Posted by littleharbour on 6/29/2004, 8:20 pm, in reply to "I am a Canadian, I am a Conservative and I am a Clubber" I have been a member of these parties since 1991, driven there by the Meech Lake fiasco and Preston Manning's principled stand against the Canadian establishment. Although I am a social conservative, I did not push for a plank in our platform on abortion because I realized we could not have a litmus test for membership. I was attracted to Reform because it gave social conservatives the opportunity to debate this and other important issues and to have some hope of democratic decision making through referenda and free votes. In the past 12 years, through dozens of rallys and board meetings in three different constituencies (Ajax, Halifax West and Halifax) not once did I get the impression that the party had been overtaken by relgious activists. There were no prayer meetings. No specific proposals on banning abortion as party policy. Simply put, the now 11 year old attack on Reform/Alliance/CPC as being in the thrall of fundamentalist Christians is the Big Lie of Canadian politics. It has been repeated loudly and long enough, that it has become accepted wisdom. Nothing Manning, Day or Harper said has been able to change that. And if Clement or Stronach had been elected leader, they still would have attacked the party as extremist and the leaders as weak for not expelling anyone with socially conservative views. The fact is, the media have a vested interest in assisting the Liberals and NDP to demonize the conservative movement, because they fear us on issues other than social issues. They oppose tax cuts, the ending of subsidies to the CBC, a more American friendly foreign policy, etc, etc, etc. The social conservative rant is a complete smoke screen, aimed at keeping us off balance and out of power in Ottawa. Stephen Harper came closest to any leader in standing up to this liberal blackmail, but he wavered a few times and did not use the media properly to attack the Liberal hypocrisy. Those who attended his speeches know that he made some very forceful arguments in defence of the Conservative Party's openness to different views. But those statements were lost in the media strategy of attacking him one day and ignoring him the next. The clear lesson for conservatives is direct sell your message. Don't depend on the media to help you in any way. We need to get tough and be prepared to kiss ass in the next election, or we'll be in opposition in perpetuity. Canadian politics is a blood sport and it's high time that we went for the Liberal throat before they rip out ours. Live Free or Die!
Reform was never a religious based party.
The Alliance was never a religious based party.
The Conservative Party is not a religious based party.
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