Ooooooh maybe a light came on, upon examining the previous posts. When I stated "Yeah right - perfect at conning you" I didn't mean "you" in the personal sense, but in the general sense. Sorry if I offended. :smile:
Reform Party formed May 29, 1987
- Thread starter Colpy
- Start date
Ooooooh maybe a light came on, upon examining the previous posts. When I stated "Yeah right - perfect at conning you" I didn't mean "you" in the personal sense, but in the general sense. Sorry if I offended. :smile:
I never thought for a moment about you being of any political persuasion. Unlike one poster on these forums I don't assign political parties or religions to people. The only reason I made the judgment about Colpy is because he says he is...................and that's his perfect right..............:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
I owe an apology to no one. It has long been my contention that in Canadian politics most voters support the party that will do them the least good. If you supported the original Reform platform and were unaware of many of its basic policies that is not my fault.
What tipped me off to the fascistic elements of the Reform Party was the fact that the so called Reform policies were pretty much lifted from the old Social Credit Party, which was as racist as hell, and was, if you recall, the party of Preston Manning's father, Ernest. What really convinced me of the party's extreme right leanings was that the party's overall policy resembled that of the US Republican Party so closely that they were almost indistinguishable. If you know the history of the party you might recall that it took several years for Preston Manning to get rid of all the right-wing nut cases in the party, and that as time went on Manning continuously modified the party's original policies to make them a bit more acceptable.
And I did not call you a fascist. I stated that the policies of the Reform Party were neo-fascist. One need only look at the party's original platform regarding immigration, abortion, and gay rights to realize how true that was.
I refer you to this reference. Perhaps it may be of help.
Reform Party of Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I must confess that at the time, I was foolish enough to vote party and not candidate.
I've learnt my lesson since though.
As for why Reform attracted such bigots, my guess is the following:
Reform was the more pro-military of the parties, suggesting a greater belief in outside threats and need to defend the country. Though that itself is not racist, it is an idea common to many albeit not all racists too. So with racists looking for an officially racist party and not finding one, likely they felt Reform's military policy was attractive and so they supported reform as a 'lesser among evil's among the major parties.
The CPC is suffering the same. In short, a pro-military party is bound to attract racists since racists also have a strong belief in a need to defend from outsiders and that naturally goes hand in hand with their views.
Once again, you REALLY need to look up the concept of FASCISM........you obviously don't understand it, and have fallen into the lefty habit of applying it to anyone that disagrees with them.
Something like the right calling the NDP COMMUNISTS, only less accurate.
As for me personally at the time, I was turned off by the Reform Party's desire to increase military spending, it's somewhat anti-UN stance, and if I remember correctly, stricter immigration rules (though I was less sure of what I thought about that last one). However, I was particularly attracted to its stance on free trade and smaller civilian government at least.
At least on the discussion of alternate parties we had Social Credit form the Government in the B.C. back in the 80s and they were the best government we ever had as they managed to avoid riding the hippie train, balanced traditionalism, were able to appease big business but at the same time monopolized the big resource industries so our wealth wouldn't leave the province and it was in those times we organized EXPO 86 and drew up plans for Canada Line (which probably would have been implemented had the party not collapse in the 90s) and even plans for a floating bridge connecting LML to Vancouver Island.
Instead we got NDP who worsen the Pine Beatle Endemic and Gordon Campbell's "Big Tent" (Neo-Fascist) party who has been selling us down the river to big corporate interests.
Instead we got NDP who worsen the Pine Beatle Endemic and Gordon Campbell's "Big Tent" (Neo-Fascist) party who has been selling us down the river to big corporate interests.
8O
I think there is a lesson here- when a "new" political party starts up stay as clear of it as possible, there's no new ideologies or platforms being dreampt up that haven't been tried before (with exactly the same goals in mind) their own gains at the cost of the electorate. THEY ARE ALL TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH. :x:x:x
I think there is a lesson here- when a "new" political party starts up stay as clear of it as possible, there's no new ideologies or platforms being dreampt up that haven't been tried before (with exactly the same goals in mind) their own gains at the cost of the electorate. THEY ARE ALL TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH. :x:x:x
I'll call the original Reform Party fascist if I like. In spite of its seemingly insipid leader the early reform party had the following characteristics:
1. Intolerance directed toward minorities - especially gays and ethnic groups of non-European origin
2. Economic policies that would have eliminated most of Canada's social infrastructure including health care
3. Opposition to bilingualism and multiculturalism
4. Opposition to efforts intended to guarantee women true equality
5. Support for large corporations in the form of less government regulation and lower taxes
6. The privatization of many government services including including the deliberate creation of a two-tier health system
7. Elimination of Aboriginal treaty rights
8. An influx into the early party of many members who whose remarks showed again and again that they were intolerant of non-white ethnic groups as well as homosexuals
9. Manning's own conservative Christian evangelical values which resembled those of many US ultra-conservatives
Now these might not seem like neo-fascist characteristics to you, but they are probably about as close as they come in a major party in Canada.
I will admit that many of these early characteristics of the Reform Party were eliminated by the late 1990s. However, your comment in the original referred to the early Party as did my original post.
I will also admit that 29 years ago your own political views might be different from those you now hold. I found in teaching in the 1980s that many of my students supported the Reform Party primarily due to its name, assuming that the party was to the left of the political centre, and was actually interested in real political reform and not a return of Canada to the social and economic policies of the 1950s. It was a good example of the power of marketing in politics.