Sister Sage's Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Canadians Rally To Unseat Stephen Harper Group’

Both EKOS and the usually Harpercon friendly Ipsos-Reid polls have Harpercon numbers slipping and those of the Liberals rising somewhat bringing them to a near tie with, of course, the Harpercons  hanging on to a slight advantage.  If Steve was really planning to get an election off the ground this fall, his plans for that backfired and now is backing off this idea. In fact, even his rabid pit-bull, John Baird, Steve’s newly minted Government house leader called for more cooperation with the opposition parties on TV last week. Well, logically, every opposition party should come out and say too little too late for that, except their polling numbers don’t permit them to do so.

Frank Graves of EKOS is of the opinion, that in spite of the Liberals’ low numbers, they may well attempt to trigger an election, while John Wright of Ipsos Reid disagrees:

Mr. Wright does not believe there will be an election any time soon because no one can win a majority government at this time. “The reality is that if everybody knows that all you’re going to get is a minority you can take your time.”

The Bloc is just too strong in Quebec to free up seats necessary for either the Conservatives or Liberals to form a majority government, Mr. Wright added.

But Mr. Graves has a different take: “Wow! To be blunt, I was concerned about our poll, as it came in the summer, and it was a pretty abrupt shift,” he told The Globe on Tuesday morning.

“The Ipsos poll suggests that our poll did catch a major shift in voter sentiments. What is remarkable about this shift is that it comes in the midst of the summer, a period when the public are typically blissfully unconcerned with politics. This might suggest that the negative effects of the census decision on the government may be muted to this point.”

If this is true, he said, the chances of a fall election “have now shifted to more likely than not.”

And that is because the opposition could sense that this “new shift for the PM” could represent a “critical mass of frustration within the electorate and in particular a growing fatigue amongst the more educated portion.”

Tricky; very tricky indeed and one where the opposition, particularly the Liberals must tread carefully, given their poll numbers and what happened last year when Iggy attempted to drop the gauntlet and act, well, oppositional. Remember when Iggy said that he was no longer going to be supporting the Harpercons last September? All the Timmy Hortons’ Crowd crying and screaming “I don’t wanna go to the polling stations again!”   Steve launched a poison pill in a ways and means motion that Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe ended up swallowing and Canada was saved from a Harpercon majority.  And remember, Stevie spiteful’s numbers shot up well within majority territory and Iggy’s plummeted.

In fact, since then, there would be a number of times Stevie spiteful’s polling numbers from any given polling firm would hover around majority territory, thus, those who blame the strong presence of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec for preventing a majority government for either party; their argument falls right there. Majorities are still possible, in spite of the heavy Bloc presence in Quebec. It just simply means that they have to fight harder in Ontario and British Columbia.

What is scary is that some polls in the past year has shown that Canadians want a majority government and more than likely, if they believe one is not possible, good ol’ Canadian trademark apathy will take hold yet again and stay away from the polls, which does contribute to a Harpercon majority as well. It worked for Jean Charest and his Liberals in the Quebec election in 2008. Low turn out largely contributed to his majority.

Iggy could well still be gun shy from last September’s reaction to his dropping the gauntlet.  A few ridings still need candidates. A friend, Pascal Zamprelli is running for the nomination in Jeanne Le Ber in the south west of Montreal, currently held by the Bloc. Of course, Peter Milliken’s will also need to be filled amongst others. They’re going to need to hurry up to fill those nominations.

I believe Steve will also put out a budget this fall. What will he do? Will he attempt to pull the per vote subsidy for political parties again? Will he play Santa Clause? Or will he attempt another hard shift to the right yet again? Perhaps a combination of all of the above, which I find most likely, given his precedent (hello Bill c-9); those poison pills Steve is so well known to serve up.  A frightening thought.

Also, there is the NDP, who more often than not, will do just the opposite of whatever the Liberals do.  If the Liberals support the Harpercons, the NDP go against it and vice-versa.  And of course, the Bloc continue doing their own thing if it plays to the agenda of Quebec’s good according to the vision of Gilles Duceppe or to Quebec sovereignty which is now back on the front burner these days.

Iggy would most certainly want to wait until he thinks Canadians would be willing to vote out the Harpercons; to wait for his numbers to go up further.  His bus tour helped, I think.  Yes, there were critics who felt he was not being himself. But I think those are the same people who may have the ridiculous notion that Iggy won’t even open his front door to pick up the newspaper without putting on a suit and tie first. Whether or not he was himself (let’s face it; on some level, every politician plays a role; uses some form of method acting); he did something every politician should do and that is, going out in the country he wishes to govern and meet the people; real people and to hear their concerns and questions. I’m sure it must have helped him, his party and his confidence on some level, but I don’t think it’s enough for him to want to trigger an election by voting against whatever Stevie spiteful is cooking up next.

Then, there is Stevie spiteful, himself.  If there is no election, he and his flunkies have more time to sell his little utopia with no StatsCan; no census.  Stevie is down right now, but he has a propensity for bouncing back as he has demonstrated in the past.   This makes holding off a federal election a crap shoot. One Stevie could probably win given his numbers are still, however slightly, in his favor.

Progressives out there, whether you’re NDP or Liberal supporters, it’s time for us to take action. Write your MPs (provided of course, you’re not living in Harpercon riding; if so, then try to write the NDP and Liberal candidates if you know who they are; if there are candidates at this time; or write both Iggy and Jack Layton).     Now is the time to vote Steve out of office, or at the very least, reduce his minority significantly.  If Steve needs two or even all three parties to get anything through instead of just one party right now, not only is Steve’s power significantly reduced, but the games of  one opposition party doing something simply because another one isn’t would perhaps cease; it’s not helpful.

