Conservative, and loving what I hear from Harper so far since the election:
URL: news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20060126/ca_pr_on_na/harper_scene_2Harper's first post-election news conference a model in efficiency, brevityBRUCE CHEADLE 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
OTTAWA (CP) - He hasn't even been sworn in yet, but in a 22-minute heartbeat Thursday, Stephen Harper placed his stamp on the country's highest elected office.
The title of prime minister "sounds good," Harper corrected a media questioner in his first news conference since being elected Monday.
"But I'll be patient."
Not really.
With a startling efficiency quite foreign to his predecessor, Canada's soon-to-be 22nd prime minister set about meeting the national news media - and by extension the Canadian electorate - in the foyer of the House of Commons.
It was a clinic in political messaging.
The Conservative leader eschewed the traditional sit-down news conference in the National Press Theatre, choosing instead as his backdrop the open oak doors to the Commons chamber and a prime ministerial lectern.
The anglophone economist from Calgary spoke nothing but French for the opening four minutes of his first public address.
He acknowledged congratulatory phone calls from four foreign leaders, citing problematic U.S.
President George W. Bush neither first nor last.
He doffed his cap to this weekend's Chinese new year, a nod to Canada's vibrant ethnic communities.
In short, from the moment Harper stepped under the TV lights through his snappy answers to 22 questions in 15 minutes and a curve-ball bonus response to a question no one asked, the 46-year-old showed not a single freshman jitter.
The entire exercise was designed to get Canadians used to the idea of Stephen Harper, prime minister.
It's a project that may take some time.
"I guess hell has frozen over," more than one media wag joked in the bitter cold outside Rideau Hall on Thursday morning as the incoming boss arrived to pay his respects to Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.
Even some of Harper's own MPs were quietly marvelling at the turn of political fortunes.
"I never thought I'd be back in government," soft-spoken Tory veteran Bill Casey said as he observed the massive media throng on Parliament Hill.
The old Progressive Conservative MP from Amherst, N.S., credited Harper with orchestrating the most disciplined, simple and clear campaign of any of the six that Casey's run in dating back to 1988. He added that the Conservatives must maintain those qualities in order for this Tory minority to succeed.
Time may prove the man that many Canadians considered unelectable will fit the mould of prime minister better than they imagined.
Harper's stiff aura of power is more suited to high office than opposition glad-handing. This, after all, is a man who shakes the hand of his seven-year-old daughter for the news cameras when dropping the young sprite off at school.
Thursday afternoon, Harper got off to a sure-footed, if slightly unorthodox, start.
Television networks got the first six opportunities to question the prime minister-designate, while Canada's biggest and most influential daily newspapers were relegated to the back of the pack.
There was a refreshing brevity to Harper's responses. He occasionally dodged, but he didn't weave.
He said he'll hold the promised free vote on reversing same-sex marriage legislation sooner rather than later, virtually assuring that the existing law will survive and the divisive issue can be laid to rest.
He indicated his displeasure with a Hamas government in the Palestinian territories, but formally closed no doors.
And Harper purposely ended the session by raising the issue of Arctic sovereignty, straight-arming comments from U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins to the effect that Canada need not worry about the far north.
"It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States," said Harper.
From start to finish, the entire media availability seemed to take up no more time than one of outgoing
Prime Minister Paul Martin's subordinate clauses.
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URL: www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aQtR3wIVgmM8Harper Vows to Keep Tax Cuts When He Takes Office (Update2)Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister-Elect Stephen Harper pledged to work with opposition parties to ``clean up government'' and cut taxes when he takes office Feb. 6, after leading his Conservative Party to its first election win in 18 years.
``Our first priority will be to make (government) more transparent and more accountable to the taxpayers of Canada,'' Harper said in his inaugural press conference in Ottawa today. ``I have no doubt that we will find broad consensus to move that forward.''
Harper, 46, will need the support of opposition parties to deliver on his promises, after the Conservatives won 124 seats in the House of Commons this week, short of the 155 needed for a majority government. All three opposition parties -- the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois -- favor more spending on social programs, and oppose Conservative plans to hold a vote that could repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage.
The Conservatives promised to clean up government after a kickback scandal engulfed the incumbent Liberal administration. Harper also said cutting the 7 percent goods and services sales tax to 5 percent would be a priority. He campaigned to reduce hospital wait times, fight crime and replace a child-care program with C$1,200 ($1,043) grants to parents.
Harper's Priorities
Harper said his early priorities after the ethics legislation include the sales tax reduction, the child-care program and easing a ``fiscal imbalance'' with the provinces by giving them a greater share of tax revenue. He said he will work with other parties to ``meet common goals'' and will consult opposition parties before delivering a ceremonial Throne Speech to lay out his plans in parliament.
``There will be difficult situations, minority governments are never easy, but all parties recognize that Canadians have chosen the second minority Parliament in less than two years,'' Harper said.
The prime minister-elect answered questions on a gamut of issues during the 20-minute press conference, including foreign policy, the makeup of his cabinet, same-sex marriage and Senate reform.
The government plans to set up a process to elect the nation's Senators, ending the practice of appointments, and will hold a vote on same-sex marriage ``sooner rather than later, but not immediately,'' Harper said.
Cabinet
The immediate task is to put together a cabinet that balances the nation's geographic diversity with ministers who can be effective, according to Harper.
``I will make the decisions with what I think are the best interests of the country, particularly in the best interests of having a smoothly operating machinery,'' he said.
The Conservatives elected no members of parliament in the country's three largest cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and more than half its legislators are from western Canada.
Tony Clement, a former provincial health minister, and Jim Flaherty, a former Ontario finance minister, are among the few Conservative legislators with any government experience.
The cabinet will be sworn in on Feb. 6, Harper said.
Harper also said he spoke to U.S. President George Bush in a telephone discussion that was more ``congratulatory'' than substantive. The two men agreed to meet at a later time, he said.
The prime minister-elect also chided U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins today for questioning Canada's sovereignty over Arctic waters. Wilkins said in a forum at the University of Western Ontario yesterday that he opposed Harper's plan to deploy military icebreakers to assert sovereignty in the region, the CBC reported.
Sovereignty
``The United States defends its sovereignty, the Canadian government will defend our sovereignty,'' Harper said. ``It is the Canadian people that we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States.''
Harper plans to choose a new Canadian ambassador to the U.S. who will be ``close'' to him after Frank McKenna, a Liberal, said yesterday he would step down from the post.
On Hamas's victory in Palestinian elections yesterday, Harper said the organization would need to renounce terrorism for the Palestinian Authority to be considered democratic.