Honestly, Harper while quite far right for my tastes, isn't even half as bad as some of your contenders for President. The only issues I have are that his Government panders too much to corporations, doesn't make the environment a priority, a bit too 'tough on crime', and runs to the defence of Israel even faster than the US.
This, although I'd add "lack of transparency", "poor relationship with the media" and "disregard for Parliamentary procedure" to the list of things I dislike.
The thing is, us Canadians don't care much about the personal beliefs of our politicians, and politicians know well enough not to say anything about their beliefs unless it toes with Party line. That's when a politician might say something a simple as 'Muslim women should not wear a hiijab while taking the oath of citizenship', there's a national debate. Whereas in the US, you have your leaders raving about the 'homosexual agenda' and the majority of you don't even bat an eye.
This is particularly true when it comes to personal religious beliefs, at least those held by mainstream candidates (i.e., not the Christian Heritage Party). Wearing ones religion on their sleeve is strongly discouraged in Canadian politics.
However, I'd say that many Canadians are somewhat concerned about opinions held by our leaders -- Harper's beliefs about gay marriage, while rarely expressed, are pretty well-known to most of us, and they're at least a little bit disconcerting. Realistically, I don't think the Tories are apt to try to tackle gay rights any time soon, but I would rather have a PM who is motivated to be proactive about this kind of thing, and Harper isn't that guy. I'm also not terribly fond of the sneakiness surrounding abortion rights, particularly that whole Planned Parenthood funding fiasco.
Edit: I think it's a bit dramatic to put Harper on par with the Tea Baggers. His policies on taxation and social programs are downright liberal compared to the crap being advocated by Tea Party candidates, even if they're right-wing for Canadian tastes.