Since I Can't Comment on My Blog I Must Explain Jack Layton Post

After posting my piece yesterday: Jack Layton Needs to Spend the Summer Taking "Speech" Lessons I received a couple of comments in defense of the Layton strategy.

I'm still unable to respond on my own blog, so I thought I'd explain myself. I don't want to see the NDP destroyed. They were always my "go to" party if the PCs screwed up. However, as someone who has been following and studying the neoconservative movement, I see how easily it was for Harper to set up the NDP.

In 2004, when he arranged a meeting with Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton, he convinced them that they must help him destroy the Liberals, so they should both attack the Sponsorship Scandal with all the gusto they could muster. And they did.

The Liberals were attacked on all fronts, despite the fact that the stage was set for the Sponsorship Scandal by Brian Mulroney, who hired all the cronies, and introduced them to the 'culture of entitlement' (see Stevie Cameron's On the Take) Every name is there.

Jack Layton's father was a cabinet minister in the Mulroney government, and since Layton tries to paint all Liberals with the Adscam brush, I guess turnabout is fair play.

Harper's strategy worked and he now has his majority. But what's interesting is the way it played out. He knew he couldn't beat the Bloc in Quebec, because his ideology is the complete opposite to what most Quebecers believe.

So instead he allowed the NDP to destroy them, getting his majority without Quebec. He never felt comfortable "sucking up to them" in the first place. (see Lawrence Martin's Harperland)

And it didn't take long for the right-wing media to rile the West with the Layton/Quebec match up.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the NDP "surge" was contrived, because the headlines appeared before the actual surge. But it is what it is. Harper couldn't have written the script better himself.

He will spend the next four years polarizing Canadians into a right/left divide. His plan all along.

Although it wasn't even originally his plan, but that of Ernest Manning's, the long serving Social Credit premier of Alberta. He set out to destroy the Liberals by working within the Conservative Party of John Diefenbaker.

Dief toyed with the idea of an alliance until a member of his caucus, Jim MacDonnell, whose father was a friend of Sir John A. MacDonald, exclaimed that the party founder "would now turn over in his grave!" (see One Canada by John Diefenbaker)

So Manning's next strategy was to have the head of the federal Social Credit Party, Rob Thompson, run for the Conservatives, hoping he would then be in a position to merge the two parties from the inside. That also failed.

With corporate financing, he wrote his little book: Political Realignment, and sent his son, Preston Manning, along with friend Erick Schmidt, to the PC convention, again to encourage a merger. But Robert Stanfield, a Red Tory (Harper called Red Tories "pink Liberals") was chosen, and the two young men sent on their way.

The Mannings knew they would have to wait, so wait they did. Political Realignment drew the attention of the National Citizens Coalition, and a marriage was sanctified. To complete the new strategy, the NCC hired Arthur Finklestein, who took liberal bashing to a new level. Finklestein also created the idea of Independent Expenditure Campaigns, in response to a tightening of political contributions after Watergate.

He helped to turn the NCC from a simple protest group, into a full blown, corporate financed, purveyor of Independent Expenditure Campaigns (third party advertising), while Manning advised that they become designated non-profit, to enjoy the tax breaks.

The next wave came with western anger over the National Energy Policy and Mulroney's decision to give a military contract to Montreal, that was promised to Winnipeg, and the Reform Party was born.

David Frum attempted another merger when Jean Charest became Conservative leader, but soon realized that the two parties were polar opposites, so they again bided their time.

Finally, with Peter MacKay at the helm, and a $500,000 loan hanging over his head, he sold out to Harper and the PC Party was no more. Harper claims to know who paid MacKay's loan but refuses to divulge the information. Possibly Karlheinz Schreiber, a close friend of MacKay's father. ( MacKay's financial secret safe with Harper: No conflict, party leader says, by Stephen Maher, The Halifax Herald Limited, May 13, 2004)

That was 2003, and in 2004, the next phase to destroy the centre began.

It's important for Jack Layton to understand just how this movement began and how deeply entrenched it is, if he hopes to survive.

And using language like "brothers and sisters", only fuels the right-wing noise machine.

So I stand by my opinion that he needs to develop a new language, if he hopes to make his party palpable to the average Canadian, who gets all their messaging from Harper's communications team.

We know how important trade unions are, but at the beginning of the debate over the back to work legislation, Canadians were split down the middle. By the end, they were 70% against the postal workers. Why? Because the Conservatives sold their side better.

Layton's rhetoric only helps the right-wingers paint him as a communist. A "red threat". Completely irrational, but this movement is anything but rational. Have you read the comments sections at the end of on-line articles? Harper's supporters defend his purchase of the F-35s, because the communists of Russia and China are threatening our Arctic sovereignty.

And it doesn't matter how many experts claim that these planes are no good for the Arctic, you will not budge them. Why do you think the government is building a monument to the victims of Communism?

Personally, I don't think commie plots are our biggest threat. I don't even believe that terrorism is. The biggest threat we are facing today is ignorance.

For heaven sake, Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin are both thought by some to be the next president of the United States. In fact, other Republican hopefuls, are dumming down their message to compete with their stupidity.

Can you imagine if one of these women had access to the metaphorical red button?

Oye!

So hopefully, when Parliament resumes in the fall, Jack Layton will have learned something from this. He needs to change his strategy or he's doomed, and unfortunately, so are we.

A Warning We Should Have Heeded

In 1965 a young reporter with the Calgary Albertan wrote a piece on the history of the Social Credit party in that province, which was then celebrating it's 30th anniversary.

Created during the depression, when desperate people were looking for a saviour, it was both a blessing and a curse. And this is what he discovered in interviewing those who were around at the time of it's creation. Reports were either glowing or painted a picture of "hooligans, emotion run amok, and a stab of fear."

In the churches, the country churches where so long there had been unity, Social Creditors sat on one side of the aisle, and others on the other, and there was a hostile silence after the service. (1)

And this was actually encouraged by the party. Divisive politics played out well at the ballot box. And so did fear.

Meetings of the opposition were often disrupted by " a 'group of big fellows' who honked car horns, yelled and pounded logs against the walls and doors of their meeting halls. Reporters were barred from [Social Credit] meetings, and often made to feel unsafe upon the streets." (1)And on his Bible program, then leader William Aberhart regaled against "Henchmen", "Bigshots" and "those who betrayed Christ". And if critics phoned into his radio show, they were "threatened with tar and feather, shooting and physical violence". Religious fervour and politics had created a dangerous climate.

So when this young reporter sat down in 1965 to file his story, he understood the dangers of this kind of political party. His name was Joe Clark and he would go on to become Canada's youngest prime minister.

Fast Forward

When Stephen Harper delivered his now famous speech to the controversial Council for National Policy, in 1997, he reminded us that: "The predecessor of the Reform party [is] the Social Credit party."

I've written often of this and have actually been researching a small book on it.

You can link Social Credit to Reform/Alliance/Conservative, with just five leaders.

William Aberhart was the first. His lieutenant Ernest Manning followed. Ernest Manning's son, Preston Manning (Godson of William Aberhart) was the first leader of Reform. Stockwell Day's father was also Social Credit and Preston Manning's lieutenant, Stephen Harper, became leader of Alliance after Day and then, of course, leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada.

The chain has been virtually unbroken.

So when in 2004, Joe Clarke came out warning of the movement, they were not empty words. He knew who they were and what they stood for.

He had attended university with Preston Manning and both were members of the Youth Parliament. "He was part of the Youth Parliament's Social Credit caucus at the same time Joe Clark, Grant Notley (the late, former leader of the New Democratic Party in Alberta), Jim Coutts (who became prominent in the Liberal Party under Pierre Trudeau), and others were representing their respective parties." (2)

And when he called Stephen Harper "a dangerous choice for voters", it came from experience. And today we have a growing number of people sounding the same alarm, including Robert Kennedy Jr., son of the late Senator Bobby Kennedy, who wrote recently:

Harper, often referred to as "George W. Bush's Mini Me," is known for having mounted a Bush like war on government scientists, data collectors, transparency, and enlightenment in general. He is a wizard of all the familiar tools of demagoguery; false patriotism, bigotry, fear, selfishness and belligerent religiosity. Harper's attempts to make lying legal on Canadian television is a stark admission that right wing political ideology can only dominate national debate through dishonest propaganda.

