Today's poll question; do you approve of Stephen Harper's performance as our Prime Minister in 2010? He has been under constant attack from the media for most of this year, starting with prorogue-gate, continuing with G20-gate, census-gate, F-35-gate, Security Council-gate, and so on and so forth. Soloman, Barton, Taber, and O'Malley have spun so many controversies this year that I have lost track. Perhaps somebody should explain to Donolo about the diminishing marginal returns of crying wolf. Judging by poll numbers, they are having little to no effect of the electorate.
So do you approve of our Prime Minister?
He gets an undecided from me. His government is growing much too fast and it's spending way too much. However the Conservatives are still head and shoulders above the opposition.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself an old school Reformer, with a strong respect for ordinary taxpayers. Hence excessive government spending by any party upsets me. The G20 costs do seem high, although I will add that I am not a security expert, and I don't know what specific terror warnings the government may have received. The census decision was controversial, but admirable. The F-35 untendered contract concerns me. Nevertheless it is great to finally have a government which takes our national defense seriously. The Security Council vote wasn't good news, but I can't say that rejection by Libya or Venezuela is devastating to our national credibility. Prorogation is not something I am enthusiastic about a Prime Minister using, but I am well aware that Mr. Harper must cope with the relentless shenanigans and scheming of the Opposition.
ReplyDeleteApprove. I cut Harper a lot of slack. Mainly because of the challenging political environment he operates in--no natural allies amongst the Opposition Parties and a mostly hostile media.
ReplyDeletePlus, I have a long memory, and appreciate all the hard, smart work he has done in uniting the CA and PCs, etc.
A lot comes down to whether you trust his judgement or not. And given his many past successes, he deserves the benefit of the doubt on the many complicated issues that he has had to deal with.
And the other choices are ??? PM Harper pisses me off on a weekly basis,but then as someone who thinks Preston Manning was one of Canadas greatest political game changers I have to settle for what is still the best of a bad bunch in a minority government,PM Harper has big shoes to fill.Chri*t the liberals could not even find a home grown leader and the NDP reverted to a family of proffesional career parasites.
ReplyDeleteI am a fan on our PM. I don't expect to support every policy or decision.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy listening/watching him talk up Canada and refusing to roll over.
I too support our PM. Especially on the international file. If he gets a majority I would love to see us quit the UN.
ReplyDeleteMy one caveat is that he MUST MUST MUST curtail discretional spending unless it is part of an international monetary crisis that argues for spending.
I remember Adscam, Truedeau and his contempt for Western Canada and him giving us the finger. I remember Chretien's arrogance and his inronfisted rule. I see Bob Rae and Ujjal Dosanjh quivering with anticipation of moving the Liberals further to the left. I like that Central Canada's elite are miffed that they do not control Canada and I like that a Westerner is the Pm.
ReplyDeleteI also rtemember one of the socalled leader's debates when the moderator instructed the leaders to say something nice about the person to their left. PM Harper was the only one who understood the instrucgtion and did not take a cheap political shot. He is farm more articulate and genuine than any other leader.
I have my own reasons for continuing to support Mr Harper.Foreign policy being one of those reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe options are not pretty at all especially when i look out into the opposition benchs,the world,the internet, and the future.I suspect things are going to get rough on this world before they get better.
Spending at home still must be scrutinized.We can start with funds going to the UN.I dont relish the idea of UN funding going to Sudan and other cesspools of violent militias and religious fanatics.