Thursday, May 30, 2013

Dear Mr. Harper

I am sharing my letter to the Prime Minister of Canada with you. Please feel free to copy it, use it, share it, whatever you like with it. I sent this to Mr. Harper, his entire cabinet, the leaders of the opposition, their deputies, and the media. Unfortunately, it is already out of date, because of the conservative scandal du jour.
 
Dear Mr. Harper:
I am writing to you to request that when you speak in the house and to the public, that you no longer use the phrase ‘what the Canadian people want’ or any variation thereof. I can attest to the fact that you do not speak for me, nor for any member of my household, and therefore, you are not speaking with knowledge of what ‘the Canadian people want’. What THIS Canadian wants is for you to explain to me where the transparency and accountability lies in the following issues:
Archives ‘cleansing’ – The Harper government is working through the Canadian Archives, destroying things that don’t quite agree with their position, effectively politically rewriting our history.
-          Consultation Fees -- $2.4Billion was spent on unspecified, undefined, unaccounted for ‘consultation’.
-          Lost money -- $3.1Billion was ‘lost’ dollars designated for National Security.
-          Illegal contributions – this time from those receiving patronage appointments (ie IE directors) who are legally forbidden from making political contributions, but who made $37,000 of them anyway.
-          Duffy Affair – Senator Duffy charged excessively on his expense accounts, was found to be dishonest in his claims yet he faced no consequence. The repayment does not negate the offence.
-          Nigel Wright payment – where did the $90,000 come from, who ordered it, who knew about it, why was it allowed, why was a senate report doctored to hide the fact that Duffy had been fraudulently charging taxpayers and why has no one been fired over this situation? (Not some $30,000 a year PMO worker; someone with authority and substance)
-          Legal counsel for Nigel Wright – who drew up any documents used with regard to the loan/gift/payment to Michael Duffy, and was any PMO counsel resource used for this purpose.
-          CBC Control – The Harper government announced that they will be taking over the appointing of staff to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, effectively taking control over the news and the way it is presented to the public, providing them with more political spin at public expense.
-          Temporary Foreign Workers Scandal with Royal Bank and other large corporations for the importing of foreign workers to replace Canadian workers with Canadian government oversight approval.
-          Bail-In Provision snuck through to allow government access to personal savings accounts to settle government debts (2013)
-          Long Gun Registry – stopped then reinstated (April 2013) with increased registration fees for restricted weapons and the yearly renewing of license for long guns
-          Robocalls (2012) – issuing fake, misleading calls to actively interfere with voting public
-          Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 1 -- $26M taxpayer dollars over 3 months for programs already ended in order to promote conservative party interests.
-          Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 2 – while unemployment, particularly student unemployment, rises steadily, Harper continues his Canada Action Plan ads at high-cost events, for no purpose other than pre-campaigning.
-          ETS Scandal – An IT contract was unfairly awarded to CGI, a known association of Michael Fortier, the then PWGSC Minister in a clear conflict of interest. No fairness monitor was appointed to oversee the process, reported scores by evaluators did not coincide with what they had issued, the evaluation team was advised to destroy all records relating to the evaluation, the government refused to debrief companies that had lost the award, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal ruled against the government, and the government’s response was angry denial and to appoint a new federal crown prosecutor (a former Conservative candidate) to charge the unsuccessful companies involved in the bid process with big-rigging – a charge still unproven but the case continues four years after the fact.
-          CFIA (2012) – food inspection services cut, listeriosis outbreak, Minister Gerry Ritz’s tasteless jokes about deaths from outbreak.
-          Prorogation – Part 1 (to avoid Contempt of Parliament fallout)
-          Prorogation – Part 2 (to avoid NDP/Liberal coalition government)
-          Shoe Store Project (2007) – plans for a $2M government controlled media center, run by the PMO to replace the National Press Gallery, run by the national press.
-          Julie Couillard Scandal (2007) – Maxime Bernier leaves sensitive NATO documents at ex-girlfriend’s house, a woman with known ties to the Hells Angels
-          In and Out (2007) – Circumnavigation of election finance rules in 2006 election. $230,000 in fines issued for violating spending laws
-          Plagiarizing – Part 1 (2007) you plagiarized Australia’s John Howard’s speech about Iraq
-          Plagiarizing – Part 2 (2008) from Ontario Mike Harris’ speech
-          Repatriation scandal – issued orders that military personnel killed in combat would not receive repatriation attention or coverage and no flags would be at half-mast
-          Scrums – all media scrums in Parliament were forbidden. Press statements would be issued when the government feels they are necessary, effectively stifling the press.
-          Chuck Cadman scandal – offered a bribe for the vote in parliament, then lied under oath about it and the tape evidence of the bribe
-          Senior Federal Scientists Gagged – they are not allowed to speak to media without government permission... still in effect
-          Long-form Census stopped, cutting access to valuable statistics
-          Unfair labor conditions for government workers -- Suspended Federal civil servants’ right to strike
-          Abuse of RCMP during election -- Limiting access of press to PM during election by misusing RCMP to restrict access at private events
-          Omnibus bill to pass non-financial bills with budget, making it impossible to reject pieces of the overall bill, thereby circumventing parliamentary process in the passing on individual bills. (Ironically something Stephen Harper as leader of the opposition was adamantly opposed to as being undemocratic)
-          Afghan Detainees Scandal
-          Military planes scandal -- Withheld financial information from parliament and parliamentary committees about costs of military planes
-          Improper procedure for fighter plane procurement -- Neglected the bid process in awarding of a contract on fighter plane procurement.
-          Whistleblower scandal – Christiane Ouimet, integrity commissioner, turned down investigations into 227 whistleblower allegations. She was quietly dismissed with a $500,000 exit payment and gag order.
-          Rebranding Canadian Government as Harper Government on communications documents
-          Interference in the 2008 US Presidential election
-          $54,000 taxpayer money spent on 2-day oil lobby retreat in UK (2011)
-          Withdrawal from Kyoto
-          G8/G20 Fake Lake Scandals
-          Interfering with collective bargaining -- Ordering striking unions back to work: Canada Post, Air Canada,
-          Breaking your own new set election date law
-          Over 1700 patronage appointments
-          Pulling Canada out of UN anti-drought initiative
-          Contempt of Parliament – refused to turn over documents on Afghan detainee affair and later refused to submit to a parliamentary request regarding costing of his programs
