If Harper finds these ever more frequent condemnations in the press difficult to bear, he has no one to blame but himself. His Orwellian-titled Fair Elections Act encapsulates everything that has always been wrong with the Reform incarnation of the CPC.
From day dot Harper has longed for one-party rule. He is not interested in a multi-party democracy, in give and take, in negotiation. He enjoys ruling, not governance. Issuing edicts and orders, being the Decider is who he is. When democracy gets in his way he’s disruptive, adversarial, uncooperative, undiplomatic, uncommunicative, unavailable, inaccessible, scornful and dismissive. And highly litigative. The man is always in court pushing the boundaries of our constitution. But that should be no surprise since he plainly stated long ago his intention was to remake Canada. “You won’t recognize Canada when I’m through with it!” (Nobody even questioned that, until “The Fair Elections Act.”)
If anything, Harper has stalled any progress in our democracy. He is certainly testing its boundaries. (In a perverse way, maybe that’s a good thing because we’re realizing how fragile it is, that we mustn’t take it for granted. Because obviously, any party with the bare minimum of votes can barge in and begin dismantling it as Harper is doing.)
When he had minority governments, Harper was forced to pretend to be moderate. By 2011, he’d had enough and made very clear he wouldn’t accept another minority government past 2011. Although majority governments were never in the cards for him, by 2011 the marathon of slander campaigns against the Liberal opposition combined with the multifarious election frauds perpetrated by the CPC in every election since 2006 had finally paid off. Steve acquired his precious majority and ceased being Moderate PM.
In less than three years of his ill-gotten majority, Harper has worn out his welcome for so many reasons, from muzzling and firing scientists, to dismantling data sources, to the wholesale slaughter of environmental protections, to gutting veterans benefits, to spending millions on misleading advertising, to bringing in hundreds of thousands of foreign workers during periods of high unemployment, the fiscal incompetence, the dozens of patronage appointments, his appointing crooks like Arthur Porter, the CPC slander campaigns and on and on. His crowning achievements? A full 20% of Canada’s federal debt has been generated by “economic genius” Stephen Harper, and his first deficit was created before the recession hit by overspending and lowering consumption and corporate tax rates. (Trickle down Steve decided this would be a good move during the economic boom between 2006 and early 2008.) Indeed, he blew a $13B surplus he inherited long before the recession affected Canada.
Despite pouring $113M in kitten and sweatervest ads, reminiscent of SCTV’s Melonville Mayor, Harper is no longer as popular with moderate conservatives. And there aren’t enough village idiots in Ford Nation to overcome the majority of liberal and moderate conservative voters. What do you do when you need another win and the ads no longer work and you have little to brag about and you’re a hard-faced guy who isn’t likeable? You dream up The Fair Elections Act, an Orwellian-titled bill that will make election fraud possible without the pesky checks and balances that existed in past elections.
The press must keep the pressure on and awaken the sleeping complacent mass of voters who, when educated about this bill, reject it out of hand.
This Week In Harperland 