Bill C-23: Accountability for Thee Not For Me

It's not exactly news that Harper has never liked Elections Canada.  In fact, it's less than news.  His outraged utterances about Elections Canada when he was head of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC) in the 1990s set the tone for the content of Bill C-23.

“The jackasses at Elections Canada are out of control.” 

In 2001, Stephen Harper was president of the National Citizens Coalition. That was his opening line in a fundraising letter. 

His loathing for the election overseers was almost pathological, recalls Gerry Nicholls, the conservative commentator who worked with Mr. Harper at the NCC. It was a “blood feud,” he says, one that appears to be “never ending.”

One would have to be blind not to see the blatant and partisan attack on Elections Canada that Bill C-23 so clearly embodies.  It is designed to render it all but impossible for Elections Canada to investigate electoral fraud - in particular of the kind that has been perpetrated by the Harper Conservatives; it constrains the ability of Elections Canada to communicate with the people of Canada at all; it makes the appointment of polling station overseers the domain of incumbent MPs.

There is no coherent response to these criticisms from the Harper Government.  In fact, when so many knowledgeable and experienced people have criticized this bill for the obvious problems in it, it comes as no big surprise that the Conservatives have turned to attacking the message bearers:

“His recommendations really boil down to three broad requirements for him,” Poilievre told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee as it launched a “pre-study” of the bill before the House of Commons considers amendments or passes it. 

“He wants more power, a bigger budget and less accountability.”

Considering the damage that this bill does to holding our politicians and their parties accountable for their antics during an election, it seems more and more clear that the party who promised Canadians greater accountability and transparency in government is in fact delivering quite the opposite.

In Harper's Canada ... A Budget Bill Isn't Just A Budget

Pay close attention to Harper's "omnibus" bills.  Those contain the bulk of his agenda.  They're so big that he's hoping you don't even look.  These bills are so multi-dimensional that calling them "budget implementation bills" is a bad joke.  Bill C-31, the budget implementation bill for 2014, is no exception.

In single column, english only form, this bill is over 150 pages long ... and it's small print.  Make no mistake about it, this legislation is much more than just a budget implementation bill.  Yes, it contains the usual array of legislative changes to taxation and spending as one would expect.

But it contains even more that people should be concerned about.

First, it contains the legislation to implement FATCA - the most egregious violation of Canadians' rights under our Constitution ever done in the name of a foreign country's laws.  FATCA, and the agreement that the Harper Government has signed with the US, basically hand over your banking information to the US government.  Worse, the US can demand those records up to six years in the past.

Speech From The Throne

As expected, yesterday's Speech From The Throne was a mixed bag of feel good items and attempts to set political traps for future governments.

As expected Harper starts off by trying to brag about his economic record:

• Last year’s deficit was less than forecast. Our Government will balance the budget by 2015. 

  §  And it will go further. Our Government will enshrine in law its successful and prudent approach. Our Government will introduce balanced-budget legislation. It will require balanced budgets during normal economic times, and concrete timelines for returning to balance in the event of an economic crisis.
  
  §  Our Government has already set an ambitious debt-to-GDP target of 25 per cent by 2021. And it will reduce that ratio to pre-recession levels by 2017. 

• 
  

Oh ... the deficit was smaller than anticipated?  For those who had forgotten, Harper came to power in 2006 with the Federal Government in a budget surplus position (we were paying debt off in 2006).  By 2008, he had already spent Canada into a deficit position ... and that was before the financial crisis happened!  For Harper to claim a "reduced deficit" as some kind of an achievement is damning himself with faint praise.  

In Harper's Canada

... it's inquisitive voters out and fraudsters to the front row:

A Toronto businessman and self-described campaign volunteer who circulates in Conservative circles is facing a criminal charge for allegedly fraudulent credit and debit card withdrawals — a background that did not prevent him from sitting right behind the Harper family at a rally last week.

Snover Dhillon met with Tory MP Patrick Brown, of Barrie, Ont., at an event in the Punjab region of India in January and attended a Tory convention in Halifax a month later, appearing to violate bail conditions set in December that barred him from leaving Ontario.

Stephen Harper's campaign has come under fire for its strict vetting of rally attendees. The prime minister is also facing questions about how a former senior adviser, Bruce Carson, was able to work in his inner circle despite fraud convictions in the 1980s and 1990s and a bankruptcy in 1993.

