I must admit I'm finding Harperland this week a little strange and rather depressing. Or should I say even stranger and more depressing than usual.
For although we could be just two months away from the start of an election campaign, as I pointed out yesterday. You'd never know, it's eerily quiet out there.
It's like the so-called phony war, when Britain and Nazi Germany declared war on each other, and nothing happened for months.
And in this country, as parliament prepares to take a five-month break, the only thing breaking the silence, or breaking wind, is the horrible sound of the NDP and the Liberals fighting each other.
“It’s just our Liberal and Conservative adversaries using their majority to try to frustrate the party that’s coming up in the polls and doing well compared to the two old line parties,” Mulcair said following the weekly NDP caucus meeting.
“What people expect from their leaders is that when you make a mistake, you own up to (it), you apologize for it and you make it right. You fix it,” Trudeau said following his own party’s caucus meeting.
Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau slugging it out, to the obvious delight of Stephen Harper...
Later in the Commons, Harper got into the act as he deflected a question from Mulcair about disgraced Sen. Mike Duffy. The prime minister asserted that Canadians wonder why Mulcair “continues to justify” improperly using $3 million in parliamentary funds and why he’s “not being willing to pay it back and not being willing to apologize or reverse course.”
Which to somebody like me, who is only interested in toppling the mad emperor, couldn't be more depressing. And of course this doesn't help.
Vocal opposition to, painstaking review of, and widespread protest against Bill C-51 have had some negative impact on Canadian support for the anti-terror legislation, but a clear majority still say they favour it.
In fact, in my depressed condition it had me wondering for a moment, are we REALLY all hippies?
Or worse, wondering whether this Harperland nightmare is going to end in the same way, and with the same last line, as Orwell's 1984 did...
But then I thought, no, no, it's not THAT bad. And neither is that poll:
Among the 45 per cent who are today reporting they’re less engaged on this issue – either only scanning headlines, or not following it at all, support for C-51 is in the 85 per cent range. By contrast, a slim majority of Canadians following the issue most closely today oppose C-51 (55% versus 45% support).
All it says is that the more Canadians know about the bill, the more they loathe it. So we just have to keep up the pressure, and get the message out.
And it can still do our would be Big Brother great damage.
And as for the NDP and the Liberals, when they're not trying to kill each other, they're still working together to expose Stephen Harper as a grubby Con artist.
Opposition leaders suggested Wednesday Canadians shouldn't believe Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he says he'll consider expanding the Canada Pension Plan, since he has been against the idea for years.
Harper is still afraid to debate BOTH of their leaders.
And starting next week Great Chicken Leader will be running from them AND Mike Duffy...
When his trial resumes on Monday.
And the best news is that after the election the NDP and the Liberals will almost certainly be forced to work together even MORE closely, to form a coalition government and topple the Con regime.
Which will make me very happy, because I've always wanted to see a broad coalition of progressives working together, to drive the Cons from power, and make sure they never come back. For the day we are united that IS what will happen.
And when I see the most ferocious partisans in both parties being forced to be nice to each other, I will roar with laughter. And try to make THEM laugh at the irony of it all.
If they both promise not to kill me eh?
Hey, who said I'm depressed?
The orange and red tulips are pushing themselves painfully out of the dry ground...
And I believe those are the greens in the background.
The future looks promising.
And next week will be better...
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20 comments:
If trudy wasn't running a spoiler campaign for harper, this election would be another Orange Crush on a federal level. But with the so-called "progressive party" of liberocons (a.k.a. heil harper lite) runnong a trash campaign against the NDP, it keeps the rubes focused on the fray rather than letting them focus on the real prize--getting the filthy cons out of power for a long time, if not forever! I wonder how much harper is contributing to the liberocon warchest?
"A clear majority of Canadians still support C51"? Who ran that fucking poll? jason kenney and joe oliver?
Probably had calandra counting the votes and we all know how honest and reliable he is!
Simon,
Don't be depressed spring is here and it is time to 'spring' into action against these 'unbalanced' Harper-cons,
See my post that i posted on your blog about the brain and where Harper and his pals are coming from. Take heed succeed and know you are more mentally balanced than they are.
Mogs
Great Leaders usually have divided opposition
Simon, I presume you've seen the Star's Khadr interview? http://projects.thestar.com/omar-khadr-in-his-own-words/index.html
I've lived in countries where coalition governments are the norm. That doesn't prevent parties that might be in the same coalition "attacking" each other, or one could just say criticising each other. I don't think it is a problem. Everyone seems to want the back of Harper; the problem is more whether he will pull any dirty tricks such as exploiting some kind of "terror" crisis.
The NDP is fighting in court about those ridiculous charges, and instead of keeping his yawp firmly closed, as would any other intelligent Lib leader in the face of the blatant corruption of the FedLibs in the past, no, he drinks Harper's KoolAid...
You think they will learn to work together? I hope that Junior T has his moment of enlightenment sooner rather than later, before Harper slithers up the middle...
