Saturday, September 13, 2008
Is Stephen Harper's government to be trusted?
We're having an election in Canada on October 14th. In 2006 the Canadian government headed by Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, passed a law establishing a fixed date for elections. Mr Harper has now seen fit to disobey, ignore, circumvent that law – take your pick. It is beyond question that his government passed the law. It's also beyond question that he has chosen to break it. Some say it's because the polls were running in his favour, and there is indeed an Angus Reid poll in this morning's paper that has his party way ahead. I don't know about anyone else, but it makes me very nervous when a government uses the country's parliament in this whimsical kind of way. Either fixed election dates are a good idea or they aren't. If a government goes to the trouble of passing a law that says they are, I don't expect the same government to ignore the law two years later. None of the political commentary that I have read suggests that the country is in a state of crisis such that the government cannot function, which might be a circumstance in which breaking the law that fixes the election date could arguably be allowable, indeed, wise. If the election isn't being held because it's the best thing for the country at this time, then one must conclude that it must be the best thing for the governing party – in other words Mr Harper has chosen to break his own law because it suits his purposes. I don't care what the pundits say, I, plain old ordinary citizen, don't expect those entrusted with the running of my country to give me a six for a nine. Three card sharks, used car salesmen and vendors of snake oil behave in this way. Responsible governments don't. It makes me want to go find out what else he’s said that he's changed his mind about. It makes me think that when Mr Harper says he'll bring our troops home in 2011, he may well find a reason at some future time to change his mind. Makes me wonder whether I can trust anything he says. Makes me think about where I'll put my vote...
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11 comments:
Two things here (1) Stephen Harper knows this is probably his best chance to win a majority government and get carte blanche to rewrite our country as he sees fit which is a rather scary thing in my belief. (2) Regardless of what the "experts" say the economy is in the dump. Tough measures may have to be taken. So Harper like some of the Caribbean leaders who call elections before things get too rough so they could get a new mandate and enforce the tough measures without worrying about a poll in a year or two and hoping that things would brighten up in 3 or 4 years by the next elections.
Either way you look at it though things are brown
It does look like massive hypocrisy on Harper's part. On the other hand, no politician worth his or her salt would pass up an opportunity to consolidate power.
For further elucidation on the second sentence above, I refer you to Niccolò Machiavelli's little handbook for wielders of power, Il Principe.
jdid, fsjl:
You wonder if these politicians know "what clock a strike..." as we put it in Jamdown. Stephen Harper has children, young ones. Does he want them to die of respiratory diseases in their mid years? Does he think that HIS children will escape the effects of a degraded environment by some miracle? Does he not realize that the immoral stance that sees US, and now Canadian (in Afghanistan) invasions into other countries as "promoting democracy" and "fighting terrorism" may well stretch its tentacles out in due course to corral his children too? He has savaged funding to the arts, which are crucial for enabling all of us, but young people especially, to express ourselves, to let off steam in constructive ways, describe our dreams, tell our stories, claim our languages and our heritages. There's something called "social cost" – haven't these guys ever heard of it? Better to write a poem about injustice than to take up a gun or a knife. Things are indeed "brown" as jdid says... No sign of green, or the desire on the part of citizens to live in a sustainable world, environmentally, politically, emotionally or spiritually... I think I'll have to add fasting to the praying that I keep talking about. It's our only chance of survival!
Harper may not care. There's a strand among Evangelical Xtians that really, truly does believe either that these are the End Days and that they will be Raptured away to spend Eternity (with a capital E) in Glory with their Maker. Since, judging by their behaviour on earth, their Maker is Old Scratch Himself, I wish them well of him. Or, in the alternative (as the lawyers say), they want to Immanentise the Eschaton and bring about the Coming of the Lord as swiftly as possible. These are not nice people in either case, and the god they project from the darkest recesses of their fears is not a nice god.
the really scary thing is that Harper will probably win his majority easily as the Liberals have not discredited Harper enough to really make any inroads and have not sold their agenda enough to win back the same number of seats that they currently have. I also believe the NDP will be decimated in this election as well.
Canadian politics is amazing. A story comes out that the Conservatives tried to bribe a dying politician to vote their way and that Harper likely knew and no one really runs with this story. It made the newspaper like two days and then died. This plays in the US and we have 24/7 coverage on CNN for weeks and people at least have some semblance of outrage. Here the apathy is overwhelming. unbelievable.
maybe we do deserve that conservative majority.
Hi fsjl:
So, am I, a Bible-believing, hopefully evangelizing, disciple of Jesus, who does indeed believe that we may be in the end times (whatever that may mean, however long it may be, bearing in mind that a thousand years are as a day unto the Lord) to be lumped in with an host of narrow, judgmental, self-righteous people who presume that they have some sort of 'in' with God that permits them to not be accountable? A post coming up on that...
Hi jdid:
I hate to agree, but I think you may be right about a Conservative majority, in which case, I may have to consider going to live in Belize or Costa Rica! If one's vote is to count this time around it will surely have to be for the Liberals. And I agree with you about Canadian politics. People are unbelievably apathetic, as you say. My husband has always maintained that people get the government they deserve. The price of freedom is, as that slave owner, Thomas Jefferson so famously said, eternal vigilance. If we don't look to our responsibility as citizens, we may soon find our citizenship diminished.
Pam:
For you, as I know well, the purpose of religion is not to punish people you do not fit into your world-view. For far too many Xtians, that does seem to be the only thing religion is for -- the one-upping of the world. The funny thing is that they insist on calling it 'love'. I'm certainly not going to lump decent human beings like you or Dick Ho-Lung in the same category.
fsjl:
I don't like the word 'religion' much. It says less and less about human beings and their relationship to God, and their responsibilities towards one another, and more about a lot of other things that have not got much to do with doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with my God, as the prophet Micah says. The notion of my punishing anybody (even if I could) is quite beyond my ken. Finally, if I've ever changed my mind about anything, it's been by means of "gentle persuasion", not by having it shoved down my throat. So it rather seems that there are Christians, and then again there are Christians...
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