Why should Prime Minister Stephen Harper have all the fun? If you had worked hard for good-ole Stephen in the 2011 federal election, would you think he is being fair? When do the Conservative MPs from the religious right get their licks in? And it is not as though Stephen is delivering on everything he promised these people. They are complaining that he is doing lots of stuff to please those damn libertarians in the party but ignoring the religious right? They certainly did their part in getting Stephen his majority? Hell, the Conservative Party would never have gotten close to a majority without those who have been washed in the blood of the lamb!
Canadians are starting to hear more and more from these malcontent Conservative MPs. They are people of principle you know. They are there in Ottawa to protect the rights of the unborn. They also want to get back to hanging, they tell us. Mind you, there is the matter of protecting the sanctity of marriage. They will have none of that same-sex marriage business. These people have an agenda and that dictatorial Stephen Harper is not cooperating.
It is alright for Stephen Harper and his hairdresser to fly around the world like they are important or something. It is just that these people think the Lord’s work needs to be done in Ottawa. And it is not just those libertarians with their tax cuts and small government demands that are getting in the way. There are also those nebbishes who got elected on Stephen Harper’s coat tails and have no idea what they are supposed to be doing in Ottawa—other than what Mr. Harper tells them.
If Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney was Prime Minister, the priorities would sure get changed. There is a movement among the religious right Conservative MPs to make Kenney Mr. Harper’s replacement sooner rather than later. There is no telling just what Canadian voters would make of that nice Jason Kenney.
Until, they get their own leader, the religious right is using guerrilla tactics to show that they are still alive and complaining in Ottawa. They sneak in motions on abortion in Parliament, take their complaints about not being allowed to speak to the House Speaker and rail on other issues at committee meetings. It gets them noticed if not reviled.
The problem for the religious right is that they are not strong enough by themselves to take control of the House of Commons. They have to have a coalition. They need the grab bag of populists, libertarians and regional greed to cobble together a Conservative party such as Stephen Harper’s. They need to understand the last three Conservative Prime Ministers: John Diefenbaker, the populist (forget Joe Clark), Brian Mulroney, with his regional base and Mr. Harper’s libertarians. Thankfully, it does not happen very often.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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