We've all heard of Stephen Harper's "Hidden Agenda." Harper and the Conservatives insist that there isn't one and the other parties keep warning us about it. The thing is that the agenda is only hidden if you don't look for it. Stephen Harper doesn't openly talk about it on national television and he does his best to keep other Conservative candidates and MPs quiet and away from the press but beyond that the neo-con agenda the Conservatives are pushing is black and white. Harper's claim that it doesn't exist comes off like a child with frosting on his face telling you he doesn't know where the cake went. Harper and the Tories are anti-abortion, anti-women's rights, anti gay rights, against bilingualism, health care, and multiculturalism, anti-environment and pro-war. The point here is not to look at specific actions, I've already done that over here.
Right now I just want to look at what Conservatives have been saying about these issues during the rare times that they allow themselves (or that Harper allows them to) be honest about how they feel. These quotes are pulled from a variety of sources but I would especially like to single out this site for it's wonderful collection.
So, down the list we go starting with what Stephen Harper thinks about the US neo-conservative movement (currently represented by George Bush and John McCain.
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.
On women and abortion:
"If they say they're personally opposed to abortion but they don't want to impose their opposition on society, ask them if they're personally opposed to child abuse, ask them if they're personally opposed to slavery. "
- Concervative MP Jason Kenney, Canadian Catholic News, May 24, 2004 Edition
"We should try to keep our mothers in the home and that’s where the whole Reform platform hangs together."
- Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, in the Vancouver Province, October 11, 1993.
"We saw that young American having his head cut off. What's happening, what is happening down there no different."
- Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) at a 2004 pro-life rally on Parliament Hill, comparing abortion to the beheading of American Nicolas Berg by insurgents in Iraq
"Women who become pregnant through rape or incest should not qualify for government-funded abortions unless their pregnancy is life-threatening."
- Stockwell Day, 1995, at an Alberta Conservative party convention.
"If a community decides this is how you're going to dress and these are the punishments, who are we to say [different]?"
- Cariboo-Chilcotin Conservative MP Phillip Mayfield when asked why he believed that the torture and imprisonment of women for not wearing a veil should not be grounds for granting asylum, The Globe and Mail, March 24, 1995.
"I want to know how many women in Alberta are physically battered and not just insulted by their husbands... If we talk insulted by their husbands, then I'm afraid that I'm guilty from time to time of abusing my wife."
Stockwell Day, 1987, disputing a poll indicating one million women had been abused physically, emotionally, sexually or economically.
"At first glance to women of pregnancy prone age, this proposal may seem to be one of the best things about Canada. However, even with the current six-month leave, a functioning uterus can be an impediment to getting a job in the first place. Were it not for the idiocy of the Liberals contemplating the extrapolation spousal benefits to roommates, it could be argued that parental leave discriminates against infertile couples -- but that may lead to the risks of extending parental leave payments to those who merely go through the motions!"
- Cheryl Gallant in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, October 28th 1999, opposing legislation to extend parental leave to one year.
"For taxpayers, however, it’s a rip-off. And it has nothing to do with gender. Both men and women taxpayers will pay additional money to both men and women in the civil service. That’s why the federal government should scrap its ridiculous pay equity law."
- Stephen Harper on pay equity, NCC Overview, Fall 1998.
On Gay Rights
"When you go into the issue of homosexuals and lesbians it's in the interest of society to have the right to discriminate against that group in areas of ... schools is one that comes to mind."
- Conservative Party Natural Resources critic Dave Chatters arguing in favour of discrimination against gays on a radio station in Westlock, Alberta, on April 30th 1996.
"Homosexuality is a mental disorder that can be cured through counselling."
Stockwell Day, quoted in Alberta Report.
"In the 1950s, buggery was a criminal offence. Now it's a requirement to receive benefits from the federal government."
- Yorkton-Melville Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz commenting on same sex benefits, The Leader-Post, March 3, 2000.
"I want the whole world to know that I do not condone homosexuals. I do not condone their activity. I do not like what they do. I think it is wrong. I think it is unnatural and I think it is totally immoral. I will object to it forever whenever they attack the good, traditional Canadian family unit that built the country."
- MP Myron Thompson.
"Stories are one thing. Facts are another. I'm so tired of dealing with a few scant, fabricated stories. [Discrimination against homosexuals] just is not happening."
- Stockwell Day in the Red Deer Advocate, May 11, 1996.
"We all make mistakes and they made a mistake in pursuing a project which purports to reflect the sexual choices of one per cent of the population."
- Stockwell Day, 1997, fighting a $10,000 lotteries grant to study the lives and history of gays in Alberta. Most statistics suggest that four to 10 per cent of the general population is homosexual.
