Stephen Harper - Liberal?

There's been much debate recently over whether Stephen Harper has "sold out" to Conservatism in Canada. Lately, Alan's mood over at Occam's Carbuncle has been uncharacteristically upset about this issue, and he sent an e-mail to the CPC expressing his concerns:

I point to things like the CPC's waffling and weakness on its Iraq position, its apparent enthusiasm for our Stalinist health care system, its commitment to interprovincial welfare in the form of equalization, the wishy washy "nuanced" position on ballistic missile defence, and its disturbingly statist pronouncements on things like the banning of trans fats.

I don't really agree. Most of the advice given to Democrats over the past month applies to Canada's Conservative Party as well. The Republican Party and the Liberal Party share some very basic characteristics in common. They are the Majority Party in their respective countries and both of them have a better claim in the eyes of their citizens on what it means to be an American/Canadian. While Democrats in the states are portrayed as less authentic in their American-ness, Conservatives in Canada are made to feel the same way.

If Republicans in America have trouble implementing a "conservative agenda", people should realize that implementing a Conservative Agenda in Canada is even tougher. Joe Clark is probably the most annoying, pathetic, egotistical figure in the history of Canadian politics, but he did have a point about a few things. While only a total sell-out would buy into his belief that conservatives have to be even more left-wing than the Liberals to get elected, he might still be about 1% right. Harper recognizes this. Canadian Conservatives will always have to seem non-offensive in the same way that John Kerry was attempting to accomplish. Let's just hope that less people start buying into the "hidden-agenda" argument (even though we all hope that its true).

Stephen Harper is actually a pretty right-wing guy. Here's an article that he wrote about Conservatism last year. I think all Conservatives should be overjoyed by the fact that Harper is a genuine conservative in so many ways. Does anyone remember, in October when Michael Moore was ranting about how John Kerry is called the most Liberal Senator "because he is"? (he said this in order to rally college students) Well, Stephen Harper is called a conservative ideologue, "because he is". Harper left the Reform Party in '97, in part because he was content in being in an "NDP-like" party that always received a strong number of seats, influencing policy greatly, while never assuming power. He doesn't come across as someone whose power-obsessed, he seems genuinely concerned about principles and policy. He was principled enough to leave a party that was in power in order to help build up another one from nothing.

Anyways... I could be wrong too. Although sharing dreams is completely irrational and adds nothing to actual debate or discussion, I'll share a dream that I had from this past summer, midway through the Canadian federal election. Right when the Conservatives went up in the polls, I had the strangest dream ever. I was sitting in a room, with most of Canada's prominent politicians. The Conservatives were all seated holding "blue books" while the Liberals were seated holding "red books". Everyone was listening to a speech, when, while no one was looking, Stephen Harper snuck out of his seat to the front of the room where he quickly grabbed a "red book". I was the only person in the room to notice, so I quickly got up, jumped on a table, rallied all the Conservatives in the room together, and we moved that Harper be removed from his leadership post in light of his treachery... unfortunately, we had to replace him with someone, so I quickly looked around the room, and I quickly moved that Tony Clement become the interim-leader in his place (as he was still holding a blue book).