Harper Caught In The Act

Harper caught in the act: plagiarizes Aussie PM's speech like a nasty little right-swing school boy

This is important. Please read and pass on the links herein as broadly as you can. Thank you.

Play this video, now:

Readers know I'm not normally inclined to post Liberal speeches or videos but people really need to see this video as it underscores everything that has been said about Stephen Harper as being married at the hip with other right-wing governments such as John Howard's government of the day (Australia) and of course, George W. Bush.

Harper is often criticized for being too cozy to the agenda and policies of failed American president G.W. Bush. For a long while these criticisms stuck, but haven't over the last two elections because Harper has managed to turn the page, not because the criticisms are not wholly valid.They haven't stuck because understanding what those policies lead to can't always be turned into a simple sound bite or graphic image.

Its time to turn back the page.

In so doing we have reason to completely re-examine who Harper really is. He is not the sweater-vested centre of the road gent he'd like us to believe, but is, as he always has been, a ruthless ultra right-wing politician who will say and do anything to get and keep power. While many politicians can be accused of the same base objective, what truly sets Harper apart is what he's willing to do with that power.

Without a doubt, had Harper been in power in 2002/2003, Canada would have been fighting in the Iraq war, following along in lockstep with Bush and then Australian Prime Minister the ultra-conservative John Howard. This relationship with Australia's right-wing continues: directly and through his inner circle (in particular former campaign director Tom Flanagan), Harper maintains close ties with members of the former Howard regime, and their ideas, to this day.

In 2005 I wrote about this in an article entitled Harper Would Have Sent Canada To War With Iraq. In addition to parroting the conservative government leader of Australia in 2003, on 1 October 2002 Harper stood up in the House of Commons and at length used the same arguments - based on lies - that George W. Bush used to usher his country into the disastrous Iraq war. The full text of Harper's speech of the day is attached to that article, linked here for your convenience. The evidence is clear.

Stephen Harper is not a leader we can trust.