JMJ
May 02,2011
Election Day
Stephen Joseph Harper is a leader we can trust because he has a track record, a long experience in and out of public life and a private life that is family orientated. Throughout his political career his positions have become hall marks of what one defines as common sense Canadian conservatism.
He is a Christian and a member of the Alliance Church. This is an evangelical church which is Bible based. He grew up in Toronto and attended the United Church. His base for most of his adult life is Calgary. He and many of his caucus have been criticised for being Christians and for letting that affect their politics. Most Canadians hope that their politicians are Christian and thus will have their Christian beliefs affect politics.
Harper’s interests and commitments run like a profile of the classic Canadian.
He is a staunch monarchist and refers to Her Majesty as the Queen of Canada and Head of State of Canada which is correct. He understands the importance of the Crown in our history, culture and traditions and in the functioning and language of the Parliamentary System.
Although his love and interest in hockey is not considered necessary for a good politician for most of us it is part of the “tie that binds.” He is an ardent fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Consider his home town.
In foreign affairs he is pro- Israel and believe that this historic, important country has
a right to defend herself.
He opposes same -sex so called “ marriage” and has taken stands that it is appropriate to use the Notwithstanding clause of the Charter in some cases. This notwithstanding clause prevents Canadians from being at the mercy of the Supreme Court in all matters. Canadians have the tradition that Parliament and the legislatures write the laws not the courts. To offset the possible ( and real) harm of Trudeau’s Charter of Right the notwithstanding clause is part of it . Harper’s position is, in some issues, use it.
Although he has taken strong views throughout his career, criticising politicians within his camp as well as out, his most notable achievement has been uniting the Conservative right in Canada. At one time the progressive conservatives were down to two seats while various political parties formed calling themselves the Reform, the United Alliance et c. He helped establish a merger in which the Conservative elements are united and call themselves simply Conservative. Immediately the Conservatives won about 100 seats under his leadership.
Harper is well respected in the international scene . He influenced President Fox of Mexico and President Busch of the U.S. to take a stand against the legalisation of marijuana.
Despite having a minority government he immediately stopped the Liberal move to legalising drugs beginning with marijuana. He was Chairman of the important G7 meeting and insisted that abortion is not a solution to poverty . He stopped Canadian tax payer dollars going to kill unborn babies in other countries. He funded a cord blood bank with $44 million. This is a prolife and effective alternative to using conceived embryos ( babies) for stem cell research.
He believes that businesses should be allowed to run businesses without undue government interference. He believes that families should be allowed to run families. While the Liberals were and are campaigning for government raising children Harper allotted funds so parents could raise their own children. He lowered the tax base so parents have more
take home money to use on their family . His tax policies have been his most notable pro-family effort. Under his leadership the Canadian dollar went from about 60 cents par with the US dollar to the Cdn dollar of higher value with the US dollar. He can be trusted. Gay
