I cannot imagine any Canadian political leader saying this with reference to, say, Jim Balsillie:
…How are we creating opportunity for everybody? So that we celebrate wealth. We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that’s a good thing. We want that incentive. That’s part of the free market [productive greed is indeed a Good Thing?]…
Then there’s this earlier at his press conference today from the supposedly oh so progressive Democratic President Obama:
With respect to the issue of whether gays and lesbians should be able to get married, I’ve spoken about this recently. As I’ve said, my feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this. I have friends, I have people who work for me, who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. And they are extraordinary people, and this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.
At this point, what I’ve said is, is that my baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have. And I think — and I think that’s the right thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough, and I think is something that we’re going to continue to debate and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward.
If Prime Minister Harper had sad anything similar to the two above quotes he’d be crucified by the Canadian opposition and most of the punditocracy.
Canadians, because of labels and their own ignorance, simply fail to recognize that President Obama and his actual policies are well to the right of our so-called Conservatives. I challenge anyone to name one major issue of public policy that would disprove my assertion, e.g.:
Health care
Afstan
Missile defence
Income tax levels
Foreign ownership of the media
Military spending
Immigration control of borders
Dealing with terrorism suspects
Capital punishment
Etc., etc., etc…
Earlier on the theme at Daimnation!:
When will besotted Canadians wake up to the real Obama?
Stephen Harper is no Barack Obama
Please take a look at the above links for a dose of reality. And at this in comparison with the official left in the UK:
Canada’s odd approach to immigration, or, currying favour
Only here would the current government be considered even remotely conservative. The terms of political discourse in this country are, to be polite, out to flipping progressive lunch. To conclude:
Stephen Harper’s agenda is so well hidden…
Mark
Ottawa
Apples and Oranges.
C’mon, Obama is playing the game of politics as it is required in the Right of Center USA.
Harper is playing the game of politics as it is required in the Left of Center Canada.
They are both being disingenuous.
But then, we already know that don’t we?
Harper didn’t create the Canada that existed when he became PM and the same goes for Obama. To compare them as if that was the case is ridiculous.
The difference between Harper and Obama is that Harper didn’t attempt to jam the conservative ideology down the throats of Canada because he was not given a mandate from them to do so. But Obama wasn’t so shy about forcing his leftist policies on the people of the United States, despite their objections.
As I’ve said before, Stephen Harper is not the Prime Minister of the Conservative Party, he’s the Prime Minister of Canada. He has a responsibility to all Canadians, not just Conservatives. How can some people not see what’s obvious to the naked eye?
And perhaps that’s why Harper is leading the opposition in the polls and why Obama just got a swift kick to the junk this past November.
You certainly seem to suffer from have a serious case of Harper Derangement Syndrome. Maybe that’s why you attempt to paint almost everything about the Conservatives in negative colors.
Great commentary
Libs still STOLE $40 MILLION during the sponsorship SCANDAL.Screw ‘em.
They can NOT be trusted, period.
Hilarious. Obama the “leftist,” Harper the “Ziocon” . . . this last – Israel – may be the one key foreign policy area where Harper is not noticeably to the left of Obama. . . but I guess that’s only if there is anything “right wing” about an uncompromising solidarity with Israel.
Two different political systems.Still I dont care much for Harper.I think he is trying to get the middle vote by going left. Ialso think he got into the position where he cannot come back. I met him once, and although it was a snap judgement I felt he was the wrong person to be the leader. He has not proved me wrong yet. If you look at the two systems, you can see Harper has more power than Obama. The only thing that stops him is lack of majority.
Obama is forced politically to be centre left. He wants to be far left. Harper wants to be right but is forced politically to be centre right. I have no doubt that Harper is to the right of Obama. The Canadian electorate is to the left of the American electorate and this acts as a constraint on both their intentions.
Obamas actions do not bother me that much because I know he and his philosophy will not be around long. What bothers me is the CPC and PM Harper.
The CPC has taken over ownership of the left of centre in Canada. The Liberals are farther left still with no viable leader and the NDP are a step removed from making us the next Venezuela on the far left. My question is where is a conservative to go in Canada these days?
