# Merry Christmas to Stephen Harper



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i'm a true-blue-lifelong-left-wing-small-*l*-liberal so it's perfectly OK for me to say retro non-pc things like the above.

canada would have been OK no matter who won the election. Stephen Harper has quietly disappeared, presumably gone home to alberta to recover from the campaign that topped off his long & faithful years of service. We should all thank him most powerfully & sincerely. History has not yet turned the page on canada's 22nd prime minister, there will be an interesting tally to come.

thank-you & happy holidays to Rona Ambrose, interim leader of the conservative party. She's firmly critical of the liberals in power, but at the same time she's never destructive. It's a dynamite combo. Evidently the PCs have asked Ambrose to take the permanent leadership - she'd be a gift to canada - but she's refused.

thank-you & happy holidays to Thomas Mulcair & his troops, for keeping the banner of social justice raised high without preaching (at least not too much.)

thank-you & the best of holidays to Elizabeth May & Gilles Duceppe, those most civilized & articulate of federal fringe gadflies.

i've left the liberals to the last, because they are where my heart is. No need to say more. Merry Christmas to all in Rideau Cottage.

we have only to look southwards to realize how fortunate we are, how much hope there is for this country.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Stephen Harper?

Humbug! Glad to see the back on him. Cannot think of anything substantive that he will be remembered for...other than 'good to go'.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i will miss harper and think he was good for the nation even though he was so personally unlikable, i got really tired of him at he end

i would love to see rona ambrose lead the pc's and am sorry that she won't

mr. justin trudeau never met a flashbulb he didn't like and i suspect doesn't have the chops to travel the hard road a pm must travel, i will try to give him a break, stop the war on drugs and give me the right to die on my terms and we probably get along fine, and in the meantime thank god for his smokin hot wife

thomas mulcair seems like a nice man with lousy political instincts which probably means he's a decent and good person and shouldn't be in politics ... 44 seats is about right for his party who should tell us all what government should be doing but never have the power to actually do it

elizabeth khadr can travel light, she need only carry a mirror when she addresses her caucus, that seems about right because the greens are a hopelessly clueless party and totally unfit to govern, they can't even wave their arms and howl like the ndp

duceppe can go make cheese as far as i am concerned, i could care less, his party will never be able to do the right thing and get the f out of confederation and we will have to listen to their bitching until the end of time

i'd like to turn the whole government over to lord black who could rule unaided as a strongman ... unlike donald trump he would offer the benefit of at least being well spoken and smart if much less entertaining


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Yea............even Brian Mulroney, who was held in a little contempt in some circles.........is now remembered by most Canadians as a decent guy.

When he speaks, Canadians listen..............as they do to Chretien, Martin and most probably Harper as well.

I think it speaks volumes, that after leaving office our PMs get jobs, ride the subways and are much like their neighbors, just going about their daily business.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

sags said:


> I think it speaks volumes, that after leaving office our PMs get jobs, ride the subways and are much like their neighbors, just going about their daily business.


i agree and hope they can always do this in safety ... in the smaller countries in europe the prime minister will travel with an aide and maybe a bodyguard but you walk right up to them on the street


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Mulroney, lyin' Brian, may not have been the best but he will be remembered for a few things. 

The Free Trade Agreement. Standing up (along with Joe Clark) to the significant economic and political blackmail threats from Great Britain's PM and the American President for our stand on South Africa's Aparthied.

And of course Airbus and that USD cash that he 'forget to claim' on his income tax return.

Cannot think of one significant item that Harper will be remembered for

Well perhaps...niquab or the 'hotline'.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Maybe the TFSA could something to remember Harper for but otherwise your right there is not much to remember good or bad.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

A little something to brighten your day ...


A guy goes into a bar on Georgia Street, and is surprised to see a robot bartender. The robot asked, “What will you have, sir?

"Whiskey.” the guy replied

The robot brought back his drink and asked, “What’s your IQ?”

“168.”, he replied.

The robot begins to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.

When our guy left the bar, he got curious about the robot's responses, so he decided to go back.

The robot asked, “What’s your drink?”

Once again, our guy replied, “Whiskey.”

The robot returned with his drink and asked, “What’s your IQ?”

The man replied, “100.”

The robot started a discussion about NasCar, Budweiser, the Lions and the Canucks.

The man finished his drink, left, but becomes so interested in his “experiment” that he decided to try again.

He entered the bar and, as usual, the robot asked him what he wanted to drink.

The man replied, “Whiskey.”

The robot brought the drink and asked, “What’s your IQ?”

The man answered, “50.”

The robot leaned in really close and asked,

So ... are ... you ... people ... still ... happy ... with ... Justin Trudeau?”


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Merry Christmas to Steve, but also a very Merry Christmas to the CMF people and lets us have a productive New Year 2016, toss away your batch of coal and remember how lucky we are in Canuck Land !


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Merry Christmas to CMF and Mr. Trudeau! See ya'll in the new year!


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I voted Conservative every time until the last time when I went ABC. I thought Stephen was a good minority leader. But when he got a majority, it was bad news. I was hoping for another minority but I am OK with the outcome so far.


