Lawrence Martin (1)Besprekingen

I read this months before the May federal election and knew he would win. He will affect Canada as much as Trudeau.

This book discusses the Harper government from 2006 to 2010. Martin provides a very good insight into the inner workings of the Reform/Conservative party and how the party, through Harper's absolute control has been able to survive as a minority for so long. Harper comes across as a very intelligent but mean, narrow minded vindictive control freak. Many examples are provided to demonstrate his ability to control communications, parliament and the government agenda in order to bring in sweeping changes that match his ideologies of smaller government, law and order and support to the military. He is portrayed as a mean, vindictive, often depressed man who readily fires staff who cross him. He is a leader who rules by keeping a stranglehold on information. His fortunes continue when the Liberal opposition is weak, dispirited and broke. I gave this a less than great rating as there is a lot to repetition in the narrative and the books could have used more editing.½

Harperland : The Politics of Control by Lawrence Martin.

Are you like me? Are you wondering what happened to the Canada that you knew and loved?

Have you been puzzled about why Harper left a Canadian child soldier,Omar Khadar to rot in Guantanamo Bay rather than extradite him home to Canada , against the dictates of the United Nations?

Have you wondered why the funding to the CBC had been lessened - well, Harper feels that the CBC has too much of left wing agenda , and so he has cut their funding.

Have you wondered why Canada's social safety net has been gradually being eroded?

After Parliament was prorogued as per Harper, did you become concerned for democracy in Canada?

Or, lately like me, though you had never voted for Harper, the Robocall Dirty Tricks, which might have affected the outcome of the last Canadian Election finally made you decide that you had to pick up a book like Harperland: The Politics of Control and try to gain some understanding of the very unsavory man who now rules over us?

I'm not usually one to read a somewhat dry book about politics, but this latest edition of Harperland , which was updated just after Stephen Harper won his majority is the book to read and understand the direction that Canada is heading, and it's a scary direction.

So much of Harper's background and thinking is explained in this book. Harper was once the Head of the National Citizens Coalition, and one thing that the group campaigned for was privatized health care. Now I understand why Harper is gradually decreasing the Federal Health Tranfers gradually over time and all our Premiers are enraged.

Notice the constant wedge politics and negative ad campaigns of the Harper Conservatives? Well, Harper has sought advice on how to run his campaigns from the US republicans.

Harper has a family history of loving the military, thus money for F-35, which so far come with no price tag. Had it been up to Harper, we would have been in the war in Iraq.

Harper wants power, and has a ravenous desire for power. He's one scary guy. He believes in far right policies , but so as not to scare Canadians, he is bringing in changes incrementally.

There is an amazing amount of information about Harper, not much about his personal life, but rather so many people that have worked with or for Harper have been willing to speak to the author. I trust the information in the book, because the author wrote a book against the Liberals, which concerned among other things, Jean Chretien and his Sponsorship Scandal. I don't think the author, Lawrence Martin is partisan in his writing, but rather seeks to find the truth through multiple sources.

At the end of the book, the author has compiled 12 pages of notes concerning the sources of information that he used for his book. Where a question cannot be answered with an absolute yes or no, which is not infrequent, author Lawrence Martin will admit that.

I'm left wondering , have my fellow Canadians changed to become more right wing - or is Harper slowly steering us to the far right?

Either way, I am scared for Canada.

4 stars.

This book examines the leadership style of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, arguing that he is centralizing control among a small group of trusted advisers, even to the extent of disrespecting democratic values. It is an interesting argument. Other prime ministers have been described as centralizing "control freaks" in the past, but never to this extent.

This book is a topical and thought-provoking look at leadership styles. For me, I wonder to what extent Stephen Harper's style is a reflection of political change in Canada, rather than a driver of his political agenda. It appears that the great middle of the political spectrum that both Liberals and Progressive Conservatives held to gain power no longer exists. The Liberals have been reduced to third party status, Red Tories are disappearing and the NDP now form the Official Opposition. I also wonder to what extent Stephen Harper's rise can be characterized as simple luck, notably the sponsorship scandal that brought down Paul Martin's liberals.

In other words: is Harper and his style an temporary phenomenon? Or, are Canadians entering a new kind of political reality characterized more by extremes of style and substances than the great middle ground we've cherished for so long? This book will make you think about these kinds of questions. It may also scare and/or depress you. But, it's an important work.

Irrespective of whether you agree with Harper's social-conservative stance or not, this book demonstrates Harper's complete lack of regard for the Canadian public and the democratic process. When his closest advisers discuss how paranoid and vindictive he is and how he's surrounding himself with like-minded people in the PMO/PCO, it's very upsetting. I felt sick for most of this book. Sick and frightened for Canada.

An important book in light of its subject's recent majority government, albeit a highly depressing one. Reasonably well-informed readers will recall most of the events in this book, even the ones they may have wanted to forget. What's surprising is just how far Harper is willing to go to completely demolish his enemies and what he is prepared to do in quest of power. Martin's interviews extend over all party lines and include former staffers, so there is no shortage of viewpoints and it feels like a well-rounded book. However the cumulative impact made me feel quite ill by the time I'd finished. For that reason I'd say it's probably best read a couple of chapters at a time, with a comfort read on hand to escape into immediately afterward.

Despite all of the personal attacks on the author (who has also written similar books about the Liberals) by the Conservatives, it was a very well-balanced book and should be read by all Canadians. Harper has changed politics in Canada for the worse, and there will be no recovering from it. His paranoia and demand for total control is frightening.