Canada is not an island. People everywhere are paying attention.

Reading today's headlines, it's not too difficult to see that what happened in the early days of Social Credit campaigning, is not much different from what we are witnessing today. Slashed tires, shout downs, fear and intimidation.

And the reason for that is divisive politics and religious fervour, that stir emotions best kept checked.

Add to that a ‘Smear and fear’ style of governing, and it's a recipe for disaster.

So let's make history by changing the course of history.

The latest Nanos poll, that has a margin of error, ranging from 5.7 to 10.3, suggests either a majority for the Conservatives, or a majority for the Liberals, or a minority for the NDP, or a spaceship swooping down on election day and parachuting in a prime minister.

So forget the polls. Just vote and vote wisely.

Sources:

1. A Desperate People Turn to Social Credit, By Reporter Joe Clark, Calgary Albertan News Perspective, August 1965

2. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, By Murray Dobbin, Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing, 1992, ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 5

When Stephen Harper "United the Right", He Solidified the Centre. Just Not For Himself.

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

How Stephen Harper became a "Tory" is the stuff of legend. Or more accurately, the stuff of fairy tales. He did have a brief stint with the PCs in the early 80's, but left the Party because they weren't right-wing enough.

The fact is, that the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was not really right-wing at all, at least not in heart and soul. They were just right of centre. And they were 100% Canadian. And in many ways, historically, they were not unlike the Liberal Party in terms of policy.*

That doesn't mean that there weren't fierce rivalries. They were like two football teams (I don't want to use hockey because Harper has done that to death) who battle each other for the prize, but at the end of the day, both teams are in the same league, and committed to the game.

And while they both went after the same prize, the team that won it, honoured it. Showed it off and protected it for the next winner, whether it be themselves or their opponents.

They didn't win it, then smash it, to make sure that no one else could have it. That's how I see the Reformers, whether calling themselves Social Credit, Reform, Alliance or Conservative. They are the party that wants to smash the trophy and terminate the league.

Uniting the Right Was Not About Vote-Splitting

The common belief was that the PCs and Reform-Alliance joined forces to avoid splitting the vote. Sounds good but completely false. That's the way it was sold when David Frum arranged a meeting between Jean Charest then head of the PCs, and Preston Manning, then head of Reform.

In terms of bridging the differences between the parties of Preston Manning and Jean Charest, the conference made little headway ... the chasm in terms of the egos and pride of the leaders; the different attitudes that the parties have towards populist initiatives; Reform's origins in western alienation, Social Credit, and religious fundamentalism; and the fact that Reform emerged in part as an angry protest against the policies of a Progressive Conservative government made a rapprochement unlikely. (1)

A later report by Laurence Putnam confirmed the divide.

The first misconception about the Reform movement is that it is a conservative party. The Reform party has all the characteristics of a Western populist party and very few marks of a conservative party. (2)

And as to the myth of avoiding vote-splitting. In the West, many of those who voted PC did not go to Reform. Most of Reform's gain was at the expense of the NDP, another party that started out as a Western protest movement. But many also went to the Liberals.

Since the 2000 election, unity activists in both the PC and Canadian Alliance parties have preached that the PC party lost a major part of its family when the Reform Party rose to prominence, however, this is not exactly true. The PC Party did not experience a mutiny, but rather with the decline of the PC Party in Western Canada, an opportunity was extended for a new crew, the Reform movement, to come to power. In fact, many members of the Reform Party elected in 1993 had never been Conservatives at all. Preston Manning had been a member of the federal Social Credit Party prior to incepting the Reform Party. MPs Diane blonczy, Deborah Grey and Val Meredith were never members of the PC Party ... As these members were not Tories throughout the 1980's and early 1990's when the Tories were at their most successful peak since Sir John A. Macdonald ... (2)

Promoters of unity between the PC and Canadian Alliance parties had argued that if there were either only a PC or CA candidate in your average Ontario riding, they would have beat the Liberals in 2000. But what about Etobicoke North? In 2000, no PC candidate ran in Etobicoke North, but a Canadian Alliance candidate did, and yet they gained only 3.9%, and the majority of the PC votes migrated to the Liberal candidate. This despite the fact that provincially, the identical riding was held by PC M.P.P. John Hastings.

This riding is one example that proves 1+1 doesn't necessarily equal 2 when it comes to defeating a Liberal incumbent in Ontario ridings. Another interesting Ontario result was found in the riding of Markham, where Jim Jones was elected as a Progressive Conservative in 1997. Mr. Jones crossed to the Alliance in the summer of 2000, but lost re-election just months later. Why was Mr. Jones electable to the people of Markham, Ontario, as a Tory, but unelectable as a Canadian Alliance M.P.? (2)

It's because the majority of the Canadian electorate are moderates. The same people who voted for Brian Mulroney later voted for Jean Chretien, illustrating that votes between the Liberals and the PC Party were always liquid, while votes cast for ideologically-driven parties, like Reform/Alliance and NDP**, came from a "base".

The Reform movement only became palpable to Canadians when they shed their wolf's clothing and started calling themselves "Conservative", or worse yet "Tories", cashing in on a century and a half tradition. And for awhile, they were able to fool some of the people some of the time. But unfortunately for them, as their policies became increasingly un-Canadian, their level of support has drifted back to their "base".

They have no hope of drawing votes from the NDP, except perhaps in the West, but they are also losing the votes of moderates ... aka: ordinary Canadians.

So now they have a problem. Instead of eliminating what they thought was their own competition, they have eliminated all competition for the centre, and all of the "liquid" votes are now flowing away from them.

They are a right-wing fringe party. Nothing more. They came, we saw, they scared the hell out of us, and now they must leave.

This brings us to Michael Ignatieff. I see him as the perfect leader to unite the centre. And if I wasn't convinced before, a column by the widow of the late PC president Dalton Camp, has me sold. Ignatieff is not "a bleeding heart Liberal" but will lead a party that will be fiscally responsible but socially aware.

His family has a long history in this country, and come from all political stripes. His G-Grandfather, George Munro Grant helped Sir John A. and Confederation, and later promoted his railway. His uncle George Parkin Grant was also a Conservative, and author of the popular Lament for a Nation, as reaction to the defeat of John Diefenbaker. His fear was that we would become too Americanized and too beholden to corporations, and while this book was reactionary, he would later suggest that he felt that Pierre Trudeau was on the right track. (3)

Michael's father George Ignatieff was a foreign secretary under Diefenbaker, Diplomat under Pearson, and even served as acting president of the United Nations General Assembly***. He was also a peace activist, who fought hard against nuclear weapons, earning him a reputation as a "Peacemonger." (4)

Another uncle was Vincent Massey.

And though Michael Ignatieff's political views are his own, they have been nurtured in the true Canadian tradition.

So while Johannes Wheeldon may ask "Can Iggy Find His Centre?" He didn't have to. He was already there. And as Wendy Camp says: "He has come home to us." And whispering in his ear, will be family voices from the past, making sure that he doesn't screw up what they helped to build.

Footnotes:

*Stephen Harper referred to the PCs or "Red Tories" as "Pink Liberals".

**The NDP has since become more moderate and appealing, though some of their early followers feel that they had to sell out to do so. I like them and remember the greats like Tommy Douglas and Ed Broadbent, and the leader Jack Layton used to be.

***Stephen Harper and the Reformers never trusted the United Nations.

Sources:

1. The Winds of Right-wing Change in Canadian Journalism, By David Taras (University of Calgary), Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 21, No 4, 1996

2. An Analysis On The Differences Between the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada & The Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, by Laurence Putnam As prepared for the Fraser Institute, December 2002

3. Lament For a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism, By George P. Grant, McClelland & Stewart, 1970 edition with new introduction by author.

