- Harper, a brief distortion in the continuum of true Canadian values? We can only Pray.

Posted: 11:34 AM on October 16, 2010
Canada said things, but just wasn't there, Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail, 16 Oct.'10
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/canada-said-things-but-just-wasnt-there/article1759478/
Stephen Harper bases all his policies on (partizan) ideology.

This ideology is extremist, and right wing,

Which by its very nature, not compromising, not conciliatory, not tolerant, not flexible and certainly not looking at both sides of an issue to understand the realities and seeking a solution that is for the good of all concerned.

It is very much "I'm right - you're wrong", "I'm good you're bad", "you do things my way".

Such is the stuff Int'l conflict is made on and not leaders on the World stage.

"These things get noticed. And there’s a pattern to them."

It is manifest in Harper's statement:

“Our engagement internationally is based on the principles that this country holds dear; it is not based on popularity."

“We take our positions based on the promotion of our values [– freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, justice, development, humanitarian assistance for those who need it]. Those are the things we are pursuing and that does not change, regardless of what the outcome [of secret votes is].”

When Harper says "Our engagement internationally . . . promotion of our values" he is referring to the extremist, right-wing promotion of the extremist, right-wing policies of the Conservative Party and their core (33%) of die-hard supporters, i.e. Con'ism.

He is not referring to the "promotion of our values" of the vast majority of Canadians, who do so in the same moderate, conciliatory, balanced fashion that Canada has demonstrated on the International stage since the inception of the UN and for which it won the Security Counsel seat 6 time out of 6. The only real difference this time is Harper, his extremist, right-wing, policies and approach to Int'l affairs.

We could only have hoped that the Int'l Community was writing Harper off to a 'right wing extremism anomaly in Canada's history' - a brief distortion in the continuum of true Canadian values. They didn't and God help Canada if it isn't.

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html