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We can only hope that Harper will begin his electoral walk of shame for his ‘extending the electoral campaign’ shenanigans.
Wow, kinda early to be talking about the upcoming Canadian federal election, yet because our beloved Conservatives love power more than democracy here we are. Let’s check in with the former head of Elections Canada on the merry jig Harper is doing on the grave of Canadian democracy.
“The former head of Elections Canada says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “gaming the system” with an early election call and the result is parties with less money are politically disadvantaged.
“What it does is completely distort everything we’ve ever fought for, everything we’ve established as rules,” Jean-Pierre Kingsley said in an interview on CBC Radio’s The House.”
Well that sounds pretty damning Mr.Kingsley. What exactly is our benevolent government planning?
“What should be happening right now is very simple — the prime minister should not call the election. He should wait for the 37 days to count towards the 19th of October, political parties should stop advertising right now, third parties should stop advertising. Then I’d say, hey, those people are respecting the spirit of the law.”
A longer election campaign means a higher ceiling of allowable expenses, under the rules set by Elections Canada.
In a typical 37-day election period, each party can spend a maximum of $25 million. For each additional day, the limit is increased by 1/37th, or an extra $675,000, meaning an 11-week campaign would allow parties to spend more than $50 million.
“What you’ve done is that you’ve distorted the role of money in politics,” Kingsley said.”
Oh! Fascinating. Essentially it looks like our neo-liberal PM is just, ever so slightly, tilting the table heavily in favour of the Conservatives because they are the only ones who can afford a long electoral campaign.
“Canadians have said, $25 million is enough for you to run a campaign. Now we’re going to be facing the possibility that it’s going to be more than $50 million just to pump more ads our way.”
Kingsley said it’s no coincidence that only one party can afford to spend $50 million on a campaign.
“If (the Conservatives) are doubling it to fifty, it’s because they can get to fifty,” he said.”
It would seem that more rules are required to stop the kind of hard bullshite that is going on here. This is a cynical loophole being exploited by Harper so he can flood the media airwaves with Conservative party propaganda.
“Parties plan how much will be required to spend. The Conservatives are way ahead of the other two, so by doubling the amount, all of a sudden you’ve thrown a monkey wrench into all of that financial planning that’s been going on.”
“And that’s what distorts the game for Canadians,” Kingsley added. “That is what is happening to us. We’re the electors here, and we’re the ones who are going to be faced with the consequences of this thing.”
I hope Canadians won’t let this shameless manipulation of our electoral system go unnoticed. This foul political ploy is rotten and needs to follow the Tories throughout the entire election – we are talking dead albatross around the neck levels of shame here. Speaking of our government spending like a drunken sailor:
“The financial consequences of an 11-week campaign for the public could be significant because of the campaign rebate, which sees taxpayers subsidize 50 per cent of what the parties spend on a national campaign.
“Significant elements of [the estimated cost] are doubled, or more than doubled,” he said. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars the chief electoral officer will need extra.”
Yeah – did you just feel that? That was the sound of conservative fiscal policy hitting the side of the bin, as the taxpayer dollar wasting election extravaganza is about to begin. A feather in the cap of the government that purportedly manages the public purse with the utmost care.
So, what the Conservatives are doing electorally is dirty pool. Surprising? Not really – but this election scandal tears a rather large hole in the facade of our democratic electoral system. Fair? Level playing field? Let Canadian choose the best ideas and policy? Bollocks to that!
“That means parties will be disadvantaged politically because they can’t afford to keep up with bigger spenders, Kingsley added.
“What about the disadvantage this imposes upon, for example, the Green Party?” he said.
“Now they’re facing foes who are going to be shooting twice as hard at them as they were before. It destroys the fairness that is at the base of our system.
“That level playing field gets it in the neck.”
The Conservative Party just doubled down on the idea that big money and big donors will win elections. I hope that the people of Canada are wise enough to see through this cynical dog and pony show and kick them out of office.
I remember when we were only talking a paltry 9 billion dollars on new fighter jets (powered by the tears of Canadian children with no access to nationalized day-care). I though wow, this is a real super hyped up plus sell hunk of bullshite being foisted on Canadians. Apparently, Harper and his braintrust of strategists have managed to come up with the cluster-bomb grade version of stupidity things to endorse. Brian Stewart from the CBC illustrates the madness of the CPC:
“The who-knew-what about the real costs of the F-35 fighter jet Canada wants to purchase is worrisome enough. But at the heart of the fiasco is a far more serious concern about what public honesty means to this government.
