So Stephen Harper, a staunch conservative who wants to be our next prime minister and has been doing a fine job of covering most of his staunch conservatism, feels he is the man to unite Canada.
In today's Edmonton Sun, he is quoted as saying, "Only the Conservative party can bring this country together, only the Conservative party can win in the East and the West, can win among French and English, among old Canadians and new Canadians, in the city and the countryside."
Never mind the sheer arrogance of that (other than being the only party that can win in the West, where in Alberta 35 years of Tory government is not seen as being a problem), what jumped out as me is that he's essentially saying that he's an uniter.
Which reminds me of another conservative politician who ran a campaign hiding the most radical of his conservative ideals, who claimed to be an "uniter, not a divider." A conservative politician who, when elected, then went on to divide his country more sharply than any who came before him.
Yup, George W. Bush has done just fine when it comes to polarizing the electorate. His administration would love nothing more than for Harper to become prime minister. And sadly it looks like it's going to happen. Damn Paul Martin for fucking up so royally. I'd like to think that we can learn lessons from the debacle that has been the Bush regime, but it looks like it's going to have to be the hard way. By that point the damage will have been done, of course.
I'm not just talking about same-sex marriage. There's no point in touching on that again right now. Now I'm talking about simple math. Tax cuts and increased military spending. The former I have issues with, the latter not so much. We do need to spend more on that, and there is much waste that could be cut back on to afford it. However, lower taxes and increased spending in conservative pet areas mean one thing, especially if they want to maintain a balanced budget and pay off debt - cuts in social areas.
The Klein government did this in Alberta, where we're so wonderfully prosperous and there are high paying jobs for everyone for life and nobody gets sick and... Okay, the rosy picture of Alberta only works if you ignore the devastation wreaked on the poor (and the environment, but that too is for another time). The only reason any money is going to social programs right now is that we're sitting pretty on top of huge oil revenues. It may cost you an arm and a leg right now to fill up your gas tank, but it's helping Alberta keep our taxes low and not as many people starving on the streets.
That's Alberta. The rest of Canada doesn't have as much in the way of oil revenues (though Newfoundland has some now). We at least have something to soften the conservative blow in this wonderful province. Not so much the rest of Canada.
I'll weep tomorrow if there is a minority Conservative government at the end of the day. I'll cry my eyes out if there is a majority.
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I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I noticed something during the Mad Cow crisis that nearly destroyed the beef industry in Alberta.
The thing about cattle ranchers is that they tend to be conservative. The type that will vote Tory both provincially and federally. I'm sure there may be a few that vote Liberal or NDP, but come on, these are rugged individualists we're talking about here. The type who talk big about how lazy welfare bums should get off their lazy welfare bum lazy asses and get friggin' jobs.
The type who, when the going got tough, instead of getting into new lines of work were crying out for government money. Of course it's not as easy as that, but it rarely is. I guess all those bums on welfare and unemployment aren't as bad as... Oh, who am I kidding. Of course the same rugged individualist ranchers who needed government money to help them out when times got rough haven't changed their tunes. If they have, we could be looking forward to a NDP Member of Parliament or two being elected in rural Alberta.
But maybe they just care more about keeping those goldurned fairies from gettin' hitched.
posted
by Tabby at 1/22/2006 12:37:00 p.m.
