Pulse
On January 23rd tens of thousands of Canadians gathered all across the country to protest Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s December 30th decision to prorogue parliament, a move widely interpreted as an attempt to avoid scrutiny over a number of issues, including allegations of a Conservative party cover-up of Afghan detainee abuse. Having also prorogued parliament last winter to avoid a confidence vote that he seemed bound to lose, Harper and his recently reshuffled cabinet (composed of racist and opportunistic people like Jason Kenney and Stockwell Day) have been making a mockery of Canada since they took office in 2006.
Among Harper’s recent accomplishments are his denial of Canada’s colonial history, reacting to the importance of environmental issues with contempt, putting increasing limitations on free speech in the name of ‘security’ (see the case of George Galloway and Amy Goodman), publicly announcing that Canadians don’t care about Afghan detainee abuse, and cutting off aid to several charities in response to Zionist lobbying (see here and here). Of course, proroguing parliament is within Canadian consitutional bounds and technically results in a tax-payer funded extended vacation for parliamentarians, but while past prime ministers have traditionally prorogued after the majority of legislative work was completed, Harper has done it with more than enough work still on the table.
At this point many Canadians will agree that Harper’s successful attempts to shut down parliament to avoid criticism is establishing a dangerous precedent which amounts to making parliament accountable to him, rather than the other way around. That being said, Harper likely continues to assume that following an appropriate amount of ‘downtime,’ Canadians will simply forget about their woes with his governance, and he will be able proceed accordingly with less challenges. In the best case scenario, events would occur during the prorogation period that would distract Canadian citizens from the reality of the increasingly distressing state of their country, and in this sense Harper has been lucky. The earthquake that struck Haiti has enabled him to play the savior card by sending aid to the devastated country while completely ignoring Canada’s shameful role in bringing Haiti to the disparate state it was in prior to the quake. And even better, news broke yesterday of an alleged Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie breakup, an event that will no doubt take the attention of many and grace front page headlines for days to come. Of course, the growing presence of thousands of Canadians online and on the streets protesting against the Harper government is not something that can be ignored indefinitely, especially since Canadian mainstream news press has been banking on the growing public outrage, and recent polls indicate a drop in approval ratings.
Finally, I came across this interesting piece on Harper some days ago by accident. Admittedly, it was the picture of Harper with a smug expression on his face (a stark contrast to promotional images like these and this) that caught my attention at first. As Gerald Caplan suggests, beneath Harper’s seemingly dull interior is a somewhat intelligent man who is strategically manipulating an entire country into giving him what he wants. Begins Caplan:
Among Harper’s recent accomplishments are his denial of Canada’s colonial history, reacting to the importance of environmental issues with contempt, putting increasing limitations on free speech in the name of ‘security’ (see the case of George Galloway and Amy Goodman), publicly announcing that Canadians don’t care about Afghan detainee abuse, and cutting off aid to several charities in response to Zionist lobbying (see here and here). Of course, proroguing parliament is within Canadian consitutional bounds and technically results in a tax-payer funded extended vacation for parliamentarians, but while past prime ministers have traditionally prorogued after the majority of legislative work was completed, Harper has done it with more than enough work still on the table.
At this point many Canadians will agree that Harper’s successful attempts to shut down parliament to avoid criticism is establishing a dangerous precedent which amounts to making parliament accountable to him, rather than the other way around. That being said, Harper likely continues to assume that following an appropriate amount of ‘downtime,’ Canadians will simply forget about their woes with his governance, and he will be able proceed accordingly with less challenges. In the best case scenario, events would occur during the prorogation period that would distract Canadian citizens from the reality of the increasingly distressing state of their country, and in this sense Harper has been lucky. The earthquake that struck Haiti has enabled him to play the savior card by sending aid to the devastated country while completely ignoring Canada’s shameful role in bringing Haiti to the disparate state it was in prior to the quake. And even better, news broke yesterday of an alleged Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie breakup, an event that will no doubt take the attention of many and grace front page headlines for days to come. Of course, the growing presence of thousands of Canadians online and on the streets protesting against the Harper government is not something that can be ignored indefinitely, especially since Canadian mainstream news press has been banking on the growing public outrage, and recent polls indicate a drop in approval ratings.
Finally, I came across this interesting piece on Harper some days ago by accident. Admittedly, it was the picture of Harper with a smug expression on his face (a stark contrast to promotional images like these and this) that caught my attention at first. As Gerald Caplan suggests, beneath Harper’s seemingly dull interior is a somewhat intelligent man who is strategically manipulating an entire country into giving him what he wants. Begins Caplan:
Although he wasn’t trying to hide his extremist views in those days, he came across on TV as rather bland, not unduly radical or even ideological. Off-camera I recall us chatting amiably enough, if not with any particular substance or purpose. There was nothing about him to make you think he was hell-bent for the top of the greasy pole. In short, as a panelist, a TV personality, a political spokesperson, a leading right-wing conservative figure, and even as a guy, he was simply dull. Bland. Entirely unmemorable.*For citizen run, up-to-date information on the Harper government’s increasingly authoritarian rule, join Facebook pages like this. You can also find a downloadable version of the Stephen Harper poster displayed above on Rabble.ca. If you are Canadian, remember to write to your parliamentary representatives as well as to Harper and his friends expressing your dissatisfaction. Elected representatives need votes – make them work for them.
Baby, look at him now.
Written by Jasmin Ramsey
January 24, 2010 at 11:45 am
January 24, 2010 at 11:45 am
Posted in Activism, Canada
Tagged with Gerald Caplan, Jason Kenney, Prorogue, Rabble, Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day
Tagged with Gerald Caplan, Jason Kenney, Prorogue, Rabble, Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day
Uprooted Palestinian
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