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Alec Bruce

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Think what you will of the federal Tory track record, but never underestimate the prime minister's mastery of political parlour games. If nothing else, the man deserves a Ph.D. in spin control.

The other day, Stephen Harper told a CTV news reporter that be believes his party's multi-media ad campaign attacking Michael Ignatieff's credibility, commitment and worthiness to hold the highest elective office in the land rendered a service to Canadians in that it stopped the Grit leader from seeking a summer election.

"To the extent that I think that the ads made the Liberal Party think twice about having an election, I think that's been a good result," Harper said. "I don't think Canadians want an election. I think it would have been another round of political instability. And so to the extent I think it's put that party a little bit back on its heels . . . It may be thinking a little bit more about how to co-operate in actually dealing with the economy. I think it's been helpful."

At another point in the interview, the prime minister ducked the question of whether he, personally, endorses the ads' claims about his rival, preferring, he insisted, to "leave it to others" to decide. "Those ads are built around Mr. Ignatieff's own record, his own words on his own motives and his own statements on the country. Those are questions he will have to answer."

It's all utter nonsense, of course.

The attack ads were designed with no other purpose than to goad the Liberals into an election they couldn't possibly win. In fact, the strategy failed as Harper and Ignatieff reached a compromise on Employment Insurance policy that weakened the former's legendary grasp on power and strengthened the latter's bargaining position in the eyes of the only people who matter: the electors.

To claim otherwise -- to insist that the campaign was a carefully executed tactic to protect Canadians from the excesses of parliamentary democracy -- is both disingenuous and, frankly, incredible.

Equally insulting to simple logic is the prime minister's suggestion that he doesn't have a horse in the race to discredit his nemesis. After all, if he doesn't care a fig about Ignatieff's 34-year absence from Canada, or his off-hand remarks about being an American at heart, then why bring these facts to the attention of others -- others who will ultimately elect the next prime minister of Canada?

Still, if none of this passes the laugh test, you have to admire the chutzpah. The central feature of this government, which has yet to persuade enough voters that it deserves an unfettered majority, is its breathtaking bluster and bravado, its bottomless belief in its ability to transform rhetorical water into wine. Who cares about the truth? Forget the facts. Say anything loudly and firmly enough, and there's a good chance a sizeable minority will subscribe to your brand of balderdash. In the federal Tories' case, there's more than enough of this particular commodity to go around.

Not too long ago, "candidate" Harper reviled the Maritimes in a speech before a western audience for its "culture of defeat" without bothering to mention that the East Coast's per capita reliance on federal transfer payments was actually less onerous than many regions of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. No matter. The stereotype of lazy, stupid, money-sucking easterners played superbly well, where and when it counted.

Today, Prime Minister Harper, it seems, can't do enough to laud the industry and ingenuity of the Atlantic Provinces. Presumably, this is why his announcement strategy for economic stimulus initiatives down here prescribes an astonishing degree of redundancy in the spin rooms of government communicators.

To wit: Project X announces a funding agreement between Ottawa and the province, and issues a press release; then Project X obtains provincial buy-in and issues another press release; finally, Project X becomes "shovel-ready" and, lo' and behold, issues yet another press release.

If you hadn't kept your eye on the bouncing ball, you'd be forgiven for believing that the feds had supported three separate initiatives, and not just one.

Lamentably, these are the sort of shenanigans that go on all the time in Ottawa these days. And the number of political parlour games are only likely to increase this summer as Harper and Ignatieff prepare themselves for another round at the polls.

Where there's smoke, there used to be fire. Now there are only mirrors.

* Alec Bruce is a Moncton-based journalist. His column appears in this space every Tuesday and Thursday. He can be reached via: www.thebrucereport.com.