Why We Need Change

If you follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, you may have noticed that I have shared a lot of news articles and photos that take pot shots at the Conservative Party of Canada. In seeing what I share, you may fairly assume that I am anti-Conservative.

I'm not so much anti-Conservative as I am, unabashedly, anti-Stephen Harper.

I do remember when Canada had a Progressive Conservative Party, and while I didn't share some of the values of those Conservatives, I did respect some of its members and some of its goals for Canada.

I had a great respect for Joe Clark, who was an excellent statesman and foreign-affairs minister—championing the anti-apartheid movement in Canada, the only G7 country to take such a stance in the 80s. Clark also fought for minimum wage for all Canadians.

Walter Baker, a PC member under Clark's minority government, was the MP for my riding and was well-respected by his constituents (he also lived next to a friend's house). Baker first introduced the Access to Information Bill that later was used as a basis for the Access to Information Act, which demands clarity from our government.

I even admired Brian Mulroney's Meech Lake Accord, which was an attempt to bring Québec into the fold in accepting the constitutional amendment and to try to keep that province within Canada. Though I didn't like Mulroney, I could see that he did have vision for a united Canada.

I am not anti-Conservative. I like to think that the majority of Canadians who still support a Conservative government are looking nostalgically to the days of the Progressive Conservatives. That's what I think of those, who complain about the Liberal Party, remember their grievances with Pierre Trudeau and how they disagree with his lavish spending. Like or hate those Liberals, that party was running counter to those old PCs.

That Trudeau is gone. So are those PCs.

I'm not anti-Conservative: I'm anti-Harper.

I share stories about corruption within Harper's party because it seems rampant. I share stories about how Harper has made the niqab an election issue, how he has divided the country and endorsed hate, how he has cultivated a society of fear and paranoia, where someone can call a tip line to report on a neighbour, just because that neighbour is different.

Canada used to be a country that was prided on tolerance and acceptance. Not under Harper's watch.

Our country is now attracting negative press, being viewed by other countries as intolerant and racist. That's not our country. That's not Canada.

That's all on Harper.

With a re-elected Harper government, we will continue to see our scientists muzzled. We will see the demise of our public broadcasting system. We will see the erosion of our privacy. We will see the end of Canada as we know it.

The Supreme Court of Canada has been our last bastion of our constitution. The Harper Government has tried to introduce bills that have been struck down by the Supreme Court 11 times. His court challenges have lost 11 times because they were unconstitutional. And Harper has been trying to discredit Supreme Court judges that have ruled against him. Harper has tried to stack the court with judges that support him.

If the Supreme Court is filled with Harper supporters, he will be able to pass bills that the court has previously deemed unconstitutional.

I'll give a minute for that to sink in.

I'm not anti-Conservative. I'm anti-Harper. I'm anti-Harper Conservative.

If you are considering voting for the Conservative Party of Canada, you really have to stop and think: are you voting of the old ideals of the Progressive Conservatives, or do you really think that Harper is the kind of man that you like, that what he wants to do with this country is good for Canadians—all Canadians.

No political party is perfect. It's impossible to agree with every policy and plan that a single party promises during the election campaign. It's even harder to believe everything that is said.

But of all the party leaders, Harper scares me the most. He scares me because he's already eroded so much that has been viewed as good in Canada. He has damaged our economy, our environment, and the world's view of us. If he is elected again, he will destroy this country.

Stop looking at his promises for tax savings and balanced budget. He has cost tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars, and his one balanced budget—one in 10 years—is the result of tapping into our reserves.

The payments to families may sound good, but after the tax clawbacks that we'll see at tax time, we'll realize that he has only thrown coins at our feet, expecting to buy our votes.

Do you want a little bit of cash in your pocket, at the expense of our values?

We can't afford another four years of Harper.

I'm not anti-Conservative. If you are looking back to the days of the Progressive Conservatives, you have to understand that, under Harper, they don't exist any more.

If you want to return to the days of the PCs, voting for Harper won't do that. Ever. If you want to return to the days of the PCs, you need to first get rid of Harper. Period.

Let's vote together to ensure that Harper and his followers (Pierre Poilievre, Jason Kenney, Tony Clement, Michelle Rempel, Leona Aglukkaq, Chris Alexander, Joe Oliver, Lisa Raitt... you know, the weasels who will tow the party line before they represent their constituents but aren't showing their faces in public debates or to the media during the campaign) go away. Vote for whichever party has the best chance of defeating a Harper Conservative.

If you can't bring yourself to vote for any other party, please stay home. Don't vote.

We need change. We need to get rid of Harper. We need to let him know that we're not a divisive country, that we value acceptance over paranoia. We value tolerance over hate.

We need change. We need our Canada back.

It's the Vitriol That I Can't Stand

It's not just that they were found guilty of election fraud, or found in contempt of Parliament.