4. The Making of a Peacemonger: The Memoirs of George Ignatieff, By Sonja Sinclair, University of Toronto Press, ISBN: 0-8020-2556-0

Shoe Stores, Accurate News and Talking to Dead People

In the continuation of the Reform full circle theme, I am once again going to discuss Stephen Harper's control of the media and the message and compare it to the first leader of this movement, Willliam "Bible Bill" Aberhart.

Harper has often been compared to Adolph Hitler for propaganda and message control, which of course is always denounced as fear mongering.

Another common accusation is that he's flirting with fascism, because of his dictatorial style, and governance of fear. And despite the growing number of victims, people again brush it off.

But I have developed a very peculiar talent of late. I can now talk to dead people. Honest.

And no I don't need to be put in Jason Kenney's Home for the Terminally Insane. I have been talking to dead people for days, and they are talking back.

Since Stephen Harper is so secretive about his past, I've been trying to put it together, but I was looking in the wrong place. Instead of turning over stones as I have been doing, I should have been turning over sod.

After stumbling onto the old Time magazine article written when Aberhart's Social Credit Party was first elected, revealing that "Bible Bill" actually fashioned his government's messaging after Hitler's "Ministry of Propaganda & Public Enlightenment, I wanted to learn more. It was just too coincidental to ignore.

Premier Aberhart announced that Alberta Government news will hereafter be "dished out in platters" by a bureau with exclusive monopoly of statements from the Premier & Cabinet so that ''there will be no more scoops." .... According to Alberta reporters they are going to be stuffed with Aberhart press handouts, barred from ferreting out real news. (1)

As I stated before, when Aberhart emulated Hitler, it was while the Fuhrer was still popular. However, I had read that Stephen Harper studied the reasons for the success of Social Credit, the forerunner to his Reform Party. The SoCreds had ruled Alberta for almost four decades; so he definitely has long term plans.

Accurate News and Shoe Stores:

In 1936 William Aberhart created the Accurate News and Information Act, which according to author and journalist Gordon Laird, required the province's skeptical newspapers to be "fairer" to government and to print state-authored articles of equal length to any anti-government items published. It would eventually be overturned by the Supreme Court, but it definitely created a combative atmosphere.

The following year he announced plans to legislate censorship:

"Why shouldn't newspapers be licensed [like doctors or lawyers] and licensed for the protection of the public and be required to live up to a certain standard of truth and honesty in their publications?" asked Aberhart. "I want to show them that, if we can handle their bosses, the financiers, we can handle their henchmen!" (2)

In 2007, Tonda MacCharles in the Ottawa Bureau of the Toronto Star, unearthed secret plans for a special media centre, dubbed the "Shoe Store Project". At the time Harper's staff had been working quietly, to restore an old shoe store into a controlled environment for government messaging.

The Prime Minister's Office, which has long had a rocky relationship with the national media, has been working on a secret project to build a new, government-controlled briefing room at the cost of $2 million, documents obtained by the Star show. ... The result would be a little fancier than the National Press Theatre and, most important, give the PMO a lot more control over who gets in and, quite possibly, what gets filmed and broadcast.

... Since the Conservative government's relationship with national media is already fraught with tension over curtailed access to ministers and Harper, the project was clearly deemed highly sensitive ... A hand-drawn sketch of the PM's renovated shoe store/press theatre indicates a space for "maybe permanently installed cameras with feeds to media."

That could put the news cameras in the hands of government-employed camera operators, not independent photojournalists employed by the television networks.

Once the media got wind of the project it was axed, but now just a few short years later, the PMO staff are taking their own photographs, writing their own copy and creating their own video. Messrs Aberhart and Hitler would be impressed.

Matthew Brett of Global Research is not:

Not surprisingly, the Globe and Mail and other news organizations ran a press release from the PMO's office verbatim, with no critical commentary, analysis or insight. The state of media today is such that copy-pasting a press release from the PMO and slapping it on the front page of a national daily newspaper is accepted practice. Indeed, Conservative strategist Tom Flanagan writes that “compared to most countries with which I have any familiarity, the Conservatives in Canada actually have friendly media to work with.” The ‘Propaganda Model’ is more than alive and well, but sometimes without even bothering to ‘filter’ news content.

I had delved into the history of Social Credit before, but I hadn't really put it in context. However, it's not that difficult and shouldn't really be surprising, given that the five leaders of this movement, are all very closely connected.

William Aberhart's disciple, lieutenant and right hand man was Ernest Manning. These two men ruled Alberta for almost 40 years, and worked to create a National Party.

Ernest had a son Preston (Aberhart was his Godfather). Preston Manning's disciple, lieutenant and right hand man was Stephen Harper. Preston was the only leader that the Reform Party ever had, but when they became the Alliance Party, Harper was approached to run for it's leadership. He declined, so instead Stockwell Day assumed the role. (Stevie came back when Stocky screwed up.)

Stockwell's father was also a member of the Social Credit Party and had in fact ran against Tommy Douglas years ago.

So for more than 75 years this has been a family business, which means that Stephen Harper is just carrying on a family tradition. Control the message and the media, while waiting for 'the Rapture'. Oye!

Back to Previous To Start of Reform Full Circle and William Aberhart.

Footnotes:

1. Social Credit Improved, Times Magazine, September 16, 1935

2. Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pg. 47

Harper's new plans for message control may be his own though:

More on Stephen Harper and That Reform Full Circle Thingy

I posted yesterday on discovering a website with archived Times Magazine articles. The ones I am reading deal with William "Bible Bill" Aberhart, the first leader of Stephen Harper's party at the time of it's inception in 1935.

Harper himself reveals this in his now infamous 1997 speech to the Council for National Policy, but most people already knew that Social Credit was the predecessor of the Reform Party.

The Reform then went on to become the Alliance Party of Canada and then the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper won the leadership when they were still calling themselves Alliance.

The 1935 articles show how William Aberhart established a propaganda machine fashioned after Adolph Hitler's Ministry of Propaganda & Public Enlightenment, which explains why people now compare Harper's control of the media to Nazi Germany.

However, he did not learn his technique from Hitler, but Aberhart.

Apparently Harper had studied the secret of the party's early success in Alberta, so he could tap into it as he launched his own political career. However aside from things I revealed in the first part of this story, I came across another element that is also quite disturbing.

Waiting for the Rapture in 1936:

In addition to being Alberta's unpredictable head man. Premier Aberhart is head of Calgary's Prophetic Bible Institute. Last fortnight he protested against being called a religious fanatic on the basis of an utterance made in 1917, when reporters understood him to say the Last Trump was at hand. "Let me say that Jesus is not coming in 1936 or 1937 or 1938 or 1939 or 1940 or 1941,:'' Premier Aberhart firmly told newshawks. "Have you got that clear? . . . Now listen carefully. Seven years before the coming of Christ, the raptures shall take place. This will be when the Lord appears in the clouds. The raptures have not taken place yet." (1)

'Raptures'? Where have we heard that before?

According to Wikipedia:

He [Aberhart] became fascinated with prophetical teaching in the Bible and studied a correspondence course by the American evangelical theologian Cyrus Scofield.

Waiting for the Rapture in the 21st Century:

Cyrus Scofield, as I mentioned in relation to Aberhart, is the father of the dispensationalist premillennialism movement, and his book; the Scofield Reference Bible, is believed to be the driving force behind Zionist John Hagee and Left Behind's Tim LaHaye.

From Lorette C. Luzajic's series, Pillars of Faith: John Hagee Rides Again

Marching to Zion - Fire and brimstone is alive and well. ... Though his disparaging comments against women, gays, blacks and pagans raise few eyebrows among fundamentalists, Hagee’s militant pro-Israel stance is controversial. ... Hagee defends Zionism, calls for war with Iran, decries Palestine, and fights anti-Semitism, earning “humanitarian” awards from Israel.

