Not So Much Reform as Special Interest Groups

Jeffrey Simpson has an interesting column this week: Remember the Reformers? They’re still here  In it he suggests that the Conservatives are now putting policies in place written for the Reform Party, two decades ago.

However, while the cowboy law and order agenda was early Reform Party, most initiatives are in response to the special interest groups who helped Stephen Harper's rise to power.  He now has to repay many, many favours.

The gun laws are to compensate gun lobbies, like the National Firearms Association, most connected with the American NRA.  In fact two gun groups handled Conservative MP Chris Alexander's campaign.

The Canadian Wheat Board was never really a target of Reform, but the National Citizens Coalition.  They launched a campaign against the board, reportedly on behalf of Karlheinz Schreiber.

In fact, in the early days, the Party almost had a mutiny on their hands when they suggested cutting farm subsidies.  Their rural members threatened to leave, until they tweaked it.

The tough immigration laws, that enticed  neo-Nazis to infiltrate the Reform Party, came from groups like C-Far, run by Paul Fromm.  Fromm was allowed to sell memberships at at least one Reform Assembly, until his ties to neo-Nazi groups was revealed.  Peter Brimelow, creator of V-Dare, another anti-immigration group, was also an early influence.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation not only fought against immigration policies, but multiculturalism, which might seem odd given that their former president is now the head of Immigration and Multiculturalism.

But it's a ruse.  He exploits immigrant communities but his immigration policies are very selective.  Those not of the right sort can work here temporarily, providing cheap labour for corporations, but if they step out of line, they are immediately shipped back.

When our unemployment rate was at its highest, so was the influx of temporary workers.  You do the math.

Jason Kenney was recently caught in a lie, suggesting that he had only made two patronage appointments to his refugee board.  Turns out it was 16.  Not so much a math error as a question of his integrity.

Even the latest attacks on Native communities by the Conservatives come from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.  Harper has distorted the numbers to make it appear that he has given Attawapiskat $90 million that they squandered, using it as an excuse to take over, but it's just that.  An excuse.

And suggesting that he wasn't aware of the horrendous conditions on the Reserve, again not true, given that they have apparently visited several times, and reported nothing.

They just want control, in much the same way that they took over Barriere Lake, making it easier for big lumber.

We are now being governed by special interest and right-wing fringe groups.  All the devils who now own Stephen Harper's soul.