Stephen Harper: Tory Convention in Calgary

[Vicswampia]

And slavishly kowtowing to the US - an empire in steep decline thanks to decades of economic right-wing policy hollowing out the middle class - is even more foolish and unwise.

I know, right? The American empire will fall any day from now. Just like it was going to back in the 80's, and then Japan would be the world's superpower, and then it would be the EU, and today (or rather 2005) China will be the world's hegemon.

[Vicswampia]

Canada The world is becoming more right-wing.

[Marcurix]

If we want to ensure Canada's future, Harper cannot win in 2015.

Agreed.

Talk about Tea party mentality.

I really, really hope Harper and the Cons loose hardcore. I'm fine with Trudeau for the most part (I'd prefer NDP) so a coalition government with them or something would be much appreciated.

An NDP-led coalition with the Libs and Greens would be ideal.

But that won't happen, last time something like that was tried it backfired drastically.

[Agritum]

Canada The world is becoming more right-wing.

Oh my, what a daring claim!

[Greater Istanistan]

They might be strongest, but hegemon is hardly the right word. They're not that strong yet, and have serious issues to overcome before they get to that level. But they'd undoubtedly be the world's strongest nation.

[Marcurix]

I don't like the way Harper jumps into foreign conflicts...especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We Canadians should stay the hell out of other peoples' internal affairs. As for Harper lambasting other parties for their association with corruption...I don't think most of us Canadians have forgotten about the spiralling cost tag for the f-35 jet.

Canada had a reputation as a peacekeeper for a long time before Harper, you don't get that without involving yourself in conflicts.

[Avenio]

But that won't happen, last time something like that was tried it backfired drastically.

It backfired, as I understand it, not because people are opposed to coalitions, but because it would have invoked parliamentary procedure to allow the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc to form a government without an election - something that was easy to see as a smoky backroom deal to wrest power from a democratically-elected government.

If the NDP and Liberals were to go into the election in 2015 with a coalition plan, then that's an entirely different story.

[Vicswampia]

Oh my, what a daring claim!

[NorthEast Alliance]

The western provinces, suburban Ontario voters and in overwhelming numbers immigrants are voting for the Tories. You can't ignore the massive change going on in Canada.

That's a dreadfully simplistic and inaccurate summation of the demographics of Canadian politics.

The pattern that's held for years now is still holding strong; the urban centres tend to lean towards the centre and to the left (and thus towards the NDP, Bloc and Liberals), while rural areas tend to either lean hard towards the NDP or towards the Tories, mostly on a East-West gradation, and with the notable exception of the maritimes.

Which is to say that the Western provinces are indeed a stronghold of the Tories, but mostly outside of the cities - look in the city centres of places like Vancouver and Toronto, and you'll see a lot more problematic results for the Tories, particularly considering the growth of the cities. The Tories' 'natural demographic' lives in the West and in small towns and cities, speaks English, and is unabashedly fairly populist in tenor. They don't like big government, they like business, and they vote uniformly and unchangingly for the Tories every election without fail. That base gives them about 25-30% of the popular vote Canada-wide in a good turnout year.

As we've seen in the last decade, that 25% isn't enough to win much. The string of minority governments they've won since 2006 have been due to that demographic and the small chunk of the 'swing vote' they've been able to capture from the centre, primarily from the Liberals due to a series of increasingly poor showings in elections. The 'bump' they recieved in the last election, for instance, was due to almost the entirety of the centre-right and probably a good chunk of the pure centre votes deserting the sinking RMS Ignatieff in droves - and while they didn't feel comfortable voting for the NDP, they were comfortable voting for the Tories, given limited options, and they did so, pushing Harper over the line into majority-dom.

