Why do people hate Harper?

[Keepitsimple]

You don't vote against any party. Our intellectually bankrupt collection of whiners needs to get that through their collectively thick heads. You vote FOR a candidate. If you voted for a candidate that didn't have a chance of winning, that's on you. If the Liberals and NDP split 60% of the vote, but the Conservatives won 40% and the riding, it's moronic to say, "but...but...60% of us voted AGAINST them!" Shut up. No you didn't. You voted for someone else (who lost), and the point of an election is not to NOT elect someone.

Thank you for that. Well said.

[jacee]

1) Being the first government in the history of all commonwealth nations to be in contempt of parliament, resulting in the 2011 election.

2) Willfully violating spending limits in the 2006 election, essentially cheating.

3) Turned a $16 Billion Surplus into a $56 Billion deficit, a swing of $72 Billion, yet still cutting social services and dumping the money into asinine pet projects (ie, Gazebos and bathrooms).

4) Taking credit for Canada's financial strength due to the regulated banking system that he inherited, yet was vocally opposed to when he was with the NCC.

5) Proroguing parliament to stop an investigation into Afghan detainees.

6) Proroguing parliament to avoid a non-confidence motion.

7) Shutting down advocacy groups for women and minorities.

8) The absolutely worthless Economic Action Plan that even the Fraser Institute criticized.

9) Surrounding himself with criminals (see: Bruce Carson).

10) Weakening food inspection regulations, which has had dire results as we've seen in the last 12 months.

Shall I continue?

Yes.

[jacee]

I guess I do....

11) Firing Linda Keen for reporting on nuclear safety problems, in other words doing her job.

12) Eliminating the long-form census

13) Turning foreign aid into partisan aid, something no other government in our history has done

14) Refusing to sign the UN declaration on clean water because of the implications it has with the First Nations.

15) Never eliminating, like he promised, the $1.4 Billion subsidies to the oil industry, which could have had a significant impact on child poverty and women's unemployment by establishing a national child care program.

16) Everything he has ever done (read: failed to do) regarding climate change.

17) Cancelling the Kelowna Accord

18) Reducing the number of protected rivers and likes from 2.5 million to 82.

19) Using omnibus budget legislation that he criticized as the opposition in the past, especially coupled with time restrictions.

20) Burying our international reputation as peacekeepers, particularly by issuing threats to Palestine over the recent UN vote.

21) Shutting down rehabilitation centres, while increasing spending on prisons, even though crime is going down.

22) Instituting socially destructive mandatory minimum sentencing for minor offences like having a few pot plants.

23) Renaming 'The Government of Canada' to 'The Harper Government'

Yes.

[Argus]

I am not partisan. And you appear to making false equivalences throughout this thread. Would there be complaints no matter who would be in charge? Of course, but there are differences. Few people would have led Canada into the Iraq war, or deregulated the banking system.

Australia joined the war in Iraq. They lost far, far fewer people than we did in Afghanistan -- Chretien's war. As for deregulating the banking system, Chretien's party was more 'for sale' to corporate donors than the Conservatives have ever been. You could see that at their $25,000 a plate dinners.

[Argus]

The question in this thread was why do people hate Harper. I don't hate Harper, but I listed reasons why I don't like the man. Among those reasons is that he made it clear at the time when issues such as bank deregulation and the Iraq war were being discussed that he would have chosen the options that were clearly stupid and would have had grave consequences.

Having different policy beliefs is a reason not to vote for him, not to dislike him.

That matters, especially when he became PM at a time when the job of running the country was much easier because the previous governments had decided not to choose the clearly stupid options when they had the chance.

No, the previous government instead chose other clearly stupid options.

[sharkman]

It's kind of funny that nobody wants to own up to hating Harper. Yet there's been plenty of hate directed at him over various issues on these pages. Perhaps we could find haters coming out of the closet on Rabble?

Anyway, it doesn't matter, Harper has done a pretty good job in the last few years. That and his shrewd strategies have kept his opponents from getting any traction, and if they do out come the bazooka attack ads.

