Young woman urges a "Canadian Spring"

My admiration goes out to young people standing up to their elders (but rarely betters, whatever the Harper echo chamber may think of themselves) and their activism is one of the few things I can feel hopeful about in this era of unthinking Harperism.

Rogue page inspired by Arab uprising, wants Canadians to mobilize


During the throne speech of the new Harper "Majority" Regime - 40% of the vote, 25% of eligible voters - this young graduate who took a position as a page in the Senate, held up a home made red stop sign with the words "Stop Harper!". She was escorted from that august chamber - normally the meeting place of Harper-appointed yes-men and women - by a guy dressed in 18th century militaristic gear.

There was tut-tutting at the lack of security by a scared Con spokesman, his own insecurity whipped into view by the thought that a young woman armed with a sign was a danger to his own god-ordained right to dictate to Canadians what they had to do - or be charged with High Treason.

Funny how the Cons are all for freedom from dictators - or so they say - but can't see the autocratic agenda of their new Saviour is a danger to the country. Who, exactly, holds the treasonous agenda here?

Sad? Yes, Mr. Harper, it is.

Stephen Harper, with the patronizing pomposity that he is famous for, shook his head and declared that the protests against the Security and Prosperity Partnership, taking place in Montebello with George W. Bush and Felipe Calderon, were "sad". Such a pitiful bunch - over 1000 of them - who refused to be put in cages well away from the Great Leaders so their protests could not be heard. The inevitable scuffles broke out. Some threw stones and water bottles. The heavily armoured police in full riot gear returned fire with pepper spray and tear gas. Nice to know whose side the police are on.

So, while they meet in secret to pound out the process of turning the continent into Fortress North America, with all good things flowing north from Mexico and south from Canada into the great maw that is the U.S., we are supposed to sit back and allow it to happen.

The thought that Bush, the serial lawbreaker of both international and U.S. constitutional law, the agressor, the liar, the condoner of torture and domestic spying, the trasher of habeas corpus, the vacationer-in-chief, was entertained in our country at our expense, enrages me.

Felipe Calderon probably isn't the elected leader of Mexico. Polls before the elections showed that Manuel Lopez Obrador had a clear lead, but U.S. manipulations in the electoral process, just like they did in Canada, returned a leader who was not supported by the people. In Mexico, as in Canada, we will never know how far that interference went.

Why we should worry about the Montebello talks, by Bruce Campbell, which first appeared in the Ottawa Citizen and is linked here from rabble.ca, gives us more that a few causes for concern.

...[P]assenger 'no fly' lists: In June, Canada's no-fly list came into effect, part of a broader agenda of security measures negotiated under the SPP. The list is rife with potential for abuse—blacklisting innocent people, racial profiling, invasion of privacy, use of false information and faulty criteria for judging high-risk travellers.

Canada's list will likely merge with the much larger U.S. no-fly list, with major negative implications for Canadians' civil liberties.

The Arar Inquiry found that the RCMP, through their intelligence sharing practices, were complicit in the rendition and torture of Canadian citizens in violation of international law. It recommended measures to protect against future abuse. Maher Arar has still not been taken off the U.S. terrorist watch list.

The U.S. continues to systematically violate the Geneva conventions on torture and rendition, recently codifying these practices in the notorious Military Commissions Act. The Harper government has not raised its voice publicly against U.S. abuses. What is it doing at the SPP table?

...[D]omestic processing of oil: Energy security, especially oil, is a top priority for the U.S., and the Harper government is eager to oblige by facilitating the rapid expansion of Alberta oilsands production for export south.

Among the energy accomplishments cited by the SPP leaders at their 2006 meeting was a Canada-U.S. pipeline agreement that would lead to a uniform regulatory approach for cross-border pipelines.

Recently the countries' energy ministers talked about cutting red tape for various planned pipelines that would take oilsands bitumen to the U.S. for processing.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union has produced studies showing that 18,000 jobs that would otherwise be created by processing in Canada will go south.

...[S]ome 40 per cent of the pesticides Canada regulates have stricter limits than U.S. regulations. The U.S. sees them as trade barriers and wants a list of priority pesticides to be watered down.

Thanks to an astute Citizen reporter, we know the Canadian government is in talks to relax its requirements on pesticide residues on U.S. fruits and vegetables.

With the Bush administration aggressively dismantling its own regulatory systems, this harmonization concession amounts to Canada mirroring U.S. deregulation. Will this be the norm or the exception?

...[E]ach step may, or may not by itself have significant consequences for Canadian policy flexibility. But cumulatively, the negative overall impact on Canadian sovereignty and democracy will be huge.

I find serious cause for concern in those provisions. The rule of law trashed in Canada, no energy security and no food security.

What is really "sad" in all this is that we allow the U.S. and the Harper puppet regime to run Canada.





August 21, 2007

Paying the boss to keep your job - the Conservative Party as protection racket

Senior (neo)Conservative Party staffers have been "requested" to donate to the Conservative Party. So, essentially, money from taxpayers is going to these staffers who then donate it to the Conservatives. We support the party whether or not we support the party.

Devious.

"Senior political staff in the Harper government say they have been asked to donate $1,000 to the Conservative Party, a move that has sparked resentment among some of the most stalwart supporters of the Prime Minister's Office."

Stephen Harper's communications director does what she does best - deny and obfuscate.

"...[M]r. Harper's director of communications, Sandra Buckler, said no one in the PMO has asked staffers in any way, shape, or form to make $1,000 contributions.

“Not true. Categorically deny,” she said Tuesday."

Yeah. I believe you.

"...[T]he individuals whose contributions are being sought tend to be paid in the range of $100,000 or more. Chiefs of staff, for example, earn between $124,100 and $159,500."

Well, that's okay then. They won't miss the odd $1,000 or so and they get to claim it on their income tax. A win-win situation for the Conservative party and their backers. The only people who lose are the 67% of people in Canada who don't support them.

"...[O]ne cabinet official said that meeting the $1,000 request will mean that individuals will essentially be prevented from giving money to candidates. Election rules allow for a maximum $1,100 contribution a year to the national party or individual candidates."

Aha! Now it comes out. The only candidates who get money are the ones that Our Great Leader approves of.

I know, I know. The Liberals did exactly the same thing. But for a party that campaigned on cleaning up government, openess and honestly, accountability and all that nice stuff, they are proving to be gigantic hypocrites.

What a surprise.

It's not only the cream that rises to the top

Exactly what do you have to do to lose your job if you hold an elevated position in government? Lying, interference with proper government functioning, not protecting or serving those whose money you take and use for your own ends, fighting useless wars started by others to the last drop of someone else's blood? Aren't these good enough reasons?

From rabble.ca, an article on governments and the crooks and liars who run them.

A Tale of Three Governments by Jerry West

...[B]esides their bungling of the Afghanistan issue, Harper's government has also had its true colours exposed when the National Post ran a story on a manual of dirty tricks that the government had distributed to its key members. The document reportedly instructs government members on how to create chaos in committees and prevent the opposition parties, which hold a majority of the seats, from advancing their legislative agendas.

...[S]tephen Harper, George Bush and Gordon Campbell are birds of a feather. They lead governments riddled with corruption and incompetency and pursue policies that are inimical to the welfare of the majority of the people that they govern. The good news is that they are all running out of time. The question arises, how can we do better in the future?