Before there was Bruce Carson, there was Maxime Bernier, who left government documents at his girlfriend’s house. To put this in context, I don’t think that these state documents should be treated with tremendous mystical secrecy – that isn’t the point. They are probably mostly banal. The point is that here’s another instance of the Harper people treating the government like it’s their personal property.
Author: Justin Podur
Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction.
Harper and Bribery
Today’s headlines were interesting. Conservatives using the RCMP as their political goon squad to turf people out of events and pre-screen them. But Harper’s said he’s sorry and, I’m sure, has promised to never do it again. This is a good little quote from the Toronto Star though:
Harper’s Foreign Policy
Lawrence Martin’s “Harperland” discusses Harper’s foreign policy. It isn’t really distinguishable from Liberal foreign policy, except that it is a little more paranoid and secretive.
Throughout the West, there is fairly unconditional support for Israel. Some explain this with lobbies, etc. For the Harper people, Israel is a principle, above all others – certainly above human rights, equality, or fairness, anything Israel does is correct, whether it is starting a war of aggression, massacring civilians, or torturing children.
Stephen Harper, Bruce Carson, and the Environment
The quote of the day is definitely from Stephen Harper about Bruce Carson’s fraud convictions: “I did not know about these revelations that we’re finding out today. I don’t know why I did not know.”
Anyone who doubts Carson’s importance in Harper’s team should definitely read Lawrence Martin’s “Harperland”. He’s all over the book.
In this light, I think Harper’s quote about Brian Mulroney might be of interest (pg. 73 of Harperland):
Continue reading “Stephen Harper, Bruce Carson, and the Environment”
Harper and the Press
In Harperland, Lawrence Martin points out how Harper hates the press (you can see it in this campaign, with the 19th century schoolmaster’s Five Questions policy).
In a chapter on Harper’s press policy, called “the Control Fixation”, Martin relates this story (pg. 65):
Incrementalism
Calgary academic and Harper advisor Tom Flanagan has more influence on Canadian politics than most people in this country realize. He was an important informant in Lawrence Martin’s imporant book, “Harperland”.
A good quote from Flanagan, on pg. 47 of Harperland:
Blogging the Canadian election
To go with Canadian election season, I am reading books about Stephen Harper, his party, and his movement. I have got Lawrence Martin’s “Harperland”, Marci McDonald’s “The Armageddon Factor”, and I have ordered Christian Nadeau’s “Rogue in Power”.
I thought I might put some of the interesting quotes out on this blog as I encounter them.
I started with Harperland by Lawrence Martin.
A great quote from Harper on pg. 29:
Fukushima and low-probability events
A friend from the movement asked me my thoughts on George Monbiot’s article in the UK Guardian about how Fukushima actually converted him to nuclear power. George summarizes the Fukushima incident as follows:
Aristide’s speech upon return
Aristide’s return
For the seven years since he was overthrown in a coup in February 2004 there have been many different speculations about why Aristide never returned to Haiti. People argued that his exile in South Africa was comfortable, that he had fled in 2004 out of fear for his life and didn’t return because of that same fear, that he was waiting for the moment when he could return to power.