Why Did Stephen Harper Lock Himself in the Bathroom in Brazil?

A Brazilian newspaper has reported that Stephen Harper locked himself in a bathroom in Brazil, until his hosts agreed to change the itinerary to suit him.

The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has caused constraints in Brazilian diplomacy on Monday, demanding a change in the ceremony and only go to the salon for lunch with the President after Rousseff met.

The speeches and toasts are common in this type of event can be both before and after lunch. Dilma prefers it that later, but Harper made sure they were done before the guests start eating at the meeting yesterday. He did not explain why. (Translated version)

The Washington Post says:

On a trade mission to Brazil this week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reportedly engaged in some undiplomatic behavior ... Folha reported that Brazilian president Dilma Rouseff asked official speeches and toasts to take place after a lunch with Harper Monday. Harper, however, reportedly had a different idea. He wanted the speeches to happen before lunch, and Folha says he locked himself in the private bathroom of the foreign affairs minister until he got his way.

Diplomats and Dimitri Soudas claim that it never happened, but knowing Harper's history of tantrums, it does sound believable. Why would they make something like this up?

Who do they think they are? Fox News?

But let's give him the benefit of the doubt, and say that he didn't lock himself in the bathroom until he got his way.

Another story out of Brazil has been confirmed to be true. Our hapless PM apparently requested that he be allowed to be interviewed by the press at the Presidential Palace, instead of the Foreign Affairs Palace, where visiting dignitaries normally hold their press conferences.

His request was denied.

No report on whether or not he's still locked in a bathroom in Brazil.

This isn't the first time he broke with protocol and created a stir in a foreign country. A report from India's Amritsar, on November 18, 2009:
Controversy and chaos marked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Golden Temple visit.

Harper refused to partake of prasad at Darshani Deodi after being dissuaded by his aide, Alisa Mohammed. He also declined langar.

SGPC officials said she also made them vacate their information office prior to the premier’s arrival. “When we objected, she said she had already spoken to the SGPC secretary on the matter. It is for the first time that we have suffered such humiliation at hands of a foreigner in our own office,” said a senior SGPC official, expressing resentment over the behaviour of the Canadian PM’s staff ....

And another story from the same publication:

Multi-tier security provided by officials of intelligence, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Punjab Police, CID and the overzealous Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee task force converted the complex into a fortress. Perhaps for the first time, movement of devotees came to a halt during a VVIP’s visit.

Members of SGPC’s task force allegedly snatched cameras of photojournalists and misbehaved with them. Even Canadian journalists were jostled around and manhandled. The video camera of a CBC journalist fell during the melee. “It seemed that everyone was policing and there were more securitymen in the complex,” a Canadian journalist told this correspondent.

Though Indian photojournalists were restricted to three pre-determined points in the Parkarma, their Canadian counterparts were allowed to perch on veranda roofs along the Parkarma. SGPC chief Avtar Singh assured action against erring task force officials.....

Stephen Harper would never try to silence the press would he? Not our Steve.

I really wish that man would just stay home, or start doing what many Canadians are doing now who travel abroad: Sew an American flag to his lapel.

He is such an embarrassment.

Art Imitates Life as Harper to Play Stupid Cop

Talk about type casting.

Stephen Harper has a small role on Murdoch Mysteries, as a "clueless" cop, who doesn't recognize a liberal prime minister.

Why would he?

He thought Art Finkelstein had destroyed all the liberals.

Anything for a photo-op.

Toronto Tells Jim Flaherty to Flick Off

Joe Fiorito reminds us of just how much economic damage Jim Flaherty did to Toronto when he was with the Mike Harris government.

And now he is trying to offer them advice???

By far the worst finance minister this country ever had.

Jim Flaherty, the federal minister of finance, said on CBC radio the other day that he was endorsing Rob Ford for mayor because he thinks it is time that Toronto got its financial house in order. I am tempted to tell Jim Flaherty, in capital letters, to keep his big mouth shut and not to meddle in the affairs of this town, where he neither lives, nor works, nor holds municipal office. I will restrain myself. I will merely point out that if Toronto is in financial trouble, it is in large part because of the role Jim Flaherty played as the bloody cleaver in the hands of Butcher Harris.