The problem, as you can imagine, is that those Liberals are not a resource the Tories can count on. Courting them by moving to the centre is a politically-expensive move, and produces much wailing and gnashing of the teeth from the Tory back benchers from the West, and leads to things like caucus mutinies and obstructionism if pushed too far. On the flip side, if they don't do enough to court them, a resurgent Liberal party under Trudeau will be able to get them back into the fold posthaste, and the Tories will be looking at the same demographic squeeze that they faced between 2006 and 2011.

This all ties back to the main demographic issue; the cities are growing, immigrant populations are growing, and all of the parties want a share of that increasingly-big piece of pie. The problem for the Tories is that while these populations do agree with them on some things - like pro-business measures, tax cuts and the like - they aren't 'natural' Tory voters. They are city-dwellers, after all, so they care about things like infrastructure development, public transit and the environment much more than the average Tory voter, and are much more centrist in general when compared to the Tory faithful.

That means that they're natural voters not of the Tories, but the Liberals, who have made city-dwellers and centrists the bread-and-butter of the 70 of the last 100 years they've been in power. They have the credentials, the history and the political machinery to exploit this growth, and, based upon Trudeau's performance thus far, they finally have the competence and spine to actually reach out and try it. And when the Tories try to fight the Liberals on their own turf, odds are they're going to lose. And, of course, they don't need to lose much in order to lose it all, since they have such a loose grasp on the forces holding onto their majority in the first place.

Even a Liberal minority government would, I think, inevitably lead to a civil war within the Tory establishment as to the future within their party, and, given that, I think it would mean that a more centrist, urban Tory party would rise out of the ashes - and that's definitely at odds with the 'right wing revolution' you're opining for.

The Conservatives are more to the centre than you think, moderate right wing politics is all what Harper is about. Your right about Vancouver being a liberal stronghold but Toronto is a mixed bag, last election the riding around Toronto and even in the city itself were captured by Tories. Immigrants are voting in large numbers and their voting blue.

You talk about urban dwellers, two other cities in Canada are growing fast Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary is very conservative and Alberta as a whole is growing at a large rate compared to the other provinces. Also you could be right about the Liberal Party suddenly growing again, Justin Truedua is very charismatic and CBC love him. But you can't ignore Tory success in running Canada and the fiscal responbility, keeping the streets safe, promoting the military, and balancing the budget resonate with immigrant voters.

The west is growing and growth means wealth and wealth means power. Ontario wants it to and that is why suburban Ontario voters, namely immigrants voted blue in 2011. The Liberals are noted for dangerous economic polices like the NDP and the working middle class do not want it, only Quebec and the east coast want big government and radical leftism in mainstream Canadian governance.

[Neo-Achaemenid Empire (Ancient)]

I can not stress enough on how I disagree with those who say Stephen Harper is extreme and is going to ruin Canada. This nation is only going to get stronger with Mr. Harper running not weaker or anything else. CBC and the mainstream media in Canada have made it out that Harper "stole" the election which is simply untrue. Your opinions are your own but how can the NDP or the Liberals govern Canada today?

The NDP is a radical protest party based in Quebec with a few isolated strongpoints through the country. Jack Layton was a socialist, I will say it again a socialist. Canada would not function as a nation with the NDP running it and Thomas Mulcair can pretend to be moderate all he wants he is just Layton's successor. It is not in the NDP's DNA to govern, just to protest and screw things up for the Conservatives.

I recommend you all read the book the Big Shift by Darrel Bricker and John Ibbitson which explains the downfall of the Liberal hegemony in Canada and how Canada is becoming more right-wing. Not hard right but centre right not allowing the NDP and the Liberals to run up the debt, overspend and raise taxes. The western provinces, suburban Ontario voters and in overwhelming numbers immigrants are voting for the Tories. You can't ignore the massive change going on in Canada.

