Irresponsible Spending and Not Reigning in the HRC Voted Most Unconservative
June 1, 2009 · By Greg Farries
1574 people can’t be wrong! It’s been an interesting few weeks, but it looks like we now have a better idea of what the Conservative Party has to do (or not do) to bring themselves back in line with basic conservative ideology. The top three “unconservative” things the Conservative Party have done are:
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Massive increases in government spending and a return to deficit spending 27% (432 votes)
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Allowing the Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Tribunal to continue unhindered 22% (341 votes)
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Giving billion dollar bailout packages to poorly run companies 21% (323 votes)
For the full breakdown of the 1574 votes, please visit the original post, “Top Ten Unconservative Contest Finalists!”
This contest should serve as a warning to the governing Conservative Party of Canada – winning the election was no small feat but it’s time to stop acting like the opposition and start acting like a conservative government. Since taking power in 2005, the Conservative Party of Canada has been so busy defining the opposition Liberal Party of Canada as corrupt and their leaders weak, that they have forgotten a key component to any successful initiative, they have neglected to define themselves. Let’s face it, it has been relatively easy to define the Liberal Party of Canada – the Liberal Party was to a certain degree corrupt and labeling the bumbling Stéphane Dion as weak certainly wasn’t rocket science – however, the Conservative Party seems content to define themselves as little more than, “not the Liberals.” With the passing of each day that particular definition loses more and more of it’s impact. The Liberals have a new leader and the corruption charges are behind them, they are no longer an easy target.
In order for the Conservative Party to be successful they need to define themselves clearly through well thought out and well executed conservative policy initiatives. They need to thoroughly explain and then sell those initiatives in a simple and straight-forward manner. They need to contrast those policy initiatives against the opposition’s left-wing and socialist alternatives and they need to convince Canadians that they’re ready to govern unhindered by a minority government. This is far easier said than done and it’s a departure from their current game plan, but considering their relative lack of success (electorally and in policy), do they have much choice?
Thank you to all of those visitors who submitted hundreds of entries and to the thousands who submitted a vote. Right now I’m going through the long list of “unconservative” entries and votes to determine which two will be the winner of the Mark Steyn book. I will announce the winners today after lunch. And the winners are…
Thanks to smalldeadanimals.com, conservativegrapevine.com, blazingcatfur.blogspot.com, fivefeetoffury.com, bluewavecanada.blogspot.com,and many others for linking to this contest and helping make it a success!
“This contest should serve as a warning to the governing Conservative Party of Canada – winning the election was no small feat but it’s time to stop acting like the opposition and start acting like a conservative government.”
HEAR! HEAR!
What was number 4? I voted for supporting the climate change fairy tale.
I agree with the people on the 2nd and 3rd screw ups. But while everyone is yelling about the increased spending I think it is only fair to consider what the Conservatives inherited from the liebranios.
$50 bill gone from the EI fund, $30 some bil gone from the civil service pension plan (to balance the books}, armed forces run into the ground,immigration system broken, over funded special interest groups and pet projects, adscam money missing , arms length “so call” trust funds , and the list goes on and on . I think a bit of slack should be cut for the Conservatives on the spending end. Playing catch-up ain’t cheap.
Nicola, number four on the list was:
Pandering to the climate change/global warming fear mongers 15% (234 votes)
i agree.
Sigh.
Your mention of Stephane Dion saddens me Greg. I miss him so.
He was the best. EVER!
Hello all
I followed a link from blazing cat fur to this discussion and have found it quite interesting, as well as the comments in the poll post. I just wanted to toss my 2 cents in and agree with Nicola.
While all of the choices are worthy, IMHO the decision to cave in to the Green Fraud presents by far the biggest threat to Canada’s economy and individual Canadians’ economic health and freedoms. It will achieve nothing but the transfer of more of our own wealth to big government and the entrenchment of yet another layer of liberal bureau-rats and their never ending taxes and edicts.
I also agree that it would be nice to recognize the positive conservative measures that have been taken. If we only criticize, I think we risk driving away people who might otherwise want to help.
Cheers
Thank-you for mentioning that cousinarlo. I think you’re right, and it’s an effect you think we’d have learned NOT to copy from the Liberals. When they criticize internally, they forget to build up their strengths as they see them, which in turn puts people off. Hell, I wouldn’t want to join an organization that it’s own members had nothing good to say about. Would you?
And Greg, you’re right. The Conservatives have not made stides to define themselves. Everything you said there ties into a post I did a while back about Conservatives taking control of their own message, the jist of which was that rightly or wrongly, they believe that the media is out to get them so why bother talking to them at all about anything; which is in itself a self-defeating strategy.