You can't call it Harper...

What doesn’t the Harper government want you to know?

As it turns out, apparently the Harper Conservatives want to keep you from knowing quite a bit. 







The Conservative Party ran on a platform of open responsible and transparent government, but at their current rate they will soon be the most secretive on record.
“Secret meetings”, somewhat of a tradition in majority governments, are becoming more and more regular at the House of Commons.  

Lately, government committees are holding a large percentage of their meetings in camera, denying the public access to what was discussed and decided.
In a number of recent articles, Elizabeth Thompson compared the number of secret meetings held under the liberal and conservative majority governments.

While the Liberals were ahead, the Conservative Government, at their current rate, will soon hold the record as the least transparent government in recent history.

The top three most secretive committees according to Thompson’s article are,

1. The Standing committee Procedure and House affairs which has spent a record 62.7 percent of its time in camera
2. The Standing Committee of Public Accounts at 50 percent
3. The Standing Committee for the Status of Women at 42 percent.

While the Liberal and Conservative governments bicker over who has hidden more from Canadians, the Green Party is the only party asking why they are hiding at all?

Under the leadership of Elizabeth May, we are working to ensure these secret committees are held to account.  Take action in demanding an open, transparent, accountable government today, by to writing Prime Minister Harper, and challenging he follow through on his promise of a transparent government.

The text below is the letter I just sent to Prime Minister Harper. Please feel free to copy my letter and write to the Prime Minister yourself and demand open and accountable government.

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

The Conservative Party ran on a platform of open responsible and transparent government, but at the current rate your government will soon be the most secretive on record.

“Secret meetings”, somewhat of a tradition in majority governments, are becoming more and more regular at the House of Commons. 

Lately, government committees are holding a large percentage of their meetings in camera, denying the public access to what was discussed and decided.

Canada should be a leader in democracy and I write to you to demand an open, transparent, accountable government.

You ran on a promise of transparency and accountability and Canadians expect you to follow through on your promise of a transparent government.

Regards, Mark Daye

The Omnibus Crime Bill is a proven failure.

• The Omnibus Crime Bill is a proven failure. Conservative Texans are warning us not to follow a failed fill-the-prisons approach to justice, and the Canadian Bar Association, representing 37,000 Canadian legal professionals, has said the Bill “would move Canada along a road that has failed in other countries, at great expense”.

• Mandatory sentences backfire. They take precious resources from crime prevention programs and rehabilitation, and turn minor offenders into hardened criminals.

• The Crime Bill will make inequality worse. It's not tough on crime, it’s tough on Canadians suffering from mental illness, addictions, and poverty. It targets youth for harsher punishments, and it will put more Aboriginal people in prison.

• The Crime Bill threatens valuable programs. Mandatory sentences will clog the justice system and fill prisons, forcing the provinces, who pay for most of our justice system, to raise taxes, increase debt, or cut spending on essential programs like health and education.

• Across the country, Canadians are speaking out. Prime Minister Harper claims that Canadians support tough on crime laws, but tens of thousands of Canadians are publicly demanding their provinces refuse to pay for the Crime Bill. Quebec and Ontario have already refused to pay for a strategy that has been tried, and failed.

• We need to make Canada safer, not meaner. To reduce crime we should focus on what's already working - prevention and rehabilitation - and address the major causes of crime by reducing inequality and supporting people who need help. The Conservatives’ cruel Crime Bill will do none of this, and ultimately will make us meaner, and less safe.

http://leadnow.ca/keep-canada-safe

Stephen Harper on Coalition Governments (a few years back)

...parties that want to form government are going to have to learn to work together."

                -Stephen Harper

Why do school kids keep fainting when standing near the PM?

March 1, 2011 - Rodger Cuzner: A Ministerial Statement from Dr. Seuss

This KAIROS issue begs some excuse:
A Ministerial Statement from Dr. Seuss

I must have pulled some shifty scam
To end up in the jam I am

Staff first said 'Yes' -- I cannot lie
But with one word I would deny

How it appeared, it's hard to say
But does it matter anyway?

Top bureaucrats, they did, I think
Inscribe the 'NOT' in deep red ink

They wrote the 'NOT' above the margin
It was not I, as they are chargin'

I had no role, is what I said
I had no role to make it dead

I had no role to stop the cash
It's bureaucrats that you should trash

I do not like this KAIROS bunch
Nor does my boss, that's my best hunch

That's why he put me on the spot
That's why he made me add the 'NOT'

That's what he made me think, I thought
That's why my credibility is shot

Handwriting experts in the field
Provide the truth that should be yield

The hand that changed the 'Yes' to 'No'
Was on the arm of the PMO

Queens Park G20 Demonstration

Yesterday was the Mass Demonstration Calling for an Inquiry to the G20 Summit at Queens Park in Toronto.  I attended along with some members of the Green Party of Ontario from Toronto Centre. The turn out was pretty good with about 150 people attending. Here are some pictures I took, and some of the news items about the event.