Dhillon landed a plum seat in the second row of Harper's rally in Brampton, Ont., on Mar. 27, right behind Laureen Harper, her children Rachel and Ben, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, and local candidates.

In short, if you are an undecided voter and openly explore all of the voting options out there, you better not let the Harperites find out that you have been to a *gasp*- Liberal or *GASP* - NDP or *SHOCK* - Green party event, you could well find The Party ... and the RCMP ... have opened a file on you.

Meanwhile, we see the "Tough on Crime" party giving the red carpet treatment and plum patronage appointments to fraudsters.

All this from the party which ran on "more open and accountable government" and "getting tough on criminals" - the cognitive dissonance in their warroom must be positively crippling!

Dear Leader ...

As if I should be overly surprised, but the overweaning ego of Stephen Harper has come to the forefront with Harper rebranding The Government of Canada as The Harper Government.

What an egotistical ass. Mr. Harper isn't exactly someone to create a cult of personality around - for the most part you'd have to scrape pretty hard to find something likeable enough to build a cult around ... and it would be pretty tiny.

Even as our Prime Minister, it is NOT his government - it is OUR government, and it is time for Canadians to take it back.

Even worse, we should be deeply concerned about the fact that they don't seem to understand that money laundering is something criminals engage in, that lying to Canadians is wrong or that Parliamentary resources aren't for political fundraising.

... all this from a party that promised us "greater transparency and accountability"???

What The Bev Oda / KAIROS Mess Tells Us

Go ... READ

It's good to see some of the media picking up on the undercurrents of the HarperCon$ activities of late - and what the Bev Oda/KAIROS business really tells us about the current state of things in Ottawa.

Think it’s a stretch to compare Canada to Nigeria? A government that forges documents, that makes things up, that smothers dissenting opinions, that accuses the media of lying.

That Oda is the minister overseeing international development makes the whole scene all the more surreal. Our government is funding groups in Afghanistan and Haiti now, teaching them about good governance.

“This is what happens in the countries we work in,” a friend of mine working for a development agency told me confidentially. We have become precisely what we contend with overseas.

Brrr...as if the winter outside wasn't bad enough, reading that article has just given me a case of the chills!

Harper's Incremental Destructiveness

Anyone who has been paying attention to Stephen Harper's government since 2006 should be paying attention to two articles that have appeared in the newspaper in the last couple of days.

The real threat to health care reform

This article spends a great deal of time talking about how the Republicans in the US go about undermining things like health care reform. Mostly, it's a matter of going after it by starving the program for resources.

Albertans will be quite familiar with these tactics, having observed the provincial government undertaking the same basic approaches for years.

Which brings me to this article:

The dismantling of Canadian democracy promotion, brick by brick

The Harper government followed with a promise in its Throne Speech in 2008 to create “a new, non-partisan democracy promotion agency … to support the peaceful transition to democracy in repressive countries and help emerging democracies build strong institutions.” Whether or not Canada needs a new agency to do this while many already exist with similar mandates is a topic of much debate. But the idea of making Canada a leader in democratic development abroad was welcome by all in this field.

This noble new foreign policy direction was short-lived. Instead of building up and strengthening Canada’s democracy support architecture, our government has been systematically dismantling it.

The Canadian International Development Agency’s Office of Democratic Governance, which channelled much of Canada’s democracy funding, was disbanded. The Department of Foreign Affairs’ Democracy Unit was folded into the Francophonie and Commonwealth division.

This is but a singular example of how the HarperCon$ have spoken out of one side of their face while singing a very different tune out the other side. Unlike the Roman God Janus which guarded doorways from both sides, the HarperCon$ are "guarding" from one side; and attacking from the other.

As pointed out here, HUMAN RIGHTS – 1, CHRISTIAN RIGHT – 0, Harper is also attacking Canada's institutions which support our democracy:

A Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision on Friday reinforced the application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms just as Stephen Harper is doing his best to erase the whole notion from the political map. His recent assault on the Canadian Human Rights Commission is a case in point. Harper summarily closed CHRC offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax. The three offices accounted for 70 per cent of all federal human rights complaints to the CHRC in 2008.

