A Week in the Life Under Harper

If nothing else give us pause, the cuts to services being dribbled out to the public day by day, the result of the cuts in the Harper budget, should.

I'm not going to go into detail ad nauseum but, if Stevie hadn't reduced the GST and cut corporate taxes, there wouldn't be a deficit.

The first one that sticks its head up is the cut to a program which provided internet services through libraries and community centres. A service used by seniors and under privileged people who either don't have or can't afford a computer. The program costs peanuts in the larger scheme of things.

Two programs under the stewardship of the Ritz Cracker, Gerry Ritz the ostrich farmer cum agriculture minister from Saskatchewan.  The Regina leader post, always willing to give up space in their letter to the editor section to the government ran letters today from Ritz and from the head of the Food Inspection Agency.

We all should remember the Food Inspection Agency. The last time we heard from them was when 33 Canadians died as a result of the infamous Maple Leaf listeria crisis. At the time it was suggested that inspectors were not able to spend time of the meat packing floor under Harper and his gang of thugs. Their role had become mostly administrative.

We all remember Gerry Ritz "Death by a thousand cuts, or should I say cold cuts" remark during that period.

Well now, as they serve inspectors with layoff notices, they are saying "Don't worry. We "will not make any changes which will not in any way put the health and safety of Canadians at Risk."

I am not sure I feel reassured.

Meanwhile Gerry can't understand why people might be upset at the Prairie Shelterbelt Program is being done away with. First he says there is no longer a need for the program then claims there is great potential for the private sector to take it over.

That Gerry sure can be confusing some times.

Those who follow the CBC have been reading the mixed messages coming from the Harper Government for some time now.

Shortly after the last election Federal  Heritage Minister James Moore gave the CBC and its supporters a reason to relax. He assured us that the Cons weren't going to use their majority  to slash the national public broadcaster. In fact, pledged Moore, the government would "maintain or increase support for the CBC."

That assurance was tempered however by comments by a couple of his colleagues.

•  Dean Del Mastro, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage suggested "The government should get out of the broadcasting business."  
• Jason Kenney, Minister of Immigration said, "The CBC lies all the time."

The fact is the CBC has been cut by a succession of Governments going back to Brian Mulroney.  It is an old strategy, and it works. If you cut an institution again and again over a long period of time, as it struggles to keep its head above water it flounders bit by bit, until it eventually becomes irrelevant.

Developers do this all the time. They buy up houses in a community one by one. Let them run down. Rent them out to bad tenants then, when by design the neighbourhood becomes an eyesore, they petition city hall for the right  to tear the buildings down and build apartments buildings.

That is what Harper is trying to do to the CBC.

It goes on and on. No time to remind you of the Robo call scandal except to say that Elections Canada investigators on the trail of the "Pierre Poutine" suspect in the robocalls case have apparently been asking questions about the actions of staff at Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa. Some suspicious conduct there which will have to be followed up.

Then there are the jet fighters, Peter Mckay is still defending his actions.

We all remember Rob Anders, the Calgary MP who was moved from a Veterans Affairs Committee after he fell asleep during a hearing, then ranted that a couple of presenters who were atually Con Party members were NDP hacks.

He has a new spot new position on a little-known House of Commons committee to loosen Canada's firearms rules. His ultimate goal is to repeal strict gun control provisions "shoved down our throats" by the Liberal government in the mid-nineties.

Anders said he will use his position on the regulations committee to put the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program — which administers Canada's gun control regime — under the microscope. Those rules mean that gun owners have to lock and safely store their guns when not in use. They also put restrictions on the owners of restricted and prohibited firearms.

Anders is joined on the committee with Yorkton's right wing crazy MP Garry Breitkreuz, who for years led the Conservative charge to scrap the long-gun registry.

Surely that is enough. It all gives me a headache.

A Shift in Values?

I've been in Ottawa these last few days so my blog posts are a bit behind.

I walked a lot while I was there, re-connecting with a city  I really quite like.

Just along where the the Rideau River runs into the Ottawa we came across a bit of sculpture. The plaque says the  "Monument  honours Canadians' commitment to International Development and Humanitarian Assistance and pays tribute to all Canadians who gave their lives in pursuit of theses values."

I said when I read the inscription, "This is what I think of when I contemplate  our country and this is what I think we stand for as a people. I don't want us to be the new tough guy on the international scene. We are, or at least we were, a country that cares."

We walked on another hundred metres or so to what used to be the Canada and the World Pavilion. A sign outside said that the pavilion's purpose was "..to share Canadians' international contributions with" us. The pavilion  and the exhibit are now permanently closed.

For me, that sign pretty much summed up the values of our current government.

Another thing I noticed was the number of people around the city in uniform. It wasn't so long ago that military personnel were instructed to wear civilian clothes to work. The government didn't want people to be conscious of how many military people actually worked in in the city. When you did see someone they were in dress uniform.

There days all the members of the army walk around the city in full camouflage which makes no sense at all except that this government wants to send a much different image to Canadians who see military personnel in the street. Harper's people see these camo outfits projecting a tough, rough and ready image. It might be practical to wear camo if you were crawling around in the bush trying not to be seen but on a city street?

I know that Defense Minister Peter McKay like to dress up in army gear every chance he gets, kind of like George Bush,  but in truth, the only practical camouflage for most of these people would something that would let them blend into offices and filing cabinets.

I just don't like where we seem to be going.

Bubble Headed Bleached Blonde Falls Flat on her Face

Out here, in the nether reaches of Saskatchewan  to be exact, we don't get Sun News Network, also called, FOX North or as the Tories like to refer to it The Harper News Network.