Many bitch and moan when the Liberals have propped up the Harpercons, but no one supported them neither, their polling numbers had reflected that. Iggy says that Canadians don’t want an election. When we hear the Timmy’s crowd screaming and whining about going to the polls, it’s hard to ignore.  They are loud, particularly about protecting their own apathy as that whole demonstration against prorogation last winter proved.

So, the only way for us to prove to both Iggy and Jack that we do indeed want an election sooner than later is to write them and their MPs and if we can find their candidate’s emails or find them on Facebook, Twitter or another social networking site to let them know this; to urge them to cooperate with one another (I did say cooperate not coalition); not that usual game where Jack goes and does the opposite of what the Liberals do; but working together toward a common good and vote to bring down whatever bill, motion or budget (most likely this Fall) Steve brings to the table, regardless of how much good there will be in it, because as we all know, there will be poison pills packed into them.  It is time for us to take action.

The group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Harper is still coming up with ads and raising funds to put these ads in the newspapers.  Keep up the good work!

Catch 22 is also working at unseating Harpercon MPs.

Apathy doesn’t cut it. Waiting for Iggy to go or waiting for better candidates isn’t going to cut it.  Time is a luxury we don’t have and now is our window of opportunity.   Let your MPs know you want an election, NOW!

Ads like the video below got Paul Martin into trouble. With everything  Master Steve said in his hay days of Reform and NCC, the ad below was certainly a doozy and seemed far fetched, even for Harpercon standards back in the day. Match that with The sponsorship scandal gone viral, well…as Dave from the Galloping Beaver put it, if Nostradamus had put on that ad, he probably would have had more credibility.

A few bloggers have been putting up the video since the G20 Police state of terror.  I hope more do this. That video should also serve as an ominous reminder of how putting the G20 summit in Toronto, at the Convention center was all deliberate. It was vintage Steve, once again, testing the waters; slow frog cooking politics again, checking to see if the frog was ready for that particular heat without jumping out of the pot.

This brings me to those morons who called the talk radio who say that those of us who called with all the indignance saying that we have no idea what a police state is, citing places like Cuba, China or any military junta is far worse. True, but check the above video.  And police states aren’t built over night. They take time.

The interview Susan Delacourt had with David Miller even hints that Master Steve played games. No, it’s not outside the realm for a politician to point the finger elsewhere and lie much like the Dalton McGinty Government-Bill Blair He said-He said that’s going on now. However, with this interview, I think Miller is being truthful about Master Steve leading him to believe that the G20 hootenanny would’ve been held at Exhibition Place. Steve being secretive and lulling Miller into a false sense of security would fall into Steve’s modus operendi.

Many have reacted. Many, like myself, are forever changed because of the G20 events–and I was safely tucked away at my home in Montreal and my family in Toronto remained safe, something for which I’m truly thankful. I can only imagine those who were actually at the protests and/or who had the misfortune of being arrested, abused and detained in the manner that you were.

However, what is more frightening is that after media hacks continue selling the lies of Chief Bill Blair the hero and Steve is the only one who can keep us safe in a dangerous world; after hearing many callers from Toronto actually supporting the lies, some of the arrested actually coming out saying they deserved to be arrested for not having proper id for the cops or being at the wrong place at the wrong time, I have even less faith. Many are going toward embracing Steve’s police state.

Scarier still, are those who are apathetic. A coworker of mine said she didn’t want to talk politics when a few of us were discussing what happened in Toronto, to which I told her we were discussing basic human rights. She simply said that she only cared about her own rights with a smirk that I found extremely irritating.  I was about to tell her that even if she only cared about her own rights, that this conversation was pertinent, but she wouldn’t hear of it.

And what about those Canadians who are so apathetic that they put their indignance and energies into defending their apathy rather than channelling that energy into getting involved into their own future?

Then there are those who still insist on the opposition performing like circus poodles.

Many are criticizing the lack of reaction from the opposition leaders.

Well, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they started to come out and ask the questions we ask about the police; about agents provocateurs; about Blair inventing laws and such, everybody in the right slanted media, pundits as well as many Canadians would groan and smack them for being hyperpartisan. It’s happened too many times before. Hell,  the above video of Paul Martin’s prophecy was ridiculed. I’m sure many are still ridiculing it today. So they come out with standard answers like the bill was too expensive, hold the G20 in secret; condemn the vandals, because they took away from the message from the legitimate protesters. What else can they say without being lambasted? But no, they’ll be criticized for not going far enough.

Gilles Duceppe has yet to weigh in, but I have my own theory on that which I will be blogging about later. Suffice to say, the events in TO play further into the Quebec sovereignty agenda, I believe.

For those who are still going to be petty about Iggy telling a room of party faithful behind closed doors to “shut-up” in light and/or chastise a Liberal blogger for telling Steve to basically fuck off in the title of his blog following that fateful week-end; Get over it!! Please! It really does pale in comparison to what Steve will really do if let loose with a majority.

Again, are folks going to suffer from Liberal Derangement syndrome as much as they did before what happened in Toronto?  Sadly, I think that will be a painful reality.  Sadly, I would still venture that the idea of Paul Martin being an amateur of kiddie porn having more credibility than his prophecies of a police state or anything else he warned us about Harper in the 2004 video below. 

Apathy,  Master Steve’s ”safety” propoganda, the absolute need for our opposition to either be pretty or pull rabbits out of hats or perform stunts are all what would help precipitate the next Police state temperature crank, unless we do something  about this now. How high does it have to go before Canadians take notice? How much of a more insidious act or bill does Master Steve have to pass for Canadians to become believers?  Maybe I’m being a tad optimistic, but I am hoping that by the time Canadians notice and finally decide to  take action, that it won’t be too late, that Steve will not already have his coveted totalitarian regime majority.

