Brutal quotes by Stephen Harper

[The Chameleon]

Here are quotes from our nations' leader. Gives a scary glimpse into what he really thinks......

"The establishment came down with a constitutional package which they put to a national referendum. The package included distinct society status for Quebec and some other changes, including some that would just horrify you, putting universal Medicare in our constitution, and feminist rights, and a whole bunch of other things."

- 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.

"Then there is the Progressive Conservative party, the PC party, which won only 20 seats. Now, the term Progressive Conservative will immediately raise suspicions in all of your minds. It should... They were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially -- what else can I say about them? Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country."

- 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.

"The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men."

- 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.

"If you've read any of the official propagandas, you've come over the border and entered a bilingual country. In this particular city, Montreal, you may well get that impression. But this city is extremely atypical of this country... So it's basically an English-speaking country, just as English-speaking as, I would guess, the northern part of the United States."

- 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.

"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.

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States."

- 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.

"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.

"[Y]our country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."

- 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.

"Well, I’ve always believed that we have to be a lot tougher with undocumented refugee claimants. Whether the best thing is to send them right out of the country or simply detain them until we get full information, we can look at either but, no this is a problem that does need to be fixed. Particularly post 9/11, we can’t take these kinds of security risks."

- Stephen Harper, CHML Radio AM 900 Hamilton, June 3, 2004.

"Well, I’ve always believed that we have to be a lot tougher with undocumented refugee claimants. Whether the best thing is to send them right out of the country or simply detain them until we get full information, we can look at either but, no this is a problem that does need to be fixed. Particularly post 9/11, we can’t take these kinds of security risks."

- Stephen Harper, CHML Radio AM 900 Hamilton, June 3, 2004.

"It will come as no surprise to anybody to know that I support the traditional definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, as expressed in our traditional common law."

- Stephen Harper, Hansard, Address in the House of Commons on Bill C-38, February 16, 2005.

"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.

"Now 'pay equity' has everything to do with pay and nothing to do with equity. It’s based on the vague notion of 'equal pay for work of equal value,' which is not the same as equal pay for the same job."

- Stephen Harper, NCC Overview, Fall 1998.

"This party will not take its position based on public opinion polls. We will not take a stand based on focus groups. We will not take a stand based on phone-in shows or householder surveys or any other vagaries of pubic opinion... In my judgment Canada will eventually join with the allied coalition if war on Iraq comes to pass. The government will join, notwithstanding its failure to prepare, its neglect in co-operating with its allies, or its inability to contribute. In the end it will join out of the necessity created by a pattern of uncertainty and indecision. It will not join as a leader but unnoticed at the back of the parade."

- Stephen Harper indicating that, if elected, Canada will join the US occupation of Iraq, Hansard, January 29th 2003.

"I do not intend to dispute in any way the need for defence cuts and the need for government spending cuts in general. …I do not share a not in my backyard approach to government spending reductions."

- Stephen Harper, Hansard, May 23rd 1995. Harper has since roundly criticized spending cuts in the mid-1990s.

"We must aim to make [Canada] a lower tax jurisdiction than the United States."

- Stephen Harper, Vancouver Province, April 6th 2004.

"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. As it turned out, Harper wasn't the only one who didn't know all the facts.

"I’m not doing witch-hunts on people’s pasts… If someone does something wrong, there will be action taken. But if somebody doesn’t do anything wrong, we’re not going to take any action… I don’t make volunteer field decisions… but Betty Granger is a riding president, a member in good standing. She’s somebody that other members I’ve talked to think very highly of, and quite frankly, she was the victim of an unfair slur story in the last election campaign."

- Stephen Harper on Betty Granger, one of three Harper leadership organizers in Manitoba. Granger is a candidate from the 2000 election whose remarks about an 'Asian invasion' created controversy. Calgary Herald, January 15th 2002.

"Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy... These achievements are due in part to the Reform Party..."

- Stephen Harper, speech to the Colin Brown Memorial Dinner, National Citizens Coalition, 1994.

"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.

"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."

"I know this is a dangerous subject. My advisors say don't talk about it, but the fact is sometimes provinces have allowed in the past few years, they've brought in private services covered by public health insurance... Why do I care and why do we care as a federal government how they're managed? What we care about is whether people can access them. This is just an ideological agenda."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper at the leadership debate, June 15th 2004, conceding that he shouldn't talk about his positive view of privatization of health care.

"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.

"The Liberals have allowed a handful of tenured judges to create a situation where churches, synagogues, mosques and temples could be compelled to perform marriages that violate their own moral codes."