It does not sit right with me not to vote but it sucks having to vote for the lesser evil and not for what you support. We need a REAL conservative party in Canada.
Agree with Bob that the CPC has taken over the political center. Trouble is, the center drifts continually left in Trudeaupia, and it’s going to take some concerted conservatism to push it right. From what I’ve seen thus far, I really do not trust the CPC to accomplish that, even with a majority. Reform is gone; PC is here.
On gay marriage, in particular, if you didn’t know it was Obama opining, you’d swear it was a “deranged, hateful, prehistoric” Canadian politician during our public musings prior to the Liberal ram jam. The gay marriage “debate” in Canada quickly turned into the ludicrous “support it or you hate gays.” At least the Americans can talk more openly about it. But even then one wonders if the only thing saving Obama from cries of hate-mongering of gays is the colour of his skin.
What I would say is this, when the Canadian Prime Minister is more conservative than the American President, then America is truly in peril.
I have long explained Canadian politics to my US colleagues by telling them that even our “scary, right-wing” Conservative Party is well to the left of the US Democratic Party on most issues. In fact, I tell them, you should think of Canada as 30 mln Ralph Nader voters to the north.
We do not have conservatives or right wing in Canada, we have, left, far left and extreme far left. Only the Canadian media could consider the CPC to be right of center. They pretend to be right while government spends over half of the money in the country, increases the debt daily and brings in more and more laws, regulations and burocraps to control every thing about our lives down to how we think. Very conservative.
“Canadians, because of labels and their own ignorance, simply fail to recognize that President Obama and his actual policies are well to the right of our so-called Conservatives.”
Your (condescending) statement conveniently ignores the social context in which these political parties and leaders exist, and of which their policies are a product. Obama’s policies are well to the right of the Harper Conservatives for the simple reason that US society is well to the right of Canadian society.
Rather than simply comparing a static snapshot of political positions, you should be asking: in which direction are these political leaders trying to shift the political culture in their respective countries? And the answer is: Obama is clearly moving left; Harper, clearly moving right.
Were their roles reversed — Obama, the PM of Canada; Harper, President of the US — one suspects their official policy positions would be vastly different from present offerings, much more in line with their respective labels, and far more in harmony with their presumed personal leanings.
Agreed on all the apples/oranges commentary. The real comparison can be made on the trend. Examine the before and after of each leader when they took power. I think you’ll find that Harper has taken Canada right and Obama took a direction that probably had Cloward and Piven salivating at their turn of luck.
Ergo, Harper has hammered home in most Canadians an abhorrence to increasing taxes. That didn’t use to be the case. Then there’s Israel, criminal justice, global warming, etc etc. Those have all headed right.
I don’t think I even need to spell out Obama’s record…
The trend is a fair metric.
Furthermore compare progress on agendas with the balance of power comparisons of the two countries. It seems like how could the CPC accomplish 4 years of this in a minority? i am very surprised anything got done at all. I say cut Harper a little slack given the circumstances. This is “glacial” change. I don’t like it but it beats envelopes stuffed with cash.
To digress a little I am firmly of the view that minority government does not reflect the will of the people. Rather, it turns the bases of each party against themselves in a war of attrition because each base thinks their leader is selling out. It’s like a slow tractor race.. Last one to cross the line wins. Race for the bottom!
Obama and his cronies are socialists; they really hate Steve Jobs and co. But, they need the money and want to appear “moderate” so the meaningless praise. How does this praise of Steve Jobs tie in with The One’s denegration of people who make more than $250k (but less than $250M)?
Davenport said: “Rather than simply comparing a static snapshot of political positions, you should be asking: in which direction are these political leaders trying to shift the political culture in their respective countries? And the answer is: Obama is clearly moving left; Harper, clearly moving right.”
I don’t often agree with Davenport, but this time… I absolutely do. She’s 100% right. I add here that Obama is clearly trying to get to the place we are trying to ESCAPE from.
Which just goes to show how amazingly effective the Liberals have been at implementing ruinously stupid socialist policies here for the last 70 years.