Videos H/T Pushed To The Left And Loving It

I’m also getting sick of anyone who dares try to ask questions, or put any of this in perspective, we would get lambasted for supporting the rogues who caused the vandals. It just plays into that ol’ recycled Bush mantra Steve is now using.  I’m not going to justify my arguments. If you wish to be as narrow minded as to believe that, fine, kool-aid drinker.

Let’s all put things back into perspective. Torontonians lost their city long before the the protesters. Their city, stopped being recognizable the moment it turned into a police state.  The photo below is quite telling. Every police helmet might as well have been emblazened with that horrible Harpercon logo.

All humour and photoshop captions aside, this kind of picture should have and continue to serve as a warning. Stevie Spiteful has an agenda and peaceful protesters or even no protesters were just not a part of it.

Many alarm bells are sounding with me. They have been sounding a long time ago; louder each day.   Hmmm! G20 summit; an event that usually attracts protesters of all stripes; many of whom do go rogue. Condemn those who go rogue, but they’re hardly to blame, now are they? I mean, putting the hootenanny in the downtown core of the biggest city in Canada; one of the largest urban centers in the world, spend over a billion dollars on ‘security’, fake lakes with unicorns flying above and overpriced backdrops for the ego photos; turn this major urban center into a police state; what could go wrong?

Fillibluster asks the same questions I’ve been asking: he also identifies that the Black Bloc seem to have been wearing the same footwear as the cops: Two pics posted over at Fillibluster’s from the Toronto Star seem to have a half decent view of the footwear. Go to Fillibluster’s, look at the pics and judge for yourselves.  Go take a look over at the Toronto Star; some very compelling pictures; gut wrenching some of them.

Before I observed the footwear, I strongly suspected (and now, more than ever) that at least some, if not all, Black Bloc types were agents provocateurs either set up by the police themselves, or even by Harpercons themselves as they do so much to promote Stevie Spiteful’s agenda.

We saw the pictures and videos since yesterday of cops in riot gear on assorted modes of transport, including horseback (and I must question the wisdom of using horses; animals that are easily excitable, even if well trained for normal circumstances for these events).  How was it that so many of those cops couldn’t contain a handful of rogue types from the onset, thus, saving so much damage?

And also, like Fillibluster, with all those cops, how do any of their vehicles or equipment remain unwatched/unsupervised for any length of time?

They couldn’t stop a few rogues but felt free to immediately pounce at anyone of any age or sex or size approaching a fence??

Sounds like a Billion dollars bought multiple Barney Fifes to me.

Were the cops bored from Friday? After all, Friday’s demonstrations appeared to have less protesters than cops and everyone behaved. It wouldn’t be the first time riot police instigated violence. I actually live through such an experience.

Many years ago in Montreal, I protested against the Afghan war. It was peaceful. We were marching, chanting and carrying signs like at any protest. Riot cops lined up at every intersection. They did look pretty bored, until some idiotic kid decided to throw what looked like a tomato or some kind of old fruit at one of the cops’ shields.  A stupid move? Indeed. But just that. Nonetheless, the riot started closing in on an intersection thus preventing the rest of us from marching on.  I was close enough to see that many of those cops were actually smiling behind the visors. I knew it was perhaps time to make a quiet exit, but no such luck, as I turned to leave, that row of cops pushed into us, making me stumble into another group of people. I ended up twisting my ankle and had trouble walking from pain. Another girl simply moved to turn and a cop pepper sprayed her face. Nice. This little sidestep was indeed to prove that yeah, many of these riot cops are indeed over zealous, no matter what folks are protesting or what side of the issue they may or may not be on. By the smiles I saw under the visors, it certainly appeared to me that these demonstrations and the potential for mass arrests and trouble got their juices going;  a reason to wake up in the morning.

It certainly sounds like Toronto under siege to citizens was a playground to many over zealous cops.  Certainly, Friday’s laid back events certainly weren’t going to do it. No the pot would have had to been stirred up on Saturday, and with the acts that were ‘allowed’, many of the arrests and gross abuse of police power that had already begun, escalated.

Then, there’s Stevie Spiteful himself.  I believe that the violence of yesterday went exactly according to his plans; well, perhaps not. Perhaps he was surprised nothing happened on Friday. Steve isn’t stupid. He is a master tactician. Every move he makes, everything he says, right down to which sweater vest he wears for any given photo op is calculated. How else does such an uncharismatic man control the message and much of the media the way he does? Putting the G20 in Toronto was indeed deliberate. If he honestly believed that Toronto was such a great place to hold his overpriced, overrated hootenanny then he would have offered to reimburse residents and businesses who would have sustained any damages due to this shindig, especially since everyone knows that insurance companies don’t cover damages for such events. No, I would say that not only Steve knew of the potential for trouble, but it’s all part of his agenda.

How does all this fall right into Steve’s agenda, you ask? Well, for one, those insipid tough on crime bills as well as those big assed prisons  that would cost more than even the start up costs of the long gun registry.  He can now say, wow! 300 arrests (about what I hear it is now and climbing); nowhere to warehouse them.  Already, many folks are putting the blame squarely on those Black Bloc rogues: Steve feeds into their fears, much like GW Bush did saying that if he could only build his big assed prisons, he hisself could make them feel safe again; and to boot, he would say that the Libruls are too loose on crime. Hell, he could justify his police state this way.

Many on Twitter, including Olivia Chow, no less seem to be either afraid the public will believe & many actually have swallowed that expensive kool-aid that the billion plus dollars spent on that police state and all those cops was actually worth it. The intelligent way to put this is 1 thousand dollars…1 million dollars…1 billion dollars…restriction of human rights…it doesn’t matter what you spend or what draconian measures you take in the name of security; rogues and/or agents provocateurs would never be prevented from setting out to do what they were to do.

Below are some pictures my brother took  of the police state he calls home. I am using posting them with his permission.

