In its length, in its cost and in its debate schedule, this election is unusual. The first and possibly only real debate of the campaign ended and here are the highlights of what happened.

The business audience Prime Minister Stephen Harper was talking to in New York wasn’t the only thing that was lacking. He has failed to act on his harsh words during the Ukraine crisis and he has lied about Canada’s involvement in Iraq. It is clear Harper has not only lost credibility at home, but more disturbingly, abroad.

The Harper government is being praised for its extra $3.5 billion investment in international maternal health but a UN report finds aboriginal communities are in a state of crisis. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the Harper government has dedicated an extra $4 million in advertising veterans programs that they can’t be bothered to fund – leading to the wife of a veteran with PTSD’s plea, “we’re nothing to you.”

Keystone proponents have flooded the American airwaves with ads trying to convince Americans and President Barack Obama to either accept or turn down the Keystone pipeline. This ad, slotted to air during tomorrow’s State of the Union address, shows how heated the debate can get as the Keystone project has been framed as being of greater benefit to the Chinese than to average American consumers. The spot features a picture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chinese ex-premier Wen Jiabao shaking hands to the narration of “a sucker’s deal for America.”

The Conservative government has shut down hundreds of federal and world renowned research facilities as part of their war on science. The bulk of facilities affected pertained to the climate science that has actively gotten in the way of the government’s coveted pipeline projects. The Conservatives are silencing their critics as they cut scientific funding in the name of ideological gain.

American newspaper giant the New York Times has slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper for trying to “guarantee public ignorance” in a recent editorial.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper went to Europe to hammer out an EU-Canada free trade agreement and to escape the growing scandals that have plagued his government. However, when Harper went to speak to the British Parliament, he was not only met with protests, British parliamentarians were unimpressed with his speech.

The International Monetary Fund warns Canada’s economy is not the superstar economy the Harper government praises it to be. The IMF goes further to say that of 20 countries outside Europe, Canada will have the slowest rate of growth in 2013 and will cease to be the engine of growth among the G7. They link the slow down to Conservative economic policies. Forget the hype, Canada’s Economic Action Plan was nothing but an ad campaign.

Accountability and transparency were the hallmarks of Stephen Harper’s win in 2006 but despite robotic scripts that claim accountability is the utmost priority, recent report cards and trends show that accountability and transparency have been thrown out the window.

Who says Canadian politics is boring? Despite being in the first majority government since 2004, politics was easy as government shenanigan continued and controversy ruled The Canadian Political Scene. This post will round up 2012 into one bite-sized image with the big scandals and the party progress reports.