MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT STEPHEN HARPER
This is for all of you out there (and I've mentioned you before) who think that the election of Stephen Harper as Prime Minister of Canada was the worst possible outcome of the last election. For those of you who see Harper as a bible-thumping, anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion westerner, who helped found the Reform Party I have something I would like to share with you. You are wrong! There are a lot of people out there, including many who vote for him, who have no idea where he comes from, what his roots are, and what he believes in. I hope to enlighten you a little bit.
Quick question: What city or province is Harper from?
Answer: Alberta... wrong.
Stephen Harper is from Toronto, Ontario (just for the record that is not out west)
He was born and raised in Ontario and went to university there before he moved out west to attend the University of Calgary.
There has been a lot of criticism thrown Harper's way in regards to his social beliefs on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. And maybe he is for the traditional definition of marriage but so what... all he wants is for a free vote in Parliament on the subject. If Parliament votes for same-sex marriage then so be it. I believe this issue is based more on having a free vote then getting rid of same-sex marriage because everyone has been used to the way that the Liberals did things. And whether he is pro-life, pro-choice or whatever it also doesn't make any difference because he is not raising it as an issue and has no plans to ever talk about it. Many people thought that if Harper was elected PM that both abortion and same-sex marriages would be outlawed. That is not what he is trying to do... it's not even on the radar and it is for this reason why it frustrates me so much when people talk about him this way.
If you want to get really technical about all of this then I have something to share with you. I just learned this today actually and found it very interesting especially since it is so close to how I feel about the issue. Harper believes that issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion are issues that should not be dealt with on a party level and that instead they are much more personal. And while he may be personally against same-sex marriage that is not the policy of the Conservative Party and he has voted in favour of same-sex benefits in the past.
Quick question: What party did Stephen Harper originally join?
Answer: The Reform/Canadian Alliance Party... wrong.
Harper was originally a member of... get this... the Liberal party! It didn't last for very long but that is where he started. He became opposed to the Liberals because of the National Energy Program of Trudeau's which was hurting the energy industry of Alberta. That is when he left the Liberals and eventually ended up with the Reform Party... wrong. Harper then became a member of the Progressive Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney for a few years but split with them because of their fiscal policy and helped found the Reform Party with Preston Manning.
How did Harper go from being a high-profile Reform MP to the being the leader of both the Conservative Party and Canada? He was very popular within the Reform Party but the differences between him and leader Preston Manning became so large that he split from the Reforms because they were losing their vision on conservativism and became too populist. He quit the party and politics for the time being and became the president of the National Citizens Coalition.
Now that Harper was out of politics he was wanted everywhere. Albertans wanted Harper to be their next Premier, many PC's wanted him to be their next leader, and when the Reform Party came to an end and the Canadian Alliance began many people wanted him to be the leader of that. He still remained out of politics... that is, until Harper believed that CA leader Stockwell Day was doing a bad job as leader and ran against him in the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership race. He won the race easily and became the leader of the CA and the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament and spent a lot of time trying to bring his party and the Progressive Conservatives together as one. He got his wish late in 2003 when he, along with PC leader Peter MacKay merged the two parties to create the Conservative Party of Canada. He ran for the leadership of this newly-founded party and won, again in the first ballot.
A little over two years from then he led the Conservatives to a minority government and became the Prime Minister of Canada.
I hope that I may have cleared up a few things for you about any misconceptions that you may have had. I know that there are people who don't like Harper but I just hope that it is for the right reasons.
- DM
Quick question: What city or province is Harper from?
Answer: Alberta... wrong.
Stephen Harper is from Toronto, Ontario (just for the record that is not out west)
He was born and raised in Ontario and went to university there before he moved out west to attend the University of Calgary.
There has been a lot of criticism thrown Harper's way in regards to his social beliefs on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. And maybe he is for the traditional definition of marriage but so what... all he wants is for a free vote in Parliament on the subject. If Parliament votes for same-sex marriage then so be it. I believe this issue is based more on having a free vote then getting rid of same-sex marriage because everyone has been used to the way that the Liberals did things. And whether he is pro-life, pro-choice or whatever it also doesn't make any difference because he is not raising it as an issue and has no plans to ever talk about it. Many people thought that if Harper was elected PM that both abortion and same-sex marriages would be outlawed. That is not what he is trying to do... it's not even on the radar and it is for this reason why it frustrates me so much when people talk about him this way.
If you want to get really technical about all of this then I have something to share with you. I just learned this today actually and found it very interesting especially since it is so close to how I feel about the issue. Harper believes that issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion are issues that should not be dealt with on a party level and that instead they are much more personal. And while he may be personally against same-sex marriage that is not the policy of the Conservative Party and he has voted in favour of same-sex benefits in the past.
Quick question: What party did Stephen Harper originally join?
Answer: The Reform/Canadian Alliance Party... wrong.
Harper was originally a member of... get this... the Liberal party! It didn't last for very long but that is where he started. He became opposed to the Liberals because of the National Energy Program of Trudeau's which was hurting the energy industry of Alberta. That is when he left the Liberals and eventually ended up with the Reform Party... wrong. Harper then became a member of the Progressive Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney for a few years but split with them because of their fiscal policy and helped found the Reform Party with Preston Manning.
How did Harper go from being a high-profile Reform MP to the being the leader of both the Conservative Party and Canada? He was very popular within the Reform Party but the differences between him and leader Preston Manning became so large that he split from the Reforms because they were losing their vision on conservativism and became too populist. He quit the party and politics for the time being and became the president of the National Citizens Coalition.
Now that Harper was out of politics he was wanted everywhere. Albertans wanted Harper to be their next Premier, many PC's wanted him to be their next leader, and when the Reform Party came to an end and the Canadian Alliance began many people wanted him to be the leader of that. He still remained out of politics... that is, until Harper believed that CA leader Stockwell Day was doing a bad job as leader and ran against him in the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership race. He won the race easily and became the leader of the CA and the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament and spent a lot of time trying to bring his party and the Progressive Conservatives together as one. He got his wish late in 2003 when he, along with PC leader Peter MacKay merged the two parties to create the Conservative Party of Canada. He ran for the leadership of this newly-founded party and won, again in the first ballot.
A little over two years from then he led the Conservatives to a minority government and became the Prime Minister of Canada.
I hope that I may have cleared up a few things for you about any misconceptions that you may have had. I know that there are people who don't like Harper but I just hope that it is for the right reasons.
- DM
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