[-TSS-]

Chretien is from Quebec but in 1995 he vehemently campaigned against secession, which must have caused a lot of people in his home-province to hate him immensely.

[dre]

I actually thought Harper ran a pretty servicable minority government. It was once he was given a majority that I started have issues with the current government, and they arent really personal issues that I have with Mr Harper. I dont know if Mr Harper is a nice guy or not... maybe Id really like him if I knew him. But I do know that since the conservative party has had a majority they have tried to push through some of the worst legislation in Canadian history much of it flying directly in the face of common sense. The internet surveillance bill that they almost snuck through.... The doubling down on the failed drug war with mandatory minimum sentences. These are direct attacks on the liberty and freedom of Canadians in my view.

I would hate this kind of legislation no matter who wrote it though.

[kward]

I actually thought Harper ran a pretty servicable minority government. It was once he was given a majority that I started have issues with the current government, and they arent really personal issues that I have with Mr Harper. I dont know if Mr Harper is a nice guy or not... maybe Id really like him if I knew him. But I do know that since the conservative party has had a majority they have tried to push through some of the worst legislation in Canadian history much of it flying directly in the face of common sense. The internet surveillance bill that they almost snuck through.... The doubling down on the failed drug war with mandatory minimum sentences. These are direct attacks on the liberty and freedom of Canadians in my view.

I would hate this kind of legislation no matter who wrote it though.

Harper is just another in a long succession of social engineers.

[Evening Star]

Having different policy beliefs is a reason not to vote for him, not to dislike him.

What sort of answer are you really hoping for? Very little support was provided in the original Murphy piece for the contention that a large segment of the population harbours some violent irrational fear or hatred of Stephen Harper as a person. When people say "I don't hate the person but I strongly disagree with policies x, y, and z", you'll respond "Yes, those are policy disagreements but not a reason to hate someone" or just dismiss an exhaustive list of policy disagreements as "petty grievances". When people question the premise of the thread itself, they are ignored. If someone were to come out and express or try to explain an irrational hatred of Stephen Harper as a person (which I can't remember anyone ever doing on MLW, not even the most left-wing posters), they would be ridiculed. Are you just hoping that someone will say "He's a Nazi who was born in South Africa" so you can make of them?

Edited December 9, 2012 by Evening Star

[Evening Star]

Australia joined the war in Iraq. They lost far, far fewer people than we did in Afghanistan -- Chretien's war.

The sheer number of casualties is not the only consideration for most people. More people died in WW2 than in these two wars put together but you won't find much regret that we fought in that war. What is important is whether the war was fought for a cause that justifies the loss of life. I'm ambivalent about Afghanistan but I see little justification for the Iraq war and so do most Canadians.

As for deregulating the banking system, Chretien's party was more 'for sale' to corporate donors than the Conservatives have ever been. You could see that at their $25,000 a plate dinners.

That's probably true and I was no fan of Chretien's party. (Actually, I did rather dislike Chretien as a personality while I actually like Harper well enough as a personality.) Still, they did not deregulate the banking system, which is the relevant issue here.

[Argus]

What sort of answer are you really hoping for? Very little support was provided in the original Murphy piece for the contention that a large segment of the population harbours some violent irrational fear or hatred of Stephen Harper as a person./

Oh come on. Surely you've encountered such people often enough. I know I have. Heck, I was joking around with my mailman the other day about having to sign the dumb computer screen for a delivery. I said you couldn't tell whose name was on the thing, that I could sign Stephen Harper if I wanted to. He said, yeah, or Adolph Hitler. Then he paused and said, offhand. Same thing. That sort of attitude is particularly widespread among unions and left wing activists. And if you ever want to see it thriving just to go the Globe and Mail comment pages whenever there's a story on the federal government, or especially on the conservatives or on Harper.

[Evening Star]

I'm just very unconvinced that this goes beyond the ways people felt about Mulroney, Chretien, or Trudeau, or say, Dalton McGuinty or even Rob Ford. (Heck, talk to some separatist Quebecers about Jean Charest.) Actually, I'm not sure it's any worse than the bile that was directed at Jack Layton by some on the right. (I can think of multiple times I heard people describe him as an anti-Semite or a Communist.)

