DATELINE: IN A FRONT ROW SEAT FOR THE
DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY – By May first – in 32 days, for those of you without
a calendar – the Fair Elections Act will pass in Canada. Well, ‘pass’ is a
rather inaccurate term, as it will be more a case of it being shoved down our
throats, not unlike hemlock in ancient Athens. Of course, the title of the bill
is akin to referring to laws regarding rape as the Demand for Love Act. You can
put lipstick on a pig, but… well, you know how that one goes. Of course, the
Harper Conservatives don’t see it this way. Nooo, they see it as the only way
possible for them to win another election – by hook or by crook, as they say.
They will steal the House of Commons, because there is NOTHING that is more
important to Stephen Harper than being Boss.
Never in the history of Canada has one
party changed the rules of election without thorough consultation with the
other parties and without agreement from the heads of Election Canada. That is
because we are a democracy, and the prime tenet of a democracy is the ability
to have fair, honest elections. Without that, democracy is a farce, a cheap façade
worn by power mongers who give not one single damn about the people who elected
them, and who care even less for those who did not. Of course, there is the valid
argument to be made that the current government, the one making these changes,
is illegitimate anyways, and God knows this is not their first ‘never in the
history of Canada’ achievements.
They were the first government in Canada to
be found in Contempt of Parliament. That alone should have been signal enough
to the electorate, but what did Harper do? He prorogued parliament in order to
avoid scrutiny or asking questions (another first). In fact, he prorogues
Parliament whenever the kitchen gets a bit too hot for him. His was the first
government to set fixed election dates then was the first government to break
that rule as well. His was the first (and second) election in Canada’s history
to involve voter fraud – fraud that WAS determined to be committed by the
Conservatives. In fact, this government’s record for respecting and working
within the bounds of democracy is absolutely abysmal, the rules of democracy
and elections discussed by them with derision, offering more than enough proof
that they cannot and should not be trusted to unilaterally change the way in
which they are elected.
My rage about this, however, is not at the
Harper government any longer. That rage is pointless. I have written to the
Governor General – a textbook definition of ‘waste of time’ since Rideau Hall
is so far up Harper’s anal cavity that they have given up polishing those
austere marble floors anymore and have just accepted the brown slime on said
floors as a byproduct of Harper’s ravenous appetite. It’s understandable. The
man gobbles up people and poops out oil – well, dilbit, to be exact, so
undoubtedly they believe the floors of the GG’s mansion to instead be
christened with black gold. Certainly the perks and benefits received by the
government of the day, including the GG, have that rancid stench of oil clearly
attached to them.
I have written to every member of the
Senate. When the Fathers of Confederation dreamed up this country, they saw a
bi-cameral house, where no one side could run amok with the country they so
lovingly created. The Senate was to be non-partisan, a home of the wise, the
worn, the well-seasoned, who would provide sober second thought and stop any
monkey business should the government of the day attempt some. It’s as if they
had a premonition of Stephen Harper taking a chainsaw to their glorious
architecture, and wanted to have checks and balances in place to stop it before
it could happen. Of course, they didn’t see that corporate greed and obsession
for power would override absolutely every other principle involving government,
or that their beloved Senate would be completely bastardized, turned into
nothing more than a house of government whores working for a pimpish PMO.
My rage is wasted on Harper. It will change
nothing. He is what he is – another in a long line of megalomaniacal (misogynist)
power mongers, who dreams of more authority every night, and works for more
money in his bank account every day… and the people of the country (and the
country itself) be damned.
So, what can we do? Do we sit back, raise a
glass to the Canada we once knew, and thumb through boutique catalogues from
new corporations like Surviving Hitler, or Fascism International, hoping to
find something we can use to make our ‘new’ lives more tolerable under this new
regime? Our middle class has been decimated, our upper-class has been more
empowered, and as we all sink to the depths of the impoverished and enslaved,
we find out that this very oppression is what will prevent us from having a
right to vote. Harper is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that will crown
him king of his own country in time. Is my explanation extreme? Perhaps… for
now. Give the man some time.
Instead, I now ask ‘What the hell are the
other parties doing about this?’ Well, I do see some of them on television,
arguing the bill, but so what? What are they going to do? When it comes to
stopping it, they are in the minority. As government representatives, they are
completely impotent to stop this train wreck, and it shows. Flapping lips;
sinking ships. I am astounded and dismayed at their lack of actually ‘doing’
something. I have waited for over a month now for them to figure it out, but it
seems they just can’t. Party alliances – partisanism – runs too thick in their
blood, and the need to be ‘in charge’ is too all consuming for them to be able
to see beyond the trees. Because of that, all of us, and our country, and our
country’s amazing stellar reputation hang in the balance.
Instead of sending out emails every fecking
day of the week asking for more campaign money because ‘we have to collect more
than the other guy’, how about doing something to educate the people across
this country? How about doing something to organize them? Media pundits say
that the public is lazy and indifferent. No, assholes, they are not! They do,
however, need some guidance to get organized, and the word has to reach people
who don’t have computers in their homes (yes, there still are some, and they
are the ones who will be disenfranchised the most from these changes). Why are
the local arms of the political parties not getting out there and talking about
this to everyone? Why are they not in front of the media locally? Why are they
not holding town halls, sending out fliers, AND talking it up on the social
media and every other place possible? Why are the provincial arms of the
political parties doing nothing like this to inform and organize? Why are the federal
offices doing nothing? This is not a time to JUST sit in front of Robert Fife, Rosie Barton or Evan Solomon to pitch the same party lines and listen to the same BS spewed
by Conservative members who have no intention of answering a question or
providing an explanation. Is it up to just the likes of Katy O'Malley and Andrew Coyne to try to explain what is at stake here? Why are the parties doing more? Well, because they can’t go into those election coffers
to spend money prematurely on THIS because then what will they campaign with next
year.
This is no longer a situation where
political dichotomy can rule the day. WHY ARE THE PARTIES NOT JOINING TOGETHER
IN THIS FIGHT? That’s where my anger is. Get the Liberals, the NDP and the
Greens together, because the stakes are pretty fecking extreme. Show the people
of Canada that you can work together, that you DO care about Canada. Forget
raising money for the next election, because if this bill passes, the next
election is moot. It’s like saving money for a child’s college fund, then
watching that child die because you didn’t want to spend the money saved for
college on the medicine he needs now. Canada needs the medicine now!
There was a time when Canadians were proud
of what we did. We were the peace brokers, the calming influence. If there were
elections to be held in other countries, where democracy wasn’t as entrenched
in their psyches as it was here, WE went to help, to oversee, to teach them
about the beauty of casting a ballot, knowing that it was done on a fair, level
playing field. Canada, like Rome, wasn’t built in a day, but like Pompei, the
Canada we know can be wiped out in one fell blow. For us, it will be Mount
Harper that will be our demise, and I have no doubt that he’s up to the task. I
only wish our opposition parties were as well.
Canada is under attack… from within.