Environmental record getting worse-Check
International image being tarnished-Check
Wasting money on a plane that isn't that great-Check
Found in contempt of parliament-Check
Muffling our science community-Check
Selling us off to China-Check
Deficit spending-Check
Getting rid of the Long-Gun registry which police services were against-Check
Implementing prison reforms that even Texan judges said wasn't a good idea-Check
Against safe injection sites despite their success rate-Check
Senate scandal-Check
Abolishing the long term census for no reason-Check
The AIDS drug shenanigans pointed out-Check
Proroguing Parliament twice-Check

Shall I continue the list of fuck ups?

Also, Layton was a social democrat. Let me repeat this to you, social, see the word "social", democrat, see the word "democrat"?

And they aren't a protest party considering they've been the governing party in some provinces at one point or another.

Considering how the Liberals and the NDP are both outdoing the Tories, and the fact that the Orange Crush was much more significant politically than Harper getting a majority, I'd say there hasn't been a dramatic shift to the right. Also, the Liberals balanced the budget and gave us surpluses. Check yo budget history. And source on immigrants turning to the Tories? And Western provinces being Tory dominated isn't a shocker considering they were massive supporters of the Reform Party. Suburban Ontario tends to be a swinging area in regards to elections.

[Marcurix]

But that won't happen, last time something like that was tried it backfired drastically.

It backfired, as I understand it, not because people are opposed to coalitions, but because it would have invoked parliamentary procedure to allow the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc to form a government without an election - something that was easy to see as a smoky backroom deal to wrest power from a democratically-elected government.

If the NDP and Liberals were to go into the election in 2015 with a coalition plan, then that's an entirely different story.

I can see where that idea holds merit, and could well have been the main factor. But I first came to Canada just before this happened, and one of the main problems I came across while I traveled the country was that people who did vote for the Liberals, NDP and Bloc opposed the move because they didn't vote for the other two parties- and had no intention of doing so.

Likewise, when the Liberals support shattered in the last election, there was some mumbling about joining with the NDP next time round. That was promptly stamped out.

[Blakk Metal]

I wonder if Ted Cruz will be there in his hometown to spread true conservatism.

[Neo-Achaemenid Empire (Ancient)]

I wonder if Ted Cruz will be there in his hometown to spread true conservatism.

Oh god no. Please no.

[Nation of Quebec]

If the latest polls are to believed, then Harper has much to worry about if this trend continues into the 2015 election. I'll be happy to vote for the Liberals under Trudeau.

I refuse to believe anything Harper says about the Senate anymore. This was a guy who promised he wouldn't appoint any Senators and would bring about Senate reform, but instead appointed more Senators than any other PM in Canadian history. He has a majority in both the House and the Senate. Where is the reform? I'll believe the Senate reform when I see it.

Harper also keeps on flip-flopping over the Senate scandal story. First he praised Nigel Wright, now he's throwing him under the bus. Nigel Wright resigned, then later Harper says he fired him. Harper says that only Nigel Wright knew about the $90,000 cheque and now we're hearing that as many as 13+ people knew about it according to Mike Duffy. I can't support a PM who has constantly lied and flip-flopped like this.

[Agritum]

If the latest polls are to believed, then Harper has much to worry about if this trend continues into the 2015 election. I'll be happy to vote for the Liberal under Trudeau.

I refuse to believe anything Harper says about the Senate anymore. This was a guy who promised he wouldn't appoint any Senators and would bring about Senate reform, but instead appointed more Senators than any other PM in Canadian history. He has a majority in both the House and the Senate. Where is the reform? I'll believe the Senate reform when I see it.

Harper also keeps on flip-flopping over the Senate scandal story. First he praised Nigel Wright, now he's throwing him under the bus. Nigel Wright resigned, then later Harper says he fired him. Harper says that only Nigel Wright knew about the $90,000 cheque and now we're hearing that as many as 13+ people knew about it according to Mike Duffy. I can't support a PM who has constantly lied and flip-flopped like this.

Didn't Harper personally appoint all but one of the Senators who got into the scandals?