Life In Toronto they no longer  knew

“Police Summit”

Anyone recognize their handywork in the windshield of the abandoned streetcar?

Excercising what will surely no longer be democratic right under Master Steve inside a police state

With all the Cops around fully armed, how did they let their vehicles get this damaged?

You can keep up with the rest of today’s events on Twitter using hashtag #g20 or keep up with the Toronto Star’s live blog.

He could kill two birds with one stone. He cuts universal social programs by spending billions upon billions on not only this shindig and accompanying police state, but his tough on crime bills and big assed prisons as well as other potential police state set ups in the future. Funny how easy he can sell that Canada is dangerous for the elderly, but they don’t need pensions or access to health care.

Either way, between the police state having been made out of Toronto and the events that transpired yesterday;  like the first photo at the top of this post, Steve has taken the next step into turning Canada into something we no longer recognize. My only question left would be to those Torontonians who were even entertaining the novelty of voting Harpercon; you still want to let him loose with a majority?

Sidenote: Last night and this morning, he attempts to tell world leaders to cut their deficits in half by 2013 by introducing austerity measures; to cut their programs and raise taxes. Given that he so arrogantly told them he would not participate in a global bank tax, I hope these world leaders will tell Steve where to go. It seems that President Obama, while hated in his own country, still is considered to be one of the cool kids on the world stage and he is telling all not to cut stimulus spending so fast.  Economist Paul Krugman tells us here and here how these austerity measures are not only a bad idea, but could also set off a double dip recession. Other economists like this one share Krugman’s opinion, including this one who says that much of Canada’s economic recovery in the 90s had a lot to do with lucky circumstances likely to not be repeated, and why the UK is drawing a bad example from Canada. Can’t explain this gluttony for self punishment being in vogue really.

Speaking of economy and billion dollar security boondoggles. The picture below should be good for a few laughs, also taken by my brother.

This is self-explanatory, I think, what say you?

With the exception of the 1st photo at the very top of this post; the “You won’t recognize Canada…” one; all photos in this post were taken by my brother, Erik Twight and are subject to copyright. As mentioned above, I am using them with his permission.  Erik has many more G20 boondoggle pics of all kinds here and he tells me he will be uploading more soon.  Also, to see more of his photos in different categories; go to his home page. I will be posting that link to one of the sidebars of   Sister Sage’s Musings sometime today.

Ever since Senator Nancy Ruth started swearing like a sailor last Monday, it has gotten people talking and bloggers blogging, even corporate media to some degree. Since she  had her tantrum, we learned of 14 groups to date having had their funding cut. That’s getting even more folks talking and bloggers blogging further. One positive blogging trend amongst progressive bloggers since then has been sounding the alarm bells, warning of what can come if Steve ever got his majority, something I’ve known all along, but folks have ridiculed me for fear mongering–never mind Harpercon supporters, but by those who claim to be left of center/progressive! I think a lot of them have been woken up by Senator Ruth’s adversarial speech and ominous warning. So, for that, (don’t get me wrong, doesn’t excuse the menacing tone), maybe we owe her a thanks for this wake up call.

It is, however, sad, that such a champion of women’s rights has been reduced to threatening aid groups to shutting the fuck up and telling them to sit and be quiet like good little boys and girls.  Over at Big City Lib’s, commenter Holly Stick @5:05Pm is another person who compares the relationship between Brother Steve and everyone else (his own caucus, opposition parties, NGOs and of course, voters themselves) is very much that of battered woman syndrome—we be quiet, we don’t rock any boats, only for Steve do commit some other insidious act anyway.  However, as any women’s organization or therapist will say, the cycle must be broken. The question becomes, how do we do it? The answer is not easy and needless to say that our usual silence and apathy simply won’t do it. And yes, it has to be more significant than the CAPP rallies last January.

Before I go on, I would like to share a few items. The first, is a note I was tagged on yesterday on Facebook. It’s from a Grope & Fail commenter and it bears repeating here for all those left of center/progressives who still don’t fear a Harpercon majority. It’s a reminder of everything Steve has already said and done with a minority:

A commenter there says……

Q: Who gives Harper money with this record?

• Enticed recently re-elected Liberal MP David Emerson to cross the floor & join Cabinet
• Appointed friend & party organizer Michael Fortier to the Senate then elevated him to Cabinet
• Produced manual to train Conservative House of Commons Committee Chairs on how to make the Committees dysfunctional
• Promised not to tax INCOME TRUSTS, then taxed them
• Said he wouldn’t “cut and run” in Afghanistan, now he’s running in 2011
• Cut taxes for corporations and high income earners – BILLIONS LOST
• Cut GST from 7 % to 5 %, losing over $12 BILLION annually
• Created a structural deficit of $20 BILLION
• In 2008 told Canadians there would not be a recession, then biggest recession since the 1930 Depression occurred
• In 2008 told Canadians the federal government would never run a deficit
• Total deficit now $40 BILLION
• BILLIONS spent on military for war
• Cut spending on national child care program with provinces
• Cut Kelowna Accord for Aboriginal people to receive national average in services
• Promised open & accountable government, then muzzled Conservative MPs & Cabinet Ministers
• Will cancel public financing for political parties so that corporations can decide which parties receive financial support
• Prorogued Parliament in 2008 to avoid a non-confidence vote & loss of government
• Prorogued Parliament in 2009 to avoid accountability on Afghanistan, a House of Commons subpoena, & the Parliamentary Budget Office revealing Harper has mismanaged finances
• Appointed 27 Senators in 1 year including a 35 year old
• Passed fixed date election law-then broke it
• Alleged to have bribed dying MP Chuck Cadman for his vote
• In & Out scheme took $1 million from taxpayers to fund advertising in 2006, unethical

Threatening to cut aid to other nations if they don’t “Shut the f— up!”

