Quick now, what do Kim Campbell -- who served as prime minister briefly in 1993, and led her party to its biggest defeat ever -- and Stephen Harper have in common?

Well, aside from the fact that they are both nominally "Conservative," they both seem to believe, as Campbell put it during her disastrous 1993 campaign, "an election campaign is no time to discuss serious issues."

Saying that, during an election campaign, cost Campbell dearly.

But quietly following that precept during the last campaign allowed Harper to avoid a difficult discussion of his plans for Canada's pension system.