A Party of under achievers

Can't Call Canada's Conservatives Overeducated

High in the ruling party there's no abundance of higher ed credentials. Does it matter?

Seven years can take you from high school to a Ph.D. But as Stephen Harper and his cabinet approach their seventh anniversary as Canada's governing party, the Conservatives look, if anything, more amateurish than ever.

 

Consider just a few recent fiascos. The F-35 program has "reset" with a new price tag of $45 billion.

The sale of Nexen to China's CNOOC is taking widespread criticism, and good luck on the Northern Gateway pipeline. The robocalls affair refuses to die. These don't look like the achievements of a visionary government rich in talent and brains.

Yet Stephen Harper enjoys a reputation as a brilliant political mastermind, methodically turning Canada into Harperland while the rest of us watch in amazement. Our only consolation is that he must rule with a higher, colder intelligence than ours.

What if it's not so? Could the recurring Tory fiascos reflect a very ordinary kind of brain? It's an unwelcome thought: If true, we must be even dumber than he is.

We're not dumb. But we've been naive enough to think the Conservatives are playing by the rules when they're clearly breaking them.

READ MORE: http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/12/13/Canadian-Conservatives-Education/