The CBC is Cool Again in Rural Ontario

Take note Mr. Harper: The Conservatives, having all but given up on Quebec seem to have miscalculated on the reaction to their passive-aggressive attack on the CBC. The loudest cries against the recently announced CBC cuts are coming - not from Toronto (where Conservatives aren't even serious contenders) but from rural ridings that Conservatives will need if they have a payer of even seeing another minority.

In Sudbury hundreds rallied on Sunday including many young people (not the CBC's core audience in recent years. From the Sudbury Star:

"On Sunday, however, scores of teenagers and young adults, such as Holson, represented one of the largest demographics in a boisterous rally at Sudbury city hall, where more than 400 people demanded a reversal of proposed cuts to CBC Radio service in Northern Ontario.
"Half the people I hang out with are in bands and in the arts and they're connected to and supported by the CBC," Holson said during the rally at Tom Davies Square.
"CBC is the voice for a lot of Northern Ontario," he said. "And it's extremely important to keep local news intact in Sudbury and the rest of Northern Ontario, because (private) radio stations don't cut it."

Sudbury, as far as I know, is the only place with street protests but the editorials are turning against the conservatives in places like Guelph

"Over the past 25 or 30 years, so many public institutions have been forced to conform to a business model: public art galleries, universities, school boards, municipal governments, hospitals, and the CBC. But these institutions are not businesses. They are essential social entities, things we collectively need for our sense of identity, for our health, for our knowledge, for our life.
We pay for these things through our taxes. We have a right to expect they will be available to us when we need them. And we have a right to expect governments will rescue them when they falter."

and Brantford

"The Canadian wing of the Fox News crowd can't wait for the demise of the CBC. These folks prefer to focus on pure cost and ignore all value that comes from a well-funded, truly national, public broadcaster. The Foxes really want control of news and commentary to pass from the professional editors and their staffs to the purveyors of advertising revenue. No thanks, Mr Gutfeld.
So if you were, in fact, having too good a day and counting on another rant against the CBC, you're probably disappointed. On the other hand, if you were looking to hook up with fellow supporters of public broadcasting, try the website www.friends.ca. These folks are pretty serious and well organized. Good luck to them. The sheer size, geography and history of our great country makes nation-building a complex and challenging enterprise. CBC/Radio Canada with committed long-term funding is the best vehicle we have to do this, warts and all."

The Conservatives, if they are going to have any chance in this country are going to have to get used to the idea that arts and culture are important to Canadians, that we value them and believe in government subsidies for them and that the CBC is an important part of the Arts and Culture spectrum in this country.

Beware the Wounded Animal

By turning their back on the CBC against the will of the public and then trying to kill the long gun registry against the wishes of Canada's police forces the Harper government is showing all the signs of a group that knows they will soon lose power. Ever since Ignatieff replaced Dion as Liberal leader the Liberals are moving up in the polls and the Conservatives are moving down. To make matters worse (for the Tories) the Liberals are up in Ontario and Quebec and both the NDP and the Bloc have been losing some ground.

So, with it looking more and more like the Tories will lose the next election (whenever it comes) and the Liberals gaining more and more traction with each poll Harper's conservatives are starting to push their real agenda, trying to gain what they can before being forced from office or, failing that, to get the Liberals to force an election while the polls are still close.

Scary times may be ahead.

Conservative Party Sets It's Sights On Student Groups

The Conservative Party is a strange beast. The entire goal of the party seems to be the accumulation of power for the sake of having power. While Harper has hardly been a progressive on any issue he is certainly not a fiscal conservative, and although he has expressed support for social conservative issues he is not currently pushing a social conservative agenda either. He doesn't like the CBC so he punishes the CBC, he does like the oil sands so he rewards the oil sands. The entire conservative party agenda seems to be about gathering greater power so they can reward their friends and punish their enemies (real or perceived).

Now, according to the Ryerson Free Press the CPC seems to be setting its sights on Student Unions and other campus organizations.

"At a session held in early February by the Ontario Progressive Campus Conservative Association (OPCCA) and the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, campus Conservatives, party campaigners, and a Member of Parliament discussed strategies to gain funding from student unions for the Conservative Party and ways to run for—and win—positions within student unions.

The leaked materials were posted on WikiLeaks.org over the weekend and add to the growing body of evidence that the Conservative Party has a strategy for interfering in campus student unions. In early 2002, the campus press first learned of a secret Millennium Leadership Fund that the party’s campus wing used to fund candidates in student union elections. Now it appears that strategy has evolved into a campaign to falsely obtain student union funding and destabilize student clubs with a social justice mandate."

Apparently the plan is to build up a power base that will last for decades, so they can continue their agenda of bullying people they don't like. It is all made even stranger by the fact that higher education is one of the Conservatives perceived enemies. Can we have a new government yet?

