I caught the #DenounceHarper hash tag on Twitte r this morning again to commemorate Canada Day. I found it quite fitting, really.
Boys ‘n’ girls, I thought it would be fitting if I gave my reasons why I #DenounceHarper and Canada Day and why you should too.
Another Canada Day under Harpercons. Yikes! Still way too much complacency which allows Stevie and his puppets to do their worst. Stevie was right about one thing, we wouldn’t recognize Canada once he got through with it. Bill C-10, that dumb on crime omnibus bill which will make it much harder if not impossible for anyone to get a second chance at having a normal life and getting a decent job.
How about Bill C-38? That monstrosity of a “budget” bill which basically strips away all environmental regulations, thus allowing the oil and gas industry to ride roughshod as they please? Foreign money only welcome for those who will be their biggest cheerleaders allowed, such as the Chinese who are buying up the Alberta tar sands. Gee, Ezzy Levant, is that oil still “ethical” as opposed to “conflict”?
Speaking of that foreign money, let’s not forget that the Koch brothers are sinking cash into The Fraser Institute .
The NRA has helped the Canadian anti-gun control lobby in raising funds . I wonder how much their welcome foreign money, they themselves gave?
I’m pretty sure the list can go on and on regarding what “foreign” money is acceptable and which is not in Harperland.
Needless to say, groups like the Sierra Club, stay away! You’re persona non-grata now. But rest assured, you’re now on a very long Harpercon list.
Ah the hypocrisy! But do we expect any less?
Back to C-38, where labour standards are further clawed back and it becomes more dangerous to become unemployed. The new Canada or Harperland as it is now, where it is a race to the bottom. Working class pitted against working class in an effort to drive down wages. Yes, just one of Stevie & Jimbo’s wet dreams coming true– a minimum wage economy. All of this after Harpercon so-called labour minister Lisa Raitt sent the message to employers that they no longer need to negotiate in good faith with workers and the unions who represent them when she and Stevie will swoop in to their rescue with working conditions those “greedy workers” must accept or else!
Retirement age now raised to 67 although, that is more than likely to change to past 70, if one is lucky. Unsustainable! They claim, despite the fact that Parliamentary budget officer and Harpercon nemesis, Kevin Page said the OAS fund was just fine . More excuses to impose their ideology.
Speaking of Kevin Page, he now has to turn to the courts for answers regarding budget cuts among other buget matters the Harpercons simply refuse to give .
We will miss Kevin Page–we all know what happens to those who do their jobs too well.
Bill C-38, already on the fast track to gutting our social safety nets. I shudder to think what the next so-called “budget” omnibus bills will bring.
Cuts to Refugee health care. Don’t worry, we’re next. Let’s not forget what Ol’ Stevie Spiteful thinks of universal health care to begin with. And make no mistake, American health care is exactly what Stevie likes to have for Canada.
The treatment of Aboriginals remains beyond shabby to this day. In fact, the Harpercons were worse than abysmal upon seeing the third world conditions in which the folks of Attawapiskat . Instead of showing leadership of any kind or trying to help these people, they simply shifted blame and hired an accountant, on the dime of the reserve, of course.
Even Leona Agluquack, our substandard health minister has proven to choose her Harpercon friends and power over the health of her own people while she dismisses concerns over food security in the north .
Asbestos. Asbestos victims and their families’ pleas to ban asbestos exports being ignored. Canada still refusing to vote in favour of adding asbestos to the list of hazardous materials to Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention.
Unaccountability. Those Harpercons have done the unprecedented regarding message control and scandals .
Shameless patronage. It doesn’t seem to matter whether a Harpercon candidate loses an election–they will be sure to secure a plum appointment to the senate, job as a shadow MP in an opposition held riding, or an ambassadorship of some kind.
Debate stifled. Time limits placed on important bills and motions to all of Canadians yet all most media can muster was clutch their pearls over Pat Martin using the F-bomb on Twitter instead of focusing on why he did just that .
