CP: Harper speech hit right notes, but missed political marks: analysts

[tuvor]

OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Sept. 11 anniversary speech struck many of the right notes, but likely missed its main political targets, analysts said Monday.

Harper's defence of Canada's intervention in Afghanistan and of Canadian efforts in the war on terror was delivered before a backdrop of Canadian flags with relatives of Sept. 11 victims and wives of serving soldiers looking on.

But it likely struck few chords in Quebec, where opposition to the fighting in Afghanistan runs deep. And it probably changed few minds in the rest of Canada.

Pierre Martin, a University of Montreal political scientist, said the speech won't help Harper in the province, where skepticism about his foreign policy already runs deep, especially after Harper supported Israel in its invasion of Lebanon in the summer.

"As far as foreign policy, he has lost whatever he had to lose in Quebec through his position on Lebanon and Israel's actions," Martin said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/canada/story/3677497p-4251252c.html

[daleo]

1. He just played to his base

And alienated the rest of us even more.