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The Woes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Why this Election is NOT a Single Issue Vote

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 91 Comments

 
In Oct 1993, the very angry voter annihilated a Conservative Party by reducing its previous 156 seat majority down to just TWO MP’s. It is time to do it again!

 


 
The Twitter world erupted in a purely juvenile frenzy late last night due to the CBC Marketplace video linked in the above tweet. In spite of the vulgarity, the creativity of those oppposed to the Harper Government came out in full force, united against #peegate. Then came #CPeeC, #PeeMHarper #PeeParty #UrineinTrouble and so on. With graphics guaranteed to split your sides. Why on earth would mature people stoop to such raucous behavior?

The answer is that on all levels, the Harper government demonstrates how lucidrous it is that they have managed to stay in power for 10 years and equally strongly, why everyone in Canada has to choose intelligently on October 19. #VoteABC is really, really important!

On one level, this last little charade has made Canada the laughingstock of the world. Here’s the NYT at 1:33 pm this afternoon (updated to add the already put-down scandal regarding another candidate Tim Dutaud). The AP also picked up on this late last night/early this morning. #Peegate was trending at #2 in the US before I finally made myself go to bed at 2 am.
 
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Then there was the #SyrianRefugeeCrisis, symbolized by the picture of little Aylan Kurdi; a truly horrible and gut-wrenching thing to see. While the media reported all kinds of angles, the (Canadian) Twitterworld jumped on an interview on CBC’s Power and Politics with The Hon. Chris Alexander, the current Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Rosemary Barton completely destroyed Mr. Alexander, no other way to describe it.
 

Alexander, the Conservative candidate for Ajax, responded to the question by saying the migrant death toll numbers “have been growing for years.”
 

He cited a United Nations report that half of all Syrians have been displaced as a result of ongoing conflicts catalyzed by Islamist militants.

“We are continuing to act, to be at the forefront of humanitarian response…” he said before being cut off.

“Mr. Alexander, you’re actually countering your own point,” said Barton. “If this is true, if this has been going on for years, why did government not act faster now?”

Alexander then tried to shift the focus onto the CBC.

“I’m actually interested in why this is the first Power & Politics panel we’ve had on this,” said Alexander.

The claim that was quickly shot down by Barton as “completely false,” adding that as a minister he was not allowed to appear on the network’s panel discussions.

“If you want to avoid the question, let’s just be clear that that’s what’s happening,” Barton said.

 
Canada has a rich history of generosity when the issue of refugees is examined.

Decades before the current crisis, Canada airlifted 5,000 people from Kosovo in the late 1990s, 5,000 from Uganda in 1972, and 60,000 Vietnamese in 1979-80. From January, 2014, to late last month, Canada resettled 2,374 Syrian refugees.

The Harper Government has enacted many policies that make it more difficult for refugees to come to Canada, some of which most Canadians are opposed to

The wealthy Arab countries in the Middle East have been widely criticized for standing by and doing nothing.

Germany is committing to taking 800,000 refugees. France – 24,000.00 UK -20,000. Australia – 18,000. Mr. Harper has refused to meet with Trudeau & Mulcair to try and work on an immediate response. He sticks to his perception that a military element is necessary and that Canada will take 10,000 over four years.

A simple solution would seem to be send people to Greece, Hungary & Turkey and get the people registered so they can obtain the exit visas they need and move on.
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Then the announcement that Canada is technically in a recession.

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Then there is #Harperman.
 

 

x

The song/video has been out since June yet recently, it suddenly developed a huge popularity on the Internet. Presumably, Mr. Harper did not at all like it and directed someone at Environment Canada to suspend Mr. Turner, an employee there for 20 years, due to retire in a few months.

One would think Mr. Harper would understand that Canadians would not buy into the idea that Mr. Turner’s suspension had any relationship to his actual work (studying migratory birds) nor could the suspension be whisked away by the explanation public servants are expected to be non-partisan.

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And of course #Duffy

I was so disappointed when it was announced that the Duffy trials would adjourn until after the election. I thought, “Oh no, people will forget all about it by October 19. Little did I realize how rich the field (above) would become. Next to the Syrian refugee issue, the Duffy trial is probably the most serious set of allegations the CPC has to deal with.

