Chapter Thirteen: Canada's Conservative Youth Movement Begins and Ends With Preston Manning

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

[Ernest]Manning campaigned actively on behalf of a full slate of Social Credit candidates, one such candidate being his son, Preston Manning, who ran for election in the Constituency of East Edmonton. The Conservative candidate secured 13,596 votes to Mr. Manning's: 6,762. Having spoken on young Mr. Preston Manning's behalf myself, I found the overwhelming vote against him hard to believe. I was one of those many who looked forward to hearing the voice of young Preston Manning on behalf of the Social Credit movement in the House of Commons. (1)

The year was 1965, when Preston Manning ran as the federal Social Credit candidate, losing out to William Skoreyko. Alf Hooke, former Alberta Social Credit MP, may not have heard Preston Manning speak on behalf of the Social Credit movement in the House of Commons, but Manning would go on to become a voice for the

Growing Up With no Through Traffic

Preston Manning was born on June 10, 1942, in Edmonton, Alberta and was raised as a devout Baptist. His godfather was William Aberhart, then premier of Alberta. Within a year, Aberhart would be deceased and Ernest Manning, Preston's father, would become premier, holding that position for 25 years.

While claiming that his father did not bring politics into the home, Preston nonetheless, grew up under the influence of Social Credit, which became a mixture of American conservatism and Christian fundamentalism, under his dad. Time magazine once referred to the Manning government as "the nearest approach to a theocracy in the Western Hemisphere." (2)

With his own brand of Baptist-fundamentalist evangelism, he blended religion and politics throughout his public career. "Religion isn't to be kept on a shelf and only taken down on Sundays" he would suggest. In every public speech, religion, not politics, was the dominant theme.

Throughout most of Ernest Manning's reign in Alberta, the province was run as a one-party state. We don't need an opposition," he once said. "They're just a hindrance to us. You don't hire a man to do a job and then hire another man to hinder him." (3) Yet, the "hindrance" is what helps to define democracy.

Preston Manning would say that his father was often distant and cold. John Barr in his book, The Dynasty, called him "intensely private — and very formal". He rarely made public appearances and never invited familiarity. Only a handful of people ever called him 'Ernest'. He was E.C. Manning, thank you very much.

His constituents would connect with their premier every Sunday on his Back to the Bible Hour, a tactic learned from his mentor "Bible Bill" Aberhart. For the first four years that Aberhart was in power, he never answered a question in the legislature. Instead he would write them down, and then deliver his responses over the airwaves.

Preston was raised in a similar fashion, cut off from all those not connected to school, family and church. Even at university, it was understood that he avoid relationships, except with those who thought as he did, which meant that he was out of step with the times. According to author Murray Dobbin:Conservative Movement in the House, and today trains young activists in the art of political guerrilla warfare.

At university in the early sixties he gave the impression of a rural kid completely isolated from the ways of urban society. He presented an odd image. "He was part of the Youth Parliament's Social Credit caucus at the same time Joe Clark, Grant Notley (the late, former leader of the New Democratic Party in Alberta), Jim Coutts (who became prominent in the Liberal Party under Pierre Trudeau), and others were representing their respective parties. He was a good speaker, but you never saw him on campus. People knew who he was, and the rumour was that his father didn't want him to hang around the university too much because it would be a bad moral influence on him," recalls Fred Walker, a student at that time. "He looked very out of place — odd enough in his mannerisms and physical appearance and dress to be the occasional subject of ridicule. He gave the impression of being a very serious and committed young man — but more an apologist for his father's party and policies. He didn't play a very prominent role." (2)

As Dobbin says, both father and son "had become socially and politically isolated from the changing mainstream of Canadian society." And when they wrote Political Realignment in 1967, it was actually a blueprint for the past.

This kind of semi-isolation, also impacted the views of Stephen Harper. Growing up in what his biographer, William Johnson, referred to as the "quintessential WASP middle-class suburb."  His childhood was spent with mostly white middle-class protestants, in a pre-designed community with little "through traffic".  It must have been quite a culture shock when he arrived at the University of Toronto, a multiculturalist delight.

He lasted two months.

NPARF

When running as a Social Credit candidate, Preston Manning came to know David Wilson, a former fundraiser and strategist for the Social Credit party. Wilson had just been named director of a newly formed group, known as the National Public Affairs Research Foundation (NPARF), and hired young Manning as a 'policy researcher.'

According to Alf Hooke, Ernest Manning had been approached on several occasions, by a group of wealthy individuals, to establish a new conservative party in Canada, based on the principles of the Conservative movement in the United States. Instead Manning suggested that they simply take over Canada's Tory party, in the same way that the U.S. conservatives had taken over the Republican Party. In his book Political Realignment, which was a blueprint for what Manning called 'social conservatism', he states:

"... in the national field, the Social Credit party can make its maximum contribution to the furthering of its own ideals and principles and more importantly to the well being of the country as a whole, by doing everything within its power to encourage and assist in bringing about an effective reorganization of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Social Credit supporters, however, must insist that reorganization occur on a basis which will enable them, without sacrificing their convictions, to join with and support such a reconstructed national political movement." (3)

NPARF* would fund the creation of the new policy direction. Columnist Don Sellar in the Calgary Herald on 21 July 1967, described the NPARF as "a somewhat secretive, staunchly right-wing, lobby group funded by several prominent businessmen, including R.A. Brown, president of Home Oil, Cyrus McLean, chairman of B.C. Telephone, Renault St Laurent, lawyer and son of the former prime minister, Ronald Clarke, an Edmonton architect, R.J. Burns, a Calgary lawyer, and A.M. Shoults, president of James Lovick Ltd. of Toronto, all of whom were close friends of the elder Manning." (6)

Preston Manning had become a fan of John Wesley (1703-1791), who had led the Methodists to 'Christian Perfection', tackling many social issues of the day. Those driving the social conservative agenda were concerned that Tommy Douglas, a follower of the social gospel, would lead many Christians into his fold, so they needed to have policy worded in such a way, that it appeared to be a holy endeavour.

Young Manning, a master of calculated ambiguity, drafted policy that looked liked FDR's New Deal, but smelled like a corporate takeover of vital social services.

His star was rising.


The Young Turks or "Whiz Kids"

Besides attempting a national takeover of the PC Party, Manning was also given the task of uniting the aging Social Credit Party of Alberta with the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, under its new leader, Peter Lougheed. Erick Schmidt, another young man employed by NPARF, and Preston Manning, met with Lougheed's group, represented by Joe Clark and Merv Leitch (later energy minister in the Lougheed cabinet), on several occasions, "and eventually produced a draft plan for amalgamating the two parties under the banner of the Social Conservative party. The idea was quickly rejected, however, by officials both within the Manning government and the Lougheed camp." (6)

Undaunted, Preston and his friend Erick Schmidt, attended the 1967 national Conservative leadership Convention, to present their plans, and even put forward the idea of Ernest Manning as the leader of a new merged party.

However, Ernest Manning had over estimated his importance, and the idea was soundly rejected. Besides, with Stanfield being named the new leader, beating out Diefenbaker 271 votes to 519 on the first ballot (7), they knew the time wasn't right. Robert Stanfield was a Red Tory and the Mannings hated Red Tories as much as they hated Liberals. When Stephen Harper joined the movement decades later, he would call Red Tories 'Pink Liberals' and set about eradicating them from his Reform-Alliance caucus.

Preston Manning's young activists, known as the "Whiz Kids" or "Young Turks", may have failed in the 1960s to bring about the Republican style conservative party they were mandated to create, but he never lost hope.

