... it's right out there in the open and you can read all about it any time you like on the "Agenda for Canada" page of the National Citizens Coalition.
Founded back in '67 by a life insurance executive to fight against public healthcare, the NCC is the right wing lobby group Harper once headed as president and to which he will undoubtedly return as he did in '97 following his stint as a Reform MP.
From the NCC's "Agenda for Canada" :
- cut big government spending
- get a better return on our health-care investments
- allow Canadians to keep more of the money they earn
- push for a democratically elected senate, a strong military, a privatized CBC
- entrench property rights
- end the Wheat Board monopoly
- restore rights to union workers
- end CRTC censorship
A very big deal with them is legally challenging electoral financing laws limiting third-party advertising spending during election campaigns, as in The Attorney General of Canada v. Stephen Joseph Harper .
They have also mounted media campaigns against grants for the arts and social advocacy organizations, and against public funding for human rights and women's groups. Currently they have one going against Dion's carbon tax.
Any of this sound familiar?
And then there's that famous speech Harper made in June 1997 to the U.S. Council for National Policy, the one in which he referred to Canada as "a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term". He was Vice-President of the NCC at the time.
Harper always was just on loan to us from the NCC; it's time for them to take him back again.
5 comments:
And of course by 'restore rights to union workers' they mainly mean the right to enjoy the wages and befits the union fights for while not having to join the union or pay dues. Which leads us to the Right To Work Foundation which leads us to CLAC. These are ideological networks they don't even bother to hide.
The 'ending the Wheat Board' hobbyhorse is one of the many giveaways that Stephen Harper is the same Canada despising ideologue as he was at the NCC - the same attempt to trump democracy with money while claiming he's fighting for free speech!
It's all well and good to link Harper to the NCC, but what has Harper done that is in any way remotely close to the NCC Agenda?
In any way.
Harper/NCC vs the Wheat Board
June 1998 : National Citizens' Coalition launches radio campaign against CWB
The National Citizens' Coalition launched a radio blitz to let Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Wheat Board Minister Ralph Goodale in on the news that the Second World War is over.
"The radio campaign opposes the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly, which was imposed on western farmers as a wartime measure," explains NCC president Stephen Harper. "Our radio ads say the war ended over 50 years ago; it's long past time to scrap the monopoly and restore freedom to farmers."
NCC 2006 : End the Wheat Board Monopoly
"It's time for the Canadian Wheat Board to end its monopoly over Western farmers!
This is a fight the National Citizens Coalition has been waging for some time, and now we are closer to victory than ever before.
Our "End the Wheat Board Monopoly" campaign includes radio ads, billboards and newspaper ads that explain to Canadians why the Wheat Board needs reform."
July 27, 2006 Canadian Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl tells the press his government will not be bound by the Canadian Wheat Board Act which prohibits any changes to the marketing of grain that is not supported by the grain producers.
Oct 5, 2006 Strahl imposes a gag order on CWB to prevent directors and staff from defending its position as a single desk seller of Canadian wheat and barley, despite the fact this monopoly was formed to provide growers with the most stable price for their crop on the world market.
Strahl removes two of the five directors of the CWB for their support of the CWB and replaces them with two directors who are anti-CWB.
Oct 17, 2006 In the middle of a CWB election, Strahl removes 16,269 farmers - or 36% - from the voters' list. Farmers who did not sell grain through the CWB in the previous 15 months due to being the victims of flood or drought are struck off.
Oct 25, 2006 Bill C-300, a private members' bill to remove the CWB's single desk (monopoly), is put forward by the Chair of the Agricultural Committee. It is defeated.
Dec 2006 :Strahl fires Adrian Measner, the 32 year veteran and president of the CWB because he insisted on representing the people who elected him instead of the federal government.
Dec 19, 2006 : Strahl replaces Measner with Greg Arason, a former CWB CEO whose new condition of employment is not to speak out against the federal government.
Dec 21, 2006 : Arason hands out $1000 bonuses to CWB employees.
March 2008, NCC blog :
NCC Says End the Wheat Board Monopoly
"The National Citizens Coalition (NCC) today announced that they will be launching a multi-media campaign to ensure that ... the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly comes to an end."
and finally :
Ottawa Citizen, Aug 2, 2007
Harper said the monopoly would have to end, no matter what the court has said.
"We're obviously disappointed with the court decision," he said, "but that does not change the determination of the government of Canada to see a dual market for Canadian farmers.
"I hope the wheat board will start working with the government to make sure this is gonna happen, 'cause it's gonna happen one way or another, whether it takes a little bit of time or a lot of time, it's gonna happen."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
I love it when you do that.
Mike
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