The Harper government’s reversal on the foreign takeover of
PotashCorp coupled with its oilsands policies clearly demonstrate its
priorities — namely, keep Western Canada happy at all costs.

With 14 seats at stake in Saskatchewan (all but one Conservative),
the Conservatives are ready, willing and able to disregard their free
market principles and fiscal conservatism in order to champion certain
sectors of the Canadian economy — particularly if they are based in the
West.

Contrast this government’s interventionist approach in the West
with its laissez-faire attitude toward high-technology industries based
in Ontario. We all remember the sad saga of Nortel, an Ontario-based
high-tech icon. The Harper government refused any kind of intervention
to help save that company, at a significant cost to Ontario’s economy.

Ontario-based politicians at all levels have been remarkably muted
in defending the 30,000 plus jobs at risk as the Harper government
appears poised to abandon Ontario-based Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
(AECL).

In Ottawa, only the Senate stood up to the Harper government’s
privatization scheme. It took a last-minute Senate appointment to ensure
the defeat of amendments that would send the deal back to the House.

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