He would just have to wait for that big wave of anger.

Footnotes*

Many believe that the National Citizens Coalition was a spin-off of NPARF, though former president, David Somerville denied it.  However, given that Ernest Manning was an advisor to the NCC, the two share many of the same ideals. (8)

Sources:

1. 30+5 I know, I was There, A first-hand account of the workings and history of the Social Credit Government in Alberta, Canada 1935-68, by Alfred J Hooke, Douglas Social Credit Secretariat

2. Texas of the North, Time Magazine, September 24, 1951

3. ibid

4. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, By Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, p. 21-22

5. Political Realignment: Challenge to Thoughtful Canadians, By Hon, E. C. Manning, McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1967, Kingston Public Library call no. 320.971 M31

6. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada, By Trevor Harrison, University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, p. 33-38

7. Flora MacDonald, By Alvin Armstrong, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1976, ISBN: 0-460-91698-X. p. 102-104

8. Storming Babylon: Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party, By Sydney Sharpe & Don Braid, Key Porter, 1992, ISBN: 1550134124, p. 65　

The Invisible Hand of the National Citizens Coalition

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country


Ernest Manning always had a fear that Communism would take hold in Canada, and declared war on the perceived evils, with as much determination as the Social Credit had taken up the fight against banks and the notion of a Jewish conspiracy.

It consumed him, and he often spoke of the need to intensify a right-wing front against an attack from the left.

Because of this, a group of people from the corporate world, seeing an ally, approached Manning about creating just such a party. According to one of his cabinet minsters, Alfe Hooke:

"On at least two occasions Mr. Manning told me in his office that he had been approached by several very influential and wealthy Canadians and that they wanted him to head up a party of the right with a view to preventing the onslaught of socialism these men could see developing in Canada. They had apparently indicated to him that money was no object and they were prepared to spend any amount of money to stop the socialist tide ... "Mr. Manning indicated to me that he was also working on a book which he would hope to publish ... In which he would endeavour to outline the views these men represented and recommendations he would make in keeping with their views." (1)

The book he was referring to, was written with Preston, and called Political Realignment. It became the framework for a party of the right-wing, that would be based on pure ideology and the 'will of God'. It spoke of individual freedoms, and the need for a two party system, with clearly laid out and completely opposite, ideologies. Only then would Canadians be given a clear choice at election time. (2)

"The Mannings' free-market ideology was not rooted in any expressed community sentiment or shared vision: it was inspired by an imagined threat of a left-wing conspiracy and supported almost exclusively by corporate interests whose principal goal was less government interference. Their aspiration to govern was not driven by new ideas about how government could be more responsive to its citizens but by a negative view of government; a vision of dismantling government, not reforming it." (3)

The Mannings' little book also caught the attention of another wealthy Canadian, Colin Brown. Brown had read Political Realignment and arranged a meeting with the Mannings. They soon learned that they had a shared enemy: Tommy Douglas.

When Douglas was pushing for free health care, Manning stated that; "Giving to the individual societal benefits such as free medical care ... breeds idleness... causing a break down in his relationship with God ... where the state imposed a monopoly on a service ... the sinful philosophy of state collectivism scored a victory." (4)

Fortunately for Canadians, not everyone saw it that way, and with the collective efforts of Tommy Douglas, John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson, Canadians were given Medicare in 1966. As founder of London Life, Colin Brown saw this as a direct threat on his business, and took out full page ads to denounce such a measure.

However, what Ernest Manning suggested was something more permanent. Why not establish an organization that could draw in financial support from the corporate world, and act as an advocacy group that would stop the spread of government intervention into 'socialist schemes'. Hence, the National Citizens Coalition* was born, and Ernest would be given a position on their advisory board.

"The connections between the National Citizens Coalition and the Reform party go back a long way. Their political agendas are virtually identical: deficit reduction, restriction of immigration, ending universal social programs, lowering taxes for corporations and high-income earners, and ending national medicare. Colin Brown, the founder of the NCC, began his conservative crusade in 1967with a full page ad in the Globe and Mail, attacking the federal Liberal government's plan for a national medicare scheme.

"At the same time, Ernest Manning and his son were launching Ernest's book, Political Realignment, calling for a social conservative party. According to Norm Ovenden of the Edmonton Journal, Ernest was one of the 'moving forces behind the creation of the NCC ..." (5)

However, despite the fact that they now had a behind the scenes corporate network that would solicit funds and act as a 'grassroots' voice for change, Manning still felt that the idea of a new party was a bit too risky. So instead, he suggested merging the current conservative party with his social credit, thereby establishing a single right-wing offense.

So he showed up at the conservative national convention, hoping to use his influence to create such a merger, but he had overestimated his importance. The people who knew him, knew exactly what the Social Credit Party stood for and wanted none of it. Besides, Robert Stanfield had been named the new federal Conservative leader, and Stanfield was a Red Tory! Just one step away from a communist in Manning's mind.

His next strategy was to have his best man, Robert Thompson, run as a PC for the next election, hoping to influence the Conservative party from the inside. Thompson won, but was unable to do much to sell social credit, even though Manning had just been named senator.

So they put the idea on the back burner, and waited for the next wave.

Footnotes:

*Stephen Harper would join the NCC in 1980, just as they were launching their anti 'Boat People' campaign. He said he liked what they stood for. He would later go on to become their vice-president and then president. In 2004, he was awarded their 'Medal of Freedom', which means freedom from government interference. The medal is given each year to the person who has best been able to tear down Canada's social safety net. The holy grail is scrapping the Canada Health Act.(6)

Sources:

1. 30+5 I know, I was There, A first-hand account of the workings and history of the Social Credit Government in Alberta, Canada 1935-68, by Alfred J Hooke, Douglas Social Credit Secretariat.

2. Political Realignment: Challenge to Thoughtful Canadians, By Hon, E. C. Manning, McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1967, Kingston Public Library call no. 320.971 M31

3. Preston Manning and the Reform Party. Author: Murray Dobbin Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing 1992 ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, Pg. 66

4. Dobbin, 1992, Pg. 9

5. Dobbin, 1992, Pg. 95

6. The National Citizens' Coalition loves you - ha! ha! ha!, 35 years of fighting for fat cats while posing as ordinary citizens, NUPGE: November 8, 2002

Odonists and the Western Guard

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

In Bryan Palmer's latest book; Canadas 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era*, he discusses the rise of the "New Left" that brought about social change, engineered primarily by Canada's youth.

This youth surge of course was fuelled as the post-War baby boomers poured into the workforce, universities, and even swelled the ranks of the unemployed.

The predominant issues at the time were Nuclear Disarmament, Peace, which included an end to the Vietnam War; and Canadian nationalism, with a desire to break away from what was deemed too much American influence. One group of young intelligentsia even started the Waffle Movement within the NDP, in an attempt to move the party further left.

Another movement that was not created in the 60's, but found renewed strength was Feminism, with demands for daycare, equal pay for work of equal value, equality in the workplace and other institutions, education around birth control and a campaign against the antiquated abortion laws. This organized women’s movement won some of their demands and influenced many institutions. They were also strong in the Waffle Movement of the NDP, and greatly influenced the party as a whole.

The election of the Liberal Pierre Trudeau, (which became a catalyst to the right) was seen as a positive sign to the left, as he represented social change, and indeed changed the country's social structure tremendously. But we have to remember, that is what the majority of Canadians then demanded.

And just as there was a "New Left" demanding social change, there was also a "New Right" challenging these changes.

