Free Republic

American freepers, I'd love the share some good news for you folks! Congratulate me please! Wow, I can’t believe this. We have just defeated a 4-time, 11-year liberal incumbent, a Chief Opposition Whip in the parlimentary! This riding was considered to be a super safe riding for liberals since the liberal incumbent won last time by 43% to conservative's 32% in 2006, by 5,000 votes! Tonight, the conservative candidate won by less than 1%, 36.7% to 36%, fewer than 400 votes!! Wow, this was definitely a shocker. I initially didn’t intend to vote because I thought it’s a very long...

Canada's Harper government delightfully surprised both its friends and its foes last week. It leaked the fact that it may bring in a "Defence of Religions Act" to protect critics of homosexual practice from prosecution under human rights codes, and to prohibit the firing of marriage commissioners who refuse on the grounds of their religion to "marry" homosexual couples. Social conservative allies were surprised because opposition to gay marriage, which had begun to seem a lost cause, was being revived. Government foes are equally delighted, because they assume that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has finally made a blunder that will...

Churchgoers Shift towards Conservatives Driven by Moral Issues like Gay “Marriage” By Terry Vanderheyden OTTAWA, March 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative Party popularity among churchgoers, and especially among Protestants, increased significantly this past federal election – driven largely by moral issues such as same-sex “marriage.” Protestant churchgoers were 25% more likely to vote Conservative as compared to previous elections, according to an Ipsos-Reid Poll. And among churchgoing Catholics in Quebec, votes for the Liberal party were cut roughly in half compared to 2004. “For the first time in the history of polling, Catholics who are regular churchgoers shifted away from...

The secret's out Desperate in the face of defeat, the Liberals ended up leaking their own hidden agenda The Western Standard February 13, 2006 Ted Byfield To adequately write anything about what could well prove one of the most pivotal elections in Canadian history, when the results are scarcely in, is not advisable. So I'll write about the campaign. It is now, at least, over. And a very curious campaign it was. Its central irony was the desperate Liberal effort to establish that the Tories harboured a "secret agenda." Instead, they inadvertently disclosed that it is they who have...

OTTAWA (CP) — Stephen Harper, who was dismissed less than two years ago as unelectable, was sworn in Monday as the country’s 22nd prime minister and immediately promised to move swiftly to “restore faith and trust� in government. Harper, clutching his personal Bible, was sworn in by the clerk of the Privy Council, as his wife Laureen and their two young children, Ben and Rachel, looked on proudly. He was followed in turn by his 26 new ministers who beamed as they took their oaths. Harper arrived at Rideau Hall less than an hour after Paul Martin resigned, marking the...

On Saturday the 21st, reports of gunfire drew police to an apartment containing a dying cabdriver named Ashok Malhotra. Witnesses saw two men, Jose Antonio Barajas and Ishtiaq Hussain, flee the scene. This homicide was Richmond, California’s first of the year and a new chief of police had just been sworn in, so the hunt was on. It ended last Tuesday 900 miles from the scene of the crime, at the Peace Arch border crossing near Blaine, Washington, with the perps just a yard shy of home free. Barajas and Hussain had pulled into a rest stop along I-5 when...

In the end, it was all so anti-climactic. A small, half-empty Montreal banquet hall. A scattering of Liberals grimly watching the screens as their government fell. A humbled, defeated prime minister who suddenly looked all of his 67 years, putting on a brave face as he announced his retirement. And the veteran strategists and advisors for whom he'd been the meal ticket for 15 years, slumping as they tried to digest that their time in the corridors of power was already over. It was hard to believe, standing among them, that this was what remained of the unstoppable political force...

It’s never nice to kick someone when they’re down. If my father told me that once, he told me a dozen times. Sorry, Dad. Canada is well rid of soon-to-be-ex-PM Paul Martin. Paul Martin: Full to overflowing with the notion that the Liberal party was the rightful ruling party of Canada; fuelled by an awful ambition to somehow redeem his father and become PM; blessed with the skin of a rhinoceros; cursed with a mind that maddeningly simplified the most complicated of ideas; possessed of a vocabulary so intemperate and vicious, he lowered the level of political debate and discourse...

This past Monday, enough Canadians came together to reconfigure our political map. The contours of the new one are still fluid, but in time, with another election, the emergent shapes might acquire stability. For now, the election results reveal a divide in the new Canada, and also a new hope for healing the old wounds of national unity. The country is somewhat divided along urban-rural (or urban-suburban) lines. Residents of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver held back from voting for Conservatives, but could not entirely deny the pressures for change building in the nation's heartland. It is as if the "sophisticates"...