I was asked by the makers of this film to make a comment for a follow up they are working on. All in all it was a success and hopefully an inquiry will be called soon.

The Toronto Sun Story

http://underoccupation.com/g20/

Green Party Leader Biking to Montreal To Support AIDS Charity

Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner is raising funds for PWA (People With AIDS) Toronto by taking part in the 12th Annual Bike Rally. The ride takes these fearless fundraisers from Toronto to Montreal. I wish you well Mike. Please join me in supporting Mike by making a donation today.

This is timely considering the International AIDS Conference which took place in Vienna this year ended today, and of course once again our esteemed Prime Minister, Stephen Harper made the news, or didn't when he and his Health Minister were publicly (and rightly so) reprimanded by Dr. Julio Montaner, the Canadian head of the International AIDS Society.

From CBC.CA 

 In his closing address to the International AIDS Conference in Vienna on Friday, conference chief Dr. Julio Montaner slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
"I would also like to have a special word of recognition to the prime minister of Canada, Mr. Stephen Harper … for demonstrating, yet again, their incredible ability to take credit where none is due."
Montaner, one of Canada's most prominent AIDS researchers, said the federal government is "punching well below its weight" in funding international efforts to fight the disease and isn't doing enough to protect Canadians from its spread.  Read the full story here.

Please Sign This Handgun Petition

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/increase-age-of-handgun-ownership.html

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently discovered, three years after the fact, that convicted pedophile Graham James had obtained a pardon, he was concerned enough to interrupt the public safety minister on Easter weekend to discuss changing the pardon laws.


Here's another example of injustice that begs for prime ministerial activism: the case of Stephanie Hoddinott, a young, 20-year-old woman from Midland. Stephanie had a 4.0 GPA in her veterinarian technician program, was smart, beautiful and well-loved.


Full Article Here

Conservative culture of deceit and contempt

Conservative culture of deceit and contempt
The Conservative government under Stephen Harper is showing its true character. Secrecy and intimidation have taken the place of transparency and respect. The examples are too numerous not to see a pattern:

1. Accusing police of corruption for protecting officer safety. In a brazen show of contempt for our police forces, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons Public Safety Committee has said that police chiefs “derive financial support from pro-registry sources” and called them “a cult” for seeking to maintain the gun registry that they access 11,000 times a day to protect officer safety.

2. You’ll get the documents “when they are good and ready.” A Justice Department lawyer refused to even give a date for when specific documents would be provided to the Military Police Complaints Commission’s hearings on the government’s role in the torture of Afghan detainees.

3. Silence regarding Rahim Jaffer’s alleged lobbying activities. The Prime Minister will not say whether Rahim Jaffer, a former Conservative MP and unregistered lobbyist, lobbied any government minister or secretary of state to obtain government grants.

4. Showing contempt for victims of crime. While the Prime Minister doesn’t hesitate to trot out high profile murders to score cheap political points, his government has paid victims lip-service by cutting 41 percent of the budget to Grants for the Victims of Crime Initiative and another 34 percent - $2.7 million – in Contributions for the Victims of Crime Initiative.

5. Refusing to reveal why Helena Guergis was kicked out of cabinet and caucus. A sitting cabinet minister was forced to resign because her conduct while in cabinet had been referred to the RCMP for investigation, yet Stephen Harper still won’t say what alleged criminal activity was happening in his government.

6. Failing grades from the Information Commissioner. While the Conservative government was elected on a platform of transparency and accountability, the Information Commissioner has found this government to be the most secretive in history when it comes to answering Access to Information requests. Canadians await the Commissioner's findings on charges of political interference.

7. Shutting down Parliament when the questions get too tough. In the ultimate act of contempt for Parliament, Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament so he wouldn’t have to face continued questioning on the Afghan detainee torture scandal.

8. Challenging the supremacy of Parliament to cover-up Afghan torture documents. The Conservatives refused to comply with a motion passed by Parliament that would establish a review process for Afghan torture documents that respects national security.

9. Withholding information on government spending. The Conservatives won’t tell the Parliamentary Budget Officer what their baseline departmental spending levels are, denying Parliament the ability exercise oversight on the government’s spending freeze and the cutbacks needed to pay for it.

10. Raising taxes by $13 billion – and then falsely accusing Liberals of raising taxes. While the Conservatives don’t have the guts to admit they’re bringing in a $13-billion payroll tax that will kill 220,000 small business jobs, they have the nerve to portray the Liberal’s plan to freeze corporate taxes as a tax increase.

From The Globe & Mail

Canadians Advocating Political Participation

Thousands Of Canadians Rally for Democracy!

