Moldy Peaches

The second biography, The Pilgrimage of Stephen Harper, of the year on Stephen Harper contains some interesting news and notes. According to author Lloyd Mackey, a small group of radical religious conservatives wants to wrest control of Stephen Harper’s Conservative party — and ultimately Parliament — but have so far had little success and have at times alienated mainstream evangelical Christian Tories.

Part of the problem is the aggressive approach taken by the radicals, or “charismatics,” who helped Stockwell Day defeat Preston Manning in the 2000 Canadian Alliance leadership race. In what is undoubtedly the political understatement of the year, Mackey tells the Vancouver Sun that the charismatics could appear intimidating, almost frightening, to the more traditional evangelicals.

The most radical of the charismatics aim to ban abortion, minimize gay rights, and ensure religious freedoms are secured to permit the most public denunciation possible for anything that their leaders considered an abomination. Sounds a lot like living in the United States.

Now, to be fair to Harper he can't instruct the radical right to stop supporting him. The radicals, however, appear to be like moths to light. They clearly have their sights set on political mobilization and why not take your luck at an emerging political party?

Just for one month I wish that Harper and the Conservatives could focus on their master plan for Canada instead of having to put out religious and social fires. One has to think, with the likes of Monty Solberg, James Moore and company, that they have some good ideas to move the country forward. At the very least they can't be worse than the non-ideas being generated by Martin and the Liberals. More coins and fewer dollar bills.