Quebec City – Remember the conventional wisdom of 2004? Back then, you'll recall, it was the many members of George Bush's "unilateral" coalition who were supposed to be in trouble, not least the three doughty warriors of the Anglosphere — the president, Tony Blair and John Howard — who would all be paying a terrible electoral price for lying their way into war in Iraq. The Democrats' position was that Mr. Bush's rinky-dink nickel-&-dime allies didn't count: The president has "alienated almost everyone," said Jimmy Carter, "and now we have just a handful of little tiny countries supposedly helping us...

After the first TV reports that their party would win the Canadian election, Conservative campaign workers began smashing windows in the Parliament Buildings, and in government offices around Ottawa. They roved through the corridors, beating up clerks and civil servants suspected of having Liberal Party connexions. From St John’s to Victoria, both winning and losing Conservative candidates took to the streets, leading heavily armed supporters in ski-masks, followed by millions of happy, cheering, banner-waving CPC voters, dressed in toques and scarves. Merchants and homeowners raced to get Liberal and NDP signs out of view, as the Tory hordes marched through...

Trust overcame fear in the Canadian electorate last week. The negative attack-type campaign by Paul Martin’s Liberals, fomenting hatred and fear about Stephen Harper and his Conservatives, kept the Conservatives from a majority but the 124 seats they did achieve should provide stable government for several years. In the next election, the Liberals will not be able to use the politics of fear with any success since their false predictions about abortion and other social issues will not again be believed. A few illustrations: On Dec. 3, 2005 in the Toronto Star, Martin predicted, “We would see him (Harper) and...

A Defeat for Anti-Americanism Saturday, January 28, 2006; Page A20 ACCORDING TO his opponent, Canadian Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper exposed "an agenda really drawn from the extreme right in the United States." He favored the Iraq war, opposed the Kyoto treaty on global warming, and is a social conservative to boot. He might just become -- heaven forbid -- "the most pro-American leader in the Western world." His victory would -- O, Canada! -- "put a smile on George W. Bush's face." Despite all those scary warnings, Mr. Harper and his party won Canada's election on Monday. That put...

Toronto Sun Sat, January 28, 2006 The great divide ... By MICHAEL COREN Now that the spin has evaporated, we can perhaps state the truth about what happened this week. Canada found itself stuck in political mud. Ignore the nonsense about "wanting" minority governments and Canadians being a middle-of-the-road people. Individuals don't vote for grand schemes but simply for whom they want to win. The fact that an election results in a minority government is pure chance. In fact, this nation is arguably more divided now than at any time in its history. East and west, urban and rural, secular...

ACCORDING TO his opponent, Canadian Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper exposed "an agenda really drawn from the extreme right in the United States." He favored the Iraq war, opposed the Kyoto treaty on global warming, and is a social conservative to boot. He might just become -- heaven forbid -- "the most pro-American leader in the Western world." His victory would -- O, Canada! -- "put a smile on George W. Bush's face." Despite all those scary warnings, Mr. Harper and his party won Canada's election on Monday. That put an end to 12 years of increasingly incoherent and corrupt...

Canadians brought about a minority Conservative government on Monday by electing a House of Commons in which 60 percent of the members will be out to destroy it. That is, they gave Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper's Conservative party 124 seats, outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals 103, the socialist New Democratic Party 29, and the Bloc Quebecois (whose declared purpose is to take Quebec out of Canada), 51. There was one independent. As soon as the results were in, Martin announced that he would not lead the Liberals in another election. The Conservatives formed a government that 36.3 percent of...

Tories begin process of transition to government Andy Johnson, CTV.ca News Now that Canadian voters have awarded a minority government to the Conservative Party, politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa are busy preparing for the first major desk-swap in years. Paper shredders, for example, have been in high demand as public servants prepare to spend a few late nights erasing confidential records before the Tories take office, said Kathy Brock, a political science professor at Queen's University. It's one of the common steps taken when governments begin the complicated process of transition, she said. "It's always more difficult for a government...

U.S. right-wing strategist says Canadians are "so liberal and hedonistic" that Stephen Harper can't hope to change their philosophy of "cultural Marxism" right away. Given time, however, the Conservative prime minister-designate may straighten them out, Paul Weyrich writes. Weyrich, a Washington fixture since the 1970s, runs a conservative think tank called the Free Congress Foundation. His contribution to the Harper election effort was to distribute an e-mail last week urging fellow U.S. right-wingers not to talk to Canadian reporters. "Canadian voters have been led to believe that American conservatives are scary and if the Conservative party can be linked with...