- Stephen Harper attacking the Liberals on same-sex marriage, News Hound, September 7th 2003. The proposed law specifically precludes any church, synagogue or mosque from having to conduct any marriage which violates their belief system.

"I think it's a typical hidden agenda of the Liberal party... They had the courts do it for them, they put the judges in they wanted, then they failed to appeal -- failed to fight the case in court... I think the federal government deliberately lost this case in court and got the change to the law done through the back door."

- Stephen Harper, attacking the Liberals on same-sex marriage by claiming a conspiracy, News Hound, September 7th 2003.

"In a sense, people are so enraged at the Liberal government, that they're giving Stephen Harper and his government a bye. They should take a look at what he proposes."

- Former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, April 26th 2004, accusing Conservative Leader Stephen Harper of harbouring a "hidden" agenda. Reported in the Globe and Mail.

"It is inherently dangerous to allow a country such as Iraq to retain weapons of mass destruction, particularly in light of its past aggressive behaviour. If the world community fails to disarm Iraq, we fear that other rogue states will be encouraged to believe that they too can have these most deadly of weapons to systematically defy international resolutions and that the world will do nothing to stop them."

- Stephen Harper supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, March 20, 2003.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"If you want red meat for breakfast then you want to get involved in something like the National Citizens Coalition."

- Former National Citizens Coalition president David Somerville at a conference of libertarians. Stephen Harper is also a former president of the NCC.

"Stephen [Harper] had difficulty accepting that there might be a few other people (not many, perhaps, but a few) who were as smart as he was with respect to policy and strategy."

- Former Reform Party founder and leader Preston Manning on Stephen Harper in his memoirs.

"People skills? He was more fond of policy. Constituency work seemed like a grind for him."

- Long-time Reform and Alliance MP Deborah Grey on Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

"A culture of defeat..."

- Stephen Harper, describing the Atlantic provinces, May 2001.

"The time has come to recognize that the U.S. will continue to exercise unprecedented power in a world where international rules are still unreliable and where security and advancing of the free democratic order still depend significantly on the possession and use of military might."

- Stephen Harper, May, 2003, speech to the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

"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.

"Abrasively neutral."

- Conservative leader Stephen harper on Canada's position on Iraq.

"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.

"A weak nation strategy..."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper describes Canada's historic foreign policy position of multilateralism.

"It's the idea that we just have to go along, we can't change it, things won't change. I think that's the sad part, the sad reality traditional parties have bred in parts of Atlantic Canada."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper talks about the Atlantic provinces, May 2002.

"Nay."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper voting against a motion urging the Canadian government not to participate in the US military intervention in Iraq, March 20, 2003.

"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.

"Stephen Harper not only opposes Kyoto, but he refutes the science. He’s back in the dinosaur era. Harper is just totally out of it."

- David Suzuki on Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper, 2003.

"Rob is a true reformer and a true conservative. He has been a faithful supporter of mine and I am grateful for his work."

- Stephen Harper endorsing Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders, who in 2001 called Nelson Mandela "a Communist and terrorist."

"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.

"While [stephen] Harper has not promised to raise pro-life or pro-family legislation he has promised to allow such legislation to be introduced by others and to permit free votes..."

- Anti-abortion Web site LifeSite.net, March 22, 2004.

"I have always said that controversial issues of a moral or religious nature, such as abortion, should be settled by free votes of MPs, not by party policy."

- Stephen Harper.

"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]."

- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.

"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.

"I tell you, that in this room and every room like this across Canada, if we rise together in solidarity and support, the Conservative Party will live again!"

- Brian Mulroney praising former ideological enemy and new Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper, April 23rd 2004.

Story link

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[ollie]

I've always said Harper is Reform and always will be. I miss the Progressive Conservative party.

[Birdy]

not all of these are "brutal".

kyoto fails it's objectives.

privatized health care already exists in canada, it's called 'cross border shopping'. too bad we can't tap into some taxes on the millions of dollars canadian citizens spend on their surgeries in the US, instead we continue to push our ridiculous, failing, underpar public system on our citizens, rejigging budgets over and over and over and over again to find new and innovative ways to make it work for two more years, not understanding why we have to lay off orderlies and give nurses bigger plates than they can handle, or why our doctors say screw Canada and head south of the border. yes, Stephen Harper, how brutal of you to say :

What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care].

[color:purple]clearly.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[ollie]

I feel attacked.

[Birdy]

stop stealing my lines.