Not surprising that he's endorsing Rob Ford, another millionaire redneck.

If he wins he's already designed his tourism slogan.

"Come to Toronto. The butt scratching capital of the world."

Although they had to be redone so his "base" could read them"

"Wellcum 2 Trnto ... 'da bum scritchin' captal uff 'da wuld."

Dimitri Soudas Busted Out of Rehab. If You See Him Send Him Back

Word is that Dimitri Soudas didn't get past the first step in his 12 step Idiots Anonymous program.

IA had sent out an all points bulletin, demanding his immediate return.

Apparently, he stood in front of the group, said "Hi. My name is Dimitri and I am an idiot", then bolted out the back door, screaming "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!"

The police were alerted, and report that he was discovered holding himself and whimpering under a sign with a P and a line through it.

The officer explained that while he couldn't urinate there, they had a nice clean washroom in the psyche hospital. He smiled.

We are safe once again.

Tony Clement Says He Really Hates His Job

That's the only thing I can figure because his nonsense over this census issue are the actions of a man either completely bored or so bloody arrogant he just doesn't care.

Is it because John Baird got a promotion?

Because he and Stephen Harper have never liked each other and Harper is making him take the heat?

Is he going through the change?

Industry Minister Tony Clement says opponents of the Conservatives' decision on the census are just whining because they once had a “good deal” to get information they needed while letting Ottawa force citizens to supply the data.

Clement was defending the decision to do away with the mandatory nature of the long-form, 40-page census that previously went to one-in-five households.
The government says Canadians shouldn't face the threat of jail or fines for not filling out the form. But the decision has been attacked by provincial governments, educators, mayors, businesses and others who say the information produced by a voluntary long-form census will not be as good as in past surveys.

“Yeah, there are groups that are upset” about the government's decision, Clement told reporters. "Hey, listen, they had a good deal going,” he added. “They got good, quality data and the government of Canada was the heavy.”

Maybe he knows the Neoconservatives will never win another election and he doesn't want to sit in opposition again.

Or maybe he's just a total idiot!

Nervous Harper Makes John Baird Head of the Dog Pound

Stephen Harper announced that he is making John Baird the new House leader, so he can avoid an election.

How's Baird going to do that?

Bite people? Pee on everything?

Harper said he placed the experienced Baird in the House Leader’s job to ensure that Parliament works, so an “unnecessary” election could be avoided.

“The economy remains the number one priority of Canadians and our government,” Harper said. “An unnecessary election is the last thing that Canadians need, that the economy needs, at this time.”

I hope he's had his rabies shot.

Harper Would Lose at least 29 Seats if an Election Were Held Today

And that's without any of the other parties campaigning.

Harper always starts an election polling higher than the outcome, so I don't see him winning even a minority.

Of course the big news in my Sun Media newspaper today was that he was refusing to take questions from reporters.

Since when is that news?

Poor boy's just realized that he's going to have to allot another billion dollars for crystal balls so Stockwell can nab those "unreported" criminals, and an extra billion and a half for Peter Mackay's thereapy.

We can no longer afford to keep this party.

King Stephen Falls Back on Economy to Save His Bacon

You always know when Stephen Harper is in trouble, because he falls back on the tired monster named 'Economy'.

9.5 billion for prisons with a falling crime rate and 16 billion for fighter jets is not how you address the economy.

He's been in hiding but is now poking his head out of the hole and planning his own cross-country tour.

I hope wherever he goes people will ask him about the 125 billion dollar bank bailout and why he bought up a bunch of rotten paper on behalf of Canadian taxpayers, so bank execs could give themselves 8 billion in bonuses.

They never talk about that.

But he's once again blowing smoke about a coalition. What a putz.

He's even sporting glasses so he looks intelligent. Nice try.

Remember this coalition Stevie?

