You may have seen the series of ads on TV recently that feature a soothing folk music and clips of diverse gatherings, beautiful landscapes and a sense of opportunity and hope. These ads are part of the American bid to adopt what was once the Canadian dream – a dream that has been under dismantling since Harper took office in 2006.
There is a detail about Prime Minister Stephen Harper that is very mum in Canada. It is a detail that may and will explain every decision he has made to date and every decision he will make in the future.
It was only a matter of time before the Conservatives would try to paint NDP leader Thomas Mulcair as an environmental radical but in an unexpected turn, the NDP have struck back, hitting the Conservatives where it really hurts.
International Development Minister Bev Oda has announced on her website that she will be resigning as MP for Durham on July 31. After the misspending that came out of her department, it is hard to see how Canada will miss her.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper campaigned on having a “strong, stable, national Conservative Majority Government” to protect Canadians from a “coalition with the separatists.” It turns out that after a secret meeting with former PM Brian Mulroney and current Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Harper is ready to work with the separatists.
It’s one thing to say that you want to fix Ottawa. It’s one thing to say that you want to get rid of the Harper government. It’s a completely other thing to act on those words, it seems, for the NDP. After recent actions in the House of Commons and recent comments published by former strategist Brian Topp, the NDP affirm that dirty tactics are here to stay.
Do you remember the Accountability Act? It was a piece of legislation that the Conservatives passed in 2006 to diminish corruption by putting parliamentarians in check. It included the creation of a budgetary officer, whose mandate is to monitor federal finances. The Privy Council refused to give information on the wide range of cuts in Bill C-38 and as part of his job PBO head Kevin Page may likely be taking the Conservative government that created his position to court over a lack of accountability.
The opposition has been doing everything they can to stop Bill C38 or the Omnibus Budget Implementation Bill – the same bill that would attack and transform EI, the same budget that would attack pensions and retirement, and the same budget that would take an axe to environmental regulations to prop up the Alberta tar sands exploitation project.
While the Conservatives and NDP divide the East and West over the effects of the tar sands in terms of the economy and effectively play political games, and while Harper gets funded by oil lobbyists to attack Environmentalists as radical terrorists, an oil spill in Alberta is proving the dangers of the project.
The alleged killer and dismemberer of a Montreal Chinese Exchange student Luka Rocco Magnotta was arrested in Berlin after fleeing to Paris. Berlin Police said he didn’t resist but instead uttered, “You got me.” He was spotted by a client in an Internet café by a client who said he was reading about himself on a computer.
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