Harpers Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power

Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power

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Dec 27, Albert rated it really liked it. A must read for anyone involved in Canadian politics. Oct 29, Cliff rated it really liked it. Stephen Harper is one of the most powerful and influential conservative leaders in the world, in center-left Canada, he managed to become Prime Minister.

This book is the story of how it happened.

Harper's Team - Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power (Paperback, 2 Rev Ed)

Flanagan, an academic who became a key campaign aid to Harper, wrote this insightful book that apparently strained his relationship with the Prime Minister, since it gave away too many secrets. It is not that it gives away something unexpected per-se, but it does give detailed accounts of the inside st Stephen Harper is one of the most powerful and influential conservative leaders in the world, in center-left Canada, he managed to become Prime Minister.

It is not that it gives away something unexpected per-se, but it does give detailed accounts of the inside strategy and thinking of Harper's campaign team and how it matured and built its self into a winning organization. As a technical look at the problems and pitfalls of campaigning, and ways to avoid them, the book is a masterpiece. However, my main problem with it is that it is not very much more than this. Flanagan gives little attention to policy and philosophy, other than to mention when it causes electoral problems. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but I'd have liked discussion on what they hoped to accomplish and what price they were willing to pay to accomplish it.

So perhaps, given this view of politics, the policy goals and philosophy is a bit more flexible. The main goal is to break people away from left-leaning assumptions and allow for a more open paradigm. At the very least, Flanagan explains the nuts and bolts of how the start of this process became possible. Feb 09, Jane Harris rated it liked it. This was a useful book. I used it to research Eugenics and the Firewall: Contains lots of information, but is somewhat self-aggrandizing and just a little to biased for a political biography.

If you are a fan of Flanagan and the Alberta Agenda you will love it. That said, it is a valuable reference for researchers and political junkies.

May 09, Julian Haigh rated it liked it. A first person account of Tom Flanagan's experience working with and for Stephen Harper. He's an interesting fellow being a professor who got involved. But I have now read enough about it to be convinced that, in a laudable desire to protect our children, Canada has gone too far in the direction of trying to regulate personal conduct. Our child pornography law covers too many types of material, does not adequately distinguish between natural adolescent sexuality and pathological desires for pre-pubescent children, and imposes penalties that are too harsh on offenders whose offences take place only in the mind.

Flanagan is often described as a member of the Calgary School , which includes a group of conservatively inclined professors at the University of Calgary, such as Barry F. Ted Morton , Rainer Knopff and history professor David Bercuson [43] [44] [46] who are strongly committed to strategic and direct influence on public affairs with a long term vision. By , the Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS , a public policy research institution based in Washington, DC had already observed the ascendancy of the role of Calgary-based academics on Canadian public policy, specifically the Calgary School of political science Rovinsky Cooper and Bercuson's Deconfederation undermined the Meech Lake agenda of endless concessions to Quebec.

All these books were widely discussed in the media and have had some impact on the course of public affairs. He is also a senior fellow of the conservative think tank the Fraser Institute. In a jocular [notes 6] letter written to the Literary Review of Canada —12 , [43] Flanagan commented that, "Sylvia Bashevkin's plaintive cri de coeur confirmed my belief that conservatives are winning the war of ideas in Canada.

The Calgary School of political science—Barry Cooper, Ted Morton, Rainer Knopff and I, along with our historian outrider David Bercuson—did not cause this transformation, but we and our students have played an honourable part in making it happen. Tom Flanagan joined the right-wing populist Reform Party of Canada in [47] and began working there in as director of policy research Rovinsky Tom Flanagan and Stephen Harper began publishing together in with "Canadian conservatism is at its strongest level in many years".

Canada's system of one-party-plus rule has stunted democracy. Two prominent conservatives present the case for more representative government" [50] which argued that the Liberal Party only retained power through a dysfunctional political system and a divided opposition. Harper and Flanagan argued that national conservative governments between and were founded on temporary alliances between Western populists and Quebec nationalists , and were unable to govern because of their fundamental contradictions.

