Third Party Election Quotes
On Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party
Ken Lewenza, CAW President, News Release, October 5, 2008:
"If there was a report card on the economy, both Prime Minister
Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty would get an F for their
performance. It is critical to the well-being of our country
that we do everything in our power to defeat the Conservatives.
This means voting out Jim Flaherty, a politician who has
completely ignored the suffering in his own community."
Kevin Carmichael, Globe and Mail, October 6, 2008:
“Mr. Harper, an economist by training, has argued from the start
of the campaign that his government's commitment to a budget
surplus and a sprinkling of "targeted" tax cuts and spending is
the best way to survive the weakest period of Canadian economic
growth since 1991.
“It's getting harder to justify that no extra effort is
necessary given the attention that is being paid to the issue
elsewhere, analysts said. The United States is Canada's biggest
trading partner, and economists are almost universal in their
prediction that the financial meltdown has put the world's
largest economy in recession.”
Lawrence Martin, Globe and Mail, October 6, 2008:
“Some hallmarks of their first term should not be forgotten: the
mudslinging, the secrecy, the bullying and intimidation, the
massive centralization of power. The Tories took attack ads to a
record frequency, running them year round. While promising an
era of cleanliness, they were accused of surreptitiously
engaging in money transfers - the "in-and-out" affair - that led
to an RCMP raid on their headquarters. They produced a secret
200-page manual on how to disrupt the parliamentary process,
then went about doing so, shutting down committees or blocking
potentially damaging witnesses.
“They mocked their own accountability legislation by turning
access-to-information regulations on the Afghan detainees file
and many others into barricades-to-information. Information
Commissioner Robert Marleau reported that Mr. Harper's own Privy
Council Office was a leader in access-denial. He graded it an
"F." This government's uniqueness, rather, is in the breadth and
degree to which it has ethically debased the system in such a
short time.”
Raymond Filion, parliamentary correspondent for TVA, CTV’s
Question Period, October 5, 2008:
“Mr. Harper screwed up on the arts funding. He miscalculated the
mood of the public in Quebec, I think, with his plans to
increase penalties for young offenders in Canada, to jail young
offenders as young as 14. And I think that the Bloc is on the
way up, the Tories are on the way down, and I think at this
point the Tories are probably going to be extremely lucky if
they manage to hold on to the 11 seats that they currently have
in Quebec.”
Michael den Tandt, Kingston Whig-Standard, October 6, 2008:
“Last week's French-language debate was Stephen Harper's to lose
– and he did that. Barring some seismic surprise, the prime
minister's much-anticipated Quebec breakthrough – and his dreams
of forming a majority – are history.
“Harper, meantime, seemed unusually passive. This was likely
calculated to blunt perceptions that he is too aggressive. It
failed. He came across as sour, as the camera repeatedly caught
him staring morosely at his opponents as they skewered him.
Also, his French was surprisingly weak – weaker than in the
French debate in the 2005-2006 campaign. A post-debate poll
showed that 40 per cent of Quebecers who saw it considered Dion
the winner, compared with 24 per cent for Duceppe and 16 per
cent for Harper.”
Editorial, Kingston Whig-Standard, October 6, 2008:
“Harper's decision flew in the face of one of his own previous
election promises, which was to set fixed election dates and
eliminate government manipulation of the process.”
National Post, October 6, 2008:
“Perhaps the lesson here is that you shouldn't talk about
culture unless you have some knowledge of it. Harper is not a
dumb man: He would never make tax policy without talking to
economists or energy policy without consulting scientific
experts. Yet he's happy to talk about culture without having any
real contact with artists. Harper's boorish unfamiliarity with
culture has led him to blunder into politically dangerous
terrain.”
Matthew Muirhead, Regina Leader-Post, October 6, 2008:
“In the 1980s, a wave of conservatism swept the western world
and brought us Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Brian
Mulroney. The governments of Britain and the Untied States were
defined in part by their reduction or eliminating of social
programs. Not so in Canada. The conservative government in
Canada was marked by enormous deficits. Today's Conservative
government has re-embraced the harsh social economic policies of
the '80s, threatening to leave those least able to speak for
themselves without a voice.”
Doug Cuthand, Regina Leader-Post, October 6, 2008:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "tough on crime" package is one
of those visceral policies that strikes a positive note with
some people but in the end will probably only make things worse.
“The YCJA was originally designed to rehabilitate youths and
allow them to have a second chance at life. This new legislation
is based on revenge rather than rehabilitation. Revenge may make
some people feel better but in the long run we are heading down
the slippery slope of the American experience.”
Harry Sterling, Toronto Star, October 6, 2008:
“But what most distinguishes Harper from Stanfield (and
Diefenbaker) is his inability to accept that the views of others
have as much right to be respected as his own, and his
willingness to castigate contrary views as acts of disloyalty.”
Mike Buckthought, Sierra Club, Toronto Star, October 6, 2008:
“Our government has claimed it is showing leadership, but in
reality, Canada is a laggard compared to other countries. Canada
is ranked number 53 out of a list of 56 countries according to
Germanwatch's index, which measures the effectiveness of climate
change policy. Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are now 29 per
cent above Canada's Kyoto target.”
Ricken Patel, Executive Director, Avaaz advocacy network, News
Release, October 6, 2008:
"People are furious with Stephen Harper for blocking global
efforts to avert a climate crisis. We barely recognize our
country with this leader, and we're determined to use our votes
effectively to get back the Canada we love."
