CANADA IS RIPE FOR CONQUEST BY THE NEW RIGHT !!!
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STEPHEN HARPER A CLONE OF GEORGE BUSH OR DISTANT COUSIN ???
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Ah well I have returned from an ill-deserved hiatus & I will begin by discussing Canadian politics so here goes:
If the public opinion polls are accurate we may find ourselves as of next week being governed by Stephen Harper & the Conservative Party or Reform Party or whatever they may call themselves. Stephen Harper arose from the ranks of the Neo-conservatives & the Religious Right Movement which once referred to itself as the New Right. Stephen Harper is the figure head as it were of the Canadian branch or franchise of the American New Right Movement . Harper’s party has more in common with the Republican party led by President George W. Bush & his gang of ultra-conservatives than he does with the more traditional Progressive Conservative Party of Joe Clarke & John Diefenbaker & Robert Stanfield. We should not be fooled by Mr. Harper's recently adopted Media-Friendly Makeover as if he were now the old-style traditional Conservative. I doubt if he is any more compassionate now than he was before this election towards the poor & the working poor or the unemployed or the elderly or those who are physically or mentally disabled or towards visible minorities who are not being treated justly by our society.
It is also obvious that Stephen Harper & Co. will do what they can through legislation & whatever means at his disposol to undermine Labour Unions to make it more difficult for workers to join or create a labour union & will be quite willing to use draconian measures against those who threaten to go on strike or who actually go on strike since he has had little good to say about Unions . Like most Neo-Cons he believes one should be happy to have a job no matter how poorly paid or how poor or even unsafe the working conditions are or how unfairly one is treated by an Employer . None of this bodes well for the average worker in this country.
Many of the social programs which are now being threatenedby Stephen Harper & his gang of Neo-Cons the true believers of the Religious Right were first advocated by the old CCF & the New Democratic Party & put into practice by successive Liberal & Conservative governments. The legacy of these programs has been the move towards a more just society. What we have gained since the 1950's on we may now see these programs chipped away at to bring us more in line with the American system . This is the stated aim of The Canadian Neo-Conservatives to reduce our Medicare System even further till it is a shadow of its former self.
For instance Harper’s grand scheme for a National Day Care or Early Childhood Education program is an almost laughable solution. He says his government will give families $100.a month for each pre-schooler in a family to cover or off-set the cost of Day-Care which is a rather inadequate amount when the cost of pre-school programs start at $100.00 per week, at the least ,&even baby- sitters charge more than a $100. Per week for taking care of just one child . So will this cash give away be enough for many Canadians to vote for the Conservative party. Are Canadians that gullible ???
His plan for Pre-schoolers ( which later on he might extend to school aged children from kindagaten to grade twelve) it should be noted is similar to the School Voucher programs which the Neo-Cons & the New Right in the United States have been advocating for over twenty years. Their plan's main goal is to undermine the Public Education system . Parents would be given financial help to send children to private schools or to be home schooled which would undermine support for the Public Education system which they see as part of the Secular Humanists' attack on Family Values ie. the teaching of sex education & according to them the anti-Christian doctrine of Darwin's Theory of Evolution .They also believe that only the positive side of American History should be taught & that questioning America's history & policies in the classroom is an act of sedition I only mention such ideas to give the reader an indication of the over-all plans & motivations of Neo-Conservatives like Stephen Harper & his true Believers whose beliefs are not necessarily shared by the majority of Canadians.
One can also take it for granted that the Conservatives will want to review & rework The Unemployment Insurance Program or as it is now called EI. This program has been reduced quite a bit over the last twenty years. But Harper will probably chip away at it until it is finally gutted.
Harper & his party once in power will try to find ways to limit the rights of women in matters of Abortion & employment & salaries & whatever else they find objectionable in what they consider as part of the Feminist Movement’s Agenda to destroy Traditional Family Values.To the Neo-Cons men work while most women should accept their role & station in life doing what God meant them todo & that is to look after the home & their children & their men-folk. One could add the caveat that they believe some women are as smart & as capable as men & should be permitted to work as professionals & even in business & politics. But this only applies to a small minority of women.
But maybe Harper is right & that a majority of Canadians want to return to these traditional Family Values as they define them or as their American Brethren of The Religious Right have defined such values.
The Conservative Government will also do what it can to end Gay Marriages & bit by bit attack what rights the Gay & Lesbian community have won over the last thirty some years since Former Prime Minister Trudeau put into policy the belief that The government has no right to interfere with what consenting adults do in private. This was a step towards more freedom for individual Canadians. But the New Conservatives want to restrict such rights. They believe Homosexuality is forbidden by the Bible & being Good Christians they have the Moral Authority they believe to bring Canadians who in their view have strayed back to the path of righteousness.
