Conservative leadership race helps put Harper in context

Stephen Harper was an Uber leader. For 10 long years, through iron discipline, through calculated pandering, through the force of his personality, Harper kept the various Conservatives fractious tribal factions united.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper. The Conservative Party needs what might be called an 'Uber' candidate, writes Gerry Nicholls, that’s to say a leadership hopeful who can appeal to the various right-wing 'tribes'—libertarians, social conservatives, populists, Red Tories.The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Opinion

BY GERRY NICHOLLS

September 12, 2016

OAKVILLE, ONT.—It’s fashionable these days for political observers to belittle Stephen Harper’s accomplishments. For instance, when Harper recently announced he was resigning his seat in Parliament, the CBC’s Aaron Wherry immediately took to Twitter and summed up the former prime minister�...

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