http://ca.news.yahoo.com/harper-assailed-cutting-elections-canada-budget-despite-rampant-191942749.html
The Harper government is under fire for cutting Elections Canada's budget even as the agency struggles to address rampant procedural errors and widespread allegations of cheating during the last federal vote.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the eight per cent cut to the election watchdog's 2013 budget is symptomatic of a government that has no respect for democratic institutions.
He accuses the Conservatives of showing a consistent willingness to cheat during elections — citing the so-called in-and-out affair and the robocall scandal.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says the budget cut is worrying and part of a pattern by Conservatives to discourage people from taking part in the democratic process.
The actions of the Harper government to handcuff and silence criticism is symptomatic of a government hell bent on taking control of the country without fair and democratic elections.
Be afraid Canada be very afraid.... the country appears to be headed down the same road as Venezuela and Cuba.
Harpers attempts to hijack the Canadian Parliament is nothing new, in 2004 he entered into an agreement with the Separatist BQ and the Socialist NDP to seize control of the House of Commons and be declared Prime Minister.
Agreement with the BQ and the NDP
Two months after the federal election, Stephen Harper privately met with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton in a Montreal hotel.[76] On September 9, 2004, the three signed a letter addressed to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, stating,
On the same day the letter was written, the three party leaders held a joint press conference at which they expressed their intent to co-operate on changing parliamentary rules, and to request that the Governor General consult with them before deciding to call an election.[79] At the news conference, Harper said "It is the Parliament that's supposed to run the country, not just the largest party and the single leader of that party. That's a criticism I've had and that we've had and that most Canadians have had for a long, long time now so this is an opportunity to start to change that." However, at the time, Harper and the two other opposition leaders denied trying to form a coalition government.[76] Harper said, "This is not a coalition, but this is a co-operative effort."[79]We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority.[77][78]
One month later, on October 4, Mike Duffy, now a Conservative senator (appointed by Harper), said "It is possible that you could change prime minister without having an election," and that some Conservatives wanted Harper to temporarily become prime minister without holding an election. The next day Layton walked out on talks with Harper and Duceppe, accusing them of trying to replace Paul Martin with Harper as prime minister. Both Bloc and Conservative officials denied Layton's accusations.[76]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Harper
Harper's lack of Canadian pride and allegiance is suspect due to his attempt after the 2000 election to build a "firewall" around Alberta and isolate it from the rest of Canada.
After the Canadian Alliance's poor showing in the 2000 election, Harper joined with other Western conservatives in co-authoring a document called the "Alberta Agenda". The letter called on Alberta to reform publicly funded health care, replace the Canada Pension Plan with a provincial plan and replace the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with a provincial police force. It became known as the "firewall letter", because it called on the provincial government to "build firewalls around Alberta" in order to stop the federal government from redistributing its wealth to less affluent regions.[49] Alberta Premier Ralph Klein agreed with some of the letter's recommendations, but distanced himself from the "firewall" comments.[50]
Harper also wrote an editorial in late 2000 arguing that Alberta and the rest of Canada were "embark[ing] on divergent and potentially hostile paths to defining their country". He said that Alberta had chosen the "best of Canada's heritage—a combination of American enterprise and individualism with the British traditions of order and co-operation" while Canada "appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country [...] led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task". He also called for a "stronger and much more autonomous Alberta", while rejecting calls for separatism.[51] In the 2001 Alberta provincial election, Harper led the NCC in a "Vote Anything but Liberal" campaign.[52] Some articles from this period described him as a possible successor to Klein.[53]
No comments:
Post a Comment