The Two Sides of Stephen Harper: Cold War Warrior and Compassion

Starting with the former, a reminder that the PM is not only driven by diaspora politics in relation to Ukraine as he channels his internal Cold War warrior:

“Evil comes in many forms and seems to reinvent itself time and again,” he said.“But whatever it calls itself — Nazism, Marxist-Leninism, today, terrorism — they all have one thing in common: the destruction, the end of human liberty.”

Canadians, the prime minister said, are well aware of that destruction.

“We feel this pain so acutely because nearly one-quarter of all Canadians were either held captive by communism’s chains or are the sons and daughters of those who were.”

Stephen Harper takes aim at Putin.

And yet his softer side can be seen in his support for the recent summit on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) and his media interview with Melinda Gates (as well as a rare admission of the values of scientific evidence and experts):

“It’s hard for me not to get very emotional about this because we know, we scientifically know, what vaccinations and immunizations have done for us, personally, in our generation and for generations after us,” he said on the second day of the government’s maternal, newborn and child health summit.

“I frankly don’t understand people who are walking away in our society from something that’s proven to work.”…

Harper then offered his advice to those who “go off on their own theories and not listen to the scientific evidence.”

“Don’t indulge your theories, think of your children and listen to the experts,” he said.

‘If you love your child,’ vaccinate your child: Melinda Gates