It likely is common that public servants abuse the public purse. I doubt anyone was particularly surprised to hear Mike Duffy wrongly claiming living expenses from Ottawa due to the fact his “home” was in PEI.The original amount he took from taxpayers was $154,000. Totally outrageous as it has been a well-known fact that Mr. Duffy had lived in Ottawa for years prior to being appointed to the Senate due to his work with CTV. In February 2013, Mr. Duffy was added to the “Canadian Senate Expenses Scandal” being investigated via audit by Deloitte LLP. He resigned from the Conservative caucus in May 2013 and sat as an independent until the Senate voted to suspend him without pay for two years.In July 2014 he was charged with 31 criminal offenses including fraud, breach of trust and bribery.Nigel Wright, of the PMO wrote a personal cheque for $90,000 to complete the amount of repayment Mr. Duffy needed to take care of. Mr. Wright was then fired by PMSH and the controversy includes whether or not PMSH knew of the bribe as well as his current chief-of-staff Ray Novak. The Auditor General of Canada then investigated and reported that nearly $1 million worth of inappropriate expenses were filed by 30 Senators. This has led to repeated calls for the Senate to be dissolved.

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As if all of the above were not enough reason to seriously question voting for the CPC, there is more.

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So, just in case anyone was doubting the appropriateness of being a “one-issue-voter”, I would think something listed above would be able to convince you voting ABC is okay and extremely necessary. And once again, the organization LeadNow (http://www.votetogether.ca/riding/) is providing information on every riding to help with making a strategic vote. Please visit the site and find out who is the best choice to oust the Conservatives in your riding!
 

PLEASE DON’T FORGET:
 
In Oct 1993, the very angry voter annihilated a Conservative Party by reducing its previous 156 seat majority down to just TWO MP’s. It is time to do it again!

 

 


 
 

91 thoughts on “The Woes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Why this Election is NOT a Single Issue Vote”

  1. @Don, “So a bank can choose to an ‘opted out’ and suffer no harm?”

    A bank can not but a traditional Building Society could likely be a “Fatca Free FI.”

    Here on Brock there have been comments in jest about opening a FATCA free bank, I largely dismissed as tongue in cheek, but now see that as possibly viable.

    A deposit taking institution that soley invests and lends locally!!!!

    Thats what credit unions and Building societies were founded upon!!

    I have run across such FIs that have essentially taken that attitude. The Americans have not been kicked out…..more like dont ask dont tell….but America HAS been kicked out. They invest and lend locally, full stop so there is no possibility of getting whacked by the 30% non compliance.

    Ten years ago I was repulsed by seeing BMO, TD and RBC in Florida. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

  2. @Nervous, ” The US Gov seems to have lost all sense of Honor and Truth … or at least now lost a lot more than they had lost in decades past … the stuff seems to be draining out of their reservoir at an increasing pace.”

    Having been formerly part of the plantation……yep……clearer and clearer every passing day why I left.

  6. @Calgary411
    Excellent find .. Rilstone letter to Galati.

    Seems plain on the face of it.

    Would it not also apply however to the Liberals and the New Democrats who have each employed advisers from Mr Obama’s team down south?

  7. I think it absolutely should also apply for the Liberals and the NDP coached by the Obama Team as well, nervous investor.
    (Sent to me in email by another Brocker, not my own find, though I’ve seen it again off Facebook.)

    Are our Leaders and their Canadian teams not capable of planning and presenting their own platforms for our sovereign country’s course ?

  8. @Calgary411 – It just seems so very wimpish (or a dishonest Fabian Conspiracy maybe) that the leading political parties in a country so large, well endowed, proud and, at least in some things, once free that they should be engaging foreigners to guide elections.

    Gosh, even some in the UK also engaged Obama team members in their service in the last UK election. I consider it a fraud being committed on the people. New Era Colonialism in the worst possible way.

  10. Too many downbeats … we need some upbeats.
    So here’s the new animation of the Harperman protest song. It’s something to tap our toes to while we wait for Justice Martineau’s decision and the election results in October …

  13. bubblebustin,

    That might have been the point in last night’s debate where Trudeau again said, and he should be held to it:

    A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian!

    Does Harper mean that my son (as well as all of our sons and daughters) is an *old-stock Canadian* (Canadians who have been the descendants of immigrants for one or more generations?)– or, as a US-deemed US citizen, is he still defined a *US citizen who happens to reside in Canada*? If that is the case, how is it not discrimination based on national origin?

  14. silly me….here I thought Old Stock was a type of high test beer that I used to drink in my much younger years

  15. @Calgary411

    Maybe that’s how we should caption our correspondence with election candidates, “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”?

    @mettleman

    Just what my husband said, “Isn’t that a beer?”!

    I was born elsewhere, but my mother’s family has been here for generations – would I be classified as new old stock?

    EmBee could have a hay day with this.