Hagee blames those cult-y Catholic Christians for the world’s historic hatred toward Jews. The Catholic Church (“the Great Whore”) and Hitler were in conspiratorial cahoots with the Devil. But wait! The Jews may be God’s chosen, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t on this lunatic’s list of derision. After all, they brought the holocaust on themselves, in an ancient curse by God for perpetual idol worshipping. Despite the tragic torture and death of millions, Hitler was heroic, fulfilling Zion by driving the Jews back to Israel where they belong! Hagee’s eager for nuclear war to erupt out of Israel, because that is a pre-requisite for Christ’s return.

I've mentioned John Hagee in several posts but of importance is that he is the founder of Christians United for Israel. Charles McVety is head of the Canadian chapter and Jason Kenney is joined at the hip with Charles McVety. I have also mentioned several times that I believe they are planning to use Israel's nuclear weapons to initiate what they call 'God's Foreign Policy', and it would appear so does Luzajic.

Oh and Tim LaHaye? Remember that 1997 speech of Harper's at the Council for National Policy? Yep, Tim LaHaye (along with James Dobson and others) founded that pro-military God's foreign policy group. They approved of Stephen Harper even before George Bush, and unless you're approved by them, forget about it.

Waiting for the Rapture With Stephen Harper:

Now I don't know how much Stephen Harper himself really believes of this stuff. Some in the media suggest that he only goes along with it to keep the So-cons in line, but I think it's much more than that.

Harper is a psychopathic narcissist, who will do whatever it takes to stay in power. He's been called a control freak, an extremist and a lying sack of ... oops ... erase that last one. It's mine.

According to Marcie McDonald, author of the book The Armageddon Factor, when he was speaking at the Civitas Society:

... he outlined plans for a broad new party coalition that would ensure a lasting hold on power. The only route, he argued, was to focus not on the tired wish list of economic conservatives or “neo-cons,” as they’d become known, but on what he called “theo-cons”—those social conservatives who care passionately about hot-button issues that turn on family, crime, and defence ...Arguing that the party had to come up with tough, principled stands on everything from parents’ right to spank their children to putting “hard power” behind the country’s foreign-policy commitments ..." (2)

And just look at the executive of this 'Society':

Founding President: William Gairdner

Other Past Presidents: Tom Flanagan, William Robson, and Lorne Gunter

Founding Directors: Janet Ajzenstat, Ted Byfield, Michel Coren, Jacques Dufresne, Tom Flanagan, David Frum, William Gairdner, Jason Kenney, Gwen Landolt (REAL Women), Ezra Levant, Tom Long, Mark Magner, William Robson, David E. Somerville (National Citizens Coalition), Michael Walker (Fraser Institute)

So just how far is Stephen Harper willing to go with this 'hard power'? Does he believe in this stuff or has he just learned that it was part of the secret of Aberhart's success: the Fear Factor? But as Marcie McDonald asks:

What does it mean if and when a believer in the infallibility of Biblical prophecy comes to power and backs a damn-the-torpedoes course in the Middle East? Does it end up fuelling overenthusiastic end-timers who feel they have nothing to lose in some future conflagration, helping speed the world on Hagee’s fast track to Armageddon? (2)

It would be nice to get an answer from our fearless leader, but he's not talking. Thank you William Aberhart and Adolph Hitler. He's learned his lessons well.

Back to Part One ... Continue to Next

Footnotes:

(1) Refinance and Raptures, Times Magazine, April 13, 1936

(2) Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons: The rising clout of Canada’s religious right, Walrus Magazine, October 2006)

Reform Has Come Full Circle as News is Being "Dished Out in Platters"

I was researching something else today and came across a site with archived Times Magazine articles.

The ones that I found interesting were from 1935, when William "Bible Bill" Aberhart was first named Premier of Alberta.

He wasn't elected premier, but was founder and leader of the new Social Credit Party, when they won 56 of 63 seats in the provincial election.

The new leader, William Aberhart, whose ancestors were German, followed the tactic of Adolf Hitler in not standing for election to a legislative seat but devoting all his energies to boosting the Social Credit Party into power. This accomplished, plain Mr. Aberhart accepted from one of his Party henchmen last week the seat he had to have before he could be named Premier. (1)

Now there were no negative connotations with comparing him to Adolph Hitler at the time. You've got to remember that the German leader was highly thought of then, and in fact was the 1938 Times Man of the Year.

But there was something else of Hitler's that Aberhart emulated, that is far more striking. His propaganda machine.

Without crudely borrowing the name of Germany's "Ministry of Propaganda & Public Enlightenment," Premier Aberhart announced that Alberta Government news will hereafter be "dished out in platters" by a bureau with exclusive monopoly of statements from the Premier & Cabinet so that ''there will be no more scoops." .... According to Alberta reporters they are going to be stuffed with Aberhart press handouts, barred from ferreting out real news. (1)

I've written on the history of Social Credit before, since they were the forerunner to the Reform Party. Ernest Manning, Preston Manning's father took over from Aberhart when he died, and the SC ran Alberta for decades. It was considered to be pretty radical back in the day, but started off slowly.

Adolf Hitler's first moves when he reached power were adroitly Conservative, and so last week were William Aberhart's. (1)

So while everyone is comparing Stephen Harper's tight message control to Adolph Hitler, which is so often dismissed as fear mongering; it would appear that Stephen Harper isn't copying the notorious German chancellor at all.

He's obviously researched the success of the Social Credit Party and is taking his lead from William Aberhart; who in fact did copy his style from none other than Adolph Hitler. How about that?

Bill Aberhart Radio Star

Anyone who has studied the Social Credit Party knows that Bill Aberhart had a popular evangelical radio show, but he was also the subject of another radio program.

Beginning in 1931, Times Magazine dramatized some of their news stories, called The March of Time and on August 28, 1935; they reenacted the story of none other than William "Bible Bill" Aberhart. This is how they billed it: A socialist has been elected to head the Alberta, Canada government. He plans to pay all citizens $25 per month. A 'socialist'? Oh, my!

Now I don't know who played his part, though two of the male 'voices' under contract at the time were Orson Welles and Art Carney.

Stephen Harper, Bill Aberhart and Pulpit Politics

So we now know, or can surmise, that Stephen Harper learned how to manipulate the press from the first leader of this party, William Aberhart, who learned it from Adolph Hitler; which explains a lot.

But that was not the only thing that contributed to Social Credit's success that our fearless leader has copied. He's also learned how to manipulate religious fervour.

In 1935 Times magazine dubbed Aberhart "The Messiah" and referred to him as "a Bible-babbling high-school principal ..." After pious rejoicing at the Prophetic Bible Institute and devout singing of Our God, Our Help in Ages Past, Messiah Aberhart announced that he was ready to accept the call to be Alberta's Premier. (2)

William Aberhart was able to own his people mind, body and soul.

Stephen Harper, William Aberhart and a Dictatorial Style

This new Social Credit movement was certainly controversial, and most people had their doubts that it could work at all. But Aberhart was going to make it work, no matter what. He would never accept defeat.

In Alberta it was freely predicted that Messiah Aberhart will never be able to make Social Credit work unless he makes himself a Dictator. Canadian jurists meanwhile believed that Social Credit as proposed in the Province of Alberta is "contrary to the North America Act" which is the fundamental law of Canada's Constitution.

... "They say what we propose to do is unconstitutional!" he snorted. "Just because an old paper was signed in the past doesn't say we can't do this. The British North America Act is a fool act. We can do what we want! (2)

Stephen Harper, William Aberhart and no Fraucus in the Caucus

Like Stephen Harper, Aberhart ruled his caucus, and it would seem everyone else, with an iron fist. Time referred to him as a " ... political bigot who makes his followers take vows to read nothing and listen to nothing uttered by anyone against either himself or Social Credit. (3)

He actually made them sign an oath that they wouldn't read anything against the party. This meant that they wouldn't have been allowed to read these Times articles.

