Harper Thrives in Climate of Voter Apathy

Divided Liberals are failing to exploit Tory troubles - The Globe and Mail

And so it goes. The Liberals last night failed to beat a man in the Vaughn Bi-election who made zero public appearances and really isn't that well liked. And this is in a riding that has been traditionally Liberal. Yes it was a close race and yes, Fantino is a known name, but as I said, not always known positively. But the fact remains, all the Harper Cons had to do was put this guy out there, and they won.

So what does this say? Some would say very little considering there was only about 30% voter turn out in the riding, which in it self could signal voter apathy. The citizens of Vaughn may be so tired of both the Liberals and the Harper Cons that it wasn't even worth their while to turn out to cast their ballot. Which is scary because it's in this kind of climate that Harper tends to thrive. He can pretty much do anything he wants and nobody cares, despite the railings of the Canadian Media.

The problem is, many Canadians see the name "Conservative" and still think Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark, Robert Stanfield, which couldn't be further from the truth. They vote for the Party name because that's what they've done all their lives. Either that or the electorate, still worried about the legacy of the dynastic Liberals are voting against them, not really knowing that their vote is being cast for a party that would do away with democracy if it meant fulfilling it's agenda. And that is hardly Conservative.

The fact remains, that the Liberals have failed to engage the average Canadian citizen. The NDP and Greens were so far back in the Vaughn Bi-election as to be non-existent while in Winnipeg North, the New Democrats were a close second. The Liberal party remains divided, in fact, it doesn't really know what it stands for anymore. It does not project the social values of the Trudeau era nor is it seen as the champion of Canadian health care anymore. All Canadians remember is the 13 years of fiscal restraint under Chretien's leadership which was, curiously, more Conservative than the Mulroney era.

Ignatieff has bumped himself up somewhat as a result of this summer's cross Canada bus tour. Be he still has not engaged the hearts and minds of the Canadian public. He remains to many, an unknown man with an unclear agenda. And the suspicion that he too, does not have the full support of his caucus does not help his cause at all.

The closest thing to a genuine Liberal was Stephan Dion. He was and remains brilliant. He had a platform, a purpose and a very Canadian agenda. But the fact remains, his English was poor and the Bulk of English Canada were not going to put their faith in another Frenchman. He was easily flustered in the House and the Reform/Conservatives were able to spin-doctor Dion's deficits into convincing Canadians and even Dion's own Party that he was a weak leader. Which of course is far from the truth. Ask most Quebecois about Dion and the National Unity issue.

So it seems at the moment, that most Canadians either don't care enough about our political process, or don't care to understand what's going on in Ottawa. For if they truly understood, it is unfathomable to think that there would be enough voter support to continue Harper's undemocratic tenure. There are just enough people, many of whom, believe Harper's spin-doctoring and lies. And in this climate of apathy, Harper the terrible thrives, and will continue to thrive until some one can convince the electorate to wake up and smell the coffee. And so far, there seems to be no one capable of doing that.

Welcome to the Totalitarian Regime Known as Canada

Is Harper systematically ‘snuffing’ out democracy in Senate? - The Globe and Mail

It goes with out saying that Harper already has systematically snuffed out democracy in the Senate. He has found a way to impose his will on the country while maintaining little more than 30% of the popular vote.

So it doesn't matter what happens in the House of Commons anymore. Only Harper Con bills will be passed through the Senate while Liberal, Bloc, NDP or Independent bills, unless they are supported by the "Dark Regime", will die on the order paper. The only thing the Upper Chamber has no power to effect, are votes of non-confidence and of course we know that if that were to occur, Harper has no compunction what so ever about proroguing the House.

So here we are folks, Canada voted this man into power instead that funny little guy from Quebec with the horribly thick French accent- you know the one, the Climate change guy. The electorate gave this man the reigns of power and the result is a totalitarian Government. For those who thought it would never happen here, wake up and smell the coffee. It has arrived. Democracy has officially died in Canada. Harper is now absolute ruler. We live in a Totalitarian regime.

