I’ve been waiting all day to have a moment to really savour Ezra’s Levant’s excellent column in today’s National Post – In defence of Harper’s budget.
My fellow Blogging Tory, Kirk West, seems to think that Ezra has actually made the situation worse by admitting that the budget isn’t perfect. However, I feel that Levant makes a few important points.
With the installation of Michael Ignatieff as the leader of the Liberal Party, the battle to reclaim the centre has begun. Of course, Stephen Harper was inching that way for years. It is necessary in a country where our most right-leaning party is still further left than the Democrats on many issues. That is the nature of Canada.
If you don’t like it, try going out and changing a few hearts and minds rather than complaining.
Regarding the conservative purists, Ezra notes:
…That grumbling is a good thing. With all three opposition parties and much of the media to the left of the government, conservative dissenters provide at least some counterweight to those demanding even more spending. And, from a purely partisan perspective, conservative critics provide political cover to the government in the next election, reassuring centrist voters that Stephen Harper isn’t “extremist” in his austerity…
He’s absolutely right. Gerry Nicholls and company are doing a great PR campaign reminding leftish voters and politicians that they’d better not try to wring more out of this Government, because it is as far left as it dares to be at this point in time.
The other great point that Ezra makes is that sticking to fundamental conservative ideologies didn’t get the Reform anywhere. Kirk and many others are basically asking why we need two “liberal” governments?
Well, here’s the answer my friend – to stave off corruption (remember Adscam?)
In an effective democracy we always need a strong opposition party to keep the governing party on its toes. Losing power in a blaze of self-righteous glory doesn’t really cut it in the real world.
Michael Ignatieff is smart enough to realize the centre is the “right” place to be. And that is where the battle will be waged.
“Michael Ignatieff is smart enough to realize the centre is the “right” place to be. And that is where the battle will be waged.”
Yep and Harper’s left little room for Ignatieff as it is now. Iggy’s choice is to obliterate the NDP or go “right”(which he’ll never do), so the best option would be to throw Jack under a bus and aim for the disenchanted of the NDP.
Did anyone happen to notice that when Layton asked his question during Question Period that the PM did NOT answer. It was the Minister for the portfolio.
I’m also noticing that Questions are being asked in French first by the party leaders, not English first.
When did that start?
“Michael Ignatieff is smart enough to realize the centre is the “right” place to be. And that is where the battle will be waged.”
Absolutely right on! And, it’s not going to be helpful if Nicholls keeps on endlessly complaining. I had to turn him off the last time he was on politics. When I was teaching we used to call those types “attention seekers.” Hmmmm.
I’ve voted conservative all my life. Things have changed with this budget. PMSH himself has mused that minority gov’ts in Canada may be the new norm and if that is the case then coalitions will be the new norm as they are in other democractic countries. With this budget I forsee the conservative movement fracturing and smaller conservative parties forming. Some regional perhaps others along idealogical lines. But as coalition governments will have to be formed for stability’s sake these smaller conservative parties could have more say then under the present situation much like in Israel where smaller parties can and do have much power. So, the days of two major parties may be history. I hope so. They are becoming unwieldy in my opinion.
Yes, quite unlike Stéphane Dion, Michael Ignatieff seems determined to reclaim the more traditional Liberal centre, but he’ll have his job cut out for him. The PM has moved the Conservative party considerably towards that same centre vacating the position on the right the Reform used to occupy. Even Layton’s NDP is not as far left as it was 20 or 30 years ago.
It’s getting really crowed in the centre, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing, eh?
So, the days of two major parties may be history.
Jon Evan – I agree, but for a different reason – the Bloc.
Sorry to interrupt. Breaking News from the National Post: this was brought up in Question Period, with no apology from the MP or her Pary Leader.