James Moore should Resign

Heritage Minister James Moore said today that the CBC could be looking at 6-1200 job cuts. The thing is Moore is in a unique position as the closest member of government to the national public broadcaster. That means that either

a) Moore took it upon himself to release sensitive, secret information before the CBC could

or

b) Moore senselessly, callously and needlessly caused panic among thousands of CBC employees for his own amusement.

In either case Moore should resign his office and his seat in parliament or be fired and removed from caucus.

Why Canada Can't Have an Obama, and Why I'll Never Join Your Party

Barack Obama ran for President without the elders and power brokers of the Democratic Party behind him. He ran on the vague notion of hope and change and on a set of concrete ideas about health care, the economy, foreign policy, the environment, education etc.,

Canada cannot have it's Barack Obama at the moment because out political structure wouldn't allow it. In Canada you have to get a good number of party insiders and power brokers behind you before you even think of running for the leader of a party - and then you have favors to replay. Then, when there is an election you break out the party platform but it's a targeted document. You make promises that you know you can't keep to the constituencies that you want to carry in the election.

Now before you jump to the conclusion that I'm apathetic, or that I don't think voting matters - there is a difference. Harper is more evil than Layton no question. That said, none of them is really trying to bring the country together. They are saying that if the country would like to unite behind them that the country is welcome to do that.

While I see a clear difference between political parties, I cannot ever see myself joining on of them. The political parties are not about 'ideas': The Liberals used to be, back in the days of Trudea. The NDP used to be, in the days of Tommy Douglass. The Conservatives haven't been about ideas in recent memory. They claim the ideas of the right, but then they do whatever it takes to stay in power. The Bloc may, possibly be about ideas, but they are bad ideas - which doesn't help.

Personally, I like individual people (candidates) and I like ideas (good ideas) but institutions are more interested in power than ideas and political parties are institutions. All of them, from what I can tell, will sacrifice any or all of their ideas if it means staying in power. What is really sad though is that even in the age of social media there is very little independent thought among party members. When a party does something, or makes an announcement, right or wrong the party line is echoed across it's share of the blogosphere generally without criticism (with the exception of Western Conservatives who recently discovered that Stephen Harper doesn't believe in much).

That means that, in Canada at least, the revolution in media is not creating a broader diversity of ideas. It is creating an echo chamber that is less diverse than what the main stream media was serving up before - which is just sad. So while I'm still contemplating what the Un-Party may become I won't join any political party where you are expected to abandon your ideas, on conscience on the alter of the part leaders.

Cracks Start to Show in Tory Base

Remember the other day when I pondered whether there would be a conservative backlash against Harper's big spending budget? Well apparently the answer is yes. According to the CBC the rumblings have begun.

With a federal budget projecting that Canada will be $85 billion further in debt by 2013, some Conservative party faithful are questioning what it means for the party's ideology.

Conservatives will no doubt scoff at this. It does, after all, come from the CBC a bastion of rational thinking with an exreme bias (that favors reality). So how about the ultra right Canadian Free Press?

"The Reform Party, for instance, stood for fiscal responsibility, but since taking hold of power the Conservative Party has spent government money at a rate that would put the Liberals to shame.

Nor does the Conservative Party embrace the old Reform idea of direct democracy; Conservatives never talk about referendums, plebiscites or recall. "

Or the Tory 'Searching for Liberty' blog?

Harper tried to pull a power-play, seeking to use the financial crisis to withdraw political funding - gambling that the Liberals were so decimated, that they would never force an election over the issue, and never in a million years, imagining the formation of a left-coalition.

Well.. we know how that turned out - so, in a move that I would have thought could be accomplished by no one but the Liberals, our government did whatever it took to hold on to power. End of story. If anything thinks Harper would have produced this budget if he held a majority, they are dreaming. This budget is a lifeline to hold power. And that is not only disappointing, it's sad.

The Reform Party, for all its warts, held promise at one point. It was a party formed to try and change the "business as usual" culture in Ottawa, and when Harper succeeded in becoming the PM, well, there was a small glimmer of hope. That glimmer today has faded to black.

There is also some argument about starting a new party over here and this is just a brief, cursory search from someone who knows little about the Conservative blogosphere. The fault lines underlying the CPC are starting to show. Harper may have said that Canada didn't need 'another Liberal Party' but when push came to shove, rather than give up power, he wrote a Liberal (or at least Liberalish) budget. This should show, once and for all, that conservatives cannot take and hold power in Canada. We can only hope that the rift on the right continues.

On Edit: There is way more over here.

the Decline of Canadian Conservatism: It Ain't Easy Being Blue

I'm not a conservative, I agree with them on very little but sometimes you just have to feel sorry for conservatives in Canada. After the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives in 93 the divided party could not seem to gain any traction or get anywhere near power. Ten years later the party reunited - keeping half of the Progressive Conservative name and all of the Alliance platform.

