A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
After the 1990 election, the Ontario neoconservatives had five years to build up their party. They had hired Republican strategist, Mike Murphy, to create the "Common Sense" campaign, fashioned after one he ran for New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, right down to the 30% reduction in income taxes.
Anthony Panayi, now Tony Clement, was president of the party and acting as secretary for Harris, as they travelled the province and networked with right-wing organizations, in preparation for the next election.
But they had one stumbling block that could lead to their downfall: The Reform Party. There were several members who wanted Reform to run in provincial elections, and began making preparations for an Ontario party. Kimble F. Ainslie, who had been PC leader in Southwestern Ontario, left to form the Reform Association of Ontario, which left Clement and others worried that they could split the vote.
In their research on the 1990 election, the Tories discovered that the presence of fourth parties meant a difference between a minority and a majority government for the NDP. If the Tories had picked up two-thirds of the fourth-party vote that went to groups such as the Family Coalition Party, they would have won 10 extra seats in the legislature. Instead of only 20 seats, they would have had a far more respectable 30, leaving the NDP to form a minority government.
It fell to former party president ... Tony Clement to staunch the flow of votes from the Conservatives to fourth parties. The biggest fourth-party headache for the Tories was the threat of Reform running in Ontario. The federal Tories obviously had failed to respect Reform. Ontario Tories didn't want to make the same colossal blunder. Clement, son of former Ontario attorney general John Clement, gave himself the task of learning everything about the western-based party that had wreaked such havoc with his federal counterparts.
"I wanted to learn not only about them, but to allow them to learn about us," Clement recalled. "We were absolutely convinced that if they were to look at us, and look at where we were coming from, we might not be able to satisfy them on 100 percent of the stuff, but we could satisfy them on 80 percent of it. And maybe that would be enough to reduce or eliminate the threat of splitting the vote and allowing 130 Liberals to get in, just as we'd seen 98 out of 99 Liberals federally in the province of Ontario." (1)
But Clement did not have to fight this himself. A group led by Craig Chandler, Focus Federally For Reform (FFFR) (2), came to the rescue, as he would many times for the neoconservative movement. Chandler had provided input for the Common Sense Revolution and wasn't about to throw it all away now.
The Tories took a two-pronged approach. They planned to make connections with the grass roots as well as the elite of the Reform Party. Concerning the grass roots, Clement hit pay dirt when he acquired a fairly comprehensive list of every Reform member in Ontario, some 25,000 names. The Tories sent out mailings incessantly to every Reform member on that list, with letters that went a little like this.
"Hi, my name's Mike Harris. You don't know a lot about me but here's some policy. Here's where we stand as a provincial party. You might be interested in it." The plan was always to lead with policy. Grass-roots people talk about policy. There was no point telling people to vote Conservative to avoid splitting the vote. Voters have no stake in strategic voting. They simply don't care. Main Street Ontarians care deeply about issues. Reformers hate the old top-down style of politics and like discussions on policy. The Tories caught the wave. In mailing after mailing, they asked the Reformers for their opinions — on education, crime, and the deficit. They sent out questionnaires and were amazed at the number that were returned.
Kindred souls with shared goals. Besides, the Reform Party was already in trouble when it was discovered that they had neo-Nazis operating within their ranks.
"We were very, very clear though, in our dealings with them that we weren't going to change who we were for them. Mike was very clear on this. We would share information with them. We should share who we were. If they felt comfortable with us, that was their choice, come on board. We're an open party. You can join up, you can get involved in the riding associations, etc."If you do not feel comfortable with us, this is who we are, we are not going to change who we are for you, but we understand," Clement said. He stressed that there was never any intention to "out reform Reform."
"We never said, 'How can we change ourselves to make our-selves more acceptable to you?"' Clement recalled. That would have been as much an affront to Reform followers as it would have been to mainstream Conservatives. The Tories kept it simple: they shared policy statements, introduced their leader Mike Harris, and told Reformers that they were welcome to climb aboard. A lot of Reform members took up the invitation and easily integrated themselves with the Tories at the riding level. In Cambridge, the federal Reform Party candidate headed up the candidate search committee for the Tories' provincial candidate. In Durham West and in Al Palladini's riding of York Centre, Reformers were members of the executive.
In addition to courting grass-roots Reformers, the Ontario Tories set out to create a working relationship with the movers and shakers within the federal Reform Party. Mike Harris met three times with Reform Party leader Preston Manning, the first meeting taking place in December 1993. They met again on 3 May 1994. At that time, Harris and Clement talked to Manning, his campaign manager Rick Anderson, and Ed Harper, the only Reformer from Ontario, prior to the release of the Common Sense Revolution. They shared with Manning and his people their ideas on welfare reform, tax cuts, and deficit reduction, and they asked the Reformers if they had any ideas which they wanted to share with them. The provincial Tories needed Manning and Reform on side. More specifically, they needed to spell out to Manning that there was no room on the right for a fourth party in the Ontario election. (Before the Tories left Ottawa, they discussed their radical plan with Tory leader Jean Charest, his policy gurus, and Conservative senators.)
The third phase of the campaign to deal with the Reform threat took place the day after the launch of the Common Sense Revolution in the spring of 1994. Harris met with Manning and his people and then the Tory caucus. They invited Jean Chretien and the Liberals, but they were too busy. Ah, well. Essentially, said Clement, they were treating the federal Reform Party with respect, while not trying to pretend to be something they were not. As a result, Manning decided not to branch into provincial politics. In October 1994, Tory efforts paid off. In an official vote at the Reform General Assembly, close to 70 percent of the members from Ontario and two-thirds of the Canada-wide membership voted against running candidates in provincial elections.