It's not the loathing for the media, which is evident in the gagging of scientists and the fear and intimidation that is beaten into the civil servants.

It's not the childish and petty attack ads that use distorted sound bites, quotes, and distorting of facts to scare the uneducated into believing every word they say.

It's the overall negativity, the fear mongering, and total absence of a sense of vision, a lack of hope for a bright future.

They are the Evil Galactic Empire of Canada.

A climate of contempt for the average Canadian has been cultivated by the Harper Government.

Please get out and vote. 

I leave you with some wise words for a prime minister in the depths of a scandal:

This Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

I have to admit it: I'm scared shitless.

Not of the terrorists. Never have been. We haven't had a bona fide terrorist attack on Canadian soil and I'm not worried about walking down any streets. (Most streets, that is.)

But there is a group of people that is threatening to destroy my country, and its leader makes the Emperor of the Evil Galactic Empire look like a pussy.

On Sunday, Canadians learned that parliament has been dissolved and that the longest election campaign in modern Canadian history is underway. It must also be mentioned that it will be the most expensive campaign in our country's history, costing Canadian taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more than it would have, had the party that has boasted to be fiscally responsible called the election half as early.

As we head into this election campaign, let us remember a few points about the current government.

• In the last budget, we were told that the books were balanced and that we would have more than a billion dollars in surplus. Thanks, of course, to dipping into the country's contingency fund. Only, after economic analysts have examined the budget in detail, we are actually in another deficit of more than a billion-and-a-half dollars. There is a $2.9B discrepancy.
• The current government has claimed that it supports our war veterans, and yet it has cut support centres across the country.
• Under the current government, our average annual growth of GDP has increased by only 1.6 percent, the smallest increase of the past nine leading parties.
• Tough crime laws have been drafted, despite decreases in Canadian crime rates.
• Canada's Economic Action Plan, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, which saw no real job creation.
• The senate scandal, of which we've only scratched the surface.
• The millions of dollars needlessly spent on repackaging the armed forces.
• The cuts to our national broadcaster.
• The stonewalling of the media.
• The silencing of our scientists.
• The so-called "Fair Election Act," which prohibits citizens living abroad from voting, prohibits Elections Canada from calling on citizens to vote, and restricts eligible voters from casting ballots without specific identification (gone is the vouching rule).

A recent study has been published, in which it shows that the Harper Regime has proven to be the worst government, economically, since World War II. You can read it here. 

The attack ads of the current government and its supporters have been childish and have attacked on personal levels, without providing a clear platform or vision.

Harper himself says some of the most ludicrous things:

What does this even mean? How are terrorists getting money from "honest, hardworking Canadians"? If you're hardworking and honest, you're not about to hand over your money to terrorists. I thought the honest and hardworking Canadians paid taxes to the government. Who uses it to fund needlessly long election campaigns.

I'm tired of the fearmongering. I'm tired of the waste of money. I'm tired of the lies and bullshit.

And I'm scared.

What scares the shit out of me is the fear that people will not get out and vote. The apathy toward elections is what got this regime into power.

Canada used to be respected the world over. We used to be peacekeepers, used to have a seat in the United Nations Security Council. We used to care about the environment.

All of that has gone over the past 10 years.

I want my Canada back.

Please: get out and vote. 

F@*kwad

Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre says that he's spoken with many of his constituents about the so-called Fair Elections Act and that they were happy with the contents of the act.

Really? How many constituents has he spoken with? And who are they? Are they supporters?

I have the great misfortune of living in Poilievre's Nepean-Carleton riding and I've spoken about the Fair Elections Act with my neighbours and friends, who are also constituents. Know what? Not one of them likes the act. Not one of them thinks it's fair.

On a broader scope, I've discussed the act with other Canadians, who live in other ridings and other provinces, but who will be equally affected by the proposed changes.

And they all say it stinks.

In discussions about this act (among other political subjects: in case you didn't already know, I like to follow politics and often get in animated discussions over it), my friends and I agree that the vouching issue, while important, is being used as a smoke screen to pull attention away from a more-dangerous part of the act.

The act will give incumbent parties in each riding the power to name key election officials, who will oversee the voters at the polls. Until then, that job fell to an impartial Elections Canada official. But Poilievre thinks that Elections Canada has too much power, can investigate election irregularities and breaches in the election rules.

The Conservatives don't like being told that they are breaking laws. They don't like being called out on anything, for that matter. In the past, when department heads have blown the whistle on misdeeds and coverups by the government, the Conservative response has been to discredit that whistle blower.

Does anyone remember Chalk River? Afghanistan detainees?

Recently, Poilievre has verbally attacked Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand for speaking out on the proposed Fair Elections Act. Poilievre, who has never produced anything in his political career (how's that Strandherd Bridge coming along? Results?), whose only claim to fame is that he's been able to climb the ranks in the Conservative Party by having his head stuck so far up Stephen Harper's arse that he sees light every time Harper speaks, claims that Mayrand is condemning the act because he is power-hungry.