On Monday, Canada held its second national election in 18 months, choosing a new prime minister from a resurgent Conservative Party. Americans — or maybe just the zillion or so Canadians living in California — may well be wondering: Is Canada still the progressive, socially liberal neighbor of Democratic dreams and Republican nightmares? Can our mythic reputation as a cleaner, politer Europe survive incoming Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative regime? Here's your thumbnail guide: • The A-Word: Canada currently has no laws in force concerning abortion; you can legally perform one in a shop window, though it's hell on lunchtime...

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has accused the oil industry of financially backing the Tories and their "ultra-conservative leader" to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands. Canadians, Gore said, should vigilantly keep watch over prime minister-designate Stephen Harper because he has a pro-oil agenda and wants to pull out of the Kyoto accord -- an international agreement to combat climate change. "The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

The recent change of government in Canada reminded me of my family’s long ties to Canada. My great uncle served in World War I with the 42nd Rainbow Division’s artillery under a young Douglas MacArthur and served alongside soldiers from Canada, while my mother’s brother was a member of the New York State Police and its elite BCI unit and worked a number of cases with the RCMP. But it was my father who had the most intense relationship with the men from the Great White North.

A black cloud was lifted off Canadian-American relations yesterday: Frank McKenna, anti-American Canadian ambassador to the United States announced his resignation. McKenna, in the diplomatic post for less than a year, was a harsh critic of the U.S. ever since his arrival in Washington. One month into the job, he fired off a letter to Newt Gingrich for his reference on Hannity & Colmes regarding terrorists crossing over the border from Canada into the U.S. Only last October, McKenna stunned a Toronto audience when he called the U.S. government "dysfunctional".

"Former US vice-president AL gore urged Canadians to be vigilant over their new leader Stephen Harper in light of the newly elected prime minister's pro oil agenda. "The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta....And the financial interests behind the tar sands projects poured a lot of money and support behind an ultra-conservative leader in order to win the election...and to protect their interests."... Gore said he wasn't surprised to hear about the absence of any tar sands talk during the last campaign,or even the oil lobby was pushing Harper's cause in influential financial circles,and...

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has accused the oil industry of financially backing the Tories and their "ultra-conservative leader" to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands. Canadians, Gore said, should vigilantly keep watch over prime minister-designate Stephen Harper because he has a pro-oil agenda and wants to pull out of the Kyoto accord -- an international agreement to combat climate change. "The election in Canada was partly about the tar sands projects in Alberta," Gore said Wednesday while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. "And the financial interests behind the tar sands project poured a lot of money...

"Our national identity was not forged by government policy. It does not flow from any one program. ... Our Canada is rooted in our shared history, and in the values which have and will endure."

While the minority is smaller than he wished, and a far leap from the majority he hoped for, things look pretty rosy today for Stephen Harper and his Tories. The Opposition is in some disarray, and there is little to no threat that there'll be another election soon. All Harper has to do is govern judiciously, reasonably, fairly. He's not an acrimonious man, and realizes he is being judged. And he can call the tune. While the country can't afford another quick election, the political parties can afford it even less. They are all broke, and all but Tories will...

As U.S. Senate Democrats stand down, allowing the Alito confirmation process to proceed to a constitutional up or down vote in the full senate, liberals across this land were packing their snow shoes and checking out rentals up north. Just as they were about to book their plane tickets, our northern comrades gave their own liberal leaders the boot and conservatism swept across Canada like a mid-January blizzard. Now what

With Canada's Conservative Party poised to take power for the first time in 12 years, Jewish leaders anticipate that the new government will take a firmer stance against Israel-bashing at the United Nations and play a larger role in fostering Israeli-Palestinian peace. "There is an expectation that a Conservative government will take a somewhat more aggressive posture in encouraging the kind of reforms that would allow the UN to fulfill the objectives it was initially designed to address," said Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canada-Israel Committee. That includes moves to "end the annual cycle of Israel-bashing at the UN." Under...

Canadians gave Conservative Stephen Harper a victory, but no mandate, in Monday's election. The voters gave his party 124 seats in Parliament, 31 short of a majority, meaning a coalition government with the inevitable compromises. The outcome seemed less voter enchantment with Harper and his agenda than weariness with the Liberal Party, grown stale and corruption-prone after 13 years in office. However, if not a sharp turn to the right for Canada, Harper's election does have it edging in that direction. He campaigned on cutting taxes, getting tough on crime, turning more power over to the provinces, replacing government-funded day...