“Law-abiding men and women should be allowed to carry concealed handguns. If women and gays really wanted to stop being victims of hate crimes, they'd be in support of this, but judging from discussions, they'd rather be helpless and rely on government”
- Chris Reid Ex Conservative candidate
"Regarding sexual orientation or, more accurately, what we are really talking about, sexual behaviour, the argument has been made ... that this is analogous to race and ethnicity.... (For) anyone in the Liberal party to equate the traditional definition of marriage with segregation and apartheid is vile and disgusting."
Conservative leader Stephen Harper, 2003.
On the Environment
“Carbon dioxide does not cause or contribute to smog, and the Kyoto treaty would do nothing to reduce or prevent smog.”
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, June 10, 2004
“[The Kyoto Accord is] a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations… [The Accord is] based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence about climate trends.”
Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance fundraising letter, Fall 2002
"Let me put that absolutely to rest. I've never heard a single word about Canada withdrawing from Kyoto. It's never even been discussed. That's absolute fear-mongering,"
- John Baird
On Unemployment and Poverty
"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.
"Old age security is welfare for the aged."
- Conservative MP Paul Forseth, Vancouver Sun, October 6th 1993.
"I have strong concerns that we're building shelters on a grander and grander scale. I don't think there's a person in here who would expect these excesses."
- Conservative Party Homelessness Critic Peter Goldring in the Calgary Herald, March 6th 2002, calling the Calgary Drop-In Centre the 'Cowtown Casa Loma" of Canadian shelters.
"We would eliminate regional development subsidies... There is a disproportionate concentration of business subsidies in Atlantic Canada. These subsidies are hugely inefficient."
- Conservative MP Jason Kenney, August 19, 2000, quoted in the National Post.
On Canada Generally
"I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.
"Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status, led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task."
- Would-be "second-world strongman" Stephen Harper in his article "It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada," December 12th, 2000.
On Multiculturalism, Immigration and Immigrants
"[Government policy] is promoting diversity at the expense of unity and equality."
- Gurmant Grewal, Conservative Multiculturalism Critic, Vancouver Sun, December 2nd 1997. Grewal had introduced a motion aimed to "prevent the reference to and designation of any Canadian or group of Canadians in a hyphenated form, based on race, religion, colour or place of origin."
"You have to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada; people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian society."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, in Report Newsmagazine, 2001.
"What happens if a boatload [of immigrants] comes over from wherever and decides that they want to to cast ballots?"
- Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders expressing opposition to landed immigrants having the right to vote in candidate nomination races, Edmonton Journal, October 2, 2000.
"B.C. gets no protection from an immigration department that imports literally thousands of criminals into British Columbia who prey upon law abiding citizens."
- Darrel Stinson, Conservative MP, Hansard, April 27 1998.
"Particularly in big cities, we've got people that have grown up in a different culture," he said. "And they don't have the same background in terms of the stable communities we had 20, 30 years ago in our cities … and don't have the same respect for authority or people's person or property."
Calgary Conservative MP Lee Richardson 2008
"Immigrants are choking welfare systems, contributing to high unemployment, and many cannot read."
- Conservative MP Art Hanger, Canadian Press, February 2, 1994.
"Do you notice that in Toronto there has been increased crime from certain groups, like Jamaicans? "
- Calgary Northeast MP Art Hanger during a get-acquainted tour of Toronto's ethnic communities, to a storekeeper about crime, quoted in the Edmonton Journal, March 14th 1994.
"My riding has the largest Iranian population in the country. At least 40% of all the Iranians living there are refugee claimants. Most of them are bogus. "
- North Vancouver Conservative MP Ted White in the House of Commons, March 31 2003.
On Arts and Culture
“I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala and all sorts of people at a rich gala all subsidized by the taxpayer, claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know they have actually gone up, I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people,"
-Stephen Harper, 2008
"It's a sincere question. Why do we need [the CBC]? Why should we have it?"
- Jim Abbott, Conservative Party Heritage Critic, National Post, February 5th 2002. Abbott believes the CBC English-language service should be scrapped and some of its newsgathering functions transferred to CBC Newsworld.
"I wanted to make a scene about that but I never did. Instead I ran for Parliament and came here with one real good purpose which is to stop the funding for this kind of obscenity. It has no market in Canadian society. We need to stop it. It is no wonder we have all the violence against women and children when we have a publicly funded radio promoting it."
- Conservative Agriculture critic Ken Epp on how the "obscenity" on CBC Radio is causing violence against women and children, Nov. 18 1997, Hansard.
On Aboriginal Issues
"If you behave and you're sober and there's no problems and if you don't do a sit down and whatever, I don't care."
Darlene Lannigan staffer for Conservative Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, she made the remarks when aboriginal asked for a meeting with Cannon (2008)
"The Europeans came to this country 300 years ago and opened it up and settled it and because we didn't kill the Indians and have Indian wars, that doesn't mean we didn't conquer these people. If they weren't in fact conquered then why did they allow themselves to be herded into little reserves on the most isolated, desolate, worthless parts of the country."
- Athabasca MP David Chatters on Aboriginal people.
