There has been some talk over the last few years about the legacy that will remain from the years that PM Harper's Conservatives controlled the agenda in Ottawa. And nothing comes to mind.
Having said that, if Mr Harper is re-elected in the next election he will join a very select group of Canadian political leaders elected 4 or more times (Macdonald, Laurier, King, Trudeau). And maybe that is what he is going for... to be elected as PM four times.
That isn't much in terms of ambition; pretty shallow and self serving actually. I guess it isn't really surprising since Harper has always been concerned about Harper.
I must say that while I did not agree with everything that P. E. Trudeau or Clark or Mulroney or Martin or Chretien I always believed them to have the best interests of Canada at the core of their actions. They were people who essentially owed no one anything and were, in many ways, free to focus on a path for the good of all Canadians as they envisioned it. They were not looking to become the leader of a nation for their own sake but to be known for making Canada a better country. They made unpopular decisions and often paid a heavy political price.
Mr Harper, by contrast, comes off as a guy wearing his father's suit. The rest of us notice that it just doesn't fit right but he believes he is pulling off looking mature and together.
His goal, it would seem, is not to make Canada a better place, but to play the political game to the max where he sees 'winning' as the measure of success, whether the lot of Canadians as a whole improves or not.
That is a sad legacy and probably doomed to fade as quickly as one of his pasted on smiles.
