Recently former prime minister Stephen Harper tweeted about the “importance of centre-right parties strengthening their collaboration” The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Harper shaking hands with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, The “centre-right” party Harper was referring to was Orbán’s Fidesz.
Think about that for a moment.
Harper is suggesting the Conservative Party of Canada collaborate with Viktor Orbán. A man who came to power in 2010, who by 2014 declared his government would build an illiberal “workfare” society similar to Russia, China and Turkey.
Over the years Orbán has eroded the rule of law and the judiciary, he’s cracked down on media freedom and civil society. He’s gone after Muslims and attacked same-sex marriage. He’s hardly the type of leader Canadian conservatives should emulate.
So why is Harper tweeting out photographs of the handshake?
Why Orbán
The International Democratic Union, an alliance of right wing parties, describes its chairman, Stephen Harper, as the “creator” of the modern Conservative Party of Canada.
Harper was the CPC’s first and most enduring leader (he reigned from 2004 – 2015) and it’s been downhill ever since.
Over the last 8 years the CPC has had 5 leaders: interim leader Rona Ambrose (2015 – 2017), Andrew Scheer (2017-2020), Erin O’Toole (2020 – 2022), interim leader Candice Bergen (2022) and Pierre Poilievre (2022 – present).
The CPC is frantically looking for the secret sauce to catapult the party back into power and keep it there. So far, nothing—not even Poilievre’s make over—is working.
So prominent Canadian conservatives like Harper have followed in the footsteps of their British counterparts, conservative MPs and thought leaders, who pose cheek by jowl with Orbán, praising his “effective immigration policies” and lauding his “interesting early thinking” on the “limits of liberalism.”
Just so we’re clear here. Orbán has limited liberalism to the point where he’s promoting an illiberal Christian democracy that he says rejects multiculturalism and immigration while also being anti-communist and standing for Christian values.
Is this really where Harper and the CPC want to take Canada?
Why the handshake matters
Historian Timothy Snyder says, “In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures…count very much.”
A handshake is a symbolic gesture, especially if the people pressing the flesh are a man who was once the most powerful politician in Canada and a European politician who’s leading the charge away from democracy.
All Canadians should pay attention, because Snyder also says the symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s reality
Where might collaboration between the CPC and the likes of Orbán lead us?
A comparison of where the two countries rank on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index is instructive.
The Index ranks countries in four tiers: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, and authoritarian. These tiers are based on five measures: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the function of government, political participation and political culture.
In 2022 the Index ranked Canada as one of the world’s strongest full democracies with an overall score of 8.88/10. Our functioning government score was 8.57/10 and our civil liberties score was 8.82.
Hungary on the other hand was ranked as a flawed democracy with an overall score of 6.64/10, a functioning government score of 6.79 and civil liberties score of 6.76.
It’s ironic that the conservatives who scream the loudest about protecting their civil liberties would entertain collaboration with a political party that erodes civil liberties.
Bottom line
Harper can shake hands with Orbán all he likes, but if he thinks Canadians are going to let the Conservative Party of Canada or any party for that matter destroy our democracy, they’ve got another thing coming.
Oh, and you know those other countries Orbán likened Hungary’s illiberal democracy to, their civil liberties scores are: Russia 2.35, Turkey 2.06, and China .59.
So no thanks. [insert appropriate hand gesture here]
Susan on the Soapbox 
I think the proper hand gesture for EX prime minister Harper should be the one with one finger sticking up. Does he really think anyone really wants to listen to him anymore.
Good question Paul. Conservative politicians certainly want his endorsement when they’re running for office, but whether they (or anyone else) wants to take his advice is another matter.
Think he and his son were “consultants” for the UCP under Kenney and lacking info on them continuing under Dani, I imagine they are still on the payroll. Would like to be proven wrong.
Hello Ms Wright,
You ask the question, “Is this really where Harper and the CPC want to take Canada?” Regrettably, I believe that this is exactly where Stephen Harper and many who still support his ideas want to take Canada.
For much of the time that Stephen Harper was prime minister, I suggested that he had authoritarian and dictatorial tendencies. As you recall, later in his time as prime minister, he attacked the Canadian judicial system directly by trying to impugn the ethics of the Beverley McLachlin, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Decreasing the faith of the Canadian public in our justice system is a clear sign of Stephen Harper’s desire to destroy Canadians’ faith in their democratic institutions and a clear signal that he intends to destroy, not only the justice system, but move forward in destroying democracy. This is similar to the path that Victor Orban and other dictators have incrementally followed.
I think that there is a good possibility that Pierre Poilievre would attempt something similar, perhaps with less of a religious component, were he to become prime minister.
Christine, thank you for your comments and the telling examples you’ve provided.
On the topic of how successful Smith and Poilievre might be, I saw a tweet by the green (straight pride) tee shirt guy in which he denounced both Smith and Poilievre for disavowing him after they took selfies with him. He said he’d had high hopes for Smith after she passed the Alberta Sovereignty Act but was disappointed in her because she knew exactly what was written on his tee shirt and now pretended she didn’t realize what it said (or some such thing). He said he’d thought Poilievre would become Canada’s Trump but now he believes Poilievre is just a lefie wearing a right suit.
Seems to me if Smith and Poilievre have lost green tee shirt guy, they’ve got a problem with their base.
Yes Paul you are correct. Harper sounds like one of those kids that screams as loud as possible to attract attention when no one really cares.
Conservatism has become deeply hierarchical since the formation of the CPC.
Talk to people who are active within the party structure, and you will find an almost religious reverence for Harper. So, while he may not be in the leader’s chair, make no mistake about the sway he still has within that structure as a former leader – especially one who led the party to 3 electoral wins.
One of the reasons none of the leaders since 2015 have not lasted very long is because none of them have been Harper, but the party is still very much Harper’s party.