From this Canadian's perspective, we are living under the rule of the singularly most destructive government we've ever seen. I wish I knew where the opposition parties were hiding.

The HarperCon$ and Rights

The HarperCon$ love to spout off about how they're really about preserving human rights and liberty.

However, actions speak far louder than words, don't they? Consider the agreement they are secretly negotiating with the United States which will no doubt give the American government unprecedented access to your personal data.

The communications strategy for the perimeter security declaration – which the document says will be unveiled in January, 2011 – predicts one of the biggest potential critics will be the federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. That’s because the deal is expected to increase the amount of data exchanged between law enforcement and other government authorities in both countries.

Hmmm...really? This is protecting Canadians from just what threat? Oh right - those evil terrorists that are under every rock and behind every questionable package that goes across the border.

Raiding personal information and violating basic privacy and mobility rights by slapping people on "no fly" lists is not an answer to the issues raised by terrorism. Anybody with even the teensiest bit of awareness has to have figured out that slapping names on lists without evidence or even the slightest ability to appeal does very little except make it difficult for civilians to travel. It does nothing to make Canada more secure - any more than a government sanctioned groping before you get on the plane does.

Then we come to Harper's latest golden boy - recently elected MP Julian Fantino. It seems that Mr. Fantino doesn't like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms very much.

Fantino won southern Ontario's Vaughan riding, ending a 22-year Liberal hold on the seat. He brings tough-on-crime credentials to politics after a 40-year policing career, views he shared in a televised interview on CBC Wednesday night.

"In some cases, the Charter has been exploited and the rulings that have followed have, in fact, benefited some criminals, absolutely," Fantino said.

"The Supreme Court of Canada and other court rulings are trying to change some of the misinterpretations that have been given as to the reason, the purpose, and the mechanisms of the Charter."

Uh huh ... in other words, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms makes it a little more difficult for Fantino to be judge, jury and executioner. How delightful.

When challenged on his statements, Fantino dismissed the criticisms as "hug a thug" thinking. No, Mr. Fantino, it is not "hug a thug" - it's called an equal, just society - and as much as it may frustrate you that you can beat the tar out of whomever you choose, that's too bad. Canada's charter forms the foundation for a lot of our law, and it's pretty damned clear that we all have rights that have to be respected by both other citizens and the government.

Meanwhile, except for 5 Conservative MPs, the entire CPoC caucus has voted against bill C-389 which would recognize the legitimacy of transsexual and transgender people in Canada.

Hmmm...so, this party has people like Fantino in it who complain because the law means that everybody has rights that have to be observed, is busy negotiating a secret agreement with the United States to hand over still more information about Canadians to a foreign power, and when given the opportunity to address a legitimate rights issue, votes against it.

This hardly speaks of a government which has any idea what civil rights and liberties really mean, does it?

So, while Harper sings to his supporters, we might just want to consider

Harper Has Made Canada A Pariah

In spite of protestations to the contrary from the PMO, Canada losing the vote for a UN Security Council seat belongs entirely to Harper.

Harper is the man who snubbed the UN gathering on climate change for a photo-op, not to mention avoiding the World HIV/AIDS conference in 2006.

It's not like Harper has exactly engaged with the UN since the day he stepped into 24 Sussex - in fact, he's probably been single handedly the most destructive PM for Canada's image on the world stage. Whether it has been his ongoing upbraiding and insulting of China at every turn, or the race-baiting and fearmongering the HarperCon$ have been playing at home, none of this is secret to the outside world - and I find it hard to imagine that these have not played into this latest embarrassment on the world stage. (Not to mention the awe-inspiring attendance at his recent address to the UN assembly ... )

[Update 13/10/10]
Consider the following quote:

Mr. Harper's office wasted little time assigning blame for the disappointment, placing it at the feet of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

“I would say a big deciding factor was the fact that Canada's bid did not have unity because we had Mr. Ignatieff questioning and opposing Canada's bid,” Dimitri Soudas, Harper's communications director, told The Canadian Press.

“That was a factor that played ultimately against Canada because people outside of Canada were saying, ‘Well, Germany and Portugal have a united front, their opposition and their governments seem to be fully, 100 per cent behind this bid.’

