by Klaus Rohrich
December 20, 2004
During last summer’s federal election campaign I was foursquare behind Stephen Harper, as he impressed me with his calm style and rational stance. as I wrote on June 10th of this year in these pages: "I recently heard an interview with Harper on Toronto’s CFRB radio station and I was truly amazed at how reasonable and rational he was. Harper was asked questions about everything from gay marriage, to abortion, to the military and I found his answers very refreshing."
I’m beginning to wonder whether old Steve has undergone a brain transplant. Maybe he had a blood transfusion and the Canadian Blood Services people spiked his blood with Liberalism, because he sure doesn’t sound like the old Stephen Harper I listened to and supported last June. The Conservative Party’s recent drift to the left is going to do nothing to gain them votes. In fact, it will have quite the opposite effect, as conservative voters (myself included) will opt out. The truth is that if we wanted a Liberal government, we would vote Liberal. after all, can Harper really be a better Liberal than the Liberals? I don’t think so, and I believe that most Canadian voters don’t think so either.
So why is the new Conservative Party of Canada attempting to portray itself as the old Progressive Conservative Party? Liberalizing the Conservative platform didn’t work for Joke Clark, so why would it work of Stephen Harper?
as it’s a given Paul Martin’s minority government isn’t going to last more than about two years, I’m thinking that there are two likely results that the next election will bring. The first is that the Liberals will be re-elected with a resounding majority, despite all the sleaze and corruption dripping off them, as the opposition party will not present a viable alternative. The second is that the new Conservative Party will split the same way that the Reform Party split off the old Progressive Conservative Party. and that means we’ll see another generation or two of federal Liberal governments that will complete our transformation into a Cuba, or possibly a 1980s Nicaragua.
In order for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to regain a modicum of credibility they will have to follow through on some of the things they talked about during last election. Why is it that Liberal backbenchers are calling for a plebiscite on the question of same-sex marriage instead of the leader of the Conservative party of Canada? It seems that the party’s official position has changed since last June when Harper advocated free votes and plebiscites to decide such issues. Now they oppose a plebiscite because they believe the majority mustn’t diminish the rights of minorities. (See My December 13 article dealing with this issue)
Where is Stephen Harper’s voice when it comes to strengthening our military? Naturally, Gen. Lewis McKenzie and Dr. Barry Cooper who heads up the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Studies in Defense and Foreign Policy, and others of their ilk are calling on increased military spending so that the government of Canada is able to project a realistic foreign policy. But if Harper won’t raise the issue in the House of Commons, who will?
Harper also talked about being in favour of smaller, less intrusive government and lower taxes. Yet somehow he has gone strangely silent on these issues since the opening of the 38th session of parliament.
Instead, Harper has been on the offensive against those who are legitimately questioning his shift in position. He should be carefully reading and heeding pundits who are beginning to question Harper’s shift, rather than attacking them in the media. In a recent letter to the National Post, responding to editorial criticism, Harper claimed that Canada had a Conservative party. What the country still needs is a conservative newspaper
as a small "c" conservative, I am dismayed that the party I support is now drifting off its initial course and pursuing what appears to be an intellectually dishonest quest for votes. The truth is that we need a viable alternative to the Liberal Party in federal politics. If Stephen Harper is not prepared to take and adhere to a principled stand, then he will surely go the way of Joke Clark.