My Opera23 May - Harper Roast
Thursday, May 23, 2013 7:01:00 PM
Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper
Just some of the anti-democratic goings-on in the Harper government:
1. The “in and out” scheme – the Conservatives are alleged to have skirted their $18 million campaign spending limit in the 2006 election by transferring money “in” to local ridings that had not reached their campaign spending limits (ostensibly to pay for advertising at the local level) and then having that riding immediately send the money back “out” to the national party (who spent it on advertising at the national level). The riding associations then asked for the 60% refund from Elections Canada for the amounts spent, which totalled nearly $800,000.00.
2. The David Emerson appointment – 24 hours after Emerson was elected as the Liberal MP for Vancouver-Kingsway, Stephen Harper personally endorsed talks with him to have him cross the floor to the Conservative party and accept the Cabinet appointment as International Trade Minister.
3. The disgraceful system of vetting by the Prime Minister’s Office – nothing is released to the Canadian public by any department of the government without first being approved by the PMO.
4. The appointment of an UNELECTED Conservative organizer to the position of Minister of Public Works and Government Services.
5. Mark Tushingham is employed by Environment Canada and wrote a FICTIONAL account about global warming and the subsequent dispute over water resources between Canada and the U.S. Mr. Tushingham was given a directive from the Environment Department not to attend his own book launch. In fear of his job, he did not.
At the same time, the “Harper Government” cancelled 15 research programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.**
6. Elimination of the Access to Information database.
7. The shutdown of the Appointments Commission – originally instituted by Harper to make government appointments more transparent, he balked when a House of Commons committee requested that he withdraw his choice to lead the commission (a Harper supporter) because of concerns about remarks made by that person regarding immigration. Stephen Harper abruptly abandoned the Commission in a huff.
8. The Cadman affair – Chuck Cadman was sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons and voted with the government in a 2005 budget vote, which created a tie. Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken, then had to vote and the Liberal budget passed.
Prior to his death from cancer, Mr. Cadman told his wife that, before the vote, two Conservative party officials approached him to offer a $1 million life insurance policy if he would vote against the budget. There is much, much more to this story, but in a 2008 court deposition, Stephen Harper admitted to personally authorizing that “an offer” be made to Mr. Cadman prior to that 2005 vote. It is illegal to bribe an MP.
9. Cancellation of the Court Challenges Program of Canada – the CPC is an organization whose purpose is to provide financial assistance for important court cases that advance language and equality rights guaranteed under Canada’s Constitution. It was designed to help those who could not afford to pay for lawyers to fight for their rights in Canada’s highest courts.
10. NAFTA-gate – Barack Obama was telling U.S. constituents in Ohio that he would reopen NAFTA to make it more beneficial to the U.S., but Stephen Harper’s closest aide told CTV that Obama advisers had privately told Canadian diplomats that the promise to reopen the trade agreement was just empty talk aimed at winning votes in Ohio. Needless to say, it caused no end of diplomatic embarrassment and probably lost votes for Mr. Obama.
11. Afghan detainees misinformation campaign
12. Reversals on 50% of the promised accountability measures
13. A secret Conservative handbook written to advise MPs on how to obstruct Paraliamentary committees
14. Personal attack ads launched outside of election campaigns
15. The lies used to smear opponents that the Conservatives deem to be “anti-Israel”
16. The lie of not supporting the troops used to smear opponents concerned by the Afghan detainee affair
17. The effort made to stop publication of a book written about the Harper team by a former top aide of Harper’s, Tom Flanagan
19. Advising people not to invest in Ontario
20. Instructing police to remove journalists from a public hotel lobby where a Conservative caucus meeting was taking place, in order to prevent coverage of that meeting
21. Calling Louise Arbour a “national disgrace” in the House of Commons. This highly respected woman is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Her crime? Calling for the protection of civilians during the Israel/Lebanon war of 2006.
