Be very afraid: Stephen Harper is inventing a new Canada

mentalfloss

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Be very afraid: Stephen Harper is inventing a new Canada

Stephen Harper first became Prime Minister in 2006 and has already dramatically transformed the old Canada. But with no election due for four more years, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

It’s in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified. This makes them extremely dangerous people. It’s also typical of such people that they’re often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries. These are good descriptions of Stephen Harper and those closest to him.

There was never a Trudeauland or Mulroneyland or Chrétienland, but as The Globe’s Lawrence Martin has made us understand, there is already a Harperland whose nature is quite apparent. Like the American conservatives whom the Harperites so envy, our government has concocted a new reality of its own that it is systematically imposing on the Canadian people. The values and moral code of Mr. Harper’s new Canada are clear.

A central tenet of the new reality is the repudiation of the need for anything as irrelevant as evidence, facts or rationality whenever they are inconvenient. As in cancelling the long-form census, without a shred of reason. As when Injustice Minister Nicholson defends his back-to-the-jungle crime bills by reminding us of a Harperland article of faith: “We don’t govern on the basis of statistics.” Or, as we now know, on the basis of the findings of serious experts both in and out of the government.

Jason Kenney can stand as a past master at inventing evidence to serve his unfailingly partisan needs. This is a man, after all, who has shamelessly claimed a dramatic rise in anti-Semitism in Canada contrary to all the facts. Just days ago, Mr. Kenney employed gratuitously inflammatory language when he created a crisis over a handful of women who wear a veil, and who are of course Muslim.

But lying is the very mother’s milk of Harperland morality. When you invent your own reality, you can also invent your defence. Just follow the distinguished careers of ministers Peter MacKay, Peter Kent and Tony Clement. Old joke: How do you know when certain politicians are lying? Their lips are moving.

In Harperland, hitting below the belt is standard equipment, as the dirty tricks used against Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler nicely demonstrate. Straightforward dishonesty as in the Cotler caper is just the Conservative version of free expression, as Government House Leader Van Loan earnestly explained. When the Speaker of the House brands the tactic as “reprehensible,” you know we’re no longer in Kansas, kids.

On the complex aboriginal file, Harperland blames the victims for their own wretched circumstances and blames local NDP MP Charlie Angus for not cluing in the clueless Aboriginal Affairs Minister. The minister’s assertion that the chief of Attawapiskat had accepted the government’s imposition of a ludicrously expensive third-party manager was, of course, immediately contradicted.

Harperland values demand fundamental changes in our governance processes – the outright attacks on trade unions, the unprecedented measures taken to silence critical NGOs, the muzzling of ostensibly independent federal watchdogs.

But the new values also reverse decades of cherished Canadian policies. Look at the contempt the Prime Minister shows for the United Nations, as described in a new paper for the McLeod Group by former Canadian diplomat and senior UN official Carolyn McAskie, “Canada and Multilateralism: Missing In Action”:

The Prime Minister says he has little use for the UN. ... After losing a bid for membership of the Security Council, many government members made disparaging comments about that “corrupt organization” and right wing press commentators referred to it as an organization run by “dictators.” Is this the Canada that played such a front-line role in previous decades? How can we behave in this childish manner, spurning a whole system of organizations critical to world peace, security and development?

To damage Canada’s reputation even further, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has gravely disappointed those who had high expectations of him as the country’s senior diplomat. Sadly, Mr. Baird has proved incapable of eschewing the cheap politics by which he demeaned the House for so many years, complete with endlessly-repeated spin lines that substitute on the world stage partisan slogans for real thought.

The new Canada is a place where militarism is given pride of place over peacemaking. Watching Defence Minister Peter MacKay taking bows at the Grey Cup game for Canada's part in the Libyan campaign, Globe columnist Lawrence Martin observed:

The blending of sport and the military, with the government as the marching band, is part of the new nationalism the Conservatives are trying to instill. It is another example of how the state, under Stephen Harper’s governance, is becoming all-intrusive. … State controls are now at a highpoint in our modern history. There is every indication they will extend further.

The University of Ottawa's Ralph Heintzman, who created and headed the federal Public Service Office of Values and Ethics, provides an important insight into what’s happening here: There is a “lack of sense of inner self-restraint on the part of the prime minister, a sense that it is some kind of war and therefore anything is legitimate, that it's quite acceptable for a prime minister to lie, for example, about how our parliamentary democracy works.”

