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Reader asks ‘When did Prime Minister wear out his welcome?’

Recent events and comments have raised the question: “When did Prime Minister Harper wear out his welcome?”

Recent events and comments have raised the question: “When did Prime Minister Harper wear out his welcome?” What day or what event was the pivotal point?

In regards to the PMO organizing and using PMO staff and interns to protest a Trudeau press event on Parliament Hill, a conservative supporter said it was a childish act, not even high school but an elementary school act. There was an aura of frustration, parents waiting for a child to grow up, a teacher waiting for parents to take home an unruly child.

When did he stay too long?

Was it the senate scandals, the $90,000 payment, was it the extra $50,000 to add blue paint to the Prime Minister’s plane, was it the latest attack ads and 10 per centers, the American condemnation of his environmental record, the F-35 plane costs, shipping limos to India, $16 orange juice, his hair stylist, the abortion issue handling, the muzzling of MPs, muzzling of scientists, fights with the PBO Kevin Page, the fights with Elections Canada or was it when Canadians accepted the reality of climate change. The list goes on.

When did political conversations start being about cabinet shuffles, leadership rules and potential candidates, the timing of a leadership race, unelected boys in short pants ruling the government, abandonment of principles, back bench rebellions, trained seals, puppets and a Liberal majority in 2015?

You see Conservative MPs, Ministers, strategists wagging their fingers less, talking less loudly, and not looking the host or camera in the eye. When did this happen?

The next election is two years away, and conservatives are talking about losing the next election, or getting a minority government, whether Harper will be allowed one more election.

MPs and ministers are talking about retiring; Harper is talking about cabinet shuffles, a throne speech and hitting the reset button mid-term.

These are the actions of a man, who after having stayed too long, is struggling to achieve a sense of relevancy.

One has suggested it started the day after the last election.

It just took time to permeate the minds of the grassroots that winning a majority government was not the panacea they were expecting, and that it was all about power for the few and maintaining power for the few.

When did it become socially acceptable for conservatives to denounce their leader and his actions? When did back benchers realize they were only pawns in the PMO’s game?

I ask again when that pivotal point was in our federal politics when anger, frustration, fear, and reality converged and people thought that Prime Minister Harper should retire. Can anyone answer that question?

Garfield Marks

Red Deer