Basically, what the HarperCon$ are claiming here is that Ignatieff has far more power and influence than the Prime Minister himself does. That being the case, it's clearly time for Harper to step aside.
[/Update]

[Update 15/10/10]
One more summary of all the pissing matches that Harper has gotten into on the world stage.

Surely Canada did not expect China — with whom the Harper government got off to a very poor start in its first mandate — to be enthusiastic about its bid. No amount of fence-mending on the prime minister’s part can change the fact that he initially led the least China-friendly Canadian government in decades.

And then what about Russia? Over the past four years the Conservative government has repeatedly framed it as a potential aggressor — literally poised to invade Canada’s airspace at the drop of a hat — the better to justify its military spending choices.

One can also wonder whether, having just locked horns with Canada over a transaction tax at the recent G8/G20 summits and lost, France was inclined to go an extra mile on its behalf at the UN.
...
Moving on to North America, the decision to impose a visa requirement on Mexican visitors to Canada has not endeared it to that country. Moreover, since 9/11, Ottawa has spent as much time trying to stand apart from Mexico in security-concerned Washington as consolidating its links with its NAFTA partner.

Finally, Canada does not support the quest of emerging powers such as India and Brazil for a permanent seat on the Security Council; in a vote based on national self-interest it would have been naive to expect support from either quarters.

... and Harper wants to lay the blame for losing our bid for a security council seat at the feet of Michael Ignatieff???
[/Update]

Could They Be Any More Blatant?

This business about Terrorism arrests (cue doomsday music) reeks of politics.

In the last little while, we've had the HarperCon$ prattling on about the "Russian threat", now terrorism has reared its ugly head? Hmmm...smells rotten to me.

It starts to really stink when we get the oh-so-wise Vic Toews urging people to spy on their neighbors.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’s pitch Thursday comes shortly after Mounties charged three Canadian citizens of South Asian heritage in connection with an alleged domestic terror plot.

He urged “all freedom-loving Canadians” to “be vigilant” against terrorist threats.

But the minister later singled out assistance from ethnic communities as key.

Asked to define what he meant by vigilant, Mr. Toews cited the example of Canadian Somalis, disclosing that this community – which is overwhelmingly Muslim – had recently brought suspicions regarding extremists to authorities.

“I think it’s that kind of vigilance that is absolutely necessary in order to deal with these kinds of problems,” Mr. Toews said.

Uh huh. I don't know about you, but this smells to me. Not only is it designed to stir up fear among Canadians in general, it deliberately makes "Others" out of visible minorities. If this doesn't scare you, it should. The last time we saw government propaganda of this nature, it was in WW II era - and it was used to justify some amazingly horrific acts on the part of both citizens and governments in North America; and it's well documented just how the Nazis used that same technique.

The Slide Into Despotism

It's no big secret that the HarperCon$ have two sets of standards - the ones they insist that everyone else be held to and the standards that they hold themselves to. What most Canadians don't realize is how perilously close to the reality of various despotic regimes things are getting.

In the last couple of weeks, a few things have happened that deserve to be brought to our collective attention.

First up is Vic Toews gettin' all tough on prisoner transfers from the US.

For more than 30 years a matter of routine procedure, the Conservatives decided last year to get tough on Canadians who want to serve their sentences for crimes committed in other countries on home soil.

While all applications for transfers were rubber stamped in 2004 to 2005, the Harper government approved little more than a quarter of such applications between January and September 2009.

Why? Because the Conservatives are all about "gettin' tough on crime" ... or so says Vic Toews:

“Canadians want to know their communities are safe from serious violent criminals,” Toews said in an e-mail response to inquiries about the diplomatic note from the U.S. and the government’s stance on offender transfers.

Remember, we aren't talking about repatriating prisoners to turn them loose; just repatriating them to serve their sentences in Canada. Hardly something that means that they constitute any kind of threat.

But it's Mr. Toews handling of these cases that should cause a lot more distress:

Under the current legislation, the public safety minister can only reject applications on the basis of national security, namely terrorism-related threats, as well as a person’s affiliation with organized crime.

But lawyers argue the Conservatives have been misinterpreting the law. They have successfully appealed a number of decisions and B.C. lawyer John Conroy is even considering a class-action mandamus — a judicial writ — that would compel Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to make decisions on cases that have sat on his desk for as long as two years.