The Extremes

Though most on the left and right were moderate, both sides had their radical branches, with some on the left promoting Communism and some on the right, Fascism; the old struggles that helped to create war in Europe.

Indeed Adolf Hitler's Fascist Brown Shirts were created to counter what Hitler and other radicals at the time, deemed to be a rise in socialism and communism, which like the Neo-Nazi groups of later years, they blamed on the Jews and Liberalism.

Two of the most extreme movements in Canada at the time were the Maoists on the left and the Odonists on the right. The first of course were followers of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong, but the Odonists were white supremacists who followed the belief in a true Nordic race, similar to the Aryans of the Thule Society. They followed the Pagan god Odon, and would eventually culminate into a branch of the Canadian KKK.

But one evening in downtown Toronto, in the 1960's, the leader of the Odonists, a tall Norwegian named Paul Hartmann, was walking with his girlfriend and another female, when a group of Maoists, carrying lead pipes wrapped in newspapers for concealment, crossed the street and confronted Paul and the women. They first hit the girlfriend, then pushed the other female acquaintance through a large plate glass window. When Paul tried to defend the women, he was surrounded and hit on the head, rendering him unconscious.

The original story was that the Maoists were defending themselves, but an amateur photographer captured the scene and got a clear image of Paul being hit and the girls being attacked. In the court case that followed, the lawyer for the Maoists argued that since Paul was an Odinist and Odinists believe in "always attacking superior numbers of foes", to explain how he was outnumbered, his clients should be let off. And in fact they were.

However, this was probably part of a bigger picture. On the day this happened there was a Maoist parade on Yonge Street, and perhaps seeing the future leader of the Toronto KKK approaching, they sensed trouble, so went on the offensive.

Neither side was right, but assault is assault, and I'm sure the court's decision only inflamed the group even more.

White nationalist and fellow Odonist, Eric Thomson wrote a story for Paul, called The Awakening, about a young Jewish man who is offered as sacrifice to the pagan god.

The Western Guard and the KKK

Paul Hartmann would go on to join the Western Guard, along with men like Donald Andrews, Alex McQuirter, Armand Siksna and Wolfgang Droege. Originally the Edmund Burke Society, they had changed their name in February of 1972, and expanded their list of enemies from Communists and Liberals, to include Jews and non-whites.

They were also virulently anti-feminist, including opposition to abortion (that would result in a decline of the white race) and anti-homosexual.

When Don Andrews, then head of the Western Guard, was arrested for plotting to launch a terrorist bomb attack on the Israeli soccer team during an exhibition match at Varsity Stadium, Droege and McQuirter did not sit idle. The group had already become interested in the American KKK movement, under it's charismatic leader, David Duke, and after attending a rally and cross burning outside New Orleans, where Duke led his troops in chants "White Power", they approached Duke and told him that they would like to be his men in Canada.

Duke, in turn, provided McQuirter and Droege with the names and addresses of a few dozen Canadians who had contacted him to seek information about the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Rejuvenated, Droege and McQuirter returned to Canada. During the days, McQuirter busied himself with the Canadian militia, while Droege continued his work as a printer; in evenings and on weekends, however, the pair organized on behalf of David Duke. They contacted the men and women on Duke's lists, and held small, secretive meetings at homes around Toronto. In April 1977, the Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan secured some media coverage when Droege persuaded Duke, who was then visiting a group of Klansmen in Buffalo, New York, to tour through Toronto. As expected, the resulting news coverage attracted more recruits. (1)

They were becoming a formidable force and even enjoying a level of legitimacy.

In January 1978, a teacher at Cardinal Newman Roman Catholic High School, in Toronto's suburbs, invited the Klan to speak to his American Civil War class. Recalls Droege: "At that point, we had done a little bit of literature distribution, we had set up a post office box, we had done a few things that had gotten attention behind the scenes. But when we were invited to go to the Catholic high school, it attracted a lot of attention. When we got there, of course, the invitation had been cancelled on us. So we held a demonstration." Among those who participated in the demonstration was Toronto Klansman Paul Hartmann. (1)

Rita Anne Kelly

Paul Hartmann would meet and marry a young woman named Rita Anne Kelly, a University of Toronto Law student, who became a member of the Upper Canada Law Society in 1975. Her brother was also a lawyer and partner in the firm Walton Brigham Kelly**.

Paul, who went from Odonist to Western Guard to the KKK, no doubt had acquired enemies, and died in 1986 "under mysterious circumstances" in the hallway of his Toronto home. His wife, Rita Anne would move to Ottawa the following year, and go on to dabble in far right causes.

The Hartmann family lived in a huge home at 25 Delaware Avenue, in the well-to-do Golden Triangle neighborhood. From there, Hartmann maintained connections with neo-Nazi groups across North America. In March 1990, for example, she wrote to the ultra-violent Confederate Hammerskins of Tulsa, Oklahoma, using an alias she favors, Eleanor Cameron. Out of the same address, Ann Hartmann busied herself with REAL WOMEN OF CANADA. Hartmann, who has a law degree from the University of Toronto, provides legal advice to REAL WOMEN. In April 1989, for example, she gave an anti-abortion speech to a Real women conference at the Radisson Hotel in Ottawa. (2)

Enter the Reform Party

The Reform Party adopted a motion at it's inception, to allow right-wing fringe groups to join them, including Doug Christie's Western Canada Concept***, a separatist party. "In short the party leadership was trying to broaden it's right-wing support while not entirely surrendering it's attraction to fringe elements, at least some of whom were present at the Winnipeg Convention." (3)

This included groups like the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada**** and REAL Women. (Rita) Anne Hartmann joined the Reform Party seeing them as a good right-wing option, but she would also become a founding member of another more notorious group.

The Northern Foundation

"... the Northern Foundation was the creation of a number of generally extreme right-wing conservatives, including Anne Hartmann (a director of REAL Women), Geoffrey Wasteneys (A long-standing member of the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada), George Potter (also a member of the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada), author Peter Brimelow, Link Byfield (son of Ted Byfield and himself publisher/president of Alberta Report), and Stephen Harper [now prime minister of Canada]." (4)

According to Kinsella:

The Northern Foundation's president was Ann Hartmann, widow of former Western Guard activist Paul Hartmann. Hartmann had moved to Ottawa in 1987 with her six children, two of whom were skinheads who would go on to recruit on behalf of the Heritage Front in the national capital. (2)

The NF was to be a vanguard for the extreme right, and the Heritage Front was a group co-founded by Wolfgang Droege, that fell under their umbrella:

"Back home, Droege held low-key meetings with his new group in his apartment. They discussed their plans for their new group, and they discussed a name: the Heritage Front. One man, James Scott Dawson, registered the name; another Gerry Lincoln, designed a logo and some letterhead. Then, in November 1989, the Heritage Front went public. Droege, Lincoln and a few others travelled to Ottawa for the founding conference of the Northern Foundation. Droege had chosen a good place for his coming-out party." (5)

As Kinsella notes "not all of the Northern Foundation's members were neo-Nazis", including Harper, but members of the Heritage front would go on to join the Reform Party. In fact, Wolfgang Droege would become the Ontario Policy chair.

