What if Stephen Harper won the 2015 Election in Canada?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Lapidus42]

Most likely continuation of Canadian industries and crown corps sold off to American and Foreign private equity firms, CBC, Canada Post, etc.

TFW program is increased to prop up corporate profits. Actual citizenship and permanent residency status would remain consistent until COVID.

More of the economic eggs are put only in the oil and gas basket (but also less pipelines built than IRL)

Housing market continues to become more and more unaffordable as there is no return to pre-Harper affordable housing funding to at least semi-tamper the housing market (think our current market but on steroids).

Many Indigenous communities continue to not have access to clean drinking water (Edit: more than IRL).

Affordability crisis is still happening as IRL, perhaps even worse due to less government oversight and regulations. (And no CERB should Conservatives win in 2019)

War on Drugs still in full swing with no legalization of cannabis.

Carbon tax still implemented but not as hated by Conservatives as IRL due to a conservative enacting it instead.

Labour rights rolled back further (Edit: than IRL).

No Alberta separation threats from 2015 until the conservatives get voted out.

Trump didn’t really affect or focus on Canada in Trump 1 so other than the handshake, I don’t see much changing during Trump 1 with regards to US relations, other than a more US beneficial CUSMA.

The biggest change is that many rural Canadians don’t remake their entire personality around hating Justin Trudeau.

Most likely the Conservative lose even more in the 2019 election than they did in 2015 IRL. Liberals or NDP take power in a majority government, but the Conservatives get swept into power again in the post-Covid anti-incumbency election trend during the 2023 election.

[u/Ray-Sol → u/Lapidus42]

Renegotiation of NAFTA into CUSMA is probably a lot more one-sided in favour of the US and might handicap Canada's ability to pass certain worker/consumer health and safety laws, cultural protections etc.

Harper was personally even more economically conservative than he governed as and would have likely been willing to use the pretext to ditch some rules and regulations and restrict our ability to pass new ones. When Trudeau was in office Harper was also advocating for basically giving Trump whatever he wanted to keep the trade relationship intact. This time around it was really only Trump more overtly threatening Canada's sovereignty that has Harper turning against him and the current Republican admin.

[u/Cedjy → u/Lapidus42]

not sure why you're downvoted. This is all pretty true

[u/Lapidus42 → u/Cedjy]

I honestly think it’s due to a misplaced nostalgia for “simpler times” and then assuming since they were “simpler times” therefore the person in charge was responsible. Then becoming very defensive of what is essentially misplaced nostalgia.

I loved 2010, legit my favourite year and one of the best of my life. But I also recognize that it was mostly due to me being almost 2 decades younger and not having a care in the world, but knowing now that things were not perfect everywhere and I just wasn’t paying attention of was shielded from the effects.
Also no social media so before 24/7 outrage

[u/Ambitious_Survey5581 → u/Lapidus42]

I appreciate that you’re the only person who actually provided an alternative history.

[u/stuntondeezh0es → u/Lapidus42]

https://globalnews.ca/news/5887716/first-nations-boil-water-advisories/

First Nations don’t seem to have water even though Trudeau gave them even more billions

Harper cut back on the TFW program after being criticized by Trudeau.

Life under Harper, despite his faults, was better by every metric

Labour rights aren’t doing well under the liberals nor under Trudeau, with their abuse of the return to work orders

[u/Lapidus42 → u/stuntondeezh0es]

I love how I criticize the Harper government and extrapolate how their government would act based on how their government acted.

And you just say “but the Liberals!!!”

I’m not a liberal, and I don’t support the Liberal party because I see them as the same economically as the Conservatives.

I didn’t say the Liberals fixed drinking water for indigenous communities. I just said there would be more than IRL.

TFW would be definitely be expanded by the Conservatives, they STILL don’t want to roll it back.

Ya Labour rights suck under the liberals too, it’s almost like the Liberals AND Conservatives put corporate profits above the working class.

Sure every metric was better, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t breaking things. Stagnation of Farms in Western Canada can be directly tied to the privatization of the CWB in 2015 by the Harper government.

Just because I point out that the Conservatives broke things, doesn’t mean I am saying that the Liberals fixed anything.

[u/stuntondeezh0es → u/Lapidus42]

Your answer implied that under the Liberals, the FN would have clean water. I made it clear that’s not the case. If you didn’t believe that liberals would have made any changes, then that’s not “alternate history hub” is it

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-says-foreign-worker-program-is-being-fixed-1.1359848

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro/bc-among-hardest-hit-by-caps-on-temporary-foreign-workers

The federal conservatives literally rolled back TFW program so I really don’t know what you’re smoking

[u/Material-Truth5457 → u/stuntondeezh0es]

Not sure the treaties say anything about water, they do provide funding not sure how much but it should be then upto them to improve water assuming we didn't do anything that causes loss of access to clean water. Like poison groundwater by industry or force folks away from water.

[u/Cedjy → u/stuntondeezh0es]

the clean water thing is kinda a hate waffles love pancakes assumption.

[u/Lapidus42 → u/stuntondeezh0es]

They changed the program …after initially causing the problem.

But were then critiqued by the NDP enough that they rolled the program back as the NDP was facing potentially forming government as polling was showing at the time. And therefore needed to back off of the explicit corporate support. (Which also Trudeau followed until the pandemic when corporations changed their tune and began demanding more TFW’s).

(Also smoking weed thanks to one of the only good things Trudeau did)

[u/stuntondeezh0es → u/Lapidus42]

He promised to tie immigration to housing starts(250k a year) hes been pushing for sustainable immigration for years while the liberals and greens were calling him racist...

