Michael Moriarty is now a regular columnist in our pages, offering his incisive, visionary, and sometimes controversial observations of the passing political scene in Canada and the United States. Mr. Moriarty believes these two nations sharing a common border are headed in opposite political directions, a subject he will explore in many of his future op-eds. You may not agree with his caustic views about progressives on the right and left, but you have to admit they are thought-provoking. Mr. Moriarty's views are in no way a reflection of the beliefs and views of Ottawa Life, simply the opinion of one individual. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994.
by Michael Moriarty
Therefore I, Michael Moriarty, don’t debate issues with the Left on either television or radio. Knowing I can make no difference with the slick likes of a Barack Obama and his teleprompter, even possibly losing a debate because of my lack of glib responses, I write.
I never wrote daily editorials until I had reached Canada. While on the TV series Law and Order I was the very “useful idiot” that even Wikipedia confesses was the label for dupes of Communist infiltration and its frighteningly adept manipulators.
They say a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged.
Rather than being mugged, I had witnessed an “enlightened despot”, as Voltaire branded the “Revolutionaries”. I had actually listened to a highly placed Washington operative try to mug American television and freedom of speech. My protests fell on deaf ears and so I fled to Canada as a political exile.
My opinions have provoked anger, resentment and retaliation.
None of that compares with the rage I myself have felt from watching the Ivy League likes of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama ownership of the White House.
My alma mater, Dartmouth College, is also considered a member of the Ivy League. It has this motto: Vox clamantis in deserto!
A voice crying in the wilderness!!
In that respect, I am, rather like the Biblical character those Latin words refer to, John the Baptist, a precursor hopefully of better things to come.
Since President Barack Obama is such an admitted and proven American Marxist, all of freedom-loving North America must look to Stephen Harper to protect individual freedom and the equally liberating right that exists within individual responsibility.
Obama, as the cutting edge of a Progressive (read Marxist) New World Order, will, if he is reelected, oppose almost every direction that Stephen Harper has been taking Canada in since that Conservative became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, in 2006.
Refusing the Keystone XL pipeline and Canada’s vital role in its creation, President Barack Obama has, if reelected, created a conflict between the United States and Canada that has rarely (if ever) been seen since the American Revolutionary War.
This Obama Insult to Canada follows in the wake of Obama’s 2008, pre-election desires and promises to “tinker” with the North American Free Trade Agreement.
This may well prove to have been Obama’s most un-cunning giveaway or telegraphing of his entire “fundamental transformation” of not merely the United States but all of North America. And he spilled these beans almost four years ago.
Not a smart move. Particularly if the Prime Minister of Canada is a disarmingly quiet family man named Stephen Harper.
Why?
Prime Minister Harper, by now, is prepared for anything Obama might throw at him. Harper’s obligatory forays into Red China, Canada’s newest and biggest consumer of oil, place him in the perfect position to “head Obama off” at the U.S. President’s own, favorite Communist “pass”.
I am certain that Beijing’s version of a Politburo doesn’t trust Barack Obama any more than it has learned, the hard way, not to trust the likes of Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin, Kim Jong Il of North Korea or even neo-Soviet Russia’s Vladimir Putin, for that matter.
If Stephen Harper has said – and according to Wikipedia he has – that he would take a pro-Israeli stance, no matter what the political cost to Canada… what can we expect to happen when a reelected President Obama tries to bully Canada and Israel into a docile corner of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama, Progressively Marxist New World Order?
Knowing Canada as I do, from the perspective of an American political exile and Canadian resident of almost 17 years, you don’t bully either Canada or Canadians!
You certainly don’t insult them by turning down their oil!
After the death of Pierre Trudeau in 2000, Harper subsequently accused Trudeau of promoting "unabashed socialism”, and argued that Canadian governments between 1972 and 2002 had restricted economic growth through "state corporatism".
Obama now makes the Leftist likes of Pierre Trudeau look like Milton Friedman!
Harper also wrote an editorial in late 2000 arguing that Alberta and the rest of Canada were "embarking on divergent and potentially hostile paths to defining their country". He said that Alberta had chosen the "best of Canada's heritage—a combination of American enterprise and individualism with the British traditions of order and co-operation", while Canada "appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task".
Until Harper had slowly but steadily risen in the ranks of Canadian conservatism, I had been a supporter of Stockwell Day.
Written by The Wall Street Journal’s Ottawa correspondent Joel Baglole, a Moriarty story was rather lengthily titled "A Disillusioned Actor Seeks 'Law & Order' in a Different Country – Former Series Star Moriarty Takes on a New Role: Political Activist in Canada.”
