Leader of a country

It has been a few days since I have had any time to pay attention to the news, much less string together a few sentences and make a blog post, but today I had some spare moments and it looks like my timing couldn't have been better.

Today Canadians have again witnessed something they are not used seeing on a regular basis from Ottawa and their federal government. To quote Craig Oliver, "In what maybe his finest moment since becoming Prime Minister; Harper trumped a separatist motion, on Quebec independence, with one of his own." To put it in my words, Stephen Harper displayed leadership and has shown again that indeed he is the Prime Minister of Canada and of all Canadians.

For all the fears from the opposition during the last election campaign of how much of a monster he was going to be, the reality has been very much different. Pandering to special interests is not how this guy does business. On almost every issue the PM has taken a stand, based not on what the polls or even his so called 'base supporters' desire, but on what was the correct thing to do.

This motion trumps the Bloc's motion, gains big support in Quebec, received positive reviews by the MSM, has done something long overdue, pisses off many of the so called base, and in a very ironic bit of fallout, may just have saved Michael Ignatieff's bacon and that of the Liberal party who have been torn apart over the "Quebec nation' issue. Today's motion is just one example, income trusts another, and the foreign policy stance of this government has taken on more than a few issues has also shown that sometimes the right thing may not be the popular thing to do.

This guy just keeps continuing to impress me, and today I think he may have impressed an entire country. Not everyone agrees with him, but none can argue that is has not shown leadership as the Prime Minister of Canada, and is nowhere near the right wing pandering monster that he has been portrayed as in the past.