Ottawa Citizen: The problem with Harper's government is Harper

[tuvor]

Is it too late for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make an emergency booking at that Arizona company that provided troubled RCMP commissioner William Elliott with leadership coaching a couple of years ago?

Canadian taxpayers would probably be happy to pay the $44,000 fee, if the prime minister would sacrifice some well-earned holiday time. It would be a bargain, if it produced mature and effective national leadership instead of the petulant style on display in recent weeks.

Not that outside help was entirely successful in the rehabilitation of Elliott, whose allegedly abusive, bullying and mercurial behaviour prompted the usually taciturn RCMP brass to rebel publicly. There is probably more at play in this office drama than paper-throwing tirades: Elliott is a civilian who inherited a misfiring paramilitary organization from a controversial predecessor.

And he is expected to survive the contretemps. But he is not the central problem in Harper's Ottawa; Harper is. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the vast literature of management studies will recognize the prime ministerial style: bossy, bullying, cold -or, in academic jargon, "exploitative-authoritative."

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http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/problem+with+Harper+government+Harper/3344872/story.html

[glarius]

1. Harper needs to be defeated....not helped!

The thing is...in my opinion....Harper, the ultimate control freak, has a single goal, and has had since he first took office as P.M. He is absolutely determined to remake Canada into his model of what he thinks we should be. That is why he has had his greasey fingers into every aspect of Canadian life. Changing here, adjusting there. He has somehow lulled most Canadians into believing he is middle of the road, but look how many changes he has made by stealth already....without a majority government!
Remember the things he said before right-wing American groups prior to being in government? Describing Canada as a failed socialist state....etc...etc...?
It's not leadership coaching he needs....for God's sake we don't want to help him achieve his ends! What he needs is to be defeated while we can still recognize Canada!!!!!

[daleo]

2. Good call

Harper's unpleasatness has been a positive boon for those of us who are not Harperites.