Conservatives to Lead New Government in Canada

GWEN IFILL:

Conservative leader Stephen Harper's victory came after more than a dozen years of Liberal Party rule in Canada. The 46-year-old economist will replace incumbent Prime Minister Paul Martin, forced from office in the wake of a corruption scandal. Martin, who was cleared of any personal wrongdoing, conceded in Montreal last night.

PAUL MARTIN:

This has been what a tremendous opportunity to represent our nation abroad, to bring forth policies that make a real difference in people's lives.

GWEN IFILL:

During the campaign, Harper took advantage of the scandal, promising a more accountable government.

STEPHEN HARPER:

If you want to clean up Ottawa, you have to vote for it. If you want your taxes to go down, you have to vote for it. If you want a government that actually does something about crime, you have to vote for it.

GWEN IFILL:

Though victorious, Harper's conservatives did not win an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons. To govern, they will have to collaborate with other parties.

Prime minister-elect Harper has a lot on his plate. During the campaign, he promised to reduce crime, improve the efficiency of the nation's health care system, revisit Canada's support of the Kyoto global warming accord, and improve strained trade relations with the United States.

GWEN IFILL:

Now for more on Canada's power shift we are joined from Ottawa by Jim Travers, a national affairs columnist for the Toronto Star. Welcome Jim Travers.

JIM TRAVERS:

Thank you very much.

GWEN IFILL:

Thank you. So who is Stephen Harper?

JIM TRAVERS:

Well, Stephen Harper is a 46-year-old economist who actually was born in Toronto but is very much seen as a representative of the new power in Canada shifting to the West. He is a dedicated family man, quite quiet in many ways, has an excellent self-deprecating sense of humor and he's big hockey fan, which is of course an enormous political advantage in Canada.

GWEN IFILL:

So was this vote yesterday a vote for Mr. Harper or a vote against the incumbent prime minister?

JIM TRAVERS:

It really was a vote for change. Those people who traveled the country over the last eight weeks of this marathon winter election really got the sense that Canadians after nearly 13 years of Liberal rule had had enough. The scandal over the Quebec sponsorship funding, which is money which ended up to a large extent in the pocket of liberal government friends, was a major issue.

Mr. Harper's promise to clean up government, make it more accountable, resonated with Canadians, as did his law and order promise, which was made all that much more poignant over the Christmas holidays, which was a part of the election period when a young girl was shot in downtown Toronto.

And all of those issues played to Mr. Harper's strengths but this was really an exercise in throwing out the old government and Mr. Harper has benefited from that.

GWEN IFILL:

From a U.S. point of view, an eight-week election sounds like a dream even though you describe it was a long winter election. But I wonder if there are other differences also now to be expected from this side of the border now with a more conservative prime minister in place, whatever conservative means by Canadian standards.

JIM TRAVERS:

Well, I think their expectations both in Ottawa and Washington tonight that Mr. Harper will be able to get along better with the Bush administration. Prime Minister Paul Martin who resigned last night indicated that he wouldn't lead the party into another election. And his predecessor, Jean Chrétien, both had rather, you might say tense relationships with the Bush administration, partly over big decisions, such as the Iraq war, and missile defense, which both Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Martin decided that they wouldn't participate in, wouldn't have Canada participate in.

The general feeling in Canada is that if Mr. Harper had been prime minister, Canadian troops would be in Iraq today. So it's that kind of a more cooperative, more right-of-center approach that would be in keeping with American thinking that really has people feeling tonight that Mr. Harper will make an effort to warm relations.

But, as you mentioned in your introduction, Mr. Harper was only given a minority government so his room to maneuver is quite limited.

GWEN IFILL:

And minority governments last about how long on average in Canada?

JIM TRAVERS:

Well, on average, they last about 18 months, which was almost exactly the length of the last one. And this was a very cautious exercise in politics in Canada last night as the great American newspaperman and commentator, H.L. Mencken, said that Canadians are the only people in the world to take moderation to an extreme, and I think they were proven — he was proven right last night by Canadian voters who found a way to punish the Liberals but at the same time were very careful not to give Mr. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives enough power to really implement any kind of radical change. So it was, as I said, a real exercise in very cautious change management in Canada.

GWEN IFILL:

Does that mean now that the conservatives and the liberals and two other major parties actually have to find a way to work together to get anything done?

JIM TRAVERS:

They will have to work together to get anything done, and I think there will be some appetite for that. Mr. Harper will be given chance to demonstrate what he can do, largely out of self-interest with the other parties; with Mr. Martin's resignation, the Liberals are going to have to find a new leader. That usually takes about a year.

And by the way, the Canadian ambassador to Washington is the frontrunner in that race, Mr. Frank McKenna, which gives it an interesting American flavor. But there is also a sense that the conservatives deserve a chance to demonstrate what they can do.

There's a feeling in Canada that fair play demands that they be given that chance. And after one winter election, I don't think Canadians are going to want to rush into another one again. This is the first one in 25 years so another winter election next year would not be very welcome here.

So I think we're really looking at least 18 months, maybe 24 for this government, and hopefully that they will be able to cooperate enough with the other parties to make some progress on some of the big issues.

GWEN IFILL:

There are so many issues in which this, the Conservative Party in Canada differs from the Liberal stance on issues like the trade accord Kyoto as we mentioned earlier but also on this issue of gay marriage, which is legal in Canada and which obviously in the United States is the subject of much discussion and much debate.

Is there any chance that Stephen Harper would be in a position now to overturn that?

JIM TRAVERS:

Well, Mr. Harper has promised a free vote in parliament. In other words, all of the 308 members of the Canadian parliament would be set free to vote their conscience on the issue. But that would not likely happen immediately, nor is it likely that that legislation would pass. What he would — basically parliament would be asked to reinstate the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. And the general feeling in Canada is that we've now passed that tipping point and it would be very difficult to move back.

But Mr. Harper really needs to speak to his more conservative social conservative base and say look, we've tried to do something about this. So there will be a vote on it. It will be contentious but the chances of reversing that legislative course are relatively slim.

GWEN IFILL:

Well, we'll be watching from here south of your border. Thank you very much.

JIM TRAVERS:

It's always a pleasure to talk to you.