"I think that all the Indians should all be sent to Labrador, to all live together in peace and leave us in peace."
- Reform Party candidate Ricardo Lopez, The Montreal Gazette, June 4, 1988.
"You can't scalp me because I haven't got much hair on top of my head."
- Saskatchewan Canadian Alliance candidate Brian Fitzpatrick during a native-organized candidates debate, November 2000.
On Bilingualism
"It is simply difficult – extremely difficult – for someone to become bilingual in a country that is not. And make no mistake. Canada is not a bilingual country. In fact it less bilingual today than it has ever been... So there you have it. As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity and cost Canadian taxpayers untold millions."
- Stephen Harper on bilingualism, Calgary Sun, May 6th 2001.
On Health Care
"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]."
- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.
"I do support the idea of private health care."
- Jason Kenney, Conservative Party critic on Canada-U.S. Relations, October 31st 2000.
"It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act."
- Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997.
"We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system."
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.
On War
"I don't know all the facts on Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans."
- Stephen Harper, Report Newsmagazine, March 25th 2002.
"It was probably not an appropriate term, but we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win."
- Stephen Harper supporting the US-lead war on Iraq, Montreal Gazette, April 2nd 2003. Harper also called then-Defence Minister John McCallum an "idiot."
"This government's only explanation for not standing behind our allies is that they couldn't get the approval of the Security Council at the United Nations - a body [on] which Canada doesn't even have a seat."
- Stephen Harper supporting the American invasion of Iraq, CTV's Question Period, March 30, 2003.
"Mr. Speaker, the issue of war requires moral leadership. We believe the government should stand by our troops, our friends and our allies and do everything necessary to support them right through to victory."
- Stephen Harper, supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, April 1, 2003.
"Thank you for saying to our friends in the United States of America, you are our ally, our neighbour, and our best friend in the whole wide world. And when your brave men and women give their lives for freedom and democracy we are not neutral. We do not stand on the sidelines; we're for the disarmament of Saddam and the liberation of the people of Iraq."
- Stephen Harper, Friends of America Rally, April 4, 2003.
On National Unity
"Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan... Collect our own revenue from personal income tax... Resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy. If Ottawa objects to provincial policy, fight in the courts... [E]ach province should raise its own revenue for health... It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta... "
- Stephen Harper in an "Open letter to Ralph Klein," January 24th 2001.
"Much about the Canadian Alliance is worthy of support, and a large number of Canadians do support it. But the CA will be under considerable pressure to rid itself of any tinge of a Western agenda or Alberta control. This we must fight. If the Alliance is ever to become a party that could be lead by a Paul Martin or a Joe Clark, it must do so without us. We don't need a second Liberal party."
- Stephen Harper, now leader of the Conservative Party, in "It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada," December 12th, 2000.
""Whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or 10 governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be."
- Stephen Harper in a 1994 National Citizens Coalition speech.
On Canadian Sovereignty
"Continental economic and security integration" with the U.S. as well as a "continental energy strategy" that should be broadened "to a range of other natural resources."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper.
Stephen Harper would like us to believe all of these remarks were accidental, overblown or examples of media-bias. All of them, regardless of how often they happen. He would like us to believe that because the party changed it's name, it's beliefs are different - even though most of the major players are the same. The reality is that the core of the Conservative party appears to endorse most of the above statements. If you read comments on the internet (on the CBC News site for example you will find the above comments echoed over and over again by Conservative supporters, you will actually read far worse comments and those are just the ones that the moderators of that site allow through - you will also see frequent Conservative complaints about comments being censored.
There is no Hidden Agenda it's all right there, laid out for you if you care to look. The only way in which the Conservative agenda is hidden is if you choose not to look.
4 comments:
you mean the conservative party represents conservative values! gee golly wow you are so smart!
All you need is a big red nose and floppy shoes. This Conservative government is vastly different than the ones you are quoting from primarily the early 90's.
What a waste kb's.
No they're not. I mentioned above that Conservatives would like us to think they're different, but some of those quotes are from 2008 and the actions the Conservative government has taken certainly lean in that direction.
The Canadian Conservative Party is a farce - socially conservative perhaps, but far from fiscally conservative. It's sad, however, that Canada completely lacks a party with any fiscal conservatism whatsoever. Is this the best we can do, massive corporate tax cuts, needless military spending in defence of oil pipelines and opium poppies, while our economy begins to tank with the Americans'? Sadly, the Conservative's "red" opposition isn't any better. The "Green Shift" is as bad a joke as any I've ever heard, and the rise of Elizabeth May's Greens is cause for great grieving, indeed. The NDP sadly seem to be the lesser evil in this election, and they have the fiscal responsibility of a spoiled child in a candystore (although have certainly quite agreeable social policies, oppose the SPP, and have a few solid members of parliament).
Who will I vote for, when the time comes? The Marijuana Party. The only respectable, and legitimate, political force in Canada today.
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