The current government has a sitting majority in the house therefore they determine what Canadians receive in the way of intervention by way of the Opposition, who, while tasked with holding the government to account on our behalf, have no control over the exercise of democratic principles or actions in the House. That has led to a clear abuse of our parliamentary system.
Mr. Harper has taken Canada by the scruff of its neck and shaken it badly. His once strident objections to miniscule omnibus bills by the Liberal party, his party when he was young, have turned into mammoth game changing multi hundred paged behemoths of undebated changes, destruction of environmental protection, loss of regulations on corporate-owned entities that facilitate the movement of oil, wheat and goods in this country and so much more.
Hundreds of pages, submitted on a short timeline so opposition, our voice in parliament, could not read and digest all the information or implications before heading into debate.
What is Mr. Harper hiding? The future landscape of Canada, loss of our values of fairness and inclusion, loss of protection of our beloved environment, removing or diminishing our commitment to social structures that support Canadian citizens, changes to our control of operation of big business regulations, financial institutions and the oil industry, the defunding of charities and organizations that don’t fit the fundamentalist religious right views of Mr. Harper, defunding of NGO’s around the world who worked with women and children to give them a better life, and so on.
Yet, if you listen to Mr. Harper you would think he is in full support of all the things. Double speak appears to be his forte.
The significant voter identification rules and regulation changes included in the “Fair Elections Act” have only gone further to suggest our democracy is being tampered with from the highest level.
Disenfranchisement is a classic case of repressive regimes, who seek to make it harder for citizens to vote freely and fairly, therefore leaving the committed, hard core Harper voters able to establish majority numbers without an actual majority of support from Canada’s citizens.
I urge all voters to contact Elections Canada and confirm they are on the registered voters list and are in possession of the government’s new ID requirements.
Glenna Miles, Vernon
