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Niagra Falls, Ontario - Friday, August 16, 2002 - by: Joe Hueglin | |
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lack of |
Stephen Harper's writing "the only real resistance" to merger with his Canadian |
Alliance | |
"would come from left-of-centre ideologues within |
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the federal Tory party" (1) |
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shows a complete lack of understanding of the nature of Conservatives. | |
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Harper |
Conservatives, unlike Harper, but like most Canadians, are not ideologues. While his |
approach to every situation that arises is application of the far right's belief in less | |
government, lower taxes, "let the free market decide", for Tories there is a time for | |
free market and a time for regulation, a time for lowering taxes and a time for | |
increasing them, a time to reduce the role of government - a time to broaden its | |
powers. | |
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consensus |
Identifying the nature of the problem and arriving at the best plan of action possible for |
the overall good of society, all things considered, is the Conservative approach. Both | |
right and left-of-centre views are brought to bear in internal debate and more often than | |
not consensus, when reached, is the better for it. | |
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party |
Loyalty to party, not ideology is what binds Tories together. This loyalty will lead to |
rejection of his call for folding the Progressive Conservative Party into the Canadian | |
Alliance at next week's General Meeting. | |
Harper |
Stephen Harper, his first loyalty being to ideology, is unable to see loyalty to party as a |
force to be reckoned with. Consequently he erroneously brands all opposing his aim of | |
uniting the right as "left-of-centre ideologues". | |
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References: | |
"Finally, I said that because any amalgamation of the parties approved by grassroots members would invariably create a genuine conservative party, the only real resistance would come from left-of-centre ideologues within the federal Tory party. Now that the opportunity presents itself, we will see whether such resistance within that party can ever be overcome." |
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Stephen Harper in a letter to the National Post responding to the three faces of Steve by Andrew Coyne. | |
2. |
The three faces of Steve, by Andrew Coyne, National Post, August 12, 2002 |
3. |
Harper, Harris confer by phone 'They're encouraged by each other's comments' by Robert Benzie, National Post, August 13, 2002 |