______________________________________________________
Bloc Québécois MP Maria Mourani spams Parliament with links to videos praising Muslim terrorist groups Posted: February 04, 2009, 2:03 PM by Jonathan Kay
Filed under: Jonathan Kay
From our friends at B’nai Brith …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
‘Bloc MP used as tool in global terrorist propaganda campaign,’ says B’nai
Brith Canada
MONTREAL, February 4, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has characterized as “negligent” the reported dissemination of terrorist propaganda by Maria Mourani, the Bloc Quebecois Member of Parliament for Ahuntsic. In an email to parliamentary colleagues focusing on the recent war in Gaza, Ms. Mourani apparently unwittingly forwarded links to videos praising terrorist groups outlawed in Canada, amongst them Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. The Jewish human rights organization is calling on her to publicly apologize to her constituents and the wider Canadian community for her role, however inadvertent, in the dangerous spread of hate.
“Maria Mourani has admitted that she failed to watch all the videos that were linked to the email she disseminated to fellow parliamentarians,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada. “This irresponsible action makes her an unwitting tool in the spread of dangerous hate propaganda.
“This incident highlights the relative ease with which Hamas and other terrorist groups are able to infiltrate all levels of society to further their insidious agenda of violence and hate.
“We call on Maria Mourani to publicly apologize to her constituents and the wider Canadian public for behavior unbecoming a Member of Parliament. She should have considered the impact of her email and recognized that such messaging is part and parcel of a global propaganda campaign that seeks the destruction of the Jewish State.
“We note Maria Mourani’s ongoing disregard for the suffering of Israeli civilians and her record of failing to single out terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as the reasons why so many civilians on all sides of the Middle East conflict continue to suffer greatly.”
I agree whole heartedly with Ezra Levants article, all we have to remeber is when we had both Reform/Canadian Alliance in opposition along with the old Progressive Conservative Party, these two right wing parties fractured the vote thereby allowing the Liberals unimpeded access to majority government which gave Adscam, HRDC Boondoggle, under funded military etc.
Mr Nicholls and Tara Khardasian remind me of the Red Tories like Dave Orchard, Garth Turner, Scott Brison & Danny Williams who would like to see the old PC party restored thereby once again fracturing the vote.
I had to turn him off the last time he was on politics. When I was teaching we used to call those types “attention seekers.”
Sandy, at least Gerry Nicholls does us the courtesy of posting media-alerts on his blog so we know which shows to avoid.
jon evan Says:
February 4th, 2009
But as coalition governments will have to be formed for stability’s sake these smaller conservative parties could have more say then under the present situation much like in Israel where smaller parties can and do have much power. So, the days of two major parties may be history. I hope so. They are becoming unwieldy in my opinion.
These coalition parties are not the answer the example quoted that there is a coaltion in Israel which is true, but there is no stability in that type of government, Italy also has a coalition government and they are forever changing because the government gets defeated. This is why the Dippers constantly push for proportional representation so that they can get into government
I would like to clear up another misrepresentation of Michael Ignatieff’s credentials which nobody seems to question.
I don’t have all of the links at hand but the bottomn line is that he was NEVER a Professor at Harvard. He was NEVER a Professor anywhere.
His position within the Harvard campus was as a Director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights funded by the Kennedy Foundation, founded just a few years ago. It is a single topic focus think tank group like the Manning Centre. Ignatieff’s “credentials” were that he wrote a bunch of books and was a reporter/journalist on these issues. He gave “talks” – much like Manning’s Directors do and some of those “talks” were part of the academic curriculum.
There was some attempt by him to attain Assistant Professor status and the real Academics in the faculty turned him down.
So, why did we all fall for the “Professor Ignatieff” from Harvard big lie?
C.C.,I commented on your point to my hubby,re Diane Finlay taking Wacko Jacko’s question in QP today.It is always PMSH that responds to leaders questions,so I wondered if that was a deliberate ‘diss’ of Layton? I laughed when Diane got a few good coalition digs in at JAck,and the Cons. MP’s behind her were also getting a good chuckle.
OT,and not sure if mentioned prev. but pretty good post up at SDA on Iggy contributing ZERO,that’s 0 dollars to Lib party.I followed the one link,and great comment found: if Iggy contributed nothing,I pledge to double it!
Ezra and Stephen, weighing in tells me that the PM got it right, for the right reasons.
Hindsight is always a buzzword for those that end up being correct. In this case, there was no win/win
for anyone but I think that Canadians needed to be the focus of this government and they are.
The naysayers seem to have a crystal ball that we have not been able to get our hands on. I am constantly hearing that, “he should have gone to an election,he would have won a majority”…how do they know that or that the GG would have let him. How exactly does that help, Canadians?
