Lest We Forget

The Star's Tim Harper reports that Kellie Leitch, one of the robotic but very malleable mainstays of the former Harper regime, has become the first declared candidate for the Conservative Party's leadership.

I hope no one forgets her appearance with Immigration Minister Chris Alexander during the Conservatives' desperate and divisive bid to hold on to power during the last election. She and Alexander made a good team, given that both are singularly devoid of even a shred of personal integrity:

More From Marg: Canada's Barbaric Cultural Practices Tip Line

Marg Delahunty reminds us of one of the many offences against Canada committed by the Harper regime:

Senior Scam Alert

Although now retired as Canada's longest-serving mayor, the redoubtable Hazel McCallion continues her life of public service:



Meanwhile, over at Don Martin's Power Play, watch the first two minutes of his questioning of Monte Solberg defending Harper's hypocrisy of having well-known crack-user Rob Ford and his brother Doug at his rally in Etobicoke while his government keeps telling Canadians how dangerous drugs are. You will notice that Martin can't conceal his contempt for Solberg's response. Then go to the five-minute mark to watch the former Con MP defend the despicable ads being run in ethnic media:



These acts of desperation will not save Harper this time around, I predict.

I'll Be So Glad To See The End Of This

I think most would agree that Terrence Young and the rest of his ilk are long past their best-before dates.

Something To Gladden The Spirit

During this campaign, while Harper has been appealing to the worst in Canadians, I have to admit that my faith in humanity has been faltering. The following, which I saw on Facebook, is something of a restorative.



"You see, you've misjudged us... You've underestimated us." A former Calgarian writes an open letter to Stephen Harper and explains what it means to be Canadian.

“Dear Mr. Harper,

I live in BC with my husband and two little girls. I grew up in Calgary and have many friends and family members there. I’m white and in my early 40s. One of us is a stay at home parent, so we benefit 100% from the direct deposits in lieu of a national childcare program. We also benefit 100% from income splitting. And we can afford to take advantage of the increased allowance in our TFSAs.

In other words, we're the picture of the family who benefits the most from your economic policies. But we're not voting Conservative on October 19th.

You see, you've misjudged us. We enjoy our standard of living, we work hard for it but it's not the only thing that matters to us.

You assume we don't care about our first nation’s neighbours, or Canadians trying to bring their family members here from war torn countries. That we don't care about less fortunate Canadians, our veterans, or scientists. You think we don't mind that to save a few bucks and balance the books we axed the census, dumped decades of research from our libraries, cut funding to CBC, underspent our budgets in important departments and closed coast guard stations. You figure we no longer want our lakes and rivers protected and that we don't understand that climate change is a far greater risk to our way of life than Barbaric Cultural Practices.

You've underestimated us.

On October 19, we're not voting for our bank balance. We're voting for change because we want the caring Canada of our youth back. The Canada that supported our single mothers that gave us the opportunity to succeed in the first place.

Mary Cleaver”

Guest Post: The Values Edition

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, It seems a propitious time to reflect on the values that have been fostered and avidly promoted (especially during this election season} by the Harper government, values that no doubt will be on the minds of many as they head to the polls on October 19.

The following was sent to me by M Barrett. Please note that because I received this as a PDF document, converting it into text has been done at the cost of a few graphics of our flag in the opening, as well as some of the original formatting.


Government of the Modern Civilized Republic of Canada

Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Preservation of Virtue

Statement

Statement on Canadian Values

Ottawa October 08, 2015

Introduction
Canada is an inclusive society and by definition that necessarily includes closed minded, intolerant, divisive people, many of them with very real issues about seeing a woman’s face so as to be able to ascertain whether she is mocking them.
Canada’s inclusive society also includes those who having immigrated here, quite understandably feel the need to lock the door behind them because of possible overcrowding and strains on Canada’s world class social safety net.
This charter is a way to address the fear of this beleaguered segment of Canadian society, that they too are becoming a despised, dwindling minority, and it ensures that Canada’s vaunted democratic electoral system diligently unearths every and all contrived and festering matter no matter how repugnant in order to achieve well deserved political success.
Respects

Stevie J

Charter of Modern Values and Civilized Practices

1 The official name of Canada shall be designated as the Modern Civilized Republic of Canada.
2 Under the authority of Prime Minister Stephen J Harper, Ministers Jason Kenney and Chris Alexander of The Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Preservation of Virtue, declare the annulment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the promulgation of the Charter of Modern Values and Civilized Practices.

Preamble

Whereas Canada is a Modern Civilized Republic, medieval barbaric practices shall be eliminated and Modern Values and Civilized Practices only are permitted.
Deploring the fact that certain probationary Canadians, despite repeated efforts to reasonably accommodate their presence in a Modern Civilized Republic, persist in carrying out barbaric medieval practices, the Charter of Modern Values and Civilized Practices is proclaimed as follows:

Head / Face Coverings
Whereas Canada is a nation of open minded people with nothing to hide and those that want to cover their faces must have something to hide - not just blemishes but terrorism or environmental or leftist views, all face covering and head covering is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to niqabs, burqas, balaclavas, bridal veils, sunglasses, turbans, kippas, beards, mustaches and sideburns of any length (male or female), Halloween masks, and heavy makeup.

The government reserves the right to mandate the uncovering of other body parts as deemed necessary to conform to the charter. This does not preclude a requirement for body cavity searches to ensure complete compliance with openness.
Nomenclature

Canadians are a people who value brevity, simplicity and taxonomy that does not require fancy mnemonics.

