Gimmicks?

The Harperites are all about gimmicks. (My emphasis)

It was obvious from the outset that the federal tax credit for users of public transit was more about political aims than environmental ones. The initiative seemed to be more about wooing suburban commuters than about easing “traffic congestion and the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that come with it,” as the government claimed in its 2006 budget. A report by the federal environment commissioner, released last week, has given substance to this impression. [...] If the Conservatives wanted to reduce emissions, there were far more effective measures available to them – including funding for public-transit development to make it a more attractive option. And if they wished to provide savings to “hard-working Canadians,” which Environment Minister Jim Prentice said last week was the credit's second purpose, they should have focused on comprehensive tax cuts – not social spending dressed up as tax relief. Devised with the apparent sole purpose of putting money in the hands of a targeted group of voters, the public-transit tax credit is a failure as public policy and an example of what happens when governments fall back on gimmicks.

I might make a prediction here: You ain't seen nothin' yet.