Politics as war is exactly what former Harper strategist Tom Flanagan has long advocated. A Globe piece by Mr. Flanagan before the 2011 election was actually titled “An election is war by other means.” Mr. Flanagan also chose to compare the 2008 campaign to ancient wars in which Rome, the Conservatives, defeated Carthage, the Liberals, and “razed the city to the ground and sowed salt in the fields so nothing would grow there again”.

As Alan Whitehorn of the Royal Military College of Canada wrote: “This suggests a paradigm not of civil rivalry between fellow citizens of the same state, but all-out extended war to destroy and obliterate the opponent. This kind of malevolent vision and hostile tone seems antithetical to the democratic spirit, not to mention peace and stability.”

In fact like Mr. Harper, Prof. Flanagan seems to get a kick out of “destroying and obliterating” those he’s not fond of. When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was making news, Prof. Flanagan commented:

“Well, I think Assange should be assassinated, actually. I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something. … I would not feel unhappy if Assange ‘disappeared’.”

To a woman who e-mailed him objecting to his (presumed) flippancy, Prof. Flanagan responded: “Better be careful, we know where you live.” What would Freud have made of such kibitzing, I wonder? After all, the good professor has cited Machiavelli's odious comment that “fortune is a woman and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force.”

Ironically, if you want to hear from the other Canada, the former Canada, the one so much admired by the world, you should (and still can) listen to last Sunday’s interview on CBC radio’s Sunday Edition between host Michael Enright and Iceland’s President, Olafur Grimmson. There, in Mr. Grimmson, was the voice of humanity, thoughtfulness, pragmatism and commonsense. He is the perfect Canadian and would make the perfect Canadian prime minister. No wonder the masterminds of Harperland want CBC to disappear.


Be very afraid: Stephen Harper is inventing a new Canada - The Globe and Mail
 
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CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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It’s in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified. This makes them extremely dangerous people. It’s also typical of such people that they’re often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries.
Yep, that in a nut shell, is exactly what is wrong with you people.
 

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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It's a lovely piece of poetry. There are legitimate criticisms wrapped within, but the doom and gloom is a bit over the top.

This kind of stuff has been getting a lot of exposure recently.

There's even a whole book about it!


 

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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It's a lovely piece of poetry. There are legitimate criticisms wrapped within, but the doom and gloom is a bit over the top.

This kind of stuff has been getting a lot of exposure recently.

There's even a whole book about it!


I've told you before, you aren't an anomaly.

I don't know why you keep thinking your brand of "ideologue" is unique.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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The Cotler case has been one that's stood out to me most. It's quite disparaging..


Marketing firm's calls in Cotler's riding lead to complaints

The industry group that represents market research firms says it has received three formal complaints in two days about calls falsely telling residents of Montreal's Mount Royal riding that MP Irwin Cotler was stepping down.

The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association has gotten 10 informal queries, or phone calls and emails, about the issue, which have so far led to three formal complaints against Campaign Research, the marketing firm behind the calls, executive director Brendan Wycks said Friday.

Cotler complained several times in the House of Commons that his constituents were getting calls saying there was an impending byelection and asking whether they would support a Conservative candidate. He says the calls were traced back to Campaign Research.

Conservative MPs defended the calls, arguing they were a matter of free speech and that there was a rumour Cotler might step down. The 71-year-old MP, a human rights advocate, was re-elected last May and says he has no plans to resign.

The first queries to the industry association came Wednesday, Wycks said, and seemed to be a response to a ruling by House Speaker Andrew Scheer that the issue was outside his authority.

One of the complaints is from another member firm, he said.

Calls called 'despicable'


Marian Levy, who was one of the people to send an email inquiry to Wycks, said she was spurred to complain because the calls were "despicable."

Levy said she has no agenda, but knows from experience that the script opened by saying there was an upcoming byelection — something the Conservatives deny.

Levy also saw a report in the media where Wycks said a script provided to the association had no mention of a byelection. "I think at a certain point you have to keep standing up and saying, no, this is wrong. And for no other reason than that all of this is just plain wrong," she said.

Levy's email recounts having to argue with the caller over whether there was a byelection in Mount Royal. She said she even asked the caller which riding they thought they were calling, and they confirmed they were talking about Mount Royal.

Levy wouldn't say whether she supports the Liberals or Conservatives, but said she follows politics. "I don’t think it has anything to do with whether I'm a Liberal supporter or a Conservative supporter. It has to do with dishonesty and it has to do with dirty politics, and it has to do with inappropriate behaviour, and it has to do with going against a man whose integrity and honesty [make him] without question one of the finest people in the world. It really has nothing to do with whether I am Liberal or Conservative," she said.