-          Issuing a 200-page handbook to committee heads advising them on how to disrupt their committees.
-          Reneging on promise to allow parliamentary committees to select their own chairs.
-          Dictating an order that staffers to cabinet ministers do not have to testify before committees
-          Ordering all government communications to be vetted by his office or the Privy Council Office
-          Putting Conservative party logos on stimulus funding cheques that were paid out of the public purse.
-          Had party affiliates write on-line posts, using false names, to attack journalists.
-          In Charlottetown in 2007, he had the police remove reporters from a hotel lobby where a party caucus meeting was being held
-          Attempted to tar the reputation of diplomat Richard Colvin for contradicting their position on the afghan detainees situation.
-          Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor mislead the House regarding the afghan detainees situation, had to apologize and later resigned
-          Terminated Peter Tinsley, the Military Police Complaints Commissioner, when he started to investigate the afghan detainee situation.
-          Mudslinging -- Before his leadership, personal attack ads were used, relatively sparingly, only during election season instead of every day regardless of election cycle.
-          Fossil of the Day awards (x3) were awards to John Baird, as minister of the environment, at the UN Cancun climate conference (Dec 2010) awarded by more than 400 leading organizations, to the countries that do the most to disrupt or undermine UN climate talks, citing that Baird and the Canadian government were ‘working against progressive legislation to address climate change” by “cancelling support for clean energy and for failing to have any plan to meet its very weak target for reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.”
-          Bev Oda – misleading Parliament, mishandled CIDA requests for KAIROS group, overspending (has paid back $4,025.26 to taxpayers)
-          Maxime Bernier – 2 ethics investigations for conflict of interest
-          Peter Penashue – election overspending, ineligible donations
-          John Duncan – improperly lobbied a tax judge
-          Bruce Carson – violating lobbying regulations/influence peddling
-          Dimitri Soudas – Communications Director for PM questioned over kickback scandal involving Montreal Port Authority
-          Jim Flaherty – Finance Minister improperly interfered with CRTC regarding the issuing of a broadcast licence
-          Dean Del Mastro – Elections Canada investigation of overspending, etc.
-          Arthur Porter – Harper appointee as Canada spy agency watchdog wanted for $1.3B fraud
-          Lisa Raitt – left sensitive documents in public AND made the‘cancer is sexy’ comment
-          Jason Kenney – used MP stationery for party fundraising
-          Rahim Jaffer and Helene Guergis – aids writing letters to papers pretending to be citizens, influence peddling (him), letting her husband use her office, mortgage transgressions, and the Charlottetown Airport meltdown
-          Peter MacKay – using military transportation for personal use
-          Vic Towes – abusive language and ‘you’re either with us or against us with child pornography’ statement
-          Sebastien Togneri, Agop Evereklian, Giulio Maturi, Dale Saip and Kasra Nejatian all involved in ethics transgressions
-          Rona Ambrose – told a parliamentary committee that Canada had paid its debt under the Kyoto Protocol but it was later pointed out that it was still unpaid. She refused to add spotted owls, of which there were only 17, needed no special protection. As Minister responsible for the Status of Women, voted for a motion to revisit the Canadian Criminal Code regarding abortion.
-          John Baird – Used his cabinet post to interfere with the 2006 Ottawa city mayoral election and the light rail transit system in that city.
-          Tony Clement -- $50M originally intended for the G8 meeting and border issues was used instead in his riding, with no supporting paperwork
-          Mike Duffy – improperly collecting housing allowances
-          Patrick Brazeau – improperly collecting housing allowances and facing assault and sexual assault charges
-          Pamela Wallin – travel and other expenses being audited for irregularities
-          58 senate appointments, 100% from the conservative party despite election promises of not appointing any senators or other patronage appointments.
-          In a variety of punitive ways, Harper moved against NGOs, independent agencies, watchdog groups, and tribunals who showed signs of differing with his intent. In some cases he fired their directors or stacked their boards with partisans. In others, he sued them or cut their funding. The targets of such tactics included the Rights and Democracy group, Elections Canada, Veterans’ Ombudsman Pat Stogran, Budget Officer Kevin Page and many more. His party’s smear tactics included labelling the Liberal party anti-Israel, calling Dalton McGuinty the small man of Confederation, trying to link Liberal MP Navdeep Bains to terrorism, and calling for reprisals against academics such as the University Ottawa’s Michael Behiels for questioning their policies.
-          Two months after the federal election, Stephen Harper privately met with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton in a Montreal hotel. On September 9, 2004, the three signed a letter addressed to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, stating, “We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority.” – you can never raise the issue of coalitions again with derision. You used that ticket yourself, so any mention of it is entirely disingenuous.
-          "When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authority to govern." -- Stephen Harper. You, Sir, need to apply this to your own leadership.
-          “We don't think as a party that patronage has any place in the Parliament of Canada." Stephen Harper, Calgary Herald, March 22, 1995  -- see the above noted 1700+ patronage appointments you have made.
-          "We don't support any Senate appointments." Stephen Harper, Winnipeg Free Press, January 29, 1996  -- Singing a different song now, Mr. Prime Minister?
-          "Stephen Harper will cease patronage appointments to the Senate. Only candidates elected by the people will be named to the Upper House." Stephen Harper Leadership Website, January 15, 2004 – patently a lie told in order to win votes.
-          "… the Upper House remains a dumping ground for the favoured cronies of the Prime Minister." Stephen Harper Leadership Website, January 15, 2004 – You wrote the book on this one, sir.
-          "I don't plan to appoint senators; that's not my intention." Stephen Harper, Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, January 14, 2006 -- I won’t flog this dead horse any longer.
-          I, too, am one of these angry westerners ... We may love Canada but Canada does not love us ... Let's make (Alberta) strong enough that the rest of the country is afraid to threaten us.” Report Newsmagazine, December 2000. – you do love this east vs west scenario. It’s growing tired. The only discourse between east and west is the one you are creating in your spin room.
-          “You've got to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society.” Report Newsmagazine, January 2001 – this explains a lot.
-          “Let's face it, the average backbench MP is little more than a bench warmer for his/her political party.” Letter to The National Post, February 1998. – just the way you like it, Sir? It seems you still want your backbenchers to only follow the party line and who cares what their constituents might want or need.
         