First names and surnames are to comprise no more than 10 letters, and in the roman alphabet, and must contain an even distribution of vowels and consonants. No more than 2 consecutive consonants may precede or follow a vowel. Unpronounced Hs and redundant superfluous duplicate letters are to be discarded. Pronunciation which involves convoluted articulation of the tongue, lips, other mouth parts or gesticulation of the hands, bizarre inflections, intonations or unreasonably nasal or guttural utterances are prohibited.
Surnames which are shared by more than say, 100 non family members shall be preceded by a unique 8 digit surname prefix.

Examples:
• Singh > correct modern surname “75234594Sing”
• Wong > correct modern surname “5734659784Wrong”
• Mohammed > correct modern surname “Christian”

Music
Canadian subjects place a high value on harmonious relationships in their communities. Accordionly, discordant, cacophonous "music" consisting of non english or accented high pitched female voices, or with a frenetic or wild beat, and or accompanied by so called “musical” instruments with one or fewer strings or made of or containing dried gourds, goat skins, cat gut, oil containers, or other detritus is prohibited.
Pluralism
The Niqab Party of Canada is banned.

Aboriginal and Inuit people of Canada shall be permitted to stay in their designated favelas and carry out their poverty based practices in order to serve as a stark reminder to the rest of Canada how far we have come as a nation.

Linguistics
The language of Canada is English. Period. Although for historo-cultural reasons and to affirm Canada’s respect for and encouragement of diversity, and to secure crucial political support, francais may be parlez vous. The Chinese language may be tolerated at certain bank branches where esteemed new Investo-Canadians conduct their lucrative, taxable businesses. It is not however, an acceptable language in grocery establishments or on food labels, except as an exotic embellishment.

English is the lingua franca spoken throughout the world with varying degrees of intelligibility. Arrivals to Canada should have learned it back home before they came. Those who are unfortunately fluent in several languages other than English are required to attain perfect English fluency before availing themselves of social services, speaking on the phone or venturing out in public. When disbursing cash or making substantial purchases, potential Canadians are not required to speak English or any other language for that matter.

Human Rights
Canadians are a people who value diversity but in indiscernible, reasonable measure. To avoid offense, those who wish to exhibit an acceptable level of difference from standard old stock Modern Civilized Canadians may choose to display no more than 3 of the following sanctioned diversities:

• Different but not gaily painted front door of dwelling
• Sad, happy or indifferent facial expression
• With fries
• Burt Bacarach or Boston Pops Orchestra
Uh ... That’s it.

Nutrition
Whereas Canada is a nation of people with civilized tastes, refined olfactory organs, and an aversion to salts, sugars and fats, whether trans or straight, all strong smelling, strangely spiced ethnic foods and unrecognizable and unpronounceable fruits and vegetables shall be prohibited along with their accompanying peculiar and poorly crafted cooking paraphernalia. Nourriture prepared over an open flame, a barbaric cultural practice predating the medieval era, is likewise prohibited unless the flame is sustained by modern Canadian natural gas - geologic, political or otherwise.

Acceptable modern civilized substitutes for the above noted silage are processed foods in microwavable packaging in a Canadian language, displaying photos of readily identifiable Canadian meals which may or may not be contained within, nutritional supplements and energy drinks.

Security
Because terrorism.

Religion
Canadians are a tolerant people, exhibiting a surprising level of patience with those of different beliefs, customs or colors. But patience has its limits and although Canadians are all for an extra holiday every Friday, the explosion of bewildering theocratic practices and the profusion of sanctified foods on supermarket shelves must be brought to an end.

Whereas all religions practiced today predate the medieval era and which, furthermore, are also all misogynistic and propagate pagan barbaric rituals, and considering that Scientology, although contemporary has many bizarre and incomprehensible though famous adherents, and that Canadians being modern and scientific now know that those shadows cast upon the cave wall are not real but are a representation of activities which are simply out of view, all religions and religious practices and symbols are not only passe, but prohibited, with the notable exception of certain Quebeco - Canadian culturally historic religious artifacts which have been stripped of their religious significance by simple affirmation in order to conform with the spirit, holy or otherwise, of this charter.

Military
Whereas Canadians are a peace loving people with a Nobel prize winning former prime minister to prove it, and considering that they are prohibited from owning handguns and only permitted to own the longer, semi automatic more peaceful ones, the barbaric cultural practice of attacking, killing, massacring, bombing and torturing those who don’t agree with, or are a threat to, or are simply a different color or odor or hold a different opinion than old stock Canadians predates the medieval era, the armed forces in their entirety are hereby abolished.

Family planning
Canada is a mosaic, not a melting pot, but all of those pieces of glass have their proper place and color otherwise we wouldn’t get the picture we want. This is just a metaphor but I think you can see what we are getting at.

Canada is a nation of people with a disdain for tribal like extended family organizations with large numbers of unruly wide eyed children whose parents disproportionately benefit from Canada’s overly generous system of social services and who engage in self help rather than spreading the wealth / financially contributing to the wider established community.

Accordingly it is prohibited for families to have more than 2.1 children.

ENFORCEMENT Reprogramming / Civilizing
All new arrivals - whether of color or ostentatiously garbed or mannered, as well as non old stock Canadians, to the Modern Civilized Republic of Canada shall be detained and subjected to compulsory programming / psychic driving / civilizing / integration in Canadian Modern Values and Civilized Practices.

