Me in the Citizen

I am quoted in this Ottawa Citizen article today on the Conservative Party's campaign finance reforms.

It seems Opposition politicians are howling mad because Prime Minister Harper won't reveal the names of "secret donors" from his 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership campaign.

Haven't they got better things to criticize than five year old issues that nobody outside of Ottawa cares about?

Mind you, Harper has no one to blame for this. All his recent talk about the evils of money in the political process has opened himself up to these charges.

As I say in the Citizen piece: "Conservatives shouldn't be telling people what do with their money."

Bye Bye Blair

As the world says goodbye today to Tony Blair -- who after ten years is stepping down as British Prime Minister -- there will be much talk of his legacy.

So let me add my two cents.

In my view, Blair's most lasting legacy will be that he dragged the Labour Party, kicking and screaming, out of its nineteenth century class warfare, pseudo-Marxist funk.

Blair scrapped much of Labour's hard-core socialist agenda; he helped defang the militant union bosses; and he even adopted some of Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms.

And of course, Blair was a loyal ally to the United States in its war against terrorism.

So despite the fact that Blair is a left-winger, with an aggravating penchant for nanny-statism, he helped move the political debate in the right direction.

Canada's left wing politicians could learn a thing or two from him.

Selling out true conservatism

Make sure to pick up a copy of today's National Post.

I have an op-ed in it that's near and dear to my heart.

It debunks the myths tossed at me by those Tories who defend Prime Minister Stephen Harper's drift to the political left.

Myths such as Harper needs to go left because "Canada is a left-wing country" and "Conservatism is too scary".

The fact that some Conservatives actually believe those myths is sad; the fact that Harper seems to is just plain baffling.

Media Update:
I will be discussing my column and other issues on the radio shows Montreal Today with Joe Cannon at approximately 10:20 AM EST and on Adler Online at approximate 4:20 PM EST.

Slinger Slings at me

Check out this column by the Toronto Star's Joey Slinger.

He says I am "dead wrong" when I condemn what he calls the "liberalization of the Harper Tories."

Essentially, Slinger argues Harper needs all the Liberal voters he can get to win an election and that means he must alienate his base of right wing "loons".

Which just goes to show what a wacky world we are living in these days: A Conservative Prime Minister is seeing eye to eye with a Star columnist.

Ban the bans

Am I wrong, or does the sole business of government these days consist of banning things.

Think of it.

Government bans smoking.

It bans guns.

It bans pitbulls.

Now the Conservative government wants to ban light bulbs!

In the process, of course, what they are really doing is banning our freedoms.

The Real Stephen Harper

The Ottawa Citizen has an indepth piece today which speculates on what a Harper majority government would be like.

The article notes:

In his first 15 months as prime minister, Mr. Harper has governed more like a cautious centrist: rolling out a big-spending budget aimed at middle-income families, reaching out to moderate Red Tories in his caucus, and appealing to "soft" nationalists in Quebec. The difference has been so stark, in fact, that former right-wing allies are accusing him of selling out to the political left.

I guess I am one of the former "right-wing allies" because the writer quotes me quite a bit in the article.

Check it out.

Sic Transit Gloria

Politics is an odd business.

Just ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A few weeks ago, the media was suggesting he was almost a sure bet to win a majority government.

Now, after a few polls show his political star isn't rising as fast as anticipated, the Toronto Star is openly musing about Harper's possible successors.

That's a bit premature.

But what the heck, if somebody were to ask me who should replace Harper, I'd say Industry Minister Maxime Bernier.

Bernier has done a great job in cabinet and more importantly, he is a true blue conservative.

And one of my female friends once described Bernier as "handsome, tall and charming and well-dressed," and added she was "tired of being governed by ugly people! Bring back the JFKs! Bring back the John Turners! Bring back the Bibi Netanyahus!"

So there's another reason to support Bernier.

You're welcome Stephane

Who says the Liberals can't take advice?

About a week ago, I had a column in the Toronto Star suggesting the left-leaning Liberals needed to adopt a more fiscal conservative stance if they were to have any hope of forming the next government.

Well lo and behold today's Globe and Mail reports, "In a change of tactics that marks a rethinking of Liberal political strategy, Stéphane Dion set up shop on Bay Street yesterday to accuse the Conservative government of handicapping Canadian business and making the country's corporations vulnerable to foreign takeovers."

