Harper Regime Dismantles the Tory State
For a while now a number of progressive bloggers have been fighting a losing war with the media to stop referring to the Harper regime as “Tory,” on the grounds that the “Tories” were the Progressive Conservative Party and the current Conservative Party of Canada is anything but PC. I’ve stayed out of that fight until now, not because I disagree with them but because I always felt that trifling over who was a “true Troy” was less important than analyzing our government for what it is, regardless of label.
That said, this year’s budget should be seen by Canadians as a drastic departure from the vision for Canada held by every previous federal government in history, of every political stripe. This can be seen in the small institutions which have been singled out for elimination. There has been a great deal of talk in the media by tenured academics and other uneducated imbeciles that what we are seeing is a dismantling of the state built by the Liberal Party in its many years of majority after the Second World War.
Well, partially. That state was built by the Liberals because they were responding to popular demand. It is the state built by Canadians, not by Liberals, which is now being dismantled by this government. Interestingly, some of the first programs to fall under the axe are ones established not by the Liberals, but by previous Conservative governments. The National Council of Welfare was established by Conservative Prime Minister John Diefenbaker; and that both the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and Rights & Democracy were established by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Oh, and lest we forget: the CBC? That’s a Conservative invention too, of R.B. Bennett. Bennett also created the first Employment Insurance program, although it had to be revived by King after a tussle with the courts. The CBC’s death by a thousand cuts is continuing, and EI is currently being transitioned into a workfare program which, in order to work, will have to be monitored by the most intrusive employment surveillance bureaucracy ever created in this country. Small government!
Saith the current government: we don’t need informed advice, because we can do Internet research now. It’s a sad day when we look to Lyin’ Brian as a model statesman, but there it is: the new Conservative Party is so far right that they actually make Mulroney look like a bona fide progressive.
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Noirkat
I think it would be fair to say, at this stage, the Conservative Party under Harper does not represent the conservative values of yesteryear. In fact, I find it hard to figure out just what exactly they do stand for. They do not seem to have any hard and fast standards that cannot be changed or swept aside altogether if it means holding on to a higher degree of public support and so to power. And yet, it’s hack and slash at everything and anything that is run by government. They seem a little schizophrenic to be honest and that is a scary thing indeed.
sushi
Noirkat – Agree with your comment.
SE – Do you accept guest posts? I started wrting out an analysis of Harper actions that serves to confirm Noirkat’s perception and then realized it is a little long to fit in this text box.
sushi
Ooops. Had wrong email so corrected it.
Sixth Estate
Noirkat — “Holding on to a higher digree of public support” actually does not seem to be a high priority. Many of the cuts being undertaken, the OAS being one, essentially impress no one outside the Conservative base, while further angering people outside of it. Other cuts, like the National Welfare Council, are a further case in point — I doubt even hardline Conservative supporters would have thought of this organization if they had to rattle off a list of agencies they wanted shut down. Of course, CBC would probably be at the top of their list.
Sushi — If you want to write something, please feel free to send it to me at the site email and I can read over it and put it up.
P. D. Carswell
What I absolutely love about the Harper Hubris is that he is no longer just offending specific interest groups – he’s now offending everybody, right across the Canadian spectrum.
Veterans, and therefore the military. People who care for the environment – that’s the default mode for most Canadians. Women (no, Steve, we aren’t a left-wing fringe group). Librarians and archivists and those who use their services. Pro-choicers (he allowed the debate to re-open.) Pro-lifers (he wouldn’t go along with it.) The entire eastern seaboard that relies on good emergency service for accidents at sea.
Pot smokers. EI applicants. The list goes on and on.
Oh – and several entire provinces. Ontario, Quebec and BC hate him.
It will all come crashing down………..
Sixth Estate
Carswell — Maybe. I won’t deny it will feel good if and when it happens. Afterwards, though, the hard work of reconstruction will begin. I suspect there is a good chance that after a couple of years post-Harper, we will be feeling like a lot of anti-Bush people were feeling after a couple of years of Obama, which is to say thoroughly disappointed with the entire political process.
This blog will continue, however.
SF Thomas
While technically the Aird Commission which essentially laid the case and ground work for public broadcaster (what eventually became the CBC) and the broadcasting regulatory system in Canada was started under King and the Liberals. Bennett does ultimately get credit though for being the one to listen to and implement some of the Aird Report’s recommendations and creating the precursor to the CBC
Sixth Estate
The CRBC, yes.
Of course, if the Aird Commission means the public broadcasting system originated with King, then we’d probably have to argue that the Hall Commission means federal involvement with universal healthcare originated with Diefenbaker. Not that that bothers me particularly, but it does give the government yet another Tory program to attack.
P. D. Carswell
“Afterwards, though, the hard work of reconstruction will begin.”
Yes, but at least it will be reconstruction, not destruction. We might see policies based on actual evidence, data, information and research.
Disappointment with the entire political process is occurring now, I believe – and it works to Harper’s advantage, as the right always votes. (I know that’s simplistic.) The media could help during the anticlimactic years following a Harper defeat, when cleanup is taking place. Hope to see it happen.
KayVee1000
They are REFORM. Peter MacKay sold out original Progressive Conservatives to Stephen Harper. Imagine the damage that this ‘faux’ majority will inflict/infect Canada with. They don’t believe in Democracy, and certainly Evangelical Right whose Religious Dogma dictates.
Most MSM is in Reform’s back pocket, and that the last one hanging on with integrity is CBC. As we know the cpc -aka Reform is doing its best to dismantle and muzzle them.
kootcoot
I’m with you about the importance of it, but the Harperites being referred to as Tories has always bugged me as well. It doesn’t just offend ProgCon, but should be offensive to Tories in the Olde Country and descendents of King George’s fans who left the new Republic and moved to what became Canada.
If you study history in the US, or in Canada using US texts, Tory is virtually a synonym for traitor, with a picture of Benedict Arnold alongside the definition in the dictionary.