Ignorance Is Strength

At least it is so in Harperland.

What The Closure of The Experimental Lakes Area Really Means

To learn the truly tragic dimensions of this Harper maneuver to silence yet another dissenting scientific voice, please check out this article by Michael Harris. After reading it, I think you will likely agree that the health of Canadians is pretty low on the list of Dear Leader's priorities.

Death By Download?

Although a cliche, it is nonetheless true that knowledge is power, which probably explains why Canada is currently under the yoke of the most secretive and undemocratic federal government it has ever known.

The latest restriction on access to information is reflected in the Harper termination of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, a move which Tim Harper, in his Star column today, attributes to Conservative political ideology.

The group never strayed from its mandate, which was to study both the economic side and the environmental side of climate change, but never one at the exclusion of another. Apparently, however, as the Harper regime eliminates a variety of environmental regulations to fulfill its commitment to turn over the country wholly to the free enterprise 'masters of the universe', the Rountable's reports proved to be too popular a source of information for interested citizens.

As Tim Harper reports, Twin reports entitled Achieving 2050 were downloaded 51,605 times. A report on water sustainability was downloaded 33,565 times, another one entitled Climate Prosperity was downloaded 25,592 times and was linked from national and international media websites.

The NRTEE website gets more than 500,000 hits each year.

It has been said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Coupled with all of the other measures implemented by this regime to limit access to information, it is a safe bet to say that the current Prime Minister agrees.

Freedom of Information: Turkey, Mexico and India, Yes - Canada, Not So Much

The Harper obsession with secrecy and control is well-known and the source of much international attention. However, it seems we now have new reason to be both embarrassed and outraged. According to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), our country also lags behind other less developed nations in meeting freedom of information requests:

The Associated Press ... filed requests for information on terrorism charges and convictions in 105 countries that have freedom of information laws. Turkey supplied the information in a week, India in a month, Mexico in two months. Canada asked for a 200-day extension.

Canada was also ranked 40th out of 89 countries in world’s first Global Right to Information Rating, published last year by Access Info Europe and the Halifax-based Centre for Law and Democracy.

One cannot help but wonder what further enhancements to democracy Harper Inc. has planned for the coming years.

POSTSCRIPT: It took a freedom of information request by Canada's real 'newspaper of record', the Toronto Star, to uncover this inconvenient truth about how the public responded to Harper's decision to raise the age of entitlement for Old Age Security benefits. One imagines the bureaucratic that opened the lid has been severely disciplined by his/her political master.

Congratulations To The Harper Government

May the Prime Minister and his party enablers wear this award with distinction!

P.S. Check out some of the readers' comments on the site as well.

The Consequences of Expressing An Opinion In HarperWorld

Just a brief post here. Apparently airport groundworkers in Toronto and Montreal are out on a wildcat strike as a result of three members expressing an opinion of Labour Minister Lisa Rait:

Strikers accused Pearson airport security of heavy handedness after they said three of their fellow ground workers were suspended for clapping derisively when federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt came through the airport on a flight Thursday evening.

“Workers started clapping and saying, ‘Thanks for taking our right to strike,’” ramp worker Geoff Ward, 52, said.

“Corporate security were trying to provoke us,” said baggage worker Pascal Leroux, 43. “The reaction was heavy-handed.”

Full story here.