Harper's Politics of Division

It's always the same with the Con$ - it's "either we get a majority or the opposition will form a coalition"; "if an election is called, law reform bills will die"; call an election, and you won't get your renovation tax credit ... and on it goes.

And this whole charade underscores the problem with the Harper government in the first place. It's all about sowing division, not finding compromise. It's about absolutism, not practical government.

Harper's recent speech in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario underscores that again. Harper's salivating over the concept of a majority. Why? Because Harper has demonstrated repeatedly that he can't deal with a minority situation. This is the Prime Minister who has prorogued parliament twice when the heat got to be too much, and called a snap election last fall because he thought he could winkle a majority out of it.

The man is positively slavering over political power - and it would not be a "benign dictatorship" - Harper has shown us repeatedly that he kowtows to the extremist base in the Reform ranks of his party. Canadians should not think for a minute that Harper would do anything other than legislate a Neo/TheoCon agenda as quickly as possible.

As the Bush experience in the US has shown, that would be disastrous for Canadian citizens. Human rights would be replaced by a near police-state kind of autocracy. "Law and Order" based on fear would replace due process. Ideology would reign over law.