A recent newspaper story is showing some other heavyweight policy thinkers are on the same wave length.
It is an open question if Harper will have broken his own law around fixed election dates. For sure the “fix is in” and he want an election now, on his terms for his advantage and on his timing. Silly citizens who think elections about them have to realize they are the not focus of any Harper election scam.
Maybe there is a legal issue around Harper’s attempt to call an election on such unproven grounds and with no relevant evidence to support this claims in the face of his fixed date election law. Maybe we need to have that question of law put as a Reference to the Supreme Court for a ruling.
The Supremes recently dealt with the BCE privatization matter very expeditiously. No reason to believe they couldn’t do it just as expeditiously. This time it would be for the sake of preserving the Rule of Law and an effective democracy in the land.
In any event we don't know for sure if Harper is breaking the law in his attempt to force an election now. One thing for sure his actions are a breach of trust with the spirit and intent of the fixed election dates law. One thing for sure is that Harper is a promise breaker - and he is about to do that again.
Ken, if you think the average Canadian citizen gives two cents about a fixed election law, then you are clearly delusional. If that is what Dion is running on, he is toast for sure - although it might be too late for him already.
ReplyDeleteA promise breaker versus the party who had the biggest political scandal in Canadian history (and broke their fair share of promises too - remember the GST?).
Ken, your party is going to have to borrow $6 million just to have enough money to fund the campaign. If they lose, your party will be financially bankrupt. I must say I have little sympathy - if they cannot handle their own finances, how can they handle Canada's economy? In fact, Dion has yet to repay those personal loans made to him. Shame.
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteThings have been a bit frantic in "greenland"... so I have not really taken the time to read all your recent posts... but in scrolling down I have been noticing a bit of a weak pattern:
US political issues get responses;
Substance issues in areas of huge change (like telecom) get responses;
But federal Canadian politics swing wildly from some responses to none and the 'discussion' is highly laced with rethoric rather than reasoned discussion;
Ditto but less extreme for Provincial political.
as I write on the board.. 'I will read for meaning, I will read for meaning, I will read...'
smiles, greengirl
Hey Greengirl...thx for the critique. My focus on US politics has been largely because for the past 2 weeks the Dem and GOP conventions have been happening...and not much else.
ReplyDeleteAs for my posts on Canadian issues, let me clarify “the meaning” of my recent rants against Steve. The bunk and bilge coming from our PM over myths of a dysfunctional and a no-confidence Parliament when it has not been sitting for months is demagoguery at its finest. The man’s commitment to personal power shows how far he will go to manufacture a justification to break his promise, if not his law, about fixed election dates.
It shows (yet again) the man cannot be trusted. He clearly sees himself as above the law…even his own laws. Can you imagine what he would do to our democracy and our human rights as citizens if he gets a majority government?
Provincially - what has been going on that rivals the significance of the US and Canadian political agendas? What is there to talk about? The fall session supposedly starts October 14 – the same day of the federal election. I expect a session opening delay of a day or two otherwise nobody will notice our provincial government is even sitting.
As for the Alberta Liberal leadership, it was going to have a tough time getting attention before a federal election. Now the media will bury it’s coverage behind the obituaries…if not in the obituaries.
This blog is a passion but not a vocation...and given my professional obligations I often have to restrict my blog time to ensure I meet my professional duties. Hate to say it but time is always the enemy.
As one readers as said to and about me off- line..."Chapman has an opinion on everything." Guilty as charged. But I don't have to time to express each and every one of my opinions in this Blog...a fact for which I am sure most readers of the Blog are extremely grateful.
As for Anon @ 6:38 - I think Canadians worry about the trustworthiness and character of a Prime Minister who obviously sees himself above the law. It is proven in how he is manipulating the facts for his phony election call.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about Liberals borrowing funds to run this election may be right. But the Cons have already spent millions on negative campaign televisions and radio advertising.
ALL of it has been spent BEFORE the election is official so they don't have to account for the funds under the Elections Act.
Again Harper's thirst for personal political power shows he feels that he is above the law. His obvious contempt for the law of the land is like some pre-Magna Carta divine-right-of-kings Middle-Ages monarch.
If you are telling us the real reason you Con-artists want an election now is to spend $400,000,000.00 of taxpayers money just stay in a minority government and to bankrupt the Liberals in the process, you are in for a surprise from the voters.
Canadians do not want a one-party state, be it Liberal or Conservative. We also don't appreciate such an enormous waste of taxpayer money on, what is arguably, an illegal election, either.
That hard-earned tax money could be better spent on improving heath care or on food inspectors who actually inspect food instead of inspecting company provided reports about privatized food inspection. This ideological idiocy has resulted in thirteen deaths so far...more than Walkerton.
Why does all this election manipulation by Steve Harper bring a scary image of Robert Mugabe to ones mind?