Rob Granatstein Says That Stephen Harper is Not a Leader

I agree of course, but Granatstein is one of the most right-wing journalists in the country. If he says that Harper is not a leader, believe me ... he is NOT a leader!

And while the journalist goes into the old nonsense about there not being an opposition, he clearly believes that there is no government either. Harper's disappearing act is leaving him a little puzzled, because while he is nowhere to be found:

...he’s having a summer of implosions ... Too many fumbles on too many non-issues is not the sign of a strong leader. Canadians want to enjoy their summer, want the economy to roll on strongly and don’t want to be bothered by questions about the strength of our PM. By staying in the news, Harper has looked confused and weak, and he’s done it to himself.

Maybe he's at the circus school he built with our infrastructure money.

Judging by the latest fundraising letter, this is a government that has run out of ideas.

There are two other recent columns that I want to talk about though.

One was James Travers, who is one of my favourite columnists. But in his most recent, he suggests that Harper is poised to win another election. Based on what? 31% in the polls, where Alberta always places him higher than warranted? Weird comment for Travers.

The other was Tom Walkom's. As expected it was pretty anti-Liberal, though he does almost, sorta' kinda' say something quite possibly not unflattering to Michael Ignatieff.

But then he went down a strange road. When discussing Ignatieff's education, he makes a point of saying that he attended "high school at Toronto’s elite and privately funded Upper Canada College".

Is there a point to that? Stockwell Day attended private school, Stephen Harper went to school in what his biographer William Johnson describes as a 'WASP' (whites only) neighbourhood and Jason Kenney attended a private Catholic school run by his father. Was Walkom trying to again paint the Liberal leader as an 'elitist'? A little weird.

Michael Ignatieff's father was a high ranking diplomat and he comes from one of the oldest families in Canada. His great-grandfather was George Munro Grant:

In 1867, Nova Scotia was greatly apposed to joining Confederation, until a popular scholar and theologian, George Monro Grant stepped in. It is said that without his involvement, there may not have been a Dominion of Canada, at least not at that time. (Elections Canada: A History of the Vote in Canada, British North America, 1758–1866)

I would not have expected him to attend public school, if for no other reason than security. Besides Upper Canada is a renowned school, so again, Since when is a good education a liability?

But the most bone-headed comment came on Lloyd Mainsbridge when the panel got around to talking about 'Harper's base'. One panelist, I can't remember his name, suggested that since the Libertarians were not large in number, Harper had no base.

Whaaaaaat?

The Libertarians gave up on Harper long ago and are actually now running attack ads against him. Do journalists even try anymore?

Stephen Harper Has Offered an Alternative Census Form

Stephen Harper outlines above how census information will now be gathered. I like the old way.

Munir Sheikh is scheduled to appear Monday on a panel at the conference where he will explain how government statistics make a difference. He will also be glad-handed by his peers for resigning from government over the decision to make the long-form census voluntary. “You have to admire the head of Statistics Canada for sticking to his principles,” said Mr. Thompson, who retired from public service and now works in the private sector. “It’s emblematic of how serious many people take their responsibility to be independent and objective.”

Even Michael Den Tandt is critical, saying that it is "among the dumbest things Harper has done..."

That’s because this move, and the government’s obduracy in the face of criticism from just about everyone, is among the dumbest things Harper has done as PM. Already the Tories have slipped measurably in the polls. Pollster Alan Gregg says we mustn’t attribute this to the census fight because most Canadians aren’t really engaged. True, as far as it goes. Many of us were lounging dockside when we began to notice headlines about an obscure controversy involving statistics.Only in summer, we said, and went back to our beach books.

But then the critics started to pile in. They now include every Canadian municipality; a clear majority of provinces, including Ontario and Quebec; current and past senior bureaucrats at Statistics Canada, including the recently resigned deputy minister, Munir Sheikh; the Conference Board of Canada; the Canadian Chamber of Commerce; and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, among many others. So far Harper himself has said nothing. He’s on holiday. So Maxime Bernier, Jim Flaherty and the increasingly woebegone Tony Clement have been left to spin the party line.