Additional programming will be undertaken as necessary to eliminate offensive personal odors, irritating accents, and dangerous driving practices and to impart a monotonal quality of speech, free of labial, head, and hand movements.

New arrivals shall be stripped of their garish multi layered apparel and freakish accoutrements and issued at cost, standard, close fitting, modern Canadian dress in shades of gray.

Surveillance
Old stock Canadians have a genuine interest in how well their potential Canadian neighbors, restaurant employees, taxi drivers and call center workers are getting along in this great welcoming country.

Old stock Canadians shall be furnished with telescopes, wiretap, camera, odor sniffing and other surveillance equipment in order to gauge the well being of these irrationally suspicious and cautious people in an unobtrusive, non threatening way.

Penalties
Non compliance with the Charter shall be reported to the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Preservation of Virtue via a dedicated snitch line and shall result in the immediate revocation of coveted Civilized Canadian status and teleportation of the offender to a medieval era country.

Some Things To Give Thanks For

H/t Toronto Star

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend, moving beyond the usual things we express gratitude for (family, health, etc.), here are a few other things I give thanks for:

A high turnout in advance polls:

Elections Canada says it estimates some 850,000 people voted on Friday, the first day of advance polls.

The agency says that is a 26 per cent increase over the first day of advance polls in the 2011 election and a 90 per cent increase over the first day of advance polls in 2008.

Is it possible that our appetite for change is at least as strong as our relish for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings?

An indefatigable Danny Williams, who refuses to adopt any subtlety or nuance in his assessment of Stephen Harper:

His position on ethnic issues during this campaign amounts to nothing less than fear-mongering and divisive politics at its worst. His proposed hotline to report “barbaric cultural practices” is a glaring example of his politics of fear and division.

The Star's Haroon Siddiqui, who has come out of recent retirement to write some blistering assessments of our domestic dictator/demagogue. His latest offers this:

The first duty of a prime minister is to not damage the country. One sure way to damage it, history tells us, is to do nothing when extremists spread hate against a group of fellow citizens. We have a far more frightening situation today.

The prime minister himself is orchestrating a campaign of bigotry, covertly and not so covertly, against Muslims, who are arguably as vulnerable a group as were Catholics, Jews, Japanese or Chinese Canadians at various times in our history. In trying to win votes by dividing Canadians, Harper is violating the most sacred of Canadian values, unity.

The Star editorial board, that has consistently held the government to account. It's latest effort reminds us once more of the mean-spirited and mendacious truth of Harper and his operatives:

Last spring, as Syrians were fleeing the broken country in record numbers, the Prime Minister’s Office instructed Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander’s department to “review” a “first tranche” of United Nations-approved, government-assisted refugees from Syria this year. They were mostly Muslim at the time. But going forward, the Conservatives were determined that priority should be given to the “most vulnerable” (read: Christians and other non-Muslim minorities).

This overt meddling by Harper and his office, done on the down-low until media reports blew the lid off this past week, is just the latest manifestation of an anti-Muslim bias by this government. Harper never loses a chance to invoke the spectre of Islamist terrorism. And his campaign against niqab-wearing women has been a low point of the election.

Michael Harris, the iPolitics journalist and author of Party of One. He is a constant reminder not only of the egregious offences of the Harper government, but also of how many members of traditional media fail to ask the hard questions:

Death by dumbing-down is an ugly sight. No one has yet conducted an interview with Harper that directly deals with his dishonesty, his dictatorial ways, his contempt for democracy. He is still wrapped in the aura of office, smelling like a dead flounder. Everyone is pretending it’s perfume.

Where are the feature newspaper articles or long-form television interviews on that subject? They simply aren’t there.

Finally, I want to give thanks to all the members of the progressive blogosphere whose passion, commitment and commentary sustain me through some very dark times. Owen, Mound, Rural and Montreal Simon and many others have been tireless in reminding us of the things that should matter to our country.

A week from tomorrow, I sincerely hope that I can add my fellow citizens to this gratitude list. May they all act in Canada's best interests when they vote, guided by the better sides of their nature, not the worst that Mr. Harper and his crew have been so assiduously cultivating.

Another Word From Harry Smith

Harry Smith, who I have written about previously on this blog, has some timely reminders for us this election season.

...because so many Canadians of my generation had come from nations fraught with religious and ethnic tension, we tried to create a more tolerant society that crossed political beliefs. Inclusion and acceptance became a watchword that no political party could own because every Canadian shared the concept that human rights were universal.

Sadly, of course, we are now led by a demagogue who would change all that:

But now the fall air is crisp with the politics of hate and fear as Canada's general election wends its way to election day on Oct. 19. It has been this country's longest and most expensive election campaign in history. And the most important, because the democratic values that make Canada the envy of the world are at stake. The Harper government has muzzled scientists, silenced environmentalist and now with its crass politics of race, also threatens to destroy the ethnic mosaic that made Canada a unique oasis in a world of conflict.

Harper, in his quest to sow discord and suspicion, has some unenviable historical companions:

Stephen Harper persists like a modern-day Joseph McCarthy in creating a sweltering climate of fear against Canadian Muslims by employing dog whistle politics that equates an honourable religion with terrorism and radicalism.

The Harper government has waged a cultural war against Muslim women who choose by the dictates of their faith to wear the niqab. Already women have been physically and verbally attacked for donning the veil. We have not seen this type of xenophobia since the Second World War, when Japanese Canadians were vilified and eventually stripped of their rights as citizens and forced to live in labour camps far from the communities they once called home.

