Stephen Harper is NOT on YOUR Side

So the Cons are exploiting our elections laws by running an ad the week before Harper officially calls an election. The ad is false on so many levels, but honestly it’s a well done ad to be tailored to an audience that they are hoping has never actually seen Stephen Harper in action over the past 2.5 years. I guess the Cons just hope people watching this ad haven’t seen the Stephen Harper who talks about everyone being screwed and who insinuates his opponents support terrorists. But if you watch CTV they are ALREADY completely swallowing the ad’s spin, so Liberals should be careful not to dismiss this and instead fight back. So what’s wrong with this ad? Well essentially every line. But it appears the Liberal media has struck again so it’s left up to others to do the real analysis. So let’s cover each of these “ordinary Canadians”…

“Stephen Harper knows where he stands, he’s a straight up guy”
- Should we be saying that about a guy who’s broken upwards of a hundred promises from the last election, from income trusts, to accountability, to his own fixed election law? Does “knowing where you stand” and being “straight up” mean lying to Canadians to get more votes or changing where you stand based on political convenience? Or lying repeatedly in the House of Commons?

“He’s doing a good job”
- Seriously? How’s the economy these days? How’s our standing on the world stage?

“He’s the steady hand we need when the world’s economy is so uncertain”
- Even more ridiculous. They spent the cupboard bare and put us back into deficit. Meanwhile Harper has NO economic plan to put us back on track. Is that the hand we want?

“I like the fact that he’s lowered taxes for all of us”
- Except NO ONE thinks they were the right taxes to lower and the GST cuts are what put us back in deficit (yes I know we are not currently in deficit, but we were quite recently and would be again with another Harper mandate)

“I appreciate the support for our troops”
- Yes, like cancelling crucial contracts for the Navy

“Finally someone has toughened up our justice system”
- Yes because building more prisons, following the U.S. mold and putting 10 years olds in prison is the way of the future

“I’ve never been more proud to be a Canadian”
- I would be shocked to learn this guy didn’t either work for the party or was a paid actor (well maybe all of these “ordinary Canadians” are but especially this guy). But I’d love to know what makes this guy so proud – is it our “leadership” on the environment? Human rights? Foreign aid? At the last G8 Summit? Personally I’m not proud that we’ve become an international pariah.

“I like the idea that he’s a family man with young children”
- Apparently Stephane Dion can’t be trusted because he’s a family man with an older child!

“He’s in it for the right reasons”
- Yes just as Tom Flanagan says, I’m sure that’s what this girl meant.

Proud guy again: “He’s on the right track”
- If you count having no plan for the environment or the economy the right track sure.

Picture of Harper with slogan: “Stephen Harper: Strong Leadership On Your Side”
- If they were really gonna go all out his cat is missing from the picture, I think that really might have sealed the deal. More on the slogan below.

“I’ll be voting for the first time and I’ll be voting for Stephen Harper”
I hope that girl lives in Calgary Southwest or she might have some trouble doing that... Newsflash to Conservatives: we don’t have a Presidential system as much you might wish we did.

But back to the slogan “On Your Side”, how can anyone who has paid any attention (I’m looking at you media) hear that without laughing? Is he on YOUR side when his government is busy meeting with oil executives, pandering to to his base, and mocking a serious health crisis that is the ultimate result of his “leave it to the market” ideology? When his government attacks provinces, doctors and anyone else who challenges them even when all the evidence says the CONSERVATIVES are the ones that are wrong?

Stephen Harper is NOT on your side unless you are in one of his key target demographics that he is hoping gets him enough votes to eek out a majority so he can do whatever he wants. Even then Harper would surely throw any group that helped him win under the bus if what he promised them didn't fit his ideological vision. It's very telling I think that the ad features mostly men and the main woman featured just speaks of tax cuts and crime - makes the picture very clear that Harper's record on the major women's issues and advancing gender equality has been abysmal and that he doesn't even care to put on a front that he's a friend of women (as we know the rest of the ad was full of enough fabrications).

Liberals must get the message through in this election that only they want to govern for ALL Canadians and I’m sure when both the Conservative and Liberal platforms are released it will be clear who has more Canadians’ interests at heart. Stephane Dion has shown consistently that he will put his country before his party and Stephen Harper has consistently shown he will do the opposite.

So who’s really on YOUR side?

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Canada’s Reputation Cannot Afford Another Year of Harper at the Helm

This week was another black eye for Canada on the world stage. On foreign aid, the environment and human rights it’s clear that Stephen Harper is charting a path even more right-wing than the current Republican Presidential candidate, who as I’ve said before, is extremely Conservative himself. As Harper continues to isolate Canada further from the rest of the world on the key issues of the 21st century, and as he follows in the mold of a President despised everywhere except in the Conservative Party caucus, I’m sure this is just one more week where more Canadians have to come to realize that Harper is far off-side from our values and is taking Canada down a path we don’t want it to go.

Harper’s had many chances to redeem himself, to chart a better course, to realize that it’s time to stop being one of the lone voices against 2020 emissions targets, time to stop being the ONLY Western country supporting Guantanamo Bay at a time when each Presidential candidate says they’ll close it, and time to realize Africa needs our help more than ever and that it’s not time to walk away as we have been. However, each time an opportunity comes to change his ways Harper has failed, each time he ventures overseas it’s a new disappointment and a new round of global condemnations. Is it any wonder now Harper believes that Portugal will beat us for a Security Council seat that just 3 years ago Canada seemed most likely to get? Is this what we really want in a Prime Minister? A Prime Minister who’s seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution? Canada can do much better.

Only one party is going to restore Canada’s image on human rights, be a world leader on the environment and work to meet the commitment of 0.7% of GDP going to foreign aid. The other has taken us backward on all 3 fronts and give them another term neither we, nor the rest of the world, will likely recognize the Canada we’ve taken for granted for generations. That’s the choice in the next election and the stakes perhaps have never been higher. It’s a message I hope all progressives get loud and clear - we need a new government more than ever and Stephane Dion happens to be the kind of authentic leader that will bring us the change we so desperately need.

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