[NorthEast Alliance]

I can not stress enough on how I disagree with those who say Stephen Harper is extreme and is going to ruin Canada. This nation is only going to get stronger with Mr. Harper running not weaker or anything else. CBC and the mainstream media in Canada have made it out that Harper "stole" the election which is simply untrue. Your opinions are your own but how can the NDP or the Liberals govern Canada today?

The NDP is a radical protest party based in Quebec with a few isolated strongpoints through the country. Jack Layton was a socialist, I will say it again a socialist. Canada would not function as a nation with the NDP running it and Thomas Mulcair can pretend to be moderate all he wants he is just Layton's successor. It is not in the NDP's DNA to govern, just to protest and screw things up for the Conservatives.

I recommend you all read the book the Big Shift by Darrel Bricker and John Ibbitson which explains the downfall of the Liberal hegemony in Canada and how Canada is becoming more right-wing. Not hard right but centre right not allowing the NDP and the Liberals to run up the debt, overspend and raise taxes. The western provinces, suburban Ontario voters and in overwhelming numbers immigrants are voting for the Tories. You can't ignore the massive change going on in Canada.

Environmental record getting worse-Check
International image being tarnished-Check
Wasting money on a plane that isn't that great-Check
Found in contempt of parliament-Check
Muffling our science community-Check
Selling us off to China-Check
Deficit spending-Check
Getting rid of the Long-Gun registry which police services were against-Check
Implementing prison reforms that even Texan judges said wasn't a good idea-Check
Against safe injection sites despite their success rate-Check
Senate scandal-Check
Abolishing the long term census for no reason-Check
The AIDS drug shenanigans pointed out-Check
Proroguing Parliament twice-Check

Shall I continue the list of fuck ups?

Also, Layton was a social democrat. Let me repeat this to you, social, see the word "social", democrat, see the word "democrat"?

And they aren't a protest party considering they've been the governing party in some provinces at one point or another.

Considering how the Liberals and the NDP are both outdoing the Tories, and the fact that the Orange Crush was much more significant politically than Harper getting a majority, I'd say there hasn't been a dramatic shift to the right. Also, the Liberals balanced the budget and gave us surpluses. Check yo budget history. And source on immigrants turning to the Tories? And Western provinces being Tory dominated isn't a shocker considering they were massive supporters of the Reform Party. Suburban Ontario tends to be a swinging area in regards to elections.

Your blatant hypocrisy is astounding.

The NDP and the Liberal's are not outdoing anyone, their experiential economic polices have destroyed provinces and territories all over Canada. The Liberal's are very corrupt and overspend and tax and tax and tax their little hearts away. The tide has turned people want fiscal responsibility and immigrants know this. Ontario voters just got 1.1 billion dollars robbed from them so they want change.

Also your list of "scandals" is false, these so called scandals are blown out of proportion and is just more unwarranted Tory bashing at the hands of mainstream liberal elite media.

[Nation of Quebec]

If the latest polls are to believed, then Harper has much to worry about if this trend continues into the 2015 election. I'll be happy to vote for the Liberal under Trudeau.

I refuse to believe anything Harper says about the Senate anymore. This was a guy who promised he wouldn't appoint any Senators and would bring about Senate reform, but instead appointed more Senators than any other PM in Canadian history. He has a majority in both the House and the Senate. Where is the reform? I'll believe the Senate reform when I see it.

Harper also keeps on flip-flopping over the Senate scandal story. First he praised Nigel Wright, now he's throwing him under the bus. Nigel Wright resigned, then later Harper says he fired him. Harper says that only Nigel Wright knew about the $90,000 cheque and now we're hearing that as many as 13+ people knew about it according to Mike Duffy. I can't support a PM who has constantly lied and flip-flopped like this.

Didn't Harper personally appoint all but one of the Senators who got into the scandals?

The only one he didn't appoint was Mac Harb, but unlike the Harper appointees, Harb had the decency to resign and pay back the expenses without a fuss.

