In a nutshell

Garth Turner (via Aaron Wherry) serves up one more set of quotes which nicely encapsulates the governing philosophy of the Harper Cons:

“You’re a journalist and we all know journalists make bad politicians. Politicians know how to stick to a message. That’s how they are successful. Journalists think they always have to tell the truth.”
— (Stephen) Harper

“We play as a team or we lose as a team. We have no room for an independent thinker on our team.”
— Conservative MP Guy Lauzon

“What Garth has to learn is that you’ve got to support the prime minister, absolutely no matter what.”
— Senator Marjory LeBreton

“There will be impacts in some of your ridings. They will affect people, and you may be tempted to talk about them. But don’t. Anyone who has anything to say about this will soon find out they have a very short political career.”
— Harper, announcing program spending cuts during a caucus meeting

Of course, it's worth noting that Stephane Dion is quoted as taking virtually exactly the same position as Harper when a Turner blog post proved inconvenient. And at least one Con MP is quoted showing enough principle to back Turner's right to think and speak for himself. But when the history of the Harper government is written, its constant demand for unthinking fealty looks to be one of the defining features.