normanchateau

It is not just "the Left" who does not like Harper. If it were, he'd have a majority government. Harper appeals neither to the Left nor the Centre. Harper is a social conservative whose appeal is limited largely to those on the Right. Much as I'd like to debate same sex marriage, I was referring to Harper's opposition to making it a hate crime to promote or advocate the murder of homosexuals. Harper and his entire CA caucus voted against adding sexual orientation to hate crimes legislation. Most of the Left, the Centre and even PCs Joe Clark and Peter MacKay voted for Bill C-250, resulting in its passage. Although George Bush threatened to veto the addition of sexual orientation to US federal hate crimes legislation, Obama signed it into law: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/28/hate.crimes/ Of course I am confident that Harper supporters will continue to find some other way to attempt justifying his opposition to Bill C-250, his opposition to same sex marriage when he was leader of the Opposition, his attempt to revisit the traditional definition of marriage after he became Prime Minister or anything else which remotely makes the Harper Conservatives look like a haven for homophobes.

Canadian legislation makes it a hate crime to promote or advocate the murder of members of a group identified by their skin colour, race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Stephen Harper has never objected to the first four. While he has no objections to hate crime legislation per se, he does object when it pertains to homosexuals and lesbians. No wonder the party that he leads is perceived as a haven for homophobes.

From the link you provided, it appears that among Frank Graves' "outrageous comments" is his incendiary statement that the Conservative Party provides a haven for those with homophobic views. This seems like a reasonably accurate statement. The leader of the Conservative Party has certainly engaged in behaviour remarkably consistent with homophobic attitudes. Harper not only voted against Bill C-250, the legislation which made it a hate crime to promote or advocate the murder of homosexuals, but so did his entire CA caucus. C-250 passed because a majority of Liberal, NDP, Bloc and PC MPs voted for it. A political party which would select as its leader a man who voted against making it a hate crime to advocate the murder of homosexuals and lesbians should not be outraged or even surprised that the party is accused of being a haven for those with homophobic views.

Same April 15th EKOS poll broken down by level of education: High school or less: CPC - 36.4% Liberal - 23.8% NDP - 12.8% Other - 27.0% University or higher: CPC - 25.8% Liberal - 36.2% NDP - 18.3% Other - 19.7% Source: http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_april_15.pdf How unfortunate for Harper and his ilk that those with the least education are those least likely to vote.

I was responding to blueblood's stereotypically absurd comment that university degrees are worthless and asked where blueblood proposed that physicians should be educated. How do your comments address my question? Of course there are good and bad universities but how does that follow logically from my question?

Let's examine your hypothesis further. I was referring to the February 4th ekos poll and voting preferences among those who report themselves as university educated. Of those, 40% prefer LPC versus 27% CPC. It appears you are suggesting that more LPC voters engage in impression management, inflating their educational accomplishments, than CPC voters. Interesting hypothesis but difficult to explain relative to other polls and therefore it's somewhat improbable. The January 28th ekos poll had a 39% LPC versus 30% CPC split among the university educated. The January 21st ekos poll had a 37% LPC versus 29% CPC split among the university educated. It's difficult to believe that among LPC voters, there's been an increase in impression management over such a short time period. A more probable explanation is a shift away from Harper among the university educated.

A Harper supporter suggesting that a university degree is worthless...why am I not in the least surprised? Tell me, typical Harper supporter, where you would suggest that the physicians of tomorrow should be educated. A bible college? A Sunday school? Do you, like Stephen Harper and his Evangelical fundamentalist co-religionists, believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old? Do you, like Stephen Harper and Fred Flintstone, believe that dinosaurs and humans co-existed. Do you, like the ignorant Stephen Harper and George Bush, oppose embryonic stem cell research on religious grounds? What's your hypothesis as to why less than 27% of Canadians with a university education now support CPC versus 40% for LPC? Source: http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_february_4.pdf And if you seriously believe that Harper's social conservatism is a figment of his opponents' collective imagination, why'd he hire this man as his speech writer? http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Harpers_new_speechwriter_is_a_gay_rights_opponent-7727.aspx

Yes, almost as preposterous as Harper engaging in other activities "that people don't want", e.g., proroguing. Imagine thinking that Harper, who "is up for election on a regular basis", would ever do something "that people don't want". Inconceivable. Even with a majority, he will continue to pretend to be a liberal. Yeah, sure. You'll be pleased to know that I didn't waste a penny on my education...one of the rewards of earning scholarships.

I wonder if you are referring to same sex marriage. As leader of the Opposition, Harper voted against same sex marriage. Then, in December, 2006, almost a year after being elected Prime Minister, he decided to reopen the issue. Once again, a majority of MPs voted in favour of same sex marriage just as they had under a Liberal Prime Minister. It was not until this point, that Harper put this debate "under the bus". Whether it was a whipped vote or a free vote, Harper's crusade to deny equal rights to lesbians failed miserably. Sure, a handful of Liberals voted against same sex marriage and a handful of Conservatives voted for it but without a Conservative majority, Harper's crusade was doomed. The question will always remain as to how Harper would behave if he had a majority and could get his social conservative policies implemented. No Canadian should ever forget that as Leader of the Opposition, Harper voted against Bill C-250, the legislation which made it a hate crime to promote or advocate the murder of homosexuals. I'm sure Harper has put that ridiculous debate "under the bus", as once again he and his religious fundamentalist crusaders were on the losing side. Surely the reason why Harper supporters hope for that elusive majority is so that Harper can have the unrestrained power to implement his well-documented conservative values rather than continuing to pretend to be middle-of-the-road.