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

I hope Stephen recovers (or has recovered) from being chased by a gunman. People lose elections all the time, but being shoved in closet while someone stalks you would really mess with my head.

Merry Christmas to all the people who stand for election... bless 'em, they all believe they know what's best for the country.


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## Sasquatch (Jan 28, 2012)

I think the thing Harpo will be most remembered for is his toxic style of governing, total disregard for our democracy and persistent lying. Other than that he was no better or worse than any of his predecessors. It's good to see him back in Calgary where he belongs


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

steve41 said:


> A little something to brighten your day ...
> 
> 
> A guy goes into a bar on Georgia Street, and is surprised to see a robot bartender. The robot asked, “What will you have, sir?
> ...


Cute joke. The really funny thing is that right wing attitudes are correlated with lower intelligence and less education.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

guys tis the season to be jolly. Perhaps a dollop of happiness, gifts, joy, affection & tolerance? at least a dollop, if cannot manage the whole plum pudding.

i was no fan of the former PM. I was ecstatic when the nation, particularly the nation's youth, voted in a sweeping change.

but perhaps we could take a leaf from obama's first inauguration day, in january 2009.

there was a little ceremony where the outbound president said good-bye & best wishes to the new First Couple. George Bush was smiling, genial, cordial & gracious as he shook Barack Obama's hand. It was a loyal show of all-party devotion to the American supreme eagle.

but when Bush came to say good-bye to Michelle Obama, something unusual happened. The Bush smile increased, became personal, glowed like a favourite cousin. I'm no lip-reader so i couldn't see what he was saying to Michelle. But i could read what she was saying, as she embraced the outgoing president in farewell. Thank you, Michelle kept repeating. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Her sincerity was overpowering.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

andrewf said:


> Cute joke. The really funny thing is that right wing attitudes are correlated with lower intelligence and less education.


Social right wing attitudes - yes. 

Fiscal right wing attitudes - I'm not convinced. Please cite some evidence.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I think the truth is a bit more complex than that, and the science is far from settled. However, it is fair to say that an unintelligent person is more likely to be conservative in their political outlook than liberal. There is evidence that suggests that intelligent people are more likely to be moderate rather than dogmatically supporting either ideological extreme.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

andrewf said:


> Cute joke. The really funny thing is that right wing attitudes are correlated with lower intelligence and less education.


i'm almost certain that those studies were done by people with left-wing attitudes :hopelessness:


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I think the truth is a bit more complex than that, and the science is far from settled. However, it is fair to say that an unintelligent person is more likely to be conservative in their political outlook than liberal. There is evidence that suggests that intelligent people are more likely to be moderate rather than dogmatically supporting either ideological extreme.


oh lord, this is a minefield ...what is "conservative", how can it possibly be measured .... there are multiple kinds of "intelligence" ...which one are you talking about ?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Generally, people mean IQ when they refer to intelligence. Yes, IQ only measures one aspect of intelligence. I encourage you to commission research on political attitudes as they relate to other measures of intelligence.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

andrewf said:


> Generally, people mean IQ when they refer to intelligence. Yes, IQ only measures one aspect of intelligence. I encourage you to commission research on political attitudes as they relate to other measures of intelligence.


no need andrew, my research tells me that people who vote like i do are the intelligent ones :biggrin:

more seriously, academics are fairly predictably left-wing, even if the studies were well designed, the whole notion is a minefield

my own belief is that "conservative" and "progressive" (they could be likened to "adventure-seeking" and "cautious") traits may well be inborn, we just don't know

i don't see how we even come close to defining those very broad concepts

in some ways the whole idea comes perilously close to being "quasi-eugenicist"where those who are "intelligent" conduct the studies to prove that those of us who we define as "not intelligent", are not up to sharing our progressive forward vision of the world


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I am closer to a classical liberal than a progressive (the safe space/trigger warning/microaggression/anti-capitalist crowd).

It seems you are arguing that this is unknowable and not worth studying. You can try to pick apart individual studies, but I don't think you can dismiss the line of inquiry.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I am closer to a classical liberal than a progressive (the safe space/trigger warning/microaggression/anti-capitalist crowd).
> 
> It seems you are arguing that this is unknowable and not worth studying. You can try to pick apart individual studies, but I don't think you can dismiss the line of inquiry.


no, the line of inquiry is fine and seems perfect for a phd student, i just think it is fraught with problems, the fundamental assumptions of: "intelligence" "conservative" "right-wing attitudes" "liberal" are so loaded i don't see how anything can be brought out that wouldn't then be thrown into the political soup ... i am skeptical of what can be known about human beings in the social sense

you get your right-wing students to do a study and i'll get my left-wing students to do a study and i suspect we will produce different results

to me, it has the odour of intelligence and race, also an acceptable line of inquiry but loaded with problems


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

GoldStone said:


> Social right wing attitudes - yes.
> 
> Fiscal right wing attitudes - I'm not convinced. Please cite some evidence.



obviously what we need in canada is for more social left wingers to marry fiscal right wingers. Or at least to produce offspring with each other. Over time, canada would become utopia.

fatcat how do you imagine your smokin hot Sophie might be underneath all the glam? a secret fiscal right winger?

please no underwear remarks


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Canadians change their governments on a routine basis, so I don't think "the voters" decisions are based on anything more than the circumstances at the time, and the direction the current government is heading.

