Harper: Hooray for Roads to Nowhere!

The most obvious reason why Stephen Harper wouldn't want to offer an opinion on Sarah Palin is the massive ideological chasm between her and the voters Harper needs to pacify before election day. But Bill Curry unintentionally highlights another factor: that Harper apparently manages to take great personal amusement in Palin's style of zero-benefit spending:

(Harper said) his favourite northern spot is Alert.

“It's the most northerly human habitation in the world,” he said. “The scenery there is really spectacular. It's mountains. It's fjords. And a great little thing there: There's a 14-kilometre road to nowhere.”

Mr. Harper said the road was built in the 1970s in the hope of making it to the next outpost.

“They just eventually concluded it would never get done,” he said.

Now, for those of us who tend to think that the federal government should be using public money for actual useful purposes, "great" is hardly the first word that would come to mind in describing an utter waste of resources. And that outcome certainly wouldn't be a positive factor in how we'd see the region where the waste took place.

But then, the Cons have shown all too clearly while in power that they're downright eager to throw large amounts of money into pits ranging from utterly useless programs to blatant vote-buying efforts. Which explains why Harper is able to see past waste as a matter for personal enjoyment - and also why it's long past time to get our public funds out of Harper's hands.