This video posted on Rabble.ca shows some of the thousands of protesters who came out today at Yonge Dundas square in downtown Toronto to let Stephen Harper know they are not please with prorogation of parliament.

I'm was there with several friends, Green Party members, supporters and Green Party Toronto Centre candidate Stefan Premdas.  More pictures coming soon.

If you haven't already joined the Facebook group please do so. This is NOT over! I saw Harper on the new tonight essentially ignoring us and commenting that the opposition should find something constructive to do. This is your Prime Minister people, and his attitude it one of entitlement and condescension towards the voting public. That is YOU!

DO NOT allow this arrogant pig to take away your rights and freedoms. DEMAND that parliament be treated with the respect it deserves!

I will be uploading my own pictures from the rally soon.

Heather Rips On Harper

I came across the following beautiful piece of literature at the UK's Guardian website and had to tell you about it:

"Harper, that strange vengeful man you will see in February clapping awkwardly as Olympians leap off mountains and shoot past in the luge, has been on a mission since his youth to turn Canada into a pale, watery version of the United States of America. Even then, the US was well into its identity-switch into the undereducated, paranoid, self-destructively aggressive overspent mess we watch now with grim fascination."

The editorial by Toronto's Heather Mallick is entitled "Shafting democracy in Canada" it was published on January 1, 2010.  I suggest you read it and do as Heather and I did and join the Facebook Group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament.

We cannot just sit idly by and watch the man treat us like some tyrannical parent treats a child.  Write to your MP! Write to Harper and remind him that the office of PM is an elected office and he represents us, Canadians!

Tory candidate dumped for frank TV comments

A moment of candour has cost Gordon Landon a shot at federal politics.
Landon was dumped Monday as the Conservative candidate for Markham-Unionville after publicly musing the GTA riding was being shut out of federal infrastructure funding because it is held by a Liberal.
The York regional councillor says he complied with a request from the Conservative party to step aside, adding he is not used to people telling him what to say and think.
The news came as Prime Minister Stephen Harper touted his government's progress in rolling out the pro-growth stimulus money announced in the Jan. 27 budget.
Source: The Toronto Star

You may recall the post from September 24th where I predicted Mr. Landon would be punished by Hitler Harper, so this is really no big surprise.

P.M. Responds To Allegations That Stimulus Money Was Misused

Personally I think Stephen Harper is a liar who would lie to his mother's face about anything. I will also post the City News follow up, once the punishment is meted out (its sure to happen).

Canada anger at 'flu body bags'

I see the BBC is reporting on this proud Canadian story.

Canada's health minister has ordered an investigation after body bags were sent to aboriginal reserves as part of supplies to deal with swine flu.

The body bags were delivered this week to First Nation communities in Manitoba province which were hard hit by a swine flu outbreak a few months ago.

Community leaders said they were "horrified" when they saw the bags.

Health officials have apologised for any alarm caused and say the bags were just sent as routine restocking.

My initial post on this story is here.

CDN Gov't ships body bags to natives as Swine Flu preparation package.

Health Canada is admitting that it "erred" when it shipped body bags to a Manitoba native community trying to prepare for the H1N1 flu virus.
Jim Wolfe, regional director with the First Nations and Inuit health branch of the department, said yesterday the bags were part of a shipment intended for reserves to use over the winter and were not "linked exclusively to H1N1."
"We really regret the alarm this incident has caused and it was unintended," Wolfe said. "We order these supplies as a matter of routine business and ... this was part of a very normal restocking process."
But Grand Chief David Harper says he's not satisfied. Harper, who represents northern First Nations, said they want an apology from Aglukkaq and they want Wolfe's resignation.
Saying the body bags were part of a routine shipment is "an excuse that is totally unacceptable," Harper said. "We don't even accept his apology. The only apology that we'll accept is from the minister responsible for health and well-being of our First Nations."
Source: thestar.com

This dispicable act is about as close to an actual admission of how the Harper government really feels about the Canadian native population.

Adolf Harper Loses It

Video Exposes 'Real Harper'

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's opponents say a closed-door speech in which he says a majority is within Conservatives' reach and laments the possibility of left-wing ideologues in federal courts and agencies reveals his true colours.

"There have always been two Harpers," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said yesterday. "The real Harper always comes out when he thinks he can't be heard."

Ignatieff said a video of Harper speaking to a Tory audience last week shows him as "contemptuous of other political parties" and "spiteful" toward the "institutions that guarantee our freedoms."

"He treats every adversary as a public enemy who has to be destroyed, and so you wonder why it's difficult for me to continue to support him?" Ignatieff told a Montreal news conference.

While Harper's language in the Sept. 2 meeting with Conservative supporters is blunt, his message about a majority is one internal party polls suggest has resonance after five years of minority governments, sources say.

His political rivals say the tape is proof Harper never intended to make Parliament work.

Source: thestar.com

I have always said he is evil, and I stand by my opinion.