… “he should have let the coalition govern they would have destroyed each other and then he would have won a majority”….how do they know that either?
“He should have stuck to his/our small c conservative principles”
I think more of the base are closer to the centre right than the far right, now.
Ezra,Stephen and a few others have made these points, much better. They have moved on to the ‘logical side’ and it is time for the others to join.
The wilderness has been our home for way to long.
“our most right-leaning party is still further left than the Democrats on many issues.”
I don’t think that has been true since we dumped the “progressive” in Conservative; certainly not since Obama, Reid and Pelosi.
For one thing, these discussions usually fail to put the USA in the context of who controls Congress and the Senate while a Democrat President is in the White House. What looks like a right titling Democrat President can instead be a Republican Congress calling the shots. Conversely ,Reagan would appear like a leftie with Reid and Pelosi controlling things.
In any event there is no doubt in my mind if PMSH had a majority he would easily be to the right of the Democrats Obama/Reid/Pelosi on most issues.
But it is worrisome that our own rightwing does not believe that. On the other hand, blue Liberals have not voted Conservative because they believe a majority PMSH has a hidden agenda to take the party too far right. So we are losing both of those critical support groups for reasons of opposing calculations.
How do we fix that? Tasha would say go hard right now and hand the budget the Coalition so they can wear the fallout of excessive stimulus.. a very high risk strategy. In the end, I trust PMSH to incrementally get us to where we want to be, i.e., a majority government that can shrink Ottawa and decentralize accountability to the Provinces.
In any event, yes, “staving off corruption” is reason enough to have 2 parties in the center.
Wow! Tom Clark didn’t cut Anthony Rota a break at all. Well done, Tom!
[...] going on today after Ezra Levant’s defence of the budget in the NP. I think BlueLikeYou sums it up the best, while making the point that having a left-of-center Liberal party and a right-of-center [...]
[...] The battle for the centre [...]
Great post Joanne. It is the long game, we have to take the center, if we want to move said center, to the right…
OT.
I am a fan of power play now, Tom Clark is good. The show is done like a American cable channel show(fox CNN) very fast moving and informetive. Even today at the end of power play Clark had a lettermen segment(Which is what Brit Hume always did at the end of his show on fox news). The show is very interesting. I’am actualy impressed.
I hated the strat and MP panels on Duff. Where it was the opps shouting over the polite Conservative. If Clark keeps this up this could be special.
JDot, we should send him some feedback. Does anyone have an email address?
Bec Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Good post. Alaways remember it is the long game. What is the point of having a Hardcore conservative government for 3 years, then a liberal for 12?
Conservatives have only govern this country for a fraction of are history.
The Conservatives govern when people get fed up with the liberals and want to give them a time out. So how do we change that trend?
I think PM Harper is the Conservative version of M.King. King governed in a minority, but he was able to had the keys over to a Liberal dynasty that has lasted till this day. IMHO that is what the PM is trying to do. PM Harper is a student of history more then anything IMHO…
If we want a conservative country it is going to take a long time. We have to be, um, conservative in are expectations….
I thought Craig Unglued was going to be a regular….maybe that anti Harper rant didn’t go voer so well.
”So, why did we all fall for the “Professor Ignatieff” from Harvard big lie?”
Interesting Lorraine, so we must call him
‘Instructor Iffy’.
jon, the only party I see splintering in the next decade is the Liberals;
IMO yesterday was the beginning of the spintering, with an entire province ‘allowed’ to break party lines, Libs already have a Quebec wing, now a Newf wing too….
I wonder what the threat to Iffy was.?
Cross the floor to the Dippers?
Launch an Elect Bob Rae campaign?
Didn’t Tonda McCharles, 2 days ago when talking with Craid, give Iffy the thumbs up on letting Danny’s 6 vote no?
Today she says Iffy made a mistake that will come back at him.
Joanne says..
“JDot, we should send him some feedback”
I agree. And to be frank Joanne, I will put up with a Craig Oliver hit job once a week on PM Harper, if I don’t have to watch a strat panel or a MP panel everyday.
