"We-Didn't-Get-Enough-Last-Time" Part 2:

The Toronto Star reports that the Tories have decided to more or less ignore Toronto (apparently, we're the "Starbucks Crowd" and focus on Quebec and Tim Horton's customers.

In a private talk, Conservative strategist Goldy Hyder said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current strategy is all about winning a majority government — hopefully within the next 12 months — and to do so, the Tories have changed their approach, according to an account of his briefing. The Tories now see their best hope for obtaining a majority in Quebec, where they broke through by unexpectedly winning 10 of the province's 75 ridings in the Jan. 23 election. Also, the Harper government wants to appeal to the "Tim Hortons crowd," not the people who go to Starbucks, Hyder told Canadian Chamber of Commerce board members in a meeting in Windsor. To that end, the government will be mindful of the concerns of rank-and-file voters above those of the business community and Canada's elites.

Clearly, we are headed for another round of constitutional wrangling. Because if you can bring Quebec in, the sovereigntists will lose a lot of support, and the Liberal hold on Quebec is broken. It's been suggested that Harper's "less spending" fits in well with decentralization and this will make them open to many of Quebec's demands. On the other side, a slim minority in the House and a number of premiers who will likely resist devolution may put this off for a bit. It all depends on Charest now. If he or Dumont wins the next provincial election, then we'll see a deal get made. If it is the PQ, then it gets messier. Interesting times.

In other news, I'm not unhappy about paying attention "rank-and-file" voters, though the Tory plan to build more prisons strikes me as as problematic. And minimum prison times for drug offences? Yeesh. Stupid. Because jailing everyone for posession worked well in the U.S. didn't it?

When will conservatives figure it out? The Strict Father mode doesn't work. It didn't work in Iraq, it didn't work for drugs and it didn't work for the Sith. (Okay, okay, the last one is made up.) People need support. If they don't get it, they turn to other means to feel better-- drugs, crime etc.