… while Canada has moved on from Harper, the conservatives have not. Poilievre, for all his noxious traits, is as close to a Harper as the party have – hopefully he doesn’t win – either on his attempt at charisma, or on an electoral sentiment of “throw the bums out” next election.
Hi Michelle. I absolutely agree with your hope that Pierre Poilievre won’t win the next election. We in Oilberduh had an all-too-close-up view of what a Stephen Harper protégé can do to a government.
Jason Kenney and Pierre Poilievre were both Harper interns at one time; maybe they were among the “little boys in short pants” who were so keen on drafting legislation that repeatedly violated the Charter. (Or not; that was mostly a thing in the Prime Minister’s Office as I remember.) They both learned discipline (“Shut up and do as you’re told”), electoral tactics (Kenney was very good at attracting ethnic voters) and political maneuvers (as opposed to debate). I wonder if John Baird, aka “Harper’s bulldog,” gave lessons in shouting matches to Jason Kenney.
It’s ironic that Jason Kenney’s success at “uniting the right” by driving out Red Tories and “energizing the Base” was also his downfall. Divide and conquer only works if “the enemy” is more divided than your own followers. Pierre Poilievre will have to walk a very narrow tightrope to avoid Kenney’s fate.
Mike J: very good point that divide and conquer only works if the enemy is more divided than your own followers. We’re seeing the UCP splinter already. Just wait until the RStar (by another name) and the Canada Pension Plan policies are rolled out. It’s going to be absolute chaos for the UCP.
(And sadly for the rest of us too because unfortunately the UCP are our government right now).
Michelle: thanks for your comment. I was interested in your point about the conservatives being hierarchical. My friend the prof who works in the area of dogma and authoritarianism says research has shown that conservatives are generally people much more comfortable in a hierarchy. If the structure is the family than the dad has to be on top. If it’s society the white guy has to be on top, and if it’s politics a white father figure (Harper was the founder of the CPC) has to be on top . Flexible fluid structures and change make them very uncomfortable.
God only knows how they will adapt to a world that is rapidly changing. Poor things will probably have a melt down.
Thank you for another pertinent article. I have no doubt that Stephen Harper via the IDU helped Orban gain his power. The words that Harper uses are gaslighting words – Centre right BS. Harper has turned his CPC into a far right Christian nationalist party, and his plans are to destroy our democracy and form a Christofascist dictatorship. The Conservatives across Canada have far too much power as they are now running so many of the provincial governments. The conservatives in power provincially are destroying what we value and believe in (public health care, public education, etc.) and our working at destroying our democracy. It is frightening and disturbing how many people have fallen for these LIARS. We cannot be complacent as our democracy is too valuable to allow the Conservatives to destroy it.
Arlene, you make a very good point. A friend reminded me that Harper isn’t the only CPC politician advocating collaboration with European fascists, and sent me a link to Leslyn Lewis, Dean Allison and Colin Carrie posing in a photo with far right German politicians.
Is there an incongruity when the religious right shakes hands with the devil?
David, I’ve been trying to figure out the religious right for a long, long time. Seems to me they’d have an explanation for shaking hands with the devil and it would come straight out of the bible.
In psychology, we consider that a rational explanation for irrational behaviour that may have little if any relationship to the actual reason for the behaviour when that reason may of may not be known.
Modern conservatism is a strange amalgam of corporate libertarianism & social conservatism. Deregulation for business, regulatory constraints on personal freedoms & civil rights. Allow the “free market” to operate as it sees fit — without such petty hindrances as environmental regulation, employment standards, effective workplace health & safety rules, or limits on corporate concentration & anti-competitive business practices.
At the same time, work to defeat the progress we have made as a society on equity, diversity & inclusion, by taking such measures as: re-regulating intimate relations between consenting adults … ending legislative measures against racial, ethnic, religious, SOGIE & other forms of discrimination … deregulating hate speech … & backing away from progress on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Finally, work to undermine democracy itself by discrediting the electoral process, making it harder to vote, & finding workarounds for political finance laws.
This process is well under way in the United States, as well as such ostensibly democratic countries as Hungary, Türkiye & Israel. Here in Canada, however, voters are not as enamoured with this approach, especially at the federal level, which is probably why the Conservative Party of Canada under Pierre Poilièvre remains stuck in the mid-30s in the polls. They clearly haven’t learned the Willy Sutton rule of Canadian politics: you need to appeal to the most voters where most of the voters are, meaning the big population centres.
The danger is that by the time of the next election, Canadians will be so tired of Mr Trudeau’s tired government & its constant dithering & inability to get anything done, they will vote CPC by default. We can’t forget that no Prime Minister has successfully campaigned for a fourth term in government since Wilfrid Laurier, over a century ago.
jerrymacgp: Thank you for this insightful comment. I agree that notwithstanding what we’re seeing in the US and what we’re hearing from the small and very vocal band of Canadians who appear to want Trumpian politics exported to Canada, we’re simply not going to go there. As you pointed out the CPC has to convince urban voters they can be trusted to represent their interests. And yet when you look at the CPC caucus it’s heavily weighted to white guys. Out of 117 caucus members only 21 are female and only 7 are visible minorities (this is based on a visual scan of the CPC website, so I could be off by one or two, but the balance or lack thereof is pretty clear).
We’re living in Canada in the 21st century. This is pretty sad.
@jerrymacgp: “The danger is that by the time of the next election, Canadians will be so tired of Mr Trudeau’s tired government & its constant dithering & inability to get anything done, they will vote CPC by default.” – Which is why I’ve been of the opinion that what Trudeau ought to do is wait until just before the next election, and then announce that he’s not running and is throwing support behind another Liberal candidate, like Crysta Freeland. Which would have the double whammy of avoid the whole “this guy is getting stale; time to switch” problem, AND disarming everything Pierre is currently doing and plans to do for the next few years (because he’s not attacking the Liberal Party; he’s attacking Trudeau, and if Trudeau were to not run, Pierre would be forced to find a way to tie the new candidate to Trudeau in a way that people would follow, which isn’t easy).
