Posted on 07/23/2006 3:32:56 AM PDT by Clive
Six months ago today every Canadian with even an ounce of patriotism in their veins put an end to the sleaze-driven, scandal-riddled Jean Chretien/Paul Martin era.
Assessing the past six months, and harking back across some four decades of political journalism, I have not seen an individual move as deftly into the prime minister's office as Stephen Harper, nor newly-installed members perform as well as those of the current Conservative cabinet.
A former MP -- and cabinet minister -- from Brian Mulroney's first term in office ventured even Mulroney's team hit a few initial bumps before finding its footing.
Harper and his team, he perceived, moved into office as if they had been skilled practitioners for years.
Harper immediately held out the hand of friendship to U.S. President George W. Bush and was just as immediately rewarded with a solution of the decade-long softwood lumber hassle, winning Canadians 80 cents on the dollar.
A lopsided victory overwhelmingly in our favour.
Just imagine had Harper been prime minister during the mad cow disease crisis -- which also cost Canadian cattlemen and packinghouses $5 billion in losses -- how quickly that would have been solved.
One current Conservative MP confesses Harper astonishes him by his depth of knowledge of all policy files. The prime minister seemingly knows the files as well as the cabinet ministers who hold them.
Quick assessments on some cabinet ministers:
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty quickly delivered on his election promises.
The GST is down to 6%, cheques for the $1,200-a-year child care subsidy are rolling out.
There's the $1,000 annual tax credit for everyone who works to cover basic costs of just getting to the job and picking up tools.
Plus a dozen and more other cuts and credits to make life financially easier.
The tax-and-gouge days of the Chretien/Martin Liberals regimes are gone for good.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, detested by the Liberal-Left types on the CBC, Toronto (Red) Star and Globe and Mail, launched Canada into a new era of supporting valiant little Israel.
We were the first country to halt funds going to the Palestinian Authority after the terrorist group Hamas took it over.
Since then, other countries, including the U.S., have followed.
MacKay has built up a strong relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has not only boosted the annual budget of the military, he has announcement procurement plans to immediately buy
$15-billion worth of "big ticket" items for our Armed Forces.
There's more muscle to come, too, for our beleaguered troops, so frequently betrayed by the loathsome Liberals.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was swift to put the Tamil Tigers on the list of banned terrorist groups, noting Martin had coddled these individuals.
Together with MacKay and O'Connor, he has also moved with alacrity to fight terrorism on all fronts and protect our nation's citizens.
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has left no doubt she is not going to let ignorant advocates of the fraudulent Kyoto Protocol close down Canadian industry, transfer millions of our jobs to Third World nations, and waste billions of our tax dollars 'buying' credits from other nations.
We'll likely join the U.S., Australia and Japan in the sensible -- and achievable -- Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development.
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice was handed a $5 billion problem. He quickly killed the Liberals' outrageous election-eve Kelowna Accord, and is shifting the focus on aboriginal affairs away from grand words and big schemes -- that said nothing, but cost more and more money -- to results.
He's building houses and providing clean drinking water, rather than spending our money on activists, lawyers and lobbyists.
And guess what-- no riots against his cuts or new directions.
Immigration Minister Monte Solberg has a minefield of a portfolio. But no explosion so far.
He's led the charge against human trafficking and sex slavery, to which the Grits turned a blind eye.
Then there's Jason Kenney. While not actually in the cabinet, he's Parliamentary Secretary to the prime minister.
Fluently bilingual, he stands in for Harper when Harper is not in the House of Commons and defends government policy.
Some attest Kenney is the best debater in the Commons in years.
My friends, the Liberals are in a hole, and we're on a roll.
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Gotta love it! BTTT!
Good news from the North. Imagine what we could do if the USA had a conservative controlled government. We'd make quite a team.
Cheers ! The adults are back in charge.
Great news. Harper has been handed hot potatoes (like the current fighting in the Middle East) and performed admirably. As a New Yorker, it feels good to be on Canada's side again.
Kudos to our northern cousins. You made the right choice!
I wonder if Harper would like to move south for 2008??
Question for anyone who really knows.
I'm worried that Harper is in office because of a scandal and that the basic politics in Canada are still Liberal. So the question is:
Can the Conservatives get re-elected and do it more than once? Is a Conservative government going to have staying power?
Prime Minister Harper is a great improvement over the previous prime minister.
Outstanding and congratulations to our Canadian friends!
Harper should follow Margret Thatcher's lead and start dismantling the socialist controls on Canada's economy...then watch the good times roll for our friends to the north.
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
The Liberals and much of the MSM had so demonized the Conservatives and their "agenda" prior to the last election that without the Liberal scandal, I doubt that the Conservatives would have won. The Liberals/MSM had convinced a large portion of Canadian that the Conservatives were going to destroy everything that was "good" about Canada - from it's social programs to its foreign policy. The Liberal mantra was that if you vote the Conservatives in, you'll not recognize Canada in a few years time. And in any democracy which is enjoying a healthy ecomony, most folks do not want radical change, let alone someone changing the very fabric of the country.
In spite of all that, the Conservatives were narrowly elected.
What will determine the Conservative staying power will be it's ability to lead and govern effectively. So far the actions of the Harper Gov't have impressed the majority of Canadians and if another election were held right now, the Conservatives would return with a majority. The vast majority of Canadians support the improved attitude of our Gov't towards the U.S. and like the fact that Harper has a consistent set of values and principles by which he leads, and delivers on his promises
The Liberals & MSM have lost their greatest weapon - that of FEAR. They can't scare Canadians anymore with doomsday scenarios of what would happen if Conservative formed the Gov't. Canadians can see for themselves now how Conservatives govern..
So, the question of whether or not Conservatives have staying power is entirely in the hands of the Conservatives themselves. If the continue to govern effectively and the economy stays healthy, then they'll have legs - long legs..
Which Conservatives (with their heads screwed on right) do you have waiting in the wings for a run at the POTUS position in 2008...
It's the Senate where we could use actual conservatives.
Presidential conservative candidates with a chance to win? None immediately come to mind.
Big time Bump!
Romeo LeBlancs ruination of the Maritime fishery by awarding generous fish quotas to French Canadians while decreasing those to English Maritimers is one. You can see this today by comparing the two communities . I counted 14 fish processing plants iin Cap Pele. New Brunswick alone, while in Cape Breton and PEI, the fisherman live in shacks and go on the dole, their boats rotting. In Cap Pele the homes in comparison are mansions, but the English paid the price for the affluence. This is the legacy that 40 years of Liberalism by French canadian Pols hath wrought. I do not wish to slight the hard working French Canadians, but there is no reason that such affluence could not be present in the Anglophone Maritimes as well. Somehow only the French got the grants and federally subsidized loans over the last 40 years , which has made a horribly telling difference, and a seething anger on the part of some.
Once people start writing about these facts, I doubt that we will ever see such Francophone Liberal Socialist government in Canada ever again.
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