Stephen Harper has been running a pretty impressive campaign to this point. He's kept his message positive, laid out his vision for Canada, and has kept the cheap-shots aimed at Paul Martin to a minimum. His platform has been simple: clean up government, lower taxes, get tough on crime.

Harper's got all of these things going for him, he's making huge gains in the polls, and wherever Paul Martin goes, he's dogged by questions about various scandals.

So this weekend, like a slap in the face, he announces that he'll repeal the income-tax cuts that just came into effect across the country, in favour of slashing the GST over the next 5 years.

I'm not sure if he's trying to self-destruct, but it almost seems that way. The income-tax cut JUST came into effect. Most Canadians just received their first slightly-larger paychecks this week.

Now, I'm not going to go into the irony of the whole situation. The fact that Martin proposed a token income-tax cut, which was then increased - thanks to pressure from Stephen Harper. Now, Harper's trashing the tax-cut, and Paul Martin is defending it. The flip-flopping on this specific tax-cut is mind-numbing. Jack Layton is the only one who's supported it all the way through, since the cut was aimed at low- and middle-income earners.

My problem is the timing of Harper's announcement. Does the guy WANT to lose the election? Does he prefer to be hated, rather than at least, respected? I shouldn't complain, because he's being honest, and not dodging the issue. As far as politics goes however, it seems to me to be a brain-dead move.

Either way, tomorrow night's debate should be a gooder!