Kelly, I really like your suggestion. I know opinion is mixed on Chrystia Freeland, but I quite like her. She held her own against Robert Lighthizer on the NAFTA renegotiation and Putin hates her (which is a good thing in and of itself). I can’t think of anyone else in Trudeau’s cabinet who is as capable as she is.
But it’s early days, we’ll see who emerges as possible contenders for the leadership.
An excellent and informative post, Susan. While reading I was thinking about the dog-whistles he is sending to the true believers, but then I started wondering how closely they would be following this. They are, after all, limited in their depth and breadth.
No Canadian should countenance this obscene embrace.
Lorne, I saw a Harper supporter post a comment on this in a newspaper. He said Harper is simply trying to convince Orban to support Ukraine getting into NATO quicker. That made absolutely no sense, but it’s how many people rationalize the despicable actions of the political leaders.
I think that you are right, gerrymacgp, that Trudeau probably should resign nearer to the next federal election to increase Liberal changes of success. However, please not Chrystia Freeland. The National Post made political hay of her totally tone-deaf release of the “grocery rebate” at a very upmarket grocery store belonging ot her friends and neighbours the Rabbas. Rabba’s is, according to Toronto Life magazine quoted on Rabba grocery’s website, the only place you can buy 3 kinds of pate at 3:00 a m. People who buy pate are generally considered very well of and, besides, pate is incredibly cruel to the geese by force feeding them and enlarging their liver. This interview was one of Chrystia Freeland’s many gaffes.
I should have clarified that I was replying to both gerrymacgp and Kelly Miller.
Many presumed right wing politicians in Canada are seeking to emulate the more authoritarian regimes because those regimes promise that the comfortable (for those in power) status quo will be maintained. Or better yet, returned to the ‘good old days’ when those uppity (fill in word of choice here) are put in their rightful place – which is NOT the top, thank you very much!
Let me be clear, I get at least in part why many would want a return to ‘the good old days’. They recall the romanticized version, where those in charge (usually white men) took care of things & life was relatively easy. Unless of course you were anything other than a white male. Regardless, the bottom line is that in a world where it seems a major crisis is happening every nano-second the lure of the ‘good old days’ with its perceived simplicity is very powerful.
Meanwhile the erosion of rights in democracies proceeds apace. One only need look to ‘the land of the free’ to see how quickly rights have been rolled back or completely erased for anyone who isn’t a straight male WASP. I’d like to believe Canada won’t emulate those actions, but seems like there are plenty of folks who would be just fine with doing just that. Because of course, they none of them believe those erosions or curtailment of rights or freedoms would ever apply to them.
Linda, I agree with you. I also think the Guardian article had it right when it said the British Tories are flocking to Orban because they want to learn how to be as successful as he’s been at inflaming the “culture-war topics” to distract the people from bad governance without having the whole thing blow up in his face when attacking minorities, women, the LBGTQ+community fails to deliver the promised land.
It’s a dangerous game and we absolutely can’t let Harper et al get away with it.
Excellent commentary, Ms Soap-Box.
Thank you Colleen!
Hello Susan,
I hope that you are right about the possible splintering of the UCP.
Hell NO Harper.
Beveryly: I second that!
What it tells me is that Stephen Harper thinks the CPC should follow the lead of the Republican Party down south and their great leader, Donald “Orange Doofus” Trump, and let Faux Snooze do the thinking for them. And Fox wants fights against “woke” and minorities trampled down, damn it!
Dark Phoenix: that is exactly what Harper said in his book (I read an excerpt on line).
Harper says Trump was right to listen to the “deplorables” and the Democrats should have listened to them too. He completely misses the racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, etc angle. of everything Trump said/did.
I stopped reading the piece when I got to this sentence: “In a democratic system, the people are our customers” We are citizens, we are not “customers.” The idea is extremely offensive.
Here’s the link https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/exclusive-stephen-harper-book-excerpt
Don’t think I don’t notice Harper’s BS attempt to conflate populism with nationalism… Trump is and never was a populist; he’s a nationalist, and those are not the same thing.
Kelly I agree those are not the same but it is very difficult to see them clearly separate. To be a populist you have to be a nationalist of a certain level – I think ? Also the definition of populism is all over the place.
Was Harper considered a populist? I really do not remember anything that he did of great value. Jean Chretien had left Canada awash with money and the conservatives came in and screwed it all up. But as always they are the experts in economic matters but never really do anything. Harper was in power 9 years and we never had a balanced budget.
@Carlos: It’s hard to see how they separate at a base level, but it’s not hard when you drill down into the details. Populism involves using the people to rise to power, which is a neutral thing; it doesn’t really lean right or left. But nationalism is the belief that your country and the side you support cannot make mistakes and is perfect in any way and anyone who questions the status quo is evil, and it tends to be embraced by conservatives because conservatives by nature push for the status quo. Trump claimed to be a populist, but he wasn’t because he doesn’t have the support of the majority of Americans, only a small minority. But he’s a nationalist because of his insistence that the US was perfect before “those people” ruined it (hence, “Make America Great Again”).
Kelly thank you for taking the time to reply and to give me pretty good definitions of populism and nationalism.
Well none of them actually matched mine. This is not surprising at all because that is why politics is so crazy.
I have no doubts that your definition of populism is correct but to me it means when leaders really try hard to be one of us, which in a way is also what you suggest. Now nationalism is a tough one because I never saw my idea of nationalism has being a bad thing. When I was a teenager I lived under a dictatorship. At that time I understood being a nationalist was someone very proud of his/her country. I never felt any sense of superiority towards other countries. Ever since then nationalism stayed with me as a positive feeling. Now nationalism is actually considered negative.
Thanks Susan – excellent Linda McFarlane403-999-9299 C
You’re welcome Linda.
Yikes…Harper…CPC…Disfunctional Republicans…2024 Elections…Scary!