  17. I CAN NOT BELIEVE what I just heard come out of Justin Trudeau’s mouth. Speaking (pandering) to British Columbians, he said that BC is in his “blood”!!!

    WTF, I thought “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”, Mr Trudeau.

  18. Maybe next we’ll hear Trudeau say that being Prime Minister is in his “blood” too. I’m starting to wonder how smart he is if his reaction to Harper’s repulsive “stock” comment is to repeat it, only in a different way.

  19. Thanks for this, bubblebustin.

    http://www.theprovince.com/trudeau+unveils+appeal+voters/11378725/story.html

    To a soundtrack of tranquil music, Trudeau tells viewers it’s “always been” his belief “that from this place, you can see the future of Canada.”
    “I have deep roots here, worked here,” he says. “More than anywhere else, people here know our environment and economy are one.”

    As Trudeau continues his presentation, the music picks up and footage from his recent hike up the Grouse Grind with local candidates is played across the screen.

    He tells the audience his plan is to invest in the future that “BCers see so clearly,” including jobs, transit, affordable housing and lower taxes for the middle class.

    Trudeau concludes: “A prime minister that doesn’t just talk B.C., but has it in his blood. That’s real change.”

    I don’t think that Trudeau really gets it and I won’t believe his statement *Canadians are Canadians are Canadians* until I hear him say that Canadians who have some US-deemed US taint, as well, are *Canadians who are Canadians who are Canadians* and not, as the Harper government states, *US citizens who happen to reside in Canada*.

    Don’t Mr. Trudeau’s words (which refer to the BC origin of his mother, Margaret Joan Sinclair (Trudeau) born in Vancouver, BC) equate to Harper’s statement about old-stock Canadians? For those who do really believe in those superior blood relationships, that reasoning will come out in their words — no matter who it relates to. Isn’t that the same as my / our US origin means our US blood is in our Canadian-born children therefore those children (tainted by our US blood), though they may have never lived a day in the USA, must be bound by US citizenship-based taxation law?

    What does it mean – BC in his blood? / Canada in his blood? = a differentiation from those who came to Canada without Canada in their blood?

    Just what is *a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian*? I’m very confused.

  20. His words do seem to have also implied that:

    Trudeau concludes: “A prime minister that doesn’t just talk B.C., but has it in his blood. That’s real change.”

  21. Trudeau is repackaging the same narrative with his reference to blood lines. Ironically, as Peter pointed out to me, Trudeau’s position as party leader has everything to do with bloodlines.

    I’m starting to think though, that he’s from the shallow end of the gene pool.

  22. @Calgary411

    Thanks you for the article. It’s getting harder for me to think that I can vote both strategically and on a single issue simultaneously, now that I’ve read somewhere that the Liberals aren’t going to make the FATCA IGA a campaign issue.

  23. Speaking of Trudeau and the Liberals, I don’t know what to think or how to vote either. There have been some recent changes in my White Rock-South Surrey, BC Riding. The Liberal candidate has resigned due to making some Facebook comments on the cannabis issue which embarrassed Justin. I had previously spoken with Joy Davies about FATCA. My impression was that she personally supported us but was hesitant to speak on Liberal policy around this issue.

    Also spoke briefly with my NDP candidate, Pixie Hobby. Like the NDP in general, her support seemed more strong and specific against FATCA.

    Now there is a new Liberal candidate. I have attempted to contact Judy Higginbotham but she has not gotten back to me at this time.

    Likely, I will watch to see if either Liberal or NDP candidate has greater chance of defeating Conservatives. It seems the Cons have had a strong foot hold here for years but could be unseated this time around.

  24. bubblebustin,

    You may have heard that from me in earlier comments as that is exactly what my Liberal Calgary Confederation candidate told me the last time we had a discussion about making the IGA that implemented FATCA law in Canada an election issue. He said that it would not be an election issue for the Liberals and I presume he got that from either Scott Brison or even the Liberal Party Leader, Justin Trudeau. My Liberal candidate, Matt Grant, has a better (and very good) chance to win and knock a Conservative from the straight flush of Conservative MPs in Calgary.

    (I’m off to walk Lucy the Lab and count Conservative VS Liberal VS NDP signs in my immediate neighbourhood. There is no sign on my lawn — as I’m easily confused.)

  25. WTF. Trudeau’s comment may be pandering to his BC audience but it’s no big deal. His mother was from B.C. for goodness sake. His brother loved the B.C. back country and was killed in an avalanche there. Give us a break. It’s an election campaign.

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