The Unfair Election Act

Well, boys n girls, Stevie Spiteful outdoes hisself yet again. Another omnibus bill with a benign name to hide its’ real intent.  Yes, Bill C-23 — The “Fair Elections Act” .  All 249 pages of it.  A bill taken right of out of the Rethuglican / tea-baggers’ play book .  Like the Rethuglicans’ bill,  C-23 targets young voters, poorer voters; the disenfranchised.  Not that this demographic turns out in droves to vote, but this bill will definitely make participation more difficult.  Stevie wants to ensure that he stays in power forever by cheating at all costs. It is clear that a higher voter turn-out does not have any advantage for those Harpercons .

One does not need to read between the lines of the bill to come to the conclusion that the Harper government is more inclined to see a higher voter turnout as a threat than as an ideal outcome. At a time when most comparable jurisdictions are looking for ways to reverse a decline in turnout the legislation put forward on Tuesday nudges Canada in the opposite direction.

That’s not all.  Those Harpercons are just giddy with how they supposedly plugged up campaign financing loopholes. What they did, essentially, was to make much of what was illegal, well, legal.  So now,  donation limit ceilings have been lifted, going in the direction of the US system of campaigning — being able to buy an election. C-23 doesn’t go quite that far, but, it gives an indication that is exactly where Stevie to go.  Spending cap has been raised by 25%.

Folks, now that what Dean of Gastro did could be pretty much legalized, I wonder if he’ll be invited back to play Harpercon reindeer games in the House of Commons?

Remember those public service ads from Elections Canada around election time encouraging folks to exercise their democratic right and vote? Well, those ads will be but a memory now under this bill.

The Conservative bill will remove parts of Section 18 of the Elections Act that give the chief electoral officer the authority to provide the public with information on “the democratic right to vote” and to “make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.”

Oh, and Skippy Poilievre, ever the cheerleader, and an ignorant one at that is just ga ga giddy all over himself.

Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative minister for democratic reform, said the government doesn’t believe Elections Canada has a role to play in boosting voting. “Political candidates who are aspiring for office are far better at inspiring voters to get out and cast their ballot than our government bureaucracies,” he told the Commons on Wednesday.

Perhaps they are and perhaps they’re not.  That’s neither here nor there.  The point is that a party like the Harpercons, as they’ve proven with the roboscam during the 2011 election, will do everything to discourage all to vote.   And political parties doing their own advertising, well, they advertise to get people to vote for them. Sure some candidates organize ride services to get older and disabled voters to the polling station, which is a good thing, but them taking over Elections Canada public service ads? Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t someone non-partisan be the ones encouraging the masses to vote?

Bill C-23 is yet another example of how to keep a supposedly independent arms length organization under Stevie’s thumb–tightly.  Also, any bets as to how long it takes before
Elections Canada chief, Mark Mayrand, mysteriously has health problems due to actually doing his job as it is supposed to be done instead of being Stevie’s lap dog?

I realize that reading the Unfair Elections Act would be tedious in a busy life, but I really recommend that you to read it, yes all 249 pages of it.  See the ugly truth for yourself.   Think about it, if this bill were so great and democratic, how come Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral officer was not consulted?  Why did those Harpercons use (or I should say abuse) their majority in the House of Commons, once again, did all to curtail debate?  What I am afraid of is that a precedent has been set for getting rid of elections altogether as illustrated in the video below from the Fall 2009 federal bi-election campaign sign in the riding of Hochelaga.

Slogan in English is “Action! No Elections!”  Kind of a dead give away of his highness’s intentions, innit?