Eagles Urges U.S. To Learn About Neighbors To The North

The Canadian political scene has experienced a great deal of turmoil during the past several years, he said, with two governments coming to power in the past three years. Eagles pointed to two reasons for this recent upheaval: a proliferation of Canadian political parties during the 1990s and a "sponsorship scandal," known as "AdScam," that brought down the newly elected prime minister, Paul Martin, in 2006. "It's an unusual time in Canadian history to see this level of political instability," he noted. Also complicating factors is the fact that parliament under both the current and last prime minister has been composed of minority governments, which makes it difficult to pass legislation, Eagles said, adding that only 12 of 39 Canadian parliaments have failed to produce majority governments since 1867. Although the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party—and the election of its leader, Stephen Harper, as prime minister on Feb. 6, 2006—has brought about some sense of stability, Eagles said Harper remains a controversial figure whose political philosophy and personal style clash for some with the traditional vision of a Canadian prime minister. Harper is a product of the Canadian conservative "Calgary School," which advocates libertarian values, free trade and aboriginal assimilation, and criticizes affirmative action and "activism of the courts," he explained. He also noted that Harpers' emphasis on traditional values and Christian principles, support of the War on Terror—13,500 Canadian troops currently are stationed in Afghanistan—and extreme pro-Americanism are at odds with the views of many Canadians. He pointed to Harper's 26 percent approval rating as a sign of this tenuous grip on power. http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol38/vol38n45/articles/UBTS_Eagles.html?print=1

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