-          Then… there was this:  The time for accountability has arrived. Canadians will soon be able to finally hold the Liberals accountable. After 12 years in power, the Liberals must be held accountable for the stolen money; accountable for the broken trust, and accountable for all that they failed to accomplish because of this government’s total preoccupation with scandal and damage control.
For those Canadians seeking accountability the question is clear: which party can deliver the change of government that’s needed to ensure political accountability in Ottawa?
We need a change of government to replace old style politics with a new vision. We need to replace a culture of entitlement and corruption with a culture of accountability. We need to replace benefits for a privileged few with government for all.
Everyday Canadians – the hardworking people who pay their taxes and play by the rules – want and deserve a new government that will put the people’s interest ahead of self-interest. And this election provides them with a chance to tell Liberal Ottawa that they’ve had enough; that they’re tired of being forgotten; that it’s finally their turn.
It’s time for a new government that will get things done – for all of us. Our priorities are clear. We will clean up government, cut the GST, offer parents help with child care, cut patient wait times for medical procedures, and crack down on crime.
Our plan will help individuals, families, seniors, and small business. A new Conservative government will strengthen national unity and advance our interests on the world stage.
This platform presents a clear choice for Canadians. A clear choice between old and new; entitlement and accountability; benefits for a few and leadership for all. Only one party can deliver the change of government that’s needed to bring political accountability to Ottawa.
Join me and stand up for Canada.
Stephen Harper, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (election 2006) The sad irony is that THIS Stephen Harper had it right. I wonder what happened to him. The Stephen Harper we have now is EVERYTHING this one campaigned against.
 
