This is a comment I posted to this thread at the BlogsCanada Election Page.

I don't think people are quite connecting Harper's voicing support of the war with actual future policy. A lot of people seem to just say "oh they were just being the opposition party and opposing, if they were in power they would have had the option of having more information and the responsibility to weigh potential Canadian loss of life, and they might not have been so pro-war." I honestly don't know if that has any merit or not, but if the Cons do form a government I certianly hope that they aren't as reactionary as they were in opposition.

Jean Chrétien knew the secret of Canadian politics, that no one likes a strident opposition leader. When he became the Liberal leader he went and played golf for a couple of years while the rat pack took care of the ship in Parliament. Harper has more words to eat at this stage, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out if he is elected Prime Minister.