Stephen Harper: Govern from the middle and the voters will come.

Harper Majority?  Dare to dream..

Let no one doubt one certainty as we proceed into an election next week..   Canada is populated by voters who sit very close to the middle of the political spectrum.

Not over on the left.

Not over on the right.

The middle.

People who advocate public health care.

People who want a fiscally responsible government who reaches out to help those who need it, but require the fit and able to secure their own welfare.

People who respect each other's differences, whether it's their gender, their race, or their religion - but people who don't see themselves as "victims" and who eschew efforts to have themselves identified as such.

We are a proud and secure society who don't feel the need to show how big our "weapons" are, who don't feel the need to stand on tables and shout out in restaurants or bars that we are the best damned country in the world.  We know it - and if others don't, well, so what?

Problem is, most political leaders in this election have no clue that this is the case - hence the never-ending procession of minority governments. 

Stephen Harper, if he had his wits about him, and if his strategists had any clue at all would be eating up the unhappy swing vote - but, sadly, he too has in the past overplayed his hand to the right - validating Liberal and NDP talking points suggesting the Conservatives are still a neo-conservative organization intent on moving Canada to the far right.  Too worried about appeasing his former Reform Party base, Harper has tried to be too cute by half throughout his tenure as Prime Minister - seeking to spend more money on jails, seeking to attack the long-form census, seeking to de-fund political parties, and then refusing to be honest and open about the sad Bev Oda shenanigans and the fact that they really don't know how much these stupid jets are going to cost at the end of the day.

But then neither, obviously, did the Liberals have any clue about how much the pointless gun registry was going to cost, or what the cost of cancelling helicopter purchases was going to be.

As it is, Harper is skating close to a majority this election, because, in reality - the Conservatives do govern from the middle.  By any barometer, big bad Stephen Harper would be welcomed into Barack Obama's cabinet - and most certainly would be seen as weak and too "liberal" by the Republican crowd.

He isn't going to tolerate renewing the debate on the legality of abortion.

He isn't going to privatize health care.

He isn't going to remove the Human Rights Commission.

Message to Stephen Harper:  Come out.  It's ok. We won't think less of you.  Admit you believe in the middle.  The voters will come.

Voters will come Steve.

They'll come to the Conservatives for reasons they can't even fathom.

They'll turn up at the polls not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at their ballot boxes as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you vote for us, you'll say. Just put your "X" by your Conservative candidate. 

They'll mark their ballot without even thinking about it: political rhetoric they've had, peace of mind they lack.

And they'll walk out to their cars; and sit listening to the radio on a perfect May afternoon.  They'll go home and turn on their TVs, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes.

And they'll watch the election results and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The sense of security will be so thick they'll have to brush it away from their faces.

Voters will come Steve. The one constant through all the years, Steve, has been the centre. Canada has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But the centre has marked the time. That place, in the middle: it's a part of our past, Steve.

It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... voters will come Steve. Voters will most definitely come.