Clement attributed the higher vote in Ontario to the massive effort which the Tories had made to get their message out to Reform members in that province. There were no deals struck, no high-powered strategic discussions. It was a matter of each leader setting out policy and forging informal links. Formal ties were far less important than getting to know each other. And it worked. Reform stayed home during the 1995 election. (1)
Ainslee was not happy, and accused the Harris team of sabotaging him. The results of the election were 82 seats for Tories, 30 for the Liberals, and the NDP were reduced to 17.
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
"If you want cocktails join the Group downtown. If you want something done join the PGIB."Stephen Harper, April 1999, PGIB National Convention, Calgary, Alberta
And the PGIB certainly got things done for Mr. Harper, including throwing support behind his leadership bid, that may very well have been the deciding factor during the race. The Progressive Group for Independent Business, also take credit for the election of Mike Harris and Rob Anders.
Anders has been a long time supporter of PGIB and has even filled in as host on their Freedom radio station. Anti-racist activist David Lethbridge has raised some concerns about PGIB, and expresses them in his article Prescription For Fascism: Alternative Medicine and Right-Wing Politics, He believes that there are some groups under their umbrella, who appear to fronts for fascist and neo-Nazi organizations.
He doesn't suggest that PGIB is, but suggests that:
Wherever we find tendencies to irrationalism and conspiracy-mongering, there we find fertile ground in which fascism can grow, or a movement which fascism can exploit. These tendencies are rife within the ever-expanding and overlapping alternative medicine, New Age, and tax refusal circles. While the class basis for these tendencies is essentially petit-bourgeois, it is by no means restricted to this class; certainly, sectors of the working class are being strongly influenced by these same forces. It would be foolish to dismiss fascism's entry into these areas which are often considered purely marginal or simply bizarre. On the contrary, much political and agitational work needs to be done on this front, as on so many others, where fascism has found a new foothold. (1)
The founder of PGIB, Craig Chandler, is controversial himself. When he was running for the PCs in the provincial election of Alberta, he stated that any newcomers to Alberta must vote conservative or leave:
Rather rich that he talks about getting into debt, when his run for the federal PC leadership, on a platform of Uniting the Right, he got himself into so much debt that he had to hold a very disturbing fundraiser.
Few took fringe candidate Craig Chandler seriously when he ran for the federal Progressive Conservative leadership this spring. Even harder to take is the fundraiser he plans to help cover the cost of his failed bid. Chandler is inviting guests to a Calgary shooting range to fire live ammunition at targets emblazoned with the federal Liberal party logo.
"For 100 bucks, you get a 9-mm or equivalent, bullets, and you get a day pass at the Shooting Edge (firing range) and you get a steak dinner – Alberta beef, of course," he says. (2)
And guess who loved the idea and thought he'd like to copy it?
The idea makes Calgary West Alliance MP Rob Anders "giddy."
"It’s a perfect fit for an Alliance fundraiser," the MP says. "I can’t picture NDPs or Liberals doing it." He’s considering a similar fundraiser, minus the Liberal-logo target. John Harvard, chair of the Liberals’ western caucus, rightly calls Chandler’s Aug. 23 event "distasteful." Chandler, who splits his time between Calgary and the Guelph area, is a proponent of uniting the right. He and his Alliance supporters accuse critics of his ill-advised fundraising scheme of having a knee-jerk anti-gun and anti-western bias.
But this isn’t an argument about political correctness. It’s about the frightening prospect of a group of people using loaded weapons to express displeasure with another party’s viewpoint. Chandler and his ilk should stick to shooting off their mouths, not guns. (2)
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
"Rob is a true reformer and a true conservative. He has been a faithful supporter of mine and I am grateful for his work." ( Stephen Harper endorsing Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders)
In October of 2008, Harper MP Rob Anders, told a humanitarian rights lawyer that he believes Canadian diplomacy and humanitarian work should focus on changing foreigners' language to English and their faith to Christianity.
Ms. Kennedy-Glans, a Calgary West constituent, said she has come forward in the middle of the election campaign because she wants fellow voters to understand his perspective. She recognizes missionary work has value, but as the founder of a volunteer agency that helps train female professionals in Muslim countries such as Nigeria and Indonesia, she believes Mr. Anders' apparent views pose a security risk to Canadians abroad.
"If anybody in the world saw or heard that the MP in my riding was saying that he thought humanitarian agencies should go out and change religions, I am at personal risk and so are the volunteers that get on the plane and go do this work," said Ms. Kennedy-Glans, founder of Calgary-based Bridges Social Development. (1)
Naturally Anders claimed that his remarks were taken out of context, but another person who was privy to the conversation, states that Kennedy-Glans was accurate in her interpretation.
However, there was something else that was part of Ander's defense that I found interesting: He has also been a staunch defender of liberties of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetans, harshly decrying the actions of the Chinese government.
Falun Gong is something that is coming up a lot with the theocons lately, here and in the U.S., which I've generally dismissed, but when one of the more controversial members of our government goes on record as defending them, I thought it warranted a second look.
From their own website: The Falun Gong teachings borrow terms and concepts of Buddha school and Tao school, but it is not a religion like Buddhism and Taoism. Falun Gong does not have any religious formality or worship .... And yet all of the claims made about their conflict with the Chinese government, cite religious persecution.
So What is Falun Gong?
First off, what I've discovered is that, like Yoga, it has helped many people, by combining a spiritual and physical regimen. But what I've also discovered is that it is a very powerful political movement, that has gained a lot momentum, earning the support of many western governments.
