Canada's Radical Makeover

Party of One - Stephen Harper and Canada's Radical Makeover 

by Michael Harris

My in-house library aficionado brought this home for me to read the other day and I've been almost unable to put it down.  There are a number of reviews of this book available on-line.  One from the The Star and one from the Globe & Mail.  To quote one of the comments that followed: "Everyone who can vote should read this book".

Having now done my civic duty by reading this book, I can offer the following comments:

Electoral Politics - The Unfair Elections Act

Some Canadians may remember the "robocalls" issue.  During the 2011 election, Elections Canada received complaints from a thousand or two voters about calls directing them to the wrong polling station.  Other calls were nuisance calls (usually made in the middle of the night) intended to turn voters against the Liberal (or other) candidate.

There was an investigation and one person, Michael Sona, has been found guilty, although it was clear that at least some other people must have been involved.

In response, the Harper government introduced the "Fair Elections Act" - Bill C-23.  Once it appeared, it quickly became known as the Unfair Elections Act, whose main champion was Pierre Pollivere.  The proposed legislation would actually reduce the authority of the chief electoral officer, would reduce Election Canada's investigative powers, would allow the incumbents in each riding to select the poll workers, thereby increasing the opportunity for skulduggery.  Although some changes were made to the bill, it has been passed into law and will affect the running of the 2015 election.

Defense Procurement - The F-35 Saga and the Big Lie

By the time 2012 rolled around, the Harper government had been misleading Parliament and Canadians for almost 6 years about the new jet fighter program.  The government was still insisting that the entire program would only cost $15 billion.

Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (hired by the Harper government under the Accountability Act in 2008), claimed the real price tag was closer to $29 billion.  The Harper government proceeded to badmouth Page as an incompetent busybody.  Kevin Page describes himself as a "nerdy guy who doesn't like wasting money".

Meanwhile, the government continued to insist that the F-35 was the only option available for the military.  As 2012 progressed, the Auditor General weighed in, pointing out that the DND's numbers had been kept secret, that critical information had not been made available to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, that there had not been a proper bidding process for the new fighter.  The bad news just continued to get worse.  One of the defense ministers, Peter MacKay, perhaps one of the most incompetent ministers ever in this post, continued to promote the project, even posing in plywood models of the fighter.  Indeed, in the 2011 election, Harper accused any opponents of the project of being unpatriotic deadbeats.  At this point, the plane hadn't even been flight-tested, and there were problems.  Many of them.

Two Canadian companies that will benefit from the project have ties to Harper.  It also came to light that the Harper cabinet had signed off on the $25 billion cost but had kept that secret, claiming that the cost was only $14 billion.  A more recent estimate of the total cost is closer to $70 billion.

The whole case has been one of number-fudging.  So much for sound fiscal management.

Personal Advisers, the Senate Scandal and other Misadventures

Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin... all appointed by Harper and all in trouble, one for assault, the others for expense claim fraud.  

Nigel Wright - appointed as Harper's Chief of Staff.  Reputed to be a brilliant addition to the wheels of government, or at least to the Conservative Government, but forced to leave his position after it became public that he gave a $90,000 gift to Mike Duffy so that his improper expense claims could be re-paid.

As one reporter who broke the story put it, how the Harper government had reacted to the expose of cash payments, shady deals and possibly illegal acts coming from the PMO... "Basically, it's been one lie after another".

Resource Development, Canada's First Nations and the Environment

Throughout the whole "energy debate" the tactics of the Harper government have been to say things they have no intention of carrying out (ie: regulating the energy sector), misrepresent the issue in various ways (ie: claim that any regulations would kill the economy; make claims about hundreds of thousands of jobs when a fraction of those would be more realistic), embarrass the country with infantile demands and aggressive saber-rattling (one former Conservative PM has observed that Canada has adopted an "almost adolescent tone" in dealing with other countries), demonizing any who disagree and, in the process, ignoring treaty obligations to consult and negotiate with First Nations about resource development.