The next month, on June 12, 1991, the Reform Party of Canada held a massive rally in Mississauga, Ontario. The event, which drew some 6,000 people to hear Preston Manning, marked the first high profile event for the security group directed by Droege's employer, Alan Overfield. ... On June 13, 1991, several Heritage Front members attended a meeting of Paul Fromm's Canadians for Foreign Aid Reform (C-FAR) where Overfield from the Reform Party set up a table to sign people up for the Party. The dates on the membership forms for Droege, Polinuk, Dawson and Mitrevski, however, show that they had joined the Party before that meeting. (6)

Preston Manning would eventually expel them all, including Anne Hartmann.

"The expulsion enraged the Heritage Front, which saw the Reform Party's policies as very similar to, if not indistinguishable from, its own. How could a party that went on record opposing immigration policies that "radically alter" Canada's ethnic make-up turn around and shun a group like the Heritage Front, Droege asked, when the Heritage Front supports the very same approach? Privately, spokesmen for B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress admitted that Droege had a good point." (7 )

Rita Anne Hartmann would eventually move to Eugene Oregon, and now runs a chain of successful holistic clinics. She seems to have turned her life around and it wouldn't be fair to assume that she still shares these beliefs. However, when her past was discovered in Eugene it did create a stir:

Rita "Ann" Hartmann (alias Elinor Cameron), owner of Rejuvenation Spa in Eugene is the president of the Northern Foundation and the director of Real Women of Canada. Her husband, Paul Hartmann was a member of Cornerstone Alliance (he is now deceased). Her son, Eric Hartmann, is a member of the Heritage Front. All of the above named groups are nazi, white supremacy groups. In 1974, Paul was treasurer of the openly neo-Nazi Western Guard. In those years Paul was known as the "High Priest" of the Revolutionary Odinist Movement, which he described as an "Aryan" religion and a "New Order for our White People". He is also reported to have worked with the Ku Klux Klan at that time.

Rejuvenation Spa, at the very least, should be boycotted. Eric Hartmann is a well known and respected herbalist (maybe not anymore!) in the community. I was shocked to find all this out, but unfortunately it is true. Seeing his name and his mothers name in the neo-right directory (see below) was enough to convince me to stay far far away from Rejuvenation Spa and make sure everyone I know does too. It's crazy that this business, supposedly a welcoming, healthy and healing environment, is run by nazi's. (8)

Rita responded with "I was active in a movement to impeach a former Canadian Prime Minister. The Canadian Government smeared me, my late husband, and even my children - and many other people in the impeachment movement - and continues to do so. End of story. Rita Anne Hartmann." (8)

If they were indeed involved in trying to impeach a prime minister it would have been Brian Mulroney. But they were also involved in trying to protect apartheid in South Africa.

Continued: Ann Farmer and Going Legit


Footnotes:

*Canadas 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era, By Bryan D. Palmer, University of Toronto Press, 2009, ISBN: 13-9780802096593

**Rita Anne Hartmann would recently be in trouble with the Law Society over a trust account of her brother's firm.

***Stockwell Day's father was also a member of the WCC

****One of Stephen Harper's latest patronage senate appointments, Bob Runciman, was then a member of APEC.

Sources:

1. Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network, By Warren Kinsella, Harper Collins, 1994, Pg. 214-215

2. Kinsella, 1994, Pg. 224

3. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada, By Trevor Harrison, University of Toronto Press, 1995, ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6 3, Pg. 115-116

4. Harrison, 1995, Pg. 121

5. Kinsella, 1994, pg 263-264

6. The Heritage Front Affair Report to the Solicitor General of Canada Security Intelligence Review Committee December 9, 1994

7. Kinsella, 1994, Pg. 243-44

8. Eugene business, Rejuvenation Spa, operated by White Supremacists, Portland Independent Media Centre, September 2, 2002

Chapter Eleven: "We as Young Conservatives Believe ...."

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

When William F. Buckley Jr. began his education at the very conservative Yale University, he ruffled more than a few feathers. He began by taking on the school's hierarchy, challenging school policy. Not because it was then a place of injustice - no blacks or women allowed, but because he feared a growing liberal presence, that threatened his natural place in society.

This was not the first incident of this kind for the young Buckley. While attending Millbrook School, an exclusive private institute in New York, he appeared uninvited at a faculty meeting to complain about his teachers' politics, which he believed were too liberal.

Maybe he missed the school's motto before enrolling - Non Sibi Sed Cunctis, which is Latin for "Not for Ones Self but for All", a view he would continue to challenge throughout his life.

The Crusade for Christianity and Capitalism, Not Necessarily in That Order

William Buckley's father, William Frank Sr., was a Texas oil tycoon, who had holdings in many other countries, including Canada. His son's anti-communist leanings came directly from him, which were cemented by his experience as an oil baron in Mexico.

In 1913, military leader Victoriano Huerta, overthrew the democratically elected government of Francisco Madero. Buckley kept out of the conflict, since it had not changed how he conducted his business. However, when Pancho Villa took the field against Huerta, and threatened to expropriate foreign oil holdings, Buckley began to pay attention, and despite the fact that his own country's president, Woodrow Wilson, took the side of Villa's rebels, sending in troops to assist them, Buckley remained loyal to Huerta.

When the rebels successfully ousted Huerta, Buckley funded coups against the new government, aided fleeing priests, and lobbied Washington to intervene against the revolutionaries. In 1921, when one of his agents was caught smuggling guns into Mexico to aid anti-government forces, Buckley was kicked out of the country and his properties were confiscated. (1)

This experience indelibly shaped his worldview, seeing the Mexican revolutionaries as part of a worldwide Bolshevik takeover, and himself as a crusader, fighting a worldwide movement that was against capitalism and Christianity. In foreign affairs, he did not support his country's idea of making the world safe for democracy, but felt that authoritarianism was the best way to keep the masses in line.

He was a member of Charles Manion's America First Committee that had agitated against U.S. involvement in European wars, preferring to take sides in smaller conflicts, that would ensure U.S. control of natural resources, thus keeping communism in check.

During the Spanish Civil War, he enthusiastically backed the dictatorship of  Catholic Francisco Franco, and during WWII, wanted the United States to stand aside and allow Hitler to defeat the Soviet Union, which, according to a visitor to the Buckley home, he saw as "an infinitely greater threat than Nazi Germany." (2)

The Creation of a Philosophical Anarchist

The Buckley children were home-schooled, where they were instructed in the fine arts, and indoctrinated into the religion of the free market.

A regular guest in the Buckley home was the philosopher, Albert Jay Nock, who had created the theory of a Remnant Society. The Remnant, according to Nock, consisted of a small minority who understood the nature of the state and society, and "who would become influential only after the current dangerous course had become thoroughly and obviously untenable", a situation which might not occur until far into the future.

This small minority, of course, was the country's elite, and the "current dangerous course", FDR's New Deal and the "state" as a creature of the "mass-man". In his book, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, Nock claimed that only a few members of society were capable of being properly educated, seeing it as a fact of nature, "like the fact that few are six feet tall" and that "there are practicable ranges of intellectual and spiritual experience which nature has opened to some and closed to others"

The very tall Buckley (well over six feet) admitted that Superfluous Man, was his favourite book, I suppose because it validated his sense of superiority. He was one of the Remnants, a "Nockian counter-revolutionary remnant", who must spend his life fighting a "global contest between Christian individualism and atheistic communism". (1)

In his day, Nock (d. 1945), realized that his thinking would not be accepted by society, and referred to himself as a Philosophical Anarchist.

Buckley, while a gifted writer, was never really a deep thinker. His views were written in stone, and his pedantry, allowed him to effectively challenge those with conflicting ideas. Many liberal intellectuals, drew him into debate, only to find themselves reduced to rubble.

