Sunday, May 1, 2011

How Stephen Harper Turned me Into a Spy


Though the Conservatives sold the notion of their Kingston rally as trying to drum up support for local candidate Alicia Gordon, a woman so out of touch with the needs of Kingstonians, that she believes a for profit super prison is good for the area as a "job creator".

I was told that part of the prison renovation is a state of the art monitoring system, one of the most invasive in a democratic country. And as such, there will be few new guards, only non-union, low pay positions, watching monitor screens.

Under any other government I would dismiss it, but it certainly fits in with Harper's corporate agenda.

But this drumming up of support, was nothing more than a pandering to Harper's ego. Our local news stated that there were 300 people present, but they brought in 3 busloads and about 6 or 7 SUVs. Also Patrick Brown, the Conservative MP from Barrie showed up with his own bus load of admirers. So perhaps 100 or so were actually local.

To get the photo above I had to hide in the bushes, feeling like a spy. That was as close as they'd let us get to him.



There was a lot of horn honking showing support for our protest, and I said that every horn honk was a vote not going to Alicia Gordon.

I went to the grocery store on Saturday and there on the front page of the local paper, was an enormous photo-op with Steve and Alicia Gordon. I thought how incredibly telling. I was at the rally and the closest I got to Stephen Harper was in line at the grocery store the day after.

This is not what democracy looks like.

1 comment:

  1. This ain’t Canada anymore

    A police oversight body is probing the comments of a police officer who was caught on YouTube telling a man who refused to be searched during the G20 summit, "This ain't Canada right now."

    http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/01/21/g20-police-officer-youtube.html

    "I was actually responding to him, saying, 'OK, well, I'm not going to open my backpack so I'm going to leave and that's actually when he assaulted me and said you don't get a choice."



    http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011/youshouldhavestayedathome/


    "Sniper" on roof shocks Toronto activists at Rally Against Police Brutality
    http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DO9EN7032xHA&h=0de09




    Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.
    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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