The Coherence Vacuum

These days the leaders of Canada's two top parties - and no, that doesn't include the NDP - are eager to avoid having to set actual policy. With their support wobbling like jello in the low to mid-30's, it's as though each sees the way forward as something of a minefield where one mistep could be fatal.

Harper has done almost nothing of consequence this past session of parliament save to lower the GST by one point. He doesn't dare bring out his social conservative agenda for fear he might hand the Liberals a solid majority by default. He talks about global warming and greenhouse gas curbs but ducks and weaves his way around any concrete action. He even dodges Afghanistan, the one issue where his opinions are fixed.

Then there's Stephane Dion, the man most responsible for Harper maintaining even a slim lead in the polls. He says he's green but won't say what that means in terms of the Athabasca Tar Sands and its pending expansion. He says he wants Canada out of its combat role in Afghanistan but wants NATO to somehow kick ass inside Pakistan. He too seems to have less to offer by the day.

Nobody has a coherent policy save, perhaps, for Smilin' Jack, the guy whose greatest ambition is to advance out of the political cellar. Safe from the prospect of ever having to govern, Layton is the very image of clarity and decisiveness. Policies are wonderful things when you'll never have to enact any of them. Wind and noise, that's all there is to Jack Layton.

Mr. Layton's posturing, however insincere and opportunistic, lets neither Dion nor Harper off the hook for failing to express coherent, effective and acceptable policies of their own.

My guess is that Harper truly doesn't want to act. He certainly doesn't want to betray his ideological fellows by being responsible for withdrawal of the Canadian contingent in Kandahar. That may account for the deft way in which he backed Canada into a "too late to leave" corner. It may be duplicitous, manipulative, even despicable but it's been done and, for the far right, it is at least a temporary victory.

On global warming and carbon emission reductions, I suspect that Harper only feigns his conversion to belief. He probably still sees the potential advantages of also backing Canada into a deadlock where economic growth is only notionally balanced against emissions. After all, when it comes to carbon curbs, it's a charlatan's paradise. That's not to say he won't set some emission reduction targets. He will. Yet they'll likely be little more than "intensity based" tomfoolery, mere window dressing.

In these things, Harper will be aided and abetted by Stephane Dion. The well-intentioned but timid Mr. Dion has shown that he's unwilling to genuinely press Harper because that would require him to spell out clear and meaningful policies of his own. That is a risk only to be taken by someone who can capture the public's imagination, confidence and support. That is the work of a leader of a nation, not a mere party boss.

There's talk of Mr. Dion triggering an election. Maybe that's just what we need to get the long overdue debate on so many important issues.