Stephen Harper likes to refer to Canada as an "energy superpower." He's very fond of the term almost to the point where it seems to be something of a fetish for the guy.
So, just what is an energy superpower. Well, we know what energy is. In Harpo's parlance it means tar sands. But what about the superpower bit?
Just what is a "superpower"? Lyman Miller (Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval Postgraduate School defines a superpower as "a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global hegemon."
There are several definitions for superpower, all more or less close, and they all share the same defining characteristic - the ability to project power and dominate others.
It's not hard to imagine that dreams of superpower sugar plums dance through Stevie's head when he puts on his jammies at night but I don't like the idea of Canada as hegemon. To Harper, we have to elevate Canada's position on the world stage. He wants a Canada that punches above its weight, a power player. He never gets around to explaining why we should be transformed into a more aggressive, more dominant state.
Is there a global shortage of pushy nations questing for power and domination? If so, I've seen no sign of it.
This repeated reference to energy superpower makes me wonder if there isn't a bit of Dick in our Stevie?
3 comments:
In the blog afore u the what do I know grit says Harper stole that term from our leader....??????
Stolen hardly, Harper mentioned the term Energy superpower in the 06' election blitz, as if Dion could say the word superpower....New Liberal Leader anyone?
Another silly column from the left. "Harper uses the term Energy Superpower so he must be an evil guy linked to Dick Chaney!"
What about this quote:
"And I am confident that Canada will seize the opportunity to become a green energy superpower,” said Mr. Dion.
Or this one:
As if to accentuate the similarity between himself and Harper, Dion referred to Canada as “an energy superpower.”
Based on that, will you be doing another column tomorrow saying This repeated reference to energy superpower makes me wonder if there isn't a bit of Dick in our Stephie? No? I didn't think so.
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