Before the Senate scandal, there was the “$3.1-billion boondoggle.”

John Ivison: The $3.1-billion Conservative boondoggle that never was

"The Americas Barometer by the Environics Institute last year found that Mr. Harper was near the bottom of all leaders in the hemisphere, when ranked on trust, alongside the veritable pillars of democracy who run Peru and Costa Rica....



Environics found a growing number of people who believe those governing are not interested in what citizens like them think.

When that belief takes hold, it’s difficult to shake. “If a politician cannot succeed in convincing voters he’s in it for them, he cannot win standing … without it, no message can get a hearing.” So said former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, speaking from his own bitter experience.

This, it seems to me, is increasingly Mr. Harper’s problem. He has lost standing with a growing number of voters, so there are fewer and fewer people who believe him, even when he is telling the truth."

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/11/28/john-ivison-the-3-1-billion-conservative-boondoggle-that-never-was/