It’s a sad state that few Canadians appear surprised by the auditor general’s findings that Parliament was kept in the dark over the real costs of this program and what looks to be a $10-billion overrun.
Many seem to assume that misleading and denying whenever it suits is a government’s normal default position. After all, this government seems to have done it for years on Afghanistan and with its other problems in national defence.
In my own attempts to unravel the F-35’s real costs I never once met a single soul outside government and knowledgeable about defence purchases who believed the prime minister’s promise that the planes could be delivered for a bargain-rate $75 million each.
I never met anyone inside the Canadian military who thought so either.”
It’s like watching a child caught in a obvious lie slowly admit guilt –
“But the amount of money that is in the pot is still substantial. The 19 F-35As that the U.S. will acquire in fiscal year 2013 will cost $197 million each. In 2001, the projected cost for these jets was $69 million.
The cost per plane is expected to drop later in the production cycle, assuming the order numbers do not.
Over the course of the U.S. program, the “average” cost of acquiring each F-35 should be about $162 million each, according to Pentagon figures.
The Canadian government has estimated its 65 F-35s will cost just $75 million each to acquire. But the parliamentary budget officer pegs that number at $148 million.”
Err… Almost double of what was told to the Canadian people? Hmm. The ‘open and transparent’ Harper government once again proves its true colours. Oversights of this magnitude are like slapping the Canadian people in the face with a bag full of rotten fish, for about 2 years now and counting.
We need to wake up and demand a responsible government because it seems as of late a lot of crappy things are being done in my name without my knowledge, and I for one, do not like it one bit.
What a nice way of saying that there is no possibility of our party winning a majority in an election, furthermore if I fail again it will be my head on the block. Therefore, there shall be no election.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will not try to trigger an election next year, saying the government needs to stay focused on the economy.
Like Anakin, but without the redemption in the end.
“I’m not going to cause an election,” Harper told CTV News in a year-end interview. “I’m not going to call an election and we’re not bringing forward some kind of poison pill to provoke an election. We are committed to governing. We don’t need an election.”
Good on ya Steve, adhering to the first rule of politics, maintaining power is admirable and duly noted.
“We’re in a fragile global recovery. Canada is in a very good position for the long term but we need to stay focused on that and not screw around with a bunch of political games.”
Political games? Like dissent, debate and well you know that other ugly D word: Democracy. We shan’t be screwing around with the likes of those things.
“Harper also said there will be no prorogation early in the new year. He said there would be a small cabinet shuffle but he was mostly happy with his team.”
Conveniently left open for prorogation at anytime because “early in the new year” could be January 2nd. Stay tuned for more conservative tom foolery.
Do we really need to follow this particular mode of thought?
The idea that ideology as opposed to reality being in the drivers seat when it comes to decisions that the Federal Conservative government makes is scary. Since when did making policy based on fact become sacrosanct? Did Steven Harper need his own noun to make war on? I propose we give Steve his war, let us call it the “The War on Evidence“.
It certainly seems to be a war with recent policy decisions that are based on what seems to be the zany ideas Harper pulls out of his ass. Cancelling the long form census is the most notable example of policy that seems to have come out of deep right field. I mean the Census is the tool we use to gather data about our country and are people; lets get rid of it? The notion that the mandatory long form census is some sort of violation of privacy rights is clearly absurd. People have lost more private information on facebook in one day than the ‘intrusion’ the long form census presents.
How are we to make rational policy decisions without data? The canaries are already chirping a warning on this topic:
“OTTAWA – The union representing federal scientists says “confusing policy decisions” highlight the need for evidence-based decision-making in Ottawa.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada has launched a campaign to raise public awareness of the work done by government science researchers.
Union president Gary Corbett says the Harper government’s controversial decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census is an example of a long-term trend in devaluing government-funded research.
Corbett says program review and departmental budget pressures are putting the squeeze on federal scientists who are also muzzled by a restrictive communications policy from sharing their research with the public.”
Our government is waltzing away from reality and no one seems to really give a damn. At least not yet.