Harper appointed Duffy, Wallin (who the RCMP now believe committed fraud and breach of trust), and Brazeau (awaiting trial for assault). Yeah, it's not looking good for Harper.

[Avenio]

The Conservatives are more to the centre than you think, moderate right wing politics is all what Harper is about.

'Moderate right wing politics' is an oxymoron, FYI. It's like saying 'cool hot water'.

Your right about Vancouver being a liberal stronghold but Toronto is a mixed bag, last election the riding around Toronto and even in the city itself were captured by Tories. Immigrants are voting in large numbers and their voting blue.

You completely missed the point of that part of the post. Compare the results from the Toronto urban ridings in 2008 to those in 2011; demographics don't change that fast. The shift was due to the collapse of the Liberal party and the exodus of its voters. Now that the Liberals have a competent, charismatic helmsman at the ship of party, every single one of those votes and every single one of those ridings is fully in contest. That's not a good situation for the Tories to be in, since they're going to have to fight tooth and nail to convince those people, who have voted Liberal in every election in the last 20 years but one, to switch sides again and vote for the Tories.

You talk about urban dwellers, two other cities in Canada are growing fast Edmonton and Calgary. Calgary is very conservative and Alberta as a whole is growing at a large rate compared to the other provinces.

And as Calgary and Edmonton grow, they become less conservative compared to the background of the average Albertan voter. Calgary, for instance, recently re-elected a centrist, second generation-immigrant mayor, and the NDP are becoming competitive in the urban ridings.

Also you could be right about the Liberal Party suddenly growing again, Justin Truedua is very charismatic and CBC love him.

As much as I like the CBC, I really don't think that their opinion about Trudeau is at all relevant.

But you can't ignore Tory success in running Canada and the fiscal responbility, keeping the streets safe, promoting the military, and balancing the budget resonate with immigrant voters.

You're really good at spouting buzzwords, aren't you?

The west is growing and growth means wealth and wealth means power.

To correct you, urban centres in the West are growing. That's a whole 'nother ball game.

Ontario wants it to and that is why suburban Ontario voters, namely immigrants voted blue in 2011.

See my response above.

The Liberals are noted for dangerous economic polices like the NDP and the working middle class do not want it,

Not true in the least, since the NDP experienced a great deal of growth in the middle class in the last election.

only Quebec and the east coast want big government and radical leftism in mainstream Canadian governance.

Seeing as there are a dozen or more seats that voted in NDP MPs in the West alone, that seems like yet more buzzwords.

[Neo-Achaemenid Empire (Ancient)]

Environmental record getting worse-Check
International image being tarnished-Check
Wasting money on a plane that isn't that great-Check
Found in contempt of parliament-Check
Muffling our science community-Check
Selling us off to China-Check
Deficit spending-Check
Getting rid of the Long-Gun registry which police services were against-Check
Implementing prison reforms that even Texan judges said wasn't a good idea-Check
Against safe injection sites despite their success rate-Check
Senate scandal-Check
Abolishing the long term census for no reason-Check
The AIDS drug shenanigans pointed out-Check
Proroguing Parliament twice-Check

Shall I continue the list of fuck ups?

Also, Layton was a social democrat. Let me repeat this to you, social, see the word "social", democrat, see the word "democrat"?

And they aren't a protest party considering they've been the governing party in some provinces at one point or another.

Considering how the Liberals and the NDP are both outdoing the Tories, and the fact that the Orange Crush was much more significant politically than Harper getting a majority, I'd say there hasn't been a dramatic shift to the right. Also, the Liberals balanced the budget and gave us surpluses. Check yo budget history. And source on immigrants turning to the Tories? And Western provinces being Tory dominated isn't a shocker considering they were massive supporters of the Reform Party. Suburban Ontario tends to be a swinging area in regards to elections.

Your blatant hypocrisy is astounding.