These scandals, situations and questions have gone completely unaccounted for by this government. In fact, other than for an almost non-existent percentage, no one has been fired, reprimanded, replaced or investigated criminally. The only action taken to account for these situations is to obfuscate the truth by cutting off access of media and police -- a truly fascist and arguably treasonous move. Sadly, I have debated this letter for some time, out of fear for my family and myself, because it seems to be a pattern for this government to steamroll over problems and issues rather than to acknowledge them. I realize that I am throwing myself under the steamroller. What a sad sad commentary about what this country, the envy of every other country in the world because of its moral and ethical values, has become.
Mr. Harper, in light of your complete and total lack of transparency and accountability, indeed you absolute disdain for those two qualities that you clearly, repeatedly campaigned on, I had no choice but to write to you. The only purpose you have is your own megalomaniacal lust of power and authority at ANY cost. There is no transparency and there is no regard or respect for the laws of our Parliament or of our country when applied to you and your government. Based on the fact that your party did participate in election fraud, and did obstruct investigation into said election fraud, along with the rest of this very long list (and whatever else will be coming out today and in the days to come of your questionable, at best, practices) I would respectfully request that you attend the Governor General’s residence either to ask for this illegitimate government to be dissolved, or to file your resignation as Prime Minister of Canada... or both.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Harper’s Bizarre: The Litany Continues


DATELINE: TAKING OUT MY PEN AND WRITING A LETTER: I recently posted a list of Prime Minister Harper’s Scandals. It’s hard to imagine that it could have grown at all in such a short time, but each day we hear more about his abuse of power, his unaccountability of our money, his complete disregard for laws. Just when you think it can’t get worse, that he has to have sunk to his lowest level, he surprises you. There is apparently nothing he will not stoop to in order to maintain his hold on the big seat.

Case in point... it recently has been revealed that he has been ‘rewriting’ history, changing or deleting what he doesn’t like or what doesn’t suit his purpose. In a way, I was glad to hear this, because I was sure I was losing my mind when I accused him of this three years ago. I had been researching information regarding the Vietnam war for a book I was writing. The Vietnam War, you say? Well, yes, because while we were not officially involved, there were tens of thousands of men, Canadian men, young men, who went down to the United States to enlist, because they thought they were doing the right thing. They were labelled as mercenaries up here (seriously, considering what the military here and in the US are paid, this is either laughable or pathetic... I’m not sure which) but they had the power of their convictions and the desire to help others, so they joined up. There were more Canadians who went down to help in Vietnam than there were Americans who came up here to avoid the draft. Chew on that fact for awhile.