Finally in 2006 conservatives got another government, albeit a minority one - a government that won a second minority just last year but now, having recognized I think that Conservative ideas do not enjoy the support of the majority of Canadians the Conservative Government has decided to fight emissions and climate change, he has abandoned his position on fixed election dates, an elected Senate, he seems to have dropped any social conservative issues, and now he appears prepared to have abandoned any sense of fiscal conservatism - it won't be official until tomorrow but so far Harper seems from what we've seen so far, to have drafted an NDP budget.

How do Conservatives feel about all of this? Harper doesn't care:

"``Here you have a couple of thousand people vigorously debating substantial issues and setting the direction of the party,'' said Heisey. ``It's exciting, and involving.''
Three weeks later, however, none of the ideas endorsed by the party's members - except for a national securities regulator, already a pet project of the government - were included in the Conservative throne speech or economic statement, when Parliament reconvened.
Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper prompted a political crisis with two measures - an end to party subsidies and a ban on public service strikes, that hadn't even surfaced in Winnipeg."

Harper certainly cannot be trusted. He changes his mind far too often about far too many things but the question is, now that Harper has decided to move the party to the left and abandon the principles that brought him to power, how will Canada's conservatives react? Will they step back ten years and divide the party again? Or is conservatism in Canada truly and finally over?

Conservatives Open Fire on Ignatieff

Harper wants his government to fall, I don't see any other way to look at it. Earlier today the Liberals made Iggy interim leader. Immediately after that progressives groaned. A little later in the afternoon pundits began speculating about the Conservatives and the Liberals building bridges, finding compromise and working out a way to avoid the government falling. Tonight the Conservatives opened fire

The Conservatives issued a fundraising letter on Wednesday painting interim Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff as a parachute leader who wasn't rightfully elected by Canadians or his own party members.

"Stéphane Dion has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and by extension, of the Liberal/NDP/Bloc Coalition," Tory campaign chair Doug Finley writes.

"In yet another stunning and unprecedented demonstration of Liberal contempt for our democratic rights, they've decided to appoint a new leader in place."

The fundraising letter then implores party supporters to donate $200 or $100 to "help us spread this message to Canadians."

Full Story at the CBC

Perhaps Harper, like me, doesn't see how he can create a budget that the Liberals can vote for (or abbstain from voting on) and so they are continuing on in war mode.

Conservatives Planning Attack on the CBC?

Given the Conservatives newfound interest in national unity you'd think that they would be very supportive of an organization created to build national unity and identity. You'd be wrong.

Via the Georgia Straight and Art Threat comes word that the Conservatives are contemplating $200 million in cuts to the CBC. This would continue their strategy of launching partisan attacks on anyone and everyone they perceive as a threat and, possibly, ingratiate them to the private networks who want to see the CBC slashed. From Art Threat:

"Some observers have suggested the cuts are linked to a Conservative bid to secure support from the Canada’s commercial broadcasters who would be delighted to see significant cutbacks at the CBC. Support from Canada’s major broadcasters, so the conjecture goes, would translate into favourable coverage in Stephen Harper’s fight to maintain control in Parliament, and to save his political career."

Please write

Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc

Stephen Dion: stephane.dion@bellnet.ca

Michael Ignatief: Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca

Bob Rae: raeb@ parl.gc.ca

Jack Layton: Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

Gilles Ducepe: Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Let them know that a budget containing these cuts cannot be allowed to pass, coalition or no.

Give Me What I Want, Not What I Say I Want

John Gushue likes to post interesting quotes on his website. Yesterday he posted one that seemed especially appropriate to what I've been thinking the last few days. Maragaret Mead once said "What people say, what people do and what they say they do are often entirely different things".

It occurs to me that the recent fate of the Liberal party has been a demonstration in the difference between what people say they want and what they actually want (or at least what they will vote for.)

Stephen Dion is, according to everyone who knows him or works with him, completely honest and ethical, smart, dedicated and sincere. If you took a poll and asked people (without naming names) if they could vote for such a person the reaction would be a resounding yes.

On the other hand Stephen Harper is, according to his colleagues and friends deeply partisan, arrogant, inflexible, and maintains absolute control over those around him. From the Toronto Star

""There's always been this concern that Harper believes he's the smartest guy in the room and that, no matter what, he's never wrong," confides the Harper acquaintance (who's also a Mulroney friend).

In interviews with federal associates of Harper, past and present, a picture emerges of a bright and driven man who does not take dissenting counsel especially well and is prone to profane outbursts.

"The people around him, the stable, has generally been bred for obedience, so that's what you get," says a confrere.

Another insider agrees "there's no question the Prime Minister rules by fear," which is not always productive.

"At some point, you know, you get up every day and you get kicked in the balls and, you know what, you get tired of it. So when people stop fighting back, I'm telling you, that's a most dangerous, dangerous, dangerous day," he says.

