Posting from Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper

German Gutierrez

CANADIAN POLITICAL BENCHMARKS: THE ART OF INCONSISTENCY

This weekend past I found myself reminiscing about a Canada without Harper. That wonderful land of tolerant, compassionate, law-abiding and well-educated people we had before 2006…

To my horror, I was able to see all the things we have lost, the ones that have been changed dramatically, perhaps forever, and those that are impossible to see, but that one perceives by just listening carefully. Yes we have the things that we know we know, but we also have those that we know we don’t know. And those are the most dangerous. The ones that happen behind our backs because there is nothing to make them happen before our very eyes… the ones that politicians are experts at manipulating and that are the essence of domination.

Ever since Harper conquered the House of Commons, enthroned his Regime in Ottawa, and launched his systematic siege on Canadian Democracy, we have followed all kinds of contradictory tales and accounts of what for some are his greatest exploits and for others, his most tragic blunders. How to know? How to be able to measure with exactness and justice what his presence has meant for Canada?

There are a few ways to assess his performance in power. Perhaps the most articulate are those that have to do with Quality of Life, Governance, and Exemplification of the Nation’s image abroad.

I could write page upon page about the severe economic, social, cultural, technological and scientific drawbacks that can be clearly identified and appraised as a result of the negative impact of Harperism in Canada. Others have already done so in great detail. I could also speak about the perception of the Nation in the context of International affairs and how Canada has plummeted not only in terms of its positive impact on global affairs but also in terms of its perceived dignity in the context of world nations.

Many have also commented with understandable grief about this. It is the Governance I will briefly speak about. Like many autocrats, Harper seems to think that it is more convenient to be feared than to be loved and he has certainly done his best to show his lack of concern and total disregard for legitimate emotion on many opportunities. At the same time, his lack of regard for the crucial importance of upholding morality in public office has led to the inaction of government in key moments where IMPUNITY had to be unmistakably banished from Parliament Hill. Not doing so in a timely and radical manner led to CORRUPTION in the exercise of Power.

Dominance with Corruption and Total Impunity is the mark of the most cunning and treacherous tyrants the world has known.

In our current Canadian landscape, politics has most decidedly become the absurd trafficking in ambiguity that Machiavelli warned the world against. And until we do not return to a politics of clear, simple, transparent and honest dedications, we will not be able to recover our Nation. Too many fabrications, too many declarations of not very comprehensible intentions, wordy promises of “change” and extensively “documented” reasons for actions that are not entirely clear are the everyday delivery of this generation of Canadian Politicians. They need to go. Canada deserves better.