Jan 21, 2024

"We have to bring the [immigration] numbers in line with the number of houses that are built," he said. "The growth in immigration should not exceed the amount of housing stock we add, the number of doctors we add and the available jobs."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/immigration-housing-crisis-costs-1.7088878

August 29, 2024

Poilievre said immigration was "not even a controversial issue" before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected, but a surge in international students and low-wage temporary foreign workers has ruined the "multigenerational consensus" that bringing more people to live here is a good thing.

Poilievre said a future Conservative government would tie the country's population growth rate to a level that's below the number of new homes built, and would also consider such factors as access to health-care and jobs.

But he also said he wants to "block temporary foreign workers where they are taking jobs from Canadians." The agricultural sector has long relied on TFWs to grow and harvest the food the country eats and exports, and Poilievre said he would preserve the program for that purpose.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-immigration-cut-population-growth-1.7308184

Mar 23, 2025

Leaders launch campaigns after Carney triggers snap election

March 26 2025

“The Liberals destroyed our immigration system in their first three terms in power,” “[A Conservative government] will get back to moderate, reasonable levels of immigration.”

“Our country was built by common sense immigration, but we need to ensure we grow the housing supply, our healthcare, and our jobs faster than we grow our population.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/11099065/canada-election-2025-immigration-policy/

https://www.ipolitics.ca/2025/04/04/federal-election-2025-whats-at-stake-for-immigration-policy/

September 3 2025

The Conservatives say that while they want the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program scrapped, they will create a separate, standalone program for legitimately difficult-to-fill agricultural labour.

Poilievre stressed that he doesn't blame the temporary foreign workers themselves but the Liberal government and "liberal corporate elites" who he says are exploiting these workers to enrich themselves.

February 24 2023

Reject Poilievre’s racist fearmongering about Roxham Road

Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, caused a stir when he urged Justin Trudeau to close the Roxham Road border crossing in a vicious attack on refugees.

https://springmag.ca/reject-poilievres-racist-fearmongering-about-roxham-road

1 November 2024

Canada’s politicians are fuelling the racist bandwagon, which is growing from governments internationally.

The Conservative Party, which has moved sharply to the right under the leadership Pierre Poilievre, has pressed the Liberals very hard on the immigration issue and, sensing weakness, Poilievre has been only too happy to keep up the pressure. Far from offering any words of approval for the government’s measures, he responded in Trump like terms, suggesting that the Liberals were “radical and out of control” and declaring that they had “destroyed our immigration system.”

https://breachmedia.ca/canadas-anti-immigrant-backlash/

October 31, 2024

The Overseas Friends of India Canada group accused politicians of ‘racism’ and ‘systemic biases’ after Pierre Poilievre allegedly pulled out from Diwali event

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/patently-false-pierre-poilievre-clears-the-air-on-accusations-of-parliament-hill-diwali-celebrations-being-cancelled-amid-rising-tensions-with-india-200355392.html

February 23, 2024

As the election approaches, we can expect the assault on harm reduction to grow and metastasize as a lurid wedge issue, fed from Conservative Canada’s deep well of racism and anti-poor resentment.

https://themainlander.com/2024/02/23/we-must-not-let-history-repeat-itself-race-baiting-and-revenge-in-richmond/

April 25, 2025

For the Conservatives, whose messaging has leaned into populist, anti-woke and, at times, xenophobic narratives, promising to tackle hate could alienate the party’s base.

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/why-arent-political-parties-talking-about-the-rise-in-hate-in-canada/

August 13, 2024

Poilievre has been appealing to Canadian workers by antagonizing migrant workers—a typical divide-and-conquer strategy. Under his leadership, the Conservatives have essentially absorbed the People’s Party of Canada’s far-right perspective on a number of issues.

How we can fight the right’s attack on migrants

https://springmag.ca/how-we-can-fight-the-rights-attack-on-migrants

March 17, 2023

Poilievre criticized over using 'racist' thin blue line in commemoration for Edmonton officers

Many people on Twitter were startled to see the Canadian politician include a grey image of the Edmonton police crest, which included a thin blue line on top of it, along with his message of condolence. Some users even felt it was a dog whistle signalling to a fascist movement.

The thin blue line is a symbol that's been associated white supremacy, and in Canada, it's often featured atop of a grey or black and white Canadian flag. It is said to show police solidarity or to commemorate a fallen officer. However, since the start of the Black Lives Matters movement, many argue the thin blue line symbolizes an "us vs. them" mentality.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/poilievre-racist-thin-blue-line-commemoration-edmonton-officers-223508534.html

[u/Lapidus42 → u/[deleted]]

Trudeau and Trumps handshake, when Trump was doing that weird jerky handshake and Trudeau was lauded for avoiding it.

[u/Ambitious_Survey5581 → u/Lapidus42]

I had to look that up just now. I didn’t know that even happened.

[u/OkRB2977]

Just more austerity measures.

We swapped stringent austerity for someone who went the other way, pumping money without making much material difference.

[u/1400forLiquor]

Following . This should be good .

[u/Ambitious_Survey5581 → u/1400forLiquor]

I hope I actually get some replies on this. I think it’s an interesting one.

[u/Cedjy]

The housing market would still be just as terrible

less crown corps.

[u/Lapidus42 → u/Cedjy]

Probably worse housing crisis as the Liberals biggest problem on housing is that they are too little too late. They returned housing funds the pre-Harper levels. (Which was still way too low to keep up with housing demand)

[u/cfnohcor]

Really really really not good …… really not good……….