OK Stephane, that first bit of advice was a freebie, but from now on I'm charging for my consulting services.

Beware of Belindaism

Toronto Sun editor Lorrie Goldstein has a great piece in today's paper entitled "Liberal? Tory? Who can tell?"

In it, Goldstein makes the point that Belinda Stronach relfects the "new face" of federal politics.

And it's true.

Stronach, who is leaving federal politics, never really stood for anything -- except gaining power.

Likewise, says Goldstein, our federal parties are ceasing to stand for anything.

That's why Belinda could so easily shift from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Party.

As Goldstein writes: "it's pretty hard these days to tell a Conservative from a Liberal."

Harper's Secret

Click here to see Prime Minister Stephen Harper's secret weapon.

What's Going on in Quebec?

Lots of analysis is going on in the media these days as to what's wrong with the Parti Quebecois and more generally with the separatist movement in Quebec.

My view?

Well it seems to me the problem with the separatist political movement in Quebec isn't that it's separatist, but that it's Marxist.

In other words, both the PQ and the Bloc Quebecois are pushing a tired, left-wing agenda that's falling out of touch with the realities of the modern world.

The Quebecois are ready to move on.

For another analysis on what the Quebec election results mean politically, check out this excellent column by Beryl Wajsman.

I met Beryl on a recent trip to Montreal and have had appeared on his radio show -- The Last Angry Man -- and I can tell you he is a savvy political thinker as well as a fascinating conversationalist.

On the Quebec election he writes:

"Dumont talked about the hopes of working people, the elderly and young families trying to make ends meet on constricting incomes and trying to make their dreams realities despite restrictive rule. The irony was not lost on the dozen or so reporters I was with. The 'left-wing' Boisclair played the exclusionary ethnic card of his cultural “uberclass”. The supposedly 'right-wing' Dumont championed the interests of an economic underclass. Dumont raised hopes he dare not betray."

Bad Liberal Spin

Liberal leader Stephane Dion needs a new spin doctor.

I say that because the Liberal Party spin on the Quebec election is really lame.

Essentially, Dion is denouncing the "intrusion" of Prime Minister Stephen Harper into the campaign, saying the way he linked additional limitations on federal spending powers to the results of the election was "blackmail."

This intervention, says Dion, tightened the race and distanced the Liberal Party from majority support.

Is anybody really going to buy this nonsense?

Seems to me, the majority of Canadians are pretty happy with an election result which relegates the separatists to third place.

And if Harper's "intrusion" helped to bring this about, so much the better.

Perhaps all this is incomprehensible to Dion and the Liberals who seem to think everyone is rooting for Liberal majorities.

The Cost of Victory

A week before the Quebec election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper poured $3 billion into La Belle Province.

The PM says he did this to end the "fiscal imbalance" but many believe the real goal was to help Jean Charest's Liberals defeat the nasty separatists.

And if that was his goal, it worked --- the $3 billion ensured Charest won 48 seats, which works out to about $63 million per seat.

Good thing, Harper wasn't aiming for a Liberal majority -- that might have bankrupted the country.

Oh and please note, all you folks who think the Green movement is about to reshape our political culture.

The Quebec Green Party won a paltry four percent of the popular vote and no seats, in one of the most pro-environment province's in the country.

Watch for their federal cousins to suffer the same fate in the next national election.

Update:

I modified this posting into a Letter to the Editor, which is published in today's National Post.

Budget Blues

Somebody remind me again, who is running the federal government, Conservatives or Liberals?

I have to ask because today's budget sure looks like something the Liberals or maybe even the NDP could have concocted.

Yes, there were some targeted tax cuts for families and a few tax changes to help business, but overall this budget was all about one thing: SPENDING.

Conservatives were supposed to CUT spending; not increase it.

You can see the NCC news release on the budget here.

But what really gets me about today's budget speech is Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's comment about providing more funding to the Canada Revenue Agency to ensure "every company pays its fair share of tax."

Since when do Conservatives want to increase the government's efficiency when it comes to collecting taxes?

They have a $13 billion surplus for Pete's sake, isn't that enough?!

Talk about greedy.

Maybe it's time the Tories forgot about the politics and re-focused on the ideology.

They certainly need a refresher course in Conservatism 101.

Update:

Financial Post editor Terence Corcoran has more.