It is the Liberals that are more apt to wrap themselve around in the Canadian flag.
Harper is wrapped in the American flag. Go figure.
The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
To think that ANY of these things are applicable to the Conservative Party would be a gross mistake. The most controversial act of violence from the Conservative Party in recent memory that I can think of was Mr. Harper's big chair kicking incident at their convention.
Same sex marriage is a rights issue. Racial profiling is a rights issue. Treaties with the natives are a rights issue.
I would say that is applicable to rallying in hatred against President George Bush.
How about Conservative screams against homesexuals, Muslims, Atheists. How long a list do you want. The Conservative Party is filled with hate-mongers.
Our military hitchhikes across the world. Spending increases are needed to keep our military from simply collapsing under the increasing number of tasks we require of them.
Plus, you'd be fooling yourself if you thought that the Conservatives would make the military "supreme".
The Conservatives would put the military...a war fighting mini-me of the US military, not peacekeepers...ahead of medical care, the environment, and human rights. They have made this absolutely clear.
Canada's only female Prime Minister was a Conservative. Because of this, National Geographic magazine named her one of the most important political figures in history (I know, I know, I'm still scratching my head on that one too).
One of my favorite politicians over the last decade has been Deb Grey. I like that kind of kick butt and take names type attitude in a woman.
Deb Grey is a woman? News to me.
The Conservatives, at their recent convention, narrowly voted to not to raise the abortion issue. One third of their candiates, mostly extremists from the west, were absent. Notice that they didn't, even with wackos missing, affirm a woman's right to choose. Instead they they decided that their stance was so unpopular that they couldn't sell it to the Canadian people, so they wouldn't raise it.
They are also against a national daycare program, even though it would be a huge benefit to lower income families and single mothers.
I don't think the Conservatives could be consider obsessed with national security.
While protecting its people is one of the primary reason for a government to exist, I would consider the Conservatives on this issue to be more like moderately guarded.
Their complaint about our rights raping security bill was that it didn't take away enough of our rights. When Maher Arar was originally deported they supported the US government's actions. They would have sent troops to Iraq and the only reason they have said they wouldn't have is that our military is too small.
Every politician brings with him/herself the values that they hold true (be they religious or secular). To deny those with religious convictions from holding power would be an affront on a basic human right.
Jean Chretien and Paul Martin are both Catholics. They both went against the Pope on SSM and abortion rights. They realized that they have no right to force their religious beliefs on Canadians who do not share those beliefs. Stephen Harper would force his religious beliefs on us though. Some within his party would even try to Creationism into science class.
Stephen Harper and his backers have no respect for the separation between church and state.
That is a very succinct description of the Liberal Party of Canada. They dole out goodies to their corporate friends in exchange for political favours. Does Power Corp ring any bells?
One of the planks of the Conservative platform is to remove the corporate welfare mentality that breads an elite clique like this.
It was the Conservatives that kept Cargill from being fined for contempt of parliament after it refused to open its books to explain how and why it took money from the government meant to go to Ranchers and applied to to their bottom line.
Let's have a little look how the Conservatives in Alberta deal with corporate welfare. From Shifting Sands by Don Gillmour in the April 2005 issue of The Walrus:
The oil-sands are owned by the citizens of Albertaand managed, in trust, by the provincial government, but as the latter doles out generous tax incentives to private industry, it's own revenues diminish in the process. While oil sands production increased by 74 percent between 1995 and 2002, royalties from the oil sands decreased 30 percent, a function of the low 1 percent royalty rate.
There's more there, but what it amounts to is that Conservatives toss away huge amounts in corporate welfare, just like they always have.
Members of unions like the autoworks, medical, gov't etc. can make over 100 grand a year. They are not interested in toppling anything.
The Conservatives are not only anti-union, but have a long record of refusing to institute new labour legislation and even rolling back existing legislation to please their corporate donors.
The Conservative's leader has very strong connections to the academic community.
One of their policy goals is to stemy the brain drain that is causing our educated from leaving this country.
The basement in the University of Calgary is hardly a strong connection to the academic community. The Conservatives have been continually disparaging of anything they see as intellectualism. They have also waged a war on grants to the arts, especially those they don't see as supporting their Beaver Cleaver outlook of what Canada should look like.
While Conservatives have a stronger position in regards to the justice system than the Liberals, I would hardly see it as an obsession.
They are obsessed though. They would arrest more people and keep them locked up for longer, to the point where they would have to build many new prisons at a cost of billions of dollars. That came out during the last election.
It is a model that we've seen fail dismally in the United States.
WOW. Now that one really smacks of the Liberal Party. Which reminds me, I should really get back to watching the Gomery Enquiry.
Hmmm...I'm not too young to remember the Mulroney years. He actually created new Senate seats so he could use cronyism and corruption to ensure his sale of Canada to the lowest bidder. I seem to remeber Justice Gomery from that era too...he was one of Mulroney's cronies.
Smear campaigns are a sign of being a fascist. Let me replay the 2004 election. NEAT! Chalk another one up to the Liberals being fascists.
Funny, it's a lawyer named Vic Toews who was caught breaking election laws here in Manitoba. He's a member of the federal Conservatives now...their top legal mind, in fact. There was another election scandal here involving Conservatives too. They were up to more than a little skulduggery.
The Conservative Party of Canada would be a burgeoning fascist regime, just like their owners in Washington are.