Don, it is frightening, isn’t it. And yet we press on!
Thanks for sharing this information, Susan.
It’s very unnerving. His influence in Canadian politics is strong and this is another warning sign.
I agree Comment. I”d hoped his influence would abate, rather like Tom Flanagan, but here he is again. Working for the IDU, hobnobbing with extreme right politicians and training up the next generation of young conservatives.
training up the next generation of young
conservativesfascistsFixed it for you.
Susan: Thanks for sharing another great blog. I can see why people would want to leave countries, such as Hungary, or other places, to come to Canada, and have a better life. If they were to stay in their home land, it would be miserable. Even three of my own grandparents, and two of my great grandparents left Eastern Europe, because had they remained there, it would have been a bad experience, with what was happening during World War 1 and 2. It’s also appalling to see politicians in Canada admire far right dictators from other countries. I’ll play some more music. Here is a Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood composition from Traffic, called No Time To Live. It is off of Traffic’s second album, which was released in 1968. Four multi-instrumentalists were in this band. Here, Steve Winwood is on lead vocals, piano, and bass. Chris Wood is on soprano saxophone. Dave Mason is on Hammond organ. Jim Capaldi is on drums and timpani. This has a nice jazz feel to it, but Traffic combined different musical elements to make their sound. Folk, ethnic music, blues, R&B, jazz, classical, soul, rock, and others.
Dwayne, when my folks were young they left a Eastern European country for the same reasons. They would never by fooled by Harper’s warm welcome to Orban. Not in a million years.
Thanks for the song. Haunting.
Susan: Here is my second song pick. This is a Paul Rodgers composition, from a short lived Anglo/Welsh 1980s supergroup he was in, called The Firm. The song is Live In Peace. It was released in 1986. Paul Rodgers was the vocalist, rhythm guitarist and keyboard player in the band. Jimmy Page played lead guitar. Tony Franklin played bass. Chris Slade played drums. A very fitting song for the times we are in. I did see Paul Rodgers live and I also met him. He is in my music collection.
Dwayne, Paul Rogers is new to me. As you said, it’s very fitting.
How nice for you to have seen him live and met him as well.
Susan: Paul Rodgers was in the groups Free, ans Bad Company, in the 1970s. Free did the song, All Right Now, and Bad Company did the songs, Honey Child, and Shooting Star.
When Granddad fought fascism in World War Two, he wasn’t fighting for a lighter shade of it.
He was fighting to destroy it.
James Van Leeuwen: I had uncles who fought in World War 2, and in the Korean War. One of my uncles helped liberate France, Belgium and Holland.
James and Dwayne. This is so true. Maybe that’s part of the reason people like Harper get away with this kind of thing. Too many people have forgotten history and how vicious fascism can be. Our young people are too busy playing video games and watching the X Men to realize that the world will change for the worst if we don’t stop the IDU and Harper et al from succeeding in their mission.
Susan: Here is my final music pick. Johannes Brahms is my favorite classical composer. This is Hungarian Dance No. 5 with the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, live in Budapest. It was recorded in 2012. I do have Brahms in my music collection.
Dwayne, this was delightful! My mom was Hungarian. We had all sorts of albums like this in the house.
PS I like classical music and opera as well as rock so it was great to see Brahms pop up!
The CPC will be relentless and will eventually find a Viktor Orban like strongman that is photogenic and well spoken. Using reasonable words in a well modulated tone, he/she will soothe us with trite bromides on how they have the answers to our most complicated issues. Post Media, Global and CTV will back this individual to the hilt and the voting populace, like Lemmings, will elect this person.
If you think this will never happen, who do you think voted for Doug Ford, Danielle Smith, Blaine Higgs and Scott Moe?
Jaundiced Eye: yes, this is true. The part that absolutely floors me is that these charlatans are so accomplished at appealing to the so-called “common folk” that even when they do something egregious, their supporters (1) deny it happened (fake news), (2) explain it away, or (3) forgive them.
It’s very difficult to counter them without sounding like a hysterical nutbar.
The July 7 edition of the “Chris Hedges Report” is about the persecution of Jeremy Corbyn. It’s a good description of the undoing of a democratic leader and movement by very undemocratic forces. And it makes some references to how the British Labour party was co-opted by the war mongering Tony Blair, et. al.
See https://therealnews.com/the-persecution-of-jeremy-corbyn
I agree with Chris Hedges on the persecution of Jeremy Corbyn. Tony Blair transformed the Labour Party into a Neo-Liberal society and it has been impossible to bring it back to its left wing, progressive roots.
Jeremy Corbyn was feared by big money and they got rid of him.
The anti-Semitism was just how Israel seems to hide behind any possible disagreement with the way they deal with the Palestinian cause. One is no longer allowed to comment, never mind criticize Israel’s approach to this issue. If you disagree you are against them and you will be destroyed.
Carlos, just one more comment on Tony Blair. He and Bill Clinton appeared on stage with Sam Bankman-Fried to tout Backman-Fried’s cryptocurrency trading company FTX (which crashed and burned within 2 years). Blair implored the audience to “Understand this technology revolution and harness it for the public good.” FTX was an unregulated platform trading in a highly volatile asset and Blair, bless his naive little heart (and no doubt his multimillion dollar sponsor’s fee) urged everyone to harness it for the “public good”.
And here we thought Pierre Poilievre Pierre was an idiot.
Susan your comment is right on. I agree with you. Pierre Poilievre is not alone in the world of extreme ideology, and Tony Blair became a millionaire on the back of the so called Third Way which was nothing but the left wanting to make money from the same right wing corruption in the financial systems.
Pierre Poilievre is turning out to be a parrot that run out of slogans.
Harper himself showed disdain for democracy when he was PM.
He prorogued Parliament in order to avoid defeat by a combined NDP/Liberal vote. At the time there was some talk about an NDP/Liberal coalition and Harper told us that coalition government was “reckless”.