:laugh:

[The Chameleon]

not all of these are "brutal".

kyoto fails it's objectives.

privatized health care already exists in canada, it's called 'cross border shopping'. too bad we can't tap into some taxes on the millions of dollars canadian citizens spend on their surgeries in the US, instead we continue to push our ridiculous, failing, underpar public system on our citizens, rejigging budgets over and over and over and over again to find new and innovative ways to make it work for two more years, not understanding why we have to lay off orderlies and give nurses bigger plates than they can handle, or why our doctors say screw Canada and head south of the border. yes, Stephen Harper, how brutal of you to say :

What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care].

[color:purple]clearly.

You're right not all of his quotes are brutal...just about 90% of them.

[Hux]

It'll be nice to campaign next time around not on the scary things Harper has said in the past (which are plenty), but on the scary things he has done since taking power.

[The Chameleon]

It'll be nice to campaign next time around not on the scary things Harper has said in the past (which are plenty), but on the scary things he has done since taking power.

So true, action speak louder than words and Harper's action are speaking volumes in all the wrong directions.

[Birdy]

You're right not all of his quotes are brutal...just about 90% of them.

i'd agree with you if you said 50-60% of the quotes were brutal. the rest pretty much hit the nail on the head, imo.

[The Chameleon]

You're right not all of his quotes are brutal...just about 90% of them.

i'd agree with you if you said 50-60% of the quotes were brutal. the rest pretty much hit the nail on the head' date=' imo.[/quote']

I guess brutal is in the eye of the beholder.

P.S. 50-60% Brutal right wing/facist quotes is still totally unacceptable.

Later.

[Birdy]

brutal right wing/facist quotes

is OBVIOUSLY in the eye of the beholder.

i'm so sick of the friggin' political spectrum. i vote to strike that from school curriculums. there shouldn't be an instrument to measure schools of thought.

and chameleon, please try to understand that it's possible to think the inclusion of feminist rights in our constitution is wrong for other reasons than trying to take away women's progress or somehow make them feel unequal. or that settling for kyoto protocol is like throwing in the towel on trying to find effective environmental legislation that will actually make a difference. or that our public health care system really is a piece of shit and can't adequately cover the majority of our citizens, as it pledges and promises to do. or that in it's current state of affairs, the Canada Pension Plan will not exist by the time you or I go to collect the money we put into it. or that lesser government may really in the long term bail us out of many fiscal burdens. or that there are unemployed people collecting unemployment who don't necessarily need to be collecting unemployment, but prefer to. hell, both of my brothers and a few good buddies have all been there.

the point is there is a distinction between socially conservative thought and what you might refer to as 'right wing' thought. it's completely unfair and ignorant of you and anyone else who consistently lumps these schools of thought under one umbrella. while i agree that Harper has some pretty strong views, ones that i don't particularly agree with, he does stand for some stuff that i do believe in and there is a bloody difference. even the beloved Liberal party agrees with some of the CPC's mandate.

ps. i don't mean this to sound bitchy so i apologize now if it does!

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[Hux]

Sure, quotes may be in the eye of the beholder, but actions are not, and that is what Harper will be judged on so most of that post is irrelevant.

I don't have time to point out the many factual errors, etc. in the rest of your post, such as the CPP going broke, again, your time machine is still stuck in the early 90's, perhaps you should wiki your shit before you post.

[ollie]

stop stealing my lines.

:laugh:

Are you threatening me?

[Birdy]

hux i do wiki most of my shit, thanks. you nor anyone cannot guarantee the CPP won't go to shit as long as it is reliant on foreign investments (yay global uncertainty!!) and that it's intake exceeds it's output. there is a reason that the pension crisis was sparked, and why it was made very clear that all governments review the pension plan every so many years in light of that crisis. from your post it appears as though the Liberal camp isn't at all concerned about the future of the CPP. is that so? not cool.

quotes are quotes, often of which are taken out of context anyway. i know harper won't be judged on these, but i still stick to my original post that they aren't all brutal.

and as for my many factual errors, until you can prove me wrong, am I just supposed to sit back and think 'hux knows better', i must be wrong? no thanks! i mean come on, i took one of your challenges and won.

[Birdy]

stop stealing my lines.

:laugh:

Are you threatening me?

ahhhh no.

i'm scared.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

brutal right wing/facist quotes

is OBVIOUSLY in the eye of the beholder.

i'm so sick of the friggin' political spectrum. i vote to strike that from school curriculums. there shouldn't be an instrument to measure schools of thought.