An economic pontiff, William Aberhart makes his followers sign pledges that they accept Social Credit "on faith," forbids them to debate or argue its merits.(2)

And also like Harper, he knew how to utilize attack ads to get what he wanted. When then prime minister, R.B. Bennet was running for re-election:

As his most distasteful chore of the week, the Dominion Premier, who holds his House of Commons seat from Alberta, made a Federal loan of $2,500,000 to that Province's newly-victorious Social Credit Premier William Aberhart. Such seemed to be the price charged by Social Crediteers for withholding their attacks from Mr. Bennett personally in the election. (4)

Bennet lost anyway.

I think I may have actually read somewhere that Harper did study the history of the Social Credit Party to tap into their success, but I didn't realize that it was to this extent. And since Aberhart modeled his party, at least in the beginning, after Hitler's success, it's not that difficult to see where our new Messiah's style came from.

I'm definitely going to look into this a little more. Who knew that I may be able to figure out our little dictator from reading seventy-five year old issues of Times Magazine.

And yes, he also adopted the worst of the Republican system, but Newt Gingrich claims to have drawn on Preston Manning's success, by watching his television ads.

This is certainly a mystery, but I'm on it. (Forward to Part Two)

(1) Social Credit Improved, Times Magazine, September 16, 1935

(2) Messiah, Major, Money, Times Magazine, September 2, 1935

(3) New Viceroy, General Election, Times Magazine, October 21, 1935

(4) King or Chaos, Times Magazine, September 23, 1935

Conservatives Planning Another Bloody Name Change

While I was just starting to get used to calling our current government, the Conservative Party of Canada; I now learn that the party formerly known as the Alliance Party, formerly known as the Conservative Reform Alliance Party (CRAP. I can see why they changed that one), formerly known as the Reform Party, formerly known as the Social Credit Party; will be undergoing yet another name change.

The Party of Privilege, or POP.

Tired of Canadians and the media assuming they should be conservative in handling our money, and constantly having to explain their extravagance in three words or less; the new moniker will replace the need for press conferences, scrums or indeed explanations of any kind.

We can't have government ministers risking lethal paper cuts, from invoices being shoved in their faces, or the possibility of a family feud when it's discovered that they gave jobs to some family members and not others.

OTTAWA - The children and siblings of some Conservative MPs have found work on Parliament Hill in the offices of other Tory parliamentarians, a review of government records shows. Under House of Commons rules, MPs are not allowed to employ their spouses or children. But there is nothing to stop MPs from hiring family members of their caucus colleagues and paying them from their parliamentary budgets.

When Canada was a democracy we'd have to trouble ourselves with asking the prime minister about this, but fortunately we are no longer required to, because we have no democracy or prime minister, only a self appointed dictator and a one party state: The Party of Privilege.

There is a new set of rules that now apply. Their long list of entitlements include:

Giving all the best government jobs to cronies: POP!

Lying about a 2004 coalition attempt: POP!

Creating a dizzying array of lobbyists who move in and out of government, and can even determine how much money they themselves can take: POP!

Having the media beat up by the RCMP if they dare to ask a question: POP!

Creating a 200 page manual on how to disrupt Parliamentary Committees investigating your wrongdoing: POP!

Lying about income trusts, robbing seniors 'of their hard earned nest eggs': POP!

Using unprecedented amounts of tax dollars on party strategic polling: POP!

Obviously transferring money from us into their own bank accounts to write big cardboard cheques, signed by them with party logo: POP!

Unprecedented abuse of military and executive jets: POP!

Using our money for their own fundraisers: POP!

Pork Barrelling for votes: POP!

Indoctrinating public servant job applicants to their party: POP!

Trying to bribe a dying man for his vote: POP!

Removing all of the historical portraits of past prime ministers and replacing them with snapshots of the exalted one: POP!

Exploiting immigrant communities through stereotyping: POP

Living large while preaching restraint: POP!

Changing records to cover up misdeeds: POP!

Personally, I prefer a one party state, because we no longer have to vote or care, or worry about where our money is going. And if we are haunted by faded memories of a nice peaceful country, where all citizens were treated equal; not to worry. The exalted one will reward us with another highly choreographed photo-op and we'll smile.

Hail King Stephen and heaven help us all.

Can Stephen Harper Continue to Control the Ignorant Masses?

Boy since I first started researching the roots of Reform in all of it's ugliness, I had no idea just how precise and focused this neo-conservative movement was, and how little it had to do with humanity and democracy. It's unmistakeably about wealth, power and self-righteousness.

So while I'm having tinfoil hats made in a variety of styles, I'm still hoping that this Right-Wing Revolution is a myth. However, I'm not really holding out much hope. The only thing I can wish for now is that the Canadian people will wake up and start acting like Canadians, because this is not who we are. We need to stage a counter-revolution. They dub theirs; The Revolt of the Rich. We'll call ours The Revolt of the Canadian People. They may have the mainstream media in their army, but we've got ...well ... the Canadian people. We just have to shake them out of their stupor.

Leo Strauss: The Father of Neo-Conservatism

The above video is part of the introduction to the documentary 'The Power of Nightmares', a chilling expose on the neo-conservative movement, as orchestrated by the German philosopher, Leo Strauss. You might think that it is just another conspiracy theory, except that everything Strauss taught his students, is exactly what's happening in this country today.

The main message was that the elite should use deception, religious fervor and perpetual war to control the ignorant masses. He had a clear concept of good vs evil. There was no middle ground.

When Ernest and Preston Manning wrote Political Realignment, they also strove to create a political system with just two powers. The right-wing would be the good naturally, represented by faith, family and freedom; while the left would be the bad, representing secularism, communism and collectivism; that the neo-cons deemed as threats to personal freedom.

And even before Harper became prime minister, Donald Gutstein, lecturer and journalist, wrote:

What do close advisers to Stephen Harper and George W. Bush have in common? They reflect the disturbing teachings of Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish émigré who spawned the neoconservative movement.Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us.

And American journalist Jim Lobe discusses how the neo-cons create reasons to go to war, in a piece called Leo Strauss' Philosophy of Deception:

What would you do if you wanted to topple Saddam Hussein, but your intelligence agencies couldn't find the evidence to justify a war?

A follower of Leo Strauss may just hire the "right" kind of men to get the job done – people with the intellect, acuity, and, if necessary, the political commitment, polemical skills, and, above all, the imagination to find the evidence that career intelligence officers could not detect.

The "right" man for Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, suggests Seymour Hersh in his recent New Yorker article entitled 'Selective Intelligence,' was Abram Shulsky, director of the Office of Special Plans (OSP) – an agency created specifically to find the evidence of WMDs and/or links with Al Qaeda, piece it together, and clinch the case for the invasion of Iraq. Like Wolfowitz, Shulsky is a student of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher named Leo Strauss ... (My emphasis added)

And if you don't think this has any relevance to Canadians, Abram Shulsky, the war monger mentioned above, is associated with the American Enterprise Institute, home of David Frum, who was a George Bush's speechwriter, and the man who coined the term 'axis of evil'. He is a close personal friend of Jason Kenney's and his sister Linda Frum was one of Harper's patronage senate appointments.

Frum is one of the nuts pushing for Israel to launch a nuclear attack on the Muslim nations of the Middle East, in the name of Christianity. An unprovoked war so they can accelerate the Apocalypse.

This has relevance up the ying yang.

Faith Feud of Ernest Manning and Tommy Douglas

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

"The will of the people is bound to come into conflict with the will of God" Ernest Manning

Ernest Manning's parents belonged to the United Church and were never particularly pious. (1) But as a young man, he began listening to William Aberhart's radio Bible program, and convinced his parents to allow him to register at the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute, becoming their first graduate.

Aberhart's brand of Christianity was of the most radical fundamentalism, bordering on the occult. Manning himself, ascribed to much of this, but when he took over the radio broadcasts, he had moderated somewhat, though was still clearly a fundamentalist. He told his audiences that every aspect of their lives could be found in the scriptures and as such they should allow themselves to be directed by the "word of God".

