I see Pierre-Karl Péladeau's decision to run for the Parti Quebecois in the Quebec election has sent shockwaves rolling across the country.
With some in the media predicting trouble for Stephen Harper and his ghastly Con regime.
Pierre Karl Péladeau’s emergence as a superstar Parti Québécois candidate represents a seismic shock for not only Quebec politics. The millionaire media mogul’s decision to actively promote sovereignty threatens to rock Stephen Harper’s government and possibly the entire country.
But nobody seems to be pointing out that the greatest threat to national unity is Stephen Harper himself.
For not only is he ill-equipped to fight for Canada in a referendum crisis.
“Pierre Karl could be the Lucien Bouchard of the next Quebec referendum,” explained a leading Quebec federalist who worries that Mr. Péladeau’s high profile as a celebrity, and credibility as a successful businessman, would be more than a match for the deeply unpopular Mr. Harper on the campaign trail.
Nobody has done more than he has to divide Canadians, and undermine the unity of this country.
He has alienated Quebec with his right-wing policies, he has demeaned and denigrated the Atlantic provinces, he has helped destroy the economic strength of Ontario, he is trying to force a pipeline upon BC, even though most of its people don't want it.
And his Big Oil economic policies have only favoured his precious Alberta.
When it comes to job creation in Canada, there's Alberta and then there's everybody else. The latest employment data for February showed the oil-rich western province created an impressive 18,800 jobs, largely in construction, mining and oil and gas, while in the rest of the country overall employment fell.
While crippling the economies of most of the other provinces.
As the Statistics Canada report issued Friday showed, Alberta is responsible for almost all the new net jobs generated in the past year — 82,300 of the 94,700 countrywide, or 87 per cent — as the province saw employment rise an impressive 3.8 per cent.
By comparison, provinces not called Alberta only gained about 12,000 which, for the purposes of the agency's survey, constitutes a rounding error.
Destroying the lives of hundreds of hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers, just like he was doing today in South Korea.
Our new FTA w/ the Republic of Korea will boost trade & investment between our two nations. #cdnpoli #Seoul pic.twitter.com/BGSrvZgEdX
— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) March 11, 2014
Signing another lousy trade deal that could kill even more jobs in Canada.
But then why should anyone be surprised eh? When Harper has always been an Alberta separatist. And was one of the authors of this firewall letter (PDF)
A declaration of war on Canada if ever there was one.
And since he has come to power he has done nothing to strengthen any national programs, or the role of the federal government in keeping this country together.
Because as he has also made it clear in the past he doesn't give a damn:
Whether Canada ends up as one national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion… And whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or ten governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be.
All he wants to do is kill government, even if that means dismantling medicare.
Or refusing to strengthen the Canada Pension Plan, and driving some provinces to create their own supplementary plans.
Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to enhance the Canada Pension Plan after Prince Edward Island and Manitoba joined Ontario’s efforts to boost retirement income.
For let's be clear, what we are witnessing here is the fragmentation of our country, and the slow destruction of the national ideal.
And what I fear the most is that since he has no seats to gain in Quebec, where he is hated with a passion, he could campaign against the province in the next federal election.
By harnessing the yellow streak of anti-Quebec bigotry in the rest of the country, just like he did during the coalition crisis.
Even if that played into the hands of the separatists in any referendum campaign, and gave them the extra boost they needed to win.
Because once again he doesn't give a damn about national unity, and he knows that if Quebec left, the rest of the country would be Con FOREVER.
Even though as things stand now, most Quebecers know that they can be proud Canadians, as well as proud members of the Québécois nation.
More than 60 per cent of Quebecers would vote “No” in a referendum on Quebec’s sovereignty if it was held immediately, a new CROP poll commissioned by Radio-Canada shows.
So will they be forced to make a choice most don't want to make? I have no idea.
But what I do know is that I love this big country with all my heart.
And that Stephen Harper is now singularly unfit to lead it.
His resignation must be demanded, or he will continue to divide and undermine it as the separatist-in-chief. This country he hates so much.
Until the day he finally destroys it...
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This year Alberta will see its transfer payment increased by a billion and Ontario decreased by a billion on a simply arbitrary move. Ontario, be like Quebec, do not support the hand that is slapping you down.
ReplyDeleteharper doesn't even serve Alberta. He serves the petro-state. And Bay Street doesn't need Canada either.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it is we either destroy the Harperites or the Harperites will destroy Canada. Sad to say, but It seems to be a 50-50 proposition right about now. We Canadians will have to decide if we believe in the idea of a united Canada - or not.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you caught my latest post on the Peladeau Jr affair. As I was writing it and updating it, the more questions I have. I will do a follow up post this week.
ReplyDeleteFirst, in case you haven't read it, http://sistersagesmusings.ca/2014/03/09/pierre-karl-peladeau-running-for-pq-rene-levesque-must-be-rolling-in-his-grave/
A few questions journalists don't seem to be asking, not even on Twitter as far as I can see, and they really should.
Pierre Paquette, former Bloquiste and more importantly, served in the executive of CSN in the 90s, including the post of secretary general. He is running in near by l'Assomption against ol' Franky Legault of CAQ. I am wondering how PIerre Paquette could stand to run in the same party as Peladeau? CSN was a particular union Peladeau had pissed off during his tenure.
Oh Paquette can say that he and Peladeau share one common goal -- separation. However, Paquette could've run for Quebec Solidaire which would've been a better fit.
I would be curious to see how Quebec's labour unions will act? In the past, they had always backed the PQ. Will they back it still, given Paquette's entry? Or will they bow out?