But it has also garnered warnings about cult-like practices, stemming from the beliefs of the movement's founder Li Hongzhi, which can be found in his own writings and interviews with foreign press. For instance, he claims that the Earth is under attack from extraterrestrial aliens who are getting ready to clone and supplant the human race even as we speak. From Time magazine, May 1999:
Suddenly, however, conversation veered to a topic Li has thus far broached to none but his inner circle: aliens on earth. "One type of alien looks like a human but has a nose made of a bone ... others resemble ghosts. The extraterrestrials, who arrived circa 1900, have not been idle. "Everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own," said Li, "when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens." The aliens intend to replace all humans with clones, he added. "In terms of culture and spirit, they already control men." (2)
And also from his book Zhuan Falun:
Li's rambling dissertation, Zhuan Falun, has only added to accusations that Falun Gong is a cult. Li writes he can personally heal disease and that his followers can stop speeding cars using the powers of his teachings. He writes that the Falun Gong emblem exists in the bellies of practitioners, who can see through the celestial eyes in their foreheads. Li believes "humankind is degenerating and demons are everywhere"extraterrestrials are everywhere, too and that Africa boasts a 2-billion-year-old nuclear reactor. He also says he can fly. (3)
Mythology in religion is nothing new, but he relies on a mythology of his own modern day creation. However, what warrants a second look are his remarks about homosexuality, that are not unlike those of some members of the Religious Right.
"Is homosexuality human behavior? Heaven created man and woman. What was the purpose? To procreate future generations. A man being with a man, or a woman with a woman-it doesn't take much thought to know whether that's right or wrong. When minor things are done incorrectly, a person is said to be wrong. When major things are done incorrectly, it's a case of people no longer having the moral code of human beings, and then they are unworthy of being human…
When gods created man they prescribed standards for human behavior and living. When human beings overstep those boundaries, they are no longer called human beings, though they still assume the outer appearance of a human. So gods can't tolerate their existence and will destroy them." (4)
However, after being accused of being not only a cult, but a homophobic cult, Li suggests that he is actually on earth to save homosexuals:
"Let me tell you why today's society has become how it is. It results from there not being an upright Fa to keep human beings in check. This Dafa is taught right in the most chaotic environment, at a time when no religion can save people, and where the circumstance is that no god takes interest in people anymore. The Fa is almighty. The best time periods wouldn't require such a great Fa to be taught. Only in the worst time periods can the power of the Fa manifest. There are other reasons, too."
"Let me tell you, if I weren't teaching this Fa today, gods' first target of annihilation would be homosexuals. It's not me who would destroy them, but gods. ... You know that homosexuals have found legitimacy in that homosexuality was around back in the culture of ancient Greece. Yes, there was a similar phenomenon in ancient Greek culture. And do you know why ancient Greek culture is no more? Why are the ancient Greeks gone? Because they had degenerated to that extent, and so they were destroyed." (4)
That same speech could have been given by John Hagee or Charles McVety. And yet we have a Parliamentary Falun Gong Friendship Group.
I understand that it was formed in response to human rights violations imposed by the Chinese government on practitioners of Falun Gong, but for someone like Rob Anders and other, what are being dubbed 'Christian Conservatives, who have little to do with Christianity or conservatism, there is a different agenda: anti-Communism.
Falun Gong and a Holy Purpose
Tim LeHaye, one of the founders of the American Religious Right movement, recently reassured his followers that Obama was not the Antichrist. He knows this because before the end times can occur, we must first get rid of communism. Apparently this was chiseled into a stone tablet.
This brings us to the reason why end timers defend the Falun Gong movement. They pose a direct threat to Communism in China.
Banning the fastest growing religious group in modern Chinese history may be a risky move for Beijing, but letting it flourish may have been even riskier. That appears to be thinking behind a government decision Thursday to declare the 70-million strong Falun Gong religious cult illegal. The move came as protests continued in Beijing and other major cities against the arrest Wednesday of thousands of members and leaders of the group. "The government fears that Falun Gong, as a nationwide movement with more members than the Communist party, could become a lightning rod for the political frustrations of a nation undergoing traumatic social and economic changes," says TIME correspondent William Dowell. "Their belief system is a symbolic representation of the difficulties of modern life, and that could make it a very powerful force in a largely peasant population easily swayed by mysticism." (5)
And:
Even more terrifying for the government is the possibility that Falun Gong could morph into a political organization, as has happened with other sects in Chinese history--most famously during the 19th century Taiping rebellion, when a martial-arts cult triggered a civil war that left more than a million dead. But so far police have found no evidence of a political conspiracy, and the official media have accused Li of being a cult leader who promotes superstition and witchcraft. (6)
And:
Historically, secret societies and spiritual masters have challenged, and even toppled, Chinese dynasties, and President Jiang Zemin has stressed a need to "suppress cults and the use of religion to engage in illegal activities." (2)
Rob Anders has always been a vocal opponent of China and communism in general. In 2000 he was lauded on the xtremist C-Far site, by Stephen Harper's old pal* Paul Fromm:
Wednesday night, at a Chinese New Year's celebration on Parliament Hill, he [Anders] was asked by officials of the Red Chinese Embassy to leave because he was quietly wearing a tee-shirt calling on the Communist Chinese to get out of Tibet. The shirt also proclaimed: "Stop Tiananmen tanks, forced abortions, burning books" and "Independent Indo-China, Korea, and Taiwan." (7)
As an elected Member of Parliament, this is not the way to go about opposing a foreign country.
He was also the only MP to deny an honorary citizenship to Nelson Mandela, which would have had more meaning if it could have been unanimous.