But CPC government members should be put on notice Tom Clark does not put up wih spin, Wow he was good on Rota.
Great post Joanne, you seem to be able to sense the comfort levels of this wonderful party of Conservatives. Well Done.
I also am impressed with Tom Clark, I also think he has picked up some professional style from American Cable channel. He even had on the numbers of liberal party donations from leaders in that party. Well Done!!I also think he is by far the best looking man hosting political shows in Canada.Of course he is probably 15 years younger than the others.
Lorraine Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
WTF, I did not no that are you sure, I thought Chan who left the PCO was a prize Iggy student?.
The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is research center concerned with human rights. It is located at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
The mission of the Carr Center “is to train future leaders for careers in public service and to apply first-class research to the solution of public policy problems”.
The center was founded in 1999 by Kennedy School alumnus Greg Carr. The founding Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is Harvard University Professor Samantha Power.
From 2000-2005, the center was directed by Michael Ignatieff. The current director is Sarah Sewall.
Go to the Carr Site – search Ignatieff and you will find a PDF of his letter of resignation as “Director”
From a recent article on Iggy which I quote here: http://www.1337hax0r.com/2009/02/03/iggy-authoritarian-prig/
“Mr. Peretz recounts how efforts to have Mr. Ignatieff promoted to assistant professor were squelched by an influential member of the Harvard faculty who argued that, “given his advantages as a scion of the aristocracy, and an especially handsome one too, his accomplishments were less than they appeared.””
So, all, Mr. Ignatieff was NOT a Professor or even an Assistant Professor at Harvard. In fact, he was a Director of the Carr School for Human Rights – a non profit group funded by the Kennedy Foundation.
A Canadian comparison would be the Manning Foundation – people who get together to think about things.
REAL academics nixed Mr. Ignatieff’s attempt to be even an Assistant Proff.
We’ve always found Tom Clark to be pretty good. At least, based on what little we saw of him. Hopefully, he continues to be fair.
I don’t agree with having many small political parties. It leads to disruptions and probably many elections. I don’t see how that will move Canada forward. I prefer the two or three party system. Also, I agree the Bloc is a major problem. Instead of continually sitting on the fence, we ought to solve this problem once and for all. It’s time to be pragmatic.
I don’t understand why people fail to realize how fortunate we are to have Steven Harper leading this country. Look at his record, at what he has accomplished during these difficult times (minority government & a global economic crisis). He’s the best we have, it’s as simple as that. That alone should have us supporting him.
Gerry Nicholls had an article in the Montreal Gazette today. Among other things, he pointed out that PM Harper was interested only in keeping his job. Funny thing, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that PM Harper never had a strong desire to be PM. If that be the case, maybe that’s why he’s such a great PM.
Lorraine Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Thanks for that,
So it is a think tank, And the PPG are spinning it as Iggy was a professer at Harvard(LMAO).
What a surprise the PPG in the Tank for Iggy……
Yeah he was a professor in the same vein as Christopher Lloyd’s character in the Back to the Future movies. Probably graduated in the same class.
Iggy an Authoritarian Prig?
From a recent article on Iggy which I quote here: http://www.1337hax0r.com/2009/02/03/iggy-authoritarian-prig/
I think this article starts to answer why I get such wierd heeby jeeby almost maniacal evil vibes from Mr. Ignatieff, even when I just hear his voice. Mom says always listen to your spidey-sense.
Weighing in on Tom Clark, finally.
Very good show today. He has these guys number, don’t you think? The segment with Anthony Rota, was priceless. Not for any other reason than the Liberals (and a few others) have a tendency to “spin the answer” and not really answer it. Tom Clark, sent it right back to him.
These guys are going to have to practice in the mirror before an appearance! Ha!
I hope Owliver, is gone for good! He is a cranky old fogey that wears that chip on his shoulder a bit to blatantly!
Hmmm … Lorraine that is interesting. The LPC have switched from:
a Prof who was not a leader
to
a not-a-Prof who hands out one time “pass” coupons to maverick wannabe Bloc Newfies
Is that what Libs mean by “progressive”?
Wow Lorraine, that was an eye opener. I have read a ton on him but that definately does get the spidey senses tingling! Kudos to you!