Well the game is afoot, and Ken's over the top fearmongering is heading to new heights. Robert Mugabe has had people killed, thugs hired to expropriate farmers and he bankrupted the country. I think to cast Stephen Harper in the same light as Mr. Mugabe is a little extreme, and doesn't really advance the cause of rational discussion, don't you think? I mean do you really believe that if you met Stephen Harper on the street, he would have his thugs kick the crap out of you simply because they can? That if a Conservative wants your house, he can apply to Harper, and a group of killers show up at your house and throw you out and Rona now has a new house? That this is even a possibility??
ReplyDeleteSeems to me further that someone as devoted a father, married to a sweetheart of a woman, isn't planning to kill you...
You get to be judged by the people you hang out with. Do you sense megalomania, a sense of disrespect for the law, a sense of entitlement on the part of Laureen? You've met her. The kind of guy she would marry and obviously loves would have to be a pretty stand up, pretty decent guy. I think Decency describes Harper. You've met Laureen. Do you honestly believe that she would have ten seconds for the monster you are creating?
Ken - this is your private blog - but it is you PUBLIC private blog. Perhaps a level of realism is in order?
Let me ask you this. As an Albertan who believes, presumably, in accountability, rewarded hard work, and fairness, does the Dion radical fiscal EXPERIMENT not worry you a little? Experiments by their very nature can go wrong. Dion (am I nuts to think for political purposes?)wants to try a completely unproven and highly EXPERIMENTAL new revenue framework based on carbon outputs. Fine. What happens when greenhouse gases are under control? What if there is a brand new breakthrough that captures greenhouse gas, changes it into some other form of useful energy, and so no more production of a product on which your whole fiscal theory is based?
And read the bold print on the Greenshift plan. It says THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ONTARIO, AND ANY OTHER PROVINCE OR SECTOR THAT WE NEED TO WIN SEATS. Billion dollar deals with B.C, Ontario manufacturers off the hook. Gas and oil imports from Venezuala off the hook. The fine print says " this Policy only applies to Alberta and Saskatchewan, and should be completely confused with and mistaken for NEP II". Should you not be just a little worried that Dion, in worrisome fiscal times, wants to try something new and radical that is an energy production initiative that might even dissuade the producers of energy and concomitant green house gas from producing any?
Dion is an academic, not a business guy, not an energy guy, and he runs a bankrupt party that is afoul of Election Canada rules about payback, and could not get the job done when head of the Environment file - not one single damn thing!!
And he wants to try an untested, "making it up as he goes along" new economic plan. This guy scares the hell out of this Albertan, the same way Trudeau and Lalonde did..
Just my random thoughts.....
Crackers - of course Harper is not killing citizens. He is also not doing enough to protect us from risk of unnecessary deaths either. His ideological driven idiocy like cutting back meat inspectors and turning them into paper pushers has resulted in more deaths than Walkerton. This is an example of Harper not knowing what government's role is. He does not even know what a good government is all about.
ReplyDeleteMugabe ignored the election law of his land too and is a danger to democracy. Harper broke his own fixed date election laws for the very reasons he said the laws was needed in the first place. If he suffers a close defeat of a majority expect him to sue Elections Canada - again!
We citizens are in control of the election process and outcome if we get involved. We get to choose if we will still trust a politician who not only acts like a demagogue but is a demagogue.
A demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power. That shoe fits Harper perfectly.
As for Dion - he is hardly untested. He took on Bouchard on the unity of the country and won. He lead the world in Montreal in 2005 to get a world wide consensus - including the USA - on the future of the Kyoto Accord.
He is an accomplished Minister of Environment and the longest serving Federal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in the history of the country. Keep under estimating him. It is his secret weapon.
I don't think that Harper has to prove that Parliament was dysfunctional - us Canadians have been watching more than a year of Liberals sitting on their hands and not bothering to show up to votes in the house. It's about time they all headed back to the voters to have their performance judged by their true bosses!
ReplyDeleteYou avoid the facts my Anonymous misleader...Harper insisted every cockamamie motion and Bill he ever presented was deemed BY HIM AND HIM ALONE to be a matter of confidence. Such Crap! Harper, the Conniving Con-artist at his finest...no respect for Parliament…only for cheap, crass and sinister political tactics. That has come to be proven as the essence of Harper the man. Talk about a small man of Confederation.
ReplyDeleteHe wanted an election but every one knew Canadians did not. They wanted to see if Harper would make this minority government work and thus gain some respect from Canadians.
Harper decided that he didn’t need not respect from no stinkin’ Canadians. His is, and was, all about him as he repeatedly tried to engineer his “defeat.” The singleminded Con-artists goal was to get HIS ELECTION and then blame it on the Liberals. Shabby is the kindest cut one can put on this man.
The dog-in-the-manger Dippers now claim they are the true opposition because they voted “consistently” against Harper’s abuse of Parliament, knowing the Liberals would not trigger an unwanted election.
NOW they claim some kind of superior moral authority is due to them for such dismaying disingenuousness. They should change their name to the Notoriously Deceitful Party.
Now Smilin’ Jack is preposterously passing himself off as some kind of Northern Overexposed Obama-messiah. Please Jack, join Elvis and leave the building before you overdose on hyperbole.