Thursday, March 13, 2008

Conservatism in a Hurry

The Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt has written a mini-review of my political opus -- The Trudeau Empire has fallen and it can't get up.

She compares my philosophy with that of Tom Flanagan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former Chief of Staff, who is a champion of what he calls "incrementalism."

Writes Delacourt: "Flanagan’s a go-slow, transformation-by-stealth fan, while Nicholls thinks Conservatives should just pursue their agenda with full enthusiasm, a la Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Clearly Harper seems to favour the Flanagan approach, but it’s worth reading Nicholls’ tract to see what would happen if Canada decided to go conservative in a hurry. "

"Conservative in a hurry" - that's me.

6 comments:

  1. Conservatism in a hurry and quick to judge.
    Will you retract your statement demanding the dismissal of Ian Brodie.

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  2. Anonymous2:20 PM

    I am interested in reading. Too bad I can not print this out easily. Any chance of making a PDF file available?

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  3. Hey anonymous, send me your email address and I will send it to you.

    My email is gerry_nicholls@hotmail.com

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  4. Anonymous12:09 PM

    More with the "isms..."

    "Conservatism in a hurry" or what if the CPC just tried to act conservative as in reducing Federal spending and the size of government instead of increasing both...

    BTW I didn't notice Ian Brodie being mentioned in Gerry's post today?

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  5. Anonymous4:01 PM

    Excellent screed, Gerry. I will post on my Scribd and blog to give it some play out in Atlantic Canada.

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  6. I think the Conservatives could very well be Conservatives in a hurry if they had a majority. The reality is the policies Gerry advocates would never pass in a minority parliament. In addition Thatcher, Reagan, and Harris would have been turfed had they faced the voters only after a year in power. Conservtives in a hurry need a full four year term for people to see the full effects, and a in a minority government, the opposition would bring them down pretty quickly. If you look at the polling of the Conservatives Nicholls admires, they generally fared poorly after year one and year two and only recovered in the final year before the election.

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