The Day Stephen Harper Was Forced to Hide in a Closet

It was a remarkable scene in the House of Commons. Stephen Harper hugging Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau. 

And I must admit I was impressed, because I've never seen Harper look so human.

But then there's nothing like having to cower in a broom closet, while the Con caucus prepares to defend you with spears.

Stephen Harper spent about 15 minutes hidden in a Parliament Hill closet after a gunman stormed Centre Block where he and the rest of the Conservative caucus were guarded by MPs who’d fashioned sharp spears from flagpoles, sources say.

To make a Great Warrior Leader more humble...



Many MPs thought the Prime Minister had managed to get out of the room and didn’t know he was sequestered in what amounted to a cubbyhole. “Someone knew there was a closet there so they stuck him in there,” the source said.

Because it's one thing to be seen as chicken hawk and quite another to be seen as a chicken eh?

And sadly it wasn't long before the not so nice Harper was back with a vengeance.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged more surveillance and detention powers for security forces in Canada on Thursday after a gunman killed a soldier and rampaged through parliament before being shot dead. 

"The objective of these attacks was to instill fear and panic in our country," Harper said. "Canadians will not be intimidated. We will be vigilant, but we will not run scared. We will be prudent but we will not panic." 

Still trying to use fear to give police more powers to invade our privacy. Still trying to make it sound like the dead gunman was part of some gigantic terrorist conspiracy. 

Even though there's no evidence of a conspiracy, and Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was more of a drug addict and a mental patient that your classic terrorist.



Some acquaintances believe he may have suffered from mental illness. “I think he must have been mentally ill,” friend Dave Bathurst told the Globe, saying Zehaf-Bibeau frequently spoke of devils and demons. John Bathurst, a former employer, told the Citizen the man “seemed unstable” and “was not all there.”

And if we had more drug rehabilitation facilities, better mental health resources, more anti-radicalisation programs, and stricter gun laws, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo might still be alive...



Instead of dying in the shadow of the National War Memorial despite the heroic efforts of so many strangers to try to save him. 

Moments after two shots were fired at Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, five people ran towards the danger instead of away from it.

“I said look at what you were doing — you were guarding the dead. You were standing at the cenotaph. I said we’re all so proud of you, your parents are so proud of you, I said your family loves you, everybody here that’s working on you loves you.”

This young boy would still have a father..



Who was raising him alone.

And this national tragedy might have been averted...



Because sometimes it's the little things in life, like the toxic mixture of crack and religion, that can came back to haunt you. And simple harm reduction can be more effective than a Great War on Terror.

But then we know what Stephen Harper thinks about drug rehabilitation programs and gun control. We know he he's a religious fanatic himself. We know he believes that every social problem can be solved by throwing even more Canadians in jail. 

We know that he is still trying to use fear to scare people into voting him. And turn this country into a police state.

We know that when he says "Canadians will not be intimidated" his words ring hollow. Because nobody has intimidated more Canadians than he has.

And we know that although his time in the closet has clearly shaken him up...



So much so that he is now hugging his political opponents, instead of trying to strangle them.

The old Harper will be back soon enough, probably just in time for Halloween.

That one can never be truly human. Or truly Canadian.

Like the ones who rushed to console Nathan Cirillo as he lay dying.

And we will never be truly safe.

Until the day he is defeated....

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