Bec Says:
“Very good show today. He has these guys number, don’t you think? The segment with Anthony Rota, was priceless. Not for any other reason than the Liberals (and a few others) have a tendency to “spin the answer” and not really answer it. Tom Clark, sent it right back to him.”
____________________________
That is what I liked. Rota, and the NL guy yesterday, wanted to spin the messaging onto how bad Harper was. But Clark was having non of it.
That is why I say, the CPC government members, better know there files when going on Clark’s show.
Lorraine, I read that whole thing on IGGY. Wow , he is definitely not your average Canadian. After reading that I am kind of glad Danny Williams took him down a peg or two. Not that I agree with NFLD tactics!!!
It looks like IGGy is quite the snob and I am still waiting to find out more about his two adult children!!!Some one is definitely covering this info up.
Lorraine, thanks for this info. Maybe some MSM should be informed as well not as if they’ll do report the truth but at least they can’t say they weren’t aware.
Charles Adler would be the one to send the link to. He just may have something to say about the Count.
Wonder if the CPC war room have this information?
Mom says always listen to your spidey-sense.
Wow. Thanks Lorraine. Your Mom was right.
Here is a silly but simple analogy. After days of prep work I actually opened a can of paint today. My goal is to repaint the kitchen, after cleaning the ceiling; sadly, I realized that I would have to also to repaint it. Not in my original plan, added effort, time, money and great pain but a necessary adjustment to achieve my goal for a better kitchen.
It is possible to draw a parallel to the latest CPC budget. Of course they do not want defiect spending, but after reacessing the situation one must adjust to the given circumstances. Yes, painting a ceiling sucks, lots of work with little reward but in the big picture well worth, running a deficit sucks but in the big picture it appears to be a risk with taking, really just has to be done.
Simply, things change, one adapts, all the while keeping an eye to the long term goal. A strong Canada should always be the goal and sometimes that requires an unforeseen adjustment in plans while focusing on long term goals.
Paint fumes may have influenced this post but some where in here I agree with Levant.
Adscam was the result of too much money to throw around, decisions made quickly, with little oversight or planning, and concern for politics in the forefront.
Hmmm…what does that sound like?
Moebius Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Agreed..
But this is not a Quebec PM trying to appease Quebec…
You are right there is scandel lurking in the budget. But Conservatives are holding the purse strings(I will be surprised if all this stimulus makes it out the door)..
So Lorraine – you’re saying that Ignatieff’s resume is allegedly false? That he never was ever a professor at Harvard. So has he fooled everyone, including his party, and the NY Times?
How would Ignatieff have received student ratings on ratemyprofessor.com? Guest lecturer? The students rate them based on criteria over time.
You could be right Lorraine but before we start blasting it to the MSM shouldn’t we be sure?
No harm in asking the question though for sure.
I’d just hate WK or othe of Iggy’s kick-ass company take Joanne’s bloggers on.
If we can do more digging and find more it would be more convincing.
I’m not trying to be a party pooper I’m cautious by nature.
janet…. I relate totally! Giggle and good luck! You will feel so GOOD when you have done it.
Paint fumes may have influenced this post but some where in here I agree with Levant.
Great analogy, Janet! Well done.
I’d just hate WK or othe of Iggy’s kick-ass company take Joanne’s bloggers on.
No, it would be Joanne that they would be taking on. I appreciate the concern, CC.
If people could just couch their statements with words like “allegedly” etc., that would be ever so much better. Thanks.
You are right there is scandel lurking in the budget. But Conservatives are holding the purse strings(I will be surprised if all this stimulus makes it out the door)..
And unlike Adscam, I doubt the money will make it into the Conservative Party’s private coffers.
“I will be surprised if all this stimulus makes it out the door”
Precisely JDot. The plan just might be to spend less than projected, who would have thought it. Not the leftists, that’s for sure.
Joanne, if it was the coalition of the three stooges you can bet your last nickel that there would be plenty of malfeasance.
Gerry Nicholls had an article in the Montreal Gazette today. Among other things, he pointed out that PM Harper was interested only in keeping his job. Funny thing, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that PM Harper never had a strong desire to be PM. If that be the case, maybe that’s why he’s such a great PM.
