What I Can't Stand About Harper

Harper's Baggage
What I Can't Stand About Harper: Thanks to Mound of Sound for the idea. I'm taking up his request to bloggers and writing down my list of things I don't like about Stephen Harper's policies. I would encourage all of you - if you dislike Stephen Harper's policies - to do the same as well. So, without further adieu, here is what I can't stand about Stephen Harper's Conservative government: Harper on The Environment:
Stephen Harper is so ideologically blind, and so enthralled to the Alberta oil industry that he refuses to acknowledge the obvious threat of global warming and the need to take action to curb it. He's flouted Kyoto, obstructed negotiation of a new international climate change agreement, and has been hesitant to take any kind of action to combat global warming (so much for the days when we could take pride in our country's foreign policy, such as Pearson's creation of peacekeeping forces and Mulroney's bold stand against Apartheid South Africa, now it's a foreign policy of selfishness, obstructionism, and sucking up to Bush). Overwhelming scientific evidence won't convince Harper, neither will the fact that most other conservative leaders, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Newt Gingrich, among others, have recognized the threat of global warming and the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. George W. Bush is one of the few leaders today who still refuses to face up to the facts of global warming, and Harper prefers to follow his lead.
Harper on Immigration and Multiculturalism:
As Canadians, we can take pride in an open immigration policy and a commitment to multiculturalism. While these are the legacies of Liberal Prime Ministers Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, they have been upheld by New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives such as Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. However, Stephen Harper's recent immigration policies threaten to tear apart the fabric of multiculturalism and immigration that have been the cornerstone of this country for the past forty years. This is nothing short of tragic. As well, in Parliament Stephen Harper committed an especially appalling and racist act by trying to link a respected Sikh MP, Navdeep Bains, to terrorism. There is enough of this kind of racial profiling going on in airports and at border crossings in the post-9/11 World, we don't need it from our Prime Minister in the chambers of Parliament as well. Hypocrisy/Vindictiveness:
In 2006 Stephen Harper campaigned against the Liberal sponsorship scandal and against the income trust scandal plaguing then-Finance Minister Ralph Goodale with the promise of "clean government." These issues were the primary reason Harper won the 2006 campaign. Now it turns out that despite his campaigning against corruption, Harper's own party was engaged in several of their own acts of corruption over the last few years, including dodging federal campaign financing laws, trying to bribe a dying MP for his vote, and possibly interfering in the elections of a foreign country (ie. the NAFTA-gate revelations about the US Democratic primaries). Furthermore, there is a general vindictiveness and lack of professionalism in the way Harper conducts his government, for example by only allowing select journalists entry to a press briefing and blocking entry by respected journalists such as CBC's Keith Boag. Also, there is an overall Machiavellianism about the way Harper governs, for example using John Manley (a Liberal hawk on Afghanistan) to chair the Afghanistan study with the intention of dividing the opposition Liberals on this issue. Of course, politics is about tactics and seeking advantage, but Harper takes this to a new extreme where it surpasses mere tactics and enters the realm of Machiavellianism. Campaigns, Not Governs:
While Paul Martin's minority government marked a rocky period in Parliament punctuated by brinksmanship and constant election speculation, there were at least some long-term policy initiatives such as public daycare and the Kelowna Accord. Thus while the parties may have been in permanent campaign mode, at least the Liberal minority government was governing with a long-term policy agenda.
Not so with Stephen Harper. His minority government has been marked entirely by campaigning, by short-term initiatives that are not good policy but merely designed to drum up votes (for example the GST cut which most economists argued against). Harper has been so concerned with trying to get a majority, with trying to one-up the opposition, that there have been no long-term initiatives, and no governing. This could very well be due to his neoconservative ideology which sees government as a burden, as something to be dismantled and hallowed out. For Harper, there is nothing positive about government, no role it can play in improving people's lives. So it's all about campaigning, all about short-term advantage, and not about truly governing our country.

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