A long time comin'...
My loyal blog readers will know that I'm a former Reform Party member. I joined back in 1991 after seeing a Reform Party Students' Society booth during my first month at the University of Alberta. It was a small club back then but then after taking the helm of the club in 1996 we rapidly grew and became one of the largest student political party clubs in Canada (with thanks to Kory Tenycke and Rob Anders, MP who helped with recruitment).
I remember meeting Preston Manning many, many times and him thanking me for all the work we were doing at the U of A. I remember loyal club member, Ezra Levant who was just as boistrous then as he is now. And I remember in 1996 meeting Stephen Harper in the kitchen at a Boxing Day party event that Ezra and his family were hosting for Reform VIPs. Mr. Harper was a mild, quiet man back then.
But what I also remember is the 13 years from 1993 to 2006, when Liberal policy after Liberal policy got me very frustrated with the direction our country was headed. Sure the books got balanced, but the taxes upon the middle class went up, the gun registry, our foreign relations, our dollar, and especially our lack of support to the military. There's much more, but I was nearing the point of actually considering moving to the U.S. (I did end up working there for a wihle though on a visa).
Reform went from 1 seat in Deb Grey's byelection in 1989 to 54 in 1993, to 60 in 1997, to 66 in 2000 (Canadian Alliance). Harper then won the Canadian Alliance leadership (a campaign I worked on in Edmonton) and as soon as PC leader Joe Clark stepped down, with Peter Mackay as the new leader, the parties merged. And four elections later, we finally have ourselves a majority.
In that time with Harper at the wheel, a lot has happened on the policy front. Two of my favourite policies being lowering the GST and the TSFA.
And the policies to be now on the table are (a lot of reversing what the Liberals brought in actually):
- Senate reform
- scrap the gun registry
- scrap the party per vote subsidy
- scrap the Canadian Wheat Board
- crime omnibus bill
Finally.
It's been a long time comin'...
And I couldn't be prouder to be Canadian.
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2 comments:
Yes, it has been a long time coming!
I think that it's important to continually take small conservative steps towards a more conservative country and society. Putting the petal to the metal will put us in the ditch, so I hope some of the more enthusiastic Conservative supporters will understand that. To make a real difference we have to play the long game.
Another concern would be that now that the Liberal ship of state is sinking, you can expect all the rats therein will be scurrying to jump ship and will be in search of a new rat hole. We need to lay out enough rat poison to deter them or they’ll end up chewing enough holes to sink us as well.
And I remember Linda Fraum hosting that political program, and after many complaints, finally interviewed Preston Manning, and telling the panel or viewers, well, we have finally interviewed the Reform leader and we will never have to worry about them again.
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