“The Conservative government has come under repeated attack for shelving or ignoring research from its own bureaucracy on issues such as climate change and criminal justice policy.”
The entire unreported crime fiasco looms large but largely unnoticed by our recalcitrant media. We are set to build new prisons for theoretical crimes and theoretical prisoners. All of this despite the fact that we know that building more prisons is clearly not the answer. Since when did doing things we know are wrong become policy choice #1?
Cynically speaking, I would chalk the systematic ignorance and neglect of science and evidence as a structured part of Conservative policy. Why? Because much of what they support is bug-frakking crazy and faced with evidence and fact that tells them and everyone else so is not particularly good PR. The solution? Move closer to reality and evidence based policy? Hell no! Lets muzzle and undermine scientists and science so we can pass our wack-a-loon policy with no hindrance from reality.
Steven Harper, the megalomaniac that he is, gets included just because of the monolithic way he has decided to run his government, therefore the decision to bar former British Mp George Galloway from entering Canada is as much his responsibility as it is the foppishly addled Mr.Kenney’s.
Evil Doer, Terrorist, and Satan - According to the Harper Government.
Fortunately now, our supreme court has reversed the previous nut buttery decision and Mr.Galloway will be allowed into Canada.
“Former British MP George Galloway, who was told he was not welcome in Canada last year over accusations by the government that he supported terrorism, was allowed into the country on Saturday. Galloway, who arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport late Saturday afternoon, was greeted by supporters after he cleared customs.”
His crime? From the Guardian –
Earlier today the Sun said border security officials had declared Galloway, 54, “inadmissible” because of his views on Afghanistan and the presence of Canadian troops there and would be turned away if he attempted to enter the country.
Well disagreeing in Canada has always been one of those things we try to encourage, at least when deluded rightwing parties are not in power. But hey, perhaps our Reform party conservatives are not stark raving mad paranoid super patriots, zealously protecting their ideological directives from god Harper. A representative for Mr.Kenney says:
Protecting Canadians from evil British MP's 24/7!
Alykhan Velshi, Kenney’s spokesman, said that the act was designed to protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.
“We’re going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to this infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving ‘financial support’ to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada,” he said. “I’m sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won’t be one of them.”
Ahh, check. Guilty as charged.
“The MP said: “This decision, gazetted in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved – a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending.
“This has further vindicated the anti-war movement’s contention that unjust wars abroad will end up consuming the very liberties that make us who we are.”
Back in Canada the judicial arm of our country is busy ripping Kennedy and the government a new one for their inanely brutish propaganda designed to “protect Canadians from people who fund, support or engage in terrorism.”
“Justice Richard Mosley called the move “a flawed and overreaching interpretation of the standards under Canadian law for labelling someone as engaging in terrorism or being a member of a terrorist organization.”
Galloway had planned a Canadian speaking tour to voice opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but cancelled when he learned he would be denied entry.”
What? Labelling people with anti-war sentiments terrorists is a bad thing? Who would of thunk that? This is the level of tolerance we get when we elect ideologues into power that have a strong anti-reality bias.
“[Justice] Mosley said he agreed with Galloway’s Canadian supporters that the main reason border agency officials said he would be barred entry was that “they disagreed with his political views.”
Stay away heathen! How dare you express dissent! Did Galloway not read the memo that dissent is most certainly 
not allowed in the Harperland Canada? One would hope that the Canadian people will remember the loopy-crazy decisions such as not allowing Mr.Galloway into Canada because of the views he holds, come election time. I, for one, am getting tired of the secrecy and paranoia fostered by the current government. Not to mention the embarrassment I feel when yet another wacky conservative policy (find any of that unreported crime yet Mr.Day?) is exposed for being based on wingnuttery as opposed to rational ideas.
not allowed in the Harperland Canada? One would hope that the Canadian people will remember the loopy-crazy decisions such as not allowing Mr.Galloway into Canada because of the views he holds, come election time. I, for one, am getting tired of the secrecy and paranoia fostered by the current government. Not to mention the embarrassment I feel when yet another wacky conservative policy (find any of that unreported crime yet Mr.Day?) is exposed for being based on wingnuttery as opposed to rational ideas.