Here it is: Canadians shouldn’t be threatened with jail if they don’t complete the form. And, some of its questions are too intrusive. The wrinkle: No one has ever gone to jail for non-completion of the census in the 340 years since it was first taken in 1666, in what was then New France.

Canada to Now Become the Land of Idiots

"Evolution is a myth, the earth is flat, your great-uncle roamed with dinosaurs. "

"Oh, I know, I know. Really stupid statements"

"Wrong. It's the new Canadian standardized intelligence test and those are the "right" answers."

"To what questions? What are the three stupidest statements?"

"No. Too many people were worried that the head of our treasury only has a high school education, so clearly we must bring this country down to that level. Besides, fewer brain cells means fewer questions and you know how much Herr Harper hates questions"

"But if we don't ask questions, how will we know what's going on?"

"That's the point. You know how much Herr Harper hates for us to know what's going on."

"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?"

"No. Not much sense in that. Might fill your head with too many ideas and we all know how much Herr Harper hates ideas."

"Did you read this dad: "Census change latest move in PM’s dumbing down of Canada"?

"Shhhh. Don't let them know you can read."

"I know, I know. Herr Harper hates it when we can read."

"Now you've got the idea, son. You'll do just fine in this new Canada."

UPDATE:

Harper's justification for turning us into a country of idiots was fabricated. No one complained about the census. Harper lied? Would never happen.

Jim Flaherty Hires Card Shuffler to Gamble Away Our Children's Future

Part of the economic meltdown in the United States was caused by AIG and the government was forced to rescue them or risk total collapse.

"The U.S. government seized control of American International Group Inc. -- one of the world's biggest insurers -- in an $85 billion deal that signaled the intensity of its concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the financial system."

$85 billion ... we should be so lucky.

Because while Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper were blustering around suggesting that something like that couldn't happen here, what had really taken place was this:

In the first half of this year, as the subprime mortgage crisis was exploding in the United States, a contagion of U.S.-style lending practices quietly crossed the border and infected Canada's previously prudent mortgage regime ... The mushrooming of a Canadian version of subprime mortgages has gone largely unnoticed. The Conservative government finally banned the practice last summer, after repeated warnings from frustrated senior officials and bankers that the country's financial system was being exposed to far too much risk as the housing market weakened.

The new rules encouraged the entry of such U.S. players as American International Group – the world's largest insurance company – and Triad Guarantee Inc. of Winston-Salem, N.C. Former Triad chief executive officer Mark
Tonnesen, who spearheaded his company's aborted push into Canada, said the proliferation of high-risk mortgages could have been mitigated if Ottawa had been more watchful. “There was a lack of regulation around the expansion of increased risk,” he said.

During the 2008 campaign Harper said:

In response to a pessimistic Merrill Lynch report on Canada's housing market, for example, Harper said "We don't have the same situation here with the mortgages as was the case in the U.S. with the subprime mortgages there. So, therefore, I think that our market is in a much stronger position."

But of course he was ... how do I put this delicately? LYING THROUGH HIS FRIGGIN' TEETH!!!!

The thing is, the Harper government is responsible for pushing the envelope on deregulation both domestically and internationally despite cautionary events in the U.S. clearly indicating what could go wrong ... In his first budget as Harper's finance minister, Jim Flaherty invited "new players" -- that is, U.S financial corporations -- into Canada's mortgage insurance market and doubled the amount of government money available to back up private insurers from $100 billion to $200 billion. Flaherty's 2006 budget states that "These changes will result in greater choice and innovation in the market for mortgage insurance, benefiting consumers and promoting home ownership."

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has observed that "financial innovation" are two words that should henceforth strike terror into the hearts of investors. With the entrance of new private mortgage insurers into Canada after the Flaherty budget, Canada saw a dramatic weakening in the standards for mortgage insurance.

In fact it ended up being $125 billion dollars, making the Canadian Taxpayer the largest lender of sub-prime mortgages in the world. OH well. At least we're first at something.

