This is the new reality in Canada after five years of Harper’s control; there is now a deliberate and consistent attempt to keep environmental concerns out of the election discussions. This despite the fact that Canadians consistently rank environmental concerns at the top, or near the top, of their concerns.
Of course, Canadians know that Elizabeth May was barred from participating in the election debate on television, despite the fact that her party garnered nearly 0ne million votes in the last election. It seems the old boys club felt threatened by her articulate and interesting performance at the last debate. But it goes beyond just shutting May out of the mainstream media. In an article in today’s Toronto Star, Stephen Bede Scharper from the University of Toronto, discusses how a 4th year student at Guelph University was barred from a Conservative rally after being “flagged” by an RCMP security check. As Scharper points out,
Joanna is unaffiliated with any political party, has no criminal record, and comes from a dynamic family that I have known for years. Like many Canadians, she is trying to seriously engage in the key issues of this election.
Her unfitness to participate in a democratic rally seems to be based entirely on the fact that Joanna is a member of her university’s environmental group and has attended global climate summits as a youth delegate, although this is just a guess as she has never been told by anyone in the Conservative party why she was barred.
Is this is the kind of Canada we want? I know I don’t!On May 2nd, I’m voting to get Canada, and democracy, back. How about you?
Read all of Scharper’s article: No Welcome Mat For Environmentalists
And from a 2010 column by James Travers, editor and political correspondent at the Toronto Star, who passed away last month. He was certainly on to Mr. Harper:
Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that puts higher priority on building super-prisons than keeping people out of them. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where parties that win the most federal seats are dismissed as “losers”. That country is now this country…
And the list, unfortunately, goes on. To read the entire article go to Changing Canada, One Backward Step At a Time
For more election information that isn’t being covered by the mainstream media, check out these links:
What’s in a Preposition?
Harper’s Goon Squads: Get Used To Them
54 Conservative Candidates Currently Skipping Election Debates
“Threat” of Federal Coalition Greeted With Outrage
And, according to Amnesty International, Canada is now a “country of concern”
And remember George Orwell’s assertion in 1984: “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