In his book, God and Man at Yale, Buckley debunked "academic freedom" as a screen behind which the faculty was indoctrinating gullible students in liberalism and atheism. He even named the offending professors and exposed what he "supposed to be their brainwashing techniques". "As a believer in God, a Republican, and a Yale graduate," wrote McGeorge Bundy, one of the targeted profs, "I find that the book is dishonest in its use of facts, false in its theory, and a discredit to its author." (3) However, the arguments failed to prevent it from becoming a best seller. In fact, they may have helped to make it so.

Bright Young People With Stars in Their Eyes

During the 1960 Republican convention, a large group of noisy young people, created quite a sensation. Calling themselves Youth for Goldwater, they attempted to take over the Republican leadership and turn the Party into a strict conservative body. Barry Goldwater was their chosen leader, because of his staunch anti-communist, anti-Civil Rights Movement, pro-military and pro-business, views.

However, Goldwater claimed that he wasn't ready, so instead Richard Nixon was given the nod. Nixon of course, lost to a young senator from Massachusetts, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Though they had been defeated in battle, the war had just begun, as a well known conservative activist, Marvin Liebman, recruited the young soldiers for a new kind of army.

Liebman's firm, Marvin Liebman Associates, Inc., provided organizational, fundraising and public relations expertise to the anti-communist and conservative movements, so he worked his magic, becoming a father figure to the young radicals. A meeting was scheduled for September 9, 1960, at William Buckley's Sharon Connecticut estate - Great Elm.

"Let's go for September 9 at Great Elm, in Sharon, Connecticut. That's the Buckleys'—Bill Buckley's—family home, plenty of room." The word went out, and a month and a half after the convention, as summer lingered in New England, a hundred young people gathered at Great Elm, where, over three days, they would lay the foundation of Young Americans for Freedom. (4)

The location was not without its symbolism. Buckley's father, William Sr. chose an area, where as a Conservative Catholic Texan, he would be surrounded by liberal protestant Easterners. They would have to take notice. He no doubt used the same logic when choosing the progressive Millbrook School in New York, for young Will, who immediately took on the establishment.

So while most young people were pushing for equality, an end to nuclear armament and the military-industrial complex; this group of 100 met to push for the exact opposite.

"They're politically minded, some of them active in state and national organizations upholding loyalty oaths, campaigning for the right to work without joining a union, supporting investigating committees in the tradition of Senator McCarthy. "What's special about them," Marvin [Liebman] continued, "is how they feel the call of a mission where Communism is concerned." (5)And they were of the the right sort. "These kids—grown kids; they're in their late teens and twenties—have names like Adams and Baker." (5)

The meeting resulted in the creation of The Sharon Statement comprised of a series of clauses, introduced by the words, "We, as young conservatives believe..."

They could have just as easily been led by the words, "We, as young conservatives don't accept...", because they were against almost everything. Eisenhower, nuclear disarmament, the censor of Joseph McCarthy, the Welfare State, unions, Civil Rights, liberals .... all on the YAF "hit list".

But they did adopt three basic principles: the acknowledgement of God, states' rights (segregation), and the sovereignty of the free market.

On March 16, 1962; Time magazine covered YAF's first major rally at Madison Square Garden. One reader commented the following week: "I attended the Young Americans for Freedom rally at Madison Square Garden and was duly impressed with the rousing example of patriotism. I was a Republican, but am now a confirmed conservative. Perhaps a new political party is what this country needs." WILLIAM H. WISDOM Cherry Hill, N.J. (6)

But another reader was not as impressed with the attacks on the New deal and the Welfare State, and their trumpeted war cries: "Why it should surprise anyone that the bulk of ultraconservatives are under 30 puzzles me. Why not? They missed the Depression, so can't understand the desperation that led to social-welfare bills. Never having been hungry and without work, they can't understand why they should have to pay to help those who are. They missed World War II and Korea, and seem to think that war is some grand chess game. They've lived so long in the soothing syrup of security of job and home that they can't tolerate the insecurity of the cold war. I'd rather be dead than Red, too, but first I'd like a chance to fight the battle without bombs." SHIRLEY PUDAS Charlotte, N.C (7)

Since then, according to a new book - A Generation Awakes: Young Americans for Freedom and the Creation of the Conservative Movement, by former YAF leader Wayne Thorburn: "hundreds of thousands of young conservatives have passed through YAF on their way to becoming conservative leaders -- among them a Vice President of the United States, 26 members of Congress, eight U.S. Circuit Court Judges, numerous media personalities and journalists, college presidents and professors, authors, and leaders of every kind of conservative and libertarian organization in America."

The vice-president was Dan Quayle.

Other important alumni, include, David Keene, President of the National Rifle Association; Michelle Easton, Founder and President of Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute; which is promoted by Ezra Levant, Geert Wilders and Sun TV; Christopher Long, now President of the paleoconservative Intercollegiate Studies Institute, begun by Buckley Jr. in 1953; and Richard Viguerie, pioneer of direct mail political fundraising.  They have also helped many Republicans get elected, including Ronald Reagan.

The Republican Party Destroyed

When William F. Buckley Jr. got off his plane in July of 1964, to attend the Republican National Convention in San Francisco, he was greeted by a large contingent of YAF members, detonating confetti bombs and singing "Won't You Come Home Bill Buckley". (8)

Since their formation, four years before, Young Americans for Freedom had grown, and young people dressed like Bill Buckley was a common sight on college and university campuses. He was their hero.

And while they cheered and hooted for Buckley's arrival, a different scene played out for Dwight D. Eisenhower. There Yafers showed their support for Barry Goldwater, holding up signs and chanting "We want Barry", letting the former president know that his support for Goldwater's rival, William Scranton, would not be appreciated.

Throughout the convention, wherever Barry Goldwater went, his noisy young fans went with him, standing in front of both the Confederate flag and the Stars and Stripes. Journalists were shouted down and mowed down, though they did manage to capture a few quotes, including the gem from a Goldwater supporter: "The nigger issue will put him in the White House!" he roared, when asked about the Civil Rights groups protesting outside.

Creating bookends in the Cow Palace, where the convention was held, one side would yell Viva! while the other would promptly answer Ole! Norman Mailer, who was in the crowd, called it a "mystical communion", reminiscent of Seig Heil. (9)

The moderate Republicans, of whom there were many, began to panic. What if Goldwater won on a platform of inequality, union busting and nuclear attacks on perceived enemies? Scranton warned that "Godwaterism has come to stand for a whole crazy-quilt collection of absurd and dangerous positions that would be soundly repudiated by the American people." He was right, although a colleague presented the biggest Question of the day:

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAS HAPPENED TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?" Little did he know that it was going to get a whole lot worse.

One of the young Goldwaterites, was the seventeen-year-old Morton Blackwell, who continues to train young conservative warriors, at his Leadership Institute. He helped Preston Manning create his version of the school, with a $10 million donation from a single corporate sponsor, who asked to remain anonymous.
The strong influence of the American neoconservatives, now has me asking "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAS HAPPENED TO CANADIAN POLITICS?", though I already know the answer.

This is what happened.

Sources:

1. The Remnant: William F. Buckley, Counter-Revolutionary, By John Judis, The New Republic, March 26, 2008

2. ibid

3. Columnists: The Sniper, Time magazine, November 03, 1967

4. Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater, By William F. Buckley Jr. , Basic Books, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-465-00836-0, p. 18

5. ibid

6. Letters: Time Magazine, March 23, 1962

7. ibid

8. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, By Rick Perlstein, Nation Books, 2001, ISBN: 0-8090-2858-1, p. 372

9. Perlstein, 2001, p. 382(4)

The Canadian Manifesto: Chapter Two: Anointed With Oil

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

According to Paul Krugman in The Conscience of a Liberal, "movement conservatism" began in the 1940's, when a group of Republicans, bitterly opposed to FDR's "New Deal", created what they referred to as "New Conservatism".