Poilievre says that Mayrand "wants more power, a bigger budget, and less accountability.” I'm sure he thought he was looking into a mirror when he said that.

So, Poilievre says that he's spoken to his constituents and they all like the act. First, I think he asked some of his staff. I don't think he asked real residents, unless they were close friends and Conservatives. I don't believe him. But even if he has talked to residents, he didn't ask enough people. I don't know anyone in his riding who likes it. The people I know think it's a bad act.

Many credible people, who have read the contents of the proposed bill, including Mayrand, the former Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, many elections commissioners, and academics from across the country, have condemned it as an attack on Canadian democracy.

And then there's former auditor general, Sheila Fraser.

Fraser was praised by Harper over her uncovering of the sponsorship scandal, which lead to the end of the Liberal government. Harper has called Fraser "the mother of all accountants" and that she could be counted on to be fair, to call things for what they were.

"When you look at the people who may not be able to vote, when you look at the limitations that are being put on the chief electoral officer, when you see the difficulties, just the operational difficulties that are going to be created in all this, I think it's going to be very difficult to have a fair, a truly fair, election," she said this week.

Fraser not only finds troublesome problems with the Fair Elections Act, she has spoken out against Poilievre's smear campaign toward Mayrand. “To actually attack (Mayrand) for bringing forward his concerns is totally inappropriate,” she said.

If Poilievre and Harper fail to listen to Fraser, we will know that the only reason they want this bill to pass is that they don't want to listen to Canadians, that they only want what's best for the Conservative Party, that they do not want what's best for Canadians.

I'm not holding my breath.

Poor Judgement, Eh?

So, the Conservative Party of Canada wants to criticize Justin Trudeau because he dropped the F-bomb at a wrestling match that was a charity fundraiser.

Really?

Like they've never heard the word.

Like a wrestling match was no place for rough language.

Of course, the Tories have never shown poor judgement. Stephen Harper is a man of sound judgement, beyond reproach.

Except for Nigel Wright.

And Mike Duffy.

And Pamela Wallin.

And Patrick Brazeau.

And Marc Nadon.

And Dimitri Soudas.

Yeah, that Justin Trudeau. He had better shape up.

Dirty Politics

There is an absolute truth in politics: if you sling mud, you may miss. But you'll definitely get dirty.

To me, the federal Conservatives are like the evil Galactic Empire in Star Wars: pure evil that exists to serve itself. I see no good in that party. No best intentions. No vision for a better country. Just greed.

When it comes to the opposition, the Conservatives have one plan and one plan only: try to smear the opponents. It doesn't matter if those opponents aren't even part of the official opposition, as is the case with the NDP, who mopped the Québec floor during the last election. No, the plan has been, ever since the Liberals elected their new leader, to sling mud in his direction.

And so far, they've missed every time.

As soon as Justin Trudeau swept the Liberal leadership convention, the attack ads came out. We know the one: Justin, taking off his shirt at a charity fund raiser. The Tories tried to make Trudeau look comical, adding circus music and graphics that didn't exist during the actual fund raiser, in which Trudeau actually raised $1,900 for the Canadian Liver Foundation.

I bet Harper couldn't do that. He might raise that much to keep his shirt on.

The latest attempt to discredit Trudeau was the unsolicited information leak to the press about a charity event in 2007, where Trudeau attended and spoke, and charged $10,000 for his appearance. Before he was an MP. Where no one complained about paying the fee, even though the fee was discussed up front. Even though, in 2009, an attempt by a Tory to complain to the Ethics Commission failed.

I don't want to speak to any great length on the methods to which the Conservatives have tried to sling mud at the new leader of the Liberal party. I just want to talk about what I see.

The Conservatives are sweating. They have a lot of controversy surrounding the spending practices of some Tory senators—in particular, Mike Duffy and his buy-out by former PMO Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright. (Funny, Harper's folks can dig up details of Trudeau's speaking fees but can't come up with the cancelled $90,000 cheque that Wright wrote.) They want to change the channel, turn the attention away from themselves by slinging mud at someone else.

Smoke and mirrors. Sling, duck, and evade.

It's ironic: Stephen Harper's wife, Laureen, has headed an anti-bullying campaign but can't reign in the leader of the Conservatives. Because that's what Stephen is: a bully.

Canada's only hope is that all of the opposition parties keep their teeth firmly sunk into the scandals that are now plaguing the leading party. They mustn't let the smoke deter them. Harper is counting on Canadian citizens having short-term memories. Keep the memory fresh.

Be the Rebel Alliance against the evil Galactic Empire.

"Strong, The Force, in this young Trudeau, is. Against the Dark Side, must he fight."

The Tories love to sling mud. Keep on ducking. Because when all is said and done, they're the only dirty ones.