It was Harper who insisted that the Nov. 27 economic statement be used as a political weapon to bludgeon the Conservatives' foes."

If asked (without naming names) if they could vote for such a person the answer would be a resounding no - but Stephen Harper rolls on while Dion is mere days from a very short career as Liberal Party leader.

If you took a poll and asked if Canadians would like the parties in Parliament to set aside their differences, combine their best ideas, and work together for the good of the country during the current economic recession - almost 100% would say that was exactly what they wanted. Sadly when three of the parties try to do just that they are vilified by the one party that has shown that it cannot work with others and doesn't really care what they think. When the Conservatives say that they want input from other parties it makes for good sound bites but it appears that the suggestions of the other parties are not seriously considered, or even taken seriously.

So, who do Canadians like better? The three parties that try to work together to set partisanship aside and find common solutions or the one party (and one leader) that is incapable of being non-partisan and that looks for personal gain in every situation? According to the CBC and Ekos research they like the party that refuses to work with others.

Personally I am sad that things went so poorly for Stephen Dion, but I know there is no changing people's minds about him now. I am disappointed that so many Canadians don't really want to see cooperation and consensus in our parliament but I will keep working to change their minds on that. I can and do support the coalition and it's efforts at cooperative solutions to our economic problems. The coalition may succeed and it may fail but either way, as is always the case in a democracy, Canadians will get what they ask for.

Back to School Time for Tories

After listening to the Harper Government, it's representatives and supporters the only thing I can suggest is that they all go back to school. Things like simple math, logic problems and civics all seem to be lost on them.

Harper claims that Dion does not have the right to form a government without an election but, under a parliamentary system, he most certainly does - if he can put together a coalition of other parties strong enough to outvote the minority Conservatives.

Harper's supporters claim that this is a (I kid you not) 'coup d'etat' , demonstrating that they don't know what that means. A coup is a military overthrow of the government.

The same supporters claim that the will of the Canadian people is being subverted but only 37% voted for Harper. That means that 63% voted for other parties. If, in a minority situation, the government is so bad at compromise that they can't appease any of the other parties, those parties (representing 63% of the electorate) may band together and put forward a more democratically popular agenda.

Harper and his supporters claim that they are being forced to subsidize parties they don't like, but under the current system a party gets $1.95 for each vote they get. So each person is subsidizing the party they vote for and only the party they vote for. This insures that the popular support of the electorate is more important than the support of interest groups, large corporations and the very wealthy. Apparently this doesn't sit will with Conservatives.

Mr. Flaherty claims that the government is running a balanced budget, but in order to achieve that they have to sell 10 billion dollars worth of government assets. The government paid small fortunes for those assets and would be selling into a seriously depressed market. Does buy high sell low sound like good economics? Also remember that when Mr. Flaherty was working for Mike Harris the incoming McGuinty government was told that the books were in balance, only to find on taking office that they were several billion dollars in the hole. Sadly the Conservative finance minister doesn't even seem to have basic math skills.

It is time for conservative supporters, their party and their representatives to take a break from politics until they get a firm grasp on basic math, civics, parliamentary government and democracy.

Harper's Hidden Agenda isn't Hidden

We've all heard of Stephen Harper's "Hidden Agenda." Harper and the Conservatives insist that there isn't one and the other parties keep warning us about it. The thing is that the agenda is only hidden if you don't look for it. Stephen Harper doesn't openly talk about it on national television and he does his best to keep other Conservative candidates and MPs quiet and away from the press but beyond that the neo-con agenda the Conservatives are pushing is black and white. Harper's claim that it doesn't exist comes off like a child with frosting on his face telling you he doesn't know where the cake went.

Harper and the Tories are anti-abortion, anti-women's rights, anti gay rights, against bilingualism, health care, and multiculturalism, anti-environment and pro-war. The point here is not to look at specific actions, I've already done that over here.

Right now I just want to look at what Conservatives have been saying about these issues during the rare times that they allow themselves (or that Harper allows them to) be honest about how they feel. These quotes are pulled from a variety of sources but I would especially like to single out this site for it's wonderful collection.

So, down the list we go starting with what Stephen Harper thinks about the US neo-conservative movement (currently represented by George Bush and John McCain.

"[Y]our country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

On women and abortion:

"If they say they're personally opposed to abortion but they don't want to impose their opposition on society, ask them if they're personally opposed to child abuse, ask them if they're personally opposed to slavery. "
- Concervative MP Jason Kenney, Canadian Catholic News, May 24, 2004 Edition

"We should try to keep our mothers in the home and that’s where the whole Reform platform hangs together."
- Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, in the Vancouver Province, October 11, 1993.

