Speak your mind even if your voice shakes
February of last year I wrote a post detailing the plans the Harper Government™ had for the youth of our country. Now this issue has come to the forefront.
Since nothing about the plan or my opinion of it has changed, I’ll just link to the February post.You can read it here
h/t debeauxOs @ breadnroses
Ritz shows total disregard for lives lost and total disrespect for a fellow politician by cracking jokes about the listeria crisis.
Harper shows his disregard for ordinary Canadians with his condescending remarks about unemployment in Welland
And a member of Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon’s staff is blasted for racist remarks toward Aboriginal members of his riding.
A member of Cannon’s staff was caught on tape responding: “If you behave and you’re sober and there’s no problems and if you don’t do a sit down and whatever, I don’t care.”
Further proof that the B(lue) S(weater) is not the right fit for Canadians.
Harper offered further proof of his inability to care about or understand the needs of the average Canadian on his recent stop in Welland.
Welland recently hit by the loss of manufacturing jobs and a likely severe “downturn” in the local economy was treated to a promise by Harper that he would get tough on ‘kiddie’ smokes. I’m sure that was a great comfort to Welland residents. It will do wonders to provide jobs, income security, stave off mortgage foreclosures and…… well Harper thinks everyone should just get over it;
A local reporter pressed the prime minister about his party’s plans to deal with staggering job losses. Harper replied: “I know it’s tough for some people, but it’s not all doom and gloom. We have to stay the course.”
The Spec
Take note Harper thinks that a part time job making minium wage is just as good as a job that lets you feed AND shelter your family at the same time. After all if stats can prove there is work that is all Harper cares about.
Canada Harper has dedicated this song to you,;
Great post at Interrobang’s Internationale on what we can expect from a Harper government.
Here’s what you are voting for, if you mark that ballot for your local CPC candidate:
* fewer and less stringent food and water inspections — Walkerton: The Sequel, coming soon to your town!
* the further demotion of women to a “special interest group” (Does The Smirking Corpse not have a mother?)
* allowing the continued abrogation of the Treaty of 1814 by the US government without so much of a murmur of protest (Hey, Corpsey, you’re all about northern sovereignty; what about southern sovereignty? What about that “longest undefended border” thing? Are we not into doing that anymore? If so, I demand you arm the rest of the border, to keep the Americans out.)
* an economic plan guaranteed to cause further rising income inequality
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Lets not forget Harris also ran besweatered father knows best, aren’t I just the most docile little thing ads before he got into power and kicked everyone and their kids who didn’t belong to the right income group. In fact Harper has already begun this process, see list of just some of the Harper cut & run government decimation here.
Harper on Health Care;
In his 2002 Throne Speech Reply, Stephen Harper said: “A government monopoly is not the only way to deliver health care to Canadians. … It (the federal government) must remove any barriers, any chill to increase private capital investment plans that the provinces have for our health-care system.” Parkland Institute
Harper on Kyoto;
“Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations,” CBC
Harper Government on Women;
Took out equality from SWC mandate, banned lobbying and research for SWC, originally cut budget by 5 million, called Belinda Stronach a dog by McKay further fueled by Norman Spector saying “Bitch is a word I would use to describe someone like Belinda Stronach.”
Some background on the real Harper
It’s amazing what you can persuade them (party members) to do once you convince them it’s the leader who is telling them.”
The Conservative leader is totally enamoured with the U.S., supportive of the Iraq war and ballistic missile defence (despite his coyness), admires U.S. President George W. Bush, detests social programs and the equality principle that drives them, and is a proud believer in America’s culture of possessive individualism. As such, he is more at odds with Canadians’ values than any national party leader in 60 years. Handing over the reigns of government to a man who has contempt for his own country would be a catastrophic mistake. Scandal or no scandal, Canadians need to keep their eye on the prize: the future of their country.{NOTE:and there has been scandal}
There is a war on Canadian soil. It is a war to replace traditional Canadian social values with neocon disregard for justice, for rights and for community. Fight back with your vote.
Two excellent examples of why we must guard against allowing neoconservatives to achieve positions of power.
First a post by skdadl at pogge which includes a youtube of a Biden speech. Well worth 30 minutes out of your day. He outlines the total disregard for the average American that both the outgoing Bush administration and the hopeful McCain administration share. Though it deals with the American government it is a window into the thinking of the Republican wanna-be that is Harper.
One of my favorite lines from the speech is this; “We’ve seen this movie before and we know that the sequel is always worse than the original.”
You can bet that the sequel to a Harper government, most especially if there is an increase in seats, will be much worse than the original. And this line is particularly significant to those of us here in Ontario struggling to regain ground after the Harris debacle. And let us not forget that Flaherty, Devolin and others were part and parcel of that governmental fiasco.
The second example is a post written in the Hamilton Spec by Tom Cooper (I don’t usually and don’t like copying large passages but hope Cooper will forgive me as it is just so important that this message be heard.)
Three and a half million Canadians (including 800,000 children) live in poverty, and yet there is no sign of the creation of a national anti-poverty strategy.
Tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost in southern Ontario over the last several years. In just the last week there were 800 job losses in Welland, 500 in Oakville and 93 at Hamilton’s Coppley’s Apparrel.
Hundreds of thousands of laid off workers cannot access Employment Insurance benefits after losing a job because criteria discriminate against those, notably women with young children, who work irregular hours.
Many low- and middle-income families don’t have access to affordable child care. And no, a $100/month benefit doesn’t cut it.
A national housing strategy is nonexistent, and homelessness remains dire in many urban centres. The federally funded Homelessness Partnership Initiative is set to expire March 31, 2009, which will have a dramatically negative impact on homelessness in Hamilton and across the country if it is not renewed.
How many of the people affected thought politics didn’t affect them? How many thought–perhaps still think–that their vote doesn’t matter? How many have lost so much there may be no regaining even what they had?
In Biden’s speech he talks about how poverty isn’t just a lack of money. It means a lack of respect, of confidence of ability to properly care for your family or keep your home.
When asked about social programs Harper opines that we can’t afford them. BUT we can afford 5 BILLION dollars in welfare payments tax cuts to corporations? Easy to see where his priorities lie. Easy to see that he like the person mentioned in Biden’s speech could be one to say that middle class is someone making less than 5 million a year.
This is not a time to turn away in apathy. Your country needs you. VOTE!
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