- FYI: Harper and His band of Con's Must Go

Submitted: 10:10 & 10:16am, PDT, 7 Aug.'10 The Winnipeg Free Press

There are statistics, then Tory statistics, by: Staff Writer, 7/08/2010
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/fyi/there-are-statistics-then-tory-statistics-100178469.html

Simply put, Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day, Tony Clement and the other Con's are not interested in the least what the statistics, or more generally, the fact, are.

All their polices and actions are solely ideologically based, what furthers the cause, what benefits the small core of die-hard right wing extremists epi-centred in Alberta. These supporters do not require logic they will support Harper no matter what, as long as Harper leads the cause, that is.

Throwing out numbers and asserting 'statistics' they fail to substantiate is only to present a facade of rationality based government, one that is for the good of all Canadian - in a word a 'Con'. To call them on it each time is a mug's game, they simply ignore the realities they are being confronted with and go to the next 'Con'.

In reality, for Harper and his Con's it's very much 'our way and the good of Canada and Canadians be damned'.

When you detach government policies from the underlying facts and base them on ideology, when your motivation is to further that ideology and not what is for the good of the country and all its people as a whole, you create an environment where politically based 'crimes' and politically based criminal charges, arrests and detentions, witch hunts, kangaroo courts, in a word using the criminal justice system as an instrument for further political objectives, can take root.

I have done refugee claims from many 'third world' countries over many years and have seen much of this kind of thing, enough to be very concerned and to understand the need to stem it at the beginning before it gets enough momentum as we slide down that slippery slope.

It is difficult to believe that this kind of thing could happen in Canada. But, it could only 'not happen' if we don't let it, and we must be vigilant.

Throwing Harper out of power and putting another, non extremist, party in power, could not be so bad as to compel us to allow Harper to continue down the path he is taking us.

Their Tough on Crime is only one front that they are advancing their extremist campaign on. Harper and the Con's have been using administrative power to impose extremist values and polices without democratic consideration since elected - vis Tom Flanagan commenting on the elimination of the Long Form in the census: "I think it was an exercise in bad government to suddenly spring this on the public without any previous discussion, no consultation at all . . . You don't deal with the public that way in a democracy." (Montreal Gazette)." You need only read his book, published right after the '06 election, to understand the cold, calculating deliberateness of it all. Then there is the contemptible approach of Harper and the Con's towards our Parliamentary Democracy.

These actions by Harper illustrate just how much power the office of Prime Minster has in our system of government and why. However, the presumption is that the Prime Minister can be trusted to act in the best interests of the country and all Canadians. This is precisely where this system breaks down. Harper and the Con's simply do not operate in the best interest of the country or all Canadians, but only a small group - the die-hard Con supporters. Our Parliamentary system, (and to lesser extents, the Senate and ultimately the office of the Governor General) was designed to keep the Prime Minister in check. This polarization of opposition, this extreme resistance to consolidation, undermines Parliament and tends to render it ineffective. Our Parliamentary system was not designed for such uncompromising polarization, it was designed for compromise, for minorities to compromise to form majorities, just look at England in the last election, it took them less than two weeks to do this. This wasn't a media driven event, it was based on the many hundreds of years experience, knowing the importance of so doing and the damage of not.

This core of die-hard Con support is the important thing since they are the ones keeping Harper and the Con's in power. With their support Harper can introduce pretty much anything he wants that furthers his Con agenda and benefits his core support, to the detriment of Canada and Canadians as a whole. He will not lose the die-hards and perhaps even attract a few others hear and there - who knows even get a majority, God forbid.

This applies as long as the opposition remains so polarized.

This, of course, explains Harper polices regarding the Long Form census, mega-billion dollar spending on 65 F35 jets, the G8-20 conference, mega-billion dollar spending to increase prison capacity not only for their 'tough on crime policies that have been passed, but now, incredibly, for the "Day-Crimes'' - all those unreported crime as alleged by Stockwell Day.

On the other hand, perhaps Harper, Day, Vic Toews and all the other right wing extremists running this great country of ours are on the verge of implementing, without the support of the majority of Canadians, new, intrusive, extremist policies on crime that will tear out the very heart of our society and make us all criminals, or at least the 2/3rds that voted against them. And this is their way of 'softening us up'. It is hard to imagine that these statements by Stockwell Day, same for Tony Clement, were not very closely vetted by Harper before release, controlling the message is very important to them and it is incredulous that they would let these slip by somehow.

Just think if we spent all these billions of dollars on programs and implementing policies that went to the real root of the problem behind crime. Increased child care, child education, child poverty, increase universal health care are two.

Now that would be taking a liberal view on crime a liberal approach. But don't hold your breath while Harper and the Con's are running this country, as Stockwell Day admits, Harper and the Con's "can't take a liberal view to crime"

As long as these Harper polices do not consolidate the opposition then Harper can take the position 'Canada be d[redacted]'.

Surely, it time we got 'Tough on Con's' and gave Harper and his Conservative Party the boot.

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html