Just a few of the many things to think about whether you are taking part in the advance polls this weekend, as I have, or waiting until October 19 to help decide Canada's future.

About That Pavlovian Response

It is enough to make a recovering cynic suffer a very bad relapse. As I noted earlier this week, to see what lurks just beneath the surface of Canadian sensibilities, something dark and ugly, is extremely disheartening. Amply revealed by the Machiavellian incitement of prejudice engineered by Lynton Crosby to maximize the Harper regimes re-election, we are bearing witness to far too many of our fellow citizens responding far too enthusiastically to the ringing of the Pavlovian bell. I feel ashamed and disgusted.

Consider this blatant pandering for the Quebec vote, the latest salvo in the Con attack ad war against Trudeau:



Or how about this?

According to the latest Forum poll,

73 per cent said the issue won’t influence their vote, 20 per cent of respondents said it will. About half of the latter category (11 per cent) said the issue will influence them a “great deal.

I take little comfort that the majority say they will not be influenced by this latest demagoguery from Harper. The fact that 20 per cent are is disquieting, in that they represent a sizable number of Canadians who seem to lack any insight into the fact that they are being grossly manipulated here. As I said in my earlier post, one may not especially like the niqab, but to make it determining factor in your federal vote is something I find very hard to understand.

And then there is this Angus Reid poll,

where 46 per cent held an unfavourable view of Islam in 2009, [but] that figure has risen sharply to 54 per cent this year.... In Quebec, 48 per cent said they would find it unacceptable for one of their children to marry a Muslim, up slightly from 45 per cent in 2009. In the rest of Canada, those who found the thought of a son or daughter marrying a Muslim unacceptable shot up to 32 per cent from 24 per cent.

Matters are getting worse, with Harper now considering a wider ban on the niqab:

A proposed ban on niqabs in the federal civil service would affect an infinitesimally small number of bureaucrats — if any at all. Statistics from 2011 show only 1.8 per cent of 257,000 federal employees are Muslim women and only a small subset of them is likely to wear face coverings. The Conservatives have already tried to require Muslim women to show their faces at citizenship ceremonies, but those rules are being challenged in the courts. Harper's comments on Wednesday make clear he is eyeing additional legislation to require women to unveil every time they want services from the federal government.

The words of Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau resonate:

"Stephen Harper is reminding us every time he does this why he doesn't deserve to be prime minister," Mulcair said in Enoch, Alta., as he highlighted his party's $4.8 billion plan to improve aboriginal education Trudeau, in London, Ont., said Harper's divide-and-conquer approach "is unworthy of the office he holds and he needs to stop." "No election win is worth pitting Canadians against Canadians."

Be assured that Stephen Harper's evil mischief is pitting Canadians against Canadians. Consider the situation of Rezan Mosa, a 22-year-old native of Vancouver who decided to wear the niqab:

Mosa, a student at Brescia University College in London, Ont., said that as anti-niqab sentiment has ramped up on the campaign trail in recent weeks, she’s experienced more incidents of discrimination. “There’s definitely a noticeable difference,” said Mosa, who began wearing the veil over 18 months ago. “Just a lot more people staring, making comments, telling me to go back to my country.” She said the incidents have made her “feel very unsafe.”

Mosa is not alone:

The National Council of Canadian Muslims said it has received several reports of Muslim women being verbally or physically assaulted in the last month. It pointed to a disabled Muslim 19-year-old woman who reported to police that she was verbally threatened at an Ottawa shopping centre. The Star could not independently verify the report. The group tracks such incidents and recorded the details on its website, saying the woman was “young, visibly Muslim and disabled” when a middle-aged white man told her “to remove ‘the f---ing rug off (her) head.’ ”

One more incident perhaps best illustrates the terrible consequences of fanning the flames of intolerance:

In the early evening of Sept. 17, before dark, a 17-year-old girl strolled from the Al-Noor Mosque in St. Catharines, Ont., to the plaza across the street. She was planning to buy a drink and snack. Then three other girls, teenagers the girl from the mosque didn’t recognize, walked up behind her. According to Sallah Hamdani, a spokesman for the local Islamic community, the trio of girls began by making bigoted remarks. Isn’t it against your religion, one asked, to be out walking alone? Ugly words escalated into pushing, then punching. “There was blood. She went to the hospital to make sure her nose wasn’t broken,” Hamdani said. “Her hijab was pulled. You can’t keep it on during a fight.”

Stephen Harper and his operatives are very much aware of the fallibilities human nature is subject to. To exploit those weaknesses for electoral gain is yet another indictment of his unfitness to govern. I just wish more Canadians could see what is so obviously staring them in the face.

The Better Angels Of Our Nature

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” - Abraham Lincoln

Stephen Harper, of course, is doing his best to suppress those better angels, a fact not unrecognized by Star readers.

It seems to me the media and many voters, especially those in Quebec, are behaving like the dog in the animated movie “Up.” While we need to be discussing climate change, the mess the economy is in, missing and murdered indigenous women, muzzling of our scientists, health care reform and many other subjects that affect the vast majority of Canadians Harper throws out the niqab and we all yell “squirrel” and end up talking about something that affects two people.

Or he raises removing someone’s citizenship and we waste our time talking about something that affects one person.

Harper has become Pavlov to a bunch of easily distracted dogs. Let’s not fall for his manipulative devious schemes and concentrate on what really matters to the majority of Canadians.