"We saw that young American having his head cut off. What's happening, what is happening down there no different."
- Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke) at a 2004 pro-life rally on Parliament Hill, comparing abortion to the beheading of American Nicolas Berg by insurgents in Iraq

"Women who become pregnant through rape or incest should not qualify for government-funded abortions unless their pregnancy is life-threatening."
- Stockwell Day, 1995, at an Alberta Conservative party convention.

"If a community decides this is how you're going to dress and these are the punishments, who are we to say [different]?"
- Cariboo-Chilcotin Conservative MP Phillip Mayfield when asked why he believed that the torture and imprisonment of women for not wearing a veil should not be grounds for granting asylum, The Globe and Mail, March 24, 1995.

"I want to know how many women in Alberta are physically battered and not just insulted by their husbands... If we talk insulted by their husbands, then I'm afraid that I'm guilty from time to time of abusing my wife."
Stockwell Day, 1987, disputing a poll indicating one million women had been abused physically, emotionally, sexually or economically.

"At first glance to women of pregnancy prone age, this proposal may seem to be one of the best things about Canada. However, even with the current six-month leave, a functioning uterus can be an impediment to getting a job in the first place. Were it not for the idiocy of the Liberals contemplating the extrapolation spousal benefits to roommates, it could be argued that parental leave discriminates against infertile couples -- but that may lead to the risks of extending parental leave payments to those who merely go through the motions!"
- Cheryl Gallant in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, October 28th 1999, opposing legislation to extend parental leave to one year.

"For taxpayers, however, it’s a rip-off. And it has nothing to do with gender. Both men and women taxpayers will pay additional money to both men and women in the civil service. That’s why the federal government should scrap its ridiculous pay equity law."
- Stephen Harper on pay equity, NCC Overview, Fall 1998.

On Gay Rights

"When you go into the issue of homosexuals and lesbians it's in the interest of society to have the right to discriminate against that group in areas of ... schools is one that comes to mind."
- Conservative Party Natural Resources critic Dave Chatters arguing in favour of discrimination against gays on a radio station in Westlock, Alberta, on April 30th 1996.

"Homosexuality is a mental disorder that can be cured through counselling."
Stockwell Day, quoted in Alberta Report.

"In the 1950s, buggery was a criminal offence. Now it's a requirement to receive benefits from the federal government."
- Yorkton-Melville Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz commenting on same sex benefits, The Leader-Post, March 3, 2000.

"I want the whole world to know that I do not condone homosexuals. I do not condone their activity. I do not like what they do. I think it is wrong. I think it is unnatural and I think it is totally immoral. I will object to it forever whenever they attack the good, traditional Canadian family unit that built the country."
- MP Myron Thompson.

"Stories are one thing. Facts are another. I'm so tired of dealing with a few scant, fabricated stories. [Discrimination against homosexuals] just is not happening."
- Stockwell Day in the Red Deer Advocate, May 11, 1996.

"We all make mistakes and they made a mistake in pursuing a project which purports to reflect the sexual choices of one per cent of the population."
- Stockwell Day, 1997, fighting a $10,000 lotteries grant to study the lives and history of gays in Alberta. Most statistics suggest that four to 10 per cent of the general population is homosexual.

“Law-abiding men and women should be allowed to carry concealed handguns. If women and gays really wanted to stop being victims of hate crimes, they'd be in support of this, but judging from discussions, they'd rather be helpless and rely on government”
- Chris Reid Ex Conservative candidate

"Regarding sexual orientation or, more accurately, what we are really talking about, sexual behaviour, the argument has been made ... that this is analogous to race and ethnicity.... (For) anyone in the Liberal party to equate the traditional definition of marriage with segregation and apartheid is vile and disgusting."
Conservative leader Stephen Harper, 2003.

On the Environment

“Carbon dioxide does not cause or contribute to smog, and the Kyoto treaty would do nothing to reduce or prevent smog.”
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, June 10, 2004

“[The Kyoto Accord is] a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations… [The Accord is] based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence about climate trends.”
Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance fundraising letter, Fall 2002

"Let me put that absolutely to rest. I've never heard a single word about Canada withdrawing from Kyoto. It's never even been discussed. That's absolute fear-mongering,"
- John Baird

On Unemployment and Poverty

"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

"Old age security is welfare for the aged."
- Conservative MP Paul Forseth, Vancouver Sun, October 6th 1993.

"I have strong concerns that we're building shelters on a grander and grander scale. I don't think there's a person in here who would expect these excesses."
- Conservative Party Homelessness Critic Peter Goldring in the Calgary Herald, March 6th 2002, calling the Calgary Drop-In Centre the 'Cowtown Casa Loma" of Canadian shelters.

"We would eliminate regional development subsidies... There is a disproportionate concentration of business subsidies in Atlantic Canada. These subsidies are hugely inefficient."
- Conservative MP Jason Kenney, August 19, 2000, quoted in the National Post.

