William Johnson wrote our March 2009 cover story, “The Outsider: How Stephen Harper brought Canada to conservatism and the Conservatives to crisis.” But a lot has changed in the past month. Earlier in February, following the budget and the resignation of Stéphane Dion, we spoke to Johnson about how the future looks for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives in this new landscape. You can also watch a video of Johnson and Allan Gregg discuss Stephen Harper at the first Walrus Lively Lunch Debate.
You can listen to Johnson’s answers by clicking the play button on the audio files below. No downloads are necessary.
We’ve seen, in the months since your article went to press, the Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition fade into nothing. To what extent was Harper responsible for both creating and eliminating the coalition threat?
The Harper Tories “sold their ideological soul a long time ago,” Gerry Nichols wrote recently in the Ottawa Citizen. Do you agree? Has Stephen Harper turned his back on the conservative movement?
You write about Stephen Harper being a great manager of people and a “celebrated strategist.” So what caused him to overreach?
Do you think the Conservatives are better or worse off in Quebec?
Was the budget a worthwhile move to defuse tension between the parties?
How has the landscape changed for Harper, with the accession of Michael Ignatieff at the head of the Liberal Party?
What is the short-term outlook for the Liberals under Ignatieff?
What kind of approach to governance can we expect from Harper and the Conservatives in the coming months?