These men, if they were hurt or killed in action, were disavowed by BOTH governments, and they still are to this day. There are no health benefits, no assistance plans. Neither the US government nor the Canadian government recognizes their sacrifices. Those Canadians who perished in Vietnam were denied any proper burial, because they were pariahs. Finally, though, there was some headway being made to help these men. I know. I read about them in the Canadian government archives on the internet, on the official Canadian Government website. There was information about the numbers of men who went to the US to enlist, and what happened to them. There was information about the money that was made by Canadian entities who, while not supporting the war and remaining completely neutral, lined their pockets with the blood of other men.

Today that page no longer exists on the government website. It’s not convenient. It might mean that perhaps a crack could have been closed, some help could have been arranged for those men and their families, that some recognition and assistance might be forthcoming, but god forbid that happen in Stephen Harper’s Canada. Today it is the story of our boys who fought in Vietnam; tomorrow will they erase the history of my uncle who fought in Dieppe? Where does he stop? How much of our history will be destroyed, how many lives complete disregarded and disrespected, in his efforts to pave the way to political supremacy? We are waiting, sure that the trickle-down dregs of the 1% will boost the rest of us. Beyond that, and his attempts (however illegal or immoral) to maintain power, nothing else matters. The world revolves around the Harper Government and his ability to keep a stranglehold on it. That is much easier to accomplish with a poor, underfed, undereducated and uninformed population. He is taking great strides to ensure that. To this end, I present the updated (at least as of this morning... God only knows what else has happened today, but if it involves this government, it can’t be good) litany of Harper’s scandals. When you have read it, perhaps you will join me in writing to the Governor General, requesting that he do what he is mandated to do -- dissolving this Parliament and calling a new election, before Harper is so out of control, there is no turning back. Each day we wait, more of our history, and our future, is being systematically and systemically destroyed.

