Washed up pol seeks big bucks

We haven't heard much from Stephen Harper since he led his Tories to a heavy defeat in last October's Federal election.  Last night he surfaced in Vancouver to give a brief and surprisingly upbeat speech, but it seems his political career is at an end.  He's expected to resign his seat in Parliament very soon in order to seek his fortune in the private sector -- where, despite his free-market rhetoric, he's never actually worked.

Harper is an economist by training (yeah, I know -- not a lot of it seems to have sunk in) but it seems his chosen field going forward will be foreign affairs.  He is reportedly going to set up some kind of consultancy practice.  It seems unlikely, based on his track record in dealing with the rest of the world, that his clients will be able to turn to him for a balanced approach.  Over his decade in power he enjoyed a permafrosty relationship with the United States; offered support to Israel that was embarrassing even to the Likudniks; talked tough against Russia in order to win the votes of the million or more Ukrainian Canadians; deployed six geriatric fighter jets to Syria for the fight against ISIS; and kept Canada aloof from any and all efforts to deal with climate change.

Still, a history of lies, failures and empty gestures need not keep an ex-PM from cashing in on his fame.  Just ask Tony Blair, who has been positively rolling in dough since stepping down in the UK. Investment banks have beaten a path to his door with fistfuls of money.  One of Tone's first prestige gigs was the little matter of bringing peace to the Middle East. Memorably, the day after he got the job he took off for a vacation in Barbados, and for all the good he's done in the world's most troubled region, he might just as well have stayed there ever since --  though I wouldn't wish that on the Bajans, who already have to suffer the presence of Cliff Richard and Simon Cowell.

Stephen Harper isn't the kind of swivel-eyed loon that Tony Blair has become, but at the same time, he doesn't carry the same degree of prestige -- Blair did, after all, bring the two sides together in Northern Ireland, a truly remarkable achievement.  Still, he can probably count on a decent payday or two, and I'm fine with that, just as long as he never runs for elected office again.