September 22, 2006 - He wasn't kidding. It becomes increasingly obvious, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper marches stubbornly through his agenda, that he is determined to pull this country sharply to the right -- public opinion be damned.
It was clear in his first speech to the United Nations yesterday. He used it -- as he will use Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's address to Parliament today -- to underscore his unflinching determination to see the Afghan mission to the end. He also echoed U.S. complaints about the UN's much-condemned human-rights commission and about continuing waste and poor management in the world body's sprawling bureaucracy.
He took a shot at Iran's nuclear ambitions, but said nothing about climate change, AIDS, culture or trade. Maybe there wasn't time, but vigilant UN code-busters will infer from the Harper speech that Canada is following Australia closer into George W. Bush's orbit -- even if the U.S. president's name was never mentioned.
This will please Harper's fans. But they aren't his problem. If he wants a majority, he has to win over people who don't agree, and "winning over" isn't his style. Telling us what is right and dismissing doubters as bitter Liberals or spineless New Democrats or misguided sovereigntists -- that is his style, as we were reminded this week when question period resumed.
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/govrel/news.cfm?story=50750Hope that this helps.