May 20 – Behold the Most Powerful PM Ever
iPolitics.com – Posted on Fri, May 20, 2011, 4:31 am by Lawrence Martin
By historical standards, the Conservative majority that Canadians have elected is a small one. With 103 seats, the NDP has as much representation as any second-place party has ever had.
But to say Stephen Harper’s majority is smallish would be to veer wildly off the mark.
It could be argued that on May 2 Canada elected its most powerful government ever, a juggernaut stronger than the 200-plus seats majorities of John Diefenbaker or Brian Mulroney, a government with fewer obstacles in its path than the heavyweight Liberal governments, a government that could well be here for a three-term or 12-year run.
It sounds farfetched until you examine the infrastructure of power and the control Stephen Harper now has over it. Read more
Jan 15 – John Ivison: Canadians better off even if they don’t feel it
National Post – John Ivison
OTTAWA — Jan. 23 marks the fifth anniversary of Stephen Harper’s 2006 election victory and in early February, he will pass Lester B. Pearson’s time in office to become Canada’s 11th longest-serving Prime Minister. As Mr. Harper told Postmedia News this week, it has been a roller-coaster ride: “Some days it feels like five months, and other days it seems like 50 years.”
The five-year milestone has presented the Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff, with his latest electoral gambit — to ask middle class Canadian families whether they are better off after half a decade of the Harper government? In fact, by almost every pocketbook metric, Canadian families are better off than they were five years ago – even if they don’t feel it. Read more
Nov 8 – Harper says Canada will stand by Israel
Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News · Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday that Canada has refused to “pretend” it is being an honest broker on Israel — even though it meant this country lost votes in its recent bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Mr. Harper made the remarks in a speech on Parliament Hill at a gathering of international parliamentarians and experts attending a conference on combating anti-Semitism. The prime minister delivered a strongly worded warning about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Canada and abroad. He said the persecution of Jews is becoming a global phenomenon in which anti-Semitic ideologies target the Jewish people in their “homeland” of Israel and uses the “language of human rights to do so.”
“When Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack, is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand,” said Mr. Harper. Read more