On Canada Generally

"I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

"Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status, led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task."
- Would-be "second-world strongman" Stephen Harper in his article "It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada," December 12th, 2000.

On Multiculturalism, Immigration and Immigrants

"[Government policy] is promoting diversity at the expense of unity and equality."
- Gurmant Grewal, Conservative Multiculturalism Critic, Vancouver Sun, December 2nd 1997. Grewal had introduced a motion aimed to "prevent the reference to and designation of any Canadian or group of Canadians in a hyphenated form, based on race, religion, colour or place of origin."

"You have to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada; people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian society."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, in Report Newsmagazine, 2001.

"What happens if a boatload [of immigrants] comes over from wherever and decides that they want to to cast ballots?"
- Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders expressing opposition to landed immigrants having the right to vote in candidate nomination races, Edmonton Journal, October 2, 2000.

"B.C. gets no protection from an immigration department that imports literally thousands of criminals into British Columbia who prey upon law abiding citizens."
- Darrel Stinson, Conservative MP, Hansard, April 27 1998.

"Particularly in big cities, we've got people that have grown up in a different culture," he said. "And they don't have the same background in terms of the stable communities we had 20, 30 years ago in our cities … and don't have the same respect for authority or people's person or property."
Calgary Conservative MP Lee Richardson 2008

"Immigrants are choking welfare systems, contributing to high unemployment, and many cannot read."
- Conservative MP Art Hanger, Canadian Press, February 2, 1994.

"Do you notice that in Toronto there has been increased crime from certain groups, like Jamaicans? "
- Calgary Northeast MP Art Hanger during a get-acquainted tour of Toronto's ethnic communities, to a storekeeper about crime, quoted in the Edmonton Journal, March 14th 1994.

"My riding has the largest Iranian population in the country. At least 40% of all the Iranians living there are refugee claimants. Most of them are bogus. "
- North Vancouver Conservative MP Ted White in the House of Commons, March 31 2003.

On Arts and Culture
“I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala and all sorts of people at a rich gala all subsidized by the taxpayer, claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know they have actually gone up, I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people,"
-Stephen Harper, 2008

"It's a sincere question. Why do we need [the CBC]? Why should we have it?"
- Jim Abbott, Conservative Party Heritage Critic, National Post, February 5th 2002. Abbott believes the CBC English-language service should be scrapped and some of its newsgathering functions transferred to CBC Newsworld.

"I wanted to make a scene about that but I never did. Instead I ran for Parliament and came here with one real good purpose which is to stop the funding for this kind of obscenity. It has no market in Canadian society. We need to stop it. It is no wonder we have all the violence against women and children when we have a publicly funded radio promoting it."
- Conservative Agriculture critic Ken Epp on how the "obscenity" on CBC Radio is causing violence against women and children, Nov. 18 1997, Hansard.

On Aboriginal Issues

"If you behave and you're sober and there's no problems and if you don't do a sit down and whatever, I don't care."
Darlene Lannigan staffer for Conservative Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, she made the remarks when aboriginal asked for a meeting with Cannon (2008)

"The Europeans came to this country 300 years ago and opened it up and settled it and because we didn't kill the Indians and have Indian wars, that doesn't mean we didn't conquer these people. If they weren't in fact conquered then why did they allow themselves to be herded into little reserves on the most isolated, desolate, worthless parts of the country."
- Athabasca MP David Chatters on Aboriginal people.

"I think that all the Indians should all be sent to Labrador, to all live together in peace and leave us in peace."
- Reform Party candidate Ricardo Lopez, The Montreal Gazette, June 4, 1988.

"You can't scalp me because I haven't got much hair on top of my head."
- Saskatchewan Canadian Alliance candidate Brian Fitzpatrick during a native-organized candidates debate, November 2000.

On Bilingualism

"It is simply difficult – extremely difficult – for someone to become bilingual in a country that is not. And make no mistake. Canada is not a bilingual country. In fact it less bilingual today than it has ever been... So there you have it. As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity and cost Canadian taxpayers untold millions."
- Stephen Harper on bilingualism, Calgary Sun, May 6th 2001.

On Health Care

"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]."
- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.

"I do support the idea of private health care."
- Jason Kenney, Conservative Party critic on Canada-U.S. Relations, October 31st 2000.

"It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act."
- Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997.

"We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system."
- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.

On War
"I don't know all the facts on Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans."
- Stephen Harper, Report Newsmagazine, March 25th 2002.

"It was probably not an appropriate term, but we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win."
- Stephen Harper supporting the US-lead war on Iraq, Montreal Gazette, April 2nd 2003. Harper also called then-Defence Minister John McCallum an "idiot."

"This government's only explanation for not standing behind our allies is that they couldn't get the approval of the Security Council at the United Nations - a body [on] which Canada doesn't even have a seat."
- Stephen Harper supporting the American invasion of Iraq, CTV's Question Period, March 30, 2003.