Steven Harper is all about the guns. Harper wants to repeal the long gun registry. He is also all about the mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving guns too. Sound like a conflict of interest, not if you happen to be a conservative politician.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the federal long-gun registry will someday be scrapped, regardless of what happens to a Tory backbencher’s bill on the issue when Parliament returns next week”
Way to go Steve, your dedication to non-issues is impressive. The LGR is vitally important to Canada’s national interest and well being.
“He again denounced the registry, which was introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1995, as a “large-scale operation that targeted the wrong people” — including hunters, farmers, outdoorsmen and women, as well as police officers “who understand the reality of these communities.”
“These people will never accept this registry because they know it is ineffective and wasteful, and the party I lead will not rest until the day it is abolished,” Harper said to applause”
Wow. I am surprised his message was not proceeded with a “this speech is for my conservative rural base…”
“Layton also called on Harper to compromise on the registry and work with opposition parties to address the concerns of some rural Canadians over the registry without sacrificing public safety.”
Compromise, in a minority government situation? What exactly is Mr.Layton smoking? Reasonable debate on a contentious issue? Unheard of, at least in this particular instance of Conservative Party minority governance.
Fighting the Russians in the Arctic WTG Steve!
Newsflash(?): Many of Steven Harper’s Policies are based on ideology and not fact.
Wow, way to go Libs. You finally caught a whiff of the conservative miasma that has engulfed our country. Where do you stake your claim? Draw your line in the sand? Where do you make your stand and bellicosely shout “You shall not pass!” The systemic underfunding of women’s groups? The overspending glut and fake lake of the G8 summit spending? Not funding abortions in the third world? Nope.
How about the Long form Census and the Long Firearms Registry. It is on these two ‘important’ issues our principled opposition has brought the noise.
“The Harper government has adopted a deliberate strategy of hiding information from Canadians in order to advance a right-wing social and justice agenda, Liberals charge.
Liberal MP John McCallum pointed Thursday to two recent examples to prove the point: The government’s decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census and its refusal to release a favourable report on the effectiveness of the long-gun registry.
He called the approach “a triumph of ignorance over knowledge, a triumph of ideology over science.”
Those of us who follow our enlightened government have be aware of this small fact for quite awhile. During the election(s) Harper has often been accused of having a ‘hidden-agenda’. I would argue that in has never been hidden from the public, as one can ascertain his policy motives and goals quite easily.
Keeping Canada safe from Unicorns, Dragons and Fairy-Folk too!
The “Tough on Crime” agenda is classical social conservative hogwash and prime example of what Harper and his conservatives are about. Consider, we need more prisons for unreported crimes because our crime rate is falling. it seems that little mistakes like this are not really worth the Oppositions time.
Now what McCallum says is true, but why the onslaught on these particular issues?
“McCallum said the decision to turn the compulsory long-form census into a voluntary survey is “one of the most visible examples of one of the most fundamental shortcomings” of the Harper government.
He said it’s aimed at robbing federal, provincial and municipal governments of the reliable data they need to deliver progressive social programs. It would skew “the picture of what Canada really looks like” because low-income and minority Canadians will be less likely to fill out a voluntary form.”
Makes sense to me. We need to know about our population to best meet its needs.
“McCallum also cited the government’s refusal to release the annual RCMP evaluation of the gun registry’s effectiveness as another example of Harper’s penchant for stifling facts.
Opposition parties maintain the government has been sitting on the report for six months and wants to keep it hidden until after a crucial September vote on Tory backbencher Candice Hoeppner’s private member’s bill to scrap the controversial registry.
According to the CBC, the report concludes the registry is cost-effective, efficient and “an important tool for law enforcement.”
“Clearly the Conservatives want to prevent parliamentarians and Canadians from seeing important information about the cost and effectiveness of the long-gun registry before an important vote,” McCallum said.”
Now again, sitting on bad news is not strictly a conservative phenomena, but the long gun registry has been a contentious issue during election time and that is about it. We are getting much drama for issues that seem to be a low priority for many Canadians.
There is plenty of fodder to roast Harper and his conservatives with, why is the opposition focused on these relatively low key issues? I’m hoping it is part of a bigger strategy that builds on a few small examples and then works it way up the ladder of importance. I’d like to be right about this, but I have my doubts.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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