The House of Commons has become a mere formality now for Harper. A very thinly disguised sham to create the illusion of real discussion, debate and democracy. Of course we know there has been no real discussion or debate in the Lower House for quite some time now. There has been the mad railings of a deeply divided left and a government that answers no questions at all. They blame, deflect, lie and take no responsibility what so ever. So in that regard, the House has already become a pail shadow of it's former self. And in addition, The Cons choose which committees they will report to, subpoena or no subpoena. So there is no form of accountability in that venue either.

One has to wonder then, at which point M.P.s from the other parties will stop attending the Lower House, knowing that their presence is absolutely useless, opening the way for The Dark Lord to dispense with parliament all together, thus completing his hold on power. This may sound extreme, and it might well be that Harper needs the Lower House in order for his regime to have the appearance of credibility. And we know it only has to have that illusion for the other Western Democratic powers to support it. Otherwise, we could find ourselves as isolated and alone as Iran or North Korea.

But all rhetoric aside, now that Harper has discovered the way to give his minority government absolute power, look for him to start back-tracking on those big-ticket grass roots issues that he has passed over thus far. Say good-bye to: the Long Gun Registry, gay marriage, legal abortion, women's rights, aboridginal rights, multiculturalism, a meaningful climate change strategy, and autonomy from our American cousins. Say hello to: the death penalty, a country where big business has more power than the provinces and whose concerns take precedence over those of Canadians (See the demise of the Nortell bill below), the rise of the Church and it's intermingling with the State, and a backward society that more closely resembles a Mennonite or Amish village than a modern, forward thinking progressive society.

An age of impending darkness is looming large, yet as a country, we seem either powerless to change it, or completely disinterested. Our elected officials, the three opposition parties are so deeply divided that they are wholly incapable of checking Harper's rise to dominance. We have become a nation, divided and afraid of our own shadows thanks to Harper and his minions, rather than the strong, independent unique country that has been the envy of the world for it's tolerance and contribution to world peace. Our identity is in danger of being taken away from us and replaced by backward ideology. And the only people capable of stopping this horrific mutation is us, the Canadian electorate. We get what we deserve. If this man is not stopped, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Tory senators poised to kill bill for disabled Nortel pensioners

Tory senators poised to kill bill for disabled Nortel pensioners - thestar.com

Once again, Harper dispenses with democracy.

The upper chamber, loaded with Harper appointees (The man who claimed he would never appoint a Senator), is set to kill a bill proposed by Liberal M.P. Art Eggleton.

The bill itself, is a proposal to protect the 400 some odd Nortell Employees currently on long term disability. Nortell is filing for bankruptcy. Mr. Eggleton has proposed that these employees be given "preferred status" among creditors, ensuring that the 400 would not be left empty handed once the company dissolves.

On the surface of it, this seems like a very reasonable and humane piece of legislation that would allow employees who can't work anymore, to gain some measure of support by moving them to the front of the line when it comes time to divvy up the few remaining assets of the failed company.

But the Harper Cons, staying true to form, would rather pander to big business in Canada and abroad, by ensuring they get their slice of the pie before honest Canadian citizens do.

The rational for killing a bill that would otherwise seem like an obvious no brainer is unclear. It could be that the Conservatives are afraid of setting a precedent that could effect the dissolution of companies in the future by ensuring that disabled employees be given preferred status in those proceedings as well.

So it would seem that Heir Harper is going out of his way this time to be just plain mean-spirited. As it stands, these 400 disabled employees will lose all benefits by the end of the year, thus guaranteeing these souls a life of misery and uncertainty. Perhaps, eventually dooming them to poverty. And since Conservative rising star Julian Fantino feels that poverty is a crime, perhaps room will be made for the ex-employees in one of Harper's new prisons.

Has there ever been such a glaring example of just how little Harper and his merry band of thugs cares about Canadian citizens? He has the opportunity to do the right thing for Canadians who, through no fault of their own, can no longer work. Yet he is poised to circumvent democracy for the second time in three weeks just to ensure that these people get screwed over by the bankruptcy system in Canada. True, the creditors, the big banks for example, will be walking away with only a fraction of their original investments, but they can at least walk and will continue to do business. These 400 Canadian citizens cannot.

So Harper is no longer content with risking the lives of my children and yours with his criminal actions around the environment. He is now zeroing in on the lives of current disabled Canadians as well. And his list of heinous crimes grows longer and longer as more bodies pile up in his wake. But we can only hope that one day, Harper will be held accountable for his crimes. And perhaps he will be given the same treatment as those Afghan detainees that he has absolutely no regard for. What goes around comes around Mr. Harper.