The FTQ yesterday came out swinging saying that Peladeau was one of the "worst employers of Quebec" and after the lock outs and his doing all to contravene Quebec's anti-scab laws implemented by Rene Levesque in 1978 (see the irony here?). The FTQ, to my knowledge is not backing anyone. Not even Quebec Solidaire which I find puzzling. They would be an ideological match.
Haven't heard from or about the others to this day.
Another thing that media is not talking about, but provided a refresher in the above linked post was Peladeau's buddiness with Harper. More specifically, how Quebecor received half a billion in subsidies without having to be accountable for what happened to that money. That was a story that came out in 2011 while Peladeau was slamming the CBC/RadCan's funding, along with demanding that coveted must carry license for Stun News.
there is more, which I will have to explore over at my own place when I find the time, soon, I hope.
If you take a hard look at Park and her ideologies (vis a vis her wonderful father) and the way corporations like Hyundai treat their workers and the phenomenal arrogance of the ruling "chaebol" class in S. Korea, you will get a real clear picture of harpie's intent for Canada with this and other really shitty-for-Canada so-called "trade agreements", Simon.
ReplyDeleteI suggest that you look at the CSN's own web page (also the CSQ, which used to be the CEQ teachers and educational staff federation). I believe that the Montréal Central Council of the CSN has already come out in favour of Québec solidaire, and I'll try to keep on top of this.
ReplyDeleteThe FTQ has long had ties with the PQ (even material ones) so I'm sure there is a lot of covert opposition in that labour federation to outright support for Québec solidaire. A very prominent FTQ official, Claude Généreux, will be standing for QS in a northeastern Mtl riding (Bourassa-Sauvé), along with André Frappier the longtime postal union leader just west of there in Crémazie, and a younger FTQ unionist, Édith Laperle (in Outremont).
Oh, Péladeau playing both sides of the fence (in "national" terms; ideologically he is committed to the hard right) will have lots of funny repercussions...
Quebec is not the only place where harper is hated with a passion.
ReplyDeleteI'm baffled....so ..I'm playing .Conspiracy Theory- ( can never be too paranoid with Harper) Maybe Harper is resigning, or at the very least knows he'll never get a majority again. Maybe the thought of a Liberal government has made him crack and given his pathological hatred of the Liberals, especially Trudeau Liberals, maybe he has colluded with PKP to destroy the country?. Harper is like Canada's psycho soon to be ex lover, and he just may be planning to commit murder suicide...cause if he can't have Canada....no way a Trudeau can
ReplyDeleteThanks @Lagatta a Montreal. I will definitely look all of that up and I am planning a follow up post at my site probably tonight or tomorrow; Thursday at the latest.
ReplyDeleteI still have to check with some of my aquaintances.
No way will Harper resign. He will lie, deceive, sneak and use every dirty tactic in the book, to stay in office. Harper is the front man for the NAU. Harper is rabid to be a big shot on the International scene, with all of his power and glory. Harper will most certainly cheat to win this next election too. Harper has stacked the decks, with his degenerates, just as he did the last election.
ReplyDeleteThe 3 Amigo's just had another meeting.
Kerry signals another advance on, the NAU plan
01/28/2014
It is the corporations that are demanding the NAU. Harper has also been sneakily working on the TPP. This is another corporate give-a-way. This gives corporations a, hell of a lot more power. Herr Harper and his evil cabal are going to, destroy Canada as a sovereign country.
However? Neither are the opposition doing anything about Harper's cheap foreign labor, taking our Canadian resource jobs. They are doing nothing about, the evil dictator Harper selling this country out either. They are all standing by while, Harper is giving our sovereign country away. Harper should be charged as a traitor doing acts of treason. Yet, he is still in office and I would like to know why?
...'there's Alberta, PRISONS, and then everybody else.' Native youth- graduating to jail, instead of from high-school, do not get the phoney jobs offered them, in return for questionable resource development. I say, happy trails to the separatist Alberta Texacrats- heavily armed for Wayne La Pierre and Alex Jones!- and don't come back...
ReplyDeleteSimon wrote: "Even though as things stand now, most Quebecers know that they can be proud Canadians, as well as proud members of the Québécois nation."
ReplyDeleteAnd one of the very few things I will give Harper credit for is the Québécois nation motion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Québécois_nation_motion
The Québécois nation motion was a parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 and approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, November 27, 2006.
The English motion read: "That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada."
and, in French, read:
"Que cette Chambre reconnaisse que les Québécoises et les Québécois forment une nation au sein d'un Canada uni."
Harper said we wouldn't recognize Canada when he was through and he is correct. We don't see this as the country we knew. So when Quebec decides to go its own way, the rest of Canada may not feel there is anything left worth saving. Having always been against Quebec leaving, its part of my Canada, this time I'd understand if they wanted to leave. Once Quebec leaves, there will be other provinces who want to leave, if for no other reason the federal government and all those free trade agreements are dong nothing for them.
ReplyDeleteOntario hasn't benefited from there these not so free trade agreements. If Quebec leaves, who knows, Ontario might want to also. That would leave Harper to find another capital. That ought to be fun. He can move it to Alberta.
Harper has dismantled many organizations we thought of as making us Canadian. Hockey isn't enough.
I agree with you a million percent Simon; the biggest threat to national unity and the loudest proponents of Quebec independence are loudmouth, redneck rightwing yahoo anti-French anglophone Reform Party bigots. And NOBODY fires up the anti-Quebec rednecks better than Harper and his Reform O Cons, aided by Peladeau and his repellent media cabal of Quebecor, Sun and Canoe.
ReplyDelete