Kathy14 wrote:Harper and the guys who are backing him literally scare the crap out of me... I fear what they will do to this country.
He has done a great job of making himself less scary and more 'center' this time around, but he comes across as well-coached and robotic. I know he still stands for the same things he did last time around, but he's doing a better job of hiding it and the party is doing a better job at keeping some of the radicals quiet. Although there have been a few supporters/candidates who have said things that made it into the media... most of these things question whether there should be equal rights for certain groups, such as thoughts that multiculturalism and immigration are bad for Canada, issues surrounding the role of women in society, gay rights, Christian religion and bringing it back into our government and schools, etc.
Harper spoke about how Ontario should better support the poorer Atlantic provinces, but if the discussion turns to Alberta sharing with the 'have-not' provinces, that's another story. " Harper joined with other western conservatives in co-authoring a document titled the Alberta Agenda. The letter called on Alberta to reform publicly-funded health care, replace the Canada Pension Plan with a similar provincial plan and replace the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with a provincial police force. The document became known as the "firewall letter" because it called on the Alberta government to "build firewalls around Alberta" to prevent the federal government from redistributing the province's wealth to other parts of Canada." Hhmm... he sounds to me a like a leader with regional, not federal interests in mind. And his party sounds similar to the Bloc and their Quebec agenda.
There's a reason that US newspapers are calling him Bush Jr and saying he could be the best possible foreign leader in the eyes of Bush. He even said publicly in the US that he was ashamed of Canada for not joining in Iraq. At one point Martin also supported Iraq, until the moment the UN condemned it. Harper still says we should have sided with Bush and he incorrectly told the American media that a majority of Cdns agreed with him.
The Liberals are not squeaky clean but they'll get my vote. I was starting to think NDP until 1) Jack sounded like an infomercial actor in the debates and 2) they're too small in my riding, so it would be a waste of my vote. My riding will be extremely tight Liberals vs. Conservatives.
Sorry for the long-winded rant... this is a really touchy subject around here!
You just changed my mind, to voting Liberal. I live in Mississauga-Erindale and I suspect that my riding will be a very tight Liberal-Conservative race, and I don't think that the NDP have a chance in hell winning such a riding. I don't want to risk having Harper as PM. The conservatives can say whatever they want but bottom line is this: the sponsorship scandal was cheaper than the war in Iraq. I refuse to disallow immigration from certian countries, I refuse to acept a country in which we are persecuted for our religious beliefs and homosexuals are treated as second-class citizens. I'm a first-generation Canadian and I love this country dearly. Having Harper as PM makes me feel as though I might as well be in Saudi Arabia all over again.
but i have a feeling they'd find out and i'd get in a wee bit of trouble 
