Great article/post, Gerry. I'll be watching DN tonight fer surrrre. Here's my take on what is rounding out with regards to political positioning (Rae, Trudeau and Iffy excluded):
Because of past baggage, I honestly don't think Harper has a good shot at garnering a majority of "Red Tories" anymore. Which is part of the reason why it has appeared (to many of us "true conservatives") that he has veered further to the left, since entering 24 Sussex, then he had to to gain their centre-right vote. In other words, he is hoping to attract more left-wing Trudeau Liberals who hate the Paul Martin/John Turner faction of the party (and who currently like Ignatieff's positions slightly), rather then waste his time with modern tories in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver as well as Atlantic red tories (who liked Mulroney). And I can see his point since those three cities I mentioned above voted liberal way more often then they voted for tory coalitions.
However, to make things even more complicated and interesting, it would seem that this guy (the second choice), a guy without the past political baggage from the right side of the spectrum (and the 90s factions) is positioning himself as a "red tory" so that he can rekindle the Mulroney coalition which gained prominence in '84 and '88 (as Harper doesn't seem to be able to do it).
Check out his Mulroney-like tax stance on the GST in Halifax last thursday. It really is a possible reverse of ideological fortunes on both sides as we could be seeing Trudeau conservatives (under Harper) going up against Mulroney Liberals (under McKenna). A battle that everyone wanted to see in the 80s, but never happened.
The "Harper Alliance" is the result of the conservative movement failing where the left has won. The grassroots conservative movement will need to establish the support in order for a prime minister to act conservatively.
Bash Harper, get a call from the CBC.
ReplyDeleteSupport Harper, get an RCMP sponsored call from Elections Canada.
Sounds about right.
Great article/post, Gerry. I'll be watching DN tonight fer surrrre. Here's my take on what is rounding out with regards to political positioning (Rae, Trudeau and Iffy excluded):
ReplyDeleteBecause of past baggage, I honestly don't think Harper has a good shot at garnering a majority of "Red Tories" anymore. Which is part of the reason why it has appeared (to many of us "true conservatives") that he has veered further to the left, since entering 24 Sussex, then he had to to gain their centre-right vote. In other words, he is hoping to attract more left-wing Trudeau Liberals who hate the Paul Martin/John Turner faction of the party (and who currently like Ignatieff's positions slightly), rather then waste his time with modern tories in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver as well as Atlantic red tories (who liked Mulroney). And I can see his point since those three cities I mentioned above voted liberal way more often then they voted for tory coalitions.
However, to make things even more complicated and interesting, it would seem that this guy (the second choice), a guy without the past political baggage from the right side of the spectrum (and the 90s factions) is positioning himself as a "red tory" so that he can rekindle the Mulroney coalition which gained prominence in '84 and '88 (as Harper doesn't seem to be able to do it).
Check out his Mulroney-like tax stance on the GST in Halifax last thursday. It really is a possible reverse of ideological fortunes on both sides as we could be seeing Trudeau conservatives (under Harper) going up against Mulroney Liberals (under McKenna). A battle that everyone wanted to see in the 80s, but never happened.
The "Harper Alliance" is the result of the conservative movement failing where the left has won. The grassroots conservative movement will need to establish the support in order for a prime minister to act conservatively.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff.
ReplyDeleteVideo is up Gerry:
ReplyDeletecue to ~18:00 minutes!
John
John:
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking that clip.
Every time I click on the link my internet goes out.
ReplyDeleteNo joke!