Harper's Cal-garish Agenda

by Dan Adleman

(from the Republic of East Vancouver)

Since the Douglas/Trudeau era, Canada’s unique form of partly socialized capitalism has been the envy of the world. In fact, the figures of Douglas and Trudeau seem to embody the unique alchemy that has made Canada such a beacon of progress. On one hand, we have Tommy Douglas, the father of Canadian Medicare, “the greatest Canadian

There is no absolute science to optimally managing the swirling pandemonium of interests bumping up against each other in a modern democracy. But for some time the Canadian system was at the top of the international pack. And we Canadians have grown so accustomed to our freedoms and safeguards that, like the corrupt Liberals who just lost their jobs, we’ve become complacent and simply assumed that we’re entitled to our entitlements.

Here in Vancouver, at the edge of the political universe, it’s easy enough to be oblivious to the sea changes that have recently transpired in the belly of the Canadian political beast. But we have to begin to wake up to the fact that, for perhaps the first time, Quentario no longer runs the show. Now Calgary is Canada’s spiritual and political center of gravity. This unlikely shift, which was engendered by the newfangled Tories’ ability to capitalize on Liberal opportunism and nepotism, has all kinds of devastating repercussions for the Canada that we know and love. In the chillingly oracular words of former Tory PM Joe Clark, “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.