He sold the Canadian Wheat Board out from under its rightful owners, the farmers, without allowing them to vote on the question.
And who could forget his extreme anger at anyone who would refer to his government as the “Government of Canada” rather than the “Government of Stephen Harper”? Man wanted to be a king, not a prime minister.
And made sure all the govenment website pages had photos of him.
Kelly and Valerie: thanks for the additional examples of Harper’s hypocrisy. I keep wondering about what Harper thinks he’s accomplishing by meeting with the likes of Orban. Harper is not a politician, he’s not the leader of the CPC, he’s a guy who used to be someone, but he’s not someone now (I don’t count being the chair of IDU as being someone).
And yet here’s he is still stirring the pot.
@soapbox: I get my full list of Harper stupidities from RationalWiki, which has a really good “Reasons to Dislike/Hate Him” list here:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Stephen_Harper#Reasons_to_dislike_him
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Stephen_Harper#Reasons_to_hate_him
Thanks Kelly, It took me a while to catch up with your comments. That’s why this post took so long to appear.
To the House of Saud, no less.
Hello Susan and other commenters,
I believe that Stephen Harper has, as one of his objectives, the establishment of a theocratic – Christian, but on his terms – state. Consider, his anti-Muslim stance, one example of which is the court case to require Muslim women to remove their niqab during citizenship ceremonies.
It is my understanding that Victor Orban portrays himself as a Christian who wants to emphasize that Hungary is a Christian country – probably on Orban’s own terms, too.
Stephen Harper, in February 2022, spoke at a conference of the Universal Peace World Federation connected to the Unification Church founded by the Sun Myung Moon and his wife. Back in the day, in Canada, members would be sent out by their group to ask for money from passersby, and they were, somewhat derisively, referred to as “Moonies”. It has been suggested that the Universal Church is a cult originating in South Korea as the the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.
Here is the link to a tyee article about Stephen Harper’s appearance at the conference. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/10/03/Why-Stephen-Harper-Tight-Moonie-Church/
And here is a link to the Guardian article that explains how Christianity is used to verbally attack would-be immigrants to Hungary. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist
Reynold Werner Reimer: Thanks for reminding us of this. It’s a good example of how Harper says things that sound good but when he’s in power does the exact opposite. He’s slippery and you can see it in the excerpt from his book.
Two things jumped out to me:
One, he’s trying to portray the conservatives as the party of the “working people” or “ordinary people” when in fact they’re the party of the monied elite who run corporations, make piles of money and benefit the most from his tax breaks and deregulation.
Two, he takes Liberal policies, says they’re conservative policies but they’ll be implemented in a safe way. For example he says conservatives are pro-market, pro-trade, pro-globalization and pro-immigration. Then he sets up extreme examples of these policies and says conservatives would never (for example) be so pro-globalism that they’d stop being loyal to their country, they never be so pro-immigration that they’d erase Canada’s borders and ignore the interests of Canadians.
He sets up a straw dog leaving the impression that the Liberals would obliterate Canada while the conservatives would apply these policies wisely. Which begs the question, why would he want to collaborate with authoritarians like Orban whose ideas would obliterate Canada in the blink of an eye?
He’s a dangerous man who, sadly, still wields a lot of influence.
Thanks for pointing this out Susan.
I don’t know how any civil liberty cherishing Canadian could witness that handshake and not find it creepy and alarming.
When these two say they are united against ‘communism’ that simply means they have an enduring hatred towards any policies that might serve to level the playing field for anyone who actually has to work for a living; in reality everything they do and have done indicates they deeply covet Stalin’s power.
Yeah, you’re right stevo: ‘liberalism’ has its limits all right, in patience.
GoinFawr: Agreed. It’s idiotic.
Harper is urging conservatives to collaborate with Orban. Hungary is ranked 45th on the democracy index. He should be urging conservatives to collaborate with the leaders of countries ranked 1st to 11th. (Canada is 12th).
Since when is “let’s hang with the losers, not the winners in the game of democracy” a winning strategy?
It doesn’t make sense any way you cut it. Take GDP per capita. The 1st ranked country, Norway, has a GDP per capita for 2023 of US$101,103.08. Hungary’s GDP per capita is US$19,385.78.
So if this isn’t about democracy and it’s not about the economic health of the country then what is it about? Power?
hubris | ˈhjuːbrɪs |
noun [mass noun]
excessive pride or self-confidence: the self-assured hubris among economists was shaken in the late 1980s.
• (in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.
James, you nailed it. Harper used to be someone. Now he’s the Chair of IDU. An organization most people have never heard of. I wonder just how much influence he has nowadays both at home and abroad.
Well Norway is a communist country so the Conservatives do not acknowledge any of it.
Furthermore hanging with losers like the White Nationalists or Hungary’s Orban is what feeds their cowboy macho skills.
Carlos: this is true, however at the end of the day the conservatives promise their supporters a better life by offering (1) smaller government (hah!), (2) better fiscal management (hah!) and (3) a stronger economy (hah!). The people appear to want a stronger economy and prosperity (whatever that means to them) more than anything else.
If the conservatives are so ideologically hidebound that they can’t look to countries that are ideologically different from them which can deliver better GDP results, then they’ll never make the inroads they need to come back into power with a safe majority.
Which is just fine by me!
Correction: Norway is not and has never been a communist country. It has a Communist Party, just like everyone else.
Thanks Colleen. I suspect Carlos was being sarcastic (that’s how I took his comment).
Ha, ha – I’m sure you’re right and I’m in agreement with him generally. I’m just a literalist sometimes 😎.
Yes I am sorry if it did not sarcastic enough but that is what I meant – conservatives today call communist to anything that is not what they believe. Most of them have never experienced communism or have ever been exposed to its ideology. All they know is that it is this horrible system like the failed Russian empire. The problem is that Russia was never communist, they have always been a Mafia either with the Tsars or after the revolution.
