Stephen Harper"s Outrageous Assault on Radio Canada

We know how much Stephen Harper hates the CBC. We know how he has slashed its budget, until it's swimming in its own blood.

We know what he recently said about it:

"First we’re going to get them on their knees and then we’re going to restructure them.”

But now he has taken aim at Radio-Canada, and made a huge and possibly fatal mistake. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says "a lot" of Radio-Canada employees "hate" conservative values. Harper says those values that are loathed by many employees of CBC's French-language network are the same ones that he says are supported by a large number of Quebecers.

Because although the CBC has a lot of detractors in English Canada, Radio-Canada is extremely popular in Québec. It is considered a vital part of the province's French-speaking culture. 

So that kind of talk will go down like a lead balloon.

Or the ravings of a maniac...



"I remain convinced that Quebecers are not leftists, contrary to the image conveyed by some media or the opposition parties," Harper says in the interview. "I understand that there are many at Radio-Canada who hate these values, but I think that these values are the true values of a large percentage of Quebecers."

I'm not surprised that Harper has made such a mistake, because the widespread  support for the war on violent religious fanatics has emboldened him. 

Voters in the normally pacifist province have lined up squarely behind C-51, with 74 per cent expressing support for the bill in a Léger Marketing online poll conducted earlier this month. Quebeckers have usually been the most militarily reticent Canadians; nearly three-quarters opposed Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. But fully 62 per cent now back Canada’s role in Iraq bombing Islamic State targets.

But that's only because Quebecers are more secular and have less tolerance for religious fanatics that many in the rest of Canada. And the fact that the two soldier killers came from Quebec has both shocked and outraged them:

Last fall’s attacks on soldiers in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and Ottawa, both perpetrated by radicalized lone wolves from Quebec, have concentrated minds in the province. Intercepting would-be terrorists seems to have taken precedence over the protection of civil liberties.

But that emotional reaction will subside, and it doesn't change the fact that Quebec is still a bastion of Canadian values, the most anti-Con province in the country.



And their Quebecois values will NEVER be Stephen Harper's values.

And since the Liberals are supporting Bill C-51, while the NDP is planning to oppose it, if this has any effects on voting patterns it can only help the Liberals win more seats in the province. And make a Liberal majority more likely.

Especially since the reaction has already begun...



With this cartoon Harper saying "They love me, they love me not. They don't love me at all. They really don't love me."

And many of the provinces's best known artists and journalists putting out this video tonight with the message let's save Radio Canada Together...



That reaction can only grow in the coming days, and what it effectively means is that Great Desperate Leader has just shot himself in the foot. The political genius.

In a crass attempt to try to divide Quebecers, inflame the terrorist situation, and hang on to his tiny Con fort in the Quebec City region, he has only reminded the rest of the province why they hate him so much. 

He tried to bully Radio-Canada like he has bullied the CBC, but forgot that in Quebec people fight for the institutions they love.

And so I predict he will end up badly...



Not in a pool of blood like the CBC, but in a pool of his own excrement.

Yup. You can count on it. Québec will not let us down.

They will lead the charge against the Harper Cons as they have in every single election since they came to power.

And they will help us defeat them...

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