Conservatives deal setback to Bloc By Gilbert Le Gras Reuters via Yahoo! Tue Jan 24, 12:37 PM ET A Conservative resurgence in Quebec pushed support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois below the key 50 percent mark in Monday's federal election, cutting the odds of a new vote on breaking up Canada. The Conservatives, unable to elect a single candidate in Quebec in 2004, won 10 of the province's 75 seats in Parliament and had some 25 percent of the vote in the province. The Bloc, which once boasted it could steal 50 percent of the Quebec vote, won 51...

Dear Michael, I read your advice to Canadian voters posted on your website on January 22, the day before our national election. For some reason, you seem to be the biggest Canada lover or hugger or whatever in the United States. Even though you had the good sense to put the disclaimer in your piece that you, as an American, shouldn’t be telling us what to do, please note that we don’t have the slightest objection to Americans offering us advice. In fact, some of the best ideas that we lift are from America; note our thriving business in generic...

January 25, 2006 The urban angle It’s when you no longer know where your milk comes from, let alone where you got your opinions, that you have become over-urbanized. I note, with Allan Gregg, that the Conservatives did not win a single seat in Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver -- our three largest cities. Let me enlarge on remarks I have made in many previous columns, applying the famous Red State/Blue State division in the U.S. to circumstances in Canada. I disagree with Mr Gregg that the inner urban constituencies should be assuaged. The future of Canada, as the U.S., is...

As revolutions go, if that's what the narrow defeat of Canada's ruling Liberal party by the Conservatives in Monday's national election can be called, it was a typically Canadian one. By awarding the Conservatives a minority government — the party won most of the seats in parliament but fewer than the opposition parties combined — voters were saying, "We want to give you a try but we don't really want to hurt the Liberals' feelings." Call it the "Excuse Me" Revolution. Still, although the Conservative margin of victory was not as big as pre-election polls had suggested, it was a...

As U.S. Senate Democrats stand down, allowing the Alito confirmation process to proceed to a constitutional up or down vote in the full Senate, liberals across this land were packing their snowshoes and checking out rentals up north. Just as they were about to book their plane tickets, our northern comrades gave their own liberal leaders the boot and conservatism swept across Canada like a mid-January blizzard. Now what? Does this mean that we are stuck with the likes of Babs and Baldwin forever? What the hell happened? What are we supposed to do with Michael Moore now? “Conservative Leader...

Voters in 3 major cities shut out Conservatives Updated Tue. Jan. 24 2006 5:46 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff With Stephen Harper prepared to become Canada's next prime minister, the political sun is assuredly rising in the West. "The West has wanted in; The West is in now," said the prime minister-designate in his victory speech after being awarded a slim minority Conservative government on Monday night. But Harper failed to win over any voters in the major urban centres of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, which has city officials concerned they will have no voice to address their concerns at...

Strained relations between the world's largest trading partners were expected to improve after the election of Conservative leader Stephen Harper as Canada's next prime minister. But while his ideology runs parallel to that of the Bush administration, Harper failed to win a majority and will be constrained by the need for an alliance, which could limit his ability to move Canada to the right. The 46-year-old economist, who arrived in Ottawa from his constituency in Calgary, Alberta, on Tuesday, briefly addressed supporters at the airport. He canceled a press conference and said he would hold one Thursday instead. "We had...

Conservatives the world over can take heart from the astonishing resurrection of the Right in Canada. In 1993, the Progressive Conservative Party, which had held an absolute majority, was almost obliterated. There followed more than 12 years of opposition, during which the Right regrouped, the key move being the fusion under Stephen Harper of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives in 2003 to form the Conservative Party. On Monday, it won enough seats to form a minority administration, ousting the Liberals, long seen as the natural party of government. Mr Harper succeeded by presenting a coherent platform of tax...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada took a tentative step to the right in Monday's federal election, ousting the Liberals after 12 years in power and voting in a fragile minority Conservative government, television networks said. Preliminary official figures at 11.30 p.m. (0430 GMT Tuesday) showed the Conservatives winning or ahead in 122 electoral districts compared to 105 for the Liberals of Prime Minister Paul Martin. The result was a personal triumph for Conservative leader Stephen Harper, a 46-year-old economist who forced through the creation of the party in December 2003 by uniting two squabbling right-wing movements. Support for the Liberals shrank...

