Gord's Notebook : Stephen Harper: Bush's Mini-Me or Vote Anyone But Harper

Anyway , yes I am aware that we Canadians go to the polls next week but I fear the results will be more or less like that of the last election with Harper forming a minority government. Many who supported his ultra-Conservative policies continue to do so. They like Harper would like to dismantle many of the policies such as Universal Healthcare so we can be more like Americans. Their electorial base includes the social conservative extremists & the Religious Right including Evangelical Conservatives who want to reshape Canadian society and to return to some mythical Golden Age of the pre-1960s. I would say that what they really want to do is make Canada over in the image of a Conservative America. So then we can go off and fight more foreign wars against the " Infidels" of Islam and ,in their view,other evil non-Christians who they believe are out to destroy Western Christendom.

What some of us consider positive changes in our movement towards " A Just Society " such as in progress in women's rights or the rights of minorities or Gay rights or the rights of those with special need whether physical or psychological and equal opportunity for jobs or in University education these Ultra-Conservatives see as unwanted changes in the wrong direction.

These Ultra-Conservatives are upset or even pissed off that those who are disadvantaged or poor or who are not like them in some way or other, different skin color, different religion or even no religion or from a country they don't happen to like are to be treated fairly and justly that for instance that they have a right to a decent education and other opportunities and have a right to quality medical care. But there are those in the upper classes who can't understand why each and every Canadian should have the same rights.

Let me put this in the boldest and starkest terms that I can.

The bitter mean-spirited Conservative wonders what's the point of being well-off if even the poorest Canadian citizen has a right to Free Medical Care utilizing the best physcians & specialists that otherwise would only be available to those willing to pay out large amounts of money. They would prefer that the poor , the homeless ,the disabled be ignored and to be treated as invisible or non-existent. These Conservatives believe the supreme right is that of property so a corporation should be allowed to refuse to hire whomever they wish no matter how qualified the applicant is without having to explain their actions. So if they refuse to hire women, or blacks or gays that's their business. The same could be said about their attitude towards other businesses from restaurants to hotels to real estate. The Conservative believes they be allowed to serve or sell only to those of they approve. They see nothing wrong with exercising their prejudices and bigotry against various groups of individuals. Their notion of freedom is that those who are financially successful and who are mostly anglo-saxon & Christian are worthy of basic human rights while the rest are to accept their position in society and to learn to live without those rights and to keep quiet about these injustices.
Why not to vote for Stephen Harper.

The Conservatives claim that a vote for the liberals or the NDP or the Green Party is too much of a risk. Whereas they believe voting for a Conservative party is the only rational or reasonable choice . Yet a vote for these Ultra-Conservatives is a vote against promoting the Arts in Canada. The Consrvative Party like that of the Republican party in the United States is anti-women's rights, anti-Environment anti-Universal Healthcare but which is pro-big business & especially pro-Big Oil no matter what the environmental cost might be.They are also in favor of policies which help the richest provinces while allowing the poorer provinces to do without.One wonders if they just want everyone in the poorer areas of the country to pack up and head for the richer areas. Is Alberta, for instance, willing to absob a mass influx of people from other provinces . But we also know that part of the reason these provinces are not doing so well is because they are cheated out funds from the Federal Government in Ottawa which they are entitled to . It is also that when there is any sign of wealth moving into the poorer provinces the Federal Government insist on more than its share in such revenues ie offshore oil and gas etc.

Those funny things that Stephen Harper Says
from:verybigcanada
Added: September 19, 2008

What many Canadians still do not understand about Harper is that he wants to emulate George W. Bush & Dick Cheney and now Palin & McCain. He is an Ultra-Conservative or Neo-conservative who will push for his agenda no matter what. He will lie or deceive voters to get re-elected. Telling such lies is part of the Neoconservative strategy as outlined by its founder Leo Strauss ( see Shadia Drury writings on Neocons for instance) who taught that those in powere inorder to maintain power and control are permitted to tell lies . Harper has no problem acting as if he were an old fashioned or traditional conservative or refer to himself as a " compassionate Conservative " as George W. Bush did . This is just all part of his party's cynical marketing scheme. What matters to him are votes and getting re-elected so if he appears to be pro-environment and this gets him more votes than that's the sort of role he'll play or that he is in favor of supporting the Arts or Women's rights or the rights of minority's well that's in his view is how the game is played and winner takes all. Integrity and hoinesty are just stupid cath phrases used by small "l" liberals & progressives.

HARPER & his LIES
from: AnyoneButHarper
Added: September 20, 2008

Many of us are parents, children, husbands, wives, friends, employees, employers. Lying is usually not part of our contract with others. In fact, lying, more often than not is frowned upon. Why, we ask, should we allow the man we hired, the man who's supposed to serve us, the man we voted for to LIE to us over and over again! We don't let our children get away with us, why should Stephen Harper!

Bush & his Harper Mini-Me
From: AnyoneButHarper
Added: September 18, 2008
Election fever has struck Canada too. And the stakes are as high as they are in the US. With Stephen Harper's government inching towards a majority, Canada may soon become another failed experiment of the neo-conservative agenda, complete with a collapsing economy and a wasteland of social service cuts. Vote to Win Against Harper! Go to anyonebutharper.ca

Pay Equity Put Equality Back on Track!
from:equalitytrack
Added: October 04, 2008
An animated response to the policies of the Stephen Harper federal government. Brought to you by the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women's Equality and Human Rights (www.womensequality.ca)

For over twenty years successive Canadian governments & opposition Parties during election campaigns have promised to develop a national policy on " Day Care " or Early Childhood Education in which all Canadian children would be guranteed the right to decent high-quality Daycare utilizing well paid & professionally trained Early Childhood Educators. Instead Harper's only solution is giving out checks or vouchers so parents could choose whether to send their children to Daycares or Pre-Schools or to look after their children at home. The amounts of money involved are in fact far from what would be necessary for a parent to leave their job to stay at home to look after their children or to pay someone else to do it i.e. a babysitter .If Harper had his way Daycares would not be susidized at all and only the better off in our society would be able to afford quality Daycare or Pre-Schools. According to Ultra-Consrvatives and their Religious Right supporters a woman's job is that of being a baby-machine and child-minder except for those exceptional women who are permitted to rise in status by going to University and then moving into once male dominated professions . The Conservative woman tends to agree with Conservative men on these Conservative attitudes and policies. One of the reasons for this is that such a woman sees herself as special as exceptional and therefore superiour to the majority of Canadian women. As for other women who go to University the belief they espouse is that most women in University are there to obtain an MRS that is to find a suitable , middle class or upper class man who will be able to provide for her in comfort and style in return for which she has as many children as possible.

We might refer to this as the Sarah Palin solution to women's issues. If they stayed at home looking after their children, their homes and fulfilling the needs of their husbands and to submit to his authority(in their view which they derive from the Bible ; wives must submit themselves to their husbands0 If a woman must submit to their husbands then he has the right to berate or to discipline those wives who defy their husbands.

Here's a couple of videos from the organization " equalitytack "