Ken Beckim, Oshawa

Canadians are in a continuous tug of war between proudly welcoming diversity and protecting minority rights, and threatening to restrict the expression of individual differences. Lucky for Canadians, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our justice system stand as our most valuable protection against the actions of those who want to curtail choices that make some uncomfortable or run counter to their values or beliefs.

Taking a historical view, we see that issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc., rely on the protections set out in the Charter. Our strength is refusing to succumb to bigotry, prejudice and stereotypes that undermine what is so valuable in protecting the human rights of minorities.

Those of us who were once marginalized and treated as pariahs are today mainstream contributors to our society. Vive la difference and vive la Charter.

Barbara Landau and Shahid Akhtar, co-chairs, Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims, Toronto

Growing up Muslim, I have witnessed nasty stereotypes and encountered discriminatory and highly racial acts; it almost felt as if being Muslim meant being a minority or outcast. Whatever problem occurs identifies a small amount of people but the whole humanity is not to blame.

I agree we should help our neighbours and be kind to all, because if we were in such a situation we would seek help as well.

Racism and discrimination shouldn’t even exist in 2015. There is so much more to do and accomplish by working together not apart. Wake up.

Afreen Gul, Mississauga

We Aren't As Good As We Think We Are

If anything, the racism and xenophobia that have become cornerstones of the Harper re-election strategy are showing us something we would prefer not to think about: when provoked, our own darker natures come easily to the surface.

In his column today, Edward Keenan reveals a few things we should ponder:

... if you have been paying attention, it’s obvious enough that when Team Harper refers to “barbaric culture” it means Islam.

And so this new election initiative is intended to respond to some imagined Canadian epidemic of “child and forced marriage,” “sexual slavery and so-called ‘honour killings’ ” and “female genital mutilation.” These things, of course, are horrific and are already illegal. And while they do not appear to be particularly common here compared to other crimes (even compared to other crimes against women), there is already an established national reporting mechanism for those encountering them: dial 911. So nothing about this announcement actually makes women any safer. Instead it’s an excuse to talk about Muslims as barbarians in a press conference. It’s a transparently BS announcement to drum up hate and fear, for their own sake.

Sadly, there seems to be evidence that this loathsome strategy is working:

As they’ve unveiled these items, the Conservatives have gone from third to first in many polls. Is it a coincidence? There’s reason to think not.

A government poll showed 82 per cent of Canadians support the niqab ban, for instance. Moreover, eight per cent of voters told Leger marketing that the niqab ban was the main issue determining their vote. Considering that the Conservatives’ recent swing into the lead has been an increase of only about six points in their support in most polls, it’s not crazy to conclude this anti-Islam posturing has made much of the difference for them.

It is time for all of us to take another look in the mirror, because despite our desire to think of ourselves as a tolerant and accepting people, the truth appears to be something else:

But we’re also a country where it appears an election may be won by blatantly disregarding the Charter and promoting intolerance for no discernable reason other than to stick our thumbs in the eye of a minority whose cultural and religious practices we find off-putting.

Cultivating such prejudices, as the Harper regime is shamelessly doing, has consequences beyond electoral gain. Consider what happened to Safira Merriman, a 30-year-old convert to Islam who wears the niqab:

Last week, wearing her Islamic face veil – the niqab, which has become a central issue in the federal election – she says she was trying to enter Shoppers Drug Mart at Toronto’s Fairview Mall when a man carrying a liquor-store bag blocked her path and then drove his elbow hard into her shoulder, in front of her two daughters, ages nine and four.

Or how about this?

Last week in Montreal, two teenagers reportedly pulled the hijab, or head scarf, of a pregnant woman, causing her to fall.

These are not things we should be proud of. Yet if we succumb to the Harper politics of hatred, suspicion and division, there will be no one to blame but ourselves and our unwillingness to resist the demagogues who skulk among us.

Lifting The Veil

Lifting the veil behind what has become a major part of the Tory re-election strategy reveals nothing good. Consider, for example, this shameful announcement by party stalwart Kellie Lietch, who has yet to meet a Harper directive she doesn't salivate over:



In other words, the directive has gone out: surveil your Muslim neighbours and acquaintances and report on their foul and quite possibly nefarious practices. They are not to be trusted. What makes this announcement even more reprehensible is that it is being peddled under the pretext of helping vulnerable women and children, two groups the regime has shown little more than passing interest in up to this point.

Fortunately, not all are responding in the desired manner to this Pavlovian bell. Twitter reaction was fierce, as a few excerpts demonstrate:

Trying to convince citizens that people of a specific race are toxic. Don't let history repeat itself.

Trying to convince citizens that people of a specific race are toxic. Don't let history repeat itself.

The Canadian media better start calling this #elxn42 strategy what it is: racist. And they need to use that word.

Ignoring expert advice on refugee health care, crime prevention, harm reduction and climate change.

Is the #BarbaricCulturalPractices tip line open yet? I'd like to report someone for overusing a dog whistle.

And yet, despite the ability of some Canadians to see through this low tactic of stoking intolerance to win votes, it continues to deeply trouble me that we have a government so bent on twisting and perverting the national fabric for its own mercenary ends. In the process, incalculable damage, in my view, is being done to our collective psyche.

And we surely lack all perspective, especially in rewarding Harper with increased support for his politically motivated intransigence on the niqab. As Susan Delacourt points out,

... the magic number is two. That’s the total number, out of nearly 700,000 people, who have wanted to wear face coverings in citizenship ceremonies, according to a Radio-Canada report.