————————
He didn’t even want to be an MP, never mind Prime Minister…and he didn’t run for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance until he was practically begged to do so. Stephen Harper would be happier as a ‘policy wonk’ than an actual politician in my opinion (although I must admit that he seems to have gotten more comfortable in the public eye)…
Bruce Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
“The plan just might be to spend less than projected, who would have thought it.”
Bingo..
Dissecting Ignatieff’s resume from Wikipedia: Says he was an Instructor at Oxford -
Oxford files: The Academic year has been a busy one for the Rothermere American Institute with GUEST SPEAKERS including PHILOSOPHER Michael Ignatieff…
Lorraine Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
LMAO…
Is Iggypuff a complete fraud?
Hmmmmm..
PS:Poor Bob Rae…LMFAO…
About Ignatieff’s credentials – to be fair, he did make a name for himself as a journalist and writer and philosopher. We all had visiting lecturers at University and it would appear that Mr. Ignatieff chose a niche topic of “Human Rights” and did lots of speaking gigs at big brand name universities. I have even done speaking gigs at various colleges and academic centres in the past.
Hence “taught at” or “lectured at”would be technically true and in some of his promos for these lectures he was promoted as a visiting professor which again was a stretch.
He WAS an Assistant Professor in his last years in Canada in the 70′s at the University of British Columbia and then I guess Liberal strings were pulled to get him a paying job in Canada in 2005 and he was made a “visiting professor” at the University of Toronto (your tax dollars at word for the Liberal party of Canada again).
So….maybe his resume is hyperbole instead of outright fabrication.
I am weary of Gerry Nichols. I put him in my rear view mirror the moment he suggested it was time to splinter the right again.
My question to conservatives looking for a more “pure conservative” party. Where are you going to find all these “pure” conservatives? The West is in now and we like that.
Here in next-year country, we were happy to paint the province Reform in the 90′s; however, those same swing voters were electing back to back to back NDP governments in Regina.
Our current Premier, Brad Wall is much more conservative, thank goodness. He gained power promising to work with Ottawa to fix the massive infrastructure deficit (Thank you Mr. Harper) and by quelling fears he might sell off Crown Corporations.
What does that tell you?
Lorraine Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Wow, I think you are on to somthing…
Lorraine – What I think you stumbled upon was once again this whole play on words that seems to cloud very many things about the international man of mystery who wants to take down Stephen Harper.
The fact that the truth of the guy is so elusive would, and should raise questions with Canadians.
Who is he REALLY? Seems like all that’s missing is the long lost child by a secret lover(kidding)
FredfromBC & revanche,
all I can say, as a Quebecker, is I’m very happy that the west is in. It’s been long overdo having a westerner leading this country. And I’m confident that the Conservatives will do this country proud!! Looking at the members of the party, I like what I see. I wish I could say the same for the Liberals.
“My question to conservatives looking for a more “pure conservative” party. Where are you going to find all these “pure” conservatives? ‘”
They won’t! He has a few rebels blowing steam but most of the comments I have read are from the same old ones.
There is no one even close to a ‘Preston Manning’ out there in the conservative movement.
These people baffle me and frankly I find them extremely self absorbed with their apparent, principles.
Bec,
It is not baffling at all. Some people make better street preachers than servants, that’s all.
People like Gerry will never govern because, deep down, i don’t think they want to. It is far easier for the “true believers” to preach at people than it is to serve them.
The other reason is less obvious, but just as true: the problem with serving is the closer you are to Canadians, the more you discover they have hair on them. The true believers can’t see past the hair.
cheers
If Gerry Nichols were not trying to divide the Conservatives, adversely critiquing PM Harper, would he be of any interest to the MSM?
Gerry always starts his little talks telling us he worked with Stephen Harper for five years. This is to give the impression he knows him well and he has changed.
He gives no consideration for the fact times and circumstances change and we often have to change and adapt to them to arrive at our goals. This is what Mr Harper had to do to bring the Conservative movement to power. He needs more power with a majority government to have any hope of bringing in more conservative values for the betterment of this Country.
Gerry doesn’t get it. He prefers his beloved Conservatism to remain on the outside looking in.