1)The NDP and the Liberal's are not outdoing anyone, 2)their experiential economic polices have destroyed provinces and territories all over Canada. 3)The Liberal's are very corrupt and overspend and tax and tax and tax their little hearts away. 4)The tide has turned people want fiscal responsibility and 5)immigrants know this. 6)Ontario voters just got 1.1 billion dollars robbed from them so they want change.

7)Also your list of "scandals" is false, these so called scandals are blown out of proportion and is just more unwarranted Tory bashing at the hands of mainstream liberal elite media.

1)Opinion polls suggest otherwise.
2)Manitoba is doing rather well, thank you very much.
3)And the Tories are a beacon of purity and aren't corrupt at all.
4)So they'll vote for the Liberals then, as they were the ones who balanced the budget and gave us surpluses.
5)Sauce
6)Cancelling projects =/= stealing. Shitty yes, but unseen shenanigans can result in this sort of thing. Stop abusing the English language.
7)That's cute.

[Greater Somalia]

I don't like the way Harper jumps into foreign conflicts...especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We Canadians should stay the hell out of other peoples' internal affairs. As for Harper lambasting other parties for their association with corruption...I don't think most of us Canadians have forgotten about the spiralling cost tag for the f-35 jet.

Canada had a reputation as a peacekeeper for a long time before Harper, you don't get that without involving yourself in conflicts.

But even when we get ourselves involved in UN security matters...we tend to be neutral. We tend to avoid taking sides in warring factions. Only when the UN decides that one side is belligerent...we go after them. Harper wanted us to go in with the Americans into Iraq for God's sake. If you don't believe me, here is a YouTube video showing Harper and his friends debating Jean Chretien for his decision in not allowing Canada to be involved in Iraq :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPVOhva_cwI

[NorthEast Alliance]

To address both of you polls are unreliable at best and wrong at worst. The Conservatives are not corrupt at all, the senate issue is unfortunate but its not Harpers fault, most of the liberal senators are blocking more investigation. Center-Right politics is relevant now, and leftist bashing them calling them extremists is downright silly.

Paul Martin and Jean Cretin are both corrupt and power hungry radicals who advocated high spending and taxation. Manitoba is the poorest of the western provinces thanks to NDP polices and will continue in a downward spiral. The Conservatives saved Canada from economic stagnation and promoting the oil sands, the military, and most important the west will make Canada strong and prosperous.

Voters will come to realize the dangers of the NDP and the Liberal, most voters want stable government not corrupt officials and liars. Toronto and the eastern part of the nation can do whatever the hell they want, most voters think that liberal elites in the east are out of touch with real voters and people. The NDP destroyed the Yukon and BC, only the right continue to prosper. Alberta is the best example and should be a model for Canada.

[Thurask]

Canada had a reputation as a peacekeeper for a long time before Harper, you don't get that without involving yourself in conflicts.

But even when we get ourselves involved in UN security matters...we tend to be neutral. We tend to avoid taking sides in warring factions.

Except that one time when Canada managed to lose election to the UNSC. Harper pinned it on Ignatieff, everyone else pinned it on Harper.

Alberta is the best example and should be a model for Canada.

If we give you Mayor McCrackaddict, can you give us Naheed Nenshi?

[NorthEast Alliance]

But even when we get ourselves involved in UN security matters...we tend to be neutral. We tend to avoid taking sides in warring factions.

Except that one time when Canada managed to lose election to the UNSC. Harper pinned it on Ignatieff, everyone else pinned it on Harper.

Alberta is the best example and should be a model for Canada.

If we give you Mayor McCrackaddict, can you give us Naheed Nenshi?

Take him, I would rather Rob Ford than him anyway. Calgary would prosper even more.

[Divair]

But that won't happen, last time something like that was tried it backfired drastically.

Probably. I suspect it'll just end up being the NDP in gov, the Cons opposing everything, and the Libs caught in the middle. Not ideal, but I'm glad that the NDP will do well next election.

[Minarchist States]

I am so out of touch :/

*sigh*