Written by NEIL GODBOUT
Citizen news editor
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Thursday, 09 October 2008 |
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JEAN CHRETIENDICK HARRISNEIL GODBOUT
If so, it will be his majority government, not Dick Harris’s or Jay Hill’s or the majority of Conservative MPs.
Harper ran his campaign and his minority government with a grip so tight it's unparalleled in the history of modern federal politics. Not even Jean Chretien stifled his lieutenants with so merciless a zeal.
Under his rule, Harper does all of the thinking and most of the talking.
Previous prime ministers allowed senior cabinet ministers to step up or fall down, depending on their skills. Except for a loyal few, such as Jim Flaherty, none are allowed to speak without permission unless it is vetted through the Prime Minister’s Office.
Look at what happened to Ontario Tory Garth Turner. He was ostracized immediately for daring to question Harper's direction.
Any form of dissent is seen as a betrayal to this party and to its leader.
Can you imagine Jay Hill or Dick Harris standing up in a caucus meeting and saying, “Stephen, with all due respect, I think you're wrong.”
Right.
We have yes-men for MPs in our two ridings, not independent thinkers who follow the party line but are willing to make up their own minds on issues, even if that means standing apart from their leader and the majority of their own party.
Harper’s conquest isn’t just over the other parties, it’s over Canadian conservatism itself.
It’s no coincidence the Progressive Conservative name was shortened when Harper’s Canadian Alliance successfully staged its coup.
When Harper seized control, he buried the conservative brand with it.
There was a day when being a conservative in this country meant being progressive enough to embrace brilliant new ideas to solve difficult problems within a context of the tried-and-true.
Those days are gone.
Harper’s extremism is most glaring when he is held up against previous conservative leaders. There would be no room for the social conservatism of a Robert Stanfield or a Joe Clark under Harper. Even Brian Mulroney and Preston Manning stand to the left of Harper on the political spectrum. Manning believes the development of the Alberta oilsands should come with much more stringent environmental rules. He has even embraced the idea that Canada can be a leader in clean energy with proper government incentives.
He said so in an interview with David Suzuki.
Those two radical ideas, not to mention coming within 50 yards of Canada’s best-known environmentalist without a hazmat suit on, would be heresy under Harper.
My dislike of Harper’s conservatism should not be read as an endorsement of anyone else running against Hill or Harris.
I voted at an advance poll last Friday.
My choices were:
-- Harris, a career backbencher who backed the wrong horse when Harper ran for the Alliance leadership against Stockwell Day.
-- A Liberal candidate whose political experience is being a student representative on the UNBC senate.
-- An NDP candidate who has written letters to the editor in this newspaper citing experts who believe a shadow government was actually ruling North America behind the scenes (Sept. 29, 2006) and Dick Cheney was planning a 9/11 attack on America to bring about martial law (Aug. 31, 2007).
-- A Green candidate who lives in Vancouver and did not campaign here.
-- An independent candidate who the Greens rejected.
How is any thinking Canadian supposed to exercise his or her democratic right to vote while simultaneously stating they reject not only all the candidates put before them but the election itself?
With pencil in hand, I made my mark.
Neil Godbout is The Citizen's news editor.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 October 2008 )
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