Tonight, a potpourri of election information goodies, none overly dispiriting. First off, though, if you haven’t read today’s earlier entries — here
and here — you may want to make a point of doing so. Okay, on to tonight’s entry — hang on to your hat.
The Devil In Stephen Harper

From Now Toronto, an insight into this Conservative fella, Stephen Harper.
“Who is this guy,” they ask? Cautious and crafty, the Conservative party leader has perfected the soft sell, but a look at his past pronouncements reveals he’ll rip up every right and service Canadians have fought for. Dangerous? Hell, yes!

• Has vigorously and actively opposed gay marriage. And would use the Notwithstanding Clause to override the Supreme Court’s definition of marriage.
• Has called ‘vile’ any comparison between civil rights and gay rights, and voted against including sexual orientation in hate propaganda laws.
• Hired a former Winnipeg radio jock fired for saying that “diesel dykes (are) running the school board” to be his media spokesperson in his 2002 Alliance leadership bid.
• In his own words: “West of Winnipeg, the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettos, and who are not integrated into western Canadian society.”
• Only party leader to oppose electoral finance reform ban on donations from big business and unions.
• Supported the U.S. war in Iraq.
• Calls Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions a ‘boondoggle’.
• Favours abolishing human rights commissions, calling them “an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society … It is in fact totalitarianism.”

The 8 points above are just the start. You’ll want to read the full article.
MP Gallant Compares Abortion To Iraq Beheading

Tory MP Cheryl Gallant equates abortion with beheading

Yes, your favourite Ontario Tory wacko, and mine, the ever dim Cheryl Gallant is up to her old tricks again. Seems that this time she has set about to draw a parallel between abortion and the beheading of American contractor Nick Berg.
The Western Catholic Reporter, in an article on an anti-abortion rally on Parliament Hill last month, quotes Gallant as saying the world was horrified at Berg’s beheading by Iraqi terrorists, and the subsequent video of the incident that was posted on an al-Qaeda affiliated website.
“She compared the killing to the abortions performed in Canada over 35 years and said it is ‘absolutely no different’,” the article said.
Another Fine Elected Tory Wacko
Thanks to the folks at Points of Information for pointing us towards Canada’s funniest, most distressing and completely inane political video.
Yes, the East has Cheryl Gallant. We here in western Canada have Rob Anders, who we wrote about in our June 5th Decision Canada posting.
As PoI writes, “Legend had it that Mr Anders’ political career began with an appointment as a paid heckler working against the Democrats in a U.S. Senate campaign 10 years ago, wearing a Pinocchio nose, no less. It’s actually even quirkier than it sounds, as you can see in this Windows Media Player video. Maybe one day the Blue Fairy will turn him into a real elected representative.
Ah, Jean. We Knew Ye Well

Feeling a bit downhearted about the almost complete ineptitude of both the Liberals and the NDP to inform Canadians about just what a threat Stephen Harper poses to the status quo (universal health care, access to medical procedures for women, equality of opportunity, the Charter of Rights, Canada’s international reputation as a peacekeeper, and so much more)?
Chantal Hébert, writing in today’s Toronto Star suggests …

If Jean Chrétien were still Liberal leader, he would have already made mincemeat out of Jack Layton and Stephen Harper.
Chrétien would have been relentless in his pursuit of the NDP leader in the wake of his promise to repeal the Clarity Act on Québéc secession. He would have set his post-referendum point man Stéphane Dion on Layton’s trail. It goes without saying that Dion would still have been a cabinet minister.
He would not have let the striking internal divisions triggered by Layton’s Clarity Act remarks slip out of sight overnight. Instead, Chrétien would have shed crocodile tears of sympathy at the extraordinary sight of Manitoba’s Bill Blaikie and former leader Alexa McDonough having to break ranks with Layton in the midst of an election campaign.
Chrétien would have pounced on the early Conservative slip-ups on official bilingualism, driving home the fact that Harper knew full well the positions of his friend Scott Reid when he confirmed him as official languages critic earlier this year.

Almost makes you feel a tad nostalgic about Liberal yesteryear, huh? Imagine what this dull campaign would look like if the little guy from Shawinigan was on the hustings.
Decision Canada’s Quote of The Day
From Maritime Rant, who has the following posted on his blog: “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” — Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.

Smiling while destroying the country

From David Olive, blogging at the Toronto Star: A radical re-invention of government.
Stephen Harper proposes fixed election dates; an elected Senate, its members serving 6-year fixed terms, selected by voters in each province; MP vetting of Supreme Court nominees and senior mandarins, starting with military staff; and power for MPs to overturn Supreme Court decisions.
Which means: a Prime Minister could no longer be deposed or eased out in mid-term — the fate of Margaret Thatcher and Jean Chrétien when they lost the support of their caucus. Legitimate power for the upper house (Senate) for the first time, with the same profound implications of deadlock and regional parochialism that characterizes the U.S. system. Diminished power for ministers, as MPs meddle in their departments; and a neutering of the Supreme Court, whose final say in interpreting the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be eclipsed by backbench MPs.
Probably nine Canadians out of 10 who can identify Tory policies would mention taxes and honest government. How many voters realize this is an election about dismantling the work of the Fathers of Confederation?
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.

In spite of one bizarro announcement after the other, in spite of the Conservative’s health critic calling for mandatory abortion counselling for women, an Ontario Tory candidate calling for the re-instatement of the death penalty, Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s statement that his government would pull the debate about same-sex marriage from the Supreme Court and back into Parliament for a free vote, and in spite of the announcement of an Ontario Conservative MP yesterday stating that her party would repeal Canada’s hate law, those damnable, ne’er-do-well, rag-tag bunch of reactionary wackos — better know to most Canadians as the ‘new’ Conservatives — have taken the lead in preference, among Canadians, for government, as sorrowfully reflected in the latest SES poll.

Election tracking: CPAC-SES Poll, June 7, 2004.

Nothing like playing to the lowest common denominator, and appealing to the anger and baser instincts of Canadians to promote the interests of your party. Read the polling chart above, and weep.
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.