GayandRight

My name is Fred and I am a gay conservative living in Ottawa. This blog supports limited government, the right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security, and tries to expose the threat to us all from cultural relativism, post-modernism, and radical Islam. I am also the founder of the Free Thinking Film Society in Ottawa (www.freethinkingfilms.com)

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Why I fear a Conservative majority government....

It pains me to say it, but the new Conservative majority government scares the hell out of me.

Not because same-sex marriage will come to an end, or that abortion will be banned, or that the CBC will be privatized, but because a Conservative majority government will be much like a Conservative minority government.

To be sure, it would actually be fairly competent, if somewhat boring.

But my problem is that it would also way too timid and way too arrogant.

And, while some may say it’s impossible to be both timid and arrogant, I say these two traits sort of define the Harper government.

Arrogantly timid! It could have been their campaign slogan.

I long for a Conservative majority government that would boldly tackle some fairly important issues, like:

Revamping the tax code to eliminate corporate loopholes while moving towards a flat tax; tackling inefficient government bureaucracies that stifle innovation; reinstating the merit principle for all federal hiring; introducing shared parenting and ending the blatant discrimination against fathers in divorce and alimony payments; reforming immigration into Canada and streamlining the refugee process; ending silly rules about bilingualism throughout the civil service; showing a commitment to resolving native land claims and responsibly reforming the Indian Act; putting some sense back into the CBC and making it accountable to its listeners and viewers; changing the Status of Women Canada to the Status of People Canada; turfing agricultural monopolies that inflate consumer prices and reduce choice; starting a real discussion on health-care reform that allows for private experimentation; ensuring the Canadian Human Rights Commission doesn’t stifle speech; and working with the Provinces to stop graduating illiterate students.

And, that’s just the small stuff.

As I have written before, we now have a chance to come out of our American shadow.
If the world economy stays relatively healthy, we can expect to see much higher revenues from the Alberta oil sands, and before we know it, we will be back to surpluses. Two weeks ago it was reported that our deficit is falling faster than expected.

Canada is thus poised to play a much bigger role in the world.

So, we can go in two directions – we can become a mini Saudi Arabia – sit back, bring in large amounts of temporary foreign workers and let the petro-dollars flow in. All the Federal government has to do it dole out money to the provinces for our healthcare and our welfare.

Or we can actually make something of ourselves and do something big.

What could we do? I believe we could be the champions of democracy, both at home and abroad.

At home, we can renew our democracy by loosening the power of our political parties over elected MPs; give Parliamentary Committees real powers; have more free votes in parliament, and thus allowing for cross-party coalitions on various issues; and restore true debate to the House of Commons.

Abroad, we could be the driving force for a new Council of Democracies; first to augment the UN and ultimately to replace it. We have the credibility few other countries could even hope for.

It won’t be all sweetness and light. We’ll have to stand up to China, and yes, our troops will have further missions abroad. And, instead of peacekeeping, we’ll be fighting for democracy. We’ll have to take a leading role in NATO, and we’ll actually have to remind the Americans about their commitment to human rights.

But, people around the world will understand that Canada will be there for them...and as dictators fall, people will remember who was there to help and advise.

Can you think of any better way to build long-term friendships, and ultimately open up lots of foreign markets???

To pull this off requires a government with vision and some bold thinking.

Does that describe the Conservatives?

I don’t think so.

Gee, I sure hope they prove me wrong.

7 Comments:

Blogger Top Can said...

I agree with your fears completely. The negative downside of this new majority is that Harper will be so concerned about stability he will not go into bold initiatives that will actually change things and start to reform our system to ensure we won't run out of money in the future. At least Obama had the guts to go full steam ahead on health care reform even though the rest of his party was scared of a backlash.

We as Canadians should petition and lobby this new majority government to make sure that they do take bold action even as we expect them to keep their promises.

7:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Give it a chance. You may well be right in the end, but I think the timidity and arrogance will go away now that the majority is earned. Even PMSH sounded more relaxed in the victory speech...moreso than in any other staged photo op. I can't see the social conservative agenda coming up; the country simply won't wear it.

8:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about C51, the omnibus crime bill that is as great an assault on free speech as the Human Rights Commissions.



http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?Language=E&ls=c51&source=library_prb&Parl=40&Ses=3#a8

Clause 5 of the bill provides that the offences of public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred may be committed by any means of communication and include making hate material available, by creating a hyperlink that directs web surfers to a website where hate material is posted, for example.


Now there's some "bold" legsilation which really scares me.

I hope Mr. Harper is not serious about this wording, and that some idiot bureaucrat put it in. If the wording stays as is....

10:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We'll be fine. Good points though.

More likely to get a fairtax then a flatone in our case. To each his own goes the saying...only... on a macro level.

Let things grow naturally. Their gradualists. Once more Canadians are on board things will pickup appropriately.

Arrogantly Timid they certainly are!

We need to turn that into modestly bold.

But they're still to scared of the shifting things to much to fast. The pendulum needs to stop swinging first.
We don't need any voters getting carried away in reaction provicinally.
We need some more conservative wins at other levels too.
I still think Quebec secertly yerns for some capitalistic freedom, but want to see how things pan out fedreally to be fully convinced. No?

At any rate.
It won't be too many years until people realize the NDP are nuts. They're filling a vacuum for the most part.

Eventually they'll continue to bleed seats to us in the long run between elections as folks grow more informed.

11:09 PM  
Blogger Thucydides said...

Perhaps the boldest move is the least overt; the government simply has to recognize the right to unfettered ownership of property (AKA property rights); correcting a malicious omission from the 1982 Constitution.

The NDP will be enraged, and the usual enablers will be so as well, but this issue will turn Canadians against the Left. How can the legacy media possibly spin this against the government; "evil Harperites recognize your right to own your own property"? People like to know what they own is really theirs, the leftist spin against property ownership will scare or offend people.

11:22 PM  
Anonymous Fritz said...

Harper will implement what is in his platform. To do otherwise is undemocratic. Gordon Campbell is out of a job because he tried that with the HST. The public does not like to be fooled. Are you saying Harper should have a hidden agenda?

2:31 AM  
Blogger Ghost Dancer said...

Bold and valid points in this post.Lets not settle for more of the same and keep many of these issues in discussion and front and center.

7:44 AM  

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