[news] Harper's Canada will be Just Like Howard's Australia

[Mostly Water - mostlywater.org = news.resist.ca]

Mr. Harper's party is employing the same campaign tactics that Mr. Howard first used in 1996 for his landslide win and that he has used to great effect in three successive elections...Mr. Howard's electoral success can be put down to his capacity to capture the support of working-class and lower-middle-class families who used to vote for (the Labour Party); he did this by lining their pockets with tax cuts and middle-class welfare payments, such as cash bonuses for new mothers. And he appealed to their moral conservatism and desire to slow down the pace of social change. In 1996, Mr. Howard's campaign slogan was "For all of us." Mr. Howard said the (Labour Party) was more interested in what he called "elite" issues such as aboriginal reconciliation, Australian republicanism and the arts.

URL: http://mostlywater.org/node/3833