Harperland works on the principle that people are politically stupid, have very short memories and react strongly to short messages that play on base instincts such as fear, greed, herding instincts, mistrust, etc. They have captured the votes of the far right and certain ethic groups with past antics now its time to soften the image and go for the more rational conservative population with short bursts of targeted propaganda. Fortunately this time around more voters smell a rat and media has picked up on the dichotomy between policy and reality. Current examples are the monstrous memorial to victims of communism while signing secretive trade deals with China whose past policies supposedly accounted for over 50% of the victims, the Action Plan compared to the gutting of Canadian manufacturing jobs and record monthly trade deficits, the list goes on ...
Regarding support for C51 from people uninformed about it, there's a great deal of disbelief along the lines of "it can't be *that* bad!" or "no, they'd never do that/can't do that" and other such deflections.
Spreading information is the only way we can win. "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act". The Orwell references to Harper's government and his Canada are not hyperbole, they're terrifyingly apt.
As I say, "1984 was meant to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual'.
oh, well, at least we have Joe Oliver saying he wishes they could "lossen" labour laws and lay off people more easily. Then that was clarified to mean only in Greece. Ya, right. Lets hope some one does a nice campaign around that one. Joe would love to be able to "lossen" labour laws. Then we could all work for $2 an hr. no health and safety laws, and no min. age for children. ah, the good old days Would make the Communist Chinese corporations really happy.
People ought to remember Steve and his cons plan to take $30 billion out of medical system in 2017. with higher costs of living, lower levels of income where do people think they will get money to pay for their medical care? I know in B.C. the provincial government won't be making up the difference. They are too busy giving money to mining companies.--they give them more than they take in from them.
hi anon...the sad truth is that both parties are guilty of ultra partisan behaviour. It's what happens when progressives are divided. Most of my friends are like that, so I know it's not because they are bad people. But at a time like this one it couldn't be more unfortunate. So I wish that they could all say something like this:
"We have our differences, we each believe that our party offers the best alternative, and we leave it up to you to decide which one you believe is more capable of giving this country the government it deserves. But we also want to be clear that unlike Stephen Harper and his Cons we all believe in our precious Canadian values, we are not enemies just political opponents. And the only enemies are the Harper Cons who are brutalizing our Canada and its values."
At this time that would satisfy me, but I will never be satisfied until the day we are united, for as I said in my post that will be the day we crush the Cons and remove them from office, until the day they too embrace our Canadian values. I realize that position means I will be attacked by partisans from both sides, but I must stand up for the truth as I see it...
hi Mogs...don't worry, if I occasionally get depressed it doesn't last long. I am too full of hope and optimism in the future to mope, or heaven forbid give up. So those Con bastards will never get me down.... :)
hi Steve....maybe they do, but Harper is no great leader, and in this country our division is what's helping to keep him in power...
hi lagatta....yes I saw the Khadr story and I couldn't have been more moved. I can't believe that someone who has been brutalized for so long has been able to hold on to his humanity like he has. He is in my opinion an outstanding young Canadian, and I wish him all the luck in the world.
As for coalitions, I have always believed that in a country like Canada that was forged by our lost genius for compromise, they couldn't be more Canadian. But at this time, when our country is in such great danger, I think that progressives need to rise above cheap partisanship, and be as noble as they can....
hi mizdarlin....I am very disappointed by the decision of that kangaroo court. And I hate to see Liberals or NDPers siding with the Cons. And to do the same old thing over and over again, when we know what the consequences could be, is simply insanity. Especially since as I point out in that post, the chances are both parties will eventually have to work together to bring down the Cons. Let's please rise above our petty differences and put our country first...
hi anon...yes unfortunately you sum up the situation only too well, and it couldn't be more depressing. We really need to raise our sights, appeal to the best in Canadians, and combine forces to dump those ghastly un-Canadian Cons in the garbage can of history where they belong...
hi Noah...that has been the problem from the day the Cons came to power, the belief that it couldn't happen here. When I first started blogging I was ridiculed by many for insisting it could happen here. So I am tempted today, to say to them what do they think now, and who was "over the top?" But that would be arrogant and unfair because I understand why they felt that way. The Cons were like a virus the body doesn't recognize, and when many Canadians finally started to realize how dangerous they were it was almost too late. And yes, now we are living in an Orwellian nightmare...
hi e.a.f...yes I saw what Oliver said, and will include that in my next post. Those monstrous Cons would turn this country into a low wage nightmare, and turn workers into slaves. That's why I am such a strong supporter of the union movement. For as they always have been, they are in the front lines fighting to keep those right-wing bastards from turning us into a jungle....
Coalition governments are the most democratic form of Parliamentary government. Ask any political scientist. Parties are "forced" to work together and compromise (compromise is NOT a dirty word, as the Harpercons would have you believe). Legislation gets passed that the majority of citizens actually support, unlike our present "majority" government.
http://campaign2015.fairvote.ca/
Tony Clement (Minister of the Treasury Board) showed his idiocy during question period yesterday when he said contract "negotiations" (actually it's MEDDLING!) with government employees should be "good for the employees and good for the taxpayer." Since when is wanting to drastically reduce/eliminate their sick days an example of being good for the employees???
If the polls a week or two before the election show the Cons in second or third place, will Harper put pressure on the RCMP to arrest some "potential" (not actual) terrorists/ or stage a false flag operation, and then say: "See? Only the Cons and Bill C-51 can keep you safe!"
way to go simon way to go... ;)
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