No freedom of choice or freedom of speech!!

A: The same people who funded the angry Conservative Reform Alliance Party or CRAP. Stuff it!

The following two videos from Pale Cold also are must views. The first one, I’ve posted over here a few times, but will post again. It aptly demonstrates the powerful Socon element of the Harpercons.

The next video best describes that whole “boiling the frog” analogy Bob Evans, a guest once used  on Anne Lagace Dowson’s show. You know, Steve’s incremental measures that are not legislated like cutting funding  for various programs and changing regulations.

Click here to see more of Pale Cold’s videos, they are informative and entertaining at the same time, as well as short, for those who do have short attention spans.

Also, here are two examples here and here as to why speaking out is so necessary to speak out and how much harm silence can cause to society, anywhere, really. One from Judy Rebick yesterday and another from Filasteen.  Both point out how silence and crawling into hiding not only isn’t helpful, but this cringing inaction makes us accomplices to the problem.

We hear the Harpercon cheerleaders cheer every time something bad or damaging  happens with the opposition,  the rare media page that isn’t in lockstep with the Harpercon mantra. When they keep hammering how Canadians are more conservative, many of us  actually believe it. In part, due to some of their bullying nature, and of course, we run scared. When they tell us to suck it up, we have the wrong attitude, we actually do suck it up.  I’m wondering how many progressive bloggers have given up blogging because they have resigned themselves to a neo-con Canada a la George W Bush Americana?

An example of this was the CAPP rallies (Canadians against Prorogation of Parliament) last January.  While successful to varying degrees, there were flaws that the corporate media pounced us with. I (and many others, I would hope) would take that as fear on the part of Harpercon cheerleaders for not being able to serve their kool-aid du jour. Nonetheless, other than a few snap rallies and splinter groups with different goals coming up, the movement fizzled out very quickly, rather than attempting to keep up the momentum.

Well, Pogge explains that  without opposition (and no, he isn’t talking about Opposition parties here; he is talking to us; the voter; the Canadian population) to Brother Steve’s ideologies and actions,  pundits and these politicians get away with pumping this growing neo-con Canada is happening and how we must embrace it rather than fight it. While we’re at it, Pogge also offers some very sage advice to us:

And perhaps most importantly, those politicians who might be willing to stand up and push back will feel like they have no support. If you want opposition politicians to support your positions, you have to make those politicians feel as though you’ll support them in return. Or they’ll shut up, too.

Once again,  it has fallen upon us to get  Steve out of office. I won’t presume to speak on behalf of Pogge. However, I will interpret the above quote as to what it means to me. But do read his post.

We’re now awake to the frightening hint of how a Harpercon majority would look? Want to prevent it? We must change our attitudes toward the opposition. In short, we have to stop blaming them and take some of the responsiblity, ourselves.

For that to happen, not only do we have to change our apathetic ways and make all kinds of noise, but we’re going to have to (I have been guilty of this as well)  stop whining about them or expecting too much, as I’ve noticed some have. When some see they can’t get a party they like into power and lament about the poor choices between Liberals and Cons, those folks tend to either stay home from the polls on election day or they spoil their  ballots if they do vote it would seem.

We keep hearing the same tunes over and over again: ideas! Where are the ideas and policies? How will they earn our vote? The opposition is soooo weak! Ideas! And I’m not just talking about conservative pundits or the blogging tories: they have an agenda they’re sticking to. They don’t want an opposition. They want a clear path to a Harpercon majority and they are ready to do anything for that to happen.  No, I’m talking about the left/Progressives.  Yes, there are legitimate questions and points up there. However, the Liberals (I will talk about the Liberals, not because the NDP or the Bloc don’t suffer the same problems and nit-picking, nor because the Liberals are my favourite party by any stretch of the imagination,  but the other 2 parties will never ever govern and folks know this; it’s probably why they don’t receive as much criticism as the Liberals)  can’t seem to win with us can they?  They present an idea, we criticise it for being too vague or too anemic or whatever.

Remember Stephane Dion’s proposed carbon tax and his green shift? We pummelled him for it.  We accused him of not being able to throw daggers at Steve. So what did we do? We voted Steve back in with a stronger mandate (and yes, unfortunately, staying home or spoiling the ballot favours the Harpercons in this instance).

When Iggy gave the closing speech at the Canada 150 in Montreal, many lamented about the speech as if they were determined to keep a closed mind and not even try to find any positive in it. What were we expecting? To see Iggy and his caucus put on a three ring circus, jumping through flaming hoops and swinging from a trapeze?  Conservative pundits are touting this event as a failure and we’re not coming out discussing anything positive that came from it.

Recently, Iggy proposes a national food policy and we scoff at it or say it isn’t enough. Well, another way of looking at that is under Brother Steve, there would be nothing of the kind, nada! We can say, yes, it’s a start.  There are other ideas over at the Liberal Party site. I invite you to read them with an open mind.

We complain about them not having a strong opposition to the Harpercons. Well, when they try to be oppositional, we make them pay and pay dearly for that. Remember the proposed coalition? I know for a fact not just Harpercon supporters, but Liberal  and NDP supporters as well (I have spoken to such people; co-workers, aquaintances, etc.)

When Iggy threw the gauntlet last fall, we contributed to sending his numbers plummeting.  I’m not a fan  of  some of what the NDP have been doing in recent years, but if not for Jack Layton, we would probably be living what we once thought not so long ago to be unthinkable today; a Harpercon majority.  Yes, Layton was lambasted for propping them up, in spite of those looming numbers favoring a Harpercon majority, I guess many would have been willing to throw the dice on that, not realizing that a Harpercon majority would simply not be four years of the same rule as other years gone by.

