The Census Fiasco and the Final Humiliation of Stephen Harper

It seems only fitting that on his last day as Con leader Stephen Harper should leave through a door darkly, while being humiliated over and over again. 

In the same manner he ruled and humiliated this country, its people and their values, for nine nightmarish years.

First he had to humble himself before his shrunken caucus, by accepting the blame for the Conapocalypse that booted them all from office.

Then he was caught by some reporters making a quick getaway only a few minutes after ending his short speech. 



In a desperate attempt to avoid the media which only made him look ridiculous, cowardly, or just pathetic.

But what must have humbled and hurt him the most, was the new Liberal government's decision to choose the day of his departure to announce the return of the long-form census. 

For nothing Stephen Harper did in all his ghastly years in power was more personal, or revealed more about him, than his decision to gut the census for no sane reason.

He had his abominable stooge Tony Clement do the dirty work for him. Claim that the the Cons had been inundated with complaints.



And when it was revealed that there had in fact been only a handful of complaints, claim outrageously that even one was too many. 

Industry Minister Tony Clement acknowledged Wednesday it may well be that only a minority of Canadians support the government’s decision to scrap the long-form census — but he says that’s good enough.

But as Tom Walkom wrote at the time, the census fiasco was really all about Stephen Harper.



It is the arbitrary and secretive nature of the government’s decision that strikes a chord. It reminds those who are suspicious of Harper why they still don’t trust him.

Worse still, the otherwise inexplicable census decision leaves Harper open again to charges of being ideological—of pandering to a shadowy grouping usually referred to as his hard-line base.

And of course it should have served as a warning about the madness that would come later. Warned Canadians that a leader who could gut a census was quite capable of muzzling scientists.

Or using ignorance as a weapon against his own people...



So he could leave us stumbling around blindly in the darkness...



While he stealthily dismantled this country...



Or as he did yesterday, scuttle like a spider out of Ottawa on his long way back to Alberta.

Leaving his hapless stooge Tony Clement to declare pathetically that the decision to gut the census was in retrospect an unfortunate mistake.



The new Liberal government is bringing back the mandatory long-form census, and the former Conservative minister who was responsible for its cancellation in 2011 says, in hindsight, he would have done things differently.

Mr. Clement told reporters on Thursday that the decision to bring in a voluntary census had been made “collectively” in 2010 by the Conservative government. In hindsight, he said, “I think I would have done it differently.”

Which coming from the slavish stooge Clement must have been for Harper the final humiliation, or the final indictment of the screaming voices in his head...



And really what more can anyone who lived through that nightmare say except this:

He was a strange and tormented man. His madness oozed evil. 

He was a beast and a bully.

And he never should have been a Prime Minister of a country like Canada...



Thank goodness he was finally defeated, brought to his knees, broken and humiliated.

Thank goodness we are free at last.

And can finally march out of his darkness and into the light of a better day... 

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