22. Concerted efforts made to muzzle University academics who are critical of the government, going so far as to influence their removal from employment
23. Controlling press releases from all departments of government. An effort was also made to do so with Auditor-General, Sheila Fraser’s department, however she stood up to them by making the point that her job was to be an objective evaluator of the government’s performance and that he public had a right to know, without interference
24. Providing scripts to supporters for radio call-in shows
25. Preventing information on cabinet minister’s use of government jets from reaching the public
26. Hiding studies on crime done by the Justice Department
27. Plagiarizing the speech of the Australian Prime Minister
28. Hiding a report on firearms to prevent damning evidence about the gun registry
29. Improperly alleging that the opposition parties had no right to form a coalition government
30. Slashing the budget of the Harper-appointed Parliamentary Budget Officer, when he disagreed with the government about finances
31. Giving stimulus money to an inordinately high percentage of Conservative ridings
32. Withholding details of stimulus funding
33. Putting Conservative Party of Canada logos on government funding cheques
34. The Chopping Block:
Firing the head of the nuclear agency, Linda Keen. Halting the probe of Peter Tinsley’s military commission into the Afghan detainee issue. Firing the head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. Smearing diplomat Richard Colvin for his evidence about the Afghan detainee issue. Not renewing Pat Stogran as ombudsman for veterans’ concerns.
35. Supporting Calgary Conservative MP Rob Anders’ illegitimate nomination process, later overturned by the courts
36. Dismantling the 2011 census, creating a “National Household Survey” in its place and being required to spend an extra $30 million to “encourage” citizens to fill it out, now that it’s no longer mandatory
37. Lying about Statistics Canada being in agreement that dismantling the census wouldn’t be a problem
38. Knowingly hiring, as one of Harper’s chief aides, a disbarred lawyer who spent time in jail for stealing from his clients.
39. Preventing cabinet staff from testifying at Parliamentary committees
40. Proroguing Parliament twice, in both cases to save the government’s skin
41. Blaming the opposition for the non-passage of certain bills when, in fact, it was the proroguing of Parliament by Harper that killed those bills
42. Taking no responsibility for the G20 fiasco in Toronto, allowing the trampling of citizens’ rights in the process
43. Spending $1 billion on the G20 fiasco
44. Defending a cabinet minister’s (Bev Oda) lies to Parliament about the changing of a document after it was signed.
45. Using Government Minister’s offices and letterhead to solicit partisan Conservative Party donations
46. Harper’s offhand dismissal of the possibility of the government being found in contempt of Parliament, for the first time in Canadian history: “You win some, you lose some”.
47. The edict to government departments that the “official” name to be used in government correspondence is the “Harper Government”
Ad nauseum…
** I'm still against plying carbon credits to not affect an imaginary threat.
Just some of the anti-democratic goings-on in the Harper government:
1. The “in and out” scheme – the Conservatives are alleged to have skirted their $18 million campaign spending limit in the 2006 election by transferring money “in” to local ridings that had not reached their campaign spending limits (ostensibly to pay for advertising at the local level) and then having that riding immediately send the money back “out” to the national party (who spent it on advertising at the national level). The riding associations then asked for the 60% refund from Elections Canada for the amounts spent, which totalled nearly $800,000.00.
2. The David Emerson appointment – 24 hours after Emerson was elected as the Liberal MP for Vancouver-Kingsway, Stephen Harper personally endorsed talks with him to have him cross the floor to the Conservative party and accept the Cabinet appointment as International Trade Minister.
3. The disgraceful system of vetting by the Prime Minister’s Office – nothing is released to the Canadian public by any department of the government without first being approved by the PMO.
4. The appointment of an UNELECTED Conservative organizer to the position of Minister of Public Works and Government Services.
5. Mark Tushingham is employed by Environment Canada and wrote a FICTIONAL account about global warming and the subsequent dispute over water resources between Canada and the U.S. Mr. Tushingham was given a directive from the Environment Department not to attend his own book launch. In fear of his job, he did not.
At the same time, the “Harper Government” cancelled 15 research programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.**
6. Elimination of the Access to Information database.
7. The shutdown of the Appointments Commission – originally instituted by Harper to make government appointments more transparent, he balked when a House of Commons committee requested that he withdraw his choice to lead the commission (a Harper supporter) because of concerns about remarks made by that person regarding immigration. Stephen Harper abruptly abandoned the Commission in a huff.
8. The Cadman affair – Chuck Cadman was sitting as an independent MP in the House of Commons and voted with the government in a 2005 budget vote, which created a tie. Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken, then had to vote and the Liberal budget passed.
Prior to his death from cancer, Mr. Cadman told his wife that, before the vote, two Conservative party officials approached him to offer a $1 million life insurance policy if he would vote against the budget. There is much, much more to this story, but in a 2008 court deposition, Stephen Harper admitted to personally authorizing that “an offer” be made to Mr. Cadman prior to that 2005 vote. It is illegal to bribe an MP.