No, Iggy isn’t an ideal leader.  Yes, he’s too corporate friendly. Do the Liberals need to come up with more policies?  Definitely.

Yes, we need a less corporate friendly Parliament with parliamentary reform, but we’re not to get it with Brother Steve.  If he does get that coveted majority, there will be parliamentary changes, but it’s a safe bet we won’t like them.

Then, many lament that the Liberals would only maintain the status quo.  Another way of looking at it is if we get a Harpercon majority, guaranteed, the status quo will change all right. But I think we’re going to refer to what have today as the “good ol’ days”.  Remember Steve did say that after he was done with Canada, we would no longer recognize it.  Harpercon MP Gerry Ritz said that if they ever got a majority, “All Bets would be off”.

Then there are those who ask the Liberals and the NDP :  What would you do to earn my vote? Well, Read the copied and pasted note above, watch Pale Cold’s videos, read quotes from Harper, clearly illustrating what he has said and done ane what he would do.   Click here and here, the legwork has been done on those sites.  I can pretty well guarantee that  the opposition parties won’t provide that climate of fear. For openers, following the Sen. Ruth event, we know Stevie Spiteful will criminalize abortion, here in Canada.  The opposition won’t.

We’re even more divided than the other side, and you know something? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Steve’s game of Divide and Conquer has not only created a wedge between opposition parties thus ruining chances of  his biggest fear, a coalition, but he has divided us;  left of center/progressive pundits and citizens alike. That is exactly how a batterer succeeds in keeping his victims in submission. He isolates them from the outside world and even create a wedge between the victims and their entourage. Brother Steve has proven time and time again that he is no different than a batterer.

If we and the opposition are battered by Brother Steve? What should we do? Well, for the most part, battered women who manage to successfully escape do so with help, either from family, friends (estranged or not) and from their community resources offered to them. Likewise, in order to break away from Steve, we’re going to have to take action. Start showing support to our opposition parties. Yes, even  if that means holding our noses and voting Liberal, or better yet, lobby for a coalition with the Liberals and NDP.  We do this by writing to our MPs, write letters to the editor, start or join a grassroots movement like  Canadians Rallying to Unseat Harper who are presently funding and creating ads for newsmedia.  Find the time to volunteer for an opposition party. Do something. Because doing nothing but lamenting about the sorry state of affairs and lambasting the opposition simply won’t do it. As Pogge also said, if that is all we can do is sit and allow the Harpercons and their cheerleaders to steamroll over the Canada we always knew, we might as well pack it in and wait for everything to just happen to us.

If we want real change from the status quo like parliamentary reform, again, it won’t happen under a Harpercon minority or majority. He’s proven that after stacking the senate, prorogation and his schoolyard bullying. I say this reform starts with supporting the opposition to get Steve out of office once and for all and then work toward reforms we may want to  have happen.

I have been guilty myself for writing despondent posts, but I still haven’t given up my blogging, for I know if I do, I will only be contributing to the problem.

I am repeating  what I have said before in other posts, but in light of Senator Ruth waking up a lot of Canadians with her terse words, I am hoping that this time readers who disagreed with me in the past, might, at least, keep an open mind this time around.

Sidenote: I’m  borrowing the  term “d’uh” sported by progressive bloggers like the Wingnuterer and Unrepentant Old Hippie.

I caught this over at Calgary Grit this morning.  Yes, Baird the ever faithful pitbull to Master Stevie comes to the rescue yet again when Thomas Mulcair from the big bad opposition, well brings up the obvious about Flaherty travelling on a private jet for a photo op at Timmy’s while he presents a budget basically telling the majority working class to tighten up and get used to no services.

“This time, he (Flaherty) used a chartered plane for a photo-op at Tim Hortons to ‹ wait for it ‹ teach us a lesson about the importance of controlling government spending.”

Many Canadians, myself included don’t care; we just don’t understand the urgency to head off for a photo op, basically giving Timmy’s free advertising it doesn’t need.  Ottawa to London can be done by train or even bus.  Set an example and use cheaper ground transport, or is it unCanadian to ask her finance minister to set an example of financial restraint?

Silly us, it would seem that it’s not very patriotic when we express concern over hiddent torturegate documents while the Harpercons, themselves, ever so patriotically throw the troops under the bus. Hell, I bet they immediately even accused the family of the late young Jonathan Couturier of being radical Quebec Separatists  when they spoke to the media regarding young Jonathan’s last words expressing his views of how useless that Afghan war is before deploying.

We’re unpatriotic for boycotting the Vancouver Olympics, root for the underdog protesters and hope for the Canadian Team NHL not win the gold medal at the Olympic finals.

Some like Chuckles Adler would say that talking against the Alberta tar sands is very disloyal to Canada. Wanting to talk climate change it would seem is also a no no as it’s a dark spot.

Now, the latest from Stevie’s pitbull to Mulcair would seem to be that he’s unCanadian:

“against Tim Hortons,” which is a position Baird said is “un-Canadian.”

Yep, well, put me up there too, because I always thought Timmy’s coffee SUCKS!! However, that is beside the point. Baird like a good pitbull played Stevie’s game of deflect and distract, although it failed miserably.

And now, with a little help from an old post at  Buckdog, I will  remind  readers how  very ‘Canadian’ ol’ master Stevie is:

“Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.”
- Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“Your country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.”
-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status, led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task.”
- Stephen Harper in his article “It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada,” December 12th, 2000.

“In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don’t feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don’t feel bad about it themselves, as long as they’re receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.”
-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

“What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care].”
- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.

“We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system.”
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.

Also read some more from Buckdog, showing just how Stevie is ‘Canadian’. Many more details of Stevie’s all-Canadiana  here. Other reminders of why St-Stevie should never ever get that totalitarian regime he oh so desires.

Frankly, Baird, you’re going to have to come up with better material.