I don't think that, you know, anybody would argue that if Nelson Mandela was saying, you know, 30 years ago, that you should go around with matches and necklaces and strangle people or burn them out of their homes, that is not terrorism ... "[Honouring Nelson Mendela is a] total political-correctness poster-boy thing... He was a Communist. He was a terrorist... " (8)
Human rights abuses need to be challenged by any government, but is it wise to put so much support behind a political movement whose leader believes he can fly? (Stephen Harper only thinks he can walk on water) And should we not condemn their blatant homophobia? Despite the fact that it might give Jason Kenney a case of premature rapture-lation, Falun Gong's leader believes that only he can save Gays from annihilation, when no one else has even used the term.
However, there is another reason why we must proceed with caution.
The Falun Gong and Media Manipulation
Dr. Heather Kavan, a lecturer in Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand, spent a year with the Falun Gong, to assess in part whether they were indeed a cult or as it's followers suggest an organization that promotes spiritual and moral well-being, and cures illness. Maybe it's both.
Dr. Kavan began her quest with empathy and a desire to learn why Falun Gong was banned, while she has no doubt that there are human rights violations against them, also discovered that "much of the material about Falun Gong in the Western news misleads the public."
Falun Gong, literally law wheel practice, is a new religious movement that is now illegal in China. Of all religious adherents, Falun Gong members are perhaps the most media savvy. They have despatched thousands of press releases, staged headline-generating events, maintained a strong Internet presence, and brought defamation suits against anyone who publishes unfavourable material. Consequently, Falun Gong adherents have been treated relatively kindly by the western press, who have sometimes supported their religious and political agendas.
While several studies have examined how Falun Gong, the Chinese media, and the Western media have framed and presented their material, from a practical perspective the issue of the material's accuracy is more important. Western governments' policies regarding human rights issues in China are often largely based on media reports ... (9)
This certainly shows things in a different light.
Conflict with the media has been central to Falun Gong almost since its inception, for it was not the Chinese government, but journalists, writers, scientists and ex-members who first criticised Falun Gong. Li's unscientific claims and professions of divine status invited scepticism, and by mid 1996 Chinese journalists began to publish critical articles about Falun Gong's supernatural beliefs and Li's egoism. In response, Li directed members to defend the fa (his spiritual law) whenever it was attacked. The protests were large and relentless.
... In China the media are free only as far as they facilitate social stability, so when Falun Gong threatened civil unrest, media managers were quick to capitulate to their demands. For example, when 2,000 protestors surrounded Beijing Television after the station broadcast a segment about a doctoral candidate who became psychotic while practising Falun Gong, the station fired the reporter, aired an immediate sympathetic portrayal, and – to show extra goodwill – handed out 2,000 boxed lunches to the protestors.
Having learnt that such protests were fruitful, Falun Gong members were unstoppable. To prevent social unrest, Beijing authorities introduced a blackout against any negative media reports on the movement. However, not everyone was aware of the blackout, and an obscure academic magazine in Tianjin published a critique of Falun Gong by renowned physicist He Zuoxin. The article might have gone unnoticed, except that six thousand Falun Gong protestors occupied the University over three days, demanding a retraction. The editors refused, responding that scientific publications do not print retractions. The protest developed into a riot – although this appears to have happened after the riot police arrived – and up to 45 people were arrested (the numbers vary in different accounts). (9)
So it would appear that the Chinese government is not suppressing religious beliefs, but a powerful political movement that threatens to create social unrest. Dr Kavan concludes:
At the heart of the battle between the Chinese government and Falun Gong are two warring ideologies with highly committed protagonists. Both use the media as pawns. Both use the same rhetorical strategies: issuing blanket denials when accused, devising conspiracy stories, and redirecting allegations by accusing the other of the same thing. What is being played out is a conflict of intransigent beliefs. The Western media's uncritical acceptance of Falun Gong's version suggests that Li, by appealing to ideals of amelioration of suffering and freedom of religion, has produced a story that the West wants to believe. (9)
That the West WANTS to believe.
Kavan also mentions her own confrontation when news of her own story was leaked.
When the research was finished, I was quoted in a press release on new religious movements, in which I said that the FBI's definition of a potentially violent religion was so broad that several groups in New Zealand would fall into it, and cited Falun Gong as one of several examples. Falun Gong members monitor the media daily, and discovered the press release even before I did. They were offended that they were classified with other religions that they perceived to be "totally evil", and I received a phone call warning me that I would be deluged by a hundred callers from a Falun Gong email list. Several emotionally–charged phone calls followed, in which the callers demanded the press release be removed from the Internet. A member contacted me at home and relayed accusations that I was being paid large amounts of money by the Chinese government, and repeatedly said that the situation was "extremely dangerous". Each time I asked exactly what the danger was, she did not explain. (9)
We need to be very careful here, because even for those who oppose communism, is the alternative really better? Maybe for Rob Anders and other extremists, but Canadians have to be diligent, especially when we already have a Parliamentary Falun Gong Friendship Group.
