Harper, Hidden Agenda and The Vast Leftwing Conspiracy

Pass the tinfoil.

Conservatives are funny creatures. Yes they are.

On the one hand, they tell you until they are even blue-er in the face, 'there is no hidden agenda'. And then they turn around and tell themselves until they are even blue-er in the face, 'just wait until we get a majority, then you'll see some real hardcore conservative policies'.

And sometimes, we are fortunate enough to catch it on video.



They'll also tell you that taking snippets of tape, cutting it out of context to attack someone's character is completely legitimate when it means helping themselves keep power. Then they'll tell you it is sneaky and unfair to show full length video of Harper telling his supporters that they need to teach the opposition and the lefty judges a lesson. But, of course, consistency of principle has never been a character trait of conservatives.

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Stephen Harper supports Coalitions - Part 2

Have you noticed how quickly and easily Harper will abandon any prior belief or principle if it suddenly become convenient to do so? Along with fiscal prudence, no taxes, fixed election dates, accountability, etc., his claim to oppose coalition government is a prime example. It really is a "convenient coalition" for him, isn't it.

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This is what Harper thinks of Canada

The Conservatives insist that quoting someone is always fair game. And then quote out of context, distort or even make up quotations. When they do this they are trying to distract you from their incompetence and horrible erratic performance on the economy.

And to distract you from what Stephen Harper himself has said about his own country.

Here is our Prime Minister, in his own words, in context and about his own country. Disgraceful.


{Video by Daviolis}

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*Breaking* New Conservative attacks ads coming this weekend

Clearly spooked by the prospect of losing the support of the Liberals, the Conservatives are about to launch an ad campaign all about the positive reasons Canadians should support the Conservatives. Er. No. Of course not.

I have been informed from a reliable source that this weekend the Tories will be launching another negative attack ad campaign against Michael Ignatieff, this time taking quotes from some BBC broadcast a couple of decades ago. They know their time is up and they are clearly desperately lashing out.

Will these ads be about Tory accomplishments? No.

Will these ads be about the economy? No.

Will these ads offer anything to Canadians? No.

Will these ads attack Ignatieff personally? Yes.

Will these ads quote Ignatieff horribly out of context? Yes.

Will these ads show how petty, small, out of ideas, clinging to power the Tories are, thereby proving Ignatieff's point? Very definitely.

Is there time up ladies and gentlemen? Oh, yes.

Will we crush them? Yes, absolutely yes.

Stay tuned here for more. I will be posting something juicy shortly.

Where's Jack! Layton? (Video)

The man who can't find a camera he doesn't love, can't be found.

THEN, when they assumed the Liberals would support the Reformatories:

"The NDP would be the least likely of the political parties to support the Conservatives in office" Jack Layton Aug 25

"It's like that cough medicine - you know, it tastes bad, but sometime you've gotta take it." Jack Layton Aug 21 on looming election speculation

NOW, that the Liberal security blanket is removed:

"We are ready to manage an arrangement (with the Conservatives). It is possible" NDP MP Joe Comartin Sept 2

“The Prime Minister needs to decide if he wants to call an election or call Mr. Layton,” NDP Director of Communications Brad Lavigne Sept 1

"NDP MP Thomas Mulcair agreed with the prime minister, saying "we'd better have a bloody good reason for forcing a fourth general election in five years." Sept 1

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Caucus Speech / Discours au caucus estival

Yesterday, Michael Ignatieff put the Conservatives on notice that they have failed their probation and their time is now up. An excerpt of his speech to caucus is below.

Some choice excerpts:

“We’re working against a government that’s ready to sacrifice national unity to stay in power. But we have a secret weapon on our side: Stephen Harper’s record. The worst unemployment record in two decades The worst deficit in our history. And last quarter, the worst performing economy in the G7.”

“We can do better. Nous pouvons faire mieux.”

“Stephen Harper hasn’t just failed to stand up for Canada—he’s also failed to stand up for Canadians. Suaad Mohamud. Omar Khadr. Makhtal. Bahari. Mohamed. Abdelrazik. Being a Canadian must mean the Canadian government will stand up for you—no matter where, no matter when. This is at the heart of what every Liberal believes: a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. A Liberal government would stand by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We would stand by our citizens. And we would bring forward legislation to protect Canadians abroad—to make it illegal for the government to pick and choose which citizens it protects—to make sure these abuses never happen again.”

“In fact, only two hundred of the twelve hundred infrastructure projects that the Conservatives announced in Ontario have actually received the funding they were promised. Only Stephen Harper could count that as 80% underway.”

“Stephen Harper’s response has been: “Don’t worry, give it a few years, and the books will balance themselves.” You can put that next to his promise not to run deficits in the first place. Or his promise not to tax income trusts. Or his promise not to appoint Senators.”

“You can’t count on a government that can’t count—and a prime minister who’s only good at division.”

“Liberals proudly support public health care in this country—and, unlike the Conservatives, we’re not afraid to defend it.”

“In June, we set out four tests for Stephen Harper. Mr. Harper, you have failed all four. You’ve failed to protect the most vulnerable. You’ve failed to create jobs. Failed to defend our health care. Failed to restore our public finances.”

“After four years of drift, four years of denial, four years of division and discord—Mr. Harper, your time is up. Vous avez raté votre chance. The Liberal Party cannot support this government any further. We will hold it to account. We will oppose it in Parliament. Canadians deserve better.”

“So let’s get started. Allons-y. Notre pays nous attend.”

{Video by Ignatieff}

Full text of his speech is here.

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Canadians seeking EI at 11 year high under Harper's Conservatives (Daviolis)

The number of Canadians seeking EI benefits is the highest its been in 11 years. That's a six percent increase from last month. Since the Harper Conservatives were re-elected, the number of Canadian families depending on EI has shot up by more than 300,000. That's an increase of more than 63 per cent.

They want you to believe that everything is A-OK, just like they wanted you to believe that Canadians weren't worried about their jobs, that there was never going to be a recession, that there was never going to be a deficit, that the recession and their deficit (once they had to admit they put us into a deficit before the recession began) was going to be small and manageable, that the deficit (once their first and second and third predictions were way off) was unpredictable and not their fault.

I think we all know better.

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Conservative Policy 2009 (by The Mercer Report)

They say in Newfoundland, if you don't like the weather then wait a minute.

They say in Ottawa, if you don't like Conservative policy then wait a minute. Or at least until the next internal poll or focus group results come out.

Or, as Rick Mercer puts it, wait twenty minutes because Conservative policy is always "20 minutes fresh".

Please send LVD your political and news videos and clips and, subject to our completely subjective standards of taste, quality and liability exposure (hey, its our blog afterall), we will publish it. So send 'em all along, folks, in the comments or by email to tedbetts (at) yahoo.ca.

GarnetandGreyGrit - What does leadership mean to Stephen Harper?