Harper and Baird, Eco-Terrorists.

Climate-change agency winds down as federal funding ends

We already knew that Prime Minister Stephan Harper has no environmental agenda aside from depriving Canada of a meaningful one and interfering in other countries efforts to establish reasonably effective targets. Being the good Albertan that he is, Harper is more interested in protecting the oil sands, the worst polluter in the country. So damn the environment.

But here is one more example of Harper's anti-environmental policy. He pulls funding for The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science amid revelations that the Canadian Coast Guard vessel "Amundsen" which is specially equipped to study climate change in the arctic, has been leased to both Imperial Oil and British Petroleum. That's British Petroleum as in B.P. The very same B.P. that that was responsible for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last summer.

So Harper and his trained Monkey, John Baird are not only actively blocking efforts in Canada and abroad to set meaningful emissions targets, and cutting funding into the research of climate change in Canada, they are inviting Oil companies to use a Canadian Research vessel into the high arctic to look for oil. They aren't just dragging their feet on climate change, they are walking, running backwards. And how much their backward momentum will impact on Canada's ability to set meaningful emissions targets before it's too late is anybody's guess. Not only that, scientists have estimated that the majority of the worlds oil reserves will be badly depleted to the point of causing global economic disater long before a viable alternative form of energy is developed for public consumption. Why? Because we are addicted to oil and People like Harper and Baird want us to stay that way.

Canada had the opportunity to become world leaders in the research and development of alternative forms of energy. Stephan Dion, the former leader of the Liberal Party developed policy and was an aggressive proponent of research in that area. Harper knew that and saw him as a danger to his pro-oil sands policy and dedicated all of his energy into discrediting Dion. And his spin doctoring and lying worked. And now because of the criminal anti-environmental dictates of Harper, we will at some point, be reliant on the rest of the world for the acquisition of new technologies.

I've said it before and it bears repeating. Harper and Baird aren't just "soft" on the environment, they are flaming Eco-terrorists. I have to wonder if there is anyone in the world, outside of Saudi Arabia perhaps, who is more of a criminal in protecting the causes for our drastic climate change and blocking the worlds efforts to correct it. And in addition, he is doing his part to ensure the certainty of global economic disaster while paying only lip-service to the development of alternative sources of energy.

Harper and Baird are Eco-terrorists. They need to be held accountable for their criminal activity, their active participation in the downfall of the worlds economy and our environment. They both should be imprisoned for life in one of those nice new shinny jails they want to build for their artificial crisis on crime. For they have knowingly threatened the very lives of not only our children, but our grandchildren as well.

Canada Promotes Oil Sands and Lower Emission Standards Abroad.

article1809399 from theglobeandmail.com - StumbleUpon

"Environmentalist Graham Saul said the campaign to defend the oil sands is consistent with the government’s approach of doing nothing at home and obstructing progress on climate regulations internationally".

CBC News - Canada - SCOTT REID: Harper's caucus control unravelling

CBC News - Canada - SCOTT REID: Harper's caucus control unravelling

Well perhaps there is hope yet for democracy in Canada. Until now, I had thought it would take a full out military coup to oust Stephen Harper from power. And with his down fall, his mob of thieves would be caught up in the hoopla and also experience their own rather un-seemly political demise.

But now, it seems there is beginning to be resistance from within his own caucus. It's all very small examples, and few and far between, but as the article by Scott Reid suggests, it's a beginning. Perhaps, like Jim Prentice, Harper's collection of "Rats" are sensing the unsinkable Tory-Tanic has sprung a leak and are looking for ways to safely jump ship. Lets hope the Captain goes down with the ship.

But it could also be a matter of time as well. As Reid suggests, people who are controlled by the whip will turn on their handler at the first opportunity. And while Conservative support continues to hover at around the 30% mark, Harper's string of political gaffes (which usually results in one of his Cabinet Minister's taking the fall so that Harper can save face) his blatantly undemocratic indiscretions and his "Damn the Torpedo's" attitude, perhaps the cowered Conservative riff-raff sense that opportunity is near.

