President Stephen Harper




"You have to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada; people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian society."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, in Report Newsmagazine, 2001.



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[all Harper quotes from here]

There are a few reasons why I dislike our PM-cum-President Stephen Harper:

1. He copied Bush's recent speech in Afghanistan almost word-for-word when visiting Canadian troops [as reported by CBC's As It Happens].

"[Y]our country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.


2. He has banned press scrums after Cabinet meetings and tells Canadians little as to what he is planning or doing. His campaign promise for governmental transparency is a joke: this is the most opaque Canadian gov't yet (a favourite tactic of Rumsfeld).

3. After calling for legislation on gov't accountability, he is refusing to cooperate with the Ombudsman on a Liberal - Conservative defection in his party's favour.

4. He has deflected, reversed his position or become mum on almost all campaign promises, much like he has quietly hidden his rather extremist right-wing views after becoming a national contender. Dude's got a hidden agenda like a baby seal's gotta death wish.

5. From what we can all figure out, it appears that he is scrapping the National Gun Registry while basically reinstating it under a new name, wasting bajillions of dollars in the process, and, interestingly enough, basically pulling the wool over the eyes of his right-wing gun-toting constituents. The new non-registry will also be ineffective: the Chief of Canadian Police is against it. So, in short, he is scrapping a somewhat cumbersome but nonetheless effective information registry of firearms to put in a completely ineffective bureaucracy. Meanwhile, he wants to get tough on crime (see 9 below). This after a shocking and public rise in gun violence by youth gangs in Toronto.

6. He is scrapping national day care payments to provinces after provincial plans are already in place, leaving the provinces high and dry, while nonetheless talking about correcting federal transfer payments under the ambiguous title of "fiscal imbalance."

7. Instead of day care, families with kids get some kind of cheque every month (if they satisfy who-knows-what stipulations -- that the Wife must stay home to look after the kid ? .. for there quite possibly won't be enough day care facilities). Translation: only traditional two parent families with a male breadwinner will benefit, i.e., the upper middle class.

8. He's a lackey to both the US and Quebec. The US position is nothing new. The Quebec position is, considering his comments belittling bilingualism, denying French language and culture and rallying against Quebec's constitutional "distinction" (see bottom of post). As for the US, he sees it as the guiding light: he wants to expand the military, join the US parade and raise the neo-con flag. Likewise, he is pandering Quebec to ensure support in the House. Unfortunately, Quebec might just believe it. Kiss softwood lumber goodbye and pucker the lips for Bush II's posterior and QC-lite separatism kept-at-bay through provincial cash infusion. Basic strategy: bribery. Behind all this are some strong nationalistic sentiments that seem confined to promoting a nation of English-speaking white males (again, see the quotes). Unfortunately there is support for such positions in Canada (including Quebec): the French /British founding mythologies live on.

"Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status, led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task."

- Stephen Harper in his article "It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada," December 12th, 2000.


9. He's racking up points with unfortunately ill-informed and quite frightened rednecks by promising to "get tough on crime" by increasing sentences for crimes like drug possession. Translation: he can't wait to get the kickbacks from a full-fledged prison industry in Canada with a 3-strikes-you're-out system to increase revenue and perpetuate a criminal underclass. This is, of course, another step to becoming more-like-the-US. (US = a certain social-economic structure, not like the Americans I love, you crazy radicals, keep on fighting..)

10. Most Canadians voted for him on a negative principle - to "teach the Liberals a lesson." Arguments as to whether this grants Harper's minority gov't an actual mandate aside, Harper perfectly demonstrates that the people don't get what they want in democracy, they get what they deserve. Canadians who are stuck in such a parental mindset of "punishment" only punish themselves. Even Joe Clark is against him, for Heaven's sake (and yah, Heaven has something to do with it).

11. By cutting a point off the GST - which nobody will really be able to count up in savings save for the major corporations - & aiming to reduce overall taxation rates below the US, Canada will once again be plunged into debt. Just like Mulrooney! We're f*cked, unless we become a big-boy country with a big military, so nobody comes calling for the alimony. Like the US.

"We must aim to make [Canada] a lower tax jurisdiction than the United States."

- Stephen Harper, Vancouver Province, April 6th 2004.


12. He's against abortion, gay marriage, pay equity, immigrant rights, refugees, Asian electorates and Eastern Canadian migrants, Atlantic Canada ("a culture of defeat"), the French language, Quebec, health care, the Constitution, socialistic collectivization... uhhh.. need I say more?

Was this dude even born in Canada or was he mass-produced by a new Straussian cult that bought its cloning technology from Quebec's Raelians?

"For taxpayers, however, it's a rip-off. And it has nothing to do with gender. Both men and women taxpayers will pay additional money to both men and women in the civil service. That's why the federal government should scrap its ridiculous pay equity law."

- Stephen Harper on pay equity, NCC Overview, Fall 1998.


12. He has piggy little eyes.

"The establishment came down with a constitutional package which they put to a national referendum. The package included distinct society status for Quebec and some other changes, including some that would just horrify you, putting universal Medicare in our constitution, and feminist rights, and a whole bunch of other things."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.



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posted. Mon - April 3, 2006 @ 01:28 PM           |