Did we elect Bush as our prime minister?

last updated 8 January 2015

Canada

Linda McQuaig

Canadians have unwittingly elected a clone of George W. Bush, said Linda McQuaig in the Toronto Star. We expected Stephen Harper, head of the Conservative Party, to be, well, conservative. But we had no idea he harbored “radical views.” Now that Harper is prime minister, his arrogance and his mania for secrecy are coming out. Like Bush, Harper sneers at the press. By refusing to reveal when his Cabinet meets, he deprives reporters of “one of the few opportunities” to question him or his ministers. Even more ominously, Harper has been “deliberately aping” Bush’s language, dropping phrases such as “God bless Canada” and vowing not to “cut and run.” And he’s steaming ahead with the restructuring of the military “from peacekeeping to an active war-making role,” the better to assist the U.S. in its “war on terror.” Can’t Canadians see where this is going? Harper is “bent on refashioning Canada’s role in the world, bringing us closer in line with Washington.” Surely even Conservatives don’t want that.