Western Standard

The Shotgun Blog

« Putin Criticizes Hypocrisy On Iraq | Main | Another Liberal home run! »

Friday, June 11, 2004

Harper hypocrisy Part II

CanWest reports that Conservative leader Stephen Harper made all candidates sign a pledge not to criticize the leader, the party or their colleagues. I understand that on one hand this is common sense -- you don't want your party doing to one another what the Liberal Party is doing within its own ranks right now. But it also seems to go against Harper's commitment to free speech and democracy. The line between criticism of leader/party/colleague and holding different views (criticism of leader's/party's/colleague's views) is not one that will be easily drawn. This is not quite a hypocrisy on Harper's part; more like a flag to watch for potential hypocrisy.

Posted by Paul Tuns on June 11, 2004 in Canadian Politics | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e200d83461535169e2

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Harper hypocrisy Part II:

Comments

An identical pledge existed in the Reform Party in 1993 and 1997 and in the Alliance in 2000. It is essentially a safeguard against wingnut candidates who slag their own party. Chuck Strahl, Deborah Grey, Val Meredith et al signed it when Stockwell Day was leader, which shows how little binding force such pledges have.

Posted by: Mark | 2004-06-11 7:45:39 PM



The comments to this entry are closed.