He believed in the infallibility of the Bible at a time when the Social Gospel was becoming more popular. Tommy Douglas, then Premier of Saskatchewan, belonged to the latter group:

These competing tendencies can be personified in Tommy Douglas and Ernest Manning, two preachers who became premiers. Douglas was a Baptist pastor in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and responded to the Great Depression by becoming involved with the Farm-Labour Party and later the Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF). ...

... Throughout his years as premier, Manning continued to appear as a lay preacher on the religious radio program that he had inherited from Aberhart. On occasion Manning recruited his son Preston to stand in for him on the show. Ernest Manning ruled Alberta from the right, particularly after the discovery of oil ... He grudgingly introduced welfare measures such as building homes for the aged, but believed none of that would be necessary if people in society were shouldering their Christian duties to care for one another.

In Saskatchewan, Douglas ruled from the left and his party introduced North America’s first state medical care insurance program in 1962. When Ottawa proposed Medicare for all Canadian provinces later in the decade, Manning was opposed. (2)

Ernest Manning's greatest fear was the spread of socialism:

"Throughout his political career, Ernest Manning was motivated by religion, and more specifically, by anti-Socialism: 'Socialism, to Manning, is a system which largely prevents the individual from attaining the state of grace and hence salvation ... Giving to the individual societal benefits such as free medical care ... breeds idleness... causing a break down in his relationship with God'. "Manning argued that 'where the state imposed a monopoly on a service ... the sinful philosophy of state collectivism scored a victory'. ((3)/em>

What I found the most compelling about Ernest Manning was how serious he was. Comedian and talk show host, Percy Saltzman, interviewed him once and had this to say:

Ernest Manning, Social Credit Premier of Alberta, I remember as the coldest fish I ever did tangle with. Ice water in his veins, I swear. Probably due to the notoriously deep-rooted streak of anti-Semitism among the Mormonic Socreds (pace Aberhart and his goys) (4)

I don't think his faith was making him happy and certainly was not cheering up those around him. The following is a brief interview, and I can see what Saltzman meant.

Some of this rubbed off on his son Preston. As a member of the youth wing of the Social Credit Party; he once stated: "We (socreds) believe that Canada is drifting towards socialism even when the majority of Canadians are opposed to collectivism and the welfare state..." (5)
Sources:

1. Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning, By Lloyd Mackey, ECW Press, 1997, ISBN: 1-55022-299-6

2. Citizenship as ministry: Religious progressives, By Dennis Gruending, Pulpit and Politics, February 8, 2009

3. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, by Murray Dobbin, Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing, 1992, ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 9

4. PREMIERS, PRIME MINISTERS, COLOSTOMIES & ME OR ... Life in that Sandbox on the Hill, Percy Saltzman, 2006

5. Dobbin, 1992, Pg. 24-25

A Bright Light Attacks Bugs, But as My Father Might Say ....

In my research to discover how a party founded in bigotry is now running our country, I have to stop now and then and remind myself that they do not represent the views of the majority of Canadians. The video I posted is wonderfully inspirational and a shot of humanity that I need right now.

This story is about an early Reform Party member, Doug Collins. It kind of represents the thinking within this party, and the views of Preston Manning and Stephen Harper. While they encouraged extreme right-wing fringe groups, they also tried to distance themselves from them, if they proved to be an embarrassment. Then and only then, did they expel them. But Mr. Collin's story is a little different and kind of epitomizes the ideology.

Preston Manning would always use the tired phrase of his father's when anti-semitism was exposed in the Social Credit party 'A bright light attracts bugs'. But as my own late father would probably say; 'so does shite!'

Doug Collins, Racism and the Reform Party of Canada

Depending on who you talk to, Doug Collins was either a crusty, tell it like it is, journalist; or a racist pig. In fact, he was somewhere in between the two, but his story is worth telling. We heard him speak in favour of the National Citizens Coalition's 'Boat People' campaign, and the ridiculous notion that it was part of an Asian invasion. However, his bigotry went much further than that, making him a perfect fit for the Reformers and Harper's Northern Foundation.

"Doug Collins is a member of Canadian Friends of South Africa ... and has written numerous sympathetic articles ... Collins is also a member of CFAR ... an extremist right-wing group founded by Paul Fromm. While Manning felt obliged to stop the candidacy of the outspoken Doug Collins (he wanted to run for the reform Party in 1988), he seems less concerned about Donovan Carter, a man whose activities - including organized spying for a foreign power - have been mostly clandestine and therefore not an embarrassment to the party." (Dobbin. 1992. Pg. 100-107)

Not an embarrassment to the party. That's definitely what it was all about.

I've said it before, that all of the parties that Stephen Harper and Preston Manning were involved in, were all about the anti's and the notion of some kind of conspiracy. For Social Credit it was a Jewish conspiracy. Later Ernest Manning made it about a socialist/communist conspiracy. Part of that was Pierre Trudeau, whom Manning firmly believed was a communist; and the notion of immigrant 'invasions' from communist countries, especially 'Red China'. It then went to any non-white 'invasion' that threatened the anglo culture.

For the current Conservative party, it is primarily a Muslim invasion though Jason Kenney is trying to keep out all the 'undesirables' (anyone not white, wealthy, Christian, heterosexual and Conservative). But what it all boils down to is the notion of 'pro-Anglo' culture and 'white nationalism'. Other groups with similar goals are called 'white supremacists' and neo-Nazis.'

When Stephen Harper was working as the legislative assistant to PC James Hawkes, Mr. Hawkes stated that Steve did a lot of work on immigration. "Harper soon found himself studying the intricate relations between immigration and the economy, demography and politics." He criticised Mulroney for not making the tough decisions.

After reading Peter Brimelow's book, Harper bought 10 copies to share with friends. William Gairdner became a party mentor and sold his book at all Reform gatherings. Paul Fromm spoke at several Northern Foundation conferences and sold memberships to C-FAR at Reform Party assemblies. The Reform Party regularly advertised in NF's publication the Northern Voice.

They definitely would not have had a problem with Doug Collins'; Immigration: the destruction of English Canada, or any of his views.

Connections and Disconnections

Besides being just a controversial journalist, Doug Collins had connections with several questionable people and organizations. Mind you most of these were also connected to the Reform Party and possibly members of our current government.

I've already mentioned Paul Fromm and C-FAR, but another person who played a role was Doug Christie. I mentioned Mr. Christie in several of my posts about Stockwell Day. He was a good friend of Stockwell's father and the Sr. Day was an active member of Christies separatist party, the Western Canada Concept.

Doug Christie was also the lawyer for many of the most notorious anti-Semites, including James Keegstra and Ernst Zundel. Doug Collins attended the latter's trial to show support "...and Doug Collins, a B.C. weekly newspaper columnist and revisionist who labelled the Canadian Jewish Congress "hatemongers." ( Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network - Author: Warren Kinsella Toronto : Harper Collins, 1994 ISBN 0-00-255074-1 Pg. 80)

Doug Christie is also general counsel for an organization called the Canadian Free Speech League (CFSL), which has presented its "George Orwell Award" to controversial figures, including BC columnist Doug Collins, who authored an article titled Swindler's List attacking Steven Spielberg's Holocaust film Schindler's List.

"Our defence in this issue is truth and fair comment. The meeting in question was hosted by Christie's Free Speech League and attended by people who've promoted hate and published racist views in the past." "These people include Doug Collins, who suggested Holocaust deaths were exaggerated in a column he wrote in the North Shore News."

Mr. Collins' beliefs and connections would not be news to Harper or Manning, but it was also becoming apparent to the 'grassroots', that this was not a populist party, and that maybe 'grassroots' views were not the issue.

"Rumblings of Grassroots Discontent - By the fall of 1990, the provincial politics issue was turning into the most divisive issue in the party ... the issue was focusing attention on the party's central office and it's alleged desire to control the membership.

