EDITORIAL: An honour this PM deserves
Good on ya, Stephen.
Who would have thought about a year ago, as we headed into a federal election, that our new prime minister would be this year's Time Magazine Canadian Newsmaker of the Year.
And deservedly so. As the magazine's contributing editor Stephen Handelman writes, PM Stephen Harper, was "once dismissed as a doctrinaire backroom tactician with no experience in government," and has emerged as a "warrior in power."
We'd have to agree. After his election win, it was easy to believe Harper would be a mild, easygoing politician, shepherding his minority government away from obvious trouble spots and not stepping on too many toes along the way.
But right out the gate Harper surprised us with some in-your-face decisions on Senate and cabinet appointments, making many sit up and take a bit more notice of this new leader.
As the months went by, he stuck to his guns on several contested issues -- remember that no-show at the AIDS conference in Toronto? Where he did show up was in Afghanistan, where his personal and political commitment to the role of our troops there has created a lot of flak, but he has not wavered.
He has come through on four of his five initial campaign promises --and thrown a few zingers in to boot (income trusts, anybody?) -- proving himself to be a pragmatic, no-nonsense PM with a real agenda.
He's also shown flashes of an acute sense of political timing and savvy, beating the Bloc Quebecois at their own "Quebec as a nation" game by laying claim to the issue himself.
His record is not perfect; the environment portfolio would seem to be an Achilles heel that a revived Liberal party might be able to turn to its advantage.
And, of course, not everybody agrees with his stands on the issues. We could have done without his putting a Liberal and an unelected Tory strategist in cabinet.
But his leadership qualities shine through in the fact that he takes those stands and sticks with them, even when surrounded by controversy and doubt.
Time Magazine says, "If Harper wins the majority he craves, in the election expected sometime next year, he may yet turn out to be the most transformational leader since Trudeau." Indeed.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
An Honor Well Deserved
Although I question whether it is an honor comparing him to Trudeau whose cradle to grave and multi-cultural policies are the root cause of many of the problems that Canada faces today.
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.
8 comments:
I have to laugh. The conservatives finally admit to breaking the law on their campaign donations (gotta love the 'we didn't know crap') and nary a letter about it here. If it were the liberals, there'd be weeks about it here.
Accountability. At it's best. Nice timing on the admission I might add.
Can you say, laugh my ass off at those who held the conservatives up as not being crooks?
:)
You might be right and this campaign contribution thing keeps coming up with all the parties and I read somewhere, in the last couple of days that Harper will be receiving a refund because he exceeded the allowable contributions but putting that aside why is it that liberals need to on the defensive all the time.....Harper has been given credit for what he has accomplished during his first year, failures and successes and nary a comment about either but rather at best a weak cheap shot. As far as "there would be weeks about it here" in reference to "wrong doings" of liberals the reason is because of 13 years of screwing Canadians; sponsorship, HRDC, Shawinigan golf course and it goes on and on. But you don't see us attacking Dion and making any references that he named his dog Koyto and I understand he did so after having the dog spayed/neutered when he realized his record as an environmentalist was contributing to global warming not reducing it.
a cheap shot! a cheap shot? No no, my dear old boy, that was no cheap shot. That was a perhaps a small wakeup call to those who feel the conservatives are a better option than the liberals based on the erroneous belief that somehow the conservatives, will govern better and be more careful with our money. Oh no my dear friend, a quick skim through your blog shows a great disdain for anything liberal, and a high opinion and praise for the saviors that be the conservatives. This is at the root, one of the serious problems facing voters in this country, is this mistaken belief that someone one is better than the other. Aaaaaah, now. We have the real do gooders in parliament! I can hear it seeth in your blog, I can see in your profile your hatred of 'leftists'. No, you are just as bad as the ones who blindly voted in a corrupt liberal government 3 times. You are no better, no smarter, than anyone who believes the liberals are to be held to any higher degree of social consciousness, accountability, or what have you. This is the sort of naive blind devotion to either party (I don't include the others because currently none seem to have a chance of government) that leads to the sort of government we had under Cretien, and the sort of government we had under Mulroney. What's that you say? Ohhh, this is the NEW conservatives.
Well. That is just so so much different!
Brave on my conservative friend! Brave on! Fight the good fight. Your conservative MP needs (no, wants) your money.
I am happy to have either government in minority. Because neither party, has shown themselves worthy of majority, EVER. Let's keep them in minority. Let's keep them accountable. Surely all parties are capable of coming to some agreements to run this country with some kind of sane vision, without the extremes of either conservative OR liberal.
You are right (this might be a bit of an oxymoron) I do lean to the right and I make that clear in my profile and while I agree that the conservatives do make mistakes but that is one of the hazards of making decisions and following through on those decisions which is something your liberal pals failed to do but when it came to ineptness and criminal behaviour they certainly get a passing grade. The fact that favour minority governments says it all....sit on the fence or with your head in the sand rather than make committments.
oh you just can't help yourself can you. It's us and them, fight the good fight, just as I said. You are so deep in your blind devotion that you cannot stand back and see the bigger picture, that both parties, that have good things, and bad, cannot be trusted with a full mandate. No I don't just have liberal 'pals' as you suggest, and I don't think actually seeing the truth is 'sitting' on the fence. I think I am smart enough not to swallow the bullshit handed down by EITHER party, and this country will be better off for it. Let's see a party bent on running the country, not getting a majority.
ah. I see you chose not to publish my reply. I suppose the truths hits a little hard now didn't it?
That picture you posted of the guy with his head up his ass? That's you. Along with all the rest of the ones that believe either party is capable of real change for Canadians with a majority.
My commitment is to keep any governing party on their toes in a minority. If they can't do it with a minority, then they sure as hell can't be trusted with a majority.
If your reply was not posted it was a technical error rather than any attempt to restrict your right to express yourself no matter how ludicrous your comments sometimes might be.....my position on minority governments has been posted and the only advice I might offer is to be careful you don't splinters in your ass from sitting on the fence.
Having both eyes open doesn't mean you are sitting on the fence my dear old boy. Again you are just like the silly little liberals who holler and shout when poked and jabbed, your reactions, in such an amusing way, is so so much similar. Your lips are as brown as the liberal defenders too my conservative friend.
What is most amusing, is to hear the conservatives lavish praise on their beloved party (oh don't worry I'd say the same for the liberals too) about how much they've accomplished and promises kept etc etc etc, and then, in the same breathe, heap scorn on another when they suggest a minority government is a good thing all round. So which is it my dear old boy? The conservatives did great deeds, or the minority government was a waste of time?
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