Today is Labour Day, and all over the country tens of thousands of Canadians will be marching and celebrating the splendid achievements of the union movement.
And this year this day will be even more special.
For it will mark the beginning of the union movement's all out war on Stephen Harper.
When Stephen Harper launched the longest election campaign since 1926, he no doubt hoped that by now he would have crushed his political enemies
Thrown them under the wheels of his mighty bus.
Or smeared them beyond recognition as he flew over them in his shiny new plane...
And if that campaign had been normal in length, we would be voting next week, instead of in six weeks.
Which as it turns out is just as well for Harper, because not only are his opponents alive and kicking. His campaign so far has been an absolute DISASTER...
They buried little Alan Kurdi, next to his brother and his mother yesterday, in the shattered Syrian town of Kobani.
Just a week ago he was apparently jumping up and down with excitement at the thought of going to Europe, in a boat.
But as we know, like so many other Syrian refugees, he never made it...
But although he lived for such a short time, and never knew anything but war, that poor little boy did achieve something amazing.
It couldn't have been a more revolting spectacle, or one more monstrous.
The heartbreaking image of that poor little Syrian boy lying dead on a beach.
And three Con monkeys in denial.
All shedding crocodile tears, but claiming to be blameless.
Even as their campaign went into crisis mode.
It has been said of Stephen Harper that he cannot feel the pain of others.
And I'm sure that's true because he is a clinical psychopath.
So I didn't expect him to feel much sympathy for this poor dead child...
Especially since his government had a hand in making sure he never made it to Canada.
But I never thought he would use that tragedy to reject the idea of more help for refugees.
And instead make the case for more war.
Many hours after I first saw it, I am still haunted by this photo of that poor little Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach.
And by the knowledge that his refugee family begged the ghastly Chris Alexander to let them emigrate to Canada. But got absolutely nowhere.
But while I'm disgusted I'm not really surprised. For Alexander, like all the other Cons, are just cowardly stooges of their depraved master.
And Stephen Harper would rather talk about WAR.
Stephen Harper stood in the middle of a too-small-for-the-crowd hotel meeting room in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and tapped the notes on the lectern in front of him in time with his words.
"Canada is not immune to jihadist terrorism," he said. "Two [tap] brave soldiers [tap] dead [tap] on our own [tap] soil [tap]."
For crass political purposes.
"If you cannot even bring yourself to call jihadist terrorism what it is, then you cannot be trusted to confront it, and you cannot be trusted to keep Canadians safe from it."
At this, Harper received his most enthusiastic response from the crowd, which erupted into an ovation and calls of "Four more years. Four more years."
To pleasure his rabid base, and his own monstrous instincts...
And try to scare Canadians into voting for him, because fear is all he has left.
Even though he himself admits our puny for show war is faltering. Even though everybody knows that religious conflict will only be settled by the ground forces of those who live in that region.
And even though it was the insanity of war that caused this human catastrophe in the first place. The criminal invasion of Iraq, that he supported, is what led to the rise of ISIS.
And the bombing of Libya helped turn that country into a paradise for some of the world's most dangerous terrorist groups. And no safe haven for all those now seeking to escape to Europe.
But what horrifies me the most about the criminal Con regime is the way they mock those who would act like Canadians and seek to help those desperate refugees.
Like they do in this hideous attack ad aimed at Justin Trudeau...
But then again, why should we be surprised? When as Frances Russell points out this is a government that is really at war with Canada, its values and its democracy.
They have trampled on virtually every tenet of British parliamentary democracy and hacked, slashed and abolished vital national programs, storied institutions and highly respected civil society organizations simply because they disagreed and disliked them.
On the international stage they have sullied Canada’s reputation as a one of the world’s most esteemed democracies by ignoring science in their pursuit of re-making Canada into a freewheeling sole-source hinterland to serve the global oil and gas industry regardless of the costs to the environment; appropriated big portions of Canada’s identity and institutions for their own political and electoral purposes and grafted American governmental forms onto Canada’s parliamentary democracy determined to twist it out of shape – and – all without the slightest consultation or regard for the sensibilities of many Canadians.
This is a government that is philosophically and genuinely hostile to the nation and people it seeks to govern.
And Russell is right about this too.
As October 19 gets closer, Liberals and New Democrats should stop the petty blood feud they love to carry on over petty and marginal policy distinctions without genuine differences.
Otherwise, Canadians will be subjected to another four years of a government determined to dismantle the Canada most Canadians know and cherish and hope to pass on to their children and grandchildren.
Now is not the time to fight each other, now is the time to stand up for Canada.
You know, I used to be so proud of this country, and its humble but noble role in the world.
But if I has been on that Turkish beach, and had gently picked up that poor little child who never knew anything but war in his short life...
And if I had known that the Cons might have been able to save him and his brother and mother, but didn't even try. I would have wept with sorrow AND shame.
Because I dream of a better Canada, and the day when we are free at last.
And until that glorious day this is my army.
Those are my heroes, the healers not the killers, who are standing up for my values.
And Stephen Harper can keep his war, and shove the fear factor where the sun don't shine.
Or keep it company in his closet...
Because he will never scare me.
Unite to defeat that monster.
And take back our Canada...
Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
As you may know, I absolutely despise Chris Alexander, the Con Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
The once promising young diplomat who sold his soul to Stephen Harper.
And morphed into something monstrous like the ghastly portrait in the Picture of Dorian Gray.
The kind of man who would deny health care to refugee claimants.
And would do ANYTHING to please his depraved master.
Well at least now we know why Stephen Harper was twisting himself into knot, or looking like he was auditioning for the Hunchback of Notre Dame, by refusing to even mention the dreaded 'R' word.
So now that it's official, Canada is in a recession.
He could continue to deny reality.
We still have to wait and see whether the Crown will lay charges against Pamela Wallin now that the RCMP has wrapped up its investigation.
But already Stephen Harper is being asked questions about that other Senate scandal.
And already, and as usual, he is changing his story.
The timing couldn't be worse. Just when Stephen Harper thought he had escaped the stench of the Duffy scandal, and could now focus all his efforts on posing as a Great Economist Leader.
The economy is turning into a living nightmare.
He's having to twist himself into a knot, or a Tim Hortons' kruller, to avoid using the word "recession."