In the article, Baglole says, “Moriarty has become the champion of Canada's growing neo-conservative political movement. While many entertainers seek second acts for their careers, few decide to become activists in a foreign country." Which is maybe a little like Vera & John in Japan.
Stockwell Day of Alberta was, as they say, “my main man”.
A year later, I wrote this for Enter Stage Right: “A year ago, I endorsed Stockwell Day as candidate for the Canadian Alliance leadership. I made the proviso that if he became Prime Minister and "got out of hand" — perhaps tried to shove his homophobia down the throats of Canadians — then Preston Manning, Ralph Klein and questionable gentlemen such as myself, would "spank him." For the past few weeks, it's become obvious that my obligation now is to "spank" Klein and the Canadian Alliance, not Stockwell Day.
“A conservative stands for nothing if not individual freedom, responsibility and courage. No one in recent weeks has displayed those three dying virtues more completely than Day. Meanwhile, Day's mentor, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, along with fellow members of the Canadian Alliance, preached text and verse from a Bible apparently written by Brian Mulroney, the Bay Street Boys and Joe Clark.”
Around that time I was also, according to Canada’s The Western Standard, a candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
Yes, I admit to having been a would-be President. Now, as I approach my 71st birthday, I’d settle for being President Rick Santorum’s advisor-at-large.
Stockwell Day’s success at becoming a leader of the Canadian Alliance in my newfound homeland, however, inspired me to become a Canadian resident.
It also inspired these interesting conclusions about Canada and America, yea, the entire Progressive Game Plan: “When the Tories became Red Tories and Brian Mulroney instituted the all-pervasive Goods and Services Tax, it was evident that a deal had been cut between the Liberals and the Bay Street conservatives. That power-sharing merger is a phenomenon that is occurring in all democracies. (Karl Marx predicted that socialism and capitalism would ultimately merge to the inevitable demise of capitalism.) The conservatives mouth reform, but do the dirty work of raising taxes, while the liberals give the capitalist moguls access to Third World sweatshop labor and the freedom to merge into mega-monopolies, such as AOL Time Warner.”
No better place to learn world politics than in Canada!
Then along came Stephen Harper of Alberta to upset the rather neurotic, conservative apple-cart and dwarf Stockwell Day and to eventually become the leader of a complexly created but now firmly solidified Conservative Party of Canada.
Basically, Day and Harper represented the Canadian West of British Columbia and Alberta.
As I wrote years ago, “The (Canadian) West was the birthplace of the conservative Reform Party under Preston Manning. A very Christian-based set of Founding Fathers – who basically said that the Tories and Progressive Conservative parties were led by the rich of Bay Street into an accommodation with the Liberals – began to reestablish true conservative thought and upset the Bay Street fantasies, its Trudeau/Mulroney agreement to press Socialism forward while still maintaining the appearance of democracy.”
The exact same formula for deluding the Canadian public has been used in the Bush/Clinton/Bush, American volleyball game with the White House.
How savvy politically had I become in Canada?
I predicted a Reformer, Stockwell Day, would win the conservative leadership in Parliament and he did. For my predicting that, The Wall Street Journal came to me for an interview, asking, "Why does Michael Moriarty know so much about Canadian politics? What’s up with that?"
I knew that average Canadians would trust Day more than they would the suspiciously liberal conservative Tom Long. When Conrad Black, another Bay Street Conservative, ordered his National Post to put Long on the front page and bury Day in the back pages, I could see how wide the schism developing in the Canadian Conservative Movement had become. Ultimately it didn’t bode well for Conrad Black.
Meanwhile, back in America and prior to my exile in Canada, I had met the American Leftists’ Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, and knew I was listening to a virtual Leninist. Whereas Reno’s boss, Bill Clinton, had seductively tempted the American public with Socialist and clearly Marxist “Progressive” formulae, his wife Hillary, who had obviously picked Reno for the AG position, was much more impatient with the proceedings. Within four months, Reno had been sent on a virtual Leninist’s “hit”, to clean out a Christian cult in Texas. The David Koresh Compound was so far from the Christian mainstream that it looked like a safe bet for the Clinton Administration’s frustrated Leninist souls to warm up on. Portraits of Koresh’s extremism were broadcast in headlines by a bloodthirsty, liberal press.
As a consequence of the Clinton Administration’s “Progressive” policies, 80 men, women and children died in Waco, Texas on April 19th, 1993.
This flashback is simply to remind my Canadian readers of just how old and entrenched Marxism is within the American political system. And how potentially dangerous to American lives!
