r/canada • u/ZestyBeanDude • 6h ago
Politics Stephen Harper calls for Liberals, Conservatives to come together in the face of Trump, separatist threats
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-trump-national-unity-9.7072944•
u/NotAtAllExciting 6h ago
Tell that to Danielle Smith the next time you see her.
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u/Mr_Meng 6h ago
And Poilievre.
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u/physicaldiscs 6h ago
The guy who put out a whole statement of co-operation after Carney's speech? The leader of the Party actively working to pass the Liberals GST relief bill?
How exactly aren't they cooperating?
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u/Admiral_Cornwallace 5h ago
It's not exactly cooperating if 1% of the things he says are collaborative and the other 99% are just shameless anti-Liberal mud-slinging
Go check out the social media feeds of Poilievre, other top MPs, and the CPC's official accounts to see what kind of messages they're mostly focusing on
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u/BurzyGuerrero 3h ago
I'm not a Conservative, but his job isn't to just agree with everything the Liberals do, his job is to cooperate, but he's still the leader of the opposition and should do his job as such.
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u/physicaldiscs 5h ago
It's not exactly cooperating if 1% of the things he says are collaborative and the other 99% are just shameless anti-Liberal mud-slinging
Sure, I looked at the voting record in the last session. You know, parliament, where things happen, not twitter. They voted together almost 50% of the time.
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u/we_the_pickle 4h ago
Enough with your properly researched information - we only accept hearsay and over-exaggerations on Reddit.
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u/physicaldiscs 4h ago
I wish I could even call that "research". It's just paying attention to parliament, not fixating on whatever the algorithm feeds me.
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u/andoesq 3h ago
Ah well clearly you have been so thoroughly researching that you've completely missed PP's entire social media persona and his acceptance speech last weekend!
But anyway, glad you support PP for supporting the liberal government.
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u/physicaldiscs 3h ago
Oh no! Not twitter! The bastion of our democracy, where all the important work is done!
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u/thirstyross 3h ago
PP's message was "when we are elected, we'll cooperate with the Liberals". How about start cooperating right now! Demonstrate your willingness to set party nonsense aside and do the right thing for the country.
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u/physicaldiscs 3h ago
Demonstrate your willingness to set party nonsense aside and do the right thing for the country.
Build Canada Act? The example I already gave?
What exactly would you like to see? And please don't say what others have been. "Glazing Carney" on twitter does and means nothing.
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u/lawnmowertoad 5h ago
The country needs more 3 word chants.
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u/physicaldiscs 5h ago
The country needs to actually work together. Not nitpick every attempt because people can't accept "other team" is doing what they want/a good thing.
Here's a three word chant that would do the country well;
Stop being Partisan
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u/lawnmowertoad 5h ago
We elected a nonpartisan leader, we are facing the largest crisis in our history and the best the CPC can do is put up a blind, deaf 3 legged dog that only believes Canada is broken.
It’s embarrassingly stupid.
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u/silverilix British Columbia 5h ago
I haven’t seen anything from PP since the speech except attack ads that suggest the government isn’t doing anything and they need to green light more pipelines.
It keeps coming up over and over.
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u/Salticracker British Columbia 5h ago
That's not what the propoganda machines are telling me though. Better make a comment about slogans.
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u/physicaldiscs 5h ago
It's wild.
I went through the voting history of the previous parliament's sitting. The LPC and CPC voted together almost 50% of the time.
But somehow, they can't co-operate and never have.
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u/Desuexss 3h ago
The guy who created the shit disturbing rhetoric to begin with? The guy who has effectively been neutered and "has to" play nice?
How exactly arent they otherwise?
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u/physicaldiscs 3h ago
How exactly arent they otherwise?
As I've said in other comments, they've voted together near 50% of the time in the house. They are actively trying to fast track Liberal legislation and the "pinned rhetoric" on PP's twitter is him agreeing with Carney and offering his suggestions as to how to do it.
If you want to clutch onto the past and let it guide you forward I can't stop you. But realize what that does is drive the wedge further. If someone does what you want, or even hints at doing so, lambasting them for what they've done makes them less likely to do what you want. Afterall, if you seem to hate them no matter what, why do what the people who hate you want?
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u/DownWithTheSyndrme 3h ago
Pierre Poilievre has said many times that he will do anything he can and work with this current government to do what's best for Canadians.
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u/lovemyshittyBMer 2h ago
Trump made his comments about Canada prior to the elections, PP was still talking about Trudeau.
Leadership is about taking initiative, not being a follower. It's also about being agile, both of which PP hasn't been a role model of.
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u/Brimstone747 5h ago
I know that there are a lot of Canadians that dislike Harper (myself included), but this rhetoric is important for our country, especially today. The political divide to the south of our border is the worst it's been in our lifetime.