So with Canada's finances on the brink, Jimmy and Steve must have learned their lesson right? And when an opportunity came along like the Robin Hood tax that took the price of a cup of coffee from the worlds' richest, they'd jump at it right? Nope.

But at least they are no longer going to gamble, right?

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You ain't seen nothing yet. Jimmy and Steve are getting us into derivatives. Yep.

Even the world's most savvy stock-market giants (e.g., Warren E. Buffett) have warned over the past decade that derivatives are the fiscal equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) - potentially lethal. And the consequences of such an explosion would make the recent global financial and economic crisis seem like penny ante. But generously lubricated lobbyists for the unrestricted, unsupervised derivatives markets tell congressional committees and government regulators to butt out.

Oh, but it gets better. Remember these guys?

US banks are braced for a massive sell-off of their shares this week, as the fallout of the alleged fraud at industry blue blood Goldman Sachs continues to spook the New York Stock Exchange.

Although the grand old institution of the US banking industry has been embroiled in a number of controversies – bonus rows and claims by the chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, that Goldman does "God's work", and angering critics by skilfully making money out of the start of the financial crisis in 2007 – few expected that the $45bn-revenue group would ever be accused of a scandal of this magnitude.

Well. Jimmy boy believing that any mess the Americans can get themselves into he can make an even bigger mess, has just hired a Goldman Sachs guy to handle our .... guess what? You got it. OUR DERIVATIVES!!!!!

Just bend over and kiss it goodbye folks.

Jason Kenney Has Momentary Lapse of Memory ... Or Maybe He's Just lying

Poor little Jas. Maybe he did just forget to include Gay Rights into the citizenship guide. Maybe he lost the string on his finger or forgot to cut the umbilical chord to Charles McVety.

Or maybe he's just an idiot.

Gotchya!

Mike Duffy Unmasked. Put it Back on Duffy!

What happened to Mike Duffy? I never watched his show on CTV, but don't remember anyone saying that he was nuts, in the certifiable sense.

Boy when they fall, they fall hard.

Senator Mike Duffy has attacked the University of King’s College and other Canadian journalism schools for exposing students to Noam Chomsky and critical thinking.

In a speech Saturday to Conservative party members in Amherst, Duffy reportedly slammed journalism programs for churning out leftist graduates.“When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced,”
Duffy was quoted from his speech in yesterday’s issue of the Amherst Daily News.

“That school doesn’t exist any more. Kids who go to King’s, or the other schools across the country, are taught from two main texts.”

This sounds eerily like the speech Reformer Steven Flethcer gave to University of Manitoba students, where he referred to their newspaper as a 'socialist rag'.

Kim Kierans, head of the King’s School of Journalism clarified that the school does not teach from Chomsky, but does encourage critical thinking. Obviously they are preparing these future journalists to work for international papers, because Canada's media no longer engage in much thought of any kind.

But if Duffy learned his skills from the "school of hard knocks" he was obviously knocked in the head a few too many times, because he's absolutely ridiculous.

Besides, how can he preach respectable journalism to anyone? He was charged with etchics violations for his alleged complicity in engineering Harper's 2008 election victory.

Even Don Martin remarked on this:

...Now, Duffy calling someone a faker equals pot calling the kettle black. This is the same Duffy who, as host of his own politics show, presented himself for decades as journalistically neutral, then accepted Harper's $130,000 appointment ten months ago and now devotes his energies to shamelessly shilling for the Conservatives.

That's the definition of fakery for you, particularly given he was appointed after airing that infamous CTV interview with then-Liberal leader Stephane Dion, a bumbling performance credited by some as the turning point of the 2008 election campaign for Stephen Harper.

Yet journalism students are living on the fringe? Yep, that's it Mike. That 'fringe' is getting pretty crowded though.

Welcome to the New Canada. Rick Mercer Nailed It!

"Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack o­n our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society…It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff." (Stephen Harper. BC Report Newsmagazine, January 11, 1999)

I'm so glad that Stephen Harper no longer has to be frightened of human rights, because he has written them out of the Canadian identity.