[Smallc]

Or Taliban Jack

[Fletch 27]

I believe it's the devisive politics played by the late jack Layton and the current ndp band of hooligans. If it were not for the 2 aforementioned, I believe canadians would get along far better and there would be far less hatred. Today's ndp is simply to do the exact opposite of the ruling party and spread hatred between the 2 wings.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Fletch 27

[dre]

I'm just very unconvinced that this goes beyond the ways people felt about Mulroney, Chretien, or Trudeau, or say, Dalton McGuinty or even Rob Ford. (Heck, talk to some separatist Quebecers about Jean Charest.) Actually, I'm not sure it's any worse than the bile that was directed at Jack Layton by some on the right. (I can think of multiple times I heard people describe him as an anti-Semite or a Communist.)

True!

And look... it comes with the territory. The prime minister and his party get to hold the bag for the fate of the nation during their term. They get credit and love from their partisans, they get scorn from supporters of their opponents, they get blame for problems they didnt cause, and they credit things they didnt really do. This is just how the game works.

[Bryan]

Harper is the worst Prime Minister we've ever had, with the exception of all the others who came before him.

I'm half joking, but the truth is, for all his faults, he still measures up a lot better than anyone we've had in at least 40 years. I know the others set the bar pretty low, and we should expect more, but better is still better.

When I think of who the opposition has run against him, I shudder to think how bad things would be if Harper had not won.

[PIK]

Even last week Ms May was still spouting off about harper's hidden agenda. Why have a hidden agenda if you are going to keep it hidden. But are the libs looking for a good strong leader with harpers brains and savy, no they are not, they are going to go with good hair instead.

[g_bambino]

Shall I continue?

While little of that is commendable (some of it is just based on political disagreement), I honestly don't see it as much (if any at all) worse than certain previous Liberal prime ministers. I say that not to justify Harper's actions, but to highlight the hypocricy of those who point to Harper's prorogations and spending and association with "criminals" as proof they're right to portray him as evil incarnate while overlooking similar or the same behaviour by prime ministers from a party they approved of.

I'll also say, though, that I suspect the American media is having some influence in this matter; I think a lot of left-leaning Canadians believe the Conservative Party is just a Canadian clone of the Republicans down south.

[ed: +, c/e]

Edited December 10, 2012 by g_bambino

[g_bambino]

A pathetic, trumped-up event orchestrated and exaggerated by a pathetic, frustrated and impotent opposition.

No. The government opted to turn on its head the three centuries old rule that parliament, not the government, is supreme. Parliament put a stop to that.

[Bryan]

No. The government opted to turn on its head the three centuries old rule that parliament, not the government, is supreme. Parliament put a stop to that.

It was a stupid stunt that backfired. It didn't put a stop to anything, Harper is still the PM, even more people voted for him, and now he's got a majority. Yeah, they sure showed him!

[Boges]

You guys talking about the Coup? ERRR I mean Coalition attempt?

If it was such a good idea they'd have stuck to their guns and still attempted the coalition after the prorogument was over. They were getting killed in the Polls taken following that stunt.

It was a success in the way that it forced Harper to adopt a Keynesian agenda, where he previously had resisted going into a massive deficit to do stimulus spending.

[g_bambino]

It was a stupid stunt that backfired. It didn't put a stop to anything

Au contraire: it put a stop to the Cabinet ministers' arrogant assumption that they, despite 300 years of precedent, were uniquely above the control and scrutiny of parliament.

[g_bambino]

You guys talking about the Coup? ERRR I mean Coalition attempt?

No.

[Fletch 27]

Au contraire: it put a stop to the Cabinet ministers' arrogant assumption that they, despite 300 years of precedent, were uniquely above the control and scrutiny of parliament.

And re-enforced the stupidity/arrogance of Jack Layton with the sheer redundancy of the Liberals.

Key meessage: More people voted for Steve Harper... MORE people like Steve Harper now than back then! Seems hes a real diplomat!