He's letting these cases sit and rot for two years? Somehow, I doubt that there are very many of these cases to begin with, much less enough to justify letting them sit around collecting dust for years at a stretch. Mr. Toews is just being malicious.

Second up, we leave Vic Toews and his "gettin' tough on criminals" nonsense to find Jason Kenney playing games with immigration law in this country:

According to Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, those applying under the Federal Skilled Worker or Canada Experience classes are able to choose to either take an International English Language Testing System or Test d'evaluation de Francais, or provide sufficient documentation demonstrating language proficiency.

But on June 26, Kenney gave "ministerial instructions" that only applications filed with a completed standardized language proficiency test will be processed, effective immediately.

"Ministerial Instructions" is nothing more than the government changing the rules without modifying legislation. We should be very concerned about this, for it is hardly the first time that the HarperCon$ have taken refuge behind closed doors instead of implementing their agenda openly.

David Matas, a spokesman for the bar association and a Winnipeg-based immigration lawyer, said this arbitrary change violates the rights of applicants, many from native English- or French-speaking countries who can easily prove their language skills without taking a test.

"This was done in an underhanded sort of way, because the law which says you don't need language testing remains. The government hasn't repealed the law, they've just given instructions not to process applications which don't have testing results," said Matas. "To me, that is an abusive way of going, for the government to get what they want without going through the proper procedures."

What else is this government going to do to undermine legitimate rights and process? How much more power are these clowns going to take to themselves, and take out of the legitimate legislative process?

Stephen Harper: Dragging Canada Backwards

It's taken a while - far too long, IMO, but the press in this country is starting to realize just what Harper's been up to since day one:

Travers: Changing Canada, one backward step at a time

Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.

Published On Sat Jun 19 2010

* Email
* Print
* Republish
* Add to Favourites
* Report an error
*
Share Share634

* Article
* Comments (117)

Ads by Google
Alzheimer's Disease

See if a Doctor should be Consulted
about Alzheimer's. Take this Test…
www.OnMemory.ca
More about
Prime Minister Stephen Harper»
Image
By James Travers National Affairs Columnist

Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that puts higher priority on building super-prisons than keeping people out of them. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where parties that win the most federal seats are dismissed as “losers”. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that twists its foreign policy around the interests of another nation. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that argues that barricading its largest city promotes tourism. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that promises Senate reform only to continue stuffing it with political hacks. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that avoids answers about a controversial war by accusing questioners of supporting the enemy. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where party apparatchiks decide who in a nominally free press is allowed to ask the Prime Minister questions. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where donut shop wisdom is more prized than expert analysis. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that builds a fake lake for a tough-times summit. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that preaches law and order while killing a long-gun registry police chiefs insist makes citizens safer. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where serving the Prime Minister as chief propagandist is job preparation for running a national news network. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country where charities mute constructive criticism of public policy for fear of losing federal funding. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that can spend $1.2 billion for summit security but can’t find the petty cash needed to invest in the status of women. That country is now this country.

Imagine a country that promises accountability only to impose secrecy. That country is now this country.

Every example is familiar, all are documented. Only the cumulative effect is surprising.

Think about it ...

From The Idiot File

I see Ottawa's most protected MP, Rob Anders, is being an ass again:

Late last week, Mr. Anders again raised eyebrows among his colleagues.

There was a big card in the House of Commons lobby for MPs to sign to “Support Our Troops,” according to one MP.

Most MPs signed “best wishes” and expressed other sentiments. But not Mr. Anders, who wrote: “When in doubt pull the trigger.”

Before you go dismissing this as another antic from a buffoon of an MP, remember that this is the same MP that Con$ervative HQ has repeatedly changed its candidate selection process to protect.

We might better ask ourselves why it is that this man who has called Nelson Mandela a terrorist, and now is calling on our troops to use force unthinkingly, continues to be a protected member of Harper's inner circle? When you consider what's happened to Dianne Ablonczy, for example, how is it that an MP most citizens consider to be a complete waste is so highly protected?

Hell Must Be Freezing Over

First Flaherty introduces legislation which I can actually support.

Then we find Conrad Black pointing out what's horribly wrong with the HarperCon$ approach to crime and punishment:

This Roadmap--which was released in 2007, and which the Harper government began officially responding to in its budget in 2008, setting out a five-year plan -- turns the humane traditions of Canada upside down. It implicitly assumes that all who are convicted are guilty and have no remaining claim to decency from the state, and that treating confinees accordingly is in the interest of the legally unexceptionable majority.