So all this agitation over the niqab, all the fierce declarations of what the majority in Canada wants at citizenship ceremonies, is about fewer than a handful of people. Except that it isn’t about those two people; it is about tapping into support that any responsible politician shouldn’t want.

... no party in this election ... should be whipping up antipathy to Muslims, or any religion or culture. It’s repulsive if it works and even more repulsive if it was planned to work that way.

Today's Star editorial offers similar sentiments, and points out the diversionary nature of such tactics:

... these spiteful Conservative policies — hound Muslim women, strip Muslim wrongdoers of basic human rights, shove Muslim refugees to the back of the line — have hijacked and distorted this election. They have blotted out the sun when Canadians face important choices on the economy, jobs, accountable government, social investment, fair taxation and the environment.

The relentless, divisive harping on largely fabricated “Muslim problems” may help the Conservatives get re-elected. But it is unworthy of the Government of Canada, it is socially corrosive, and it confirms the Tories’ unfitness to govern.

That the current incarnation of the Tories are unfit to govern is beyond dispute. We can only hope droves of other Canadians are coming to the same conclusion.

He Sounds, On The Surface, So Reasonable

As I lamented in yesterday's post, the issue of the niqab at citizenship ceremonies is apparently responsible for a resurgence of support for the Harper regime, whose leader has ruthlessly exploited the issue to his political advantage. Playing upon people's prejudices against 'the other,' Harper is appealing the court ruling against a ban on its use. The fact that this single issue should sway a significant proportion of the electorate, I think, speaks for itself when pondering our collective natures. We may not all agree about the niqab, but it should not be a defining issue, except perhaps to the extraordinarily small-minded.

Sometimes appeals to our prejudices come in much less blatant form. Such is what I believe I witnessed last night as Rex Murphy pontificated on the niqab issue. Take a listen, and see if you agree:



On the surface, Rex sounds so reasonable, doesn't he? But if we remember that appeals to symbols of citizenship, patriotism, etc. are all arrows in the quivers of demagogues both past and present, his observations and suggestions take on a more sinister cast. Consider his reference to the citizenship ceremony as a "civil sacrament." Powerful stuff, mixing religious and secular metaphors, especially for those who allow emotion to prevail over intellect. In other words, this quasi-religious ceremony, if we follow the subtext, is in danger of being blasphemed by the Muslims. His reference to "patriotic allegiance" also invokes the spectre that perhaps, if they are hiding their faces, they really aren't going to be that patriotic or loyal to Canada.

Murphy also points out they are insisting upon 'specialized treatment,' in breaking with the traditions of the ceremony. Cleverly, for his purposes, he makes no reference to our laws, which permit the use of the niqab. Then there is the suggestion that if the niqab wearer's insistence on her 'rights' (pretty uppity of her, don't you think?) is such a deeply-felt religious conviction, then perhaps she will have to choose between that conviction and citizenship.

While openly admitting to the multi-cultural nature of our society, Rex also suggests that just for the one day in which they are taking the citizenship oath, they should show themselves to their fellow newly-minted citizens. After all, he says we have core and common values, of which the citizenship ceremony apparently is one, in his view. (Subtext: they are making a mockery of our values in refusing to play by our rules.)

Without a hint of irony, Murphy suggests that these issues can be discussed without rancour, claiming there is no bigotry here. While I agree that such issues are indeed fit topics for rational discussion, Rex's approach, unfortunately, does nothing to further that goal.

UPDATED: Hope Fades ......

It is becoming difficult to hold on to hope. Despite all we know about the Harper regime, despite all that has been written about its corruption, its abuse of power, its undermining of our democratic institutions, its insidious appeal to the worst in our natures, it seems to all be coming down to an issue that has already been decided by the courts: the niqab and its use during citizenship ceremonies.

It is almost enough to make me hold up my hands in abject surrender.

According to the latest poll conducted by Forum Research, if an election were held today, Stephen Harper would win another government, albeit a minority one:

The survey of 1,499 Canadian voters has Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s party ahead with 34 per cent support, compared to 28 per cent for the NDP and 27 per cent support for the Liberals.

At the heart of this resurgence, according to Forum president Lorne Bozinoff, is that [t]wo-thirds (64 per cent) of Canadian voters are opposed to having fully veiled women swear the oath of citizenship, while just over a quarter (26) support it.

Though the poll’s findings are just a snapshot in time, if the same results occurred the night of the Oct. 19 election, the Conservatives would win a minority — 151 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons. The NDP would form the opposition again with 105 seats, the Liberals would seize 76 seats, the Bloc six seats and the Greens one.

And while the neo-barbarians are ready to resume their assault on our putative values and traditions, what are the oppositions parties doing? Fighting each other, of course. Thomas Walkom writes,

New Democratic Party leader Mulcair dismisses Trudeau as a callow youth. Echoing Conservative attack ads, his New Democrats say the 43-year-old Liberal leader just isn’t ready to become prime minister.

From time to time, and again echoing the Conservatives, Mulcair dismissively refers to his Liberal rival as “Justin.”

Trudeau is no less harsh. He accuses Mulcair of duplicity — of saying one thing in French and another in English. He says the NDP, by pandering to Quebec separatists, threatens national unity.

He dredges up old charges that Mulcair, a former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister, once contemplated the idea of exporting fresh water in bulk.

All of this occurs at a time when Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are quietly edging up in the polls.