Footnotes:
*In 1987 Reform Party member, Paul Fromm, arranged to have author and journalist, Peter Brimelow, speak at their convention. As reward, he was allowed to set up a table in the hall, where he distributed literature and sold memberships to his anti-immigration organization C-FAR. (10) Peter Brimelow's book Patriot Game: Canada and the Canadian Question Revisited, is said to have been one of the motivations behind the formation of the new party. After reading it, Harper and his buddy John Weissenberger, were so enthralled with the book that they bought ten copies and gave them to friends. (11)
Sources:
1. MP says comments on aid, religion 'torqued': A lawyer and humanitarian says Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders told her he believes Canadian diplomacy and humanitarian work should focus on changing foreigners' language to English and their faith to Christianity, By The Ottawa Citizen, October 1, 2008
2. The Man with the Qi, By Jaime A. FlorCruz/Beijing; Time Magazine, May. 10, 1999
6. Inside The Falun Gong, By Mia Turner/Beijing;Terry McCarthy/Shanghai , Time magazine, August 09, 1999
7. Calgary West MP Rob Anders deserves the thanks and appreciation of all Canadians Citizens for Foreign Aid ... . By Paul Fromm, Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform Inc. (C-FAR), February 12, 2000
8. Conservative MP Rob Anders after blocking a resolution to declare former South African president Nelson Mandela an honorary Canadian citizen, June 11, 2001. Anders also implied that South Africa was better off during Apartheid than it is today. (Hansard)
10. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada. Author: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, Pg. 48
11. Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada, by William Johnson, 2005, ISBN 0-7710 4350-3, Pg. 52
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
Craig Chandler, a long time Reform-Alliance-Conservative supporter and organizer, used his Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB), to help the unite the right, with the motto "Unite the Right to Unite the Country."
PGIB has contributed to the success of Mike Harris, Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper, to name a few. Chandler would hold three 'Roots of Change' conferences, that greatly impacted the outcome of the subsequent merger, fashioned in part on David Frum's Winds of Change.
Tom Walkom in the Toronto Star, wrote of Chandler's initiatives:
When influential conservatives held a conference to unite the right two years ago, Craig Chandler couldn’t even wangle an invitation. “I called to get in but (organizer and journalist) David Frum wouldn’t let me,” the 27-year-old former Reform party candidate recalled this week. “He said they were full. It was a kind of cliquey, elitist sort of thing.”So Chandler got his own back. Yesterday, he kicked off his own two-day, unite-the-right conference in Toronto. And David Frum wasn’t there. Instead, Chandler’s Roots of Change conference is attracting the kinds of blood-and-guts rightists who sparked the Reform party, but who – as Reform attempts to become more respectable – find themselves relegated to the sidelines. (1)
If they were indeed from the fringe, it's interesting to note that their speakers included not only Stockwell Day, but Link Byfield, Mark Montini from the Leadership Institute, Steve Jalsevic from the anti-abortion Campaign Life Coalition* and Michael Coren who now has his own television talk show on Christian TV.
But Craig Chandler contributed something far more important to the cause. He paved the way for a hostile take over of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and they didn't see it coming.
The 2Cards Campaign:
Craig Chandler, founder of the Progressive Group for Independent Business thought that perhaps the best way to bring the Progressive Conservative party on board, was from the inside. So he joined the party and then ran for it's leadership, drawing many of his followers into the PC fold. His bid failed, but at the 2002 PC Convention in Edmonton, Alberta, he manged to have Resolution 9, which sought to ban dual memberships, defeated. This paved the way for an aggressive campaign launched by the PGIB, called the 2Cards.
As you are well aware both the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance are sending the Merger Package for full ratification. The Tories and the Canadian Alliance are sending the proposal to their memberships and each party is different and this the real issue. Our polling numbers from The Strategy Group Inc show that 80 - 83.5% of Canadian Alliance members would support any effort for a united conservative movement. Also, since the Canadian Alliance only requires a simple majority to accept the Merger Package our efforts will not be focused on persuading Canadian Alliance members.
However, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is where the battleground is. The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's Constitution requires a 2/3 majority vote from participating members to ratify this Merger package and this is where the problem lies. ... How can we insure that the Tory membership will embrace the Merger Package?
Quite simply, by following the initial plan of the www.2cards.ca campaign and insure that those that have dual memberships such as the Jim Prentice supporters, many Scott Brison supporters, Peter McKay and Craig Chandler supporters become activated and campaign on the yes side of the merger package. (2)
Chandler encouraged all Alliance Party members to buy PC memberships, so that they would be able to, in effect, vote twice. Without this important initiative, the PCs would never have allowed the merger to take place.
Interestingly, one of the loudest opponents to the uniting of the right was Stephen Harper.
Before Craig Chandler sought the leadership of the Progressive ConservativeParty of Canada with PGIB support, even Stephen Harper was against uniting the two parties. Peter McKay was also very clear about his views on unity with the Canadian Alliance in a very negative way throughout the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Leadership race ...
Harper had the audience on his side when he dismissed the idea of a merger with the Tories. "And ladies and gentlemen, that's not cooperation, that's surrender, and that's not taking us forward, that's backward. And that's not where we're going to go," said Harper.
But some feel that Harper isn't the right choice, because he's against a merger with the Progressive Conservative Party. Many of Day's old Alberta cabinet buddies aren't backing him but they're also leery of Harper. "I have the greatest respect for Harper," says Alberta's Infrastructure Minister Ty Lund. "I was disappointed, though, to hear that he wasn't interested in working with the PCs." (2)
Stephen Harper had always hated Red Tories and detested the notion of any reference to 'Progressive'. He once said that there would be a showdown between Reform and And the PCs and that Reform would not lose.
However, in exchange for Chandler's support, he took a different approach and when he won the leadership of the Alliance, the extreme right-wing Australian League of Rights was thrilled, since this was an important victory for the movement:
The most notable political developments of the past few weeks were the election of Stephen Harper as the new leader of the Alliance Party, succeeding Stockwell Day; and Mr. Harper's immediate meeting with PC leader Joe Clark, in which he challenged him to stop piddling around and wasting time, and join the Alliance in 'uniting the right,' or else get out of the way as the Alliance moves forward ... Mr. Harper, because of his early background with the Reform movement, his several years' experience in the House of Commons and as leader of the National Citizens' Coalition, should be well equipped for his new role. (4)
Unfortunately, Joe Clark was forced out and the Progressive Conservative party of Canada ceased to exist as of December 7, 2003. The anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbour, was a fitting date.
