There's a good article in today's Star about Harper as Neo-Con.

[Captain Hilts]

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/731911

The Harper government has, in fact, remained very true to its ideology. But that ideology is not "conservative." Rather, it is "neoconservative," and this makes a big difference on the question of deficits and fiscal policy.

For neoconservatives – the denomination that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s – balanced budgets are not a first-order priority. The overriding objective is to cut taxes; balancing the books comes a distant second or even third on the to-do list. Most neoconservative governments have never gotten around to balancing the budget.

Ronald Reagan, a neoconservative icon and political grandfather of the movement, is generally regarded as having presided over the first real neocon government in North America. His first significant initiative as president was to enact a large tax cut, even though he had inherited a big budget deficit from his predecessor, Jimmy Carter.