It was not only the gay community, or the legality of equal marriage that was erased from our new citizenship guide:

Enamoured by the militarized rhetoric and self-ascribed high international value of Canadian citizenship, Kenney told the press the guide was instrumental in ensuring Canadians have a “good understanding of their rights and responsibilities.” Fast forward four short months and this updated guide to “freedom, democracy, human rights, [and] the rule of law” is coming apart at the seams, under allegations of neo-conservative ideological censorship.

Internal federal government communications paint a troubling picture of Kenney’s office actively removing references in the guide to the legal status of same-sex marriage in Canada ... In addition, the definition of equality rights originally included “equality of all based on race, gender, sexual orientation etc ...” The version presented to prospective Canadians, that Marc Chalifoux, Executive Vice-President of the Historica-Dominion Institute said “should be in the hands of not only new Canadians, but every high school student in Canada,” contains neither of these references ..... In nixing references same-sex marriage and equality rights, enney has crossed a line. The federal government has turned censorship into a national project ...

So if you're a white, male Christian, filled with hatred; pick up your gun and welcome to Canada.

Canadians Calling for the Resignation of Jason Kenney

This week Chris Selley in the National Post, discussed Jason Kenney's flip-flop on who decided to keep gay and lesbian rights out of the new citizenship guide.

And despite the fact that emails confirm that the directions came from Kenney himself, when asked by a reporter why he did it, he replied "I did not do such a thing," and "No, no, you are wrong." Then darted out the door.

This is a pattern with this man actually, when he runs out of verbal vomit; to take a runner.

However, I do take exception with Selley's views.

To a certain segment of the Canadian population, the revelation that Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney deliberately nixed references to gay rights and same-sex marriage in the new Citizenship Guide has been utterly scandalous. But to no segment should it have been surprising. It's not as if Mr. Kenney has ever been a champion of gay or same-sex rights. At the end of the day, he was just a government minister doing his job as he saw fit.

....Canadian Press has reported, and Mr. Kenney has not denied, that he told a gay rights group in December that the lack of homosexual content in the Citizenship Guide was an "oversight." Clearly it was not. This suggests political doublespeak, but again, it's hardly shocking. If there's a scandal here, to my mind it's Mr. Kenney's behaviour since his direct role in axing the gay-friendly material was revealed ... This is the second time in three months Mr. Kenney has managed to create a needless, unedifying sideshow in pursuance of an objective he and his government are perfectly within their rights to pursue.

Actually Mr. Selley, this government does not have the right to pursue the changes they deliberately made to the guide. It was clearly written based on their plans for Canada. No health care, no social services, but more importantly no women, no gays and no ethnics.

It is a Reformer's view of Canada. War, men's sports, English, French and Aboriginals, with nothing that describes how we force our first nations to live.

And nothing about the historical significance of the 1/3 of Canadians who were not born of English, French or Aboriginal stock.

Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides protection for everyone, including our gay and lesbian citizens, but more importantly it provides recognition. They can't simply be written out on a whim.

There is a Facebook group that has started up Canadians Calling for the Resignation of Jason Kenney. He has clearly gone too far and needs to be stopped. (update: There is also a petition you can sign here and another one here)

He's operating his ministry like the Gestapo, where his word rules supreme. Enough is enough. As a homophobic, Zionist with delusions of grandeur, he is clearly a danger to himself and others.

His Canada may exclude anyone not in his orbit, but my Canada excludes him. It's that simple.

I'm using this post to promote the social networking group, as well as organize my posts on this horrible little man.

************

Christian Extremism

Selective Citizenship

Pursuits of Evil

Bigotry

Update on Rob Nicholson's Criminal Behaviour

Rob Nicholson may have crossed the line in threatening the senate committee, but he jumped right over it when he posted a partisan attack on OUR Justice department website.

Yesterday, I shared the notice in it's entirety, and then informed members of CAPP. Others had done the same and many concerned citizens sent emails to the integrity commissioner.

