A rchive Date
[ 24-03-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/corbella.html
Harper plays hard to get
In politics, as in romance, courting object of your desire requires strategy
By LICIA CORBELLA - Calgary Sun
March 24, 2002
As many love seekers know, playing hard to get is often a very effective way of having the object of your desire pay attention to you.
The "not interested" stance of new Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper, with regard to forming some kind of relationship with the federal Tories and Joe Clark, is proof positive that the age-old technique works in politics too.
Right from the get-go, when Harper declared he would run for the leadership of the troubled Alliance, he made it clear that he would not pursue Progressive Conservative Party leader Clark in an effort to unite the right.
Back in February during a Sun editorial board meeting, Harper made it clear he did not intend to court Clark, but he did not say - and never has - that he would not talk to him.
"To me the unity question has always been entirely hypothetical.
"You can plan a wedding if you want, but if the girl down the street won't take you up on a first date, it remains purely theoretical," he said, with a chuckle.
But here's the clincher.
"I think the great irony is that my kind of stance should make things better.
"As long as the Tories believe what the Canadian Alliance says of itself: 'We are not viable, we cannot survive, we cannot go forward,' then unity will never happen.
"If I was in Joe Clark's position, I would just sit back and wait for the party to fold and for its MPs to join me, which some of them did," says Harper, recalling this past summer of discontent that saw 13 MPs defect from the Alliance to protest the impotent and incompetent leadership of Stockwell Day.
Six MPs returned, but seven remain outside of the Alliance family fold.
Harper's strategic mind nailed Clark's response on the head.
Within minutes of Harper's decisive win of the leadership of the Canadian Alliance on Wednesday, Clark held a press conference on Parliament Hill, looking rather shell-shocked and dismayed and for the first time in years took on the role of pursuer on the road to unity.
"Rank-and-file members want co-operation," Clark said moments after the crowd in Calgary's Telus Convention Centre learned Harper had won 55% of the mail-in votes compared to Day's 37%.
"I certainly hope (Harper) will follow the sage advice of the party and show some flexibility as we both look at means by which we can ensure Canadians have some kind of choice in the next election."
The next morning, Harper unethusiatically praised Clark for taking the initiative to telephone him and request a meeting.
"I think it's a pleasant change that Mr. Clark is calling us," said Harper from Alliance headquarters in downtown Calgary. It is a good sign.
"We have always said that if there is any possibility at all of anything happening in terms of co-operation between
the parties - and I think it is a long shot - it is when we get in a position of strength."
A longtime Tory backroom boy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said yesterday that Clark's willingness to court Harper is not entirely because of Harper's strategy of coquettishness, but rather that the PCs are in a greater position of strength, thanks to the seven remaining defectors from the Canadian Alliance.
"One of the reasons you oppose something when someone is much stronger than you is if you try to merge at such a time you disappear - you get swallowed whole.
"We want our ideals as progressives to hold some weight in any kind of merger."
Besides trying to find a seat in the House of Commons, Harper also must work at trying to bring back members of the breakaway Democratic Representative Caucus, (DRC) which includes the Reform/Alliance Party's first ever MP, Deb Grey.
Clark, of course, is desperate to hang onto them - another reason why he's taking the initiative of talking with Harper.
The seven remaining defectors left the Alliance because they could no longer abide Day's leadership.
Well, Day is gone.
Now their patter seems to be - "we are loyal" (which is actually funny) and therefore can't just up and leave this short-lived coalition.
But what they're really doing is trying to play hard to get too.
Harper, for his part, has already made some public and private peace offerings to the DRC members.
It is clear the DRC members are trying to out-strategize Harper.
But when it comes to strategizing, Harper - the architect of much of the Reform Party's founding policies and the real framer of the federal clarity law on Quebec secession --is always 10 moves ahead of the other guy.
In figurative terms, Harper has dropped the proverbial perfumed hanky.
He knows someone - if not the lot of them - will eventually run to pick it up.
Licia Corbella, editor of the Calgary Sun, can be reached at 403-250-4129 or by e-mail at licia.corbella@calgarysun.com. Her columns appear Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Letters to the editor should be sent to callet@sunpub.com.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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