Under The Bus

A number of Harper minions have managed to get themselves into trouble.  The usual tactic of the Harper PMO is to deny there is any problem, reiterate their support for the person in question, demonize anyone who continues to raise questions and then, if things are still going down the toilet and the facts can't be misrepresented any longer, throw the person at the center of the conflict under the bus.  Some examples:

Michael Sona - the only person charged and found guilty of mis-deeds related to the 2011 election Robocall travesty.  It was quite clear that other people must have been involved, but only one person was cut loose and allowed to take the fall for the Party and the Leader.

Mike Duffy - appointed by Harper, initially defended by Harper and the PMO when Senate financial irregularities starting appearing.  Abandoned and cut loose by the Senate and the Party when defending him eventually became untenable.

Support Our Troops (Unless it Actually Costs Money)

More than any Canadian government in recent times, the Harper government has seemed almost anxious to send our armed forced into battle.  As a former Canadian ambassador put it: "The neo-conservative idea of foreign policy is about flexing military muscle.... It is a reversal of our history.  Now we are a country with baggage.  We have become outliers.  We are seen as more American than the Americans, more Israeli than Likud...."

The Conservatives have repeatedly promoted the "Support Our Troops" campaign.  As a member of the Official Opposition, Harper had wanted to send Canada to war in Iraq, just one example of Harper's belief in a military solution to issues that he didn't well understand.

Support for Canada's military veterans, on the other hand, has received less enthusiastic support.  Cases of PTSD, suicides, medical issues, pensions....all have been ignored in the interests of balancing the budget by 2015.  Never mind that millions have been spent promoting the War of 1812 ($28 million).

Party of One contains a damming indictment of the Harper Government's treatment of the veterans who served Canada, seeming intended to frustrate any possible course of justice for these men and women in the hopes that they would either go away or die.  As the author put it, a classic case of "Delay, Deny and Die".

Harper's war on science, facts and the people who have worked to inform, is well documented in this book.  Harper vs Canada's (supposedly independent) nuclear regulator; Harper vs Statistics Canada (spreading false stories about StatsCan's chief statistician in the push to ditch the long-form census); Harper vs scientific research; Harper vs the environment.  Not everything is covered in the book: Harper vs Canadian Public Broadcasting; Harper vs the Supreme Court and Madame Justice McLachlin, but there is hardly a Canadian institution that Harper has not set out to discredit, dismantle or destroy.

I will make no secret of my intense dislike of Stephen Harper and the fascist thugs that masquerade as his government.  He has waged a war on reason, science, facts and history.  Despite cuddly photo ops with pandas, he represents possibly the greatest danger to Canadian democracy of any politician in Canadian history.  My dislike is obviously shared.  You can read the opinions of others here and here.

There are a number of sites on the Internet with lists of why Harper and his government ought to be relegated to the dustbins of infamous history.  One such is here.

One comment critical of Harper was slagged by a Harper supporter as being uninformed and "not understanding" him or his actions.  One reply to that attack went like this:

"Your remarks suggest that because people strongly disagree with you (or Harper), it is because they have made no effort to understand him or his actions. There are a lot of Canadians who really do understand him, what he is saying and what he is doing and what his "allies" are saying and doing. We understand the economics of neoliberalism, the goals of TE, the loss of sovereignty over our policy, the austerity that hurts only less wealthy people, the social sciences, the social services, the riding manipulations, the robocalls, the attempts to undermine the singularity of the country, the attempt to return Canada to colonial status under U.K. or U.S. (or both), the geopolitics, the lies, the secrecy, the hidden agendas, etc. We understand."

[Update1] - Michael Harris, the author of Party of One, appears in this 25 minute video clip.  Watch the video and read the book.  Decide if this is the Canada you want.

[Update2] - An article from the Globe & Mail which, although pointing out many negative aspects to the Harper regime, padded the beginning and end with sort of nice stuff, recognizing that most readers skip the middle bits.  Nice bit of media manipulation.

[Update3] - Veterans are angry even though Conservative MPs seems to thing things are rosy.

[Update4] - And then there have been the science book burnings a la 1930s Germany

[Update5] - And the push to turn Canada into a petro state.