Archives ‘cleansing’ – The Harper government is working through the Canadian Archives, destroying things that don’t quite agree with their position, effectively politically rewriting our history.
Consultation -- $2.4Billion spent on unspecified, undescribed, unaccounted for ‘consultation’.
Lost money -- $3.1Billion ‘lost’ dollars designated for National Security.
Illegal contributions – this time from those receiving patronage appointments (ie IE directors) who are legally forbidden from making political contributions, but who made $37,000 of them anyway.
Duffy-Dipping Affair – It was first revealed that Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy, Senators appointed by Harper, were filing false claims for expenses, stemming from being ‘unsure’ about the definition of ‘primary’ residence. Then it was revealed that Duffy had claimed $90,000 in expenses as both Senate costs, billed to the Canadian Taxpayer, AND Conservative Party campaigning costs, double dipping for twice the pay. Then it was revealed that the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff cut a cheque for the full amount, effectively paying back Duffy’s owings, thereby preventing another audit AND attempting to stop a criminal investigation into the matter. Then it was revealed that the deal regarding the payment of the money was fine-tuned by special counsel to the Prime Minister, constituting yet ANOTHER conflict of interest.
CBC Control – The Harper government announced that they will be taking over the appointing of staff to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, effectively taking control over the news and the way it is presented to the public, providing them with more political spin at public expense.
Temporary Foreign Workers Scandal with Royal Bank and other large corporations for the importing of foreign workers to replace Canadian workers.
Bail-In Provision snuck through to allow government access to personal savings accounts to settle government debts (2013)
Long Gun Registry – stopped then reinstated (April 2013) with increased registration fees for restricted weapons and the yearly renewing of licence for long guns
Robocalls (2012) – issuing fake, misleading calls to actively interfere with voting public
Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 1 -- $26M taxpayer dollars over 3 months for programs already ended in order to promote conservative party
Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 2 – while unemployment, particularly student unemployment, rises steadily, Harper continues his Canada Action Plan ads at high-cost events, for no purpose other than pre-campaigning.
ETS Scandal – An IT contract was unfairly awarded to CGI, a known association of Michael Fortier, the then PWGSC Minister in a clear conflict of interest. No fairness monitor was appointed to oversee the process, reported scores by evaluators did not coincide with what they had issued, the evaluation team was advised to destroy all records relating to the evaluation, the government refused to debrief companies that had lost the award, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal ruled against the government, and the government’s response was angry denial and to appoint a new federal crown prosecutor (a former Conservative candidate) to charge the unsuccessful companies involved in the bid process with big-rigging – a charge still unproven but the case continues four years after the fact.
CFIA (2012) – food inspection services cut, listeriosis outbreak, Minister Gerry Ritz’s tasteless jokes about deaths from outbreak.
Prorogation – Part 1 (to avoid contempt of parliament fallout)
Prorogation – Part 2 (to avoid NDP/Liberal coalition government)
Shoe Store Project (2007) – plans for a $2M gov’t controlled media center, run by the PMO to replace the National Press Gallery, run by the national press.
Julie Couillard Scandal (2007) – Maxime Bernier leaves sensitive NATO documents at ex-girlfriend’s house, a woman with known ties to the Hells Angels
In and Out (2007) – Circumnavigation of election finance rules in 2006 election. $230,000 in fines issued for violating spending laws
Plagiarizing – Part 1 (2007) plagiarizes Australia’s John Howard’s speech about Iraq
Plagiarizing – Part 2 (2008) from Ontario Mike Harris’speech
Repatriation scandal – issues orders that military personnel killed in combat would not receive repatriation attention or coverage and no flags would be at half-mast
Scrums – all media scrums forbidden. Press statements will be issued when the government feels they are necessary
Chuck Cadman scandal – bribe for the vote in parliament, then lied under oath about it and the tape evidence of the bribe
Senior Federal Scientists Gagged – not allowed to speak to media without government permission... still in effect in 2012
Long-form Census stopped, cutting access to valuable statistics
Suspended Federal civil servants’ right to strike
Limiting access of press to PM during election – misusing RCMP to restrict access at private events
Created a program to monitor and respond to online communications on internet bulletin boards, chatrooms and blog posts
Omnibus bill to pass non-financial bills with budget, making it impossible to reject pieces of the overall bill, thereby circumventing parliamentary process in the passing on individual bills.
Stopping debate on bills in legislature
Removed from UN Security Council seat for first time.
Afghan Detainees Scandal
Withheld financial information from parliament and parliamentary committees about costs of military planes
Neglected the bid process in awarding of a contract on fighter plane procurement.
Whistleblower scandal – Christiane Ouimet, integrity commissioner, turned down investigations into 227 whistleblower allegations. She was quietly dismissed with a $500,000 exit payment and gag order.
Rebranding Canadian Government as Harper Government on communications documents
Interference in the 2008 US Presidential election
$54,000 taxpayer money spent on 2-day oil lobby retreat in UK (2011)
Withdrawal from Kyoto
G8/G20 Fake Lake Scandal
Ordering striking unions back to work: Canada Post, Air Canada,
Broke his own new set election date law
Over 1700 patronage appointments
Pulls Canada out of UN anti-drought initiative
Contempt of Parliament – refused to turn over documents on Afghan detainee affair and later refused to submit to a parliamentary request regarding costing of his programs
Issued a 200-page handbook to committee heads advising them on how to disrupt their committees.
Reneged on promise to allow parliamentary committees to select their own chairs.
Dictated an order that staffers to cabinet ministers do not have to testify before committees
Ordered all government communications to be vetted by his office or the Privy Council Office
Impeded access to information systems, including the elimination of data base CAIRS, delaying responses to requests, imposing prohibitive fees on requests, putting pressure on bureaucrats to keep sensitive information hidden.
Redacted/blacked out excessive amounts of information.
Putting Conservative party logos on stimulus funding cheques that were paid out of the public purse.
Had party affiliates write on-line posts, using false names, to attack journalists.
In Charlottetown in 2007, he had the police remove reporters from a hotel lobby where a party caucus meeting was being held
Attempted to tar the reputation of diplomat Richard Colvin for contradicting their position on the afghan detainees situation.
Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor mislead the House regarding the afghan detainees situation, had to apologize and later resigned
Terminated Peter Tinsley, the Military Police Complaints Commissioner, when he started to investigate the afghan detainee situation.
He tried to withhold documents requested by Parliament regarding the afghan detainee situation
Before his leadership, personal attack ads were used, relatively sparingly, only during election season instead of every day regardless of election cycle.
Fossil of the Day awards (x3) were awards to John Baird, as minister of the environment, at the UN Cancun climate conference (Dec 2010) awarded by more than 400 leading organizations, to the countries that do the most to disrupt or undermine UN climate talks, citing that Baird and the Canadian government were ‘working against progressive legislation to address climate change” by “cancelling support for clean energy and for failing to have any plan to meet its very weak target for reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

