Corrupted Liberal government?
Dear Editor,
Re: Harper is flip-flopping on ‘election gag law’
It is doubtless true that some conservatives are not pleased with how the new Conservative government has gone about the difficult business of governing without a clear majority. But to accuse Prime Minister Harper of “selling out” conservative principles, as you and other disgruntled conservatives have done recently (to the gleeful response of Canada’s Lib-left media), is an over-reaction of the highest magnitude.
Think about what it would be like if we had lost the last election. There would have been no Accountability Act, no scrapping of a flawed day-care plan, and no software lumber agreement. A Liberal government would still be paying lip service to the Kyoto protocol while doing nothing practical about air pollution. The Liberals’ Court Challenges Program would still be undermining conservative values — and using taxpayers’ money to do it. A Liberal government would not have supported our troops or rebuilt our military, and they certainly wouldn’t have given up on their anti-Americanism.
The Conservative Party needs to expand its support base. But because of years and years of nanny-state brainwashing by Liberal governments, there doesn’t seem to be much room to grow on the right side of the Canadian political spectrum. The short-term solution is to accept a level of compromise, the long-term solution is to win over the “hearts and minds” of a majority of Canadians so as to expand the number of voters on the right. That job lies as much with the grassroots of the party as it does with our leader Stephen Harper and our Conservative MPs. We will never accomplish this objective as long as we keep carping away among ourselves about “abandoning conservative values.”
It has been said that “politics is the art of the possible.” It’s an absolute certainty that either Stephen Harper or Stéphane Dion will be Prime Minister after the next election. If you’re not happy with the way things are going under the new Conservative government, you have to ask yourself, “Do I really want another corrupt Liberal government led by a loony-left prime minister?”
Stephen Harper has done as much as he thinks prudent under current circumstances. Discontented conservatives would do better to work constructively within the party and focus on improving policies rather than publicly undermining our best hope for the future. We all must do everything we can to ensure the Conservative government is re-elected with the majority it needs to effect the changes that are necessary in the way this country is governed.
Robert Candy
Halifax, NS
