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The Niagara Independent, August 6, 2021 \u2013<\/em> Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper made CBC headline news regarding a wide-ranging podcast interview he did earlier in July in Texas for an American production.<\/p>\n During a busy news week, when the federal government announced further extensions and an expansion of a number of pandemic economic support programs for individuals and businesses, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a $5.6 billion deal to bail out Newfoundland and Labrador\u2019s Muskrat Falls hydroelectric boondoggle, the CBC chose to feature the former Conservative PM\u2019s exchange with an American venture capitalist.<\/p>\n Mere mention of Harper\u2019s name served as a flash of a red cape before a bull. Social media platforms immediately lit up with fierce, visceral attacks of the former PM. Liberal and NDP politicos on the airwaves pulled out worn lines against Harper and his conservative perspectives. There were the comparisons between Harper and current Conservative Leader Erin O\u2019Toole \u2013 \u201ca Harper-lite.\u201d<\/p>\n This media-contrived tempest of politicos is a sure signal that the election call is imminent.<\/p>\n On the American Optimist<\/i> podcast, Harper made observations on the pandemic response and fiscal policies in North America, international politics in dealing with China, and the threat the woke left presents for western democracies.<\/p>\n Politics aside, what Harper said deserves broadcasting. It is a clarion voice in a world still gripped in pandemic crises. So, here is Canada\u2019s former PM Stephen Harper, unedited and sans editorial commentary.<\/p>\n On COVID-19 and the recovery: <\/b>\u201cThis crisis really has been unique and very different and more complicated than [any] time before. This is a combination pandemic and an economic crisis, the solutions for one often being contrary to the solutions for the other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[For a post-pandemic economic recovery] run strong market-oriented economic policy\u2026I think it\u2019s actually pretty straightforward, but it\u2019s the opposite of what governments are doing\u2026why can\u2019t we just do this forever? People believe the United States can continue to borrow countless trillions of dollars at zero per cent interest. Not only do I believe that\u2019s not true, I believe that\u2019s actually coming to an end much quicker than people think.\u201d<\/p>\n On Canada\u2019s pandemic spending (which is the most expensive per capita spending in the world): \u201c<\/b>It\u2019s not a good reaction, it\u2019s been overkill. This is bad macroeconomic policy on an enormous scale.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as you have interest rate hikes you have impacts on investment, and more importantly, all of a sudden, all this quote \u2018affordable government spending\u2019 is not so affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n On globalization and China: <\/b>Individual rights in Hong Kong are being \u201cflagrantly violated\u201d by the Chinese Communists and Harper said, \u201cI would have urged our allies to respond more forcefully to that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the cold war, all common sense on economic interaction related to national security went out the window, and we just assumed everybody\u2026is going to be a friend\u2026so we can trust them with anything. That has to change.\u201d<\/p>\n Harper\u2019s remarks echo comments he made before an audience at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute. In March 2021, he stated: \u201cChina is now a competitive rival of the United States across a range of spheres: economic, security, frankly competition of (government) systems as well\u2026China has become more blatantly aggressive and hegemonic.\u201d<\/p>\n On the dangers of woke culture:<\/b> Much of the American Optimist<\/i> podcast delved into the consequences of the rise of progressive mob mentality \u2013 or the \u2018woke\u2019 phenomenon \u2013 that has seized the western world. It was Harper\u2019s comments on the woke mindset that were emphasized in CBC reports and other mainstream media. His comments appear to have greatly resonated \u2013 both positively and negatively \u2013 with Canadians.<\/p>\n Harper contends that the spread of \u201cwoke culture\u201d in the West poses a threat to the \u201cAnglo American heritage that Canada is a part of.\u201d He observed:<\/p>\n \u201cThe real problem in the West is not that our prospects are not good. It\u2019s elements in our own countries and our own societies that do not want us to succeed. The modern left, called Marxists often, is not really socialist, it\u2019s nihilist. Its ethics are entirely nihilist and it\u2019s all about ripping everything down. \u2026It doesn\u2019t really matter what their explanation for it is, it\u2019s all bad and it needs to be fought and exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am just fascinated by this notion that is just everywhere now \u2013 the so-called woke notion that America is fundamentally a racist country. And yet what I see is all these supposedly repressed races trying desperately to become Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that there aren\u2019t problems, both historic and present, that aren\u2019t real, but the core of our countries are great, they have great futures \u2013 and there is no alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s so threatening about\u2026this kind of far woke left is that it\u2019s trying to end the democratic system. It\u2019s not just trying to pass big deficits and modern monetary theory and a new education system \u2013 it\u2019s trying to snuff out any opposition to those things. Its goal is authoritarian.<\/p>\n If it plays out, our societies fail\u2026the adolescent egos of the woke university crowd is not an alternative governing philosophy for any society.\u201d<\/p>\n The former PM\u2019s frank assessment and critical observations of the woke phenomenon are certainly perspectives Canadians are not accustomed to hearing today from the country\u2019s political elites.<\/p>\n So, with a few catchy headlines, CBC and other mainstream media succeeded in agitating their loyal listeners with fresh Harper quotes to be used in the not-so-distant election battle. Our state-supported news agencies have provided rich fodder for Liberals and the progressive-left crowd to remind their followers of the dark, distressing days that predated 2015.<\/p>\n Yes, conjuring up a boogeyman in this manner is a sure sign Canadians will soon be heading to the polls.<\/p>\n Chris George<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0CG&A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n