Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, PC CC AOEis a conservative Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance. He sat in Parliament for the Canadian Alliance until his retirement from federal politics in 2002, after which it in turn merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today's Conservative Party of Canada. Manning sits as an advisor to Canada's Ecofiscal Commission...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth10 June 1942
CountryCanada
In this election, many Canadians are asking, 'What are you going to do about my high taxes, how are your proposals going to improve my job prospects, what fresh ideas do you offer to keep my country together?'
In retrospect, our decision to resuscitate would appear to have been a good one. We have gone from a mere 30 attendees per meeting to an average of 150 attendees. With each meeting, we are increasing our profile in the communities,
When we classify an issue as a 'shield issue' it is usually because we feel that someone else occupies the high ground on that issue. We feel we can't win on that issue and so we adopt a defensive posture.
When the initial effort of political and business leaders to influence public opinion on an issue is to threaten rather than to engage and persuade, they further arouse public opposition rather than win support.
I was dissatisfied with the status quo back in the 80's, particularly how the West was represented in federation. I wanted to try to change it.
What used to be considered conservative values... are increasingly becoming more mainstream values.
For many years I have advocated 'redesigning Parliament' in a variety of ways - elect the Senate, do away with the 'confidence convention,' permit freer voting, strengthen the role of back benchers and committees, do away with ineffectual 'take note' debates, restructure question period, and so on.
What's the difference between a politician and a catfish? One is a wide-mouthed, bottom-feeding, slime sucker - and the other is a fish.
There are more effective ways of tackling environmental problems including global warming, proliferation of plastics, urban sprawl, and the loss of biodiversity than by treaties, top-down regulations, and other approaches offered by big governments and their dependents.
My personal political convictions are rooted in the populist political traditions of western Canada.
When political and business leaders tell the public - any public - 'We don't trust you to make the right decision' - they prejudice that electorate against the very proposals they want it to accept and undermine public confidence in themselves.
The role of the federal government should be neutral toward culture just as it is toward religion.
There are hundreds of Canadian communities that have given more thought to hiring their rink manager than they have to electing their member of Parliament.
Nothing disturbs me more than superficiality and mere sloganizing on matters of public policy, and the suspicion that what the speaker is saying represents the full extent of his knowledge on the subject.