Mr Harper gets it, we need to support him every step of the way. He’s doing an amazing job given all the hurdles in his path.
Gerry is also dead wrong to imply the PM is seeking power for himself. Mr Harper is about the only PM in memory who is in it for the right reasons, not PERSONAL ambitions. He has said when finished with politics he won’t be sitting around writing a book about how somebody did him wrong.
I think a very important part of Ezra’s article has been ignored by this post :
That grumbling is a good thing. With all three opposition parties and much of the media to the left of the government, conservative dissenters provide at least some counterweight to those demanding even more spending.
The CPC and Canada needs these purist conservative critics. For too long, anything resembling purist conservative thought was ignored, repressed or ridiculed instead of debated on its merits. They may be too far right for the moment but as the center moves right, their ideas will become less controversial. Therefore, it is essential that these right of right voices be heard publicly. This starts the long-term process of normalizing small government, low tax ideas.
They are not enemies of the conservative party that need to “sit down and shut up”. They are more like scouts or pioneers who dare to enter new territory first.
Check out Bourque’s headline this morning.
“Who’s Running This Party – The Professor, The Millionaire, or Gilligan”
The Professor – Iggy, but IS he really a professor? as Lorraine pointed out.
The Millionaire – Danny Williams, the true leader of the LPOC.
Gilligan – Warren Kinsella, looking by all accounts in the photo like he’s going through a mid-life crisis.
I notice that on the news pages the critics of Ignatieff and the Liberals are ramping up. There are still one or two who’s buying this man’s gimmick, but I’m seeing more and more pundits describing Ignatieff in less than flattering language.
LC, don’t you think we have to reach the top, have a chance to implement more Conservative values, prove them to be good for the country rather than put out fodder for the Opposition? Can we trust the electorate not to succumb to the Liberal spin?
If not, then we can count Gerry Nichols as a true friend, merely giving constructive criticism to his former cohort, Stephen Harper. I’d like to think that of Gerry, he appears to be a rather nice fellow as well. I think it’s wrong to imply Harper is hungry for personal power.
Something must be working, we’re slowly inching to majority government. The media hacks are already talking about Harper getting the boot if he doesn’t form Majority next time around.
I think the conservatives need both short-term and long-term goals.
Short-term: The current government is CPC-lite (pragmatic center)which is an absolute necessity to move Canada to the right, incrementally. PMSH is providing the necessary bridge between where Canada is now (left of center) to where Conservatives and conservatives would like to be in the future (further right).
Long-term : The purist conservatives are necessary to introduce long-forgotten concepts of individual responsibility and self-reliance through less government. They are allies in the long-term goal to “provide at least some counterweight to those demanding even more spending”. Their ideas may never be mainstream but they do expand the spectrum of ideas to include libertarian thought. These voices need to be heard and debated not attacked and repressed.
Regarding GN : IMHO, Gerry Nichols has a personal vendetta against PMSH. I suspect he blames SH for his removal from the NCC. I agree with many of his conservative/libertarian ideas but not his vengeful nature.
re: Ignatieff’s professorial resume
From the ratemyprofessors site the students who weighed in on rating Ignatieff show that he taught Political Science 232, ISP 282, and ISP 224
Only three students rated Ignatieff so it’s no scientific proof of anything at all but his rankings out of a possible 5.0:
Clarity 2.3
Easiness 4.0
Hotness 0 (so much for the sexy thing)
Helpfulness 2.3
Overall Quality 2.3
” Philosopher” well there you go it fits with “visiting professor”, “guest speaker” as for “giving lectures” he seems to be still doing just that. This “international man of mystery” does not seem to have been a good fit or been accepted by his peers in the Academic world, which seems to be how he is playing out on the stage here as “Mr. Iffy”
As for a definition of a “philosopher” the best one I ever saw and which seems a good fit goes like this. “A philosopher is a man who at midnight in a coal bin, with no light, searches, whilst wearing a blindfold and boxing gloves,for a black cat that isn’t there, a theologian would not find the cat either, but would believe that the cat was there” Given the events of the last little while the cat possibly had made it onto a “menu” at a resturant near you-all methinks.
Going out of town again this week to work, Hope you all stay well and keep on blogging, God Bless.
Cheers Bubba