As those two parties put on full display, not co-operation to oust the tyrant but instead their avidity for power at any price, progressives are put in a bind:

These so-called progressive voters desperately want Harper gone. And they are horrified by the real possibility that this war to the death between Liberals and New Democrats will split the anti-Harper vote, thus allowing the Conservatives to win power again.

Here's a sample of what the NDP is doing to achieve power:

Another ad aims to maim support for Trudeau in the manufacturing sector by referencing a suggestion Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland made years earlier about letting the big three automakers — Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler — go bankrupt.

The third brings up the Liberal leader’s $20,000 speaking fees he charged charities and school boards, accusing him of skipping House of Common votes to collect money “for something that’s already a part of his job.”

Trudeau offered to reimburse some fees in 2013.

It’s a tactic that’s borrowed from the Conservative Party, who have been running attack ads against Trudeau with the tagline, “Just not ready” for months.

Canadians have notoriously short memories. Yet as we get ever closer to October 19, they are bound to remember certain things, the wrong things, I fear.

UPDATE: In his comment, Anon pointed out that the radio ad war was, in fact, started by the Liberals. I am unable to embed the ad, but you can listen to it here. While perhaps mild compared to the acerbity of the NDP attack ads, it serves to amply illustrate that both opposition parties are guilty of divisive tactics in their respective quests for power.

Robert Fisk

Last evening my wife and I attended a talk given by Robert Fisk, the renowned British journalist who has lived in and covered the Middle East for almost 40 years. The talk was quite dense, given the complexity of the issues and dynamics of that region, and I realized how little we understand about what is really going on there.

I did not take notes, but fortunately an interview with him in The Tyee covers some of his salient points, one of which is the sad devolution of Canada's international presence:

"I was so amazed that [Canada's Minister of National Defence and for Multiculturalism] Jason Kenney made the statement that some of the refugees could be terrorists. He was basing his argument on some story about someone in a camp talking about fighting Assad.

"When you go back and look at how Canadians reacted to the Vietnamese boat people, some were suggesting that some of them might be communists, as if that were a reason not to take them in. Kenney is playing an old card, that Muslims would be prone to terrorism while Christians won't be.

"Some pundits have argued that there are extremists in the refugee camps, and while we need to do something, we can't, because security. It's a bad card to play because it's immoral, and though it is immoral, it's a bad card to play because it will become reality. Someone will plant a bomb to make it look like it was the wrong thing to do to let refugees in.

"Merkel has stepped forward and done more to expunge moral guilt of any German leader since World War Two. She did what Obama should have done. She said: Bring me your huddled masses. The idea that we're going to go over and kill ISIS, Assad, the Yemen leadership -- to continue the bombing campaign -- is infantilism.

"We have to abandon the politics of Harper and Cameron. It might be the statesmanship of 1940, but it's not the statesmanship we need. I'm talking long-term, to plan for the next 50 years. Future generations don't matter to politicians. Harper had opportunities that he didn't even think about, let alone grasp. Canada's natural position in the world is to be a great moral power, that tries to put out fires, bring people together, and look out for the suffering and the poor. None of that applies to Harper."

There was much more to his talk, including his belief that ISIS, with its quite mechanical, passionless destruction of heritage artifacts (paintings, for example, are not slashed to pieces but put through shredders), is a weapon being used and funded by Saudi Arabia to destabilize the Shia forces in the Middle East. But that may be the topic of another post.

Echoing His Master's Voice?

People who read my blog regularly may have noticed that lately I have been posting videos and images more than I have been writing. The fact of the matter is that as a political junkie I have overdosed, something I suspected might happen due to this ridiculously long election campaign. Hardened cynic though I am, even I can take only so much of the obviously cheap and manipulative politicking that occurs during such a campaign, a campaign decidedly lacking in scope and vision, one that abjectly fails to address the real crises we face. Each leader, with the exception of Elizabeth May, is content to tinker around the edges at best, and leave the issues that require both adult discussion and adult, mature Canadian engagement, unacknowledged and unaddressed.

So I feel tired, and may, (or may not) write less frequently for a while.

Here is a story that to me, is emblematic of the dysfunctionality of those who represent us and one of the reasons I am losing heart: the stoking of fear, at which the Conservatives excel, is obvious here.

In a video obtained by the Star, Daniel offered this warning to voters in Don Valley North: “So I think there is a different agenda going on in terms of these refugees.

“Whereas at the same time Saudi Arabia is putting up money for 200 mosques in Germany I think the agenda is to move as many Muslims into some of these European countries to change these countries in a major way.

“That is something that I certainly don’t want to see happening in Canada. I think Canada is the greatest country in the world.”

Mr. Daniel refused, of course, to be interviewed by The Star about his comments.

The Code Deciphered

H/t Graeme MacKay

Clearly, There Is Method In Harper's Madness

Recently, Robin Sears wrote a piece severely critical of the Conservative response to the Syrian crisis, a commentary prompted by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander's disastrous appearance on Power and Politics. In it, he suggests that rather than the snarling and aggressive response Alexander gave P&P host Rosemary Barton, he could have said something like the following:

“Like every Canadian tonight, I grieve at the horrible deaths, the fate of members of the Kurdi family on the shores of Turkey.

Like many people watching tonight, I looked at that photo of their lifeless son, Alan, lying like a broken doll on the sand, and I confess, I sat down and I cried ...

I called the prime minister immediately. His reaction was that of a husband and father first, and then he said, “Chris, get me some thoughts on how we can do better, how we can do more, by the morning. This is unacceptable, to me and to our values as Canadians.

