No Place to Run
Jan 24th, 2006 at 9:22 am by Susie
Now we don’t even have Canada to run to:
“Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party defeated the long entrenched Liberal Party in Canadian elections on Monday,” the New York Times reports. “A Conservative victory is a striking turn in the country’s politics and is likely to improve Canada’s strained relations with the Bush administration.”
The Washington Post notes Harper “fell short of winning a clear majority in the 308-seat House of Commons. He will need to compromise with opponents to form a government and further his agenda of scaling back social programs, cutting taxes and winnowing the power of the federal government.”
Please realize, this isn’t exactly an organic Canadian movement. American right-wing groups have poured a lot of money into Canada to make this happen.
You say American Right-Wing groups have been pouring money into Canadian politics… Can you back this up? Any links?
Dobson’s Focus on the Family has a growing movement in Canada–especially in the western provinces.
This election is not something to be mourned by liberals. The conservatives have been given a minority win, chiefly because their leader, Stephen Harper managed to muzzle his Pat Robertson-like nut jobs successfully. The NDP, the most leftist party in the country, made significant electoral gains, doubling the amount of their seats. The conservatives will have to tread extremely carefully to keep theis government alive. It is also important to remember that the Liberals in opposition are devastatingly intelligent, and not one whit cowed.Most of us here in Canada believe that we have given the Conservatives a grudging chance, which may be withdrawn at any time if they start getting even a little bit wierd.
Dan (who seems to be from Canada) is a bit a fresh air, in a cloud of right wing conservatives, that now seems to have envolped Canada.
I still advicaate that we (the left side of politics), get a news media show that presents our beliefs . Either we educate the public on what is REALLY happening in our country or we will possibly lose it forever to the Roman Emperors who will follow in bush’s footsteps.
Food for thought.
Don’t misquote me. I didn’t say they’ve been pouring money into Canadian politics; that may even be illegal, for all I know. But they’ve been funding right-wing advocacy groups and think tanks in Canada and apparently they’re making progress.
Well, we may not be able to run to Canada,but there’s still Mexico…
Oh, wait a minute - there’s that $5 Billion fence going up, with the anti-personnel mines and the “Minutemen”
fascisti patrols.
Damn - I thought they said that fence was to keep the Mexicans out.
(Seems to me the East Germans said that about the Wall when they built that one,too.
(There is still a theory out there that Prescott Bush and his blood line are really Nazi plants from 1937 onwards, providing the underlying reality for that novel “The Boys From Brazil”)
The NDP, the most leftist party in the country, made significant electoral gains, doubling the amount of their seats.
This is good news. I watched returns come in last night for a short time and was hoping that this was the case.
It’s rather arrogant of you to assume that the Conservative Party of Canada isn’t “an organic Canadian movement”, but rather a result of “American right-wing groups”. The Conservative Party has a long history going back before Confederation, including the first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald. Canadian conservatism is different than American conservatism, and the fact is that American politics have little influence in Canada, despite what Americans may think.
Also, the NDP did not “double” their respresentation in Parliament. They went from 19 to 29 seats, and gained less than 2% in the popular vote, getting 17.5%. The Conservative government is stable, especially since the Liberals are going into a leadership race.
Once again, I refuse to be misquoted. I said it “wasn’t exactly an organic Canadian movement,” and that’s just what I meant.
As to the “little influence” American politics have in Canada:
http://www.harperstiestousa.org/
http://canadiancerberus.blogspot.com/2005/11/ssm-and-american-money.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060121/ELXNUS21/National/Idx
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2FArticleNews%2FTPStory%2FLAC%2F20051201%2FELXNREED01%2FTPNational%2FCanada&ord=1138161896729&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true