But I sincerely hope that, like peter MacKay, the electorate and the current opposition parties remember the heinous deeds and slanderous remarks made by Harper's Cons when their ship finally sinks and they go looking for redemption. Unlike soldiers in war, the: "I was just following orders" defense does not apply here. They all collectively allowed this man to control their every thought and move. They surrendered their reason and their very souls to Harper the Terrible. They should all go down with him. Their political careers should be over.

I especially hope that if Peter MacKay seeks to cross the floor to one of the opposition parties, they collectively tell him to go to hell. The man cannot be trusted. He betrayed the once proud Progressive Conservative party all for the sake of power and privilege. And he got all that in spades, including the Model that currently hangs off his arm., His loyalties were bought and paid for by Harper, and he loses no sleep what so ever in changing the colour of tie he wears if it provides him with opportunity. He should be shunned, sent into political exile once his handler has fallen.

So keep an eye out folks, the inevitable fall of Stephen Harper may finally be upon us. And I shall enjoy his fall from grace immensely, for no other Prime Minister in the history of the Nation has cared so little about it's people or it's well being. And I hope his willful unethical and undemocratic acts dog him the rest of his days.

More proof of the Conservatives "bad math and out-right lies"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cost-of-long-gun-registry-a-fraction-of-what-conservatives-claim-report-shows/article1807833/

And once again, proof positive that the Harper Cons rule by fear mongering, spin doctoring and out-right lying. 

This is the second time with in the space of a week that the Reform/Conservative government has been caught throwing around false or vastly over inflated numbers in an effort to "scare" Canadians into buying their agenda.

The first was when it was revealed that Harper's assertion that allowing UAE's two national airlines greater access to Canadian airspace would cost Canadians "tens of thousands" of jobs. It has since been refuted and shown there could also be benefits to allowing the two airlines increased access to Canadian Markets.

And now this. When killing the Long Gun Registry was being hotly debated, Harper claimed that it would save Canadian taxpayers "tens of millions of dollars" (there's those tens again) if the Registry were scraped. A new study has shown however, the the actual savings to tax payers each year would be about $1.5 million. Quite a discrepancy.

In addition, the study found that there were two positive outcomes to scraping the Registry: the paltry savings to tax payers as well as saving the inconvenience for gun owners. But in addition, it was found that there would be 20 "costs" to ending the Registry, meaning ways in which ending the program would have a negative impact including increased risk to the public and police.

And this report was made public to the RCMP in August while the debate raged on in September. So what happened to this information?

The Conservatives sat on it.

They would not allow this information to be made public as it would scuttle their plan to dump the registry.  And it would disprove their over inflated estimations of the savings to the public. But what is most scary is, with this report verifying the increased risk to public safety as a result of scraping the Long Gun Registry, it demonstrated the Conservatives willingness to put the lives or Canadian men, women and police at greater risk, all for the sake of cramming their agenda down out throats.

These Reformist Harper Cons care about clinging to power  and they care about inflicting their backward back woods ideology. And they will lie cheat and steal to accomplish their goals. They care nothing about the nation or it's people. They are out right liars who will stoop to any extreme to have their agenda pushed in our faces. And when that won't work, they will dispense with democracy all together.

When will this corrupt mob be held accountable for their actions? Why are they still being allowed to hold on to the reins of power in this country? They are deserving of our scorn and of lengthy jail sentences for defrauding an entire nation, not of being allowed to continue running it. 

When are the other three parties going to put their differences aside and say "enough"! They almost did in 2008 when Stephan Dion came with in a hare's-breath of becoming Prime Minister by cobbling together a coalition of the other parties to form a majority in Parliament. But Harper cried "fowl" accusing the Liberals of getting into bed with the "Socialists and the Separatists". He whined that this coalition of the majority of the MPs in the house were not elected to run the country, only he was (with his 30% of the popular vote). And he managed to convince Canadians of this bizarre  backward logic. And he subsequently had Parliament Prorogued as his last ditch hope of clinging to power. And to this day, when all else fails, he still points a bony finger across the isle in the House of Commons and cries "coalition-coalition" as though it were a bad thing. 

I would rather have a coalition of elected members with a majority then a lying minority government. And if the three parties can't decide on who should be Prime Minister, how about offering Elizabeth May the job.