Dear editor,

Is the Harper Conservative Party really following conservative ideas?

A person who is conservative is not necessarily against change, but is cautious, not prone to taking risks and is certainly against wasteful spending. They base their decisions on experience rather than idealistic thinking. Traditionally, they have been Canadian nationalists and wary of American domination.

With this in mind, I have listed six prominent policies of the Harper government, with the question: Are these policies really ones that conservative people approve of?

1. Harper would not shut down the Chalk River nuclear plant when strongly advised to do so by Linda Keen, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. She was then fired. (Knowing what happened in Japan, is this risk-taking consistent with conservative cautiousness?)

2. Harper has spent $18 billion providing military support for the corrupt Afghan government 鈥� and has achieved nothing. (Both unwise and wasteful 鈥� not conservative traits. Serving American foreign policy rather than Canadian?)

3. Harper has committed $15 to $30 billion for fighter planes. (A giant expense 鈥� not needed. Serving American foreign policy? Are there no better ways to use this money?)

4. Harper is committed to putting more people in jail for longer terms, which will also require a massive jail-building program 鈥� all costing $5 billion or so 鈥� but with no costing being done. And this is in a period of decreasing crime. (Doesn鈥檛 sound like a conservative business plan to me, especially when experts say that jails do not decrease crime.)

5. Harper is subsidizing the oil industry to the tune of $14 billion over 10 years. (True conservatives are in favour of free enterprise, competing on an even playing field, with no government crutches bolstering non-competitive enterprises. They certainly would not approve bolstering profitable corporations that pay their CEOs exorbitant bonuses.)

6. Putting Canada to shame, Harper has twice won the 鈥淐olossal Fossil鈥� award for his obstructive attitude at Climate Change conferences. (A great number of people now recognize that fossil fuel production has already caused extreme weather (hurricanes, drought and floods), and will be even more detrimental as the greenhouse gases increase. You would think that conservative people, being more cautious, would be even more concerned about the future for their children and grandchildren than others.)

The big question: Is the Harper Party really a conservative party or has Harper highjacked the party for some extremist agenda? It鈥檚 almost a Dr. Strangelove situation. Surely normal conservative people don鈥檛 accept the policies listed above.

Doug Carrick,

Hornby Island