Posted by hiti on 3/4/2002, 2:23 pm Revenge of the Red Reformer: Stephen Harper Reinvents Himself to Appeal to Conservatives Enza (the Supermodel) Anderson may have perfected the art of transformation, but among the final list of Canadian Alliance leadership hopefuls, Stephen Harper stands above the rest in this regard. As a Reform Party Member of Parliament, Harper was once the proud leader of a group of malcontents affectionately labelled the Red Reformers by the national press. Now long forgotten, Reform MPs Ian McClelland, Jim Silye and Jan Brown all revolved around Harper's left of centre orbit. Self-styled moderates, this group was always ready to fuel the allegations that the Reform Party was run by gun-toting extremists who hate gays. You don't hear a lot about Stephen Harper's past on the campaign trail today. Now Harper rails against laws like Bill C-68, officially known as the National Firearms Registry. And if given the chance, he even says he'll repeal this law. This sounds good to gun owners, but, in actual fact, when Harper did have the chance, he did just the opposite. On April 5, 1995, Stephen Harper was the only Reform MP to vote in favour of Bill C-68 on second reading. And after he supported Bill C-68 so did his friends Ian McClelland and Jim Silye. The Red Reformers followed Harper, and the media followed the Red Reformers. Harper's decision to break ranks with Reform Party policy on responsible gun control lead to the predictable media feeding frenzy. The party was divided and the media smelled blood. If Stephen Harper was representing the constituents of Calgary when he voted in favour of Bill C-68, the media asked, who were Preston Manning, Art Hanger and Diane Ablonczy representing when they stood with their Reform colleagues from across the country in opposition to this dangerous legislation? Fair question. And when the dust settled, the media declared Stephen Harper a hero and Reform's populism a farce. But Stephen Harper was no hero. His speeches in the House of Commons at the time showed that Harper supported the firearms registry but didn't have courage to act on his misguided convictions. Instead, he let the professional anti-gun lobby do his talking for him and for his Calgary constituents. Almost a billion dollars later, the gun registry has been a costly failure and Harper is hypocritically standing before crowds of Alliance supporters calling for the law to be repealed. In love with the media spotlight, Stephen Harper also publicly opposed the Reform Party's controversial position on sexual orientation. Harper doesn't support gay marriage, but he does support laws that protect gays against discrimination. Again, this sounds reasonable, but what does it really mean? It means, for instance, that Harper, to be consistent, must support the 1998 Supreme Court decision to make it a crime for a private Christian school like Kings College to fire teacher and gay rights activist Delwin Vriend. Harper would also presumably agree with the 1999 Ontario Board of Inquiry decision to fine Ray Brillinger, the owner of the Ontario-based printing company Imaging Excellence Inc., for refusing to print gay literature. Ray Brillinger is a born-again Christian, but his religious freedoms don't matter to Harper or the gay rights activists who filed the human rights complaint. Stephen Harper's position on gay rights continues to win him friends at the CBC, but his views conflict with the family-friendly policies of the Canadian Alliance, as they did with the Reform Party. Harper's views are also incompatible with a principled commitment to property rights and religious freedom. But none of this dissuaded the Red Reformers. Jan Brown, Jim Silye and Ian McClelland all made public statements in support of Harper and the gay rights agenda. And, in the final analysis, the media reported that Harper, Silye, Brown and McClelland all eventually left federal politics over this issue. The Red Reformers once again fuelled the allegations of bigotry and extremism in the Reform Party and then left in a snit. Where are the Red Reformers today? Ian McClelland left the Canadian Alliance to become an Alberta MLA in 2000. Barely visible, McClelland comes out from under his rock from time to time to declare, in his own sanctimonious way, that the Canadian Alliance is dead. Has he gone to greener pastures? Not really. Premier Ralph Klein has had the good sense muzzle McClelland and has relegated him to the backbenches of the Tory caucus. More impatient for self-destruction, Jan Brown left the Reform Party and ran against Preston Manning in 1997 as a federal Tory. She disappeared after Calgary voters gave her a well-deserved thrashing and re-elected Preston Manning with over 60% support. After one term as a Reform MP, Jim Silye returned to Calgary in 1997 to pursue his options and consolidate his wealth. Surprising, he returned to the public arena in the last election for one last act of treachery. As a Joe Clark Tory, Silye ran against conservative stalwart and Canadian Alliance MP Rob Anders. Of course, Silye lost badly despite his attacks on Anders for being too conservative. Stephen Harper is the only Red Reformer left. After leaving the Reform Party, he joined the National Citizens Coalition in 1997. Harper then spent his time attacking his former party and leader Preston Manning with a kind of hysterical hatred that confounded even the party's harshest critics. He even campaigned against the United Alternative initiative. Now Stephen Harper wants back in, and he wants to lead the same conservative movement he helped to pull apart. And it looks like he will, unless, of course, Canadian Alliance members can remember Harper's questionable political past and his destructive political friends. --------------------
Found circulating on the internet. It's a bit tough on the old Harpocite, but if the shoe fits, wear it...
Stephen Harper has been reborn. He is campaigning for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance as a principled conservative. He's strategically calling for an end to the dreaded firearms registry and has successfully reinvented himself as a family-friendly candidate. With gun owners and social conservatives in his pocket, Harper has already built the coalition he needs to win the Alliance leadership contest. But Harper was not always the conservative he claims to be today and Alliance members should know the facts before the vote this month.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread