Background: The Conservatives allied with the Bloc are doing all in their power to force a quick election, even voting to shut the commons so no work will be done. A key reason is that they feel they can get elected now while news of the sponsorship scandal weakens the Liberals and takes news coverage away from a focus on their hidden agenda. Conservative strategy would be to have their Bloc ally take Quebec while they gain most of the rest of Canada. The campaign would focus on outrage over the sponsorship scandal, creating a dogfight between the Conservatives and Liberals and the Bloc that would marginalize the NDP and Greens as parties not really in the fight.
1. The Powers in Control
Reform party founder Preston Manning and former Ontario Conservative premier Mike Harris have issued a report commissioned by the Fraser Institute. They are hoping that Conservative leader Stephen Harper will implement it once elected.
Since implementation of the report would mean gutting Canadian social programs and the federal government, Harper would only be able to bring it in as a surprise move after he’s been elected. The Conservatives would campaign in support of Medicare and other programs in any election.
Before looking at the details of the hidden agenda, the key question is will Harper attempt to implement ideas similar to the Harris/Manning report if elected?
I think he will, especially if he wins a majority. He’s currently enraged because the Liberals and NDP created a budget deal that would increase social spending, and vows to bring down the government over it. He has also alienated and lost moderate MPs like Scott Brison and Belinda Stronach. That fits the pattern of wanting to follow the Harris/Manning agenda of cuts to social programs.
Take a look at the history of the Conservative Party. On the provincial level they came forward with a hidden agenda in Ontario during the Harris years.
The federal Conservative Party exists due to a shotgun wedding of the PCs and the Alliance put on by Frank and Belinda Stronach. Belinda Stronach is now an MP but she did head Magna International, a major auto parts company started by her father Frank Stronach. She bankrolled the Alliance Party and used her money to manipulate the Progressive Conservative Party out of existence. Stephen Harper and Peter Mckay were pushed into an agreement and the PCs were swallowed by the Alliance. Unfortunately for Belinda the new party failed to lean to the centre and she ended up crossing to the Liberals.
The Stronach touch can be seen in the former Alliance party's policy, where a very strong pro-Bush stance was present. Stephen Harper was policy director for the Alliance and has been an architect of extremism in it and at the helm of the National Citizens Coalition.
One thing is clear. Stephen Harper has always been a front man for the collective interests of the far right. Once elected he will know who funds the party and who its ideological fathers are … he will follow through and pull out the hidden agenda of Harris, Manning and groups like the Fraser Institute and multinational pharmaceutical corporations.
2. The Hidden Agenda
HealthCare:
Manning and Harris recommend "critical surgery" for Medicare. But if it is surgery it is of the type that would kill the patient. They say Ottawa should cease funding the system and transfer tax powers to the provinces. They also say the Canada Health Act should be scrapped to eliminate all barriers to private services. Healthcare would be handled by the provinces and they would experiment with private health services.
In health care they want to enforce incentives for individuals and families to practice illness prevention or healthy lifestyles. Read that to mean if you get sick you’ll be branded as a wrongdoer and denied services or hit with user fees. Health care will only work for the healthy and wealthy.
Cuts to Social Programs:
Manning and Harris urge the transfer of $300 billion from the public sector to the private sector over six years, through tax cuts and cuts to social programs.
Downloading:
Downloading of the type that has been loathed in Ontario under Mike Harris is recommended. The report calls for a devolution of power, responsibility, and revenue sources from the federal government to the provinces and from the provinces to the municipalities where appropriate. And though this sort of downloading is intended to reduce state power it doesn’t. Under Harris nearly every good social and related program was mercilessly cut while the government granted itself dictatorial enforcement powers.
The Security/Free-Trade State:
The federal role under Harris/Manning is to be a sort of Homeland Security State that also pushes Free Trade. Defense, foreign affairs, and ensuring free inter-provincial trade will be the federal role.
The Law of the Right:
The role of the judiciary will be usurped as Parliament takes over as complete law-maker.
Loss of Sovereignty:
We would be swallowed by the USA through a Customs Agreement. This agreement would be presented as a security measure as well as a trade measure, meaning that we would lose basic civil liberties in the way the Americans have under the Homeland Security State and post 9/11 hysteria. We would have joint administration of common tariffs and trade regulations, and be integrated into American security apparatus for border security.
Free Trade for Foreign Aid:
Harris/Manning believe foreign aid does more harm than good and that a more effective strategy for assisting poor countries is through freer trade—that is, by giving them easier access to our markets. This means that Canada would help no one. More jobs would be exported as the race to the bottom continues in nations receiving no aid other than IMF restructuring plans.
Education for the Rich Only:
In education Harris/Manning seem to want to increase federal powers to bring about meddling in provincial education areas. They support the freedom of parents to direct school taxes to the school of their choice. They believe Canadians should be responsible for their own education, and this is a formula for a future Canada where a tiny wealthy minority would be educated. The rest of us would be the ignorant masses.
Poverty for Retirement and an End to Nearly All Assistance to the Disadvantaged:
Canadians will accept personal responsibility when it comes to providing for their retirement, and “in order to avoid government limitations on freedom, individuals will take more responsibility for providing for themselves.” Read that to mean the gutting of Canada pensions, employment insurance and countless other programs for the disabled, elderly, women, children ….
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