normanchateau

April 3, 2006. "Harper said the new Conservative government will scrap draft legislation which would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana." "We will not be reintroducing the Liberal government's marijuana decriminalization legislation," he said. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...0403?hub=Canada Once again, Harper's disgusting social conservatism was at odds with the wishes of the Canadian people.

Latest EKOS poll: Liberals 33.7 Conservatives 32.4 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/17/...ence061709.html

You're not alone in wishing it but the Canadian way is not to say it.

You don't think Harper is a conservative? Why would the Conservative party want a leader who's not conservative?

Almost anyone who has carefully delved into the Prime Minister's history would have a difficult time developing an affection for him.

Wishful thinking.

Ignatieff left wing?

As far as I know, the National Post isn't a hotbed of Liberal support.

You call this Don Martin column Liberal support? "The rookie Liberal leader went from condemning the government on multiple fronts, preening himself as a portrait of moral rectitude willing to defend his party’s virtue on the campaign trail if those Conservative evil-doers didn’t play nice with the unemployed, to a leader who was knocked back on his heels by a Prime Minister who did nothing but reject his key proposal. That whirling sound you could hear on Parliament Hill within hours of his ultimatum list was Mr. Ignatieff backpedaling away from his own rhetoric. By watering down his demands, Mr. Ignatieff seems to have spared Canadians the most needless of elections at the worst possible time. But he may have inadvertently saved his enemy some money. Now that the alleged easy ride from foreign import to prime minister-in-waiting is over, the Conservatives can cancel their “Just Visiting” Ignatieff attack ads. He’s proven himself capable of mortal misjudgments — and that reputation is here to stay. " http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/f...-honeymoon.aspx

No doubt you are referring to the actions of Stephen Harper in sending Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs to Sri Lanka. Or perhaps you are referring to the fact that Harper's government criticized Sri Lanka for deporting Obhrai and Rae.

And "economist" Harper sees his stint in Canadian politics as more lucrative than his previous career as a mailroom clerk in the offices of Imperial Oil.

No surprise given that he's been a professional politician all his life. How sad that he has no other career to go back to.

What has Harper done for the West? He's shovelled billions into Quebec in a futile bid to secure Quebec's vote at the expense of the West.

An appetite for separation in British Columbia? It's true that Doug Christie, a lawyer known for defending Holocaust deniers and former Nazis who immigrated illegally into Canada, started a political party in British Columbia which advocated the separation of western Canada. His party received 0.02% of the popular vote in at least two elections here in British Columbia. Is that what you mean by Trudeau and Chretien created an appetite for separation in British Columbia?

So why did Stephen Harper increase the amount of taxpayer funds supporting the CBC? "We looked at all the programs and reallocated those and then increased the funds for the Canadian arts and increased the funds for the museums and actually the CBC, you may be surprised." — Stephen Harper, English language leaders' debate, Oct. 2, 2008 Did Harper lie when he claimed to increase CBC funding, is he trying to turn the CBC into a Conservative organization or is he just so out of touch and incompetent that he doesn't know about the evils of the CBC?

It depends on whether or not they retain Harper. It looked like a bleak future for the Liberals last year until they dumped Dion. The same holds for the Conservatives unless they dump Harper. Fortunately for Ignatieff, Conservatives tend to be conservative so won't take the risk of dumping Harper for fear they'll be stuck with someone even worse. Other than a hatred of the Liberals, there's not much to unite Harper supporters these days.

Show me where I said that Harper has a secret agenda. I have said that he's a social conservative. That's no secret. Neither is it inconsistent with Harper's desperate attempt to retain power at any cost. It's also no secret that Harper's agenda appears to be to convince members of his own party that he's a capable and effective leader rather than a lame duck controlled by Ignatieff.

What makes you think that Harvard gave him a leave of absence with no time limits? Ignatieff's first faculty position was at the University of British Columbia. His last was at the University of Toronto. In between, he held faculty positions at Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard. Were he not leader of the opposition today, his academic career opportunities would be limitless. Moreover, as author of 16 books and hundreds of high pay magazine articles, he is not restricted to academia for a high income. By contrast, Harper has never made more money than he made as a politician. Employment opportunities for those with a Masters in economics are limited though a PhD, not a Masters degree, would open the door to academia. Harper never got to the PhD stage and the topic of his Masters thesis was politics more than economics. Indeed it could have been a thesis in Political Science. Here's an excerpt from Harper's thesis: "Minority governments show no particular tendency to fiscally irresponsible behaviour, contrary to some theoretical predictions." Poor Stephen Harper. Even the conclusions of his Masters thesis are wrong. No wonder he so desperately clutches to the only high paid job he's ever held.

Take that option Mr. Harper!

He's got to hang on to that job. He became a professional politician while in his 20's and the only other job he's ever held is as a mailroom clerk in Edmonton. Harper's only significant income has been as a politician. He has no career to fall back on and had made sure that he has no obvious successor.

So you think he should have opposed C15?

He's no Tom Flanagan. Harper will rue the day he lost the services of Tom Flanagan. He's had Flanagan to mentor him since his Alliance days and now Harper will have to rely on his own "strategic skills".

His failed attempt to "revisit" same sex marriage in December, 2006 was despicable. Even his less socially conservative colleagues did not support his shameful motion. http://www.samesexmarriage.ca/advocacy/mot061206.htm

It's not so much that he doesn't stand for anything anymore. He never stood for anything. He began as a Young Liberal in Toronto then decided to become a Progressive Conservative in Alberta then joined Reform but had a falling out with Preston Manning. So he moved on to become president of the National Citizens Coalition until Manning was replaced by Stockwell Day. Then Harper saw his opportunity to replace Day in the Alliance Party. Tom Flanagan was Harper's Chief of Staff then but Flanagan has now let Canadians know exactly what he thinks of Harper. Flanagan is a brilliant strategist. Harper will flounder without him.

Never in his life has Harper made more money than he has earned as a politician. The only job he ever held before entering politics was as a mailroom clerk in the Edmonton office of Imperial Oil. Leaving politics would mean unemployment for Harper. He won't resign.