OTTAWA - Stephen Harper contended Saturday that Canadians have become more conservative while his rivals slammed the prime minister for trying to remake the country in his own right-wing image.
Harper launched the ideological debate in Fredericton, N.B., where he remarked that Canadians had come to embrace "small-c" conservative values since he got into politics.
He also said his Conservative party has simultaneously shifted more to the centre of the political spectrum and he warned that it must remain there if it wants to continue governing.
"I think the Canadian public has become more conservative," Harper said at the start of a weekend swing through Atlantic Canada.
"At the same time, I don't want to say the Canadian public is overwhelmingly conservative or that it is necessarily as conservative as everybody in our party.
"And that means that our party has to make sure that it continues to govern in the interests of the broad majority of the population. That means not only that we want to pull Canadians towards conservatism but Conservatives also have to move towards Canadians if they want to continue governing."
Harper's comments appeared to be aimed at dispelling opposition accusations that he harbours a hidden, extreme right-wing agenda. And it was consistent with the message the Tories have been hammering home in television ads throughout the opening week of the campaign: Harper is a moderate, steady leader who's in tune with mainstream Canadians.
5 comments:
ya, that's exactly what he'd LIKE people to think.
People haven't really changed..... some are more gullible who believe him. I think this country is more center/left.
Lizt., doesn't that depend on the scale you're using?
Take one example. I can remember, quite clearly, the strong debate over the original Free Trade Agreement in '88. The Liberals were saying it would amount to the end-of-Canada-as-we-know-it. How many Liberals are calling for scrappig it, or NAFTA, now?
Take one more: privatization, and the role of government in the economy. Again, I remember the outrage on the part of the Libs and NDP when the Tories privatized some Crown corps and the like. Yet the Libs didn't reverse them when they were in govt, and I don't see them doing so now.
Do you think a Liberal government would bring in a new version of the old (government-owned) Petro-Canada, let alone a NEP?
Point is, Harper's right: a lot of things that were seen as radical-right in the '80s and even the early '90s are generally accepted by the Libs and even to a certain extent by the NDP. In that sense, Canada has become "more conservative".
It was the Reform Party that haunted Liberals relentlessly to balance the budget, outlaw deficit spending, and pay down the debt.
voila
perhaps in his dreams...*groan*
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