What is fascinating about these neo conservatives is that they are all believers of the exact opposite and are as extremists and it is almost like a cartoon where the 300 Pound person calls a 500 Pound person overweight.
I hope you are right that Canadians are not buying the PP train but I fear it is not that safe. People tend to vote with their ability to be able to afford to live and with the rise in interest rates and the cost of living, I see a lot of blame being put on the Trudeau gov and movement away from supporting the Libs. Will they move NDP? That would be nice but the move seems to be going to the Cons party.
We cannot take voters common sense and foresight for granted.
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Brenda, you make a very good point. The Liberals and the NDP must develop a strategy and a clear communication plan to address this because unlike those of us who follow the shift to the far right more closely, ordinary voters may not see the threat until it’s too late.
Hello Susan I’d like to know the rating of Alberta under the current UCP Government and maybe a comparison of the provinces of Canada at this stage. When we see the progress plans of the TBA people as taking over Alberta small boards followed by bigger boards , then we exztrapolate that to provinces by provinces what can we look forward to for Canada? Bill
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Bill, I too would like to see how Alberta rates compared to the rest of the provinces on the democracy index, but I haven’t been able to find such an analysis. Based on what the profs at the U of C law school say about Smith passing the Sovereignty Act (which violates the rule of law) and Smith talking to Art Pawlowski and her Justice Minister, and Kaycee Madu calling the Chief of Police I suspect Alberta’s rating would be significantly lower than the other provinces which have not reported such egregious conduct on the part of their premiers and cabinet ministers.
This is a reply to your reply to say thank you for your reply…….whew! I’m gad that’s done.
I agree of course, I just think that it might be worthwhil having and official rating of some sort that would have standing in the world community and I do believe that you too would see a value in that. I think it would be useful in pointing out how the right wingers move through the underground, not just in the lower levels of government but in the lower level governments themselves.
Thanks again
Bill
The prospect of “Steevers” (as This Hour Has 22 Minutes called him) schleprocking his way around the global rubber Schnitzel & Brownshirt circuit is enough to disturb the digestion of the most hardened politics watcher here in Canada.
A man is measured by the company he keeps. Harper shaking hands with Orban – just you wait to see who he’ll confab with to see his Christian Fundamentalist State realized. If you are not outright “agin it”, that makes you either a milquetoast camp follower at the least…. and if you’re posing for cute snaps, firmly in the column of being an active collaborator, a Canuck Quisling if you will.
My biggest concern about the awakened slithering from the far right is that a lot of the well intentioned seem to be willing to ascribe it to “ignorance of the past”, a flirtation that will be self-correct as those misguided souls awake to the true nature of they, in their velliety, blithely espouse.
Don’t buy it folks – The “ignorant” know full well of what they are espousing and this time around they are working to see it to perfection. See it for what it is and be prepared right now to fight it will all your might while its still strangle-able in its crib.
All you need to do to see who Harper and the IDU would partner with is look at who is a member of the IDU now. Besides Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party (which is far, far, right), they also include among their members the US Republican Party (Donald fucking Trump, anybody? Not to mention Ron Desantis?), Israel’s Likud Party (the party of Benjamin Netanyahu) and the Tories in Great Britain. They’re all awful and lurching far right.
Yes. And so far they’ve mostly operated under the radar with great success. the ease with which they purged the British labour party and took out Jeremy Corbyn, should put the fear of the lord into all of us.
There’s nothing they won’t emasculate if they have to………in order to maintain a world order that includes Israeli generals currently suggesting we should nuke Iran….
It’s going to get worse if we don’t all get on them……..and expose some of their Cr….p to the light of some good solar power.
Lee and Kelly as I read about Orban and the Fidesz party I noted that Budapest didn’t support Fidesz, they voted for the more progressive alternative, but Orban and Fidesz took the rural vote. Sounds familiar doesn’t it.
Nevertheless I wonder how much longer the hard right will survive federally in Canada given that 80 percent of the population lives in urban centres and urban voters tend to be more progressive than rural ones.
As we saw in the last provincial election the NDP did much better in Calgary than they had in 2019 with 14 seats compared to 3. This 11 seat increase can’t all be attributed to Calgarians concern about wing-nut Smith.
Hello Lee,
Yes, one reason that Stephen Harper is keen on victor Orban is that he sees Orban as an ally in the ongoing work of creating a Christian undamentalist state, and he would be very happy to see it in Canada. I have made another comment about this above.
It’s important to remember that Harper has worked tirelessly, since very young, for a conservative movement that should make most Canadians shudder….and that work didn’t prevent him from becoming our PM and seriously eroding environmental protections, and our single payer medical care system.
Surely we remember who changed the formula so province’s would have less money to spend on health care?? Surely Canadian lovers of democracy were outraged when he illegally sold the wheat board and let the federal government pocket proceeds that belonged by rights to the farmer members???? We haven’t forgotten how we abandoned a teenager to Guantanamo because he was Muslin….or the fury stirred up in the conservative movement when our courts awarded Omar a big chunk of money as recompense for what he’d endured???
Steven Harper and the extreme right wing of the conservative party have been, and continue to be, actively purifying our democracy………so sure: that democracy continues to exist and serve the interests of white Christian men…in general………while making sure change doesn’t happen that might benefit everyone else.
Most of this is just right ring reactionism at its most traditional. But their determination to erode social services, ramp up international authoritarianism and keep those pipelines and fossil fuel driven supply chains running on slave labour…will be the death of all of us, if we don’t wake up and use our democracy to engage in real transition.
You can’t have a liveable future……….if Steve H. and PP are the model of opposition to neoliberal good times. There has to be other alternatives, for those of us who can count past 2.
Insisting we negotiate an end to the Ukraine fiasco would be one alternative. But there have to be a host of other smart moves progressives could counter this old reactionary with. Let’s get started.
Ingamarie: very well said. Thank you!
As you said, conservative ideology is geared to shoring up the interests of white Christian men. As such it’s difficult to come up with smart progressive moves that don’t sound like we’re trying to trigger a culture-war.