The media also got wind of it, so Nicholson changed the heading from NEW SENATORS TO HELP END OPPOSITION OBSTRUCTION OF LAW-AND-ORDER BILLS to MINISTERS WELCOME NEW SENATORS TO HELP SUPPORT LAW-AND-ORDER BILLS. Who says ordinary citizens can't change things?

I just hope It doesn't end there. One of our members stated that he had worked as a public servant for 33 years, and has never seen anything like this. That's a common complaint, I'm afraid.

Can I just say, that if you've never examined these new crime measures, they are absolutely horrible. Their intent is not to reduce crime, because we all know this will only increase it. Their purpose is to fill the private prisons that they are allowing the Americans to build here. They can't very well get them to do that when Canada has the lowest crime rate in almost three decades. Solution ... make more things criminal.

First on my list would be cabinet ministers abusing their office for partisan purposes. Sentence ... LIFE!

Grits pan 'partisan' posting on Justice website
Conservatives compromising neutrality of public service, Liberal MP says
By Kathryn May,
The Ottawa Citizen
January 30, 2010

The Liberals have complained to Canada's top bureaucrat about using the Justice Department's non-partisan website for a "brazen partisan attack" in announcing five new senators to clear the way for the Conservatives' law-and-order agenda.

"This is a concerted effort on the part of this government to politicize the public service," said Liberal MP Marlene Jennings.

"This is not the first time, it is reprehensible and it has to top." Jennings lodged her complaint with Privy Council Clerk Wayne Wouters over a press release posted on the Justice Department's website saying, "New Senators to Help End Opposition Obstruction of Law-and-Order Bills." The release went on to say the opposition gutted the government's bill proposing mandatory jail time for serious drug offences, a key part of its bid to fight organized crime.

Jennings said the press release flouts the public service's value and ethics code, which dictates that bureaucrats maintain neutrality in their work to protect the public's confidence in its integrity and impartiality.

Similarly, the government's communications policy says public servants must provide information to the public in a "non-partisan fashion" while protecting the "value and reputations of public institutions." Jennings said it was particularly worrisome that a partisan release was on the Justice Department's site. She wants it removed and Wouters to investigate whether public servants wrote, approved and posted it, or if it was prepared by political staff and posted under their orders.

She also wants to know if any bureaucrats objected. "I hope the deputy minister and Mr. Wouters can say when they investigate that it was political staff and not public servants who drafted that press release and it went out against the advice of public servants," said Jennings.

"If not, then one has to say public servants have demonstrated to be politicized and we can't rely on what they say to be non-political." Government officials were unavailable for comment.

In her complaint, Jennings cited several other releases she felt violated the code. She pointed to a press release Public Safety issued in 2007 accusing the opposition of being "soft on security and terrorism," while the government was committed to protecting the safety of Canadians. In another by Fisheries and Oceans, Liberals were accused of pandering to special interest groups while the Conservatives protected Canada's "hardworking sealers."

It's an issue that worries many experts, who fear the unravelling of Canada's independent and impartial public service. Some worry the government's attack on diplomat Richard Colvin for his revelations about the handling of Afghan detainees has created such a chill within the bureaucracy that public servants won't push back if politicians or political staff cross the line.

Peter Aucoin, professor emeritus at Dalhousie University, has long sounded the alarm about government communications being used for partisan spin. Policies should clearly spell out what's allowed on department sites. "It should be impartial and we should be able to distinguish between political communications and government communications," he said.

The growing concern about the impartiality of the public service, especially in the age of Facebook and Twitter, prompted Public Service Commission president Maria Barrados to call a review into the nature of non-partisanship in the 21st century. The commission is the watchdog of merit and neutrality in the public service.

"Canadian Voters Have Turned Their Country Into a Political Freak Show". I Am So Ashamed!

The statement in quotations was not made by me, though is certainly a belief I share.

There's an ongoing theme here. Canadians now sewing American flags on their backpacks. Our PM complicit in war crimes, hiding behind our revered soldiers. Sabotaging climate change talks and now facing suspension from the Commonwealth.