Canada no longer has a legitimate conservative party, though there are rumblings that former conservative supporters are thinking of reviving the old party. I hope so. We need a right of centre altrnative to a party so far to the right, they are pulling Canada off the map.
* "The Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion lobby group backing Mr [Stockwell]. Day, was also censured by party officials for sending out 130,000 letters asking its supporters to donate money so the organization could buy memberships in bulk to help the candidate. Organizers for Dr. Hill and Mr. [Stephen] Harper complained successfully that the actions by Campaign Life violated party rules prohibiting groups from buying memberships."(3)
Sources:
1. Chandler’s Roots of Change Conference attracts fringe elements: Unite-the-right’s downmarket element. Meeting attracts those relegated to sidelines, By Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star, March 21, 1998
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
Craig Chandler, a long time Reform-Alliance-Conservative supporter and organizer, used his Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB), to help the unite the right, with the motto "Unite the Right to Unite the Country."
His group has contributed to the success of Mike Harris, Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper, to name a few. He's kind of an "energy bunny", who's often been controversial, and while I would never agree with his ideology, I kind of like him simply because he's honest. He may exaggerate his importance, but there's no denying his influence.
I also appreciate that on his Concerned Christian Coalition website, he clearly states that it is FOR profit. It's a business, not a non-profit organization. In this way he doesn't have to hide his political stripes, as so many of them do, though usually not well.
In David Lethbridge's 2001 article: Prescription for Fascism (1), where he writes about the "quackery" movement and ties many of the groups with the extreme-right, he lists among them Citizens' Voice for Health Rights . The head of CVHR is Debbie Anderson who was part of the National Executive, and BC chair of Chandler's PTIB. She was also involved with the "Roots of Change" Conferences. (I should mention though that Canadian Wholesale Direct, a relatively well respected health-food distributor, lists Anderson's CVHR first under its heading "Health Freedom" (1)).
Tom Walkom in the Toronto Star, wrote of Chandler's initiatives, reminding his readers that they were independent of the "Winds of Change", run by David Frum and Ezra Levant.
When influential conservatives held a conference to unite the right two years ago, Craig Chandler couldn’t even wangle an invitation. “I called to get in but (organizer and journalist) David Frum wouldn’t let me,” the 27-year-old former Reform party candidate recalled this week. “He said they were full. It was a kind of cliquey, elitist sort of thing.”
So Chandler got his own back. Yesterday, he kicked off his own two-day, unite-the-right conference in Toronto. And David Frum wasn’t there. Instead, Chandler’s Roots of Change conference is attracting the kinds of blood-and-guts rightists who sparked the Reform party, but who – as Reform attempts to become more respectable – find themselves relegated to the sidelines. (2)
They may have been sidelined but they continue to support and influence the party, with their various grassroots movements. Chandler recently had an audience with Stockwell Day, so they are obviously still on speaking terms. I'd be happy if someone from this government just answered my emails.
I should also point out that if they were in fact on the "sidelines", or part of the "fringe" their speakers included not only Stockwell Day, but Link Byfield, Mark Montini from the Leadership Institute, Steve Jalsevic from the anti-abortion Campaign Life Coalition* and Michael Coren of the Financial Post, to name a few.
Lethbridge, mentions not only Debbie Anderson speaking on behalf of Citizens' Voice for Health Rights, but several others including:
Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Committee:a union busting organization from Springfield, Virginia. You can listen to Mix's interview on Fox News here. A director of the NRWC is none other than Morton Blackwell, and need I remind you, that besides the Leadership Institute, that Preston Manning designed his own institute after, he is also one of the founders of the Council for National Policy, the vanguard of both the Religious Right and the Republican Party in the U.S.
I already mentioned Mark Montini from the Leadership Institute above. He is one of the most influential speakers and Republican pollsters in the U.S. I love his motto: "If Mark doesn’t light your fire, your wood is wet". (LMAO) I've visited his site and I guess my wood must be soaked.
He is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and was sued by a gay couple for stealing a picture of them and then using it in one of his campaigns.
Ron Leitch of the Preservation of English in Canada (APEC) - was a long time associate of Ron Gostick and an early Reform Party supporter.
Jocelyn Dumais of the Quebec-based ADAT - another union busting group.
Robert Metz of the Freedom Party of Ontario - Their platform is the usual laundry list of neocons everywhere: tax reductions, and opposition to welfare programs, the Human Rights Commission, affirmative action programs, multiculturalism and official bilingualism, yada, yada, yada.
John Thompson, executive director of the MacKenzie Institute, a right-wing think tank based in Ottawa, with a pro-war agenda (fear mongering) - The Western World's scarcely recognized war with the Islamic Jihad stumbles on; handicapped by the unwillingness of most Muslims to engage in the war (so far, anyway) and by our own common inability to correctly name or identify the enemy. As we get lost in the minutia of homegrown Jihadists, airport security and fighting in Afghanistan, we are losing sight of the forest on account of the trees. Maybe if they can't see the forest for the trees, their wood is just wet.
They don't all sound like "fringe" and in fact many are quite legitimate, showing that Chandler is better connected than his opponents suggest.