After hearing about that miserable budget and the latest developments on investigation torturegate, and of course, the ongoing blunders of Jason Kenney and other of St-Stevie’s Harpercon flunkies.  I have rethought my position since I posted To Call or Not To Call an Election This Spring. The more I read and hear about lately, the more I agree with Frank Graves, that an election must be called this spring and not in the fall, but I have somewhat different reasons for it. I realize many have expressed that a spring election would only yield the exact same results as the last time. They would more than likely be right, barring any other surprises between now and say sometime in April or May if an election were called. However, some new action would be occurring; the face of parliament would eventually change. Not having an election now doesn’t motivate any true action.

Waiting til the Fall would be another disaster: a Harpercon majority. St-Stevie does have a talent for resilience. Many are of the belief that the economy will be recovered by then. I don’t think so; especially not when there are pundits and economists who cry fear at the aging baby boomers seaking government resources ‘in droves’.  I am also skeptical because, the U.S. keeps digging themselves deeper and deeper and like it or not, they are our neighbours and if they sink any deeper, they could well take us down with them, but I digress.  It doesn’t really matter what I think of the economy. In fact, as we have learned, it doesn’t matter if the economy has recovered or not and by how much: it all depends how well the Harpercon media serves up that Economic recovery kool-aid.  Given the speculation of economic recovery by the fall, I will guess that the Harpercon media will sell this.  It also tells me that, as Jean Lapierre speculated to Ricky P right after the budget, this budget is going to set the stage for a fall election. This is, once again, St-Stevie controlling the agenda. Result of that?  St-Stevie comes out the hero, yet again, this time for having ‘saved’ the economy, whether it’s true or not.

As for Iggy, well, I agree with Frank Graves, he just isn’t going to get any better. He gave it the college try during prorogation. So much he could have capitalized on and in all honesty, with the anger toward St-Stevie’s prorogation; for stripping our democratic rights away and the hard backhanded way he did this in, Liberals’ numbers should have gone up even more; they should have soared far above the Harpercons, and they could well have under a different leader. No, Iggy had his chance to shine during prorogation and to keep it going throughout the olympics, even. After all, if one reads their history, the Liberals were the ones who bid for those ‘gold medal winning’ olympics in Vancouver. Also, ‘Own the Podium’ was started in 2005; when the Liberals were still in power. This info isn’t  really important, except for many Canadians giving St-Stevie credit for the record breaking medal wins at the 2010 Olympics. No, Iggy just isn’t going to get any better. However, the Liberals don’t have anyone else and they can’t really justify a new leadership campaign right now, due largely in part to Iggy not having gone through the ultimate test: a federal election. We can pretty much predict that outcome without money spent, but perhaps it needs to be formalized.

The Bloc Quebecois and the N.D.P. really have nothing to lose or gain. Neither will ever govern, unless, of course, they join a coalition. The raison d’etre for the Bloc Quebecois is very much alive and well; will for Quebec sovereignty or not. For them, it doesn’t really matter when they go to an election, give or take a few seats, they’re not big game changers.

It would appear that St-Stevie’s olympic lustre is dulling and that now the heat is turned up on torturegate and his MPs continue to make total asses of themselves from Jason Kenney’s bigotted and idiotic immigration guides to  MP temper tantrums in public places to the village idiot of parliament giving insane speeches. For those reasons, the best St-Stevie can hope for in a spring election is another minority government; same as 2008, right? Pointless excercise?  I think not. For openers, after a third minority, his party will have read the writing on that reformatory bathroom wall; St-Stevie will never yield a majority for them if he hasn’t done it by now. I can see them pressuring him on out that door. I suspect there are plenty of cons of varying degrees; inside and outside the Reformatories who would love to take his place. I already mentioned Jean Charest, but there are others. In fact, I’m sure there is no shortage of Conservative leadership hopefuls to throw their hats into the ring.

As for the Liberals, no doubt, Iggy would lose now.  He may well be right in saying ‘Canadians don’ t want an election’ and I think one of the Liberals’  problems is that they’re still gun shy from reactions when Iggy threw the gauntlet last September; he was lambasted from being oppositional. Guess what? Canadians will get over it. In fact, the Liberals’ reaction to the latest Harpercon budget is simply giving them the image as whimps. Yes, they could offer alternatives and yes, it should happen sooner rather than later. However, more importantly, if the Liberals go all out and join the NDP and the Bloc and vote against this budget, they may well garner more respect than even Peter Donolo could imagine. Like it or not, this is the perfect political crisis for Iggy and the Liberals to throw down the gauntlet.  That said, St-Stevie would still, more than likely, win another minority government, but probably a smaller minority. Clearly, that result would justify the ousting of Iggy.

A new leader would have to be selected.  The only thing that would worry me about a new liberal leader selection would be yet another coronation. Bob Rae, simply because he’s itching for it and he’s part of that old boys’ network. Bob Rae as leader would be suicide.  Neither Quebec, nor Ontario would support him. As for Gerard Kennedy, I don’t see it neither; not in Quebec anyway. No, I think what’s best is no more leaders from Toronto for the time being, especially after that whole Denis Coderre fiasco.  Another reason is that the Liberals are now wearing the brand o the ‘Toronto party’.

Then, there is the minority government itself.  Right now, as things stand, all St-Stevie needs to swim through confidence motions is just one party to keep him afloat. It’s also what keeps St-Stevie’s games of Divide and Conquer so successful.  No one in the opposition is motivated to attempt to work with one another; to find common ground and work together. I believe that a spring election could well yield a  smaller minority for St-Stevie, so instead of needing only one party to keep him swimming, he would need two or all three of them to keep confidence motions afloat. Opposition parties would probably be even more motivated to work together and St-Stevie’s little Divide and Conquer games would be even less successful. Especially, since St-Stevie’s days as PM and leader of the Reformatories would be numbered and a new leader chosen. The opposition parties would also be more motivated to find common ground and perhaps even form a coalition or, take a page from the St-Stevie playbook and merge.