A hyper-partisan puppet in Speaker Andy who has proven to do nothing more than cover Stevie’s back rather than actually do his job. But then, we all know what happens to those who actually do their jobs in the world according to Stevie, don’t we?
Dissent highly discouraged if not criminalized as demonstrated at the Toronto G-20 2 years ago. At the very least, one is considered a terrorist, child pornographer or soft on crime.
Warrantless online spying bill underway. Sure ol’ Vic ‘lock ‘em up’ Toews torpedoed his own bill C-30 , but rest assured boys ‘n’ girls, C-30–the warrantless online spying bill will rear its’ ugly head again come hell or high water .
Speaking of dissent, remember that artist and environmentalist, Franke James, who had her European show cancelled due to Stevie, hisself, applying pressure to private backers to rescind their backing ? I mean, there were no tax dollars involved here.
The CBC continues to be gutted. Here’s the most recent list of cuts . I guess their turn to the right has been in vain.
Most of media continue cheerleading for those Harpercons.
Obscene amounts of money spent on War of 1812 festivities and reenactments with scripts, surely rewritten to suit Stevie’s version of history, but no money to support disabled veterans as they continue to fight their own wars at home.
Who could forget those billions to be spent on those F-35s? F-35s riddled with problems. A true excercise in, ahem! Competence!
Turning us into an Industrial Military Complex.
Remember Stevie’s speech to some American right wing think tank in 1997 ? Yanno, the one where he thinks that their Conservative movement is a “light and inspiration for Canada…”? Well, boys ‘n’ girls, despite all his transformations, he still doesn’t like Canada. Guess it just ain’t right winged enough. He continues to cede more of our privacy to the US. Canadian embassy in Washington doesn’t celebrate Canada day, but it does have time to celebrate ol’ red, white and blue every July 4 .
As for the opposition parties and their supporters, as well as Canadians in general, I’m afraid I don’t have many kind words neither. Despite all of Stevie’s transgressions and those of his puppets, the opposition parties can’t seem to capitalize on any of it. I always find it funny when folks get all celebratory when Thomas Mulcair and the NDP manage to squeak a few points higher than the Harpercons in polls. Hell, I remember them getting all happy when they managed to tie with them. While I do give what polls come with a grain of salt these days, I find the latest numbers nothing to celebrate about. You see, boys ‘n’ girls, while Stevie is doing his worst, those poll numbers should be a lot higher for not only the NDP, but also for the Liberals and for that matter, the Bloc Quebecois in La Belle Province, given what Stevie has done to shun Quebecers. In fact, those Harpercons should be polling in last place, just as the old Progressive Conservatives did under the last days of Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell.
Honestly, I’m tired of hearing that old NDP mantra of “proposing”. Well, NDP, your job is not to propose–it’s to oppose. And if there was ever a government that needed opposing, it’s this one.
The Liberals blew it in not deciding to have a leadership race sooner rather than later. A party cannot be built or rebuilt without leadership, not even an interim leader.
Both the NDP and the Liberals are so busy sniping at each other that I wonder what is more important to them, sometimes. When they go at each other the way that they do, Stevie simply wins his little divide and conquer games.
Already, opposing any majority government to account is problematic under the best of circumstances. Those Harpercons have made it downright near impossible. But seriously, can more effort be made? And perhaps some thinking outside the box could be helpful? Gawd knows traditional methods have not worked. It’s a sad state of affairs when we need to turn to the courts to hold our government to account and even that is a crap shoot.
I sometimes wonder if destroying the Liberal party is more important to Mulcair than getting Stevie Spiteful outta office? That is a scary thought.
When will they realize that they will need each other to get Harper outta office? They will have to start learning to cooperate with each other in some shape or form for the good of the country, or else Stevie will win again in 2015.
And those who are saying that we can wait it out until 2019. Are you out of your minds??? We can’t even afford this Harpercon majority, let alone another one in 2015, if that ain’t too late . For those who say it won’t happen, just remember that I was pretty much alone in predicting the last Harpercon majority when many called me crazy. I was proven correct.