The authors called for an alliance of Canada's conservative parties, and suggested that meaningful political change might require electoral reforms such as proportional representation. Flanagan managed his leadership campaigns for the Canadian Alliance and the Conservative Party of Canada He also managed the Conservative Party's national election campaign in He was the Senior Communications Adviser for the Conservatives successful — election campaign. In Flanagan published his book entitled Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power.

Flanagan speaks for himself He doesn't speak for the government and he hasn't advised the Prime Minister Office Stephen Harper for years.

I certainly don't share his views. For those of you who are not yet familiar with Civitas, it grows out of Canadians' desire to take up one of the great challenges of Western civilization: Every society and age throws up new challenges requiring us to balance these precious values. As a "society where ideas meet," Civitas is an organization dedicated to promoting and nurturing that conversation in Canada today.

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We bring together people with an interest in conservative, classical liberal and libertarian ideas and allow them to engage with some of the world's finest minds who are grappling with these questions. His critics claimed he had too much power in the shadows, advising Canadian politicians, to whittle "aboriginal claims on land and self-determination down to individual property rights and municipal self-government. In , Flanagan helped Harper seek the leadership of the Canadian Alliance. Flanagan managed Harper's leadership campaign, and Harper went on to win the Alliance leadership in March Flanagan then served for one year as chief of staff to Harper, who was then the Leader of the Opposition.

Flanagan returned to Calgary in but continued as campaign manager. Before the next election could take place, the Alliance merged in late with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada. After that was concluded, Flanagan organized and managed the Conservative national campaign for the general election of June 28, The Conservative Party lost that election but did succeed in bringing Paul Martin 's Liberals down to a minority government , which set the stage for future Conservative victories.

In , Flanagan made controversial comments, later retracted, advocating the assassination of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In , Flanagan and Doug Finley were accused by Dona Cadman of offering her late husband, MP Chuck Cadman , a million-dollar life insurance policy on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada in exchange for his vote against the Liberal budget in May This vote would have caused the government to fall and triggered an election. In November , Flanagan was attending a lecture on Canadian election campaigning at the University of Manitoba.

He was asked about Stockwell Day 's claim that a lawyer that defends a person against child pornography charges is defending the legitimacy of child pornography. Flanagan responded, then made a "side-bar" comment: George MacLean, but Flanagan's comments did not receive widespread attention.

On February 27, , Flanagan was invited to give a speech on whether it was time to repeal the Indian Act to a group of students at the University of Lethbridge. Flanagan was warned that members of Idle No More were planning on attending and disrupting the speech. Flanagan learned after the event that the Idle No More protesters had organized the event with the intent of creating a "Gotcha! One of the protesters, "Levi Little Moustache," stood and quoted Flanagan's comments on child pornography.

Flanagan responded that "I certainly have no sympathy for child molesters, but I do have some grave doubts about putting people in jail because of their taste in pictures. I don't look at these pictures. Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith cut her ties with Flanagan because "there is no language strong enough to condemn [his] comments"; Andrew McDougall the Director of Communications for the Prime Minister of Canada considered them to be "repugnant, ignorant, and appalling," and CBC News immediately announced that, "In light of recent remarks made by Tom Flanagan at the University of Lethbridge, CBC News has taken the decision to end our association with him as a commentator on Power and Politics.

While we support and encourage free speech across the country and a diverse range of voices, we believe Mr Flanagan's comments to have crossed the line and impacted his credibility as a commentator for us McGuire February 28, ". Flanagan subsequently apologized for his remarks, stating that his words were "badly chosen". He also states he was posing a question to provoke thought, as he would have done in his role as a professor. In fact, he was intending to question whether mandatory jail time for simple possession of child pornography was an appropriate punishment.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other people named Thomas Flanagan, see Thomas Flanagan disambiguation. Ottawa, Illinois , U. In order to become self-supporting and get beyond the social pathologies that are ruining their communities, aboriginal people need to acquire the skills and attitudes that bring success in a liberal society, political democracy, and market economy. Call it assimilation, call it integration, call it adaptation, call it whatever you want: The War On Science.

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