"Dissidents in the party ... openly claimed that the party was being run by a 'Calgary clique' "A lot of people are frustrated - we're seeing the inevitable erosion of grassroots politics into a smaller more domineering group at the top...'

"The clique that was being criticized in 1990 consisted of Manning and four of his staff members. One of the key members was thirty-two-year-old Stephen Harper, a founding member of the party, it's Chief Policy Officer, and the man who became known as Manning's chief political lieutenant. Though only a staff member, he often made speeches and was one of the two people, the other being Waters, whom Manning trusted to speak for the party. He spent four years working for the oil industry after arriving in Alberta from Toronto in 1978..." (Dobbins pg 121-122)

This discontent was reflected in the Reform Party candidacy of Doug Collins, who was acclaimed in Capilano—Howe Sound riding in the 1988 federal election. Initially Preston Manning was on board, but after some complaints of Collin's past racist remarks, Manning had a change of heart.

However, he didn't stop him from running, but only agreed to sign his nomination papers if Mr. Collins would refrain from making anymore public comments that could be deemed racist or anti-Semitic. Naturally the outspoken Collins refused, so was dropped from the list of candidates.

What's interesting to note here, and is a recurring theme, was that they had no problem allowing someone with his extreme views to possibly sit in Parliament, he just had to keep his views to himself. There is something very wrong with that. How can he represent a multicultural country when he believes that only one segment of that country's people are worthy of representation?

Another group with ties to the Reform Party, was the League of Rights and they had a lot to say on the subject.

"When well known Vancouver journalist, Doug Collins, offered to stand for the Reform Party, he felt that here was a party which might tackle some of Canada's basic problems, including immigration. ... A large and enthusiastic Reform Party virtually demanded that Collins stand as their candidate. No other candidate was even considered. But 12 hours after accepting the Reform Party nomination, Collins was bowing out with Reform Party leader ... Manning, refusing to sign his nomination papers .... Manning suggested he sign a document which he described as 'most remarkable ever sent to any candidate seeking political office, and that included the Soviet Union'. A man of great moral courage, Collins appeared as a witness at the Keegstra and Zundel trials; claiming that the basic issue was freedom of speech."

Not to worry though, they loved Stephen Harper:

"The most notable political developments of the past few weeks were the election of Stephen Harper as the new leader of the Alliance Party, succeeding Stockwell Day; and Mr. Harper's immediate meeting with PC leader Joe Clark, in which he challenged him to stop piddling around and wasting time, and join the Alliance in 'uniting the right,' or else get out of the way as the Alliance moves forward ... Mr. Harper, because of his early background with the Reform movement, his several years' experience in the House of Commons and as leader of the National Citizens' Coalition, should be well equipped for his new role. As this short report is written (April 10), Mr. Harper seems well on his way to bringing unity and esprit de corps to his own party. His challenge now is to prepare the Alliance for a major breakthrough in Central Canada within the next two years, in order to mount a successful challenge to the present government in the next federal election."

The Reform-Conservatives 'clique' and muzzle system hasn't changed. Many in the party have very controversial views, so I can understand why he doesn't allow them to share those views. But why elect a Member of Parliament to speak for us, when they aren't allowed to speak at all?

Is Canadian Healthcare Part of Socialist Conspiracy? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha (I can't say that with a straight face)

The young lady's amateur video above is really cute and honest. I love when young people become engaged, and she obviously felt that the notion of our health care system being some kind of socialist conspiracy is laughable.

If you do a search on YouTube for 'Shona Holmes', the woman who is featured in attack ads by the 'Tea Baggers' (honest there really is such a group), you will catch her many interviews on U.S. television stations, but you will also find many people who claim the whole thing was a hoax. (she refuses to be interviewed by the Canadian media).

I'm doing a series of postings on our health care system and how the Harper Government is poised to scrap it. Previously I showed the link between Conservative MP John Weston and Ms. Holmes, but I want to go back to the Social Credit Party and Ernest Manning, the Reform Party and Preston Manning and of course the National Citizens Coalition and Stephen Harper.

When did all this nonsense begin and how have we reached the point where our public health care system may be on it's last legs? All it will take is a Harper Majority. I'd suggest getting in all you medical appointments before the next election.

1. The Social Credit Party and Conspiracy Theories

I've already mentioned in another post, the origin of the Social Credit Party and Ernest Manning's long career as Social Credit Premier of Alberta. His son Preston became active in the Party, but wouldn't rise to prominence until he became leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a kind of off shoot from Social Credit.

According to Janine Stingel in her book; Social Discredit: Anti-Semitism, Social Credit and the Jewish Response (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press ISBN 0-7735-2010-4), "Social Credit was wholly dependent on an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory" (p. 13).

Ernest Manning would eventually weed out the anti-Semitics, but not the notion of a conspiracy. The threats were no longer the Jewish bankers, however, but the Communists and of course, the dreaded 'Socialists'.

From Preston Manning and the Reform Party of Canada:

"Throughout his political career, Ernest Manning was motivated by religion, and more specifically, by anti-Socialism: 'Socialism, to Manning, is a system which largely prevents the individual from attaining the state of grace and hence salvation ... Giving to the individual societal benefits such as free medical care ... breeds idleness... causing a break down in his relationship with God'.

"Manning argued that 'where the state imposed a monopoly on a service ... the sinful philosophy of state collectivism scored a victory'.

"This evangelical view of humans as essentially alone in the struggle for salvation leads to a gospel of the individual and also, naturally enough, 'in the world' to the gospel of free enterprise and capitalism. It compels many of its adherents to elevate capitalism to the level of Biblical command. Richard Neuhass, an American evangelist, says it is "imperative for Christians to support capitalism. It is an amazing thing ... It comes from the grace of God.'

"According to Reverend Ben Smillie, using Ernest Manning as an example, these evangelical sects 'have religiously sanctified the privileges of the economically powerful.' The multi-millionaire Ernest Manning could denounce the 'Godless materialism' of the communist system, while materialism sanctioned by God allowed him to 'equate (his) wealth with the Blessing of God.'" (Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 9)

When Conservative MP David Sweet was lecturing for his anti-feminist Promise Keepers, he toured with a man named Lee A. Jenkins, who also discusses the Bible and the goal of personal wealth. - (From his website) "Our Mission: At Lee Jenkins Financial Ministries our mission is to equip people to handle money from a biblical perspective in order to advance the Kingdom of God. Traditionally, Christians had been indoctrinated into what Lee calls "Poverty Theology" meaning that, if you love the Lord, you should not be concerned with earthly things, because only the spiritual counts. In today’s materialistic society, many churches have begun to preach a "Prosperity Theology" – one that bases spirituality on the kind of car you drive, the size of your house and how lavish your lifestyle is. ... As an ordained minister, he has the strong biblical foundation to make the connection between faith and finances."

Somehow they have equated public health care with Socialism, which is a threat to their personal wealth and eternal salvation.

2. Preston Manning and the Welfare State

Like his father, Preston Manning also firmly believed in the concept of a Socialist conspiracy, and part of that conspiracy was public health care. However, much of Manning's rhetoric centred around the concept of the 'Welfare State', and his belief that the government has no business providing social services.

Even in university as a member of the young Social Credit Party, he stated: "We believe that Canada is drifting towards socialism even though the majority of Canadians are opposed to collectivism and the welfare state" (Dobbins, 1992, pg. 25)

When Preston Manning was leader of the Reform Party, and Stephen Harper writing it's policy, they called for an end to national standards on medicare. And their policy entitled "Alternatives to the Welfare State: The Reform Party opposes the view that universal social programs run by bureaucrats are the best and only way to care for the poor, the sick, the old and the young." (Dobbin, 1992, Pg. 163)

The 1997 speech of Stephen Harper's that got him into hot water, and may have saved our country because he lost his possible majority in 2006; sounds very much the same. "Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. "

Interestingly, he also says: On the surface, you can make a comparison between our political system and yours. We have an executive, we have two legislative houses, and we have a Supreme Court. However, our executive is the Queen, who doesn't live here. Her representative is the Governor General, who is an appointed buddy of the Prime Minister. Of our two legislative houses, the Senate, our upper house, is appointed, also by the Prime Minister, where he puts buddies, fundraisers and the like. So the Senate also is not very important in our political system.