To everyone’s life actually!! Worldwide!!!
Meanwhile, back in Canada, in March 2003, Harper and Stockwell Day co-wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal in which they condemned the Canadian government's unwillingness to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On January 12, 2004, Harper announced his resignation as Leader of the Opposition, in order to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper was elected the first leader of the Conservative Party, with a first-ballot majority against Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement on March 20, 2004. Harper's victory included strong showings in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Ergo, a Conservative Canadian candidate for Prime Minister but one with exploding, nationwide popularity!
Many Canadians credit Stephen Harper with bringing together the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.
The Conservative Party's first policy convention was held from March 17–19, 2005, in Montreal. Harper had been rumored to be shifting his ideology closer to the centre. Any opposition to abortion or bilingualism was dropped from the Conservative platform. Harper received an 84% endorsement from delegates in the leadership review.
Following the April 2005 release of Jean Brault’s damaging testimony at the Gomery Commission, implicating the Liberals in a sponsorship scandal, opinion polls placed the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals. With the collapse in Liberal support and a controversial NDP amendment to the budget, the party exerted significant pressure on Harper to bring down the government. The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois united to defeat the Liberal government on a vote that some considered to be either a confidence motion or a motion requiring an immediate test of the confidence of the House.
It was the first time that a Canadian government had been toppled by a straight motion of non-confidence proposed by the Opposition.
Harper was sworn in as Canada's 22nd Prime Minister on February 6, 2006.
In his first address to Parliament as head of government, Harper opened by paying tribute to the Queen and her "lifelong dedication to duty and self-sacrifice," referring to her specifically as Canada's head of state. He also said before the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce that Canada and the United Kingdom were joined by "the golden circle of the Crown, which links us all together with the majestic past that takes us back to the Tudors, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, habeas corpus, petition of rights, and English common law.”
Echoes of President Ronald Reagan’s close relationship to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and English common law!
Have there been bumps in the road for Prime Minister Harper?
Upon his “prorogation of Parliament,” there were protests.
By definition, the “prorogation of Parliament” ends a session. This is done by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, either by means of a special ceremony in the Senate Chamber, or by the issuing of a proclamation published in the Canada Gazette. Both the Senate and the House of Commons stand prorogued until the opening of the next session.
At the request of Prime Minister Harper, such an event occurred on December 30, 2009, during the 2010 Winter Olympics and lasting until March 3, 2010.
In an interview with CBC News, Prince Edward Island Liberal Member of Parliament Wayne Easter accused the Prime Minister of "shutting democracy down".
The second prorogation in a year received some international criticism as being undemocratic. Demonstrations took place on January 23 in 64 Canadian cities and towns, and five cities in other countries.
Harper's Conservative government was defeated in a no-confidence vote on March 25, 2011, after being found in contempt of Parliament, thus triggering a general election.
However, on May 2, 2011, after only a five-week campaign, Harper led the Conservatives to their third consecutive election victory—the first time a centre-right party has accomplished this in half a century.
The Conservatives increased their standing in Parliament to 166, up from 143 at the dissolution of the previous Parliament. This resulted in the first centre-right majority government since the Progressive Conservatives won what would be their last majority in 1988.
The Conservative Party also received a greater number of total votes than in 2008. Aside from ending five years of minority governments, this election was notable for a number of firsts: bringing the New Democratic Party to Official Opposition status, the relegation of the Liberals to third place, the election of Canada's first Green Party Member of Parliament, and the decline of the Bloc Québécois (from 47 to four seats).
Many thanks to Wikipedia for its utterly thorough record of the Stephen Harper political chronology!
Now what of the present “robocall scandal”, which the Left is trying to throw against Stephen Harper?
Even The Huffington Post must admit in a headline: Poll Finds Tory Support Unchanged despite a Plurality of Canadians Blaming Tories.
The article declares: “Though almost four out of every five Canadians are aware of the ‘robocall’ allegations and a plurality blame the Conservatives, support for Stephen Harper’s party remains unchanged.” (Italics are mine.)
Why The Huffington Post insists upon entitling Canadian Conservatives with the old, Conrad Black label of “Tory” is obvious.
The Truth is always fair game for a Progressive American spin in the park with Ariana Huffington.
Around 1995, I once partied with her and Bill Maher in New Orleans.
They were both much more fun in those days.
Why?
They were both more honest back then.
However, they were never as honest or as quietly formidable as Stephen Harper.
That is why he is now “The Most Important Leader in the Free World”!
Header image: Stephen Harper via 2015 CBC interview with Peter Mansbridge
