Stephen Harper and the War on Russia and Tom Mulcair

Well I suppose it was inevitable. He would pose as a Great Warrior Leader, and promote democracy in Ukraine, if not in Canada.

He would beat his tiny furry chest, send troops, planes, and ships to the region, and talk tough to the sinister dwarf Vladimir Putin.

In relentless pursuit of the ethnic vote.

Only to see his grand plan to bring Putin to his knees, with a barrage of "crippling sanctions" to be fired out of every orifice, exposed as a hollow farce. 

Despite Canada's aggressive tone with Russia amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it appears the federal government is not putting all of its money where its mouth is — at least, not when it comes to sanctions.

At least three Russian businessmen with close ties to President Vladimir Putin have curiously been excluded from Canada's sanctions list, calling into question the government's tough stance over Ukraine.

And so soon after declaring: 

"We will not shape our foreign policy to commercial interests."

But then as I said at the beginning, it was inevitable. 

It was always going to be harder to push Putin around, than it was to bully Tom Mulcair. 



For Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, the temptation to use their majority to administer some of his own medicine to NDP leader Thomas Mulcair — the government’s chief torturer in the House of Commons — must have been irresistible. 

Only a misguided spirit of retribution could have led the governing party to treat the housekeeping matter of the NDP’s decision to set up satellite parliamentary offices under the same roof as its Montreal and Toronto partisan operations as an issue worthy of a star chamber.

Because let's be absolutely clear, that's what that foul spectacle was: a grotesque and unprecedented abuse of Parliament, and a disgraceful attempt to bully the Leader of the Opposition.

And the only thing I can't figure out is why someone like Chantal Hébert should think that Mulcair should have treated his McCarthyite interrogators with due deference, instead of as he did, with the contempt they deserved.



On Thursday morning, a half a dozen Conservative and Liberal MPs spent two hours grilling the leader of the official opposition as if he were a common thief and he, in return, treated them as so many common worms just waiting to be crushed under the heel of his cutting rhetoric.

With a performance that often bordered on patronizing arrogance, Mulcair is unlikely to have earned many new friends outside of the ranks of the converted.

Because the ONLY story here is that unprecedented abuse of parliament. The only way to deal with bullies is to pound them as hard as you can.

And I'm sure Mulcair made a lot of new friends with the way he crushed the Con worm and religious fanatic Stephen Woodworth under the heel of his cutting rhetoric.

Or his quotable quotes.



“I guess we underestimated the extent to which you are capable of making something out of nothing...If only you knew anything about statutory interpretation and the interpretation of documents.” 

“Mr. Chair, I would appreciate it if Mr. Woodworth were to provide Anne McGrath, our party general secretary, with his address so we can share the fee of our attorneys. I thank him for proving our case for us.”

My favourite being this one:

“I’m giving you a full answer, coco”

Because that's all those foul Cons deserve eh?

Their War on Russia may have been short-lived, but their War on Canada and its values has gone on long enough...



And it will probably get worse before it gets better, because there is a lot of talk out there about the possibility of an early election.

So we better be ready.

You know, tonight as I walked home from work, finally free from my crutches, I came across this amazing sight...



It's part of a campaign to encourage people to visit Alberta. 

And it made me smile, and filled me with warm thoughts about our cowboy compatriots.

This is still an amazing young country, and we all deserve so much better.

Down with the bully Cons.

Have a great Two-Four Weekend everybody !!!!

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