The Lies Stephen Harper Told Us

He has so many character flaws one hardly knows where to begin. 

He's cold, he's cruel, he's the worst bully this country has ever seen.

But what has always shocked me the most about Stephen Harper is how easily he lies.

Because all you have to do is look at the transcript of this secret meeting to see what I mean.

Stephen Harper’s unpublicized roundtable with ethnic media in Vancouver last week featured a fawning thank you from a refugee reporter, while another journalist asked the prime minister what he would like his “legacy” of greatest achievements to be, according to audio supplied to 24 hours.

When he thought he could get away with it, he lied about his job creation record.

Audio supplied to 24 hours by one of the reporters invited to the roundtable reveals Harper telling the reporters “far more” people are working in Canada now than were working before the recession began. According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate in October 2008 was 6.3% and sat at 7.2% at the end of 2013.

He lied about the temporary foreign workers program. Making it sound like he was part of the solution, instead a major part of the problem...



Harper said Canada needs fewer temporary foreign workers and more permanent foreign workers. “What I say is if you really need temporary workers permanently then that means we need permanent workers who become Canadian,” Harper said, lightly thumping the table. “They have a right to stay here and they have a right to bargain with their employer.”

When in fact he brought them in by the boatload, to drive down wages and bust unions. And so eager is he to have them, he's dropping a ban on employers with criminal convictions 

Employers convicted of human trafficking, sexually assaulting an employee or causing the death of an employee will be allowed to access the Temporary Foreign Worker program after Ottawa decided to back away from a proposed ban.

Even as he claims he's cracking down on human traffickers.

But then why should anyone be surprised eh? When no Prime Minister has ever lied so often, and so blatantly as Stephen Harper has, from the dawn of his days in power.



Starting in 2005 with the case of Alan Riddell, the Conservatives' nominated candidate in the riding of Ottawa South. Who stepped aside after the Cons offered him a $50,000 deal he couldn't refuse. 

Reporters following Harper on the campaign trail promptly asked him about the deal with Riddell. “In fact there is no agreement and he hasn’t been paid anything,” Harper said. When asked again later that day — it was the end of 2005 and Harper was still the kind of guy who might deign to scrum twice in one day — he repeated himself: “The party does not have an agreement to pay Mr. Riddell these expenses, and Mr. Riddell has not been paid anything to date.”

Unfortunately for Harper’s version of events, there was an email trail, which somebody on Riddell’s campaign promptly leaked to reporters. Riddell wound up suing the party for his expenses. On January 11, 2007, Judge Denis Power of Ontario Superior Court ruled “that Alan M. Riddell and the Conservative Party of Canada entered into a binding agreement on November 25, 2005.”So it was clear there was a “binding agreement.” 

It was clear Harper was in the loop. And it was clear that, even after his party’s private business became public, Harper preferred to claim there was no such business. This story is worth repeating because it demonstrates again two of Harper’s work habits: a preoccupation with confidentiality and a willingness to use money to make a problem go away.

And since then he has only continued that pattern of behaviour. Repeating one Big Lie after the other, in the apparent belief that if you repeat anything enough times enough people will believe it.

Like he has in the Commons over and over again, by accusing the NDP of having proposed a "job killing" carbon tax...



When in fact, the NDP never did propose a carbon tax, the Cons did, and Harper knows it.

Because every time he repeats that lie there is almost always a weird smirk on his face. As if he knows he was lying, and not only does he not care, he actually enjoys it.



And now, even as the world faces a climate change emergency, him and his foul regime are still lying through their teeth. Claiming that their efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions are a model for the world.

Instead of those of a pariah nation.

Canada's carbon emissions will soar 38% by 2030 mainly due to expanding tar sands projects, according to the government's own projections. In a new report to the United Nations, the Harper administration says it expects emissions of 815million tonnes of CO2 in 2030, up from 590Mt in 1990. Emissions from the fast-growing tar sands sector is projected to quadruple between 2005 and 2030, reaching 137Mt a year, more than Belgium and many other countries, the report shows.

Who like him cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

Worse, Canada is likely under-reporting its emissions. An investigation in 2013 found that Canada's reported emissions from its natural gas sector, the world's third largest, could be missing as much as 212Mt in 2011 alone.

"Canada appears to have vastly underestimated fugitive emissions (leaks) from gas exploration," possibly because of "inadequate accounting methodology " according to the Climate Action Tracker analysis done by Germany's Climate Analytics, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Dutch-based energy institute Ecofys.

"Inadequate accounting methodology." Doesn't that sound familiar? 

In the Kingdom of the Big Lie, where scientists are muzzled and books are burnt.

Or thrown into dumpsters... 



Where all is false or empty propaganda.

This is just the latest in a stream of propaganda. Lots of advertising, costing lots of money and resulting in absolutely nothing. More vacant activity from the phoney who pretends to be a leader.

And where a morally corrupt Prime Minister lies over and over again, but still expects us to believe he knew NOTHING about the Senate scandal in his own office.

And the good news? As somebody once said, liars need to have good memories.

Because we will not forget.

He thinks he can get away with it. But the truth will catch up with him.

And sooner or later his lies will consume him...



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