The other concerns we should consider is to what extent Canadian Domestic & International policies will be brought into line with American domestic & foreign policies as formulated by George W. Bush & Dick Cheney & Condi Rice & Company.
Harper has said that Canada should have joined the United States & its invasion of Iraq but that boat may have sailed. What Harper may do is bide his time after being elected waiting for the next big scare which the americans will respond to with their military might. Maybe he will join in with the invasion of Iran or whoever is next on the list of Enemies of the American Empire.
It seems likely that Harper will pass legislation for the Creation of a made in Canada " Homeland Security Act " so we can more easily spy upon Canadian Citizens & incarcerate those suspected of being terrorist or supporting terrorist or committing acts of sedition such as writing Blogs which question the government's policies & the government's motives. Under Haqrper's leadership Canada could take a more active part in so called “ Renditions” & in torturing terrorist suspects which would probably please a large number of Canadians as it seems to be approved by large numbers of Americans.
As Prime Minister, Harper will want to wrap all his policies in the Flag & the Bible to search out & destroy any who dare question his policies or those of the United States.This for some of us seems to be a dark & terrible future but for many Canadians would be a great victory since they have dreamed so long of being like the Americans if not actually part of that nation. Such people have no time for wooley -headed idealistic notions of freedom & tolerance & undrestanding of those of different religious beliefs or traditions or silly notions like justice for all & not just for the privileged especially the wealthy .
Another concern is that Harper's government will probably try to bring back the Death Penalty . The majority of the world's nations have abandoned the death penalty believing it to be a barbaric practice which has been shown to have no effect as a deterrent for people committing murder. The Death Penalty is just a form of vengeance & not Justice.
Here are a few highlights from a speech made by Stephen Harpur Speech to the "Council for National Policy" in 1997:
Speaking here to an American audience he begins by saying:
. "... your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."
( There is nothing ambiguous about this staement so we question if he has really changed or just re-packaging his policies & himself to gain power.)
Then in describing Canada to his audience he says;
" Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.
THEN he goes on to defame the unemployed:
" In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.
NEXT he strikes out at Canada's Supreme Court & our Charter of Rights & our Constitution :
" And we have a Supreme Court, like yours, which, since we put a charter of rights in our constitution in 1982, is becoming increasingly arbitrary and important. It is also appointed by the Prime Minister. Unlike your Supreme Court, we have no ratification process.
And he goes on to add:
" 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.
What was significant about this was that this constitutional proposal was supported by the entire Canadian political establishment. By all of the major media. By the three largest traditional parties, the PC, Liberal Party and NDP. At the time, the Bloc and Reform were very small.
It was supported by big business, very vocally by all of the major CEOs of the country. The leading labor unions all supported it. Complete consensus. And most academics.
We still have very generous welfare rates. And our extremely generous unemployment insurance is really, basically, a subsidy to seasonal work. "
On a roll he attacks the NDP as some sort of evil party & one wonders if in power he might outlaw it as UnCanadian & anti-Christian ...
" Let's take the New Democratic Party, the NDP, which won twenty-one seats. The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.
Has Harper Really 'Evolved'?
TheTyee.ca, Canada
Mon January, 16 2006
As Richard Warnica at TYEE.ca says about Stephen Harper being advised by those who helped John Howard of Australia to get elected as Prime Minister:
TYEE.ca
The Globe and Mail reported last Saturday that Stephen Harper's campaign team is borrowing ideas and getting regular advice from their opposites in Australian Prime Minister John Howard's camp.
Howard is best known outside of Australia for joining the invasion of Iraq, dropping the Kyoto Protocol and keeping hordes of migrants locked in harsh detention camps; hardly policies you'd think the evolved Harper wants to be associated with.
Howard's labour market reforms. Passed in December, the reforms will gradually eliminate collective bargaining rights and make it much easier for Australian employers to hire, fire and negotiate with their workers
And on Stephen Harper's position on Iraq see:
Stephen Harper’s Wirthdrawl from Iraq
dec 14 2005
by david snow
And as reported in The Halifax Daily News april 4, 2003:
* While there are Canadians who oppose the invasion, Harper said, they are a minority, as are those who are anti-American. "It certainly exists. But in fairness, there's an anti-American sentiment among the American left in the United States itself. We have some of that here. But that's a minority sentiment." Only in Quebec, with its "pacifist tradition," are most people opposed to the war, Harper said. "Outside of Quebec, I believe very strongly the silent majority of Canadians is strongly supportive."
Also see The Toronto Star, January 15, 2006
Is 'Scary Stephen' Harper gone?
by KENNETH KIDD
STAFF REPORTER
Anyway that's all for now,
GORD.
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