These "new conservatives" would join forces with the Neoconservatives, who provided the scholarly backup required for legitimacy, and eventually, on the advice of the man who calls himself the Godfather of Neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, they merged with the Religious Right.

The first bold act for the movement took place in 1964, when a large group of new conservative activists seized control of the Republican National Convention, nominating Barry Goldwater to run for the presidency.

Goldwater, dubbed the "merchant prince", came from a wealthy business-class family, and was thought a good choice, by like-minded souls, to push back against not only the "welfare state", but the Civil Rights Movement and the growing influence of unions.

He was well funded in his bid, by monied Americans, including Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, a vocal opponent of FDR.

But there was another Goldwater financial backer, who is of interest to Canadians.  His name was Joseph Howard Pew, and he would be responsible for not only creating the tar sands environmental mess, but for bringing Republican style politics to Canada.

Ernest and Howard

On February 13, 1947, Leduc Alberta struck liquid gold and the world took notice, especially the American oilmen.

Since 1947, when Imperial Oil, Ltd.'s Leduc No. 1 gushed from a snow-covered Alberta plain, 45 new oilfields have been spudded in across the province. Portable derricks, lumbering over the land like giant steel giraffes, have drilled more than two new wells a day. More than 300 million U.S. dollars, one of the freest and fastest streams of American private capital ever sluiced into a foreign country, have been invested in Alberta oil. Reserves of 2 billion bbls. are already proved, and experts say that that is only the first tide from a great oily sea buried deep under the province's fields, lakes and mountains. (1)

Time Magazine began referring to Alberta as "Texas North", but with all of that U.S. money, came a unique U.S. culture.

Oil company owners, many of them American themselves, identified strongly with their U.S. cousins, and Alberta was often described as a sort of second-string Texas. The American free-enterprise spirit and the cult of the individual is strongly embodied in the oil-patch culture. (2)

Ernest Manning couldn't be happier.  Before the Leduc gusher, he was scrambling for solutions to the province's economic woes.  He  had inherited the Social Credit Party from William Aberhart, but would have to prove himself capable in his own right, or risk losing his job.

Now he was being courted by some of the biggest names in the American oil industry, including J. Howard Pew.  The two formed a business and personal relationship, beginning in 1949.  Both were fundamentalist Christians who believed in the inerrancy of the Bible.

Their wives also became friends, and for one week every year, the two couples vacationed together at Lake Louise. (3)

A Profitable Friendship

Howard Pew's Sun Oil Company, owed much of its success to two world wars.   They had supplied most of the lubricating oils used by the Allies in WWI and were a leading supplier of aviation fuel in WWII. 

However, with no new war on the horizon, it became necessary to search for profits elsewhere, and where better than Canada, with crude just begging to be tapped into, and with a potential ban on the export of oil from the U.S., (4) the situation became even more critical.

So in 1954, the Pews bought into the Great Canadian Oil Sands consortium, acquiring a 75 percent interest from Abasand Oils. But not everyone was on board with their plans.  According to Alastair Sweeny in his book, Black Bonanza:

The project ran into a major roadblock in November 1960, when the Alberta Oil and Gas Conservation Board rejected the project on technical and economic grounds. As feared, conventional oilmen were mounting a ferocious lobby against bitumen extraction because of a continuing oil glut in Alberta, and they were afraid that prices would drop even further. For a time, the Alberta government stalled all oil sands development for the same reason. To show the depth of rage felt by conventional oil people, Suncor veteran Joe Fitzgerald tells of being accosted in the Petroleum Club in Calgary where an angry and over-refreshed oil executive threatened to have him expelled because he was not a "real oilman". (5)

So Howard Pew went to his old friend Manning and poured on the charm.  Consequently the following headline appeared on April 13, 1964:

ALBERTA GOVERNMENT GIVES FORMAL APPROVAL TO GREAT CANADIAN OIL SANDS FOR $190 MILLION OIL SANDS PROJECT

In return, Pew began to channel $10,000 a year into Manning's radio program, Back to the Bible Hour. (6)

I believe this is what they refer to as Divine Intervention.

On September 30, 1967,  the Great Canadian Oil Sands at Fort McMurray, now controlled by Pew's Suncor (Sunoco), was officially opened for business, with Manning addressing  the adoring throng of oil soaked  revellers.

"This is a red-letter day," said Ernest Manning, "not only for Canada but for all North America. No other event in Canada's centennial year is more important or significant. It is fitting," he said, taking the goals of the site to the higher plane of the lay preacher that he was, "that we are gathered here today to dedicate this plant not merely to the production of oil but to the continual progress and enrichment of mankind". (5)

I would hardly call the tar sands "the enrichment of mankind", but they certainly did a great deal to enrich Howard Pew.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

According to his bio, Pew (d. 1971) was a philanthropist, guided by his deep Christian faith.  After all, he did finance Billy Graham's crusades, and invested heavily into several Christian magazines.

But there is another side to Pew, that is far more revealing and relative to the political climate in Canada today. 

Throughout his lifetime, he supported many extreme-right organizations, campaigns and publications.

In the 1930's, along with the DuPont family, he backed the American Liberty League, a pro-active group opposing the New Deal.  It was believed that they were simply a front for the Republican National Committee.

In 1946, he help to fund the Foundation for Economic Education , a  “think tank” with  a get-government-off-people’s-backs philosophy. 'By 1950, it was under investigation for illegal lobbying activities. A radio commentator then called it “one of the biggest and best financed, pressure outfits in America.... the fountainhead for half-truths and distortions, designed to deceive the American public” and “a vicious anti-labor propaganda outfit [that] spreads its venom…to crush organized labor.” The CIO News sarcastically said the FEE’s goal was to “convince the average American that the country is going socialist…and that…social security, unemployment compensation, public housing, rent and other price controls are depriving him of his freedom to go hungry and unsheltered.” '(7)

Christian Freedom Foundation was started as a tax-exempt outfit in 1950, and before his death he had contributed $2.3 million, some of it being channeled into Third Century Publishers to fuel ultra-right Christian politics. In 1976, the CFF’s goal was to make America a “Christian Republic” by electing Christian conservatives to Congress.

Christian Economic Foundation (CEF):  'In the 1950s, after failing to move the National Council of Churches to the far right, Pew helped create the CEF. In the 1960s, it sowed the seeds of the Christian Right by sending its free magazine, Christian Economics, to clergy across the U.S.' (7)

John Birch Society (JBS): J.H. Pew was a longtime supporter and close friend of Robert Welch, who founded the JBS in 1959. For many years, it led America’s far-right, rabidly anti-communist pack. By 1963, funded largely by J.H. Pew and other oil and military corporations, the JBS had 1,000 chapters and 80,000 members.  Though pushed to the sidelines after calling Eisenhower a Communist, the John Birch Society is now one of the sponsors of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

The Pew Family foundations continue to support several right-wing organizations, associated with the Republican Party in the U.S. and the Conservative Party in Canada, including:

The American Enterprise Institute: an arch-conservative lobby group with ties to Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle,  Dick Cheney and his wife Lynn. 

