Is this the real Stephen Harper? (Canada's Conservative PM)

Is this the real Stephen Harper?
After watching Stephen Harper in office -- sticking to some positions, flipping on others -- pundits and politicians are divided over whether he would rule differently with a majority. Andrew Mayeda mines the prime minister's past for clues to his future

Andrew Mayeda, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, April 22, 2007

In the summer of 2001, a bookish, somewhat temperamental economist rose before an audience of plumbing-equipment manufacturers at a P.E.I. hotel and talked about how Canada had lost its way.

The Liberal government, he argued, was soft, bloated and hopelessly ill-equipped to handle the challenges of the 21st century. It spoon-fed corporations, tolerated a weak dollar, stifled experimentation in private health care, and perpetuated the fantasy of national unity by continually paying off Quebec.

A national Conservative party might offer a credible alternative, if only it could unite its sparring factions. Musing about a solution, he invoked the concept of "creative destruction." Coined by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, it describes the process whereby hungry new firms topple established giants.

"Sometimes old structures do need to be demolished in order that new ones can be erected," the speaker told the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating, a group more accustomed to discussing leaky faucets than federal politics.

His name was Stephen Harper.

Six years later, as prime minister, his speeches have no trouble finding a national audience. And in the next federal election, some voters will be wondering what creative destruction he would wreak on the country if granted a majority government.

When he delivered his 2001 speech, Mr. Harper was president of the National Citizens' Coalition, a right-wing advocacy group that promotes an agenda of small government, free enterprise and conservative family values. Yet, in his first 15 months as prime minister, Mr. Harper has governed more like a cautious centrist: rolling out a big-spending budget aimed at middle-income families, reaching out to moderate Red Tories in his caucus, and appealing to "soft" nationalists in Quebec. The difference has been so stark, in fact, that former right-wing allies are accusing him of selling out to the political left.

Conservative party stalwarts insist what we are now seeing is the "real" Mr. Harper, and proves the "hidden agenda" debate should be laid to rest.

But critics warn he will run roughshod over the public institutions Canadians hold dear, implementing a radical agenda of privatization, social conservatism and militarism that would do Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher proud. They point to the flashes of fierce partisanship that Mr. Harper has shown in Parliament, as evidence a darker reality lurks below the surface.

In any case, political observers agree a pivotal question in the next election will be: "Are Canadians ready to give this man a majority?"

"There's this lingering fear that we're not seeing everything that's there," said Duncan McDowall, a political historian at Carleton University.

In his view, the next election will hinge on whether Mr. Harper can convince Canadians, once and for all, that he can be trusted, or Liberal leader Stephane Dion can prove he has the mettle to lead the country.

No one is likely more aware of this than the prime minister. By softening his ideological edges and positioning himself closer to the political centre, Mr. Harper has shown he understands what it takes to build broad support in Canada.

"The thing that strikes me about Harper in government is how incremental it is," said longtime Harper confidant and University of Calgary political scientist Tom Flanagan, who served as Conservative campaign manager in the 2004 election.

"He told me once that a Conservative party that doesn't believe in incrementalism is not fit to govern. He's had that view for a long time and it's clearly guiding his progress as prime minister. There's all kinds of areas where he's settled for half a loaf, or even one slice."

In so doing, he has also shown an uncanny sense of history.

"Canadian political history demonstrates that majority governments depend on a real sensitivity for balancing regional, ethnic, class interests, and that the centre exerts a tremendous discipline on a prime minister who wants to stay in the centre," said Mr. McDowall. "I am impressed by how quickly Mr. Harper seems to have acquired this kind of genetic instinct for Canadian politics."

Not so long ago, moderation was hardly Mr. Harper's calling card.

After a stint as a Reform party MP, he joined the National Citizens' Coalition in 1997. As president, he uncorked blistering attacks on the Ottawa establishment, ridiculing the "latest dribblings from the mouth" of the prime minister and branding Elections Canada officials as "jackasses."

In a now infamous letter to former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, he urged the province to build a "firewall" around itself by, among other things, setting up its own pension plan and provincial police force. Mr. Harper rejected the Liberal orthodoxy of an activist central government that coddled to Quebec's demands. In doing so, he gave voice to Western Canadian alienation.

As prime minister, Mr. Harper has taken a more measured approach. For months, he and his ministers would talk about little except implementing the party's five campaign priorities. He has shown a knack for compromising on issues where his government found itself offside with voters, such as climate change.

When the Bloc Quebecois promised to table a motion recognizing Quebec as a nation, the prime minister tabled his own motion recognizing the Quebecois people as "a nation within a united Canada" -- a clever semantic parry that neutralized the implied independence threat while offering symbolic solace to Quebecers.

On some issues, such as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's campaign to have banks lower their ATM fees, the Conservative government has sounded more like the NDP.

That has not sat well with deep-blue conservatives such as Gerry Nicholls, who was ousted as vice-president of the National Citizens' Coalition after he relentlessly lambasted the Harper government. The organization says he moved on to "do different things." He says he was fired.

Mr. Nicholls accuses Mr. Harper of abandoning the small-c conservative principles he espoused at the coalition. Instead, the prime minister has created a "Red Reform party" dominated by Red Tories and the populist wing of the former Reform party, leaving no room for fiscal conservatives, says Mr. Nicholls.

