par Nadia Alexan, Citizens in Action Montreal

Should Stephen Harper ever get his coveted majority, you can kiss our compassionate, gentle, caring Canada goodbye ! It will be replaced by a mean, lean, spiteful dictatorship. This is not an ordinary election like any other. We must try to save Canada from an impending catastrophe.

1.The Economy : Harper considers the economy his “chateau fort,” He thinks he is the most trustworthy steward of the Canadian economy ! Yet the facts prove otherwise.

He spends money as if he had a bottomless pit ; but he spends it on his rich friends. When he took over power, he inherited a surplus of $16 billion, which he blithely turned into a deficit of $55 billion.

He spent $75 billion on a bail-out package for the banks, while they were making record profits.

He spent $1.2 billion on the G-20, boondoggle, entertaining a few friends, with an artificial lake and imprisoning hundreds of innocent demonstrators in the process. Democracy is good for Libyan demonstrators, but not good enough for Canadian protesters !

He now proposes to spend $30 billion on the purchase of Lockheed Martin, F-35 war planes, without a public tender or any discussion in parliament.

He promised to give away $6 billion to the rich banks & corporations, with no strings attached.

The Conservatives are Bad for business : A Macleans’ article questioned the Conservatives’ laissez-faire attitude : “Ottawa has stunned investors with populist decisions that took precedence over sound policy. Prime Minister, Stephen Harper is actually hurting Canada’s reputation as a stable and open market for business investment… No issue has sparked as much public fury as Internet download limits. The Tories protected Air Canada from competition with Emirate Airlines, an airline regularly ranked among the top 10 in the world.” (Macleans Feb.15, 2011.)

The Tories try to pick winners & losers as evidenced by the Egyptian owned Globalive wireless company case.

Poverty levels are at an all time high. Twelve per cent of Canadians are living in poverty, most of them women and children.

Harper declared war on women, although they earn 69 per cent of what men make, Harper still refuses to install an urgently-needed national day-care programme, or to recognize pay equity, which would relieve women’s poverty. He is a pig-headed misogynist.

Guess what he will do to our public services if he ever gets a majority ?

2. Democratic Deficit : For the first time in the history of Canada, Harper’s government has been found guilty of contempt of parliament ! Harper behaves like a dictator. It’s his way or the highway !

He treats parliament with brazen disdain. And when he is found out, he lies blatantly.
He flouts parliamentary democratic institutions by hiding documents from parliamentarians, as well as freedom of information requests by journalists.

He threatens witnesses, and sabotages parliamentary committees ; then he suspends parliament whenever a scandal or controversy is brewing.

Harper is a control freak. He makes a mockery of accountability and transparency, although he campaigned on these principles.

He muzzles his M.P.s and his ministers. Every news-release or pronouncement must first pass inspection by his officers or “mind controllers,” just like the despots in the Middle East.

Elections Canada has found Harper’s team guilty of spending more than the allowable maximum of $1.2 million. Then he tried to camouflage the crime. Harper was accused of behaving like a dictator when he fired Linda Keene, Canada’s Nuclear Safety Watchdog, for refusing to give the green light to a nuclear reactor she deemed unsafe.

Mounir Sheikh, head of Statistics Canada resigned over Harper’s decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census.

Peter Tinsley blew the whistle on Canada’s participation in the torture of Afghani prisoners, when he was the chairman of the Military Police Complaints’ Commission. Harper did not renew his contract.

Harper wants to kill the CBC, the only non-commercial, independent broadcaster that binds Canadians from coast to coast ; flouting all recommendations against the concentration of the media in the hands of a few barons.

3.Governance : Harper lies blatantly about “a Coalition,” since he himself, tried to form one, in 2004, when he made a deal with the leaders of the Bloc Québécois and the NDP to unseat Paul Martin’s Liberals.

Most democratic countries rule by means of coalitions. Moreover, most democracies have proportional representation, which rules out the formation of a government with a third of the popular vote.

Harper wants to ban public funding of parties, so that they will not have a level playing field. The Conservatives will be able to outspend the other parties because their corporate base is very rich and very powerful.
The Harper government has muzzled Civil Society groups, environmental organizations, women’s advocacy groups, anti-poverty groups, progressive think-tanks and watch-dog agencies, by means of intimidation and budget slashing.
He sent a chill throughout Ottawa’s bureaucracy, punishing dissent with a vengeance.

He muzzled scientific research that does not agree with his beliefs.

Having basically silenced all his critics, all that is left are the courts. Harper has already filled any Federal Court vacancies with his own supporters. If he should ever get a majority, he will replace 8 out of the 9 Supreme Court judges eligible for retirement.

4. Environmental Degradation : The Harper government refuses to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Nadia Alexan, Citizens in Action Montreal