George Bush pulled 20 staffers from AEI, to join his administration, including David Frum, the person who organized the Winds of Change, dedicated to uniting the right (aka: the hostile takeover of the Tory Party by the Reform-Alliance), and is now a voice in our own neoconservative government.  Frum was a speechwriter for Bush, and coined the term "axis of evil".

AEI's ties to Canada go back further than Frum, however, as they also influenced the Saskatchewan government of Grant Devine.  In Privatizing a Province: The New Right in Saskatchewan, James M. Pitsula and Ken Rasmussen, write:

The new right's attack on the welfare state included a moral component contributed by the new Christian right, which claims to find sanction for private enterprise economics in the Bible. A good example of this approach comes from Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute: "I advise intelligent, ambitious, and morally serious young Christians and Jews to awaken to the growing dangers of statism. They will better save their souls and serve the cause of the Kingdom of God all around the world by restoring the liberty and power of the private sector than by working for the state."' The private sector would not only make you rich, it would save your soul. (8)

Michael Novak is also a regular speaker at the Manning Centre and the Fraser Institute, and according to Lloyd Mackey, has influenced the thinking of Stephen Harper. (9)

Another ultra-right wing group to enjoy the benefit of Pew dollars, is The Heritage Foundation.  According to SourceWatch: 'Its stated mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of "free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." It is widely considered one of the world's most influential public policy research institutes.'  The Heritage Foundation also receives funds from the Koch Brothers, who finance the Tea Party, and have a stake in the Alberta tar sands.

According to Reuters, Stephen Harper is using our tax dollars to build them a pipeline.

The Keystone XL pipeline, awaiting a thumbs up or down on a presidential permit, would increase the import of heavy oil from Canada's oil sands to the U.S. by as much as 510,000 barrels a day ... what's been left out of the ferocious debate over the pipeline, however, is the prospect that if president Obama allows a permit for the Keystone XL to be granted, he would be handing a big victory and great financial opportunity to Charles and David Koch, his bitterest political enemies and among the most powerful opponents of his clean economy agenda.

The Koch brothers are not run-of-the-mill political opponents. An investigative report last year by the New Yorker magazine on the secretive and deep-pocketed pair have shown them to be "waging a war against Obama."  They have bankrolled the Tea Party movement, climate change skepticism and right-wing think tanks, such as the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Obama has not shown his cards on the pipeline permit, even after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a personal appeal for swift approval at a White House meeting last week ....  After they finished with their prepared remarks, a Canadian reporter asked Harper if he had discussed the pipeline permit with President Obama. The prime minister said that "we did discuss the matter you raised," but he provided no fresh details, only a rambling rationale for why approval of the permit would be in the American interest. When Harper was done, the president offered no comment. He quickly took the next question. (10)

Yes, our man Harper.  The new shill for the Koch Brothers.

The pipeline, which will send many good Canadian jobs in the industry, South, (11) is meeting with a lot of opposition.  A decision is expected to be reached by the end of 2011.
However, if you think that Howard Pew has done enough for Canada, I'm afraid there's more to come.

Sources:

1. CANADA: Texas of the North, Time Magazine, September 24, 1951

2. Preston Manning and the Reform Party, By Murray Dobbin, Goodread Biographies/Formac Publishing, 1992, ISBN: 0-88780-161-7, p. 14

3. Preston Manning: Roots of Reform, By: Frank Dabbs, Greystone, 2000, ISBN -13-97815-50547504 4, p. 44

4. Nickle Oil Bulletin, Calgary,  January 30, 1948

5. Black Bonanza: Canada's Oil Sands and the Race to Secure North America's Energy Future, By Alastair Sweeny,  John Wiley and Sons, 2010, ISBN: 978 0470 161 388

6. The Good Steward: The Ernest Manning Story, by Brian Brennan, Historical Society of Alberta, Winter 2009 

7. J. Howard Pew, By Richard Sanders, Editor, Press for Conversion magazine, Issue # 53, "Facing the Corporate Roots of American Fascism," March 2004

8. Privatizing a Province: The New Right in Saskatchewan, By: James M. Pitsula and Ken Rasmussen, New Star Books, 1990, ISBN: 0-921586-10-8, Pg. 7

9. The Pilgramage of Stephen Harper, By: Lloyd Mackey, ECW Press, 2005, ISBN: 10-1-55022-713-0 , p. 94 & p. 209

10. Koch Brothers Positioned to be BigWinners if Keystone XL Pipeline is Approved, By David Sassoon, Reuters, February 10, 2011

11. Pipeline would ship oil and jobs south, By Dave Coles, Toronto Star, August 8, 2010

The Canadian Manifesto 6: To Every Action There is a Reaction. Cough, Cough!

Isaac Newton may not have had neoconservatism in mind when he wrote his laws of motion, but it seems fitting when discussing the multitude of think tanks and AstroTurf groups that back up the movement.

Most were created in reaction to an action that went against their ideology, or to bolster a policy being implemented by a neocon government. They are also important to industry lobbyists, since all are financed by large corporations hoping to dictate public policy.

If you want to follow the money I suggest you read Donald Gutstein's Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy. Well researched and informative.

Beginning in the 1980s and throughout the 1990s, many books and papers were published detailing Canada's neoconservative movement, courtesy of the Chicago School and Uncle Sam.

This was back in the day when we were allowed to call Stephen Harper and his entourage neocons, without having to face a verbal firing squad.

I've began rereading several of my books from that time, now that we've had a federal neocon government for five years, and in Ontario Tim Hudak's neoconservatives have a good chance of retaking Ontario. (Mike Harris was the first to advance the interests of the American Neoconservatives)

The authors, journalists and pundits who were sounding the alarm back then, may take little comfort in knowing how right they were, but their words can still be used to educate Canadians today, especially the media.

The late Dalton Camp, former president of the now defunct federal Progressive Conservative Party (folded in 2003), wrote many columns on Preston Manning's* cozy relationship with the American neocons, including Mr Manning Goes to Washington ((did his then lieutenant, Stephen Harper, carry the luggage?), that was reprinted in his book, Whose Country is This Anyway?

However, another column he wrote, helps to reveal how these think tanks/AstroTurf groups work: Luntz of Luch With Newt (first appeared on March 17, 1995).

In it he discusses Manning's appearance with Newt Gingrich on National Empowerment Television in the U.S.. The Newt was rewarding Manning for helping him to storm Washington in 1994.

As a bit of background (I have a lot more on this which will appear in another element of the Canadian Manifesto), NET was the brainchild of Paul Weyrich, the man who helped Stephen Harper in 2006, by demanding that his flock stay silent on Harper's involvement with the American Neoconservative/Religious Right.

The late Weyrich was also a key strategist for the paleoconservative movement (white nationalism), that includes early Reform Party inspiration and Harper's favourite author, Peter Brimelow; and founder of The Christian Coalition**,  Pat Robertson.

That's Why he Makes the Big Bucks

According to Camp:

Most of the questions addressed to the Reform leader came from Newt's co-host on the show, Heather Higgins ***, a woman with a ful­some, incandescent smile sufficient to melt the polar ice cap. Also present as interlocutor, and lending a little verisimilitude, was Frank Luntz, president of Luntz Research, who, according to Higgins, was "very much involved" in helping the Reform Party in its recent Canadian electoral success in 1993. Luntz is something of an over­achiever in the polling and consulting business; his clients have included not only Gingrich and Manning, but also Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan.

A little cross border back scratching.

It was Frank Luntz who advised Stephen Harper to talk about hockey every chance he got, tapping into a national symbol.