Should by some miracle, either opposition party wins or a combination of the two, it will take decades to undo what Stevie Spiteful has done. The question becomes will they dedicate themselves to doing just that?
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Well said!
That was quite a rant there girl. Loved every minute of it, even though I’d promised myself I wouldn’t read anything negative today in honour of it being Canada Day. This was worth it though, even though it punctured my little balloon of delusion.
Still, a nice sunny day in Southern Ontario, although too muggy for my taste. I hope our tory MP got his military moustache all wet sitting in the shiny convertible in the parade downtown, waving at his subjects. Hope he got booed by the peasants.
I read. Harper was Policy Chief for, the Northern Foundation Party, from 1989. They said, Harper was linked to Nazi intellectuals and Christian fundamentalists. The skinheads assisted, to organize that party.
There is no doubt, Harper is a dictator. He is obsessed with control, as all dictators have to be. The number one, first to control is the media, then they grab control of everything they can get their hands on. Some ministers aren’t very happy with that control. They are not permitted to say or do anything, everything has to go through Harper first. Some ministers don’t like the omnibus bill.
People from BC did post about, the robo-call cheat election fraud, right after the election. A site called, presscore.ca, was the first time I read about the robo-call scam, they said, Harper cheated to win. It took an, entire year before anyone listened.
We were all warned, what would happen to Canada if Harper wins, his so called majority…..we could kiss Canada goodbye. However, no-one listened to that either. I wonder if Canadians now believe, Harper is merging Canada in with Communist China?
You are right. The opposition sat on their collective arses, and still are, while this country was forced into a dictatorship. There are very few politicians in Canada, worth the powder to blow them to hell. Canada is now, a cesspool of corruption, and the opposition sits, with their fingers up their noses, while our country is being decimated by Harper and his henchmen.
“I sometimes wonder if destroying the Liberal party is more important to Mulcair than getting Stevie Spiteful outta office? That is a scary thought.”
Well it certainly was good enough for Jack Layton, so why not for Mulcair, hmmm? For all the Libs faults over the past decade they at least stayed consistent in calling out Harper for what he truly was. I’ve always blamed the NDP/Layton for Harper’s rise in no small part because without their adding their credibility and unity against Harper to the Libs the Libs were going to be seen as using empty rhetoric, especially in the post Sponsorship scandal reality. I’ve said since the past election happened that Layton’s political epitaph properly is that he won the battle to lose the war, because in opposing the Libs, a party much closer to them in not just rhetoric but reality they allowed the most anti-Canadian, anti-progressive leader and party to first become a minority PM and then despite his constant showing of his colours as a snake out to destroy core progressive Canadian foundations still pretended that Liberal Tory same old story had any connection to the truth/reality. What really sickened me though is that the NDP prior to Layton’s leadership would never have made this choice, Layton clearly made gaining increased power and seats for his party as more important than upholding NDP core values, principles, and policies, something that the pre-Layton NDP were trusted for and trusted because they had put their money where their mouth was and earned that trust for doing so by most Canadians. Which is of course why when those same Canadians didn’t hear Layton backing the Libs up about Harper and the dangers of having him be PM, especially a majority PM they assumed he couldn’t be that bad.
Yes, I know I’ve ranted this before, but I really find it infuriating listening now to Dippers gloat about their success in the polls and how Mulcair will fix everything once he wins in the next election. Leaving aside the question of making such an assumption about whether Mulcair becomes PM, even if he does, even with a majority he will not be able to undo much of what Harper has been doing. Which is what I kept warning about, too many things that we have taken for granted as cast in stone/concrete is not, and worse thanks to various treaties if we ever give them up we can not restore them afterwards. The Wheat Board is an excellent example of that, since our trade treaties prevent us from recreating such. Same with increasing the limits on resource sales as another. Then there is the reducing/devolution of powers, once you do that trying to regain those powers afterwards tends to be a virtual impossibility too. These were all things I spent years warning about, and since I am not so arrogant as to think myself more perceptive of this than people that make their livings this way (aka NDP brain trust) who had access to even more data on Harper than I in Halifax did they and Layton CHOSE to place beating Libs as the higher priority of importance.