In a variety of punitive ways, Harper moved against NGOs, independent agencies, watchdog groups, and tribunals who showed signs of differing with his intent. In some cases he fired their directors or stacked their boards with partisans. In others, he sued them or cut their funding. The targets of such tactics included the Rights and Democracy group, Elections Canada, Veterans’ Ombudsman Pat Stogran, Budget Officer Kevin Page and many more. His party’s smear tactics included labelling the Liberal party anti-Israel, calling Dalton McGuinty the small man of Confederation, trying to link Liberal MP Navdeep Bains to terrorism, and calling for reprisals against academics such as the University Ottawa’s Michael Behiels for questioning their policies.
Ministers, MPs, Staff
Bev Oda – misleading Parliament, mishandled CIDA requests for KAIROS group, overspending (has paid back $4,025.26 to taxpayers)
Maxime Bernier – 2 ethics investigations for conflict of interest
Peter Penashue – election overspending, ineligible donations
John Duncan – improperly lobbied a tax judge
Bruce Carson – violating lobbying regulations/influence peddling
Dimitri Soudas – Communications Director for PM questioned over kickback scandal involving Montreal Port Authority
Jim Flaherty – Finance Minister improperly interfered with CRTC regarding the issuing of a broadcast licence
Dean Del Mastro – Elections Canada investigation of overspending, etc.
Arthur Porter – Harper appointee as Canada spy agency watchdog wanted for $1.3B fraud
Lisa Raitt – left sensitive documents in public AND made the‘cancer is sexy’ comment
Jason Kenney – used MP stationery for party fundraising
Rahim Jaffer and Helene Guergis – aids writing letters to papers pretending to be citizens, influence peddling (him), letting her husband use her office, mortgage transgressions, and the Charlottetown Airport meltdown
Peter MacKay – using military transportation for personal use
Vic Towes – abusive language and ‘you’re either with us or against us with child pornography’ statement
Sebastien Togneri, Agop Evereklian, Giulio Maturi, Dale Saip and Kasra Nejatian all involved in ethics transgressions
Rona Ambrose – told a parliamentary committee that Canada had paid its debt under the Kyoto Protocol but it was later pointed out that it was still unpaid. She refused to add spotted owls, of which there were only 17, needed no special protection. As Minister responsible for the Status of Women, voted for a motion to revisit the Canadian Criminal Code regarding abortion.
John Baird – Used his cabinet post to interfere with the 2006 Ottawa city mayoral election and the light rail transit system in that city.

Senators
Mike Duffy – improperly collecting housing allowances
Patrick Brazeau – improperly collecting housing allowances and facing assault and sexual assault charges
Pamela Wallin – travel and other expenses being audited for irregularities
58 senate appointments, 100% from the conservative party

Monday, May 6, 2013

PUTTING MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS


DATELINE: PUTTING ON MY POINTY SHOES – I did it. I said ‘enough’ today. I am not going to sit noisily on the sidelines, yelling and preaching from my armchair while letting others do the work. It’s time.

In the last few weeks, I have thought about my father, his brothers, his uncles, all of whom were prepared to, and did, put their lives on the line to allow me the right to vote in determining the direction my country takes. It was at huge expense for some of them, and their friends, brothers in arms, colleagues, but democracy and the right to make a little X on a piece of paper was absolutely important enough for them to want to give their all. It’s not really about love of country; it’s love of family and hope for a future. That’s what a soldier is – our vessel of hope. They deserve our respect and gratitude at the very least, so I can no longer sit idly back and listen to the reports and investigations into voter fraud committed by our current government in not one, but two, elections and again watch as they then impede the investigation progress more.