The Roadmap does not mention prisoners' rights, beyond basic food, shelter, clothing and medical care, and assumes that they are probably not recoverable for society and that the longer they are imprisoned, the better it is for society. Almost no distinction is made between violent and non-violent offenders.

I won't profess any great love or respect for His Lordship - frankly I think he's no better than that great fraudster Charles Ponzi, but he is certainly much more articulate than most of Harper's cabinet seems to be.

The Roadmap holds that anything beyond the necessities for physical survival must be "earned." Traditionally, the punishment is supposed to be the imprisonment itself, not the additional oppressions of that regime, and the proverbial debt to society is paid when the sentence has been served; it does not continue as a permanent Sisyphean burden. In the interests of eliminating illegal drugs in prison, the authors of the Roadmap want all visits to be glass-segregated, no physical contact. This is just a pretext to assist in the destruction of families and friendships.

The importation of contraband by prisoners' visitors can be stopped by strip-searching the prisoners before they leave the visitors centre, as happens to us here, unless the prison staff, who have the unfathomable delight of inspecting us au naturel, are on the take, which is, of course, the problem, as correctional officers in many prisons are frequently caught smuggling, and aren't well enough trained to command higher salaries to make them more resistant to temptation. It is a problem, but it will not be solved by targeting unoffending relatives of inmates. The Roadmap also has naively exaggerated confidence in certain types of scanning devices.

No surprise here, really. Harper and his band of reactionaries are completely oblivious to the long term consequences of their actions. If nothing else, this "roadmap" is one more step on Harper's unstated agenda of making Canada into a right wing, totalitarian state. Taking the worst of prison practices around the world and through history will do nothing to improve public safety.

The whole concept of prison should be terminated, except for violent criminals and chronic non-violent recidivists, and replaced by closely supervised pro bono or subsistence-paid work by bonded convicts in the fields of their specialty. Swindlers and embezzlers, hackers and sleazy telemarketers are capable people and they should serve their sentences by contributing honest work to government-insured employers.

Hmmm...interesting. When you've lost one of the godfathers of right wing ideology in Canada, I'd say you're way off the course you should be on.

Jason Kenney - Selective Memory or Bad Liar?

Can we ever take anything that comes out from Harper's disciples?



The upshot - "Oh, it's just fine to hide political staffers from committees. We never called on them when _I_ was in the Opposition" contrasted with reality - namely some video of Jason Kenney whining about political staffers who have not yet appeared before a committee.

Here's a little newsflash for the HarperCon$ - if you hire people to work on your behalf on Parliament Hill, then those people ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO PARLIAMENT TOO.

H/T: Canadian Cynic

Irony ... and Double Standards

At first glance, I actually like the idea of creating a single securities regulator - the patchwork system in Canada is insanely complex and brutally expensive for taxpayers to maintain. It's also out of step with the rest of the developed world.

However, I don't trust the current government to create that system with appropriate checks and balances in place. Not when they've been trying to screw over anything that resembles accountability in Parliament.

Consider this: Instead of sending in the people required to testify before parliamentary committees, they're sending in Ministers - often unrelated to the topic to attack the committee.

“There is a new game being played," Mr. Hill said earlier in the House of Commons. "The tyranny of the opposition majority has turned its attention to the men and women who make up our political staff. Men and women who did not sign up to be tried by a committee – to be humiliated and intimidated by members of Parliament.

This is complete nonsense. If you work on Parliament Hill, either for the government bureaucracy or on behalf of sitting MPs, you are accountable to Parliament for your actions in the conduct of your job. Period. End of Statement. Anything less is a vile combination of dishonesty, cover-up and deceit - of Canada's government no less.

To argue that this is a "tyranny of the opposition" situation is ridiculous. It really boils down to Conservatives being frustrated because Canadians demand accountability, and they keep trying to subvert accountability ... at least when it applies to them.

Do you not see a double standard at play here? On all sorts of matters, the Con$ervatives are the "hang 'em high" party of harsh justice and individual "responsibility" ... until they get called to be accountable and then the tune changes.