9. Cancellation of the Court Challenges Program of Canada – the CPC is an organization whose purpose is to provide financial assistance for important court cases that advance language and equality rights guaranteed under Canada’s Constitution. It was designed to help those who could not afford to pay for lawyers to fight for their rights in Canada’s highest courts.
10. NAFTA-gate – Barack Obama was telling U.S. constituents in Ohio that he would reopen NAFTA to make it more beneficial to the U.S., but Stephen Harper’s closest aide told CTV that Obama advisers had privately told Canadian diplomats that the promise to reopen the trade agreement was just empty talk aimed at winning votes in Ohio. Needless to say, it caused no end of diplomatic embarrassment and probably lost votes for Mr. Obama.
11. Afghan detainees misinformation campaign
12. Reversals on 50% of the promised accountability measures
13. A secret Conservative handbook written to advise MPs on how to obstruct Paraliamentary committees
14. Personal attack ads launched outside of election campaigns
15. The lies used to smear opponents that the Conservatives deem to be “anti-Israel”
16. The lie of not supporting the troops used to smear opponents concerned by the Afghan detainee affair
17. The effort made to stop publication of a book written about the Harper team by a former top aide of Harper’s, Tom Flanagan
19. Advising people not to invest in Ontario
20. Instructing police to remove journalists from a public hotel lobby where a Conservative caucus meeting was taking place, in order to prevent coverage of that meeting
21. Calling Louise Arbour a “national disgrace” in the House of Commons. This highly respected woman is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Her crime? Calling for the protection of civilians during the Israel/Lebanon war of 2006.
22. Concerted efforts made to muzzle University academics who are critical of the government, going so far as to influence their removal from employment
23. Controlling press releases from all departments of government. An effort was also made to do so with Auditor-General, Sheila Fraser’s department, however she stood up to them by making the point that her job was to be an objective evaluator of the government’s performance and that he public had a right to know, without interference
24. Providing scripts to supporters for radio call-in shows
25. Preventing information on cabinet minister’s use of government jets from reaching the public
26. Hiding studies on crime done by the Justice Department
27. Plagiarizing the speech of the Australian Prime Minister
28. Hiding a report on firearms to prevent damning evidence about the gun registry
29. Improperly alleging that the opposition parties had no right to form a coalition government
30. Slashing the budget of the Harper-appointed Parliamentary Budget Officer, when he disagreed with the government about finances
31. Giving stimulus money to an inordinately high percentage of Conservative ridings
32. Withholding details of stimulus funding
33. Putting Conservative Party of Canada logos on government funding cheques
34. The Chopping Block:
Firing the head of the nuclear agency, Linda Keen. Halting the probe of Peter Tinsley’s military commission into the Afghan detainee issue. Firing the head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. Smearing diplomat Richard Colvin for his evidence about the Afghan detainee issue. Not renewing Pat Stogran as ombudsman for veterans’ concerns.
35. Supporting Calgary Conservative MP Rob Anders’ illegitimate nomination process, later overturned by the courts
36. Dismantling the 2011 census, creating a “National Household Survey” in its place and being required to spend an extra $30 million to “encourage” citizens to fill it out, now that it’s no longer mandatory
37. Lying about Statistics Canada being in agreement that dismantling the census wouldn’t be a problem
38. Knowingly hiring, as one of Harper’s chief aides, a disbarred lawyer who spent time in jail for stealing from his clients.
39. Preventing cabinet staff from testifying at Parliamentary committees
40. Proroguing Parliament twice, in both cases to save the government’s skin
41. Blaming the opposition for the non-passage of certain bills when, in fact, it was the proroguing of Parliament by Harper that killed those bills
42. Taking no responsibility for the G20 fiasco in Toronto, allowing the trampling of citizens’ rights in the process
43. Spending $1 billion on the G20 fiasco
44. Defending a cabinet minister’s (Bev Oda) lies to Parliament about the changing of a document after it was signed.
45. Using Government Minister’s offices and letterhead to solicit partisan Conservative Party donations
46. Harper’s offhand dismissal of the possibility of the government being found in contempt of Parliament, for the first time in Canadian history: “You win some, you lose some”.
47. The edict to government departments that the “official” name to be used in government correspondence is the “Harper Government”
Ad nauseum…
** I'm still against plying carbon credits to not affect an imaginary threat.