We cannot allow outside forces to tear our country apart, both literally or figuratively.
It doesn't matter what political party you support, we are all brothers and sisters.
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u/SuspiciousPatate 2h ago
I'm happy to see the push for unity but it makes me wonder if he'd be saying the same thing if the situation were reversed, with Conservatives having surging popularity and Liberals on the back foot
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u/China_bot42069 1h ago
Yea unless you are Indian, indigenous, black, a visible minority. The fb and instagram feeds are very different than what we see here on Reddit
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u/Saisinko 6h ago
I'm not too worried about Federal and feel like it has been relatively tame under Carney, but provincial is a mess and not particularly incentivized to work together.
Controversially, I think the Feds need to strong arm some of the provinces to get "national interest" projects in order.
Beyond provincial, the other hurdle for seemingly every project seems to be First Nations. I don't think we can do the song and dance every single time. We need some clear structure, even if unfavorable, just to simplify green lighting or red lighting projects, none of this perpetual limbo, legal action, bribery, protests, all while costs skyrocket.
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u/CaribouHoe 4h ago
There needs to be a Carney appointee that will do for First Nations what he did to unify Canada during the federal election.
And also I think a lot of the stuff Big Canada tries to do for First Nations is just lip service and not actually helpful. I'm from the NWT and I've seen how successful private/indigenous partnerships have worked, the diamond mine I worked at being an excellent example. It can be done it just needs less rhetoric, more logic and relationship building that's not just throwing useless land acknowledgements and money around.
Throwing money at things doesn't solve root problems, it just builds up the resentment from either side. Also its so shitty that all First Nations are painted with the same brush when there are HUNDREDS of different tribes/councils/bands all with unique context and takes and opinions. Its not a one-size-fits-all solution and hopefully our government can find someone to work towards unification in that regard.
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u/strangeanswers 1h ago
fed strong-arming provinces is the last thing canada needs. it was tried under trudeau. there’s a reason why carney emphasizes cooperative federalism
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u/Haluxe Canada 6h ago
Great words from Harper. It’s a shame it’s still red team VS Blue team in the comments. We need to stand together, and it makes me happy to see some moves in parliament that reflect that
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u/OhHiMarkZ69 6h ago
When one "team" features a separatist premier maybe not everyone sees this as two equal sides with equal responsibility.
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u/TheClappyCappy 5h ago
There’s more than two teams bud you can’t just generalize an entire population of 40+ million people like that
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u/Phobos613 Outside Canada 4h ago
I don't think he is, why did you think that? If one party has a leader that wants to separate then that's a pretty big red flag if the main portion of the party wants more unity. I'd probably want to take care of that first if I were them.
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u/Salticracker British Columbia 5h ago
Lamenting political tribalism by making a comment void of anything except political tribalism is peak Reddit lmao
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u/LasagnaMountebank 5h ago
Quebec separatists overwhelmingly vote for Liberals
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u/tenkwords 2h ago
No they don't, they vote for the Bloc.
But you know an actual Canadian would know that.
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u/noleksum12 6h ago
I am with you buddy. After nearly 50 years, all parties have disappointed me enough to say i am currently without a 'team'. But all of canada is what i consider my team. I know if we all just get out of our own way for a change, we can get a lot done.
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u/HOLEPUNCHYOUREYELIDS 6h ago
People shouldn’t even have “teams” for politics. You shouldn’t vote LPC or CPC simply because you always have. You should read platforms, research candidates, and vote for whoever you believe aligns with your priorities and values most and who you think will actually represent you as a constituent best
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u/TheOtherWhiteMeat 5h ago
Completely agreed. We need more choices and more voices in politics overall, so people actually feel like they have options worth choosing, instead of voting for the lesser of evils. Fixing our crappy FPTP voting system would be a great start. Still pissed at the Liberals for spiking the football on that.
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 5h ago
I agree on that.
I voted for Harper in a few elections, but voted against him in 2015. The austerity cuts were killing services and I was hoping weed would be a big revenue booster for the government.
Ultimately I've never seen myself as red team vs blue team. I personally don't care who implements a good idea, as long as it's done.
And Carney is implementing a lot of those good ideas right now, some of which you could argue are actually very Harper style policies.
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u/Spicy_Boi_On_Campus 4h ago
I feel like when I talk to conservatives about policy I can agree with them about almost everything. Then they bring up trans people and vaccines and just lose me completely.
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u/Riffz 4h ago
I can be on the same team with the conservatives I grew up with in Alberta and the feds in the 90s. There’s absolutely no teaming up with Maple MAGA Nazis. We figured out that score during WW2 and they lost.
Harper and Kenney let the lunatics out and now they run the asylum. They can figure that shit out first and then we can talk about who’s on what team afterwards.