So ... do I like the idea of a single regulator? Yes, absolutely - it might even be the first thing the HarperCon$ have come up with that I could consider supporting. However, in their "accountability for thee, not for me" mode of doing things, I can't trust them to come up with a system that will work. I fully expect there to be loopholes in the legislation that will let the Con$ and their corporate buddies to wriggle out from any real accountability.

The Federal Con$ Create Ministry of Truthiness

So, the HarperCon$ want to control the message online as well ... and they want to use Canada's taxpayer money to do it:

The next time you post an opinion in an online forum or a Facebook group message board, don't be surprised if you get a rebuttal from a federal employee.

The government is looking for ways to monitor online chatter about political issues and correct what it perceives as misinformation.

If that doesn't have enough shades of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, it gets richer yet.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has paid the firm $75,000 "to monitor social activity and help identify ... areas where misinformation is being presented and repeated as fact," Simone MacAndrew, a department spokesperson, said in an email.

The firm alerts the government to questionable online comments and then employees in Foreign Affairs or the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, who have recently been trained in online posting, point the authors to information the government considers more accurate.

Really? Considering the track record of the HarperCon$ for lying to the Canadian public on a host of issues, and taking every step they can to cover things up and reduce both transparency and accountability to the Canadians, this whole endeavor stinks of the government creating its own propaganda ministry - one which will inevitably step beyond dealing in facts.

Heck they might as well just call it "Pravda" ... it will be about as credible.

More From Canada's Most Unaccountable Government

Would anyone care to explain how a government that ran on a platform of greater accountability and transparency can justify the measures embedded in the budget implementation Bill C-9:

Bill C-9 contains sweeping measures that would affect Canada’s nuclear policies, pension rules, environmental assessments and mail service. Critics say it amounts to an abuse of traditional budget practices because it is crammed with legal changes that have faced little, if any, debate.

Mr. Murray, who specializes in reviewing government spending reports, said his analysis shows that at least half of the bill’s 24 main sections should be pulled out and studied as stand-alone legislation.

“It’s time to call a halt,” said Mr. Murray, who will review the bill as a member of the Senate finance committee. “No self-respecting or Parliament-respecting MP or senator should allow C-9 to go through as is.”

When Canada's government is passing legislation to take powers for itself and removes any kind of accountability for itself, it's time to remove that government from power.

More Signs That Harper's Planning An Election

The Con$ Start Sliming The Liberals in an attempt to deflect public attention from the seething cesspool of Conservative corruption.

In the midst of the Afghan Detainee documents scandal, the Geurgis/Jaffer affair, growing suspicion over the activities of MP Shory, a "Maternal Health" initiative that's so blatantly a dog whistle to the extremist base and the squirming of the secretive "pro-Life Caucus" headed up by Harper's ideological bed-mate Rod Bruinooge, we find the latest HarperCon lies are aimed at discrediting Michael Ignatieff as some kind of evil conspirator seeking to form an "illegitimate" coalition with the other opposition parties:

“Today, Ignatieff is once again out talking about coalitions with the Bloc Québécois and the New Democrats,” according to Conservative Party talking points circulated today to MPs and supporters.

To bolster their conspiracy/coalition theory the strategists compiled several recent statements from prominent Liberals: “Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said he’s always been prepared to work with other parties to form a coalition … (Hill Times, May 17, 2010.)”

This has been representative of the Conservative party's tactics since day one - when the situation gets too hot, they try to deflect attention elsewhere ... and you have to admit, it's gotten pretty warm in Ottawa in recent weeks.

Of course, the Con$ like to argue that any coalition would be "illegitimate", or even outright illegal. They're lying. Canada's parliamentary system is fundamentally identical to Britain's - and they've got a coalition government now. Open your eyes, Canada - the HarperCon$ are lying to you about how Parliament works - what else are they lying to you about?

You Just Figured This Out, Opposition Parties?

As much as I despise Harper's government, I won't exactly give kudos to the opposition for calling his reign one of intimidation.

Opposition MPs say Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth's advice to women's groups to "shut the f--k up" about the government's maternal health initiative shows the "culture of intimidation" created by the prime minister.

It's about time that the opposition parties started saying what's been painfully obvious since 2006.

Now, let's see them start acting like they aren't cowed by this bully of a Prime Minister.