Harper unbound: An analysis of his first year as majority PM

[Locutus]

One year after winning his first majority government, a milestone he marks on Wednesday, and more than six years after becoming prime minister, Stephen Harper bestrides Canadian politics, a principled economic and social conservative who is reshaping the nation.


...This Prime Minister's steady shifts in policy are not overly radical on their own but taken together are reshaping the nation's sense of itself. He has established what could be called a new “Brand Canada” – a land of low taxes, law and order and a strong military, infused with a robust nationalism, rooted in the West and powered by Ontario's affluent, aspirational suburbs...



...


The story so far
In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have:

• enacted an omnibus crime bill that, among a host of other changes, increases sentences for many crimes, especially those involving drugs or sex.
• formally withdrawn Canada from the Kyoto protocol on global warming, claiming the standards set by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien could not be met.
• launched investigations into what it calls “environmental and other radical groups,” some of them foreign-funded, claiming they are determined to sabotage the Conservative plan of exploiting natural resources to grow the economy. Many environmental assessments are being handed to the provinces.

more: Harper unbound: An analysis of his first year as majority PM - The Globe and Mail



h/t small dead animals

 

[B00Mer]

whatever Libtards!!

 

[china]

That's the way to go Steve.......................Show the Canucks how to be Canucks and think of their country
first !

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

That's the way to go Steve.......................Show the Canucks how to be Canucks and think of their country
first !

This from a drone who thinks China is the be all and end all...

 

[relic]

There are some spelling errors,that should be MILLSTONE,that's what the harper tories are to Canada,and he definately "bestrides"Canadian politics,he "bestrides"everything he gets his slimy hands on. He's undone so much,it will take a good government years to straighten things out,while you tory leg humpers cry "why isn't this fixed yet"

 

[Nuggler]

This from a drone who thinks China is the be all and end all...

And yet, lives in Canada

That's the way to go Steve.......................Show the Canucks how to be Canucks and think of their country
first !

I thought you got deported. You do show up inconsistently. Try not to at all, ok?

 

[china]

I thought you got deported. You do show up inconsistently. Try not to at all, ok?

Please refrain from PERSONAL ATTACKS and keep this thread ON TOPIC!!

Just kidinnn........haha.
Staying on the topic........?...............you're still a hopeless fruitcake .

 

[Cabbagesandking]

So what has he wrought in his first year? Social conservative positions like the abolition of Gun control. The backdoor introduction of the abortion question. Imposing on other countries abstinence as birth control because he dare not yet try it in Canada, Vengeance as justice. The alliance of militarism, nationalism and "Family values" as his view of a new National ethos.

His fiscal conservatism is lost in deficit increases and payment for that militarism. The deregulation has begun with this "Budget" Bill.

Nothing much more than those destructive beginnings.

In the meantime, he is probably praying in that Fundamentalist church from which springs his social ideas, for guidance into the way to reconcile and bring about his twin vision for Canada.

His vision of an authoritarian theocracy and a libertarian paradise. He is doomed because the pair are mutually exclusive and it is that irreconcilable duopoly that is his vision of the Canada of the future.

He will flame out before this term is done because he is a relic from the seventeenth century and Canadians will soon become aware of that fact. This "Omnibus Bill" is taking him along that path to his end.

 

[JLM]

Now maybe someone can add something on the positive side!

 

[captain morgan]

Now maybe someone can add something on the positive side!

Who is to say that all those things mentioned are negative?

 

[JLM]

Who is to say that all those things mentioned are negative?

There's a thought, perhaps I was thrown off by one sentence...................." Nothing much more than those destructive beginnings".

 

[skookumchuck]

So what has he wrought in his first year? Social conservative positions like the abolition of Gun control. The backdoor introduction of the abortion question. Imposing on other countries abstinence as birth control because he dare not yet try it in Canada, Vengeance as justice. The alliance of militarism, nationalism and "Family values" as his view of a new National ethos.

His fiscal conservatism is lost in deficit increases and payment for that militarism. The deregulation has begun with this "Budget" Bill.

Nothing much more than those destructive beginnings.

In the meantime, he is probably praying in that Fundamentalist church from which springs his social ideas, for guidance into the way to reconcile and bring about his twin vision for Canada.

His vision of an authoritarian theocracy and a libertarian paradise. He is doomed because the pair are mutually exclusive and it is that irreconcilable duopoly that is his vision of the Canada of the future.

He will flame out before this term is done because he is a relic from the seventeenth century and Canadians will soon become aware of that fact. This "Omnibus Bill" is taking him along that path to his end.

Since when was the ending of the LONG GUN registry a social conservative agenda? I have known a hell of a lot of outdoors people, most of whom never go to any church.
Must be maddening that so many Canadians do not share your view ;-)

 

[captain morgan]

There's a thought, perhaps I was thrown off by one sentence...................." Nothing much more than those destructive beginnings".

The comment is fair as each person's perspective is different.

In my view, things like the long gun registry are a waste of time, the billions would have been better served in funding multiple local police depts... I could go on regarding other issues, but they've been beaten to death already.

 

[JLM]

The comment is fair as each person's perspective is different.

In my view, things like the long gun registry are a waste of time, the billions would have been better served in funding multiple local police depts... I could go on regarding other issues, but they've been beaten to death already.

I fully agree, in the matter of the thread about the long gun registry (even though I agree with most of it) a lot of it is just regurgitations mainly by one poster. One of my main rules of thumb is "anything that involves more bureaucrats, should require a second, third, fourth and fifth look".

 

[Cabbagesandking]

Actually, skookamchuck, the cancellation of the Gun Registry is"Social Conservatism." The ownership and "Right" to it are a long standing passion of the adherents to the tenets of Social Conservatism.

The regulation of such things is part of the reconciliation of liberalism and democracy. Control of that is a liberal principle. It is part of Peace, Oredr and Good Government.

 

[skookumchuck]

Actually, skookamchuck, the cancellation of the Gun Registry is"Social Conservatism." The ownership and "Right" to it are a long standing passion of the adherents to the tenets of Social Conservatism.

The regulation of such things is part of the reconciliation of liberalism and democracy. Control of that is a liberal principle. It is part of Peace, Oredr and Good Government.

You can spin it or call it what you wish, it does not change the fact that a large portion of the Canadian population voted to get rid of it. The idea that the pen is mightier than the sword goes out the window when the pen wielder becomes autocratic and the sword wielders get fed up. That will never change.

You refer to "social engineering"? Really? A terrible and disingenuous fear of non academic but independent thinking people has been foisted on the populace by the castrated version of liberalism which is in vogue.

 

[Cabbagesandking]

You can spin it or call it what you wish, it does not change the fact that a large portion of the Canadian population voted to get rid of it. The idea that the pen is mightier than the sword goes out the window when the pen wielder becomes autocratic and the sword wielders get fed up. That will never change.

You refer to "social engineering"? Really? A terrible and disingenuous fear of non academic but independent thinking people has been foisted on the populace by the castrated version of liberalism which is in vogue.

The real fact is that the last national survey before the cancellation of the Long Gun Registry found that 62% of the population wanted to retain the Registry. Its cancellation has never been the desire of other than Social Conservatives and some misguided losteners to the CPC propaganda. It was an atrocious flouting of the will of the people.

Your second paragraph is too foolish and devoid of any meaning for response.