"Mr. Speaker, the issue of war requires moral leadership. We believe the government should stand by our troops, our friends and our allies and do everything necessary to support them right through to victory."
- Stephen Harper, supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, April 1, 2003.

"Thank you for saying to our friends in the United States of America, you are our ally, our neighbour, and our best friend in the whole wide world. And when your brave men and women give their lives for freedom and democracy we are not neutral. We do not stand on the sidelines; we're for the disarmament of Saddam and the liberation of the people of Iraq."
- Stephen Harper, Friends of America Rally, April 4, 2003.

On National Unity
"Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan... Collect our own revenue from personal income tax... Resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy. If Ottawa objects to provincial policy, fight in the courts... [E]ach province should raise its own revenue for health... It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta... "
- Stephen Harper in an "Open letter to Ralph Klein," January 24th 2001.

"Much about the Canadian Alliance is worthy of support, and a large number of Canadians do support it. But the CA will be under considerable pressure to rid itself of any tinge of a Western agenda or Alberta control. This we must fight. If the Alliance is ever to become a party that could be lead by a Paul Martin or a Joe Clark, it must do so without us. We don't need a second Liberal party."
- Stephen Harper, now leader of the Conservative Party, in "It is time to seek a new relationship with Canada," December 12th, 2000.

""Whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or 10 governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be."
- Stephen Harper in a 1994 National Citizens Coalition speech.

On Canadian Sovereignty
"Continental economic and security integration" with the U.S. as well as a "continental energy strategy" that should be broadened "to a range of other natural resources."
- Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

Stephen Harper would like us to believe all of these remarks were accidental, overblown or examples of media-bias. All of them, regardless of how often they happen. He would like us to believe that because the party changed it's name, it's beliefs are different - even though most of the major players are the same. The reality is that the core of the Conservative party appears to endorse most of the above statements. If you read comments on the internet (on the CBC News site for example you will find the above comments echoed over and over again by Conservative supporters, you will actually read far worse comments and those are just the ones that the moderators of that site allow through - you will also see frequent Conservative complaints about comments being censored.

There is no Hidden Agenda it's all right there, laid out for you if you care to look. The only way in which the Conservative agenda is hidden is if you choose not to look.

Stephen Harper Lies About Other Things

These two aren't so much lie lies, it's not that what he's saying is inaccurate - it's what he's not saying that qualify these remarks as lies.

I've already talked about his lies on the arts today, but he also lied about an environmental plan and about food safety.

On the environment Harper trotted out what he would like us to believe is an environmental plan. He says that he wants to increase the fines for "the most serious environmental crimes to $6 million for corporations and $1 million for individuals."

What he doesn't say (the part that makes it a lie):

Global warming, and the pollution of our air, water and soil as well as the dwindling of many endangered species have all been caused by legal pollution, there would be no impact on most polluters just the ones that broke our rather lax environmental laws

Polluters are so heavily subsidized and otherwise taken care of that even the largest of Harper's fines wouldn't even put a dent in their Federal Subsidies. (wouldn't it be nice if Harper was as hard on polluters as he is on 14 year olds).

The Liberals, NDP, and Green Party all have an environmental plan, Stephen Harper does not. What he has proposed isn't an environmental plan it's basically just an accounting trick.

Next, Stephen Harper lashed out at past Liberal Governments for acting on food safety. While it's true that the Liberals should have acted and didn't - that Liberal government, along with it's leader and most of its Cabinet Ministers are gone. What makes it a lie is, again, what Harper didn't say. Namely that:

First Harper has been prime minister for 2.5 years and also did not act on, suggest acting on or promote action on the Liberal policies that upset him so much today.

Second the Conservatives actually cut funding for inspections and made our food less safe.

The Liberals at least had the good sense not to make fun of the victims.

Again, Stephen Harper can only win if people don't think about what he's saying.

Harper Lies About Art Some More

Stephen Harper is lying again and he is guessing that the supporters he is seeking will be too dumb to tell the difference. How cynical is that? Not trying to convince voters of the value of your position but instead hoping that they will be dumb enough to believe your lies? Yesterday when asked about his cuts to the arts Stephen Harper told the press:

"I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see ... a bunch of people at a rich gala ... all subsidized by the taxpayers -- claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know those subsidies have gone up -- I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people," Mr. Harper told reporters.

I don't know what Harper is talking about really. Sure I've seen people come out to rich galas. These are generally held when the Toronto International Film Festival comes to town and American stars show up. The government though doesn't pay for that. There are sometimes Gala fundraisers for things like the Art Gallery of Ontario or the Royal Ontario Museum. While the Government contributes to the AGO and the ROM these galas are held to try and convince the better off in Toronto to contribute money to the facilities. The government does not pay for the galas and the galas raise money so the government doesn't have to pay as much.

