Quote:
Originally Posted by Bownesian
It could be argued that Manning did more to implement fiscal conservative governance (by bringing a consistent emphasis on defecit elimination to the national adgenda, subsequently coopted by the Liberals) than Harper has done in 4 years in power.
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At the time, I couldn't stand Preston Manning, he being the ideological enemy and all that. As I've grown older I've really come to appreciate what he accomplished; he rewrote the Canadian political spectrum, and raised some fundamental questions about our polity that I think we're still trying to answer. Although he never became Prime Minister, I agree: his influence overall is undoubtedly greater than that of Harper, or--say, Paul Martin even.
Most of all--I disagreed with his ideas, but I can't deny that Manning was a visionary, who had a profound sense of mission about making the country he loved a better, more vibrant place--and if that winds up being the lesson of his political career, I think that's very impressive.