Reboot Alberta

Monday, September 15, 2008

If Anyone is Too Risky to Rule Over Canada It's Stephen Harper

The American election is so much more interesting but not nearly as important to Canadians as our own election. The link between the Harper Con-Trolls and the Neo-Republicans in the States is becoming more and more direct.

Harper’s Americanization of political campaigning in Canada is hardly a subtle shift but one that will have profound impact on our democracy if citizens don’t show up and stop it at the ballot box this election. Harper is a clear and present danger to our Canadian democracy.

Just look at how he ignored and ran roughshod over any semblance of independence in his Supreme Court appointment just before calling the election. He made a big deal about vetting nominees before a Parliamentary Committee last time a Supreme was appointed. This time he stacked and disbanded the independent review process. Next he abandoned his own manipulated politically motivated judicial review process - and made the Court appointment all by his lonesome. Scary, unless you like a dictatorship!

If you want to know what Harper is likely to do next and how he will conduct himself, just look at the tactics and trickery of the McCain – Palin ticket for some clues. This article entitled “McCain and Palin are Trying to Take Political Lying to the Next Level” could be a sign of the Harper times to come.

As the American economy goes into meltdown, Harper will try a position himself as the master economic manager. He will continue to mislead Canadians about Dion’s Green Shift by ignoring the tax reductions that reach most of us and the shift of tax burden on those who behaved badly towards the environment.

The truth is obviously going to be the first victim in a Harper government. We need leadership we can trust and believe…that is not Harper.

Harper is a one trick phony and insists that he alone commands his universe and that he alone controls everything. Harper is the only economist of note who is out of step with the best economic minds in the country. His ideological folly like a minimal GST cut instead of income tax cuts is one example. The heavy handed ideologically driven wipe out of billions of savings for Canadians with his sneaky and stealth of Income Trust lying is another. His denial of climate change and anemic policy of deferral of any serious action until 2050 shows he is out of touch – and dangerous -he is - yet again.

Harper is not decisive he is dangerous. He is not a leader. He is a misleader. In times where trustworthiness is necessary, Harper prefers political trickery and tactics instead governance. As we move into increasing economic uncertainty we have a man who wants a Conservative dynasty and to destroy the opposition. His personal values in this campaign are based on political nastiness and mudslinging and gamesmanship instead of the truer Canadian values like peace, order and good government?

The purpose of an election is for citizens to make informed choices about who is worthy of trust and respect to lead our country and to speak for us as an entire nation, not just the Quebec nation. Harper is not that man. His record shows his penchant for bullying and bluster. He is an old-school command and control imperialist strong-man leader like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. He campaigns like a Neo-Republican that uses Bush-Rove machinations stressing emotion over information, half truths and outright misleading manipulation of facts to gain power.

If you are looking at where the real risk lies for Canadians as we decide who should govern us you need look no further than the Bush Mini-Me – Mr. Stephen Harper and vote anybody but him and his party.

5 comments:

  1. I find it amusing that the Tories are now finding Dion so irrelevant and perceived by Canadians as so risky that Mr. Harper and his excellent Party are turning their attention to Layton and May. Dion is becoming as marginal as Ken's over the top misleading comments about Harper (and I count Ken as a very good friend of mine....:):)

    )

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  2. As I listened to the guy on Rutherford talking about the consequences of a minority Government, it occurs to me that irrespective of how you feel about Harper, I don't think that you will see your job disappear or your business suffer or any other real damage being done. We won't be heading off on any new fiscal experiments for instance that have only been in existence from the Liberal party for what?..... 6 months maybe, and these not-fully-fleshed out economic experiments are still seeing major changes to them on the fly.

    What we don't need is another whole session of acrimony, vitriol and demeaning minority Parliamentary activity. The Liberal party is not cohesive behind its leader, it is bankrupt and the Liberal economic plan is seen as very very risky.

    Let's give the Liberals an opportunity to completely bake their half-baked economic plan by leaving them and/or the NDP in opposition in a Majority Parliament, instead of the embarrassment of Dion's head light staring nonapproval/approval of Tory bills. The next 4 years will give them the opportunity to pay off their debts and get back onside with Elections Canada, give Ignatief/Rae/Dion the opportunity to unify their party behind a single leader, and give them the time they need to clearly define their carbon based economy to Canadians. Dion is obviously not selling anyone on his leadership abilities or his economics. If he was, the Liberal war chest would be full.

    So we should do the Liberals a favour, give 'em some time off for lacklustre behavior, let them rebuild their party, and let Parliament work without the perpetual jockeying for the best time for yet another election.

    Am I the only person who was getting really tired of the constant threat of an election from the Libs, the Bloc, and the NDP?

    The Tories look like they are on the way to a Majority, Harper will not become a Chretien-type dictator, let the MPs get on with the focus on their jobs instead of being distracted by semi-election readiness, and maybe with the imprimatur of a Majority, all sides can learn a little...no....let's DEMAND a LOT....more civility while carrying out the Nation's business.

    jmho

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  3. Crackers 2008 - I value your opinion and appreciate your sentiment. I just think you suffer from the same disease as all true believers...you ignore the facts that don't fit your world view.

    Harper has proven himself to be a sly, conniving bully. He is a misleader - not a leader.

    If you think his MPs and Ministers have some latitude to do their jobs without a strictly enforced prior approval from the PMO you have not been watching how he governs.

    He is an autocrat and a demagogue...not the kind and gentle caricture of our "Daddy" protector the Con-Trolls are peddling.

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  4. Ken: We will always disagree on the Liberal vs. Conservative flavour fo Kool-Aid that we drink.

    I just don't see the apocalypse that you foretell of a Tory Majority. The planes will still fly, the banks will still "bank" and I will still feel the same level of high self-security driving from my house to my office, and the low level of security on Jasper at 2:00 AM on a warm summer night

    I don't feel any less secure in my business or my life with a Tory Majority than a Tory Minority. But as an Albertan, Dion scares the hell out of me. There is NOTHING he has said that should give any Albertan any security of income and wealth, and Layton wants to shut down the oil sands and kick out of work union and nonunion jobs from Alberta to the Ontario rust belt to the east coast workers who commute to Alberta on a weekly basis. Imagine these two destructive clowns with the keys to the vault.

    Bob Rae's Ontario will look like a luxurious Donald Trump golf course compared to the damage these two will do to this Province.

    Harper understands that Alberta wealth means Ontario and east coast wealth. Dion and Layton understand that you can play one part of the country against the other, because most don't know what drives wealth in this country.

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  5. Anonymous9:43 pm

    No crackers2008, if Harper wins the whole world will overheat due to global warming (despite the fact that Canada represents less than 1% of the GHG emmissions). He will also prevent any type of abortion and shift homosexuals off on an iceberg. This is the kind of unintelligent thinking Ken has.

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