"I can only speculate what happened, but I think a reasonable assumption is that he's getting advice from pollsters, spin doctors and political consultants who are showing him the polls and the numbers and saying: 'Look, here's how we can win, here are the target groups we have to appeal to.' Maybe that's a good strategy in the short term. I just think the Conservative party can win an election on conservative values."

There are even signs of discontent in the Conservatives' Alberta stronghold. The latest issue of the Western Standard, a conservative magazine based in Calgary, features a cover story called "The End of Reform."

"At what point have so many ideological concessions been made that the Conservative party is different only in name and colours from the Liberals -- precisely the accusation made by the founders of Reform in the 1980s?" asks publisher Ezra Levant in an accompanying editorial.

Mr. Nicholls doesn't think there's much chance Mr. Harper will return to his hawkish roots if he wins a majority, because the heavy spending will create expectations of ongoing largesse. "Once a government starts down the road of big spending, it's hard to get off it."

Oppositions MPs offer gloomier forecasts. They note the Harper government has cut funding for programs that help the poor or disadvantaged, such as the Court Challenges Program, which provided financial assistance for court cases that advance equality rights. In the view of his critics, Mr. Harper has already taken bold steps to remake public agencies and institutions to reflect his conservative agenda. The government has added police representatives to the committees that vet judicial appointments, and Mr. Harper has vowed to appoint judges who support his tough-on-crime policies.

Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said Mr. Harper simply doesn't share the values that most Canadians cherish, such as those embodied in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A Harper majority government would ignore environmental problems, gut social programs, abandon public child care, push "multi-tiered health care, with access rationed on the basis of wealth," and adopt a foreign policy that is a "carbon copy" of U.S. Republican policy, Mr. Goodale warned.

"He does not believe in a cohesive federation, an inclusive federation, a caring-and-sharing kind of society. It's fend-for-yourself federalism under Stephen Harper."

Mr. Goodale's comments suggest the Liberals plan to revive accusations that Mr. Harper harbours a "hidden agenda," a strategy they employed with some success in the last two campaigns. But Conservative supporters believe Canadians are growing weary of the tactic.

"This is typical Liberal rhetoric. Everything they have argued about Harper and the fear they have tried to engender has proven to be nothing but a cloud of crap," said Conservative strategist Tim Powers. "The emperor's been naked for a while, and I don't see him putting on any new clothes to scare his subjects."

Others who know Mr. Harper well say the penchant for strategic compromise is nothing new. Indeed, his record suggests a gradual, calculated shift toward the centre. In March 2005, at the first policy convention of the Conservative party after the merger of the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives, he convinced delegates to play down many of the socially conservative causes that the public viewed as extreme. Conservative MPs would be allowed to vote freely in the House of Commons on matters of "conscience," such as same-sex marriage, but there would be no formal anti-abortion policy.

Mr. Flanagan acknowledges that some supporters would like Mr. Harper to follow in the footsteps of conservative leaders such as Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher, or even former Ontario premier Mike Harris or Alberta premier Ralph Klein, and implement more drastic reforms. But Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher took power in an era of economic crisis marked by rampant inflation and high unemployment. By contrast, the Canadian economy has been humming along, unemployment is at a 30-year low and the government is in surplus. Mr. Harper knows his election victory was more of a repudiation of perceived Liberal corruption than an endorsement of conservative values, says Mr. Flanagan.

On some fronts, Canadians are already seeing changes in tone, if not content. The government's military rhetoric is one example. In a speech this month to commemorate the First World War battle of Vimy Ridge, considered Canada's greatest victory, Mr. Harper drew a parallel between the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers at Vimy and those fighting now in Afghanistan. "For these men and women, the terrain of Kandahar province today looks as desolate and dangerous as Flanders Fields did 90 years ago," he said.

After years of what the Conservatives see as an overemphasis on Canada's role as peackeeper, Mr. Harper is trying to foster a more robust sense of Canadian identity through pride in the military.

But Mr. Flanagan says any changes will likely be deliberate. "I think the Harper you see is the Harper you'll get in the event of a majority," he said.

While not necessarily agreeing with all that much of the above article, it's definitely good that our friends in the media are countering the left's 'hidden agenda' fear-mongering.

Lot's of info, speaches, video clips, photos, etc.
On the Prime Minister's website

“In a now infamous letter to former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, he urged the province to build a “firewall” around itself by, among other things, setting up its own pension plan and provincial police force.”

They make these things sound bad. Quebec has its own pension plan and police force. Ontario has its own provincial police force. Other provinces chose to contract with the RCMP to provide provincial police services. to take advantage of economies of scale.

But critics warn he will run roughshod over the public institutions [ socialist moonbat liberal ]Canadians hold dear,: 1) implementing a radical agenda of privatization, ( wealth earned by investors and risk takers ? Whats wrong with radical privatization?) 2) social conservatism ( you can't have sex with your donkey in public, and 16 year olds shouldn't be allowed into sex clubs in Montreal) 3) and militarism that would do Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher proud. ( helping your allies defend freedom and halt the evolution of a World Islamofascist Caliphate) 4)They point to the flashes of fierce partisanship that Mr. Harper has shown in Parliament, as evidence a darker reality lurks below the surface.( Beware the Dark Side of the Force, Luke)

The liberals are going nuts trying to destroy the indestructable. Harper sinply is the genuine article: a decent, bright, knowledgeable, fearless Canadaian patriot.

Tremble Liberals and Socialists. A great Canadian has arrived on the national scene, and you must all bow and genuflect.

His majority is assured.

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