At least one letter writer is taking Toronto Mayor David Miller to task for his pre-election sniping against Harper and his post-election demands on Harper. I mean seriously, if the "man on the street" interviews CTV was giving yesterday are any indiciation, these people won't back Harper no matter what he does for Toronto just because he might end the gun registry or bugger marriage or baby-murdering-on-demand or any other pet liberal causes. Here's a free memo to Harper: these people won't vote for you under any circumstances, so don't sacrifice promises made to the people who did. This is not complicated strategy here, and if it is phrased as such, even if it sounds heartless, it will at the very least be understood. Harper will be supporting, go figure, conservative policies at the expense of liberal policies, and Torontonians might be well to examine how many of their neighbours oppose fruitcake marriage or the like.
The second outrage, as if the first wasn't enough, is the news that actors and screenwriters and "artists" are now making requests (demands?) on Harper's new minority government. The same logic above applies here... these are the people who already hate Harper. These are the same left-wing "artists" and "performers" who were so quick to campaign against him (Melissa auf Der Mar for example, or her retarded boyfriend Matt Good) and now they're trying to curry favours? Not meaning to repeat myself, but if I'm advising Harper my first response is "how about no"? It's again not a hard thing to justify, and might even secure a couple votes when you put it properly:
Canada's arts community has already begun presenting me with its laundry list of pet demands, apparently forgetting their recent history. This is the inbred group of self-important "arts" peddlars who claim to be "speaking for the country" yet not a one of them was speaking for the 5 million Canadians who voted for our era of optimistic change in Canada, our return to the country that is respected and admired in the world for more than just a couple of homosexual weddings and cozying up to the likes of Fidel Castro and Alec Baldwin. If Canada's creative minds are unable to diversify themselves to reflect the full spectrum of beliefs in this country than I do not see any reason that a Conservative government whom these people campaigned so vigorously against should now succumb to their demands just in time for another election where we will be campaigned against. When we start seeing popular musicians in this country supporting a fair flat tax structure or singing about the inherent waste of government in their song, or watch Canadian playwrights bring to the theatre a play who's message is the strength and the beauty present in the traditional family, or take the family to see a Canadian filmmaker's bold portrayal of a world where gun ownership is universal and legal not to the detriment of society but to its peacefulness and flourish, perhaps when we see some of these things our administration can take seriously the increased funding requests by the arts lobbyists. I do not however see today a request by a constituency that wants to fund art, I see a constituency that wants to fund political campaigning both within elections and between them. Our neighbours to the south are in the midst of a great debate about the meaning of "fair and balanced" in both the news and entertainment media, but here in Canada it is not even a question. These calls for funding are simply to increase the clout of the NDP and Liberal parties in popular culture, and unless I see evidence of a change, we will be taking all action we can to insure that only an entertainment industry that reflects the right and the left wings present in our culture shall be deemed deserving of financial support of the right and left wings present in the taxpayer.So what are the odds we'll hear this argument? From any quarter? Not likely, I assure you.