3. Stephen Harper and the National Citizens Coalition.

From Wikipedia: "The National Citizens Coalition is a Canadian libertarian-conservative lobby group, founded by Colin M. Brown in 1967, originally founded in opposition to the concept of a national health care system. ... . Stephen Harper, the current Prime Minister of Canada, served as President of the organization from 1998 to 2002."

I had always suspected that the ties between the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party were deeper than they appeared, but author Trevor Harrison stated that when the group decided to form a party in the place, they went to visit Colin Brown in Toronto, "however, Colin Brown, the founder of the NCC, was seriously ill with cancer." Ernest Manning was one of the directors of the National Citizens Coalition, so the party was hoping they could work together on common goals, including the privatization of health care.

However, I learned from author Murray Dobbin, that the relationship went back to the days of the Social Credit Party. In fact, Brown originally just purchased a full page ad in the Globe and Mail opposing Tommy Douglas' Medicare, but after reading a book that Ernest and Preston Manning had written, called Political Realignment, he decided to expand on his original initiative.

"Ernest was one of the moving forces behind the creation of the NCC and a founding member when the organization was incorporated in 1975. He remained on the advisory board for many years." (Dobbin, 1992, Pg. 97)

It would appear that Stephen Harper is now working for the NCC from the inside. If he ever got a majority during an economic crisis, we could kiss our health care goodbye.

Stephen Harper and the Manning men would have realized their dream, and Canadians can only hope they never get sick.

More Postings on Harper's War Against our Health Care System:

1. Conservatives Running Attack Ads in the U.S. to Fight Against Obama's Health Care Plan

2. Evidence of Harper's Plan to Scrap Medicare Came From an Unlikely Source

3. Sarah Palin Supports Stephen Harper's Private Health Care Plan

Roots of Reform, Stephen Harper and the Stepford Wives

From the days of the Social Credit Party, to Reform, to Alliance, and finally the Conservative Party of Canada; there has been a common theme: A woman's place.

When Reform Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz was quoted as saying: "We should try to keep our mothers in the home and that is where the whole Reform platform hangs together", it was not an isolated comment and only a very small glimpse at their ideology and the roles of women.

Yes I know that Harper stacked his cabinet with females, but he'll do anything to keep his job, so it's irrelevant. Most of his caucus are mere window dressing anyway, since they are not allowed to talk without a script from the PMO.

But the roots of this patriarchal belief run deep, and begin with the Manning family. Ernest, the long-time Social Credit premier of Alberta and his son Preston, leader of the Reform Party.

In his book, Preston Manning and the Reform Party of Canada, Murray Dobbin discusses this.

"Preston Manning's church, the First Alliance in Calgary, is a member church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of Canada. (Stephen Harper's Church). The 1990 edition of it's manual sets out it's constitution, bylaws, policies, regulations, and statements on marriage and divorce, and the role of women. As an evangelical church, it adheres to the doctrine of "enerrancy - that is, the Bible is correct in all details and cannot be deviated from.

"Two other areas of church doctrine are worth noting. The role of women in the church is subordinate to men and is dictated by the Bible: 'Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of every woman and God is the head of Christ' In the church and elsewhere, 'It is recognized that equality and submission can be compatible as seen in Jesus Christ. There is no inferiority implied in submission ... in the man-woman relationship.' (Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 11)

Reform Conservative David Sweet and his group, the Promise Keepers, use the same flawed logic. PK is a male dominated, testosterone driven organization that tells it's followers not to ask for leadership in the family, but to take it.

Once in interview with Christian Week, David Sweet himself said, "Men are natural influencers, whether we like it or not. There's a particular reason why Jesus called men only."

They held a 'Living a Legacy' campaign across North America, and one woman made the following observations about the Promise Keepers:

1. They were Evangelical Christians "who believed the Bible to be the inerrant literal word of God". (Just like Preston Manning and Stephen Harper's Church as mentioned)
2. They were men who "believed in well defined gender roles..."
3. There were no gray areas, only what they perceived as absolute truths. (You can hear Reform Party mentor William Gairdner discuss absolutes in this video)
4. They were men uncomfortable with their sexuality and needed their "maleness" affirmed.
5. They were card carrying members of the anti-Christian Religious Right movement.
6. Each speaker at the rally had to "sign a pledge that the Bible is the inerrant literal word of God".

One speaker said "I am the head of the family, my wife is the neck." Another said, "Don't be spiritual cross-dressers, wearing the pants one day and the skirt the next."

"Throughout the entire event, I kept hearing about what it meant to be a 'man's man', a 'godly man', or a 'real man', and it certainly had nothing to do with equality of the genders or acceptance of sexual minorities."

Murray Dobbin goes into a bit more detail in a section entitled 'Women's Issues'.

"In November, 1990 a task force on women's issues headed by Sandra Manning, wife of the party leader, concluded that there were no distinctly women's issues. Diane Ablonczy, at the time national chairperson of the Reform Party, was quoted in Alberta Report as saying 'the work group came to the consensus that women's issues should subsequently be considered social and family issues'.

"Reform leaders have shown considerable hostility to the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), an umbrella group that works on women's issues. Stan Waters repeatedly singled out the organization as typical of interest groups whose government funding should be cut. (One of the first things Stephen Harper did when elected was to cut their funding and remove the word "equality" from their mandate) Deborah Grey, answered a request from NAC for the party's position on women's issues by saying that the Reform Party refuses to appeal to interest groups so 'we will not be responding to the question'.

"The issues that NAC sought a position on included violence against women, equal pay for work of equal value, and provisions to prevent discrimination against women. Although these issues have implications for society in general, they obviously do have a more direct impact on the lives of women. In coming to the conclusion that there were no issues that are specifically women's issues, the Reform Party's women's work group made a political statement on the significance of the concerns raised by groups like the National Action Committee. (Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 165-166)

Author Trevor Harrison describes it a little differently:

"In November 1990 Reform assembled a 'women's work group' to examine such issues as employment and pay equity, family violence, and women's health care. Shortly thereafter, however, a number of party supporters, including several with strong ties to REAL Women, declared their objection to both study materials being used for discussion and what they viewed as a typically feminist construction of specifically "women's problems.' Stated Mary Lamont, a founding member of both REAL women and the Reform Party:

"'I've been involved in the Reform Party from the start and I've always thought of it as a strong conservative party. I thought it stood for a different approach. I expected it to do more on these family issues than give us feminist slogans, attitudes and agendas. The feminists get enough attention from other parties.'

Under pressure, the controversial women's group folded." (Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada. Author: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, pg. 213)

And then of course there's William Gairdner, another Reform Party mentor. Donna L. Lillian, Assistant Professor of Discourse and Linguistics East Carolina University, wrote a paper entitled: A thorn by any other name: sexist discourse as hate speech, which centered around Gairdner. Ms Lillian spent several years "...analyzing Canadian neoconservative discourse as racist, sexist, and homophobic." Murray Dobbin also discusses this:

"Gairdner (speaking at the 1991 Reform Party's Assembly) went on to attack the whole concept of human rights and the funding of advocacy groups that 'compete for government funding to get these rights.' The attack on the 'rights illusion' brought applause, but his attack on feminists brought a roar of approval: 'Furthermore ... we fund ... radical feminist groups all over the country .... (extended applause) ... that publicly support social revolution ... of the most Utopian kind and they vow to abolish the traditional family.'

"Again, going after women and women's rights, Gairdner suggested to more loud applause, that Canada 'throw the Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) out and return to our common law heritage. ... Women get special treatment but men do not (loud boos)" (Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, pg. 165-166)

Harper's disdain for women's rights run deep through his Church and Reform Party roots. This gives us some idea of what to expect from a Harper Majority.