None of this though has anything to do with the subsidies we are talking about, the subsidies Stephen Harper cut. Canadian artists are often faced with a difficult decision. Canada is not a big market (30 million people compared to over 300 million in the US). It is very difficult for many of them to get enough income from Canada alone. Those who can't do so frequently leave their friends, families and the country they love behind and live in the larger markets of the US or Europe.

The subsidies cut by the Conservatives were designed to help these artists find foreign audiences while still living in Canada. Most of the subsidies that come from these programs give an artist, or group of artists a few hundred dollars to help them travel abroad and enter foreign markets. If any of these people were wealthy they wouldn't bother - the amount of paperwork involved in getting such a grant is barely worth the small amount you get from them (if your application is accepted.) If you run a business in Canada you know the value of exports and you know that there are government programs designed to help you find export markets. It should also be noted that the programs being cut are tremendously successful. Canada is known the world over as a place that values arts and culture and a place that produces great artists and Canadian cultural exports bring in over 5 billion dollars annually.

Now, Stephen Harper has no trouble spending 300 million dollars on an election he said he wouldn't call. He has no trouble spending $1.4 billion dollars to subsidize oil sands development even though they are destroying the environment of western Canada and the oil companies are making record profits. He has no trouble spending billions subsidizing manufacturing exports but apparently spending 40 million to help struggling artists make a living while choosing to live in Canada is frivolous.

This policy would send a clear message to Canadian artists and to the world that Canada does not care about the arts, that if you want to be any kind of an artist you should leave the country. It would also shake the world's image of Canada.

So please, show Stephen Harper that you're not as dumb as he thinks you are and on Oct. 14 fire him and elect a Prime Minister who cares about Canada and doesn't assume that we're all idiots.

And now, to be fair:

A Rebuttal from the Conservatives

Time to Unite Against Stephen Harper

In his speech at the Democratic convention Barack Obama laid out plainly the choices before Americans, pointing out the failure of George Bush neo-con policies on almost every front. Canadians will soon have a similar choice to make. Stephen Harper is, perhaps more than Bush himself, a George Bush style neo-conservative. Harper's policies are essentially the same as those of George Bush even when those policies benefit the US and harm Canada.

Since taking over as Prime Minister Stephen Harper has waged a non-stop attack on Canada and everything Canadians value. He has repeatedly assaulted Canada's natural environment right down to allowing Canadian lakes to be used as toxic dump sites at no cost to polluters.

Although he promised open accountable government, Harper has lead one of the most secretive, authoritarian governments in Canadian history.

And while he was elected in part due to corruption on the part of the Liberals, Harper has lead one of the most deeply corrupt governments in recent memory. From the in-out scheme to the Cadman affair and beyond.

He has waged a relentless assault on the arts from attempts to kill the Canadian film industry, to a copyright bill that is good for big media companies but bad for artists and that would make most Canadians into criminals to his rejection of a Heritage Committee recommendation that would have strengthened and improved the CBC and most recently his cuts to export subsidies for the arts.

He has been no friend to Canadian cities, he has bungled the economy (one of the few areas the Tories are supposed to be good at) and may soon take us back into deficits.

He reneged on his promise not to tax income trusts, costing many small investors - including retirees small fortunes, because Harper had promised not to tax these trusts many were buying them until days before his announcement.

Finally he has done considerable damage to Canada's reputation abroad. From refusing to attend the world aids conference to insulting the Chinese people (and Canadian athletes) by his absence from the opening ceremonies. His administration has interfered in foreign elections by leaking private information and left classified documents with girlfriends. The have also damaged Canada's reputation as a refuge from wars and war crimes by deporting asylum seekers.

In short Stephen Harper's government has been inept, corrupt, incompetent, immoral and staunchly anti-Canadain on almost every important issue. So, like the Americans, Canadians have a choice to make between the failed policies of the Bush Administration (echoed by Harper) and a reversal of that course.

Stephen Harper and his Tories have never enjoyed more than about 35% support in Canada, yet they manage to cling to power. If they truly care about Canada it is time for the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party to put aside their differences, focus on areas of common ground and at least temporarily come together in Coalition.

If the next election results in anything less than a majority parliament, Stephen Dion, Jack Layton and their parties should make it clear to Stephen Harper and the Governor General that they will act in concert and prevent the Harper Neo-Con agenda from going any further, that they can and will form a coalition Government and will block any further legislation by Stephen Harper until given a chance to do so.

To this end I have created a Facebook Group to act as a kind of petition in and of itself. While everyone is certainly welcome and encouraged to use the group to share information and ideas, and everyone is also encouraged to write to the Jack Layton and Stephen Dion and tell them to get over their squabbling and get Canada back on track - just joining the group will send a signal to everyone involved.

Please join at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=29529380865 and invite your friends, family and co-workers to do the same!