Wide aim at the new year

Last year was one of relative stability in federal and Nova Scotia politics – believe it or not: sort of like the Cold War was for world peace, with its Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).

Provincially, the Tories are seen as behind the Opposition NDP, with the Liberals still in the basement. The Tories have had to make nice to the Liberals to get some serious legislation down, but the NDP has been vociferous in its calls for more and better measures.

It’s going to be a wait-and-see situation, but it will probably end in an election by the end of the year. After all, we have three relatively young men at party helms: testosterone is bound to kick in at some time and send us to the polls.

Maybe we’ll see the province’s first NDP government. Certainly, Opposition leader Darrell Dexter has worked hard, and the NDP is well tuned into the realities of life here in the province and what is needed – and possible – to make them better. All Dexter has to do is make sure federal NDP leader Jack Layton and Halifax MP Alexa McDonough stay away from the province during the campaign, if and when it takes place this year.

The federal Tories enter the New Year reduced to equality with the Liberals in public opinion. This is at a time when the Brian Mulroney manila envelope affair is at its depths, and the environmentalists are doing their worst to paint the Tories as gross polluters.

The Mulroney-Schreiber show has run its course, especially with Liberal-new-best-friend Karlheinz Schreiber’s Ontario lawsuit against the former prime minister heaved out of court. A few Tory bashers and those who like wasting public money may want to belabour things, but it’ll go to an inquiry (yawn) and die an ugly death. It should have gone to the cops right off. Anything else was and is obstructing justice.

From all that, this year, we’ll see the Tories get their revenge - one hears they are a vengeful crew. It’ll be like a devastating blast of political grapeshot at the Liberals, made even worse if further revelations come out of a certain trial scheduled to take place at Guantanamo. As Harper once implied, do the Liberals really want in-depth questioning of former prime ministers’ dealings?

As the high dollar takes its toll, along with the dark-side of free trade, and we see more and more industries shutdown – never to pollute or produce again – folks will snap back into pre-1968 reality and want to get to work developing our rural country. The environmentalists will just have to wait in line.

The Afghan mission will continue in its current form until February, 2009: there is no choice. Prime Minister Harper has given our allies notice of the situation. Canada is willing to exchange duties with its partners. Our troops have, after all, done sterling work.

Regardless of the outcome of inter-NATO negotiations, Canada will always need combat boots and kit on the ground for mission security. We don’t want to wind up like the South Koreans, do we?

The John Manley panel will make its recommendations, and Harper will follow them.

If things go off the rails politically and there is an election this spring – or whatever – will it be a Harper minority or a Harper majority?

It depends on a number of things - including how effective that grapeshot is.