Mr. Harper was popular until he drifted to the right with a majority government. Canadians have always liked the middle of the road, where fiscal prudence and social responsibility are combined.

If Mr. Trudeau drifts too far off the centre.............he will be replaced too.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> obviously what we need in canada is for more social left wingers to marry fiscal right wingers. Or at least to produce offspring with each other. Over time, canada would become utopia.
> 
> fatcat how do you imagine your smokin hot Sophie might be underneath all the glam? a secret fiscal right winger?
> 
> please no underwear remarks


well, she's a hyphen-wife so that indicates she has a strong sense of herself as an independent person, that might mean she has a hidden conservative streak though she is virtually Liberal-royalty by marriage ... 

hard to say, what i hope is that like many women married to powerful men, she will be forthright with the old-man and cause him to think more completely before he acts .... all powerful men need a woman to tell them the truth, i suspect sophie is doing her job

i want to go on record as being in possession of a pithy underwear observation that, in accordance with your wishes, will remain unsaid :biggrin:


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I am conservative fiscally and a liberal socially. It causes some conflicts that I have to rationalize.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

I think a lot of Canadians fall within that category and it is sort of like............"I don't know what it is exactly, but I know it when I see it."


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## Sasquatch (Jan 28, 2012)

sags said:


> Canadians change their governments on a routine basis, so I don't think "the voters" decisions are based on anything more than the circumstances at the time, and the direction the current government is heading.
> 
> Mr. Harper was popular until he drifted to the right with a majority government. Canadians have always liked the middle of the road, where fiscal prudence and social responsibility are combined.
> 
> If Mr. Trudeau drifts too far off the centre.............he will be replaced too.


I think Canadians generally speaking are a tolerant lot to the right as well as to the left. Where Harper screwed himself was his "Dear Leader" kind of government. He looked upon parliament and other political parties as pesky, unnecessary distractions to his vision of what Canada should look like. His pathological insistence for secrecy, open hostility for the press and contempt for elected representatives, who didn't belong to his party finally sent him packing. Canadians finally had had enough and made it very clear in the last election. I for one would've voted for Humpty Dumpty if it meant defeating Harper.


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## TomF (Jul 26, 2011)

I like the American rule of limiting a president to two terms, and think we should have a similar policy here.
So . . . I think it was about time to change; parties that rule too long become arrogant and heavy handed. It is too bad we cannot also change the bureaucrats behind the scenes that actually run things. Nothing will change until _that_ happens. Fire the top bureaucrats. Then go down one layer and fire the second-in-commands; otherwise, we are just getting a new crop of civil servants who have been trained to do things the exact same way as the people we just removed. 

Having said that, I had very few issues with Stephen Harper.
I thought he was a little too close to America and would like to see more independent thought on the part of Canada's leader. They seem to have problems getting their own house in order; there is no need to copy, and implicitly support, what they do.

The media kept telling me that the refugee crisis was an election issue, and niqabs, and a bunch of other things. They weren't. Not even on my radar. 

He kept a very low profile, which I like to see in a national leader. We want a leader, not a rock star. When somebody likes to be in the limelight all the time, promising everything to everybody, my B.S. detector goes off and I think, if you want to be a Hollywood celebrity, go to Hollywood. But you don't belong in Ottawa, doing what kind of damage to a whole country.

Mr. Harper also was a decent economic manager. He should have been a lot firmer and balanced the budget sooner and cut taxes more. Now we have at least five years of excuses for _not_ balancing the budget every year. Just watch, every year will bring another excuse for not getting it done.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I have always been at a loss to understand why people thought that the Harper Gov't did well at managing our economy.

Harper had ONE year of a balanced budget. And he inherited that from the previous Government. It was followed by NINE years of deficits. Plus a program to split income that was hailed as a poor financial choice by most economists and taxation experts.

And during this time we had consistent annual decline in Ontario manufacturing and not one more pipeline was built or approved to transport Alberta/Saskatewan oil out of those provinces to eastern or US markets. Canada lost high paying jobs. The civil service was expanded by 10 percent then cut. The cuts were hailed as efficient Government. The veterans did not think so. Besides, after all that false PR we ended up with the same size of Public Service in terms of ee count that we had when Harper came to power. 

What on earth was so great about that economic record??? 

From my perspective it was smoke and mirrors.


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

I agree.

That's the thing that bugged me to all hell about Harper. He continually made bad economic choices and not ones that were only obvious in retrospect but rather ones that were obvious to everyone at the time.

- Cut the GST by 2%: STUPID
- Close the experimental lakes area (more expensive to close it than to keep it going - plus you get lots of great data from it).
- TFSA expansion, proposed HBP expansion (that never happened), zero down mortages, 40 year amortization, income splitting blah blah
- Piss off all the public servants just by being a douche.
- deficits deficts deficits - and ones that were close to balanced he sold Canadian assets to do it (like GM). That doesn't count.

That guy seriously sucked.


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