The Harper Regime and the Light in the Darkness

It was almost dark when I got back to the waterfront. A cold wind was whipping across the lake. But I could see the lights of the boat coming to pick me up.

Just like with only ten days to go, I think I can see the light at the end of our long Harperland nightmare.

For what a difference a day can make.

In one of my last posts I wrote how worried I was about an EKOS poll that suggested the Cons were ahead in Quebec. And how concerned I was that the Cons were already trying to suppress the vote.

But yesterday a poll from Leger, which I trust more than EKOS in Quebec, showed a quite different result. 

The Liberals have caught up to the NDP in Quebec, as voters in the province increasingly see Justin Trudeau’s team as the party most likely to defeat the Conservatives, according to the latest Léger poll.

The Liberals and the NDP were tied at 28 per cent support each in Quebec, according to a poll done between Monday and Wednesday. The Bloc Québécois was at 23 per cent and the Conservatives at 20 per cent.

The Liberals have moved into the lead, and the Cons are in fourth place behind the Bloc...



Which will teach me to doubt my people.

The Liberals have also moved into first place for the first time on the CBC's tracking poll.



And the even better news is that far from being suppressed, voters seem ready to head to the polls in very strong numbers.

Canada's chief electoral officer sees positive signs that voters are keenly engaged in the election, including students and citizens living abroad.

"We see more people voting by mail, more people voting from abroad, more people having a vote on campus," he told host Rosemary Barton. "This week in the first three days we had 42,000 students who voted," he said. "So all across we see Canadians quite engaged, and that's good as far as I'm concerned." 

Including a lot of young voters...



Today almost six-hundred academics will be running this ad in newspapers across Canada to denounce Stephen Harper's bigot game. 

We are a diverse group of academics with different political views and different political allegiances. We are united by a common interest in the integrity of democratic processes and a concern about the ugly and dangerous turn we have recently witnessed in the election campaign. 

In democratic electoral politics there is an ethical line that distinguishes spirited partisan strategy from cynical tactics that betray the values of mutual respect and toleration that lie at the heart of civil democratic discourse.

And it all suggests a massive wave is forming that will sweep the Cons away. 

For the greater the number of Canadians who vote, the less chance Stephen Harper has of remaining in power...




Which as Carol Goar points out, couldn't come too soon. For the damage he has done to this country and its character couldn't be greater.

Before Harper took power, Canadians were not a fearful people. We did not obsess over criminals in our communities, terrorists infiltrating our borders, bogus refugees exploiting our generosity or foreign wars threatening our security. We took reasonable precautions and got on with life. We trusted our fellow-citizens and gave refugee claimants a fair hearing. Now all of that is gone — dismissed as hopelessly naïve and unworldly.

The list goes on: No prime minister has treated Canada’s Charter of Rights as an inconvenience he could ignore, challenge or test at taxpayers’ expense. No prime minister has sicced federal tax auditors on charities that protect the environment, speak for the poor, or fight for freedom of expression. No prime minister has stripped judges of their discretion to sentence lawbreakers. No prime minister has treated Canadian citizenship as a benefit that can be revoked at will by the government. No prime minister has forbidden federal scientists to share their findings with their international peers or the public.

But now at last there are signs that his monstrous reign is almost over.

And judging by the look on his face after a demonstrator rushed the stage last night, I think he finally knows it.



Finally understands how much he is despised, and that his days are numbered.

We will still have to work very hard to get out the vote in the next ten days.

And we will have to make sure that the Cons don't try to steal the election.

But I think Canadians are finally rising up. And if you'll forgive me for repeating a video, and excuse the language.

After what he has done to this country and its values.

I think this is their message...



Ten days to go.

Ten days before we get our country back.

Ten days to freedom...



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