Shame on Stephen Harper

I don't care where your political convictions lay or what party you support, if you are Canadian you will be concerned with both Canadian AND American politics because both will greatly affect your life - if not directly than indirectly by affecting the economy and social-political climate.

Well, for my American friends to the south, you might be shocked to hear that our conservative prime-minister (similar to a republican) just announced a federal election yesterday. When does this election happen? In 37 days! Our election is happening before the American election. While most Canadians are still talking about Obama vs. McCain and discussing the Palin lady (I am not quite sure why, she's got no charisma or style) our federal leader decided that he would slide under the wire and try to get re-elected.

Well - I see through Stephen Harper - and I am sure everyone else does, too. I mean why would a man with nothing to hide try to get re-elected in a whirl-wind election, over-shadowed by the American press, and a whole year earlier than he needs to?

Why it must be because he is worried that his popularity is about to go down - that's why. He needs to secure his safety now while he is still popular, while he is confident he can still do so, before everything goes wrong. What could go wrong? WTF are you talking about Bobbie Dawn? You sound paranoid!

I will list what could go wrong. In fact I will only repeat what many analysts have been warning the public about for months. The cold, hard facts:

1. Canada is heading for recession
2. The middle and upper-middle class will be hit the hardest (i.e.: Ontario's 905 area-coders)
3. Taxes will go up (at least they will not be cut!)
4. The costs of education, health care and housing will continue to rise
5. Unemployment will sky rocket
6. Canadians value their quality of life, universal health care, education and access to affordable housing - Stephen Harper will give those things away when faced with a recession
7. our markets are going to begin to go down and many people will take losses on their investments (it already happened to the TSX this past week)
   

Stephen Harper is not a traditional conservative - the kind that the 905-area coders used to vote for, the kind that supported the GST and the Free-Trade Agreement of Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservatives of the 1980s.

No. Stephen Harper is a neo-conservative. He was one of the original founders of The Reform Party, later known as The Canadian Alliance which then merged with one of the oldest and most repsected parties in Canada, the Progressive Conservatives, and is now the leader of the party known as The Conservative Party. I think that many people forget that even thought the party is a conservative party, it is a blend of two types of conservatives and is currently run by a staunch former Reform Party member.

When I was a teenager, this party was famous for it's sexist, homophobic, racist and generally intolerant party values. I am certain that not every reform member was intolerant, but I would have a hard time believing that one of the founder members of the Reform party (someone who helped to shape the values of the party?) would have changed their beliefs that greatly.

So tell me, do you think this man will take care of our country? Will he protect everyone? The poor? The single mothers? What is his agenda for his second term? This time around I hope the 905 get it right and vote for a party that will help them through the recession - and not just the province of Alberta.