottom reform of immigration policy, are presented as faits accompli, unveiled in rapid succession without much opportunity for consultation - or for op-position to form.
It may be a majority, in other words, but it's still playing the minority game: only it is no longer the opposition parties it is attempting to outfox, but the public.
Time was when a government that wished to implement some major reform would first issue a green paper, to kick off discussion; then a white paper, containing more finely tuned proposals; and only then proceed to legislation. But this government has no wish to win hearts and minds. The Harper government's strategy, rather, is to take ground in a series of lightning-fast guerrilla raids; to neutralize opposition, as by the defunding of advocacy groups, rather than to rally public opinion to its side.
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