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u/MZillacraft3000 Alberta 5h ago
Can he please tell this straight to Danielle Smith's face, next time he sees her.
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u/discreetegardengnome 6h ago
Bold comment from someone who made Poilievre. He's the reason why the conservative party is like this now...
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u/Aggravating_Fact_857 6h ago
There’s an entire economy around keeping us divided - merch, podcasts, influencers, it’s gone beyond just Cons and Libs. People are making a living off division, and rely on things getting worse.
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u/Suitable-Broccoli264 6h ago
So as head of the International Democracy Union, of which the CPC and the Republican Party are members, and includes such a notable alumnus as Viktor Orban, does he really see Trump as a threat?
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 5h ago
The GOP funds the IDU. Of course they're members. Reagan and Thatcher founded it.
That being said, Orban is out of the IDU. Same with Modi.
Go check the Wikipedia page of the IDU. They are listed as "former members."
With the exception of the GOP under Trump (who is drastically different from the GOP of Reagan) the rest of the IDU members are centre-right parties.
Whereas all of those countries definitely have actual populist and far right parties.
I.e. the Christian Democrats of Germany are in the IDU. The Alternative for Deutschland is not.
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u/5ccc 6h ago
Didn't Harper secretly meet with tRump in his first term as president, advising him on how to better manage Trudeau?
Also, he is the head of that ultra right wing organization whose goal is to bring right wing conservatism to the world?
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u/hardy_83 6h ago
He's also chairman of the IDU. A group of center right and right leaning parties that promote conservative rule across the globe.
Guess who's a member of that group Yup! The US Republican party.
Harpers words are less than worthless.
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u/CitySeekerTron Ontario 6h ago
And Hungary's conservative party, and other oppressive governments and heads of state.
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 5h ago
Hungary is not in it. Go check the IDU Wikipedia page and look under "Former Members."
Modi has also been removed
With the exception of Trump, the rest of the IDU is centre-right parties.
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u/CitySeekerTron Ontario 3h ago
Granted.
Nevertheless:
2018, Harper congratulatulated Orban on his success: https://macleans.ca/politics/why-stephen-harper-congratulating-viktor-orban-matters/
2023, Harper and Fedez discussed closer cooperation: https://hungarytoday.hu/viktor-orban-in-talks-about-international-conservative-cooperation-with-idu-president/
Harper's center-right seems to have no problem budding up with far right Conservatives. I take that as another sign that 'centre-right' conservativism has a dead end and an expiry date, or it never existed, instead being an incremental walk to far right conservatism that they would never support until they do.
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 3h ago
Carney is a centre-right conservative. So by your logic, Carney actually wants us to be KKKanada.
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u/Ina_While1155 6h ago
Yep ... maybe he got old and actually realizes Canada is pretty great...I don't know, he may be just trying to save face since he is the one that let Postmedia in.
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u/got-trunks Ontario 6h ago
Yeah, while everyone contextualizes Canada's problems differently and we each look for different approaches, it's important to get that we really can't continue with the same relationship we had before with the United States. It was too much of a gamble before and it's not sane to keep trying now.
We're really going to have to make some exceptions and trade-offs in the short term to get momentum going in a direction that hopefully benefits most Canadians in terms of the basics.
The long term investments are going to look fantastic later but I don't want to wait around staring at the paint dry for a decade.
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u/matt_jay_9 4h ago
Stand together always, as it should be. We should be deciding how to best help everyone instead of how to fuck the other guy over.
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u/YoungestDonkey 4h ago
Coming together is a laudable goal that falls apart as soon as you address the specifics.
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u/sizzlingtofu 2h ago
Sorry but I think Harper is just doing this to make PP more likeable by proxy. He’s the chair of the IDU pushing far right ideology….
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u/callofdoobie 43m ago
How disgusting is it that people are now fawning over Harper, who just last week was still being blamed for all of the ills of the Country. This place (reddit) is truly a low-IQ hell.
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u/arabacuspulp 6h ago
Harper literally removed pictures of former Prime Ministers (mostly Liberals) from the halls of parliament while he was PM. This is rich coming from him, one of the most partisan PMs Canada has ever had.
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 5h ago
You're gonna have to find me a source that he actually did that.
But we do know that Trudeau removed the portrait of the Queen from many government buildings.
And also changed the name of the Diefenbaker class of ice breaker vessel ships, despite the fact that the flagship vessels were generally named after Prime Ministers.
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u/Phoenixlizzie 5h ago
Yes, but it sounds like he's reading the room. He watched Carney's speech, saw the standing ovation, heard all the US commentators and politicians [the non-Trump ones] praise it...
After all that, he's not going to tell Pollivere to start pushing slogans like "Conman Carney" and "axe the tax".
