OK, so this speech from 1997 that Stephen Harper gave to a right-wing US think tank, called the National Citizens Coalition, has made it’s way into the media here in Canada. The current response of the Conservative Party is that Harper isn’t the same person he was then, but I doubt it. Yes, people can change, but I’d bet money that this leopard hasn’t changed ANY spots, he just got a good dye job to cover the spots up!
However, I did find the speech a very interesting read. I did get more of a sense of Harper and what he may be like. I think he is obviously a very smart man, brilliant even. But have you ever met a brilliant person who is secretly an extremist? They’re a little scary. They are also able to hide their real views very, very well because they know their views aren’t popular and will expose the secret beliefs they really have. How do I know this? I grew up in a fundamentalist religious environment. I can spot a fraud a mile away. And the truly committed who pretend they are like you and me are just as much a fraud as the cult leader who doesn’t believe a thing he spouts, he’s just in it for the money.
I think Harper is the former type of fraud. Just read the speech. His true colours shine through.
I have to admit, his description of the Canadian political landscape is quite accurate. If someone asked me to describe it to them, I would probably have the same take (except that I would demonize the right, not the left :)). But it’s his description of those on the left where his real thoughts come through. The Harper spokesperson mentioned the speech was in jest, but often humour shows us the truth in people.
Here are some quotes related to the NDP (New Democratic Party for those non-Canadians out there reading this):
The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it’s actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.
This party believes not just in large government and in massive redistributive programs, it’s explicitly socialist. On social value issues, it believes the opposite on just about everything that anybody in this room believes. I think that’s a pretty safe bet on all social-value kinds of questions.
Its main concern, of course, is simply the left-wing agenda to basically disintegrate our society in all kinds of spectrums.
OK then! He also describes the Liberal Party, the former PC Party (of which he is now the leader since the Reform Party and PC Party essentially combined to become the current Conservative Party), the Reform Party and the Bloc Quebecois (the separatist party from Quebec).
His comments on the Liberal Party:
It’s not what you would call conservative Democrat; I think that’s a disappearing kind of breed. But it’s certainly moderate Democrat, a type of Clinton-pragmatic Democrat. It’s moved in the last few years very much to the right on fiscal and economic concerns, but still believes in government intrusion in the economy where possible, and does, in its majority, believe in fairly liberal social values.
His comments on the former PC Party:
But the Progressive Conservative is very definitely liberal Republican. These are people who are moderately conservative on economic matters, and in the past have been moderately liberal, even sometimes quite liberal on social policy matters.
In fact, before the Reform Party really became a force in the late ’80s, early ’90s, the leadership of the Conservative party was running the largest deficits in Canadian history. They were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially — what else can I say about them? Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country.
At the leadership level anyway, this was a pretty liberal group. This explains one of the reasons why the Reform party has become such a power.
And his views of the Reform Party (HIS party):
The Reform party is much closer to what you would call conservative Republican…
So there are some non-conservative tendencies in the Reform party, but, that said, the party is clearly the most economically conservative party in the country. It’s the closest thing we have to a neo-conservative party in that sense.
It’s also the most conservative socially, but it’s not a theocon party, to use the term. The Reform party does favour the use of referendums and free votes in Parliament on moral issues and social issues.
He discusses the Bloc, but he really displays a fair amount of disdain for the French overall. He insists that Canada is NOT a bilingual country, it is a country with two languages. He tells the audience explicitly that Canada IS an english speaking nation, if you exclude Quebec, etc..
Finally, he talks about social “problems” with Canada, comments I found quite distasteful. Here, see for yourself what he thinks of Canadians:
First, facts about Canada. Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.
In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don’t feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don’t feel bad about it themselves, as long as they’re receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.
Nice, huh? Ok, there are some who abuse the unemployment system, but to lump everyone on social assistance into some group that should be sneered upon is truly disgusting and clearly shows his complete lack of empathy with those less fortunate than himself.
And what, exactly, does this mean???
Now, having given you a compliment, let me also give you an insult. I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it’s legendary that if you’re like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians.
Ummm… is he saying Canadians are stupid, or am I missing something?
So, in closing, this guy is a fraud who is clearly pissed that he is stuck being a Canadian rather than an American. Poor him. So, why is it again that there are those is this country that actually want this guy to lead a country he doesn’t even like? Beats me… The Conservative Party would do well to get rid of this guy if they want to be taken seriously as a Canadian political party.