Maybe. I'm still with the sociologist Lipset on this, seeing fascism not as an extremism of the Left (the "socialist" in "National Socialist / Nazi") nor of the Right, but of the Centre. It came out of a time of disillusionment with the ideals of the Enlightenment, of human rationality and self-direction, of the value of individuals, and of hope for harmony and consensus. When we all start running out of oil and our "normal" lifestyles are threatened, maybe fascism will come to mean something more like that.

But as I've said a bunch of times in these threads, yes, it is a kind of useless term. What does get under my skin is when people turn to a "strong leader" (a Fuhrer, Duce, or, well, leader) for direction, to seize the reins and make things right.

On a completely, absolutely, categorically unrelated note, anybody notice how Harper has ramped up his motorcade lately, and purged party members for dissenting from him?

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest
forgot the wink

[Hux]

i took one of your challenges and won

...link?

[The Chameleon]

For me socially conservative and right wing are the same thing.

Either way harper is fuckin' up and tarnishing the reputation of our nation everyday he is in power. He own comments, actions, and failures convict him of this.

I really beleive history will not be kind to his legacy, if he even has one.

And yes Birdy I agree the politcal spectrum is not always helpful, and perhaps it should be trashed.

So let's not talk about right wing or left wing.

let's talk good vs. bad.

In my humble view Harper and his party are doing and have done bad thing to and for this counrty from which we will have to recover. I think his social polices are negaitve and bad and hurtful and his fiscal policies benefit are suspect at best.

I also find it interesting you bring up the women's inclusion issue and the Kyoto thing unprompted. Seems you're very eager to defend any "hot button" issues for the current goverment, even when not prompted.

That is all.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[Birdy]

...link?

here ya go:

Hux:

I challenge you to find anything that supports that, and as this article/study by a group at McGill proves, Harper and the Conservatives actually received preferential treatment from newspapers in the second half of election 2006.

So, you're wrong there.

and then Birdy:

i think i'm in love.

there's no doubt that the media favoured Harper during the election.. no doubt at all, considering there was a scandal at hand. i haven't argued in comparison once in this entire thread, so i don't really get why we're doing it now. i'm not campaigning here.

check out this link:

CBC Broadcaster compares Harper to Hitler

good times.

I also find it interesting you bring up the women's inclusion issue and the Kyoto thing unprompted.

I didn't bring them up unprompted!!! They were included in the "brutal" quotes from Stephen Harper!!!

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[Hux]

I challenge you to find anything that supports that, and as this article/study by a group at McGill proves, Harper and the Conservatives actually received preferential treatment from newspapers in the second half of election 2006.

So I put up a study that encompassed ALL media coverage during the election, ie. all the articles and media coverage to disprove your assertion that Harper got the worst media coverage.

You pluck one anti-Harper article out and think that disproves the entire study?

[Birdy]

haha..

no, you challenged me to find anything that supports left-leaning media playing up a possible WWIII scenario if Harper were to be elected, and i did.

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest

[Hux]

i'm referring to election time propaganda and the seeming attitude that alot of Canadians adopted in thinking that if the CPC were elected it meant impending doom. left-leaning media did everything they could to play up this fear of WWIII in an effort to sway voters. this is what i meant by Harper being the victim of bad press in war time.

...and the study I posted disproved that. The Canadian media gave Harper the best coverage during the election.

If you are truly ignorant enough to think that one case of anti-Harper media makes you right, well....

[Birdy]

umm.. i thought this was about your challenge and my response to that challenge, not rehashing a previously had and concluded debate!!

i think you're the most politically competitive person i've ever encountered, which is cool, but i'm really not that competitive. you can have the medal this time around!

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest
smileys speak volumes!

[Hux]

Competing ideas is one thing.

I get excited when someone throws out views that are based on bad information, ie. someone who thinks they've got it all figured out when in reality FACTS prove otherwise. That's you a lot of the time, and I could link all the occasions I've clearly proven you wrong in this forum.

Most of the people I spar with (card carrying Conservatives, etc.) don't get me half as excited as it may appear I am in here, because at least they know their shit. You're often bullish AND wrong - wicked combo!

[timouse]

thank you chameleon for a brand new signature.

harper makes me nervous. i looked up "the council for national policy," the people to whom harper made my new favourite ironic disparaging remarks about the PC party.

eeeh...their member list is not made public, but is rumoured to include everyone other than McBain and Count Chocula

and the national citizens' coalition isn't much better...they claim to be "...Canada’s largest non-partisan organization that stands for the defence and promotion of free enterprise, free speech and government that is accountable to its taxpayers."

i repeat my eeeeh.