Some Politicians Use Opportunity - Harper Uses People

I mean this in the sense that Harper will use other people however he can to make a political point or two.

Yesterday, this vile verbal thug stood up in the House of Commons and essentially accused an opposition MP of being indirectly tied to the Air India bombing.

"I'm not sure precisely what remarks he's referring to," Harper said in response to Bains. "If the honourable member denies any particular element in that Vancouver Sun story, I'd be more than happy to accept his word on the matter.

Today, not only does Harper refuse to apologize for his insinuations, but he continues to try and press on his meme about the Liberals trying to "protect their own":

The article noted that if the controversial provisions were not extended, the father-in-law would not have to testify at an investigative hearing.

But Harper, who was accompanied by family members of victims of the Air India bombings into question period Thursday, said he didn't accept the premise of Bains's question. He instead focused on the Liberals' refusal to extend the two controversial provisions.

There's a couple of things here in my view. First, is Harper trotting out the families of the victims of the Air India tragedy. To me, this is like the anti-abortion activist who waves a placard around showing the bloody remains of a fetus. It's a cheap tactic, and one that is ultimately quite degrading to both. I sympathize with the families of the victims, but at this point in time, their presence is purely political, and in this regard, Harper is simply using them in a manner that is wholly inappropriate.

Second, is the inference that extending the "anti terrorism" provisions that allow police to detain and interrogate people outside of due process is somehow necessary. Let's be abundantly clear about one thing - such laws should only be applied in the most dire of circumstances, and the investigation of an event now some twenty years in the past hardly constitutes "dire circumstances", I'm sorry. Like Harper's other "justice reforms", this merely underscores the complete lack of understanding that the Conservatives have of our legal system. Once again, we see a Prime Minister bent on creating legislation that allows the law enforcement to disrupt the fundamental presupposition of innocence and the validity of due process of law as guaranteed in sections 7 through 14 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It has been five years since those provisions came into law, and six years or so since the events of 9/11. In that time, those provisions have not been used once, and as the final chapters of the Arar affair demonstrate, we must not allow our politicians and government bodies to act out of irrational fear. If Canada were the "hotbed of terrorism" that was suggested in the days following 9/11, we would have known by now, and the most we have found are a few amateur loons trying to build a "Timothy McVeigh Bomb"...and that was done without using special powers.