Mission Accomplished, Mister Prime Minister

Stephen Harper's five priorities, as he laid them out for us during the election campaign, were:

• Cleaning up government by passing the Federal Accountability Act
• Cutting the GST
• Cracking down on crime
• Increasing financial assistance for parents
• Working with the provinces to establish a wait-times guarantee for patients

Then came July, when they had mysteriously morphed into:

• cleaning up the federal government
• cutting taxes
• cracking down on crime
• supporting families
• strengthening our country at home and around the world

Now, we all know about the bait and switch Harper played this month with the five priorities. And he replaced a definite, measurable one (wait times guarantee) with a vague one (strengthen our country).

The last two weeks have made it clear, though, that Harper is incapable of strengthening our country abroad. In the Israeli conflict, he has called the bombing of civilian populations "measured"; refused to call for a cease-fire even after eight Canadian civilians were killed and 10,000 Canadians were forced to leave the country; refused to call Israel to account for killing one of our UN workers; and actually blamed the UN worker for carrying out a UN mission in the first place.

Other than the US, Israel, and the UK, we are alone in the international community in defending Israel. While we might get a little more credibility from the USA (and we know how useful credibility is with them), we have lost face at every single turn in this crisis.

All we need is an aircraft carrier and a banner.