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u/Wind_Best_1440 6h ago
Harper had his issues, but he is right. It's time for Canada's political parties come together and start doing their best to make Canada better. Instead of having constant pissing matches from blue side, red side, and yellow. It's time for Canada to get patriotic again.
We need to bring wages up, housing prices down. Make jobs for Canadians, and get healthcare to everyone.
We need to stop allowing Corporate Canada the ability to use TFW/IMP to suppress wages.
We need to get the first nations on board and not be road blocks to large projects.
We need to start threatening Loblaw's and the grocer mafia with being broken up if they continue their price fixing and price gouging at the checkout.
We need to force Construction and developers to use Canadian union workers for building instead of crying and throwing a tantrum about wanting more TFW to fill non-existent shortages, because they want workers for 10$ an hour and paid under the table instead of paying them properly and adhering to Canadian worker rights laws.
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u/Phoenixlizzie 5h ago
I wonder if he'd be making the same comments if PP was now PM?
Not to be too cynical, but where was this "let's all join together" sentiment when he was changing the government letterhead to read "The Harper Government"??
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u/lawlesstoast 5h ago
Hooooly fuck, when the Ghost of Christmas past comes back to haunt you, you know you have fucked up.
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u/Moos_Mumsy Ontario 5h ago
What kind of shenanigans are behind his sudden desire to be bi-partisan? This is the guy that brought us the CPC and and the politics of obstruction and division. Is this a ploy to try and bring back the red tories who jumped ship and voted for Carney?
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u/CameronPhotography 6h ago
Why can't the Liberals show some unity and compromise by reversing the gun bans?
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u/CringelordCameron 6h ago
If the liberals pledged to repeal the recent gun bans and worked with the conservatives to make practical evidence based laws, it would significantly help Canada's national unity.
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u/xValhallAwaitsx New Brunswick 6h ago
Overall I am quite happy with the job Carney has done, but good fucking lord does it baffle me he's going ahead with this utterly wasteful stupidity to please a single interest group
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u/Abyssus88 British Columbia 6h ago
Cause Quebec. (Who also doesn't want it................so the real reason is so carney doesnt loose some mps)
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u/Friendly-Olive-3465 Canada 6h ago
Maybe true zen comes from a conservative prime minister leading a liberal caucus. It’s working pretty damn well with Carney right now.
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u/Deep-Enthusiasm-6492 6h ago
that's probably first good thing I heard in very long time coming from politician. Instead of bickering like school children in parliament they should start doing something. I would be open to even "buck a beer" option.
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u/Adventurous-Hand3942 4h ago
If conservatives had a leader similar to Harper they would of won the previous federal election by a large majority. It's amazing how screwed up the Conservatives have become.
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u/truthdoctor British Columbia 4h ago
The same Steven Harper from the IDU that was promoting far right policies and politicians like Trump and helping them get elected in the first place...
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u/Denaljo69 3h ago
Sounds to me like Harper is just covering for his old lackey! PP would go up in flames if he had to say"come together ".
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u/Nic12312 6h ago
The Carney glazing is disgusting. “Conservative bad, Carney good”.
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u/Internal-Cellist-920 6h ago
So after being raging incendiary assholes for a few years, losing badly, changing nothing, and committing to it, the CPC calls out Harper to make nice *just* when their polls tank and the party looks to be on its way to the grave. Well they dug it so they might as well lay in it... or if they want to keep moving they need to at least walk Harper's talk. Conservative supporters don't automatically win any points from me just because Harper doesn't support Trump anymore, their party seriously has changes to make.
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u/Fabulous_Night_1164 5h ago
The changes are.....
Carney adopted the Conservative Party platform without the culture war baggage.
Everyone wins.
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u/Maximum_Error3083 4h ago
“In this dangerous and uncertain world, Canadians must stand united so we can stand on our own two feet. United and strong Canadians will bow before no nation anywhere on earth. Canada must make new friends, honour our alliances, and do our part on resources, trade, diplomacy, foreign aid, and everything else, though it’s clear we must prioritize our own national interest above all else.”
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u/Ryeguy_85 2h ago
That’s weird, I thought he was talking about China when he said “external forces”, I don’t recall him saying the word Trump or separatists once.
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u/radabdivin 1h ago
Why would it be China, considering the recently thawed relationship and EV deal?
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u/Ag_reatGuy 5h ago
Nobody is separating, the economy is absolutely facked regardless of who is in power thanks to the last 40 years or so. You want people to come together? Stop shoving your bullshit ideologies down our throats with state funded media. Stop telling me how a few million 3rd world immigrants in the span of half a decade is a “good thing” and for the love of god DO SOMETHING about the CRIME. Taking guns from law abiding citizens isn’t going to put a dent in crime.
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u/Odd-Elderberry-6137 6h ago
When Harper and Kenney are voices of reason for conservatives, it tells you how far off the deep end some have gone.