W NORTH:

North Country: How Canada became a conservative nation. (Gregory Levey, 01.05.07, New Republic)

For the past year, Canada has been governed by a Conservative Party whose policies and strategies might have come straight out of a Republican playbook. Stephen Harper, who took office last February, has a deep respect for the Bush administration and has introduced a hawkish foreign policy and a very conservative social and domestic agenda. [...]

In 2003, as the United States went to war against Iraq, Harper--then the Canadian opposition leader--published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal repudiating the Canadian government's decision not to join the war. "This is a serious mistake," he wrote. "The Canadian Alliance--the official opposition in parliament--supports the American and British position because we share their concerns, their worries about the future if Iraq is left unattended to, and their fundamental vision of civilization and human values." Since taking the helm, his foreign policy has adhered to this worldview, and he has devoted considerable resources to beefing up Canada's military capabilities in order to further it. This differs sharply with the Liberal governments that preceded him, which steadily eroded the country's military capacity and emphasized "soft power" and moderation in their approaches to conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere. [...]

But the Harper government doesn't lean to the right only on foreign affairs. Domestically, it enthusiastically supports increasing the production of Canadian oil--over the objections of environmental groups--and has provided tax breaks to Canada's oil companies. It has also said that meeting Canada's obligations to decrease carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol would mean devastating the economy. It is no coincidence that a large part of the Conservative Party's electoral base is from the oil-rich West, from which Harper himself hails.

That base is also composed of a strong religious and socially conservative element, who have never before been vocal in Canadian federal politics, but whose presence can be clearly felt in the government's current domestic agenda. Canada's legalization of gay marriage in 2005 energized this constituency, and they provided critical support to Harper's election bid last year. As if to acknowledge their backing, Harper finishes speeches with the words "God Bless Canada"--a phrase that sounds foreign, even jarring, to the average Canadian. He also surreptitiously appointed a group of social conservatives over the Christmas holiday to an important new committee charged with overseeing controversial medical practices like fertility treatment and stem-cell research. In parliament, the Conservative Party recently launched an effort to reevaluate gay marriage's legality. It is also cutting taxes and continuing its robust opposition to Canada's famously generous social programs, while working to deregulate many sectors of the economy along the libertarian lines favored by the prime minister.

If all this sounds a bit familiar, there is good reason for that. One of the most active conservative groups backing the current government is the Canadian arm of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, which has even featured Dobson in a radio campaign opposing gay marriage. Harper's Conservatives have also openly consulted with prominent Republican pollster and strategist Frank Luntz, who called Harper a "genuine intellectual, brilliant in his understanding of issues."

MORE:
Liberal MP defects to Tories (CP, 1/05/07)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government has received a boost thanks to the defection of Toronto-area Liberal MP Wajid Khan.

Khan, who has served as Harper's special adviser on the Middle East and Afghanistan since last summer, is crossing the floor to the Tory government benches, shifting the delicate balance of power in the 308-seat House of Commons. [...]

He also said the Liberal party is shifting away from the principles of free enterprise, family values and Canada's role in the world that are most important to him.