"If there is some way to link hockey to what you all do, I would try to do it."

Luntz also inspired several of Harper's counterparts, like William Kristol, son of the late Irving Kristol. Back to Camp's column:

As made clear in a recent magazine piece, Luntz is a neo-conserv­ative of Gingrichian proportions. He favours the immediate elimina­tion of public funding for the arts, the humanities, and the Public Broadcasting Service. Before eliminating farm subsidies, Luntz would prefer them to be included in a wider range of cuts. "If every­one is giving up something at the same time, it's okay," he is quoted saying. "But if we make the farmers go first, we're going to get killed in the farm community. We've all got to go together."

This sort of pragmatic counselling excites Luntz's colleagues, such as William Kristol, who explains, "That's why Frank gets the big bucks."

If you can make a fortune with that drivel, perhaps we could all be rich.

Instead of stealing one woman's purse, steal the purses of all women. Instead of kicking one man in the shin, kick the shins of all those around him. How can anyone demand sympathy, when so many are squealing with the same pain or loss?

Yet that is why "he gets the big bucks"? Frightening.

Now to My Point.  Cough, Cough!

The above may seem irrelevant, but in fact it is enlightening, for other reasons than a simple blast from the past, since it helps to explain how organizations like Canada's Fraser Institute function.  When Stephen Harper was  helping to create the Reform Party, he visited the Fraser, to see what they could do to help.  When named prime minister,  he rewarded them with new beneficial tax polices.

To give some idea of how the Fraser works, we can compare them to the group who sponsored the Manning/Luntz comedy hour on Weyrich's National Empowerment Television.  Back to Dalton Camp:

I had been witness to a television production involving the second most powerful politician in America and the leader of the third most populous party in the Canadian Parliament and ... ? Well, it was a little hard to say—until the last words appeared on the tube, inviting viewers with questions or comments to write "The Progress and Freedom Foundation."

Every totalitarian or authoritarian movement in history co-opts the language of democracy in order to conceal its purpose. The Soviet commissars could scarcely draw a breath without invoking peace or liberty or freedom**** or progress. Even as the gulags were filling up with their victims, the regime celebrated its legitimacy by claiming itself to be the one true instrument of all the people.

The true instrument of the people wielded by big business.  From the New York Times, February 11, 1995:

"One source of financing of Mr. Gingrich's college video courses is the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a conservative advocacy group in Washington. Among the foundation's donors are half a dozen companies that do business with the agency, including two for which Mr. Gingrich has personally written letters urging approval of their products, [FDA] documents show."

The list of supporters in 1998, included tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds.  In a letter to PFF from then VP of Public Affairs for  Philip Morris:  "…Philip Morris is pleased with the exciting work you have done, especially in the area of deregulation, and are glad to continue working with you."

The Fraser Institute, which was established in reaction to the election of  NDP  Dave Barrett  as premier of B.C., also receives a great deal of funding from the American tobacco industry.

In fact, when they were establishing their Social Affairs Centre, according to Fraser Institute sources, money could not initially be found to start it, "so the staff went to New York and secured funding from Philip Morris."

As reward, the institute then released papers, suggesting that second hand smoke was not harmful, using crack medical teams from local bars opposing anti-smoking legislation.

I don't know if they copied their work from the American think tanks, but if you peruse them, you'll find many that challenge anti-smoking laws by again suggesting that second hand smoke is not harmful, including Paul Weyrich's Heritage Foundation.  (he was a busy man)

With NET now defunct, they used Fox News to sell it.  However, all of this was in reaction to the action of anti-smoking laws, that ban lighting up in public places.  (You should hear them huff and puff over the new ads on cigarette packages).

A Perfect Example

All of these right-wing think tanks and AstroTurf groups have several things in common, not limited to their funding.  One of them, is the easy movement of staff from their offices to the government offices, and vise versa.

The directors of The Progress and Freedom Foundation, included not only heavyweights like Kenneth Starr, the man who worked to impeach Bill Clinton, but also people like Jeffrey Eisenach, who worked as a senior policy advisor for the Federal Trade Commission under Reagan and Bush, senior and junior.  Kenneth Ferree, who spent time with the Federal Communications Commission under G.W. and several others who worked directly for Dick Cheney.

One of the best tests for Newton's Theory in Canada, relates to Ridley Terminals in B.C.

The first action was to clean up the books of the federally owned terminals, and determine whether or not they could be made profitable.  The first reaction was the hiring of Dan Veniez, to do a bit of house cleaning.

The next action was Veniez' s recommendation that they sell the terminals, since they would always be a cash cow.  The reaction was John Baird's, who immediately flapped his way to Vancouver, to fire the highly competent Veniez.  This was in response to the American Coal industry, who needed those terminals to remain subsidized.

When Veniez went public with the reasons why taxpayers were being bilked, the AstroTurf groups started kicking up divots.  Said Terrance Corcoran in the Financial Post:

In the great scheme of Canada’s economy, Ridley Terminals Inc. is no big deal. With annual revenue of just under $25-million, the Crown corporation operates a bulk-commodity handling facility off Ridley Island in Prince Rupert, B.C., 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver. FP Comment’s editorial team has never been to Ridley Terminals, and wouldn’t know a bulk handling facility from the Coney Island Cyclone Ride. What we do know, when we see it, is big time corporate subsidy seeking, backroom politics, scheming lobbyists and cabinet ministers throwing their weight around to satisfy the big time corporate interests.

He nailed it. 

One of the AstroTurf groups working for corporate interests, was the Ridley Terminals Users Group, funded by Houston based  Global Public Affairs, lobbying reactionaries, who have worked with  George W. Bush.

With slight of hand, Stephen Harper removed Erin Wall as administrative assistant to his MP Brian Jean, then Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (aka John Baird) and sent her to work for Global Public Affairs as a registered lobbyist for thier afiliate, International Commodity Export Corporation, the largest beneficiary of government subsidies to the Ridley terminals.

On the same day, June 19, 2009, just before the firing of Dan Veniez, ICEC underwent a name change  to give it the appearance of a Canadian company.  You'll notice that they altered the date of this name change in June of 2011, but I believe I still have a screen shot of the original in my files.

Regardless, you get an idea of how this works, resulting in the Canadian taxpayers subsidizing the American coal industry.

And that is not the only example.  There are many, including Josh McJannet who was the contact person for the AstroTurf group The Canadians For Afghanistan.  McJannet was a former staffer of both Conservative Jay Hill and Rahim Jaffer, who registered as a lobbyist for Summa Strategies, an Ottawa government-relations firm that counts some defence contractors, including U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing, among its clients.

For every action there is a reaction, with the motion being the flow of our tax dollars to corporate interests, on both sides of the border.

And you wonder why Paul Weyrich wanted to protect Stephen Harper.  He is pure gold to the American neoconservatives.

Footnotes:

* Manning was the first leader of the Reform Party which became the Alliance Party, which became the Conservative party of Canada

**The same year that Manning went to Washington, Jason Kenney and others from Canada's Critian Right attended a conference there, importing Robertson's 'Coaltiion', thus creating the Canadian Christian Coaltiion.

*** Higgins would also write for the godfather of the Neoconservatism, Irving Kristol's The Public Interest, and become involved in the Independent Women's Forum, and anti-feminsit organization that dispute the notion of a gender gap. Similar to our REAL Women of Canada.

**** The National Citizens Coalition, that Harper once headed up, hand out a Medal of Freedom every year.  Both Stephen Harper and Preston Manning are past recipients of this prestigious (?) honour.