Some wag likened Stephen Harper to Sauron, whereupon a very clever friend of mine said that “it was foolish of him to face Frodo in a free election”.
It has also been observed that Harper took the heat for conservative policies but failed to execute them in private. For example, the former PM gave instructions to his staff to recruit only those who already been appointed to the Bench as future members of the Supreme Court, thus making sure that of his several appointments, only a couple were conservative judicially.
The Liberals appointed John Sopinka and Ian Binnie directly to the Supreme Court, without their having been on the bench before. Both were excellent appointments.
But it is strange that Harper took the heat for policies that he did not actually pursue. If one will be taken for the fascist that one is not, one might as well stage a few secret trials and mass shootings to really generate some fear in one’s enemies. More realistically, if you are going to take the heat, then actually deserve it.