Harper's Stupidity

Harpo, Iffy, and the Jackass

Patriotically Ignorant

Later this week, the Canadian Parliament will be re-opening, following a truly stupid move by Emperor Harper that nearly tore this country apart. Instead of doing something constructive about the economy, like he said he would, Harper and the Conservatives decided to gut funding to progressive interests, as well as the opposition parties. This would effectively bankrupt them, and Harper knew it. So, not surprisingly, the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc were outraged, and joined forces to all but boot Harper out of power. Knowing that he was in trouble, that little chicken shit talked the Governor General into suspending Parliament for a couple of months, and here we are. While some of the initial dust has settled, it's still amazing that a lot of Canadians actually supported Harper over this.

When Canadians were fighting each other over this thing, in December, a poll was taken, which revealed that over half of the people in this country literally had no idea how our system of government works. This would certainly explain some of the comments I heard, which I'll get to in a minute. The thing that's really astonishing, though, is some of what they got wrong; for instance, most Canadians seemed to think that we actually vote for the Prime Minister directly, but anyone who's voted in an election knows that this isn't true. This leads me to wonder, how many of the people who are calling the coalition undemocratic, or illegal, have ever actually voted in their lives?

You see, Canada's government is what's called a Parliamentary Democracy. In plain language, this means that when elections are held, people don't vote for the government, they vote for a particular person who will speak for them in Ottawa. The government is made up of the party with the most seats, not necessarily the party with the most overall support, which is why the Tories are now in power with less than half of the popular vote. Therefore, the government is only in power, as long as most of Parliament votes for whatever they try to do. Once the government loses a major vote, such as the budget, that's called a non-confidence vote -- in other words, the government is fired on our behalf. When that happens, the result is either an election, or a coalition government made up of two or more opposition parties -- look up the Canadian Constitution, if you don't believe me. The point is, the alliance formed by the Liberals and NDP is not only completely legal, but it is actually a more accurate reflection of how the public really voted.

But, you'd never see a bunch of control freaks like the Harper government admit to that, so they been spending the last two months lying to the public about it. In addition to the bullshit about it being illegal, they claim the coalition is un-Canadian, given that it involves the separatist Bloc Quebecois. Now, leaving aside for a minute that our current government was formed partly by a Western separatist party, I should point out that every government since the Bloc's creation -- including Harper's -- has consulted the Bloc on several matters. Harper's hypocrisy about the coalition is even more interesting, when you consider that on September 9, 2004, he actually formed one himself, when he was in opposition. By the way, guess who one of his partners was? The Bloc Quebecois!

So Canada, when the government tries again to force its lies down your throat, keep in mind that they are, as usual, saying one thing and then doing another. For instance, one of their ministers, John Baird, recently stated that he thinks the Conservatives can just ignore the rule of Parliament -- so who's really undemocratic here? He also stated that the Conservatives can go over the head of our real head of state, Governor General Michaelle Jean -- who's really being criminal and un-Canadian, especially since that's very close to High Treason? Finally, who really isn't up to the job, when our so-called Prime Minister literally has to be threatened into helping his countrymen? People, we must stand on guard for this country, and each other, otherwise all of the freedom that we supposedly stand for, means nothing; Canada would be anything but glorious and free. Enough said.

Canada is on life support

Yesterday, the Canada that I know and love went another step towards a slow and painful death.

All this week, Harper has been trying to fend off the frenzy he started, by calling the majority coalition (of the Liberals and NDP, with support from the Bloc) as an illegal, undemocratic and separatist organization. He is wrong on all three counts.

1. Any coalition between parties is completely legal, and is generally preferred in a minority government like the one we have. In a situation like this one, where the Prime Minister -- through neglegence and malice -- has sold out this country's people and laws for a chance at more power -- the opposition is obligated to put a stop to it.
   
2. The Coalition has been made up entirely of elected Members of Parliament. Furthermore, as a lot of Canadians seem to forget, this Coalition was voted for with more combined support than the Tories had (the only reason they won the last two elections was because the vote was split among the then-separate parties). Technically speaking, they represent the majority of Canadians, so between that and Harper losing the confidence of Parliament, they are technically the legitimate government now.
   
3. The Bloc is not actually a part of the coalition, they are being consulted -- much like they have been from every government since the party's inception. Furthermore, when the Tories themselves were in Opposition and trying to bring down the Liberals in 2004 and 2006, guess who they had supporting them? Bingo, mes amis.
   

So our Governor General, forgetting once again that she's supposed to enforce the law and the will of Parliament, has once again granted one of Stephen Harper's weasily requests to hold on to power, and Parliament has been suspended under late January -- supposedly (more on that in a minute). She knew full well that this coalition was ready and willing to take over, and she has the option in Canadian law to have them do so (a lot of experts have said that's her only truly valid option, under the circumtances), but no, she helped Harper delay what is hopefully inevitable by delaying a non-confidence vote that he will never win under normal circumstances.

Harper has already taken every chance to vilify and slander the coalition, with the effect of turning many Canadians against each other. I have honestly seen comments aired on my local TV station, that a lot of people in my area want "every last Liberal, NDP, and Bloc wiped off the face of the planet." Now, he has gone the route of Napoleon, Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, and various other dictators and suspended our Parliament. I would not be the least bit surprised to see him declare martial law if this situation gets any more heated.

It's long past time that this country stand up for itself. Even if you don't support the coalition, you would be beyond foolish to think that Harper has our best interests at heart -- his actions this week, coupled with his total disregard for our dying economy, make it obvious that he doesn't care about anything or anyone but himself.

Canada, take to the streets. The time for a revolution is now.