Left, Right and in between

I’m not sure when it started but somehow this country’s political reference points have seen a huge shift over the last few years, or is it just since Stephen Harper came on the scene? It used to be simple. The Progressive Conservatives were on the right, the Liberals were in the centre and the NDP was on the left. Truth be told we have heard very little from the “socially conscious” side of the Liberals for some time now.
From my perspective the Liberals were always right of centre but, that is another story and, These days when Stephan Harper refers to the parties on the left he means anyone who doesn’t see the world his way. To my disappointment the media seem to have bought into his definition, at least partly. It wasn’t that long ago that the media in Canada thought the three parties were fighting for the middle.
It is no wonder with the constant chipping away of Canadian culture and values by the barrage of American media we face every day. If the Conservatives have their way and relax media ownership rules, it is going to get worse.
My view is that this is all a result of the current Canadian government’s close ties with the Republican Party in the USA. It isn’t exactly a secret. Harper has acted like a toadie to the Bush government for years now and his Party workers have been trained by the Bush Republicans. It is no wonder Harper sees it the way he does but the media should hang their heads.
The terms “left” and “right” are supposed to be defined within our own country using our own political compass, not as compared with the Republicans and Democrats. The last time I looked the Democratic Party, defined as “left” in the USA was still quite a distance to the right of our Canadian definition of the terms.

So lets get it right:
The NDP and the Bloc are slightly left of centre
The Liberals are slightly right of centre
The Progressive Conservative, before they were sold out by Peter McKay were to the right and;
The Conservative Party is to the far right.
Any questions”