Only pretending there never has been any ‘culture war’ is good enough for them…..I sometimes seriously suspect that for the Christian right, they assume they have a strangle hold on culture……and everything outside their perspective is just simply wrong. Kind of like being in the wilderness….which was the devil’s domain, until our white Christian values destroyed it and reshaped everything into the right angles of salvation.
Stevie, I am trying hard to see things from your perspective but I can’t get my head that far up my a$$….
It was a sad day when the word Progressive was eliminated from the name of the Conservative party. They might as well start handing out brown shirts now…
What has happened to our country and the world? As the last Holocaust survivors die, it seems that the world wants to erase everything we fought for. There are not good people on both sides. This all makes me sick.
“As the last Holocaust survivors die, it seems that the world wants to erase everything we fought for.” – Probably not a coincidence, that…
Sharon: the elimination of the word “progressive” from the Conservative party’s name should have told us right then and there where Harper et al were heading. The fact that it’s taken 20 years for some people to figure it out is astounding…and shameful.
Harper’s priority – were he asked to self-describe – would be his religious convictions. He is not firstly a human being, but first and foremost a Christian. Everything in his thinking and behaviour flows from that; nothing would take priority over that – fairly typical of traditional, conservative, orthodox Christians.
His politics are informed by his Christian convictions and principles, and politics will always be secondary to his religious beliefs. If Orban is a Christian, (especially if orthodox), he is Harper’s friend. And all his/their positions on every possible political subject are subject to and justified by his/their Christian convictions.
Humaneness doesn’t really enter into Harper’s thinking because to be human is to be sinful, broken, and destined for damnation, unless one is ‘saved by grace’, or by faith, or by Jesus. What counts are (traditional, conservative, orthodox) convictions rooted in biblical (most often Old Testament) principles, and that tends to deal in judgement and assignment of blame. And can be pretty cold-hearted, certainly arbitrary.
I was raised in such an environment, and Harper’s ‘modus operendi’ is only too familiar, so his associations and behaviour are true to form.
In my view, the more the world tilts toward more humane (liberal, democratic) views and practices, the more the fervently religious (the traditionalists, the orthodox, the conservatives of all stripes around the globe) will try to hang on to their traditions and principles, to reverse the movement by whatever means, frightened of where these soft, loosely-goosey liberal values and principles might take us.
Harper and “Christians” like him are only Christians to use it to excuse the horrible things they do. They don’t really believe in anything except pushing those who aren’t as “Christian” as them.
Kelly, as you’ve said, the ability of some Christians to support their heinous behavior by quoting their faith never ceases to amaze me. The one that popped to mind when I wrote that was “prosperity theology” which holds that financial success is a sign of divine favour. God wants you to be rich so go forth and be rich in God’s name (or some such thing).
Agreed! Religiosity has nothing to do with spirituality. It could be said to be politics playing out in another ‘dimension’ …
MBoschma: thank you for this insightful comment. You nailed it.
According to Google Orban is a member of the Calvinist-oriented Hungarian Reformed Church, He appeals to Evangelical Christians, one of whom said, “Evangelical Christians support the majority of Orbán’s policies and positions, even if we don’t really admire the way he goes about his politics…because he is a conservative Christian standing up against a liberal Europe.”
Orban campaigned as the defender of “Christian liberty. He characterized Hungary’s history as being an island of Christianity beset by foreign threats, eg Soviet Communism and German Nazism. Today he says he’s defending Hungary against Islam, immigrants, globalism, and liberalism. (Echoes of Harper).
Here’s a useful link: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/april/orban-hungary-evangelical-election-voices-choice-conservati.html
This is also why they defend Vladimir Putin; because of his cozy relationship with Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill and his willingness to pass any laws the Church wants.
Well… sucking up to a dictatorial autocrat whose government has a democratic false front worked for Donald Trump—for a time.
Conspiracy theory time, folks! Ready? Harper is nominally smarter than Donald Trump (barring potentially unfortunate effects of aging; Preston Manning, take note). Maybe Harper figures he can get back into the thick of Con power-brokering by cozying up to a second-tier dictator, and easing his way back into the Conservative Party. Maybe he figures turning down the crazy a notch from Donald Trump and Boris “Has-been” Johnson will allow him to fly just barely below the radar.
Why he’d want back in is beyond me; as PM everybody’s watching you, everybody’s bitching at you, everybody blames you for everything. Plus, the hours are brutal and the pay has to be worse than Harper’s current gig. It’d make more sense if Harper was fishing for a job in the troubled waters of the Great Conservative World Order to Come.
But I dunno. Maybe it’s not Harper looking for a different job. Maybe….
I just had a horrid thought. Is Harper looking for a new mentor for Pierre Poilievre?
Mike J: All good theories. And then there’s the tried and true one: Harper (like Manning) can’t bear being yesterday’s man. He’s out there glad-handing with the old white guys who are still in power because the younger white guys won’t give him the time of day. Sucks to get old.
🙂 🙂 so true it does suck
Hmmm…yeah, your theory is simpler than mine. By Occam’s Razor, you’re likely right. (But doesn’t that take some fun out of the conspiracy theory? The whole point is to imagine the goofiest, craziest, most utterly unlikely face-palm OMG idea you can. Right?) 😊
And yes, even in my early 60’s I can say getting old is starting to suck. I’ve got pains in places I wish weren’t places. But it still beats the mental anguish of knowing you’re the Old Man—and therefore irrelevant.
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Democracy
How we ever thought elected representatives un-accountable for 4 years was the one person , one vote per pertinent issue ( kind of what direct democracy is all about ) always stuns me. Compared to citizen congresses that had a debate and vote on every issue before their government Canada should rank about 3 out of ten… maybe 2.