In the past few weeks, I have thought about journalists and news reporting, watching stories from North Korea and Syria, Iran and China, and yes, those from the United States. We see the two extremes in both, one where the only news is what the government allows to be news, spun to their advantage, the other where the only news is corporate driven, allowing the same partisan diatribes that are based on commercial spin, one where the only news is what the corporations want you to know because it progresses their agenda. We have seen what happens in the fallout. Canada has never fallen into that quagmire. The standards of the press should be sacred, not bought and paid for. Without freedom of the press – free from both corporate AND political influence – democracy dies. Stephen Harper made early steps to muzzle the press. Now he is taking steps to control it, spin it, use it to his own purposes, and in fact has created a bully pulpit unlike any ever seen in this country before. At this point, news is no longer news, and he is no longer the leader of a democratic country; he has now taken another huge step towards dictatorship, and the people of Canada be damned.

Our parliamentary system is long-rooted in tradition... for a reason. It is meant to provide balance in judgment, consideration for all sides of a position, an opportunity to provide informed guidance and principles for our country. That is achieved through debate and dialogue – not the creation of pork-barrel bills filled with a multitude of little laws that have nothing to do with a budget but that cannot be debated or discussed. In true American style, this is done to pass bills that even the Prime Minister knows should not be passed because of their detriment to the public and the nation, but they cater to the needs of the 1%. Stephen Harper doesn’t need, or want, debate or discussion though. As so eloquently by from one of his puppets, ‘you’re either with us or against us’ and they make sure you know that. There is no balance in Parliament. There is, however, Contempt of Parliament, a historical first, and one that he again was able to sweep under the carpet through the abuse of procedure and authority.

The litany of offences... criminal, moral and ethical... is growing daily. I have other blogs that include detailed lists of years of criminal mismanagement by this current government. How does one ‘misplace’ $3.1Billion dollars so well that the Auditor General can’t find it? I suppose there are explanations that are plausible. The problem is that Stephen Harper and his band of thugs and bullies have lied so many times, always for the sole purpose of maintaining power, that whatever explanation he offers, if he deigns to offer any at all, will not be credible. Usually, his tact is to deride anyone for questioning him, refusing to give an account. As long as it helps corporate Canada, he feels justified, and presents it as him ‘curing’ our economy. (Actually, Mr. Harper, had it not been for Paul Martin and his financial foresight, we would have been destroyed in the last recession. You don’t get to take ANY credit for the shape of our financial structure, and we’re all pretty well intelligent enough to know that.) Apparently Mr. Harper’s definition of his repeatedly promised transparency and honesty in leadership doesn’t come from the same dictionary the rest of us use.

Fascism, however, is defined as ‘a system of extreme right-wing and/or authoritarian views’ in the Oxford Dictionary. Wikipedia further describes it as being ‘hostile to liberal democracy, socialism, and communism, fascist movements share certain common features, including the veneration of the state, a devotion to a strong leader, and an emphasis on ultranationalism, ethnocentrism, and militarism.’ It was this that my father, uncles and their uncles fought. It was to keep this sort of government off our shores that 45,000 Canadian men sacrificed their lives in Dieppe, Normandy, Arezzo and many more battles of World War II. It was to stop fascism from spreading that another 54,000 men were wounded. These men were prepared to walk through the gates of hell on earth to protect the principles of democracy in Canada. Perhaps the question we should be asking is ‘why, then, are we prepared to sit back and watch it eat us up from within?’

Today I am going to put on the pointiest shoes I can find. I am not doing it because of ‘patriotism,’ but out of respect for the sacrifices of my family before me, and for the future of my children. I am doing because I am a daughter, a niece, a mother... a member of many communities, all of home have suffered and will suffer more under this current regime. I will not be an army of one. I don’t need to be. In the meltdown of the government of the day over the last few weeks (yes, it was a Harper meltdown of Chernobyl proportions), hope has emerged. I am not putting on pompoms, intending to crown a king, or claim that Justin Trudeau is the savior of us all, but he is an option, a viable, hopeful option that the ideals we were raised with, that the Canada we knew as a humble, loving, supporting, thoughtful, democratic bastion to the world might still be in our grasp, and you’re damned right I can get on that train. Why are you NOT putting on some pointy shoes and joining me?