I have never cried so much in my life, as I'm watching this government completely destroy everything that Canada once stood for.

But hell, Harper can play the piano and sing a Beatles song off key. Let's give the man a majority so he can finish us off.

What is wrong with Canadians these days? This is horrible. How are we ever going to get Canada back? We've been hijacked, and obviously drugged, because we've lost our will to fight.

Stephen Harper is not my Prime Minister. He once said he hated Canada and I guess we are now seeing how much.

It's embarrassing to be Canadian now
George Monbiot is right – Canada has become a corrupt petro-state most of us are ashamed of. But all is not lost
Heather Mallick
UK Guardian
December 2, 2009 13.00 GMT

George Monbiot wrote a real porcupine of a column this week, excoriating Canada on its failure to act on climate change. The headline read, "Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling."

Brilliant! Just what smug Canada needs, a real seeing-to by an environmental wise man.

Monbiot, a hero of mine, had earlier written a toned-down piece for the leaden opinion page of Canada's dullest newspaper, the Globe and Mail. I wish he hadn't done that.

The headline was "Please, Canada, clean up your act." Canada was not now the "corrupt petro-state" of the Guardian piece. Monbiot in the local version seemed to treat Canada more like a student who had let not just himself down, but had brought sorrow to the entire school. Monbiot wanted to add his voice to those "pleading" with Canada's hard-right minority government to change its ways.

The fact is, there are many green and hopeful things to be salvaged from Canada's sorry situation and the wise Monbiot knows this.

Out of something as misty as mere indecision, Canadian voters have turned their country into a political freak show. Canada's Conservative government, run by an ideologue named Stephen Harper, does not represent Canadian voters on saving the air we breathe and temperatures we can cope with. When it comes to climate change, Canadians are as earnest and decent as they ever were.

Yes, Canada's record on carbon emissions is disgraceful, shameful, loathsome etc. The tar sands of northern Alberta are an international scandal. But the problem is not in a former Prius of a country turning into a Hummer. Canada's dilemma is much more interesting that that. It is the decline of a democracy (partly as its media died, thank you Conrad Black) and the descent of a nation into a political stasis, and it could happen to any country that doesn't mind the political store. What takes place when a nation can't decide on a government and lets a rightwing minority, quivering with hate, have just enough power?

Catastrophe, that's what.

Countries supposedly get the government they deserve. I'm not sure Canada deserved Harper. Canadians can agree with Judge Monbiot's assessment but ask the court to take into account our previous, as Rumpole would say.

First, no one disagrees more with Harper's refusal to slow climate change than Canadian voters. Indeed, more than three-quarters of Canadians say they are embarrassed that Canada hasn't taken an international lead on the issue, a recent poll revealed.

Even Albertans – home of the tar sands because they need the money and who is to say them nay – agree on this. Quebeckers, the sophisticates of the nation, are 86% in favour of Canada taking action. Toronto, while suffering economically, is maniacally devoted to hemp, bicycling and meticulous recycling rules. We hate green garbage incompetents. We love the Kyoto protocol, we want to prostrate ourselves in Copenhagen next month, but until we make our mind up about whether to make Michael Ignatieff prime minister, we can't.

May I humbly beg for patience with my country, which is stuck like a beaver in a dam of its own making.

Second, Canadians are still smart and decent. Only the government hews to the party line. On every issue, from abortion rights to rendition for torture to fair treatment of non-white citizens who had the temerity to take a holiday and can't come home because they lost weight and don't quite look like their passport photo, Harper is determined to turn Canada into America-lite.

He doesn't mean the America of Obama. He means the America of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, with its private affluence and public squalor.

American travellers used to shove a Canadian flag on their backpack for better treatment overseas. I'm sorry that the reverse has happened and Canadians now switch the conversation to Obama as quickly as possibly before the subject of clubbing seals arises.

We have shamed our better natures. But we Canadians will rid ourselves of Harper and rise again to be the decent and intelligent nation you Brits once patronised with such delight.