Canada ping!
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Posted on 06/16/2006 5:28:58 PM PDT by fanfan
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’s “nobody’s puppet” and U.S. President George W. Bush doesn’t pull his strings.
“I see from time to time that the Liberals and members of the Bloc say that I am George Bush’s puppet and other things like that,” Harper said in a wide-ranging television interview with Radio-Canada that will air Sunday.
“Even if I think that people don’t always agree with me, they understand that I’m nobody’s puppet,” Harper told the French-language program Les Coulisses de pouvoir.
Harper has been criticized by his political adversaries and some commentators for being too cosy with Bush on issues such as the Kyoto Protocol and the military.
Harper also said during the interview that some Canadians don’t understand that terrorism is a global threat.
“I think that a lot of people in Canada are naive,” he said. ``The reality is that the terrorism threat is worldwide. We cannot escape it by closing our eyes.
“That’s the reason why we’ve have been in Afghanistan for several years. We are there because of the deaths of about 30 Canadians in the World Trade Centre (during the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City),” he said.
As for recent threats against him by the 17 terrorists suspects arrested in Toronto earlier this month, Harper said the threats haven’t “bothered” him.
“I accept the realities and the dangers of being a leader with these threats at this time,” he said.
On the subject of the so-called fiscal gap between the provinces and the federal government, Harper said he may have to impose a solution since the provinces can’t seem to agree on one.
Canada “is not always a federation that’s easy to govern,” he said.
Ottawa has indicated that the solution will come in the form of an improved equalization regime and an increase in federal transfers to the provinces for education and infrastructure.
But Harper has also made it clear that his government does not expect huge federal budget surpluses like those the Liberals have posted in recent years.
“I prefer to look at all transfers as a group and not to decide transfer by transfer. I think that’s impossible,” Harper said. ``You can’t deal with only equalization, only health. The former government tried to do that.
“If we can reach a consensus, it will be a consensus on all transfers.”
Although the issue is being watched closely in Quebec, Harper said he doesn’t think his approach will spur the sovereignty movement in the province.
“I think Quebecers have tired of this debate,” he said. “They don’t want separation; they don’t want sovereignty as it’s advocated by the Bloc and the PQ.”
Nor do they want a centralized Canada, as touted by the federal Liberals, he said.
Both are “extreme” positions, he said.
“It’s been a long time that Quebecers have had these choices and they decided to reject (these possibilities),” Harper said.
Harper also commented on his reported difficulties with the Ottawa press corps, which he said he doesn’t find that unusual.
“I like journalists, it’s maybe the journalists who don’t like me,” Harper said. “But I think there’s always tension between journalists and politicians in power. That’s the nature of things.”
Canada ping!
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this ping list.
"I'm Not...I'm Not!!!!" waaaaaa
Could it be you don't know balls and brains when you see them?
Wait, I thought Bush was Cheney's puppet. Can a puppet have a puppet? How far back does this thing go?
Thanks for clearing that up.
I think reality is driving the left crazy!
We are so lucky to have him.
:-)
We are lucky to have him and we need to keep working to keep him!! The other alternatives look sicker every day. The more they expose themselves, the more unattractive and unappealing they look.
Harper is obviously very intelligent and as such does not have to be anyone's puppet.
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