Canadians awarded Conservative Leader Stephen Harper with a minority government Monday, putting an end to more than 12 years of Liberal rule. Polls across the country are now closed and results are pouring in. As of 12:10 a.m. ET, the Conservatives were in a commanding lead with 125 seats, compared to 102 for the second place Liberals. But prime minister designate Harper will be denied the 155 seats he will need to lead a Tory majority. In a concession speech in front of a roomful of cheering party faithful in Montreal, Liberal Leader Paul Martin said: "There will be another...

Voting has ended in Canada's general election with initial results suggesting the opposition Conservatives will be the biggest party. If they prove correct, Stephen Harper will lead the first Conservative government in more than 12 years. However, the results suggest it is unlikely he will gain an outright majority and will require alliances. This second election in 18 months was triggered when Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin lost a confidence vote.

The Liberals are defeated in Canada! Watch the Conservative Victory Video here: http://www.freedominion.ca/grig/theatre.htm

TORONTO, Jan. 23 -- Canadian voters, saying they were fed up with financial scandals and ready for a change, ended the 12-year run of the ruling Liberal Party on Monday, ousting Prime Minister Paul Martin in favor of a Conservative Party likely to steer a path closer to the United States.

Harper Calls For Unity, Martin Quits The first consequences of Canada's major political realignment came within minutes of the polls giving their final numbers as the two major party leaders gave their valedictory speeches for the 2006 election. Stephen Harper, the triumphant Tory, called on Canada's political parties to unite for the good of the country, while outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin quit his post as party leader, avoiding an almost certain dismissal by the losing Liberals: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Canada's next prime minister, pledged to work with all parties in the next Parliament after Canadians elected a...

U.S. Bids Warm Farewell to Canada's Martin By ANNE GEARAN The Associated Press Tuesday, January 24, 2006; 5:55 PM WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration had only warm words Tuesday for defeated Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, whose sometimes prickly relations with Washington were an issue in the Canadian election. The White House said President Bush planned to call Conservative leader Stephen Harper to congratulate him, but the administration avoided sounding overly pleased at Martin's ouster. "We certainly wish Mr. Martin well," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "And I believe that he's going to continue to participate in political life....

Tonight, our great country has voted for change, and Canadians have asked our party to take the lead in delivering that change. To Canadians I say this – we will honour your trust, and we will deliver on our commitments. There are no individual victories in politics. Politics is a team sport, and there are a number of people I would like to thank. First and foremost, I would like to thank the people of Calgary Southwest, for having given me the great privilege of serving another term in the House of Commons as your representative. Though I am not...

Not long ago, Canada's Conservative Party looked to be irretrievably on the ropes. Today, the Conservative Leader, Stephen Harper, will become the country's next Prime Minister. How did this happen? Basically, Canadian voters got tired of the corruption, pork-barreling, and smugness of the entrenched Liberal Party. Meanwhile, here in the United States, it's the entrenched Republicans, who control all three branches of government, who are facing these problems. Corruption? We've got the Abramoff scandal. It may not amount to as much as Democrats hope, but it's not good, and there are probably more scandals waiting in the wings. (There always...

A good but not great night in Canada. The Tories will form a minority government, but one with a more precarious plurality in parliament than looked likely from the polls. The Liberals are beaten and out but not humiliated. The Quebec separatist party has done worse than expected but still dominates the province. And the leftist New Democrats improved their position but failed to break through dramatically. In Canada's four-party system that gives the Tories the government for something less than a full term. What's going on? Well, if Canada were a single individual, we would say that he (or...

No one would argue that Stephen Harper, leader of Canada's Conservative party, is charismatic or telegenic. Indeed, even the newly elected prime-minister-designate acknowledged as much in the last party leaders' debate, telling viewers in his typically understated manner that his strengths weren't "spin and passion." But he does have other qualities. First and foremost: The man is gutsy. Taking the biggest political risk of his career, Stephen Harper forced an election in early December when he trailed the most successful political party in the Western world by more than seven percent in some polls. On Monday Canadians voted, handing a...

In yesterday’s Canadian election, the new Conservative Party swept into power for the first time since 1993. Paul Martin and the Liberals, it turns out, were unsuccessful in their campaign to demonize -- yet again -- Canadian conservatives. But what does it mean to be a Canadian conservative? Is it the same as being an American conservative? Do the same markers apply, such as one’s stance on abortion or gay marriage, lower taxes, free trade and smaller government, a strong military and vigilant national defense? To a certain extent, yes. In many ways, Canadian society has historically been more conservative...