Now they have elected Mulcair leader I see no change in their basic behaviour where the Libs are concerned, indeed their clear hatred of the Libs is as strong as ever, so believing that Mulcair places keeping the Libs down ahead of defeating the Harper regime is not only a scary thought to me, it is describing reality as it has been for some time now. As much as many Libs dislike the NDP, traditionally there was also some respect there too. However, the actions of Layton and now Mulcair clearly have poisoned that well, Mulcair has made his opinion on any sort of joint action or even merger clear enough to all, so how is it anything other than his placing the Libs as the greater threat to the NDP and the Harper CPC. What really sucks is from a narrow partisan viewpoint that is a fair way to look at it, at least if your only concern is your ranking as a national party. If the NDP with the continued support of the Harper CPC keep the Libs as effectively out of the game and make it a binary decision option then they know they will be government eventually, and it is the Libs who represent the main seat competitor for the NDP, not the CPC, while conversely the Libs compete with both the center left they share with the NDP and the center right which the Harper CPC manage to co-opt. Yet to hear Dippers, Layton and Mulcair speak they still claim to be a different kind of party, one where principles still matter more than political expediency, well I say in rebuttal that I believe my lying eyes and their actions over their words.
In the aftermath of the Sponsorship scandal it was the NDP that retained the credibility to call out the Harper CPC for what it was and prevent the disaster we now live with from happening. They clearly placed their expediency ahead of their principles instead, and this is what we have now because of it. Why should you be at all surprised or even considering that Mulcair has any other plans than to continue this behaviour I do not understand ck. I’ve seen you to be a very bright and perceptive woman ck, you must see that Mulcair and the NDP have fundamentally changed from being a party of principles to just another party of expediency out to surplant the Libs for the sake of power. For all the Libs faults they never pretended not to be this way, while the hypocrisy of the NDP and far too many of its supporters rankles my nose in the same way and almost the same degree as the Catholics claiming their church and priests are not the monsters their actions have proven then to be (I use this in part because of the closeness of the comparison, but also because I grew up RC, spent a decade as an altarboy, and found the hypocrisy within the Church massively offensive when it came out and they kept denying it, I’ve never forgotten the Papal Bull early on where the Pope, at the urging of the now current Pope I might add that they forgave the children of the sin of tempting the priests into their actions, that is a level of hypocrisy hard to top or even meet, yet I find the NDP coming far too close over the past few years), which is in part why I don’t let this go, the rest being that I refuse to allow the NDP to sweep their role in the current hell under the rug.
Next to Harper himself the next greatest creator of our current political reality is Jack Layton, and his successor Mulcair appears to be cut from the same cloth, indeed even more so, at least I believed Layton embraced expediency for power so as to advance his NDP agenda (failing of course to see that his actions corroded that very agenda’s chances from coming about, but at least his motives were there, Mulcair I am not so convinced this is true of), he embraced expediency in the pursuit of noble ends, something still wrong but at least can be given some respect as opposed to the empty power hunger seen in far too many political leaders when they embrace such expediency as their norm.
Canada Day for me has become a very somber time, as I see the Canada I grew up in and lived in being destroyed in ways hard to recover from if ever possible, and too many not only fail to understand this but still care more about their narrow partisan aims than seeing the reality of what is happening, and how we got here, let alone what we need ot be doing to actually limit the damage going forward. It is a very sad time for me ck, and your rant as powerful and good as it is, is still a pale shadow of the rage I feel towards the current reality. I stopped blogging about it because my health could no longer withstand the emotions generated and I am left with only occasional commenting such as this. It is nice to see though those out there that see reality and able to call it for what it is, I wish more people we willing to do so, almost as much as I wish I still had the health and stamina to be doing it myself. Alas too many years being Cassandra took its toll.
Take care and be well ck.