It turns out it is just as well.

I think you will find the link to the below video interesting. Basically the Sun News "interviewer", to be generous, a Jersey Shore reject, tries to interview well known dancer and choreographer, Margie Gillis and falls flat on her face.

The Blue Meanies fought hard to get Sun News their broadcasting licence, overturning the CRTC. With the Sun News Network on air the Tories now feel that journalism in Canada is much more balanced than it once was.

I think it is an opportunity to look deep into the Conservative soul, just in case we 60 percenters weren't sure why we didn't vote for them.

Have a look at the interview here

I am sorry you have to sit through the commercial at the head but persevere.

And, just as a reminder about journalistic integrity take a few moments and listen to Don Henley

I'll Always Have Time for Those Who Protest

I was surprised by some of the reaction to Brigitte DePape brief protest in the Senate chamber last week. Not by the overwhelming on-line support, but by some of the politicians’ responses.

She has become a folk hero in cyberspace but, even politicians who we might expect to be a bit more tolerant of her actions pretty much trashed her protest.

It was expected that the Jason Kenny’s of the world would wade, outraged but I was a bit disappointed when Jack Layton gave us all a little lecture saying “We have been pushing for decorum in the House of Commons. You don’t have decorum if people are standing up holding up signs in the middle of debates and solemn moment. We encourage protests; it is part of a great long tradition of democracy. But it should be happening at the proper place and at the proper time.”

I have heard that kind of response from the “left” before. There is seldom is a "proper place and proper time" if it is inconvenient. Protest is great but just don’t do anything that might draw attention away from Jack.

Implying DePape used the wrong venue to stage her protest, even Elizabeth May waded in saying “Essentially, in theory, we’re in the presence of Her Majesty, that is the sovereign, That isn’t Stephen Harper’s room. That’s somebody else’s room.”

Oh Pleeese. In the presence of her Majesty?

It took 20 seconds out of Harper’s big day. No one was hurt. It wasn’t even noisy. Stephen Harper looked pissed off. So what?

She lost her job as a page but, I can’t imagine that paid very well anyway, knowing how the government is usually eager to exploit our youth. At least now she has a few better opportunities to choose from.

American documentary film maker Michel Moore offered her a job and issued a statement saying “For a young person to do that and to do it peacefully, and quietly and with grace, I thought it was a very powerful moment. Every now and then there is an iconic moment where an individual takes action, and it inspires others to think about, you know, what else we would be doing.”

The Public Service Alliance stepped up and said they would hire her if she wanted to work for the union, and the Council of Canadians offered her a job in their organization. Not bad for someone who just graduated.

I agree with DePape when she says, “Contrary to Harper’s rhetoric, Conservative values are not in fact Canadian values. How could they be when three out of four eligible voters didn’t even give their support to the Conservatives?”

Is a Harper Majority fair? Not in your life.

Is it legitimate? You bet.

The Blue Meanies did manage to gain a majority with less that 40% of Canadians supporting them but, they did it using the rules in place. Our first-past-the-post electoral system isn't fair but, Harper didn’t do anything the Liberals haven’t done before him.

And, we let them do it. 

It takes guts to stand up and do what that young woman did. She gets my vote, hands down.

Blue Man Group Ready to Shake up Canada

The Blue Man Group with Governor General David Johnston

I guess for a lot of us are waiting to see how our new Parliament will function as it starts the spring session June 2nd the next while should be interesting. There have been some changes since it last sat.

New opposition Leader Jack Layton says he will push for a new level of decorum insisting that the NDP will not heckle the blue meanies on the other side of the house. The new Conservative MPs in the running to be Speaker of the House all claim they want to put steps in to improve things, to make it more civil. It will be tough though considering the quality of the people lined up for the job. Andrew Scheer? Spare me.

The head of the blue man group has no love for the socialists and considering what Harper once said about the New Democrats, I don't think any new approach will last long.

A few years ago Harper told a U.S right wing think tank, "Let’s take the New Democratic Party, the NDP The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it’s actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.

This party believes not just in large government and in massive redistributive programs, it’s explicitly socialist. On social value issues, it believes the opposite on just about everything that anybody in this room believes. I think that’s a pretty safe bet on all social-value kinds of questions.

Some people point out that there is a small element of clergy in the NDP. Yes, this is true. But these are clergy who, while very committed to the church, believe that it made a historic error in adopting Christian theology.

The NDP is also explicitly a branch of the Canadian Labour Congress, which is by far our largest labour group, and explicitly radical. "

Considering that June 2nd the NDP will be trying out their new role as the Official Opposition. Pushing their new found weight around. The Liberals, in their new role as also rans, will be working hard to punch above their weight. Harper will have to get used to the fact that he has be civil to them from time to time. It will be tough for him.

Potentially this next session will be a spectator sport like we've never seen before. So, hold on to your hats Canada. 

The Blue Meanies are not Really a Majority

I think what will get under my skin over the next four years is that Stephen Harper will strut around saying that his government was supported by a majority of Canadians. It wasn't.

Figure it out.

• There are over 34 million Canadians
• 24 million of them are eligible to vote
• Roughly 6 million Canadians voted for Harper's party. 
• About 9 million of us voted for candidates who were not Conservatives. 

So, like it or not Stephen, only about 25% of eligible voters actually supported you. Some majority!

There are a couple of things you can do.

1. Sign Fair Vote Canada's Declaration of Voter's Rights.
2. Remind the Prime Minister of the facts and ask him to change the electoral system 

It will make you feel that you are doing something about our dismal political situation and hopefully you will begin to feel better about things.