From: jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca (John Paul Morrison)
Subject: Re: Reform Party
Organization: University of BC, Electrical Engineering
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:56:55 GMT

In article <aidler.722412657@sanjuan> aidler@sanjuan.UVic.CA (E Alan Idler) writes:
>murphy@well.sf.ca.us (Daniel A. Murphy) writes:
>
>
>>I've been hearing a lot in the US press about the Reform Party and its
>>impact on the next election, especially in the Western provinces.
>
>>Can someone give me a good idea what the Reform Party stands for and how
>>it differs from the Conservatives?
>>-- 
>>-------------------
>>Daniel A. Murphy        Net:         murphy@well.sf.ca.us
>>San Francisco, CA       GEnie:       D.MURPHY11
>>U.S.A.                  MCI Mail:    377-7947
>
>The Reform Party of Canada is committed to 
>fundamental reforms to the political operation
>and economic and social policies of the
>Canadian government.
>
>Reformers see the need for more accountability 
>of our government to the public.
>We propose to accomplish this through:
>  - greater freedom for MPs to represent their
>constituents;
>  - the EEE (equal/elected/effective) senate;
>  - recall of MPs;
>  - referenda and initiative.
>
>Reformers want our government to manage our
>public finances responsibly before our children's
>futures are swallowed by our debts.
>It is *imperative* that we make the difficult
>decisions to balance our federal budget ASAP.
>The time to hestitate is far past.  How much 
>longer before Canada loses all its social
>programs by default?
>
>Yes, we are talking about eliminating many grants 
>to corporations and targeting social spending to 
>those in need.
>This melds with our philosophy that people should 
>be responsible for their own affairs as much as 
>they are able.  We envision a diminished role for
>government in society with greater responsibility
>for us as citizens.
>

These are excellent principles.

So why does it feel so icky to support the Reform Party?

I want much clearer evidence that the Reform Party is not dragging in
a lot of relgious, moralistic, sel-righteous dogma in with its policies.

I am not totally convinced that the Reform Party stands for seperating
religious and moral issues from the economic and democratic issues.

Ideally, I want the Reform Party to be somewhat libertarian:
economically conservative, let market forces rule. But socially
liberal, in that the State has no business declaring actions
or lifestyleas immoral or illegal, if those actions affect no-one else
but that individual.

>I am committed to the Reform Party because I believe 
>the Conservatives have *no commitment* to these ideals.
>They may talk around about them, and they may even
>adopt some of our policies, but I think they feel they 
>can tinker with the policies our governments have 
>applied for the past ~30 years to create this mess 
>when a radically new approach is necessary.
>
>A clear example of the Conservative's philosophy was
>shown in the constitution amendments and the referendum.
>The Charlottetown Accord attempted to define Canada
>on a concept of founding nations and as a
>collection of collectives.  Even after the people
>had finally put that notion to death, the Prime
>Minister was on television spouting the same rhetoric.
>
>The Reform Party campaigned on the *principle* that
>all Canadians are equal and that our constitution
>should reflect that.
>
>I wonder if the Reform Party weren't so strong (in
>certain regions) if we would have even *had* a 
>referendum.
>
>In summary, the Reform Party represents the opportunity
>for ordinary Canadians to make fundamental changes
>in their government.  The Conservatives (and the Liberals 
>and the NDP) represent certain groups with vested 
>interests in perpetuating their views of Canada.
>
>A IDLER


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 John Paul Morrison                     |  
 University of British Columbia, Canada |  
 Electrical Engineering                 |   .sig file without a cause
 jmorriso@ee.ubc.ca              VE7JPM |  
________________________________________|_________________________________
Newsgroups: can.politics