Recently you were visited by our Prime Minister, Mr. Stephen
Harper, but I am sorry to say he failed to make a stopover at Runnymede, site
of the signing of the Magna Carta, before he ventured into Ukraine to promote
your democracy. You see, what Harper says
in Ukraine is the opposite of what he does in Canada, and on this particular occasion
he did not have his music band with him to serenade you with current Beatles
hits. If his band were reunited (God
forbid), and if our Prime Minister were to sing, may I recommend “Hello,
goodbye” (“I don’t know why you say goodbye. I say hello”).
Here at home the “Harper Government” has introduced the
so-called “Fair” Elections Act, which has garnered criticism from all corners,
including the Globe and Mail, our newspaper
of record, which has published an unprecedented 6 editorials eviscerating the
legislation, which is being rushed through Parliament, as with all government
bills since the Conservative Party election to majority government. You would think that if the bill were “fair”,
and given that it has everything to do with how our elections are run, the
government would not limit debate; maybe it would even consult some of the
opposition parties.
The same Conservative Party that had trouble with the
scandal of robo-calls in the last election are now gutting Elections Canada,
the body responsible for investigating such irregularities. Canada was widely regarded as an open
democracy, but now voting rights are
being limited by a hidden problem we did not know even existed until the
legislation was drafted. The real
problem is now voter suppression, and the real targets are the young, who are
not likely to vote Conservative. Moreover
campaign spending is protected by a curious loophole that benefits mostly, you
guessed it, the Conservative Party. And now, as well, each incumbent will have
the power to appoint election officials, formerly the domain of (non-partisan)
Elections Canada.
This is really the tip of the iceberg, but it is also the
tipping point. While he was jetting off for Ukraine, Canada’s Supreme Court declared that Harper’s monkeying around with
his appointment to that same august body “illegal” and “unconstitutional.” If it were not for that major embarrassment, dragged
over six months, and if not for the implications the decision bears on
Harper’s fiddling with the Senate, Canada would be ever closer to the “Alberta
model”, where there once was a “King Ralph” and where the same party has ruled
for 43 years. The “Harper government” needs
its comeuppance, but Canada’s Parliament is not up to the task of Runnymede,
because Canadians no longer live in a meaningful democracy, saved only by the
Supreme Court. This is why, I
respectfully suggest, Ukraine should say “goodbye” when King Harper comes to
say “hello”.