Politicians are no longer, what is good for the country, the provinces nor the people.
Harper only cares about Harper and, his own selfish goals of power and greed. His outlandish behavior, is getting worse by the day. It is impossible to rationalize someone, who isn’t rational.
I agree with the button, Harper hates me. Harper hates everything Canadian, including the people.
Stringing the Embridge pipeline, with the lethal Bitumen across BC, is insane.
Bringing massive dirty tar tankers, into one of the most treacherous seas in the world, is brain dead.
Harper never learns the lessons of oil spills. He is far too arrogant and stubborn, to listen to anyone. Other country’s say the same thing, struggling to deal with Harper. They are fed up with Harper’s bullying, and his hissy fits, when he doesn’t get his own way. Except for Europe, who told Harper to go to hell. Good for Europe.
My fear is that people, Canadians, who do hate Harper and what he’s doing, are starting to cower and bend to his will in fear. He truly is becoming despotic and trying to stomp on dissent. There was no shortage of Bush Jr. criticism throughout his two terms, especially after the trauma of 9-11 lifted. But in Harperland, we see very little dissent in comparison. (Standing ovation for the Quebec students and their casserole comrades, the G20 protesters, and Bridgette DePape – but they are by and large the exception to the rule).
I know the feeling all too well. I could see Harper coming from way bak when. We all thought there were safeguards against an individual seizing power and control over parliament but not one of our elected or appointed officials stood up to oppose him in time. It was game over for Canadian democracy when the GG handed him the keys to the House of Commons in December of 2008 by granting him the power to prorogue to avoid a vote of no confidence. The opposition parties should have occupied the chamber to prevent this insult to the people’s representatives. Harper knows there is no precedent for his actions on that date and no going back once he crossed that line and he has been busy strangling the life out of our parliamentary system since then.
Benjamin Isitt, From Victoria to Vladivostok: Canada’s Siberian Expedition, 1917-19, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010.
Between 1918 and 1920, the fledgling workers’ state in Soviet Russia was engaged in a life and death struggle against a series of counter-revolutionary “White” armies backed by expeditionary forces marshalled by fourteen states that had fought as part of the British-French-US-led “Allies” in the First World War and which landed forces in Baku, Murmansk, Archangel and Vladivostok. Among the belligerents was Canada.
Historian Benjamin Isitt’s From Victoria to Vladivostok documents the history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Siberia (CEFS), its deployment to Vladivostok as part of the attempted Allied overthrow of the revolutionary Bolshevik government under Lenin and Trotsky, its eventual defeat, and demobilization. The book also describes the working class internationalism that was prevalent during this period, and how worker solidarity ultimately derailed the expedition.
The book’s centrepiece, the 1918 Victoria, British Columbia mutiny, embodied many of these social processes. The CEFS’ enlisted ranks, mostly workers, were concentrated on Canada’s west coast in preparation for their trans-Pacific deployment. There they gravitated towards British Columbia’s fledgling labour parties and socialist organizations, whose message of international worker solidarity and aggressive anti-war agitation found fertile ground. This nascent, and from the standpoint of the ruling class dangerous, worker-soldier solidarity, resulted in the mutiny. While the officer corps quickly restored discipline, the mutiny eroded morale and heralded the expedition’s ultimate defeat. In short, the book documents a forgotten but important historical episode, when masses of workers armed with a socialist and internationalist perspective consciously struggled against capitalism…
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/isit-j30.shtml
Stephen is a fraud,
My grandfather fought in WWI, my mother and father in WWII Stevie [Harper] has never gone to war except for from the war room in Ottawa, do you have any idea how many children he has killed through his bombing rage? Libya and Afghanistan? We never gave him that permission to throw bombs on Innocent children he has stolen that power from us.
He needsd to go….
CK, I agree with much of what you wrote, but the debate between Liberals and NDP is a necessary part of taking back our country. They do not stand for the same things in almost all cases, and quite frankly I am not prepared to settle for a slightly pinker shade of Blue.
@JKennethY