I called my department, told them I would be there in a few hours, and we worked all night to ensure we could respond quickly and powerfully to this mounting tragedy. Here’s what the prime minister has ordered us to do …

Of course, we all know that nothing approximating the above has or ever likely will pass the lips of either the Prime Minister or any of his functionaries.

Polls suggest that this is costing the Conservatives politically:

The Nanos survey conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV News suggests many Canadians switched their voting intentions in recent days. The three-day sample puts support for the NDP at 32.7 per cent nationally (up 2.3 percentage points from a week ago), followed by the Liberals at 30.8 per cent (up 0.6 percentage points). Support for the Conservatives has slipped to 26.2 per cent (a 2.3-percentage-point drop).

And yet Stephen Harper remains obdurate. He has refused a 'non-partisan' meeting with Mulcair and Trudeau to address the crisis:

"We're not going to get into partisan games on this," said Harper during a campaign stop in Toronto Monday afternoon.

Pulling numbers out of thin air, he said:

"We've already brought in tens of thousands. As I say, I've already announced that we will increase that number," he said.

"Look, we're obviously pleased that Canadians are seized with this issue and Canadians want us to respond. That's what we are doing."

Harper also repeated his assertion that changes to refugee policy will not be enough to curb the influx of those fleeing violence, and that ongoing military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is the only way to curb the refugee crisis.

Then there is this:

Stephen Harper says the government is looking to improve the refugee resettlement process, but it will not airlift thousands of refugees from countries such as Syria and Iraq, where extremist organizations operate, without conducting a proper security screening.

"To help, we must ensure we screen every potential refugee carefully. We have been clear that we are willing to take more people, but we must be sure we are helping the most vulnerable.

"We cannot open the floodgates and airlift tens of thousands of refugees out of a terrorist war zone without proper process. That is too great a risk for Canada," Harper said on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session on Facebook.

And what is one to make of this, wherein Stephen Harper admits to the possibility of electoral defeat?

In the face of declining poll numbers, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said he still believes he will win the most seats come Election Day but acknowledged for the first time that his political rivals have gained ground.

“We are fighting for and we believe there will be a Conservative government, but the reality is this is a real choice for Canadians, and an NDP government or a Liberal government are real possibilities.”

The method in Harper's madness becomes apparent once the above is examined; a pattern emerges, and his strategy becomes clear. Harper realizes that broadening his base of support is likely impossible, so instead he is doubling down on what he believes his core holds dear: strong 'leadership' and inflexible clear 'principles'.

In doing so, he is sending out a message that if they decide not to vote in October, they run the very real risk of ceding government either to Mulcair or Trudeau or, in what would be a nightmare scenario for the core, a coalition of the two parties. Hence the obdurate refusal to meet with the other leaders on the Syrian crisis, hence the refusal to speed up the process of bringing in refugees, hence the reminder of the potential danger of bringing in terrorists with them, and hence the reminder of the ISIS 'threat.' They are all of a piece.



Then again, I could be completely wrong here, and the Harper campaign is simply beginning to implode.

About Those Diversions, Mr. Harper

H/t Raeside Cartoons

Meanwhile, always perspicacious Toronto Star readers will have none of it. Here is but a small sampling of their sentiments on Mr. Harper's diversionary tactics:

Re: Harper vows to end ‘terror tourism,’ Aug. 10

Travel restrictions to terrorist locations shouldn’t be election promises. When warranted I expect any government to take responsible precautions, including restricting travel to certain areas, more for the safety of the travelers than as a way to stop potential radicals.

It’s hardly worthy of be‎ing touted as a campaign plank, but I suppose the Conservatives have little else to run on. More and more though, the Conservative positions on security sound like a paranoid response from someone who runs and hides in a closet at the first hint of trouble.

Terry Kushnier, Scarborough

Life mirrors art. Stephen Harper unjustifiably presents terrorism as so threatening to Canadians that he must be kept in office to be our saviour. Remember the movie “Wag the Dog,” in which a film producer created a pretend narrative of real war threats in order to keep the incumbent U.S. president in power? It worked in the movie — let’s be aware and ensure it doesn’t work for Stephen Harper.

Linda Silver Dranoff, Toronto

If Stephen Harper had been a politician in the 1950s, his bogeymen to scare voters would have been those nefarious communists. Richard Nixon parlayed that type of fear mongering into a political career that launched him all the way to the White House. Once in power, Nixon would direct his people to undertake unethical retaliations against individuals and groups that disagreed with his ideology or who had pointed out mistakes or deceptions committed by his administration. Tax audits were one of his weapons.

In the end, his governments involvement in a scandalous illegal activity brought down a majority elected government. A lot of people knew the negatives about Nixon before he was elected to a second term. But, it took the release of the Nixon tapes to convince the rest of the U.S. electorate.

Wait a minute – in addition to our government’s cynical ploy of a tough on terrorism agenda, aren’t we seeing tax audits being used here in Canada against environmental and politically liberal charities? Don’t we have a chief of staff for the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada involved in a hush money payoff scandal? I don’t get it. Isn’t it our duty to learn from history?

Someone should have been taping the Harper administration.

Russell Pangborn, Keswick

Now we know who’s been spying on people through their baby cams. You gotta get to those terrorists while they’re still young eh Steve.
Harpers “Anti Terrorism Act” is just that — an act of desperation.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

Let us all hope, for the sake of our country, that such critical thinking is not confined to the pages of national newspapers.

In Which Stephen Harper Tries To Change The Channel

One suspects it won't work.