Now, since Iggy doesn’t want that spring election as he knows that will be the end of his tenure and more than likely, his political career, I wonder if  the Liberals will have back bone and show up in droves to vote against that budget? Peter Donolo, show us you still have that midas touch everyone keeps talking about and advise the MPs to vote in droves against the budget. After all, when it comes right down to it, you were hired to help the whole Liberal party; not Iggy, alone.

What say you all?

I read Thwap’s (Thwap’s Schoolyard)  post today regarding his distaste for Iggy and the Liberals.  He leaves the impression that the Stevie and Iggy aren’t that much different as he refers to Iggy as ‘Harper-lite’, particularly if he becomes prime-minister as well as predicting that a minority would be the best they can hope for. He is not alone and posts like his as well as the lack of activity and formation of splinter groups on Facebook from the CAPP movement, only serve to remind us that not only the  left of  center parties are divided, but so are those left and center-left voters.

Thwap (and others like him) leave us with a sense that there is (almost anyway) no point in changing the status quo as the Liberals and N.D.P. wouldn’t bring great change. Many would also believe that the Liberals would simply bring more of the same as before: kind of like Chretien – Martin the sequel.

Well, first of all, the very fact that 1000s of Canadians got out of their apathy to come out in the dead of winter to protest prorogation was a miracle. Like with anything else, change has to start and begin with the voters themselves.  A great start would be if more Canadians got out and voted than the pitiful 59% last time. I remember hearing callers on CJAD  making such arrogant statements like, ‘I don’t vote because none of them deserve my vote’. That is a cop-out, not a statement. If that was really the callers’ sentiment, go out to the poll and reject the ballot. It makes a far stronger statement than simply staying home.

Before then, yes, in spite of Stevie’s lower numbers from his dastardly deeds as of late, Iggy’s don’t really go up that high, do they?  In part because many have the same view as Thwap. I also had one co-worker say she doesn’t trust Iggy enough to vote for him and doesn’t believe Stevie would take that  sharp hairpin turn to the right if unleashed with a majority.

Well, for those who think like my co-worker, here are reminders as to what Stevie is really like and what he said years ago. He has not changed his spots and hints had been dropping to prove as much. Why is that ha hard to believe?

I’ve never been a fan of Iggy’s and anyone who has been following me knows that I think he shouldn’t be leading the Liberal party, but he’s there and changing leaders in the Liberal party would be a disaster right now.  A Liberal minority would at the very least be a step in the right direction as Stevie would surely be pressured by his own party to resign. We’re stuck with Iggy.  Let’s make the best with him. At least under an Iggy gov’t, we can count on certain things like abortion remaining legal, same-sex marriage remaining, He won’t turn Canada into that Evangelical Bush-Palinish sub culture and certainly wouldn’t have all of those evangelical ministers in his cabinet. Yes, there have been anti-same sex marriage pro-life Liberals who squawk from time to time, but as a whole, Liberals don’t operate with an Evangelical agenda.

While Iggy may have lived in the U.S. for many years and even like a lot of the American political system, I seriously doubt he would be in so far as to copy Bush-era America.

The best case scenario though, is the coalition between Liberals, N.D.P. and Greens; a merger would be better, but coalition would be a great start for the reasons mentioned here. In fact, as I have pointed out in The Game Has Changed…Canada is Ready For a Coalition, we are not only ready for a coalition; it is our savior.

As Fern Hill of Dammit Janet pointed out, the political experiment with these Facebook groups has proven successful and is undergoing another test. The test of tests…fundraising. Fundraising for advertising to unseat Stevie. What would be even better is since we are supposed to be a grassroots movement, we should be the ones creating the ads.  Most of us with this same goal have some talent in some form or another. It would also no doubt be cheaper. As for fundraising: please give: our country depends on it. You can donate either by checque or by paypal.

Not only should we lobby to have Stevie unseated, we must lobby the opposition parties to form a coalition.We should also perhaps create our own ad-campaign to this effect.

Would there be any major change? Well, not right away. These opposition parties would go back to being partisan but we only need them for one election. Already, that would be a great measure to make Stevie go away.  A coalition would also provide the much needed time Jack Layton may need to recover from his illness or if his health fails to the point he could no longer lead the  N.D.P., they could take the time to find a new leader.  A coaltion would also provide the Liberals time to find and groom another leader, rather than throw Bob Rae into the ring, simply because he’s there.  I think most can agree that having Rae lead the Liberals would be suicide as he wouldn’t get the votes in Quebec or Ontario.

Any major changes to legislation like new prorogation rules or items like senate and electoral reforms or anything else we want our government to do would have to come from lobbying from the voters themselves.

However, first things first: let’s concentrate on getting rid of Stevie and his nasty evangelical friends  and lobby for that coalition.  That also means accepting Iggy at least for the short term.

Getting a new leader for the Liberals and ranting about disliking Iggy right now will not get rid of Stevie, in fact,  a divided opposition is how Stevie’s numbers remain up. And allowing Stevie to remain will only sink us further into that George W Bush vortex.  Given that slogan on by-election sign in Hochelaga last November (video of action; no election in French),  one has to wonder if Stevie is planning a totalitarian regime if let loose with a majority.

Yosemite Stevie — What Stevie would look like after a majority

Need I say more?

Let’s start by getting Stevie unseated and that starts with going to the polls come election day.   Any real change further down would be up to the voters themselves to hold our governments accountable. Remember that picture of  Stevie saying “I prorogue because you let me”. And it’s true. We did allow him to steamroll over us. Let’s put an end to this.