We play a sham game and then surrender all of our power to an “elected” meatsack whose only real skill is getting elected, often with zero world experience outside of the political trough. Harper and ‘lil pp come to mind. This is an acceptable definition for democracy virtually all Canadians. We have been sold a bill of goods and made powerless and we defend the people and institutions who regard us as irrelevant because the dictatorial edicts we live under is democracy if they say it is.
Really , how did we begin to accept that a popularity contest whose entrants are determined in some back room be accepted as having total control over every aspect of your life become “our democracy to die for?”
“It is easier to fool people than to prove to them they have been fooled”
Thanks susan… blessings.
Interesting comments lungta mtn.
“It is easier to fool people than to prove to them they have been fooled.” How true!
A friend who studies dogma and authoritarianism says one reason for this resistance is tyrants and autocrats appeal to their supporters emotions not their intellect. The dogmatic ideology becomes part of their personal identity. They will lose part of their identity if they admit they’re wrong.
Which is why this is such a challenge.
Thanks for the latitude , I kinda lose it sometimes as I watch and try to participate in a rigged game.
“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.”
― Mark Twain
Try again
What a smart sentence that is and so absolutely true.
That is what they try to sell us – this voting democracy.
Well you may use propaganda as much as you want but sooner or later reality will prevail in this absolutely lunatic world.
I agree with Kennedy when he said that chemicals are affecting our children’s sexuality. In fact I strongly believe it is affecting all of us. This craziness everywhere we go is to me absolutely related to what we have done to our rivers, sea, lakes. Hormones (especially estrogen) is now used to make us richer, and it is going into the water system, into milk that we serve as a good drink to our own children. But Hey the Dairy Industry says none of that is true and that is it. Our governments close their eyes because in the end economics and markets is what makes us rich and happy.
So we feed these hormones into our own kids and then pretend to be surprised when we run into a serious crisis. We are in one my friends. This is it we have reached the limit of market exploitation. From now on we will only resolve our crisis when we decide that the markets are not going to resolve anything. We are the ones that have to resolve them.
Just wait for the next few days for another announcement that we are going to pay for the clean up of old oil wells. Oil companies cannot afford their own pollution. To make it more of a circus, Danielle Smith will gladly approve it and the rest is the story we all know. She will no longer need the restaurant, she will have a nice pension I am sure.
Steven Harper has been in bed with Victor Orban for a few years and only now seems the media has noticed it.
The fact (yes it is a fact), that he is the president of the so called ‘The International Democratic Union’. Obviously the word Democratic is just part of the title just like the old ‘The Democratic Republic of Germany well known as East Germany’ and the present ‘Democratic Republic of Congo’.
I can understand the people in Congo thinking that they are Democratic, but Steven Harper born and raised in Canada, is a different story. It is a profound error in judgement to think that muzzling scientists and trying to embed journalists in your political dance with dictatorship is acceptable.
Harper paved the road to the acceptance of dubious behaviour and Pierre Poilievre is just the second coming of this populist story that seems to have its foundations in a false and wrong idea of what democracy means.
The real fact is that Pierre Poilievre has way more to do with White Nationalists than democrats. He supported the convoy carrying ideas of a possible coup against our elected government of Justin Trudeau. All of this is well documented and it is real but somehow our Conservative media seems to be more on the Victor Orban side than our own parliament.
I would like to understand what is the real Steven Harper’s value in political terms.
As far as Pierre Poilievre I think he is done and waiting for the fairy’s wheel to turn one more time. It is not difficult to realize that Conservatives wanted more populism got rid of more moderate candidates like O’Toole and now they realize they just veered into the devil’s den. I doubt that other than in Alberta, they will have the support they need to become government. Conservatives have reached their peak performance and are now starting to decline. I hope so because the last thing we need is to become Hungary version 2.0.
Carlos, I share your hope that Conservatives (other than maybe those in Alberta) have reached peak performance and are now in decline. As much as Canadians worry about following in America’s footsteps and becoming even more polarized, we have an advantage in that we are a country of compromise, with less of an emphasis on the individual who must win at all costs.
I hold out hope that the experiment with the far right conservative movement will fall on its face and we’ll move back to a more reasonable approach to government at all levels. Because we can’t continue on the far right wing trajectory. The planet is burning, we have bigger things to worry about than whether a transgendered person is using the “wrong” bathroom.
Oh your humor is at top level today
That was funny and true – that is what they really worry about is if homosexuality is going to infect their families.
It really is a puzzle to me that anyone could consider the support for Victor Orban to be democratic.
Harper and also Pierre Poilievre seem to be very comfortable aligning with people like him and worse.
Does Harper really believe that anyone cares about his strategies in the political extreme right wing fringe politics? They are simply trying to move Canada into the fascist realm. It is more beneficial for their landlords.
Carlos, I think the label “democratic” is used in the sense of a free vote, but that’s as far as it goes.
Yes agreed
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The UCP continues shinning its corrupt lawyers. These people should be disbarred, they do not deserve any trust.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/07/14/UCP-Kaycee-Madu-Faces-Misconduct-Allegations-Law-Society/
Three justice ministers from the same party (OK, the ancestral form of the UCP contributed one). It’s probably just as well the current incumbent isn’t a practicing lawyer. He’ll be spared the embarrassment of being hauled up to explain himself to his peers.
Carlos and Mike J: Isn’t it interesting that when the NDP were in power for four year neither their justice minister nor their premier was ever cited by the law society or the ethics commissioner for violating any legal or ethical rules. And yet the UCP can’t get through a year without one or the other getting caught doing something they should not have been doing.
Sad statement as to the morality and integrity of that party.
Excellent read. I have never liked Harper as a leader or PM. He promotes too much hate.
It is a bit puzzling that Harper would not care more about his legacy and he is yet again cozying up to this right wing authoritarian. He really should be more careful who he hangs out with.
However, I suppose Harper had his own right wing authoritarian tendencies when he was in power, although he was at times frustrated and constrained by our more robust and established political system. So I suspect he feels some sense of kinship with or sympathy for this Hungarian leader.