Monday, March 3, 2008

Does Harper want the GOP in power?


In case you haven't heard the story about Obama and NAFTA, there were reports that his campaign gave a wink and a nod to the Canadian embassy about Obama's recent attacks of NAFTA. Saying the attacks were political and not meant to be taken seriously. The campaign denies this.

Now rumors are flying that this was a stunt by the conservatives in an effort to embarrass Obama and try to give a hand to John McCain. I'm not sure. Besides ideology, here are a the reasons I could think of that Harper would want to GOP in power:

  • Canadians generally think of themselves as more progressive than Americans. If the Americans elect a progressive leader, Canada might want one too.
  • Having a Republican in power makes America less popular and raises nationalistic sediment in Canada, this could work in favour of the head of state
  • The GOP is generally more free trade and therefore would make it easier to resolve running trade disputes.
  • A left wing government in the U.S. may hold more contempt for a right-wing Canadian government, and therefore be harder to work with.
  • The continuation of the war is Iraq will cause greater political instability in the middle east, driving up the price of oil and profits for Alberta.
All of these reasons are purely speculative, I'm not claiming that I have any evidence to show what is really happening, but it is always worthwhile to look at the incentives facing your government.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I want to be honest, so don't take this comment the wrong way, but:

I think this is the best post you've written so far.

I mean this only as constructive criticism, and your blog is very interesting, especially from another student's perspective. Finally some Canadian views are coming through. Look forward to more interesting posts!
Michael

Anonymous said...

Bob rae taking over liberals and coalitions why not Canadian perhaps would be more likely to accept it better but i do think thath economy in quebec and Ontario experience bob rae and other province cover by npd would be a good union for economic issues, the bloc cannot do the separation in Ottawa be serious Canada please ,but if we could get a good definition of whath is a Quebecer and whath rights should we have has a nation different from the rest in Canada and perhaps have less taxes to pay maybe this would help quebec and Canada at same time , harper said quebec was a nation but just to get more vote in quebec it meant nothing he did laugh at all Quebecer faces and its not right he needed the bloc often to pass their shit also , and language issues created in the Canada and insult being blog about Quebecer came on the lies of mister harper about the bloc thath was elected to represent the quebec in Ottawa like it or not we do trust mister Duceppe and we like him and believe he has our interest at heart sadely every Quebecer is associated to being separatist wich is not true , we are tired to be played by bad politics in Canada and being play in quebec also and asking quebec to accept more the immigrants and gives them all they want and letting them get in massively , sorry they are not Quebecer and we have to pay each of them French courses for them to work here so they integrate quebec culture and way of doing things but do you think they know about quebec or Canada political problems and about political views ?? most of them send money to their country while working here and we cannot put every religions options vallable and respect every demand before they where here we had a way of living why would we change ??? and if we would live in any other country than Canada than we would see thath they wont make concession for us never, they will make concession for alot of money maybe and than again they might take your money and kill you in many places , alot Quebecer are now bilingual not idiot why Canada takes us for idiot or bad French separatist and no one sees thath there is a problem between quebec French and Canada English and lots of racism problems and than we ask quebec to understand immigrants we are gonna be a minority in our places if nothing being done for real Quebecer so no chance the separation will ever pass but they will be no more quebec neither cause is population would have disapeard also will be left immigrants thath may be worst than Quebecer to deal with after so???? If Canada cares about quebec than i think they should get more smart about the issues we pay the most taxes and we know about budget thath we are good in thath we can be trusted and we put up with a America English and now with immigrants thath don’t speak English or French neither thath take over every where and Quebecer stays up and proud even if we are being abuse from lies and we pass for racism persons but we are not . jean lachapelle