I'm going to continue with a few more "Health"/Right-wing connections, so stay tuned, because as Lethbridge concludes:
" Wherever we find tendencies to irrationalism and conspiracy-mongering, there we find fertile ground in which fascism can grow, or a movement which fascism can exploit. These tendencies are rife within the ever-expanding and overlapping alternative medicine, New Age, and tax refusal circles. While the class basis for these tendencies is essentially petit-bourgeois, it is by no means restricted to this class; certainly, sectors of the working class are being strongly influenced by these same forces. It would be foolish to dismiss fascism's entry into these areas which are often considered purely marginal or simply bizarre. On the contrary, much political and agitational work needs to be done on this front, as on so many others, where fascism has found a new foothold." (1)
2. Chandler’s Roots of Change Conference attracts fringe elements: Unite-the-right’s downmarket element. Meeting attracts those relegated to sidelines, By Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star, March 21, 1998
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
Increasing numbers of Canadians have begun to embrace a variety of alternative medicines, and are spending more and more of their dollars in health food stores. Often enough, these medicines and health food supplements have little actual medicinal or nutritional value, but the vendors of these products appear to have tapped into a widespread and dangerous anti-science tendency.(1)
What Lethbridge is referring to is the 'quackery' industry, not legitimate homeopaths and health stores. And when I looked into some of the people involved in this 'quackery' movement he's right on target. And the thinking is probably that those who follow this industry, would be more receptive to listening to it's other "extreme-right" messages.
Consumer Health Organization of Canada
At the time the article was written, Libby Gardon was heading up the CHOC. Lethbridge continues:
A case in point is the Consumer Health Organization of Canada's (CHOC)Total Health convention, held in Toronto, on 17-18 March 2001. Scheduled speakers, alongside the usual alternative medicine hucksters, were Eustace Mullins and Bob Baker. Mullins has a fifty year history of advocating the most vicious neo-Nazi, antisemitic, and white racist ideology. Baker is associated with Lyndon LaRouche's extreme right organizations. Is CHOC's combination of alternative medicine and right wing politics at the Total Health convention simply a mistake, or some sort of anomaly, or are there deeper and more pervasive connections between the two movements?
The late Eustache Mullins certainly was an odd choice for a 'Health' convention. You can listen to a brief interview with him soon after Obama was elected, on a site called RestoreAmericanProject, under the heading: Vote against those who deny Jesus Christ is the Son of God! From their website:
Restore America Project was born March 9, 2008, on the 85th Birthday of Eustace Clarence Mullins. We are dedicated to presenting the truth to a world that has been compromised by misleading Educators, Teachers, Ministers and organizations that have been controled [sic] by a handful of evil people.
We promise to work tirelessly to improve the knowledge of our people and affect positive change in the world around us. We affirm the importance of working together to find solutions. We will operate lawfully and respectfully in all matters. We will not profit from our endeavors. We believe in fairness for all. Restore America Project will not waiver in the conviction to create a better world for all citizens.
We subscribe to the following solution to rid ourselves of the Evil Executive, Judicial and Legislative members in our government. 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways: Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
It is time for Christians and those other patriots to stand up against the encroaching evil on our land. The true target of the evil doers is to wipe Christianity from the face of the earth. Founders: Eustace C. Mullins, Mark W. Blackburn
A founding member of the group is L.A. Samples, and you can be linked from this site to his Global Prayer Outreach. They too are working toward the Great American Revival:
I believe that only a move of God through-out America will save our nation from impending collapse in all areas of our society. Historically, great moves of God in America and around the world, were preceded by intercessory prayer. ... This nation is now held captive Spirit, Soul and Body by satan [sic]. The hedge is down and we as a country have been bitten by serpants [sic] ... We, the children, must break these satanic chains of darkness off of our nation so that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ may shine again. It is now so very important that the many churches and prayer groups begin to pray for our country from a common platform, on the same page, as one. If we do it the way God said, then He will hear from Heaven and heal our land (2Chronicles7:14). A national sovereign move of God is the only answer!
Mullins himself, among other horrendous comments about Jews, wrote in his, The Secret Holocaust:
The real holocaust was a Christian Holocaust by Jews of sixty-six million, mostly Christians. The devastation of civilization to date by the rapacious hordes of Godless Communism, as well as their planned annihilation of all non-Jewish societies and political organizations, began to ravage the world in the nineteenth century. It has resulted in incredible suffering and death for many millions of Christian victims in many parts of the world.
He is clearly from the Holocaust Denial, Protocols of Zion crowd. Yet as Lethbridge points out:
Libby Gardon, the president of CHOC, when confronted with the nature of Mullins' work ... said she "was unaware of Mr. Mullins' early writings in which he challenged the authenticity of Holocaust reports and made several unfounded anti-Semitic slurs." Now this is a very interesting and half-hearted disavowal, to say the least. Gardon has reportedly known Mullins for fifteen years. Her organization openly sold Mullins' hate propaganda ... He has written that Jewish priests drink the blood of little white boys, that Jews are "furry scavengers who have found their way through the sewers into ever civilized place," and that "the Christian peoples totter on the verge of worldwide annihilation by the Jewish master scheme."
And he was invited to speak at a 'Health' conference in Toronto? The National Post wrote at the time:
Organizers of next month's Total Health show have refused to drop an anti-Semitic writer from their speakers list, triggering outrage among Jewish groups and conference sponsors. As revealed by the National Post yesterday, Virginia author Eustace Mullins, who in his books has described Jews as "parasites" who control the world economy and murder Christian babies for blood rituals, is scheduled to speak on medical and financial monopolies at next month's show.
"At this point in time, Mr. Mullins will continue to participate in this event. Any decision to remove him from the program will have to be discussed by the board of directors," said a statement released yesterday by the Consumer Health Organization, the group putting on the show.
John Gardon, a founding member of the health organization, was defiant. "Do you think we're going to cancel a speaker?" Mr. Gardon said. "It's excellent publicity. People will come to hear his side of the story." His wife, Libby Gardon, president of the organization, said she has known Mr. Mullins for 15 years and never heard him make anti-Semitic remarks. (2)
Is she kidding me?