Campaign Research has 30 days to try to resolve the complaints to the mutual satisfaction of the company and the complainant, as well as to Wycks's satisfaction, Wycks said.

Campaign Research couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

If that doesn't work, the group strikes a complaint panel of three senior members of the association who don't have a conflict of interest with the company at issue, and can recommend one of three options: censure, membership suspension or expulsion.

The association is a voluntary, self-policing group.


Marketing firm's calls in Cotler's riding lead to complaints - Politics - CBC News
 

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
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It's a lovely piece of poetry. There are legitimate criticisms wrapped within, but the doom and gloom is a bit over the top.

This kind of stuff has been getting a lot of exposure recently.

There's even a whole book about it!




Ive read the book. It isnt all bad. He does give Harper credit for some things.
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
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On a side note, Service Canada is closing up shop in Sturgeon Falls. Now anyone who needs government services has to travel. How long will it be before we have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca ... er ... Ottawa?
 

Colpy

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Gerald Caplan was a moron back 25 years ago when I was swearing at him when he was a pundit on Canada AM........just ridiculous.

First of all, if you want to talk about radical change in the make-up of the nation, Trudeauland changed Canada's path more than Harper....

You know, multiculturalism, bilingualism, the "just society" the NEP.........the destruction of the military, the concentration of power in the PMO, the Charter.....all Trudeau. Like it or not, to say Harper has (or will, in the short term) change this nation more tha PET is ludicrous.

There is a rising tide of anti-semitism....the hate crimes statistics back that up.

Most religiously motivated hate crimes target the Jewish faith

Also consistent with previous years was the finding that about 7 in 10 religiously motivated hate crimes in 2009 targeted the Jewish faith. There were 283 such hate crimes in 2009 (Chart 6), up by 71% from the previous year (Table 3). International research by the OSCE has also found anti-Semitic motivations to be among the most common (OSCE 2010).
Hate crimes against the Muslim faith (Islam) also increased in 2009, up from 26 incidents in 2008 to 36 incidents in 2009 (+38%). There were 33 hate crimes against the Catholic religion, 3 more than in 2008 (+10%).
Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2009

Did I say already Caplan is a disgusting moron???

Guess what??? Canada wants a real military. Canada is disgusted with the anti-democratic United Nations.

Canada WANTS Muslims to unmask in court and in citizenship oaths.

DEAL WITH IT.

There is, of course, a minor point or two in the piece..........but for the most part, it is BS, bafflegab, and the usual lefty disbelief that anyone could possibly sincerely believe differently than they................

Caplan is even more reason to keep the NDP away from gov't.

Not that it will ever be a problem.....
 

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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There is, of course, a minor point or two in the piece..........but for the most part, it is BS, bafflegab, and the usual lefty disbelief that anyone could possibly sincerely believe differently than they.

There's a lot of rhetoric in there.

In fact, for such a long, overexposed piece - he would have done best to sum up the last few months of conservative blunders as there are plenty in that barrel of fish.
 

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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Just more......
..........


From the usual suspect....

Heh, I never expected to see you giving MF props. :p

Some of that article was over the top, but the part about evidence was absolutely true. It has been since 2006, no doubt about it.

I definitely think there has been a change...I think our politics is becoming more like the hyper-partisan US, and that's not a good thing.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Heh, I never expected to see you giving MF props. :p

Some of that article was over the top, but the part about evidence was absolutely true. It has been since 2006, no doubt about it.

I definitely think there has been a change...I think our politics is becoming more like the hyper-partisan US, and that's not a good thing.

They had a political science prof. on CBC last week who basically said that our system is becoming less parliamentary as we continue to focus more on leaders rather than parties. He made it a point to say though, that Harper is not a cunning control freak - he's simply taking advantage of this dismantling of parliament that began with Trudeau.

I can't remember the prof's name.

He actually gave some credit to Mulroney but was critical of Harper for not acting in a way that promotes parliamentary democracy. The usual rub about five minute interviews, scripted dialog and a lack of transparency were also part of the discussion.
 

JLM

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Isn't there already enough problems in the country without "borrowing" more? He has his faults pulls a few boo boos, but he's not Idi Amin or Saddam Hussein. We should just be happy to live in the best country in the world. :smile:
 

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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Isn't there already enough problems in the country without "borrowing" more?

Yes, see if you can get Harper to see the evidence of where the problems lie. Everyone else has failed.