The results for those under 25 differed in some ways from the university educated, notwithstanding some overlap. For example, the under 25's were more likely to vote Green than either CPC or NDP. Here's the breakdown: CPC 18.7% LPC 29.4% NDP 17.0% Green 20.8% Bloc 12.7% Other 1.3% The good news for Harper is that those under 25 tend not to vote. The bad news is that the university educated, 39.8% of whom are now favouring LPC, tend to vote.

February 4 Ekos poll: 31.9% LPC 31.0% CPC 15.4% NDP 10.9% Green 8.4% BQ 2.4% Other http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_february_4.pdf Same poll, university educated only: 39.8% LPC 26.6% CPC 14.7% NDP 9.7% Green 6.8% BQ 2.4 Other The gap between LPC and CPC widens to 13% among the university educated.

Alberta's projected deficit is $4.3 billion for the 2009-2010 budget year ending in March, with billions more in red ink likely in 2010-11: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Tories+face+budget+balancing/2489199/story.html Why do you suppose a province with such hard working folk is experiencing economic disaster? Could it possibly have something to do with declining oil revenues rather than how hard Albertans work? And when Alberta finally recovers, do you suppose that it might be a function of increasing oil revenues rather than how hard Albertans work?

Here are the results of the same latest Ekos poll among those with a university education: Liberals - 38.9 Conservatives - 29.7 NDP - 13.7 Green - 8.8 Bloc - 7.3 Other - 1.6 And among women: Liberals - 32.3 Conservatives - 27.4 NDP - 17.4 Green - 10.5 Bloc - 10.0 Other - 2.3 http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_january_28.pdf

These numbers come from the January 21st EKOS poll which becomes even more interesting when the statistics are broken down by demographics. Among those with a university education, LPC now leads CPC by a full 7 points. Must be bad news for Harper given that the university educated are more likely to vote. Harper's strategy in the next election will require him to increase the percentage of uneducated voting and decrease the percentage of university educated voting. This will be a formidable task.

As I recall, Globe and Mail editorials endorsed the re-election of Stephen Harper in the last election. The paper has historically herded poor, dumb sheep. No doubt your jowls shook with indignation when the Globe and Mail endorsed Harper.

There's scant evidence that idiots vote. Staying in power is actually more a matter of Harper playing to the old and less educated. Ekos broke down the question "If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?" by factors such as age and gender. Of those who answered Conservative Party of Canada, 21% were less than 25 years of age 31% were 25-44 41% were 45-64 45% were 65 or older 37% had no more than high school education 33% had university education http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_december_17.pdf

No doubt it's mere coincidence that Preston Manning stated "homosexuality is destructive to the individual, and in the long run, society," and that the Reform Party of Canada opposed adding sexual orientation to the Human Rights Act on the grounds that it would lead to a redefinition of marriage: http://books.google.ca/books?id=AwD3FNUJjXwC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=human+rights+act+amendment+reform+party+of+canada+sexual+orientation&source=bl&ots=UMzPyOS4-g&sig=7eqLtAFd7yZq1bTaIKAxSEXeA0o&hl=en&ei=_do1S_LANMm8lAfhvuCZBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=human%20rights%20act%20amendment%20reform%20party%20of%20canada%20sexual%20orientation&f=false Perhaps it's also mere coincidence that Preston Manning and Stephen Harper are members of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. And it must be yet another remarkable coincidence that Stephen Harper left BOTH the Progressive Conservatives and the United Church of Canada when he joined the Reform Party of Canada, became "born again" and converted to the Evangelical and socially conservative Christian and Missionary Alliance Church: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/print.aspx?postid=238678 Probably just a coincidence that Paul Wilson worked for Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and now Stephen Harper: http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/PMO_shuffle_puts_evangelical_Christians_in_top_political_jobs-6320.aspx

Harper's been throwing a bone or two since becoming Prime Minister: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/07/AR2006120701684.html http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/02/28/film-tax-credits.html http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e3f8a100-2f8e-4b73-b131-3411c2619f58 Small bones perhaps to some from the Reform wing but a good predictor of the large bones to come should the deplorable Harper hoodwink enough Canadians to score a majority. Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper share similar social conservative beliefs. Harper is smart enough to conceal them until he scores a majority. Stockwell Day made the error of being honest about his beliefs. Harper won't repeat that error.

Conservative lead drops to 35.7% Liberals remain at 27.1% 43.4% now believe that the Government of Canada is moving in the right direction and 43.7% now believe that it's moving in the wrong direction. http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/update_to_release_november_26.pdf

You must not understand how NSERC and CIHR work. These Canadian federal agencies strictly prohibit the funds from going to the university professors who receive them. They are used for salaries of employees and for research-related supplies and expenses. US federal granting agencies differ in that university professors can supplement their incomes with their grants. Canadian federal granting have never done so...precisely to prevent the potential conflict of interest which you describe above.

The intel he is using is political, not military. You don't seriously believe that his motives to end the mission in 2011 were anything but political, do you? His announcement came right in the midst of last year's election.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/canada-alli...hen-harper-says

Day flakey? Just because he believes in the Fred Flintstone biblical version of history, i.e., that humans and dinosaurs co-existed? Harper has similar Evangelical religious views but is smart enough not to talk about them: http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun...hen-harper.aspx

Almost all successful Canadian scientists working at universities are NSERC-funded or CIHR-funded. These are highly competitive grants. You must be talking about noncompetitive government contract grants which are subject to the whims of politicians.

The "economics" MA thesis that Harper wrote was entitled The Political Business Cycle and Fiscal Policy in Canada. It examined whether political parties manipulated fiscal policy during election years to improve their chances of re-election. Such a thesis could just as easily have been awarded in a University's Political Science Department. Harper has never worked as an economist and his thesis was more politics than economics. No wonder he viewed the crash as a buying opportunity.