I think Ontario can breathe a big sigh of relief this week. The Ontario Conservatives were real bad news. Government funding of religious schools is just not on in most people’s books, and even thinking of changing the secular nature of public schools is just plain off-limits. Good to see Ontario voters use some basic common sense.
The collateral damage to the federal Conservatives will be significant, and I predict the federal Liberals will milk this for all its worth, as below.
The federal Liberals have come out swinging through their new Liberal convert, Garth Turner MP. I’ve quoted the first four paragraphs of the latest federal Liberal national broadcast below:
“My name’s Garth Turner, and as a former lifelong Conservative, I know Stephen Harper better than most people. Like Tom Flanagan, I know where he’s headed.
Flanagan has been Mr. Harper’s main strategist for years, and his new book – which I’ve just finished – should be required reading for all Canadians worried about honesty and truth in government.
It confirms a concept called ‘incremental Conservativism’ – a plan for a right-wing government to hoodwink voters by making popular, moderate promises and then, once in majority, to unleash a pure, hardcore fundamentalist agenda.
Why would Tom Flanagan admit this in print? Because he’s telling Mr. Harper’s social conservative supporters to be patient, to lie in the weeds, and wait for unsuspecting Canadians to give this minority government a majority mandate.”
And he’s right….