And then look at some of the other speakers at this 'Health' conference, including David Icke, who is described as a British Conspiracy theorist, though I think just "Icke" is appropriate. One of his theories is that "... the Illuminati plot to take over the world is actually being carried out by a race of extraterrestrial reptiles in human form. They are described, literally, as being child-sacrificing, blood-drinking Satan-worshippers capable of changing their shape." (3)
And Bob Baker with the Lydon Larouche Youth Movement and the Schiller Institute. Larouche was in the news recently after the death of Jeffrey Duggan, who many people believe was murdered by someone or several people from the group. Larouche released a statement "describing the media reports as a press "hoax" orchestrated by Dick Cheney, then the Vice-President of the United States, and Cheney's wife."
But probably the most disturbing guest speaker (and yes even more disturbing than Mr. Icke) was David Butterfield, one of those anti-tax guys. No, I mean one of THOSE anti-tax guys. He recently wrote on the site TaxTyranny.ca:
Eventually, the masses will realize that their only hope for freedom, now that "constant vigilance" is a moot point, will come through mass civil disobedience. Of course this also means that those masses will have to be committed to "Live free or die." What are our chances of that happening? Without first educating those masses of the rights and freedoms to which they are lawfully entitled, the chances are slightly less than zero.
And that site links to several 'Health' product sites. I believe that David Lethbridge may be on to something. Orrrrrrr ... maybe he's an "extraterrestrial reptile in human form". I wonder.
Now again I stress that this does not mean that all or even most health product providers are involved with extreme right-wing politics, but there is a group that appear to be (allegedly) using the industry as a cover.
Which brings me to David Lethbridge's next organization for discussion: Citizens' Voice for Health Rights (CVHR), run by Debbie Anderson. According to Lethbridge, Anderson is also a member of the National Executive, as well as BC Chair, of the Progressive Group for Independent Business (PGIB), the organization of Craig Chandler. She spoke at a "Unite the Right" conference, sharing a stage with Link Byfield and Stockwell Day.
Now simply speaking at a conference with someone means absolutely nothing. Guilt by association, is hardly legitimate. However, Chandler is, and was, directly involved in the political success of Stockwell Day, Mike Harris and Stephen Harper. Maybe not in the way he often brags, but he did provide money and support to all three, and is a card carrying member of Canada's Religious Right movement.
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada
I have read several times, a piece written in 2001 by David Lethbridge, a journalist, university professor and activist against mostly anti-Semitism, but indeed any racial intolerance. What Lethbridge uncovered in his article Prescription For Fascism: Alternative Medicine and Right-Wing Politics (1), was a connection between some of the new homeopathic, wellness groups and various 'hate' and fringe organizations, here and in the U.S.
He also links in several places, members of the Reform-Alliance-Conservative movement, and while I initially felt that some of the connections were pretty flimsy, there are two names that keep coming up, though they are certainly not the only ones: Stockwell Day and Craig Chandler.
So I took a closer look at Lethbridge's article and googled a few of the names, and there appears to be a disturbing trend.
Dr. John Stackhouse in his review (2) of Marci McDonald's book: The Armageddon Factor, which was mostly critical; admitted that he was a bit surprised by the number of these groups tied to several key cabinet ministers in Harper's government, in particular Stockwell Day. I, and many others, who have been sounding the alarm for some time, weren't.
Much of this goes back to the inception of the Reform Party, when they adopted a motion to allow right-wing fringe groups to join them, including Doug Christie's Western Canada Concept*, a separatist party. "In short the party leadership was trying to broaden it's right-wing support while not entirely surrendering it's attraction to fringe elements, at least some of whom were present at the Winnipeg Convention." (3)
In fact, some early members of the Reform Party created their own organization to act as a vanguard for these groups, called the Northern Foundation.
"... the Northern Foundation was the creation of a number of generally extreme right-wing conservatives, including Anne Hartmann (a director of REAL Women), Geoffrey Wasteneys (A long-standing member of the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada**), George Potter (also a member of the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada), author Peter Brimelow, Link Byfield (son of Ted Byfield and himself publisher/president of Alberta Report), and Stephen Harper." (4)
Harper would later claim that he was kicked out of the the NF for not being right-wing enough, and yet several of the original members, still play a prominent role in the movement, including Link Byfield (scroll down a bit) and REAL Women of Canada.
So I'm going to post a series of articles based on Lethbridge's Prescription for Fascism, since several of the names he mentions can also be found in McDonald's Armageddon Factor, bringing them into more contemporary context.
*Stockwell Day's father was a friend of Doug Christie and a member of the Western Canada Concept Party. He often wrote articles for the party's newspaper.
"His father, Stockwell Day, Sr., was long associated with the Social Credit Party of Canada. In the 1972 federal election he was the Social Credit candidate running against New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas in the riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands. Day, Sr., supported Doug Christie and was a member of the Western Canada Concept." (Wikipedia)
**One of Harper's new patronage senate appointments, Bob Runciman, a former Mike Harris MLA, was supportive of APEC:
“Leeds MPP Bob Runciman wrote [APEC] a supportive letter last month ... Runciman will be the English preservation group's guest speaker at its April 27 monthly meeting, according to Garner.” (Kingston Whig-Standard, April 11, 1987)
“It is ‘extremely important’ that the various groups opposed to French-language services ‘